Evaluating Constructive Lease Capitalization and Off‐Balance‐Sheet Financing: An Instructional Case with FedEx and UPS

This case illustrates the effects of the proposed new lease standard by the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board on existing outstanding operating leases. Specifically, the case examines the effects of the proposal that all firms report existing operating leases as capital leases upon the initial adoption of the proposed standard. By applying a constructive capitalization model to two firms who rely on operating leases for financing, FedEx and UPS, we found that both companies would have to record billions of dollars of liabilities that had only appeared in the footnotes of their financial statements under the current lease standards. In addition, the firms would experience a decline in retained earnings and key financial ratios, such as the debt‐to‐equity, return‐on‐assets, and interest coverage ratios, by reporting operating leases as capital leases under the new proposed standard. Furthermore, the magnitude of the lease capitalization impact is much smaller for UPS than for FedEx.     

The informational relevance of corporate social responsibility: evidence from DS400 index reconstitutions

This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance by analyzing the intra‐industry wealth impact of additions and deletions to the Domini Social 400 index. Results from the event study analysis indicate that additions to the index generate a positive share price response for the announcement firm and a negative response by rival firms. The opposite reaction is observed for index deletions. Additionally, the share price response is more pronounced for informationally opaque industries. Our study highlights the importance of external monitoring agencies in providing meaningful information that helps resolve investor uncertainty regarding the quality of a firm's relationships with its primary stakeholders. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Customer capabilities,switching costs,and bank performance

Customers develop switching costs when they invest time and effort to develop capabilities required to optimally use a given product. Such capabilities are likely to be firm specific and cannot be transferred perfectly to competitors' product offerings. Customers who face switching costs are likely to remain with the same firm and consume complementary products that meet their needs. Thus, firms can achieve competitive advantage by exploiting customers' switching costs. In this paper, we hypothesize that the extent to which firms can benefit from customers' switching costs is contingent upon the firms' internal cross‐selling capabilities. We use online banking data to test our hypotheses and find that customers' switching costs contribute to banks' profitability only in the presence of high levels of internal cross‐selling capabilities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technological development at the boundaries of the firm: a knowledge‐based examination in drug development

This paper examines how the knowledge‐based view (KBV) can be applied to firm boundary decisions and the performance implications of those decisions. At the center of the paper is a theoretical and empirical examination of how firms most efficiently organize for technological development. We find that distinct organization approaches are advantaged in the speed of technological development depending on the structure of technological development problems and the depth of firms' technological area experience. We make theoretical and empirical contributions to KBV research that examines knowledge development and transfer. Drug development in the pharmaceutical industry serves as our empirical setting. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于数字签名和数字水印技术的电子签章算法研究

将数字签名技术、数字水印技术和时间戳技术相结合提出了一种电子签章的实现算法。该算法在数字签名中添加时间戳信息,进一步提高了签章的安全性和抗攻击性。在签章算法中设计了一个基于小波分解信号的局部极大值的数字水印嵌入算法,可以将签名信息作为水印嵌入到签章图片中,增强了签章信息的隐蔽性。经过仿真实验,该方案能够较好地完成电子商务交易中的合同签章应用,实现身份认证和保证合同文本的完整性和不可篡改性。     

渐进式还是突变式？城镇居民食品 消费结构转变规律研究

本文在总结国内外文献的基础上,利用一个嵌入时间路径的LA/AIDS模型,探索了城镇居民食品消费结构的转变规律。结果显示,城镇居民主要食品的消费结构发生了渐进式转变,其转变期为1994-1995年。从需求弹性值变化来看,肉类从奢侈品转变为必需品,发生了本质变化,其消费量逐年上升。粮食和禽蛋类一直是必需品,其弹性值变化不大,消费量逐年下降。而水产品仍是富于弹性的奢侈品,但其弹性值逐渐下降,并趋于必需品。     

货币时间价值在投资决策中的应用

货币时间价值的客观存在不仅在理论界得到了公认,而且其产生的作用时刻影响着人们的日常经济生活。不管是企业的项目投资,还是个人的理财投资,都不可忽视货币时间价值。在进行方案抉择的时候,要优先选用包含货币时间价值的动态指标(净现值、获利指数和内涵报酬率)进行评价,选择最优方案,做出科学的投资决策。企业和个人要牢固树立货币时间价值观念,利用它为企业和个人决策服务,促进企业和个人合理利用有限资金,创造更高的效益。     

中国上市商业银行业务结构与盈利能力研究

中国上市商业银行盈利能力与业务结构紧密相关,论文从不同角度考察了商业银行的盈利能力,从资产负债业务结构的差异来分析商业银行盈利能力差异.由于目前国内各商业银行在大多数组织结构和运营模式上大同小异,决定一个商业银行盈利能力的关键可能在于其业务结构的差异.反映商业银行盈利能力的指标主要包括平均资产回报率、平均股东权益回报率、净利差和利息收益率等指标,而成本收入比作为一类占营业收入百分比的指标也可以用来衡量商业银行的盈利能力,本文主要采取成本收入比率和净资产回报率作为考察变量.通过对中国部分上市商业银行业务结构与盈利能力研究,贷款行业结构、区域结构、产品类型结构和存贷款期限结构决定了商业银行的收入空间,而存款的期限结构,特别是3个月以内的活期存款比重对商业银行的成本有着至关重要的影响.     

Budgetary Accounting in National Governments: Anglo versus American Accounting

Abstract: This paper offers an understanding of the US federal budgeting and accounting system, in context. The system is unique among the major Anglophone countries, in being both cash‐based and obligation‐based, thereby providing what can be termed a polar opposite case to an accrual‐based system, the technicalities of which the paper explains. The paper uses, as a comparator, the UK government's cash‐based and accrual‐based system, also in context. This shows that the US system is primarily a system of control by the legislature, whereas the UK's is primarily one of control by the executive. The paper analyses the long history of institutions of the US federal government defending the obligation basis in the face of accrual‐based assaults; the obligation basis has remained resilient.     

The Friedman Rule in a Model with Endogenous Growth and Cash‐in‐Advance Constraint

This paper introduces money into an overlapping‐generations model with endogenous growth. The main message of the paper is that as long as the modified golden rule is attained, the Friedman rule is optimal. The result holds regardless of the ability of the government to internalize the externality and control the level of human capital. Other results include: (i) violation of the Friedman rule for a different second‐best environment wherein human capital accumulation is controlled but not physical capital accumulation and (ii) existence of a negative relationship between money growth rate and the economy’s endogenous growth rate.