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.     

Business ethics and a faith-inspired solution to the problem of economism

This article examines the influence of economism on contemporary business practice. The first part surveys some of the recent scholarship from the business field regarding economism and particularly its accretion from business academia into the workplace. Part two identifies the central problem of economism in an implicit anthropology. Drawing from a variety of commentary and studies, this part illustrates that while reason identifies the deficiency in the economistic view of the human person, an authentic anthropology lies beyond reason’s grasp. The last part aims to show how the encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate of Benedict XVI demonstrates that a reason open to faith points to a solution. The work of the now emeritus pope offers an anthropological vision capable of supplying a foundation to a business ethics that can support a commercial practice better designed to contribute to human development and the satisfaction of human needs.     

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.     

Pensions as a Form of Executive Compensation

This paper investigates the role of pensions as an element of total executive compensation, and the relationship between pensions and performance‐based compensation in executive pay. Using hand‐collected data on FTSE 100 CEOs and senior executives from 2004?2011, we document that pensions function as a substitute for performance‐based compensation (primarily bonuses) in both cross‐sectional and time‐series settings. We also examine the effect of corporate governance characteristics on executive pensions. We find that corporate governance characteristics associated with stronger board monitoring play a constraining role on the magnitude of pensions. Our evidence of substitution effects between pensions and performance‐based compensation is consistent with a managerial power view of executive compensation‐setting, and the use of pensions as a ‘stealth’ element of compensation. Our findings are robust to considering different types of pensions, product market competition, and cross‐listing. Sub‐period analysis shows that pensions decrease and substitution effects weaken following the 2008 financial crisis. Moreover, we find no evidence that the use of compensation consultants with potential conflicts of interest is associated with higher pensions. Overall, our study contributes to a greater understanding of the role of pensions in executive compensation, and shows the importance of including pensions in analysis of executive compensation.     

轨道交通低压系统谐波治理措施

本文结合轨道交通低压系统的特点以及有源滤波技术的发展,分析了无功补偿与谐波的关系,从系统设计的角度,提出了轨道交通低压系统谐波治理的措施。     

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.