Capsule hotels: Offering Experiential Value or perceived as risky by tourists? An optimum stimulation level model

Capsule hotels are a novel Japanese approach to accommodation that arose in 1979. For most travelers outside Japan, however, the concept of capsule hotels is relatively new. They provide experiential value to the traveler; they also pose some risks. Travelers seeking familiarity view unfamiliar environments as riskier, and perceived risk has a negative influence on consumer behavior. This study aims to establish a behavioral model of capsule hotel visitors by incorporating optimum stimulation level (OSL), perceived risk, and experiential value into its analytical framework. A total of 276 respondents who stayed in a capsule hotel participated in the study. Findings suggest that the OSL has a positive effect on experiential value and perceived risk. Experiential value, in return, negatively affects perceived risk. Experiential value further plays a mediating role between perceived risk and OSL. We discuss theoretical implications and offer recommendations for capsule hotel operators.     

Shifts in volatility driven by large stock market shocks

This paper presents an extension of the stochastic volatility model which allows for level shifts in volatility of stock market returns, known as structural breaks. These shifts are endogenously driven by large return shocks (innovations), reflecting large pieces of market news. These shocks are identified from the data as being bigger in absolute terms than the values of two threshold parameters of the model: one for the negative shocks and one for the positive shocks. The model can be employed to investigate different sources of stock market volatility shifts driven by market news, without relying on exogenous information. In addition to this, it has a number of interesting features which enable us to study the effects of large return shocks on future levels of market volatility. The above properties of the model are shown based on a study for the US stock market volatility.     

Agricultural landscape dynamics in response to economic transition: Comparisons between different spatial planning zones in Ningbo region,China

Many major agricultural regions worldwide are experiencing drastic landscape transformations. Examining the complex links among agricultural landscape dynamics (ALD), land use and land cover (LULC) change, socioeconomic development and government planning is pivotal to enhance the efficiency of agricultural landscape management. With a case of the Ningbo region (China), this paper employs the structural equation modeling (SEM) to quantify and compare the relationships between ALD and economic transition as well as the mediating LULC factors in different spatial planning zones. ALD are quantified by time series remotely sensed imageries and a set of landscape metrics; and economic transition is described by a set of indicators from three aspects (globalization, decentralization and marketization). Results show that ALD present similar trend in the two spatial planning zones between 1979 and 2013. However, the magnitude of ALD is larger in the non-urban planning zone. In particular, agricultural landscapes change into the fragmented, irregular, decreased, and isolated patterns at a more rapid pace. Economic transition drivers and LULC mediators differ remarkably between the two spatial planning zones. For the urban planning zone, economic transition influences ALD through construction land morphological changes and water body spatial density increases. For the non-urban planning zone, economic transition influences ALD through forest morphological changes and construction land spatial density increases. In addition, the relative importance of ALD determinants differs between the two spatial planning zones. Marketization plays a more critical role in driving ALD in the urban planning zone, while decentralization has a stronger impact on ALD in the non-urban planning zone. It is argued that land use master plan for agricultural landscape protection should be implemented in the non-urban planning zones and land use plan in the two spatial planning zones should be integrated. This study contributes to the understanding of the complex mechanism of ALD in response to economic transition.     

企业预见:概念解析与过程机理

企业预见作为一个新研究领域，仍存在理论基础薄弱、概念内涵与过程机理不清等问题。在总结企业预见概念内涵的基础上，将企业预见区分为吸引性预见和可行性预见双元结构，阐述开放性、持续性、系统性、有限理性4个预见特征。基于组织与情境协同适应视角建立情境建构、战略选择、协同反应三阶段预见过程模型以及涵盖8个步骤的基本流程，最后提出企业预见未来研究建议，以期推进企业预见概念内涵统一，为企业预见研究提供思路和线索，促进企业预见研究发展。     

Analysis of asymmetric response of exchange rate to interest rate differentials: The case of African Big 4

Using the case of four leading African economies, namely Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, this paper explores the possibility of asymmetric relationship between exchange rate and interest rate differential. In addition, it also tests whether accounting for structural breaks matters for the nexus. The results vary for the four countries based on the choice of exchange rate regime and countries involved in full-fledged floating or managed floating seem to respond more to variations in interest rate differential. Also, accounting for both asymmetries and structural breaks should not be disregarded when modelling this nexus.     

Panel cointegration,quantile regressions,asymmetric adjustments and crises: The case of EU current accounts

This paper investigates the relationships between the current account and several fundamentals, including the real exchange rate, government consumption, investment, openness, terms of trade and real income in the EU28 group of countries. A main feature of the study is that we also assess the relationships for two subgroups, the EU15 + Cyprus and Malta, and the CEECs. Using data spanning the period between 1995q1 and 2019q2, we identify similarities and differences between the responses in these two subgroups, which are obscured when an aggregate study of the EU28 is conducted, rather than sub-groups. Our results suggest that, in assessing the current account for economic blocs, an a priori assumption of similar relationships for member countries may be misplaced.     

共享经济中的嵌入理性:众包社区嵌入性对创意领地行为影响机制研究

如何实现知识、创意等资源共享是目前社会价值创新网络体系构建的瓶颈问题。尽管众包社区作为创意资源共享解决方案的有效性得到了学界广泛认可，但关于作为网络节点嵌入众包社区之中的创客个体如何参与共享经济的探讨较少。围绕创客如何参与众创的过程“黑箱”，从众包社区嵌入性视角出发，基于S（刺激）-O（有机体）-R（反应）研究范式，探索众包创客创意领地性分配行为产生机制，以诠释共享经济中的“嵌入理性”。结果显示：①众包社区嵌入性（结构嵌入、关系嵌入、认知嵌入）对心理所有权有负向作用；②心理所有权对创意领地行为有正向作用；③心理所有权在众包社区结构嵌入、认知嵌入对创意领地行为的影响中起完全中介作用，在关系嵌入对创意领地行为的影响中起部分中介作用。     

The impact of mergers and acquisitions on brand equity: A structural analysis

An overlooked strategic benefit of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) is their impact on brand equity. M&As may affect consumer brand preferences, which in turn will affect a firm’s profit. We develop a structural model with a difference-in-differences specification to measure how M&As affect a firm’s profit through three mechanisms: brand equity, cost synergies, and product portfolios. We analyze Lenovo’s acquisition of IBM’s PC division in China’s PC market and find that the increase in brand equity contributed the most to increasing Lenovo’s profit, followed by cost synergies. To explore the generalizability of our modeling approach, we apply it to Geely’s acquisition of Volvo and also find that the gains in brand equity contributed the most to Geely’s profit increase.     

Integrating embeddedness with dynamic capabilities in the internationalisation of fashion retailers

The paper presents an integration of the theoretical approaches of embeddedness and dynamic capabilities. Based on in-depth interviews with key informants of international fashion retail companies we show that dynamic capabilities enhance different types of embeddedness at different levels. Generic dynamic capabilities of adaptability and knowledge management play a role as they affect retailer-specific capabilities and societal, network and territorial forms of embeddedness. Integrating the two theoretical approaches provides new and deeper understanding of the nature of retail internationalization.     

Testing structural benefit transfer: The role of income inequality

How the valuation of environmental goods is related to income is a key question for economics, but the role of income inequality is often neglected. We study how income inequality affects the international transfer of the estimated value of environmental goods from a study to a policy site—a practice called value or benefit transfer. Specifically, we apply theory-driven, structural transfer factors to test whether adjusting for income inequality affects errors made in benefit transfer, drawing on a multi-country valuation study on water quality improvement. Our convergent validity analysis shows that the structural income inequality adjustment reduces benefit transfer errors by between 1.5 and 1.8 percentage points on average across all transfers. We therefore find that adjusting for income inequality offers only a minor improvement of benefit transfers as compared to adjusting for differences in mean income. Overall, our results shed light on the potential of structural approaches to benefit transfer for environmental valuation and public policy appraisal.