Can investors time their exposure to private equity?

Private equity performance, both for buyouts and venture capital, has been highly cyclical: periods of high fundraising have been followed by periods of low performance. Despite this seemingly predictable variation, we find modest gains, at best, to pursuing realistic, investable strategies that time capital commitments to private equity. This occurs, in part, because investors can only time their commitments to funds; they cannot time when commitments are called or when investments are exited. There is a high degree of time-series correlation in net cash flows even across commitment strategies that allocate capital in a very different manner over time.     

Risk-Adjusted Discount Rates and Projects of Unequal Lives

When evaluating mutually exclusive projects of unequal lives and with differing risk, standard approaches such as the constant chain of replacement, lowest common multiple and equivalent annual value techniques are usually applied. In using these techniques to rank projects, a critical issue is the manner in which uncertainty in the cashflows is resolved through time. We explore the applicability of net present value techniques to the problem of valuing assets with unequal lives, emphasising the use of equivalent annual value and lowest common multiple methods, and the correct choice of discount rate. Our results have direct application to practical capital budgeting problems such as choosing the optimum lifespan for a single asset, choosing between assets with different lifespans, and deciding whether to "run an asset for another year".     

Equity‐Based Compensation for Employees: Firm Performance and Determinants

I examine the effect of employee equity‐based compensation (EBC) on firm performance and the determinants of EBC. Using two samples, I find that firms have come to rely more heavily on EBC than in the past. For both samples, I document a significant, positive relation between Tobin's q and the percentage of employee compensation that is equity based. For accounting returns, I find a positive relation with the earlier sample. However, for the later sample I find that greater use of EBC leads to lower levels of future accounting returns. I also find that the determinants of the proportion of EBC are different between the two samples.     

Target marketing in a social marketing context: gender differences in importance ratings of promoted intrinsic and extrinsic restricted exchange benefits of military enlistment

Social marketing involves influencing voluntary behaviour of people towards a social end. Examples of social marketing range from campaigns to encourage healthy physical behaviour to efforts to encourage tax support for public education, overcome racism, or stimulate ‘patriotic’ behaviour. Using data from a summer 2001 telephone survey of 600 young adults, this paper investigates how recruitment campaigns may benefit from considering gender differences in importance ratings of a variety of benefits promoted by the military in the USA. Importance ratings are assessed using differences in means and variances tests. Findings identify gender specific differences that may be used to enhance recruitment campaigns. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

ECONOMIC EFFECTIVENESS OF BRAND ADVERTISING PROGRAMMES FOR U.S. ORANGE JUICE IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET: AN ERROR COMPONENT ANALYSIS

An econometric model is used to measure the impact of the Three-Party Programme on European demand for U.S. orange juice. The results show that the programme has helped expand the demand for orange juice in European countries and, from the viewpoint of the U.S. citrus industry, is an economically preferred way of generating additional exports compared with using price reductions to achieve additional sales.     

Early evidence of an adverse selection death spiral? The case of Blue Cross and Blue Shield

This paper uses a unique data set from 1957 to examine whether or not Blue Cross and Blue Shield suffered from an adverse selection death spiral after for-profit commercial insurance companies entered the market for health insurance. Results suggest that moving to experience rating may have helped the Blues counteract adverse selection in the group health insurance market. Adverse selection posed a greater problem for the Blues in the market for individual health insurance, possibly because of differences in the way the Blues screened potential enrollees relative to commercial insurance companies.     

Consumer behaviour and the purchasing of dental services: Influences on selection and evaluation of health care services

This paper examines the process of interaction between consumers and providers of dental services in terms of the key selection and evaluation criteria employed by consumers. Focusing on the United Kingdom, it examines the impact of changes in both pricing and provision on the utilisation and evaluation of dental services. Based on a questionnaire survey of dental patients, in the context of the evolving body of literature concerned with consumer behaviour in respect of services, the paper attempts to improve the current understanding of the key factors shaping consumer choice in respect of professional services. Specifically, it argues that the highly complex nature of professional services impacts on patterns of consumer behaviour, resulting in the relationship between the individual service professional and the consumer being the focus of consumer evaluation. This in turn has significant implications for the effective marketing of such professional services.     

Time-Based Management of the New Product Development Process

This study explored the problem of compressing new product development by focusing on the specific phases of the innovation process. These phases manifest significant qualitative differences that require attention for understanding the complexities of accelerating new product development. Based on data from 35 high-technology companies, Necmi Karagozoglu and Warren Brown identified several different acceleration methods. Results revealed unexpected and at times inconsistent insights than those reflected in the case study and anecdotally based literature, and implied also that some of the well documented approaches to successful new product development need to be replaced with their time-based versions.