Laying the foundations of international careers research

As an editorial to the special issue “new avenues in international careers research” this article discusses the roots of the international careers research stream, which sits at the intersection between career studies, HRM and international management. In order to support future studies in this emerging area of enquiry, we attempt to lay down the foundations of a research agenda based around what we see as the three core areas of interest: contextualised careers research, comparative careers research and careers research in internationally operating organisations. After providing some suggestions for the kinds of theoretical and methodological tools that will be required to build on these foundations, we introduce the five empirical papers that comprise this special issue.     

The effect of investment and withdrawal horizons on myopic loss aversion

Using unique survey data, we find that a longer investment horizon (6–10 years and 11+ years) reduces the likelihood of exhibiting myopic loss aversion (MLA) compared to an investment horizon of less than 2 years. In addition, we find that investors with higher levels of assets under management (AUM) are less likely to exhibit MLA compared to the lowest AUM quartile.     

External corporate venturing modes as new way to develop dynamic capabilities

Today, firms encounter scarce resources and rapid technology change which render formerly successful business models obsolete. Research shows that some firms perform better than others in continuously discovering, evaluating, and exploiting opportunities in volatile environments and that this is dependent on firm’s dynamic capabilities. Besides obtaining dynamic capabilities through internal R&D activities, firms have open up their innovation process to pursue dynamic capabilities outside their organizational boundaries through external corporate venturing by accessing startup's technological capabilities necessary to innovate. External corporate venturing is a means to develop new distinctive capabilities and businesses by exploring and exploiting business opportunities outside a firm’s existing boundaries. Drawing on the dynamic capability literature, we use a multiple case study approach to examine the contribution of external corporate venturing to firms’ dynamic capabilities. Our results reveal that firms indeed use corporate venturing to identify and exploit startup’s technological knowledge and competencies to increase firm’s dynamic capabilities. But our empirical data also shows that not every firm is fully profiting from all dynamic capability phases as their corporate venturing modes are not linked with each other and cumulative effects are not realized.     

Internet of Things and Big Data as enablers for business digitalization strategies

Digitization blurs the lines between technology and management, facilitating new business models built upon the concepts, methods and tools of the digital environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data in terms of how businesses manage their digital transformation. The paper argues that the outbreak of IoT and Big Data has resulted in a mass of disorganized knowledge. In order to make sense of the noise, a literature review was carried out to examine the studies, published in the last decade (2008–2019), that analyzed both the Internet of Things and Big Data. The results show that IoT and Big Data are predominantly reengineering factors for business processes, products and services; however, a lack of widespread knowledge and adoption has led research to evolve into multiple, yet inconsistent paths. The study offers interesting implications for managers and marketers, highlighting how the digital transformation enabled by IoT and Big Data can positively impact many facets of business. By treating IoT and Big Data as faces of the same coin, this study also sheds light on current challenges and opportunities, with the hope of informing future research and practice.     

Changes in airport operating procedures and implications for airport strategies post-COVID-19

Covid-19 is demanding a lot of changes in the realm of our daily lives. The aviation industry is also facing unprecedented changes in the management environment. Financial tensions across the sector are rising. This study suggests that the airport strategy's direction focusing on commercial revenue management. After Covid-19, safety and hygiene will be the top priority. As a result, changes in airport operating procedures are inevitable. The most noticeable difference will be the strengthening of the verification process for passengers' health conditions. Dwell time increase can be the by-products. This study identifies a dwell time increase has a more significant impact on increasing the existing purchasers' spending than creating new buyers. Airport operators can introduce a service differentiation perspective, such as a dedicated service, to utilize the current buyers' dwell time more faithfully. Also, the rise of online channels requires airport operators to change sales strategies, reinforcing emotional promotion to stimulate impulse buyers' willingness-to-buy. Before Covid-19, there was little effort to reconcile operation policies and commercial revenue despite the growing importance of revenue management. However, now it is time to change. Pre-Covid-19, passengers were advised of using off-airport processes, such as online check-in and mobile boarding passes. Now, getting passengers to the airport quickly and securing their dwell time can be financially more beneficial. It is necessary to incorporate the commercial revenue perspective into operation policies post-Covid-19 actively. Our finding indicates that even a passenger with solid purchasing power may lose the purchasing intention when assigned to an unfavorable gate or terminal. Airport operators need a better understanding of passenger and flight characteristics when determining operation policy, such as gate allocation or membership services.     

Impact of Continuous Climb Operations in ATC workload. Case-study Palma airport

This research assesses the impact of the integration of Continuous Climb operations (CCOs) on Air Traffic Control (ATC) workload. The methodology encompasses different modules: CCO, standard departing and arriving trajectories extracted from an external database, an ad-hoc algorithm for detecting and solving conflicts, and an ATC-workload model with the inclusion of CCO-task modifications. Monte Carlo simulations evaluates different combinations of these modules. Then, a sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate two parameters: the impact of the calibration of the maximum ATC workload and the percentage increase of the CCO tasks on the ATC workload. The methodology is applied to a case study at Palma airport in Spain. Extensive numerical simulations are executed based on the integration of CCOs into the system from 0% to 100%. The integration of CCOs implies the increase of the ATC workload in the Control Tower (TWR) and the reduction in the Approach Control Centre (APP). The sensitivity analysis shows that the decrease in the increase of CCO-task workload barely affects the number of CCOs that can be operated without exceeding the workload limits. Conversely, the reduction of the ATC workload calibration allows the integration of CCOs around 50% in the case of 90% TWR calibration and up to 100% in the case of 80%.     

An intra-organizational perspective on supply management involvement in contracting services

The relationship between an agent (supply management) and a principal (client functional user) can be studied by using agency theory as a theoretical background. In this study, perceptions of conflict, information asymmetry and risk were examined in relation to perceptions of internal outcomes of supply management’s involvement in services contracting in an intra-organizational dyadic context. Structural equation modeling and regression analysis were used to analyze the nature of the relationships. The contribution is integrating a structured view of internal outcomes with three concepts from agency theory to help build a more comprehensive theory of intra-organizational relationships in the context of services contracting.     

PPP项目财务管理与会计核算分析

随着我国经济进步与快速发展,PPP项目在社会发展中的作用越来越明显,对于PPP项目来说,其已经在水利、交通以及水利等项目的应用中取得了巨大的优势,而且其也是我国城市建设与城市经济发展中非常重要的项目工程。基于此,论文先介绍了PPP项目的形成与国家政策的支持,阐述PPP项目的具体概念,分析PPP项目对财务管理与会计核算的作用,提出完善PPP项目会计核算工作的相关建议以及PPP项目公司各个阶段的会计核算分析。     

Planning the delivery of relief supplies upon the occurrence of a natural disaster while considering the assembly process of the relief kits

Models for the distribution of relief supplies often assume immediate availability of relief items upon the occurrence of a natural disaster. However, such an assumption does not always apply in realistic settings. In some cases, at least it is necessary to assemble relief items into kits before distributing them among the affected population. This paper presents a rolling horizon methodology that considers dynamic parameters such as demand, capacities and demand priorities for the problem of distributing relief supplies after the occurrence of a natural disaster by including such assembling activities before the delivery.     

Underperformance of Actively Managed Portfolios: Some Behavioral Insights

Abstract

Two glaring anomalies in investment management are apparent: (1) after fees, active portfolio managers do worse than market indices, and (2) clients continue to pay for services they don’t receive. The purpose of this paper is to offer explanations of these anomalies from a behavioral perspective. We explore some of the cognitive biases that perpetuate active management and subsequent underperformance, including herding, disposition, and endowment effects, as well as conservatism and status quo biases, overconfidence, and agency problems. Investors’ continued use of active managers despite persistent disappointing returns is attributed to being victims of framing effect, hot-hand fallacy, lack of knowledge as well as intimidation or insecurity, and status quo bias. We propose some ways that portfolio managers and investors could improve their decision making.