Collateralization of business loans: Testing the prediction of theories

Using confidential data on a large sample of relationship lending, we analyze the determining factors of the collateralization of business loans from banks, distinguishing between firms with observable risk and firms with hidden information. We achieve three main results. First, we provide evidence that observably riskier borrowers are encouraged to give more collateral to banks to obtain a loan, whereas firms with hidden information are less risky borrowers, offering collateral to signal their quality. Second, we show that relationship banking has a direct impact on the use of collateral and produces moderating effects on the other determining factors. Finally, we observe that distant bank branches—i.e., branches that encounter greater difficulties collecting soft information and obtaining site-specific data from headquarters—are more likely to require collateral than local bank branches.     

The premium of dynamic trading in a discrete-time setting

Chiu and Zhou [Quant. Finance, 2011, 11, 115–123] show that the inclusion of a risk-free asset strictly boosts the Sharpe ratio in a continuous-time setting, which is in sharp contrast to the static single-period case. In this paper, we extend their work to a discrete-time setting. Specifically, we prove that the multi-period mean-variance efficient frontier generated by both risky and risk-free assets is strictly separated from that generated by only risky assets. As a result, we demonstrate that the inclusion of a risk-free asset strictly enhances the best Sharpe ratio of the efficient frontier in a multi-period discrete-time setting. Furthermore, we offer an explicit expression for the enhancement of the best Sharpe ratio, which was referred to as the premium of dynamic trading by Chiu and Zhou [op. cit.], although they do not present a computational formula for it. Our results further show that, in the case with a risk-free asset, if an investor can extract some money from his initial wealth at time 0, the efficient frontier with a risk-free asset can be tangent to that without a risk-free asset. Finally, based on real data from the American market, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the results obtained in this paper; a numerical comparison between the discrete-time case and the continuous-time case is also provided. Our numerical results reveal that the continuous-time model can be considered to be a limit of the discrete-time model.     

Uptake of organisational work–life balance opportunities: the context of support

This research examines the relationship between structural and cultural dimensions affecting managerial decision-making about work–life balance (WLB) opportunities. Through a top-down study of two contrasting Irish organisations, we identify how each of five dimensions of work–life culture: ‘managerial and organisational support’, ‘organisational time expectations’, ‘career consequences’, ‘gendered perception of policy use’ and ‘co-worker support’ are mediated through managers to affect availability and uptake of WLB opportunities and creating gaps between policy and practice. This study demonstrates how marked distinctions between the personal opportunities managers may wish to offer and the discretion available to them arise. Secondly, the concept of organisational work–life culture is advanced by elaborating the ‘context of support’, namely interdependencies between organisational culture and structure that affect the uptake of WLB opportunities. Implications for researchers and practitioners are also discussed.     

Equilibrium selection in common-value second-price auctions

This note considers equilibrium selection in common-value second-price auctions with two bidders. We show that for each ex post equilibrium in continuous and undominated strategies, a sequence of “almost common-value” auctions can be constructed such that each of them possesses a unique undominated and continuous equilibrium and the corresponding sequence of equilibria converges to that ex post equilibrium. As an implication, no equilibrium selection of this model based on perturbations seems to be more convincing than others.     

论内墙涂料施工技术

文章详细介绍了内墙涂料施工的一般要求、内墙涂料的选择原则,以及内墙涂料施涂工序,以期为同行提高内墙涂料施工质量提供借鉴。     

建筑企业如何做好人才的选、用、育、留工作

随着市场竞争日益激烈,建筑企业的生存越来越困难,人才流动速度的加快让企业人力资源管理工作难度越来越大。当前,寻找并吸引、留住合格人才已成为企业一项重大任务,人才的选、用、育、留成为人力资源管理工作的重点。     

企业生态位优化的理论基础及路径选择

随着市场竞争的日渐激烈,越来越多的企业认识到企业竞争优势的持续保持,既离不开企业生态位的合理构建,更需要企业生态位的能动优化。企业需要在一定的理论基础上进行生态位优化,并且要科学选择企业生态位优化的策略途径,只有这样,才能提高企业生态位优化的预期管理绩效,切实推进企业的健康生存和持续发展。     

Challenges of population aging in China

Utilizing the most recent census and survey data as well as the new ProFamy method, this paper presents and analyzes the trends of challenges of population aging and elderly living arrangements in China in the first half of twenty-first century. It discusses the serious challenges and related policy recommendations concerning the old-age insurance program in rural China.     

THE IMPACT OF FEATURE SELECTION: A DATA‐MINING APPLICATION IN DIRECT MARKETING

The capability of identifying customers who are more likely to respond to a product is an important issue in direct marketing. This paper investigates the impact of feature selection on predictive models which predict reordering demand of small and medium‐sized enterprise customers in a large online job‐advertising company. Three well‐known feature subset selection techniques in data mining, namely correlation‐based feature selection (CFS), subset consistency (SC) and symmetrical uncertainty (SU), are applied in this study. The results show that the predictive models using SU outperform those without feature selection and those with the CFS and SC feature subset evaluators. This study has examined and demonstrated the significance of applying the feature‐selection approach to enhance the accuracy of predictive modelling in a direct‐marketing context. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

国外产业研发的资助模式与管理政策比较研究

对产业技术和产业化项目的资助模式与管理政策一直是各地政府急切要解决的问题。本文以美、德、日、韩等为研究对象,综合比较各国产业技术和产业项目的政府资助模式以及项目管理模式,希望能为我国产业技术研发政策提供有益经验。