Short sale constraints: the impact on the return distribution

This paper tests empirically Hong and Stein's theoretical finding, that in an environment of short sale constraints, investor disagreement over future equity prices leads to negatively skewed return distributions. This study uses data from the Indian equity market to examine the third and fourth moments of the return distribution. The skewness of the return distribution is estimated both from realized returns and option prices. Empirical results provide partial supportive evidence for Hong and Stein's hypothesis.     

Employment equity,human resource development and institution building in South Africa

The process of economic and social reconstruction in South Africa (SA) has harnessed capital, organized labour and state agencies in emergent tripartite macro-policy forums; in particular, the National Economic Development and Labour Commission. Public policy on human resource development, affirmative action and diversity issues is increasingly an outcome of negotiations in these structures. However, although significant legislative developments on these issues are envisaged in the near future, institutional adaptation has not been adequately researched. The apartheid state was constructed on the ideological basis of ethnic fragmentation rationalized by ethnic and cultural diversity. At the same time, diversity is a social reality in building common national and organizational goals, symbols and identity.

This paper discusses structural and labour market factors associated with the process of employment equity and diversity management in South African organizations. A research project, the Breakwater Monitor, at the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, has established a national database covering some one million employees, which enables benchmarking of company and sectoral practices in regard to affirmative action, diversity policy, training and development and skills formation. The project has also begun to track diversity representation at all levels across major sectors longitudinally, using a common job evaluation standard for comparability. The project considers both quantitative and qualitative factors in human resource development. Findings from this project are presented and discussed in the context of human resource development.     

中国城市经营绩效评价指标体系的构建分析

城市经营的绩效评价,是针对城市经营系统的、全面的定量研究。构建城市经营绩效评价指标体系时,必须从城市经营的系统结构和要素出发,依据相关的基本原则进行指标设置。构建城市经营绩效评价指标体系,必须遵循客观性、完整性、稳定性和有效性等普遍原则,同时,还应满足科学性和全面性、可比性和可操作性、实用性和可操作性原则。在此基础上,从城市经营的内涵出发,分为经济、社会、生活、基础设施、环境质量五个方面,构建指标体系。     

Brand equity: extending brand awareness and liking with Signal Detection Theory

Brand equity, which is a central topic in modern marketing, may be assessed from three perspectives: customer mind set, product market outcomes and financial market outcomes. Brand awareness (memory) and brand liking are elements of customer mind set brand equity. The factors determining brand awareness and likeability are also determinants of the change in financial brand equity. In order to understand these factors, Signal Detection Theory is employed for finding the components of brand awareness and likeability. Signal Detection Theory has a strong tradition in psychology, but is under‐represented in marketing and consumer behaviour. This study extended the concept of brand awareness to ‘awareness sensitivity and bias’ and the concept of ‘brand likeability’ to ‘liking sensitivity and bias’ using Signal Detection Theory. The effect of divided attention on the extended components was investigated in three laboratory experiments. It was found that, in the attended mode compared with the unattended mode, consumers perform better in preserving a favourable brand awareness and have a conservative reaction tendency. This effect of attention occurs in building brand awareness for short presentations, but not for long presentations. These findings may serve as guidelines for a strategy formulation for enhancing customer mind set brand equity.     

What Drives Consumer Participation to Loyalty Programs?

Abstract

Little is known about the way in which different loyalty program attributes underlie consumers' intentions to participate in such a program. Based upon equity theory, the current study distinguished between consumer inputs (personal data release, participation cost, purchase frequency, participation exclusivity, and participation efforts) and outputs (program benefits, number of program providers, and program duration) as underlying attributes potentially affecting participation in a loyalty program. Using conjoint analysis, we explored how different levels within each of these eight attributes affect consumers' intentions to participate. The study holds major implications for the design of successful customer loyalty programs.     

我国股票增发对象差异的市场效应研究

运用事件研究法对我国股票公开增发和定向增发的短期公告效应和较长期的增发实施后一年内的市场表现进行了比较研究。实证结果发现,在定向增发的公告效应比公开增发更加积极且显著。从长期来看,无论是实施公开增发还是定向增发,都能带来正的累计平均异常收益率且统计显著;但定向增发的累计平均异常收益率会在更长的时间周期内明显超过公开增发。这种对象选择的市场效应差异背后是股权分置改革带来的参与各方行为逻辑的变化。对金融监管的启示在于,通过市场建设保证利益兼容要比纯粹限制对象范围更能降低金融活动的不确定性。     

Are Information Attributes Priced?

A seminal model in finance links cost of equity capital to information precision, composition and dissemination. Using realized returns to proxy for cost of equity capital and the probability of an informed trade (PIN) to proxy for composition, prior research documents results consistent with the model's prediction regarding composition. Nonetheless, prior research that examines the construct validity cautions against the use of future realized returns to proxy for cost of equity capital and recommend r_{DIV_PREM} or r_{PEG_PREM} instead. The authors speculate but do not demonstrate how the results in existing research might be incorrect due to their use of realized returns. This paper provides such evidence. We find that the authors inference regarding PIN is dependent on their choice of realized returns to proxy for cost of equity capital. We also estimate a more complete specification of the model that includes precision and dissemination, and we decompose PIN into its component parts to isolate that portion of PIN that varies with dissemination. These refinements allow for new insights regarding the veracity of the model's predictions. We conclude that cost of equity capital is increasing in composition, and decreasing in dissemination, and find some, albeit not conclusive support, for the prediction that cost of equity capital is decreasing in precision.     

Cost of Equity Capital and Additionality of Brazilian Renewable Energy Projects Under the Clean Development Mechanism

The purpose of this study was to assess additionality and the practice of estimating the cost of equity capital in 70 renewable energy projects in Brazil. Forty projects demonstrated additionality by means of financial analysis. No strong or clear relationships were found between project characteristics and the financial method used to demonstrate additionality. Among projects that used financial analysis, the evaluation often employed the risk-free rate. Failure to add any risk premium to projects of this nature suggests a certain analytical carelessness, perhaps induced by the innovative or experimental nature of these projects.     

内部控制审计报告、实际控制人性质与权益资本成本

以2011—2012年A股上市公司为样本,采用PEG模型检验权益资本成本是否会受企业披露出的内部控制报告的影响.研究表明,披露内部控制自评报告的企业的权益资本成本不会有显著的降低,但是企业披露内部控制审计报告可以作为一个积极的信号,能够明显降低权益资本成本.与此同时,实际控制人性质在一定程度上也影响了投资者对企业的财务报告质量和经营风险的评估,为内部控制信息披露的质量提供保证,降低权益资本成本.     

Market liquidity,private information,and the cost of capital: Market microstructure studies on family firms in Japan

We investigate cost of capital, information asymmetry, and market liquidity of listed family firms vs. non-family firms in Japan. First, we find that the cost of debt is lower and the cost of equity is higher for family firms than non-family firms, but the differences are not significant. The WACC of family firms becomes higher than that for non-family firms and the difference is significant probably because family firms in Japan use less leverage. Next, we find that the stocks of family firms are traded with higher information asymmetry than non-family firms. As for information asymmetry and illiquidity measures, we utilize the variables Adjusted PIN and Probability of Symmetric Order Flow Shocks (PSOS). Concomitantly we also estimate alternate conventional measures of market liquidity as a robustness check. Overall, the evidence on liquidity is somewhat mixed, while we find family firms show higher information asymmetry, which may affect cost of equity. As a final policy implication, we recommend family firms in Japan conduct more voluntary and timely disclosure, in particular, for the benefit of general stock investors, and may want to increase leverage to reduce the WACC.