Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 125

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

What's Ahead For 2007? Knowledge@Wharton Network Surveys The Globe, Knowledge@Smu Dec 2006

What's Ahead For 2007? Knowledge@Wharton Network Surveys The Globe, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

On the financial front, 2006 has been a pretty good year all around. Stock markets in many countries have rallied, energy prices have fallen, inflation is relatively low and growth in GDP ranges from respectable to robust. But the economies of most countries also face a number of threats -- some predictable, some not -- that could derail recent gains in our increasingly connected global markets. What's ahead for 2007 in the U.S., India, Europe, Latin America, China and other parts of the world? We offer a roundup of reports from the Knowledge@Wharton Network, including India Knowledge@Wharton, Universia Knowledge@Wharton and …


How And Why Chinese Firms Excel In 'The Art Of Price War', Knowledge@Smu Dec 2006

How And Why Chinese Firms Excel In 'The Art Of Price War', Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

When it comes to price wars, Wharton marketing professor Z. John Zhang can't help but notice that companies in the West and companies in China are quite literally worlds apart. In the West, Zhang says, the outbreak of a price war is viewed as the failure of managerial rationality. In China, the outbreak of a price war is considered a legitimate and effective business strategy. In a recent paper, Zhang and Dongsheng Zhou, a marketing professor at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, analyze two price wars that took place in China in the mid-1990s.


Singapore's Regionalization Blueprint: A Case For Transnational State Enterprise Networks?, Caroline Yeoh, Victor Sim, Louisa Zhang Dec 2006

Singapore's Regionalization Blueprint: A Case For Transnational State Enterprise Networks?, Caroline Yeoh, Victor Sim, Louisa Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.


Economics Of Competition': A Study Of Low-Cost Manufacturing Enclaves In Batam Island, Indonesia, Caroline Yeoh, Feng Hao Chua, Sylvie Tan Dec 2006

Economics Of Competition': A Study Of Low-Cost Manufacturing Enclaves In Batam Island, Indonesia, Caroline Yeoh, Feng Hao Chua, Sylvie Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Singapore’s transborder industrialization projects in China and India have received much attention. This regionalization initiative was intended to set in place a strategic configuration for the city-state to restructure its domestic industries and, pari passu, retain important linkages with contiguous, low-cost environments. Our study reports on Singapore’s pioneering, albeit lesser-known, project - Batamindo Industrial Park – in neighboring Batam Island, Indonesia, and finds that the strategic intent of this policy gambit remains stymied by non-economic, socio-political complexities in the host environment, and the economics of competition from other industrial estates in the vicinity of this prototype, remains to be addressed.


Nation Equity: Incidental Emotions In Country-Of-Origin Effects, Durairaj Maheswaran, Cathy Yi Chen Dec 2006

Nation Equity: Incidental Emotions In Country-Of-Origin Effects, Durairaj Maheswaran, Cathy Yi Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Different from past research on country-of-origin effects that has focused on cognitive factors, this article examines the impact of incidental emotions and cognitive appraisals associated with these emotions on country-of-origin effects. Experiment 1 compared anger and sadness and demonstrated that country of origin influenced evaluations only in the angry (vs. sad) condition where human (vs. situation) control was high. Experiment 2 further identified the effects of agency control using a different emotion, frustration. Based on these observations, this article suggests that, like brands, countries also have equity associated with them, termed nation equity, that has both performance and emotional components. …


Insider Trading And Voluntary Disclosures, Qiang Cheng, Kin Lo Dec 2006

Insider Trading And Voluntary Disclosures, Qiang Cheng, Kin Lo

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We hypothesize that insiders strategically choose disclosure policies and the timing of their equity trades to maximize trading profits, subject to the litigation costs associated with disclosure and insider trading. Accounting for endogeneity between disclosures and trading, we find that when managers plan to purchase shares, they increase the number of bad news forecasts to reduce the purchase price. In addition, this relation is stronger for trades initiated by chief executive officers than for those initiated by other executives. Confirming this strategic behavior, we find that managers successfully time their trades around bad news forecasts, buying fewer shares beforehand and …


Certainty As A Moderator Of Feedback Reactions? A Test Of The Strength Of The Self-Verification Motive, Frederik Anseel, Filip Lievens Dec 2006

Certainty As A Moderator Of Feedback Reactions? A Test Of The Strength Of The Self-Verification Motive, Frederik Anseel, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The present study investigated whether employees are merely interested in hearing good news about themselves, as predicted by self-enhancement theory, or are more interested in feedback that confirms their self-concept, as predicted by self-verification theory. We examined in a field study whether self-view certainty serves as a moderator and strengthens the effect of congruence between individuals' self-views and the performance feedback they receive about these self-views on feedback reactions. Polynomial regression results revealed that people mainly reacted favourably to positive feedback. Prior self-views did not play a key role in explaining feedback reactions. As feedback scores were the main determinant …


Implication Of Comprehensive Income Disclosure For Future Earnings And Analysts' Forecasts, Jong-Hag Choi, Yoonseok Zang Dec 2006

Implication Of Comprehensive Income Disclosure For Future Earnings And Analysts' Forecasts, Jong-Hag Choi, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This paper examines the association of comprehensive income with subsequent period net income as well as analysts’ earnings forecasts. Our results support the notion that comprehensive income is incrementally useful in predicting subsequent period changes in net income. We also document that comprehensive income is associated with analysts’ earnings forecast revisions and forecast errors. The evidence is consistent with analysts’ failure to fully utilize the information disclosed in comprehensive income. The result suggests that analysts revise their year t+1’s forecast downward when comprehensive income is smaller than net income but they do not revise the forecast upward when comprehensive income …


Escalation And De-Escalation Of Commitment To Information Systems Projects: Insights From An Approach-Avoidance Process Model, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan Dec 2006

Escalation And De-Escalation Of Commitment To Information Systems Projects: Insights From An Approach-Avoidance Process Model, Gary Pan, Shan Ling Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We view escalation and de-escalation of commitment as processes involving recurring instances of approach-avoidance conflict. This paper outlines an approach-avoidance process model for describing and analyzing escalation and de-escalation of commitment in information systems projects. In the model, the sequential mapping of project events is integrated with a model of approach-avoidance conflict that identifies periods of gradual evolution at two separate levels of social analysis (project and work) that are punctuated by sudden, revolutionary periods of rapid change. By conceiving the processes of commitment escalation and de-escalation as sequences of events involving approach-avoidance conflicts, researchers may develop a deeper understanding …


The Effect Of The Options Backdating Scandal On The Stock-Price Performance Of 110 Accused Companies, Gennaro Bernile, Gregg A. Jarrell, Howard Mulcahey Dec 2006

The Effect Of The Options Backdating Scandal On The Stock-Price Performance Of 110 Accused Companies, Gennaro Bernile, Gregg A. Jarrell, Howard Mulcahey

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Since academic scholars and the Wall Street Journal reported widespread evidence indicating that option grants to executives were backdated, an avalanche of news stories followed documenting this ever-widening corporate scandal. In this study we ask: "How do disclosures of backdating affect shareholder value?" We closely examine 110 companies listed in the Wall Street Journal's Perfect Payday webpage, collecting all news stories related to options backdating. We find that shareholders of these 110 companies suffer on average significant stock-price declines, ranging between 20% and 50%. Moreover, these losses do not seem to be due to temporary overreactions (at least so far). …


A Within-Person Perspective On Feedback Seeking About Task Performance, Frederik Anseel, Filip Rene O Lievens Dec 2006

A Within-Person Perspective On Feedback Seeking About Task Performance, Frederik Anseel, Filip Rene O Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In organisations, feedback about multiple performance dimensions is often available. Consequently, employees have to decide on which performance dimensions they will be seeking feedback. In a lab experiment 126 students indicated on which performance dimensions they wanted to receive feedback after completing a computerized in-basket task. Results showed that participants especially sought feedback about their best and most important performance dimensions. Individuals with a high learning goal orientation sought more feedback about their least important performance dimensions as compared to individuals with a low learning goal orientation. In general, results indicated that previous findings obtained in between-person studies of feedback …


Managing News In A Managed Media: Mediating The Message In Malaysiakini.Com, Augustine Pang Dec 2006

Managing News In A Managed Media: Mediating The Message In Malaysiakini.Com, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Widely regarded as an anomaly in the neo-authoritarian system in Malaysia, Malaysiakini.com is proving that managing an independent media in a government-managed media landscape is more than a Sisyphean struggle. Employing participant observation and interviews, supplemented by artifacts and media accounts, this study seeks to understand the media management of Malaysiakini.com through news management, using Shoemaker and Reese’s (1996) hierarchy of influence model, which posits a framework of internal and external forces that affect news management. The study found determined attempts to minimize ideological influences through media socialization by accentuating on the direct influences, such as the journalists’ role in …


Creativity Needed In Non-Profits?, Wee Liang Tan Dec 2006

Creativity Needed In Non-Profits?, Wee Liang Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creativity is something that one might not associate with the social service sector. In fact, one might consider creativity something quite distant from the non-profit sector. "We in the social service sector have more important things to do - we serve our clients and beneficiaries; we don't have the time to fool around with fancy new ideas or projects." Yet such sentiments could be no further from the truth.


The Association Between Earnings Quality And Regulatory Report Opinions In The Accounting Industry, Tracey Chunqi Zhang, Katherine Gunny Dec 2006

The Association Between Earnings Quality And Regulatory Report Opinions In The Accounting Industry, Tracey Chunqi Zhang, Katherine Gunny

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We compare the outcome of two different information systems – self regulation versus private sector regulation – in the accounting industry. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections replaced American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) peer reviews of auditors. Peer review opinions are useful with respect to decisions about hiring and firing of auditors (Hilary and Lennox, 2005); therefore, the question remains what are the benefits of incurring the cost to replace a selfregulatory system with a private regulatory agency. We examine the usefulness of these two information systems at distinguishing earnings quality at firms …


Reputation Stretching In Online Auctions, Jianqing Chen, Mei Lin, Andrew B. Whinston Dec 2006

Reputation Stretching In Online Auctions, Jianqing Chen, Mei Lin, Andrew B. Whinston

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Reputation systems are ubiquitously employed in the online marketplaces to provide information on users’ abilities and trustworthiness. We focus particularly on the problem of reputation stretching, the extension of an established reputation into a new market. By examining various factors—market size, the expected performance in the expanding market, and the risk of performance in the expanding market—we characterize conditions that affect bidder’s stretching decision in the expanding market. Moreover, we analyze both the short-term and the long-term expanding cases, and obtain contrasting results in the two settings.


Supply Chain Information Sharing In A Macro Prediction Market, Zhiling Guo, Fang Fang, Andrew B. Whinston Dec 2006

Supply Chain Information Sharing In A Macro Prediction Market, Zhiling Guo, Fang Fang, Andrew B. Whinston

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper aims to address supply chain partners' incentives for information sharing from an information systems design perspective. Specifically, we consider a supply chain characterized by N geographically distributed retailers who order a homogeneous product from one manufacturer. Each retailer's demand risk consists of two parts: a systematic risk part that affects all retailers and an idiosyncratic risk part that only has a local effect. We propose a macro prediction market to effectively elicit and aggregate useful information about systematic demand risk. We show that such information can be used to achieve accurate demand forecast sharing and better channel coordination …


The Singapore 'Advantage' In Suzhou, China: Premium Or Perception?, Caroline Yeoh, Di Kun Goh, Victor Sim, Norhanna Yumi Dec 2006

The Singapore 'Advantage' In Suzhou, China: Premium Or Perception?, Caroline Yeoh, Di Kun Goh, Victor Sim, Norhanna Yumi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper revisits Singapore’s industrial development in Suzhou, China, which has been in operation for more than a decade. We aim to glean insights from this experiment and more importantly, to verify recent claims of it generating political gain and economic capital for Singapore. The flagship project took on an identical framework as the other Singaporean transborder industrialization ventures in the region by adopting Singapore’s expertise and reputation for an efficient and stable government and investment environment. These measures were coupled with the combination of local-specific advantages in the region, such as availability of cheaper labour and market access. Singapore’s …


Online Advertising By The Comparison Challenge Approach, Jae Wong Lee, Jae Kyu Lee Dec 2006

Online Advertising By The Comparison Challenge Approach, Jae Wong Lee, Jae Kyu Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To enhance the effectiveness of online comparisons from a manufacturer's point of view, we develop a framework for the comparison challenge approach. To develop the comparison challenge framework, we analyze 12 factors that determine the characteristics of comparison and propose models of valuable comparison challenges using the CompareMe and CompareThem strategies. We demonstrate the approaches with the example of PC selection. To help plan the comparison challenges, we formulate a mathematical programming model that maximizes the total value of comparison under the constraints of comparison opportunity and budgetary limitation. The model is applied to eight comparison scenarios, and its performance …


More Than Job Demands Or Personality, Lack Of Organizational Respect Fuels Employee Burnout, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

More Than Job Demands Or Personality, Lack Of Organizational Respect Fuels Employee Burnout, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

One of the biggest complaints employees have, according to Wharton management professor Sigal Barsade, is that "they are not sufficiently recognized by their organizations for the work they do .... When employees don't feel that the organization respects and values them, they tend to experience higher levels of burnout." Barsade and doctoral student Lakshmi Ramarajan look at the role of respect in a paper titled, "What Makes the Job Tough? The Influence of Organizational Respect on Burnout in Human Services."


Insurance: Indian And Foreign Firms Test Positive For Growth Steroid, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Insurance: Indian And Foreign Firms Test Positive For Growth Steroid, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

The new crop of private and foreign players in India's de-nationalized insurance industry is achieving growth rates in market shares that are bigger than its ambitious estimates. Insurance penetration -- both life and non-life -- has taken off vertically with a proliferation of products, and the former state-owned monopolies are pulling out the best in their armory. India Knowledge@Wharton spoke to some of the key players, industry regulators and consulting houses to capture a ringside view of one of the biggest slugfests these days in the emerging economies.


Mckinsey's Ian Davis: Maximizing Shareholder Value Doesn't Cut It Anymore, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Mckinsey's Ian Davis: Maximizing Shareholder Value Doesn't Cut It Anymore, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Shareholder value is growing increasingly irrelevant as government and society take a larger role in shaping business and industry, according to Ian Davis, managing director of McKinsey, the global management-consulting firm. In a Wharton Leadership Lecture, Davis said new societal pressures, such as regulation and environmental sustainability, are now joining the list of long-standing issues -- including growth, globalization and technology -- that demand the attention of today's CEOs.


Going Up: Real Estate Is On The Rise Again In Japan, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Going Up: Real Estate Is On The Rise Again In Japan, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Nothing symbolizes Japan's bubble economy, or its subsequent long slump, more than real estate. Now, after dropping by as much as 70%, real estate prices are ticking up, signaling a renewed Japanese economy. A major restructuring of the nation's financial system, along with an injection of foreign capital and the introduction of publicly traded real estate investment trusts, are driving the real estate revival, according to Wharton faculty and real estate analysts working in Tokyo.


Unilever's Michael Polk: It's All About 'Dislocating Ideas', Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Unilever's Michael Polk: It's All About 'Dislocating Ideas', Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

To drive home the subject of his speech at the recent third annual Wharton Marketing conference, Michael Polk, president of Unilever United States, flashed up a definition straight from the dictionary: 'Innovation: a new idea or method; a change in something established.' Polk, who manages such brands as Dove, Axe, Slim-Fast, Country Crock, Wishbone and Q-Tips, said innovation, not invention, lies at the heart of successful marketing campaigns.


Making The Global Grade: Chinese Managers Are The Latest Enrollees In Western Executive Education Classes, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Making The Global Grade: Chinese Managers Are The Latest Enrollees In Western Executive Education Classes, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

As Chinese firms increasingly turn their attention to strengthening their ability to compete in the global economy, they have a new challenge -- developing international expertise. One way they are doing this is by turning to Western executive education programs, which can include everything from courses in finance, marketing and corporate governance to a visit to Bloomingdale's and meals at noted Western restaurants.


A Typology Of Plants In Global Manufacturing Networks, Ann Vereecke, Roland Van Dierdonck, Arnoud De Meyer Nov 2006

A Typology Of Plants In Global Manufacturing Networks, Ann Vereecke, Roland Van Dierdonck, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new, empirically derived typology of plants in the international manufacturing network of multinational companies. This typology is based on the knowledge flows between the plants. In our research, network analysis has been used as a methodology for understanding the position of plants in international manufacturing networks. The focus has been primarily on the intangible knowledge network, and secondarily on the physical, logistic network. Our analysis leads to four types of plants with different network roles: the isolated plants, the receivers, the hosting network players, and the active network players. Our analysis …


Performance Differences Across Strategic Groups: An Examination Of Financial Market-Based Performance Measures, J. Rajendran Pandian, Howard Thomas, Olivier Furrer, William C. Bogner Nov 2006

Performance Differences Across Strategic Groups: An Examination Of Financial Market-Based Performance Measures, J. Rajendran Pandian, Howard Thomas, Olivier Furrer, William C. Bogner

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

One of the more interesting issues in the strategic management field is the question of whether intra-industry performance differences exist, particularly across strategic groups. Most of the existing studies have used accounting measures of performance despite the documented weaknesses of such measures. This paper examines whether financial market-based measures of performance are superior to accounting-based measures in identifying performance differences across strategic groups. Hypotheses are tested on data from an existing sample of firms in the US pharmaceutical industry. The empirical results indicate that performance differences are more likely to exist across strategic groups when financial market performance measures are …


Management And Self-Activity: Accounting For The Crisis In Profit-Taking, Stefano Harney Nov 2006

Management And Self-Activity: Accounting For The Crisis In Profit-Taking, Stefano Harney

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The crisis in measurement identified by those working in the tradition of Italian autonomia has consequences for the critique of accounting and management. If both capitalist work and the commodity are today communicative and overtly political, a critique that merely points to these characteristics will have no transformative effect. This paper uses the Trinidadian Marxist theorist C.L.R. James’s notion of self-activity to suggest that the crisis in measurement is a symptom of the separation of work and value. The institution of forms of self-management and what might be called wars of command begin to replace the governmentality of the wage …


Linking Brand Equity To Customer Equity, Robert P. Leone, Vithala R. Rao, Kevin Lane Keller, Anita Man Luo, Leigh Mcalister, Rajendra Kumar Srivastava Nov 2006

Linking Brand Equity To Customer Equity, Robert P. Leone, Vithala R. Rao, Kevin Lane Keller, Anita Man Luo, Leigh Mcalister, Rajendra Kumar Srivastava

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Customer equity and brand equity are two of the most important topics to academic researchers and practitioners. As part of the 2005 Thought Leaders Conference held at the University of Connecticut, the authors were asked to review what was known and not known about the relationship between brand equity and customer equity. During their discussions, it became clear that whereas two distinct research streams have emerged and there are distinct differences, the concepts are also highly related. It also became clear that whereas the focus of both brand equity and customer equity research has been on the end consumer, there …


Choice Of Currency By East Asia Bond Issuers, David Fernandez, Simon Klassen Nov 2006

Choice Of Currency By East Asia Bond Issuers, David Fernandez, Simon Klassen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In discussing bond markets in Asia, academics and policymakers typically begin by noting that the Asian crisis of 1997-98 in part resulted from the underdevelopment of the region’s domestic bond markets and the resultant currency and duration mismatches. When assessing the progress made in developing these markets in the post-crisis years, academics and policymakers usually observe that, while several domestic currency government bond markets have moved ahead, corporate bond markets have lagged (Asian Development Bank (2002), Reserve Bank of Australia (2003)). The policy conclusion is therefore often drawn: to prevent another Asian crisis, Asian bond markets must be further developed.


Global Hotspots In The Real Estate Business, Knowledge@Smu Nov 2006

Global Hotspots In The Real Estate Business, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Emerging real estate markets in India and China, along with recovering property industries in Germany and Japan, are among the top destinations for global real estate investors, according to panelists at the Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center's fall meeting. During a session titled, "Global Hot Spots -- How to Think about Hot Foreign Markets," Wharton real estate professor Peter Linneman called on each panelist to describe the markets they find most intriguing.