Business Commons^™

Harnessing Growth Spillovers For Rural Development: The Effects Of Regional Spatial Structure, Edward Feser, Andrew Isserman

Edward J Feser

Many rural development strategies seek to leverage urban to-rural growth spillovers. This paper concludes that their success depends on the spatial structure surrounding the target rural counties. We develop a county-level spatial growth model to identify the positive spread and negative backwash effects of urban to rural spillovers in the lower 48 states over the 1990-2000 period. Instead of the conventional, fallacious substitution of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan for urban and rural, we consider the urban and rural character of each county. Mostcounties have both urban and rural populations, and we classify each as urban, mixed urban, or rural depending on …

World Investment Prospects To 2010: Boom Or Backlash?, Edited By Laza Kekic And Karl P. Sauvant, (London: The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd., 2006), Karl P. Sauvant

Karl P. Sauvant

No abstract provided.

A Backlash Against Foreign Direct Investment?, Karl P. Sauvant

Karl P. Sauvant

Karl P. Sauvant, "A Backlash Against Foreign Direct Investment?” in Laza Kekic and Karl P. Sauvant, eds., World Investment Prospects to 2010: Boom or Backlash? (London, UK: The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd., 2006), pp. 71-77.

Introduction To Combinatorial Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

Combinatorial auctions are those auctions in which bidders can place bids on combinations of items, called “packages,” rather than just individual items. The study of combinatorial auctions is inherently interdisciplinary. Combinatorial auctions are in the first place auctions, a topic extensively studied by economists. Package bidding brings in operations research, especially techniques from combinatorial optimization and mathematical programming. Similarly, computer science is concerned with expressiveness of various bidding languages, and algorithmic aspects of the combinatorial problem. The study of combinatorial auctions thus lies at the intersection of economics, operations research, and computer science. In this book, we look at combinatorial …

The Clock-Proxy Auction: A Practical Combinatorial Auction Design, Lawrence M. Ausubel, Peter Cramton, Paul Milgrom

Peter Cramton

We propose the clock-proxy auction as a practical means for auctioning many related items. A clock auction phase is followed by a last-and-final proxy round. The approach combines the simple and transparent price discovery of the clock auction with the efficiency of the proxy auction. Linear pricing is maintained as long as possible, but then is abandoned in the proxy round to improve efficiency and enhance seller revenues. The approach has many advantages over the simultaneous ascending auction. In particular, the clock-proxy auction has no exposure problem, eliminates incentives for demand reduction, and prevents most collusive bidding strategies.

Combinatorial Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

A comprehensive book on combinatorial auctions―auctions in which bidders can bid on packages of items. The book consists of original material intended for researchers, students, and practitioners of auction design. It includes a foreword by Vernon Smith, an introduction to combinatorial auctions, and twenty-three cross-referenced chapters in five parts. Part I covers mechanisms, such as the Vickrey auction and the ascending proxy auction. Part II is on bidding and efficiency issues. Part III examines computational issues and algorithmic considerations, especially the winner determination problem―how to identify the (tentative) winning set of bids that maximizes revenue. Part IV discusses implementation and …

Dynamic Auctions In Procurement, Peter Cramton, Lawrence M. Ausubel

Peter Cramton

We study the theory and practical implementation of dynamic procurement auctions. We consider the procurement of many related items. With many related items, price discovery is important not only to reduce the winner’s curse, but more importantly, to simplify the bidder’s decision problem and to facilitate the revelation of preferences in the bids. Three auction formats are considered: simultaneous descending auctions are preferred if the items are not divisible, simultaneous clock auctions are desirable for procuring many divisible goods, and the clock-proxy auction is best if complementarities among items are strong and varied across the suppliers. We examine the properties …

Simultaneous Ascending Auctions, Peter Cramton, Yoav Shoham, Richard Steinberg

Peter Cramton

The simultaneous ascending auction has proved to be a successful method of auctioning many related items. Simultaneous sale and ascending bids enable price discovery, which helps bidders build desirable packages of items. Although package bids are not allowed, the auction format does handle mild complementarities well. I examine the auction design and its performance in practice.

The Management Science As A Practical Field: In Support Of Action Research, Dariusz Jemielniak

Dariusz Jemielniak

The paper considers the implications of treating management as academic field, its consequent losing direct link to the practice in spite of the dire need for knowing-how orientation in business education, and the potential of action learning to fill this gap. Management since its inception has been, as all young disciplines, related to practice, originally being even perceived as an engineering subdivision (Boje and Winsor, 1993; Shenhav, 1999). Recently, there has been a growing concern that bringing new ideas to business world and solving its real life problems is a promise Academia makes, but cannot fulfill (Czarniawska, 1994). Also, relations …

Benchmarking Against The Dirichlet Model On Local Food Products: Does Designation Of Origin Affect Brand Loyalty?, Polymeros Chrysochou, Georges Giraud, George Chryssochoidis

Polymeros Chrysochou

For more than 15 years the European Community has been interested in the support of local food products. The main aim of this strategy was local food products gain a respective market share, alongside with increasing consumer loyalty towards them. Although the results from many studies show high involvement and commitment from consumers towards local food products, the main issue which still exists is whether attributes such as designation of origin influence the actual purchase behaviour and, moreover, behavioural loyalty towards them. For measuring loyalty we applied the Dirichlet model on scanned data on dry-cured ham collected in French supermarkets. …

Rural Tourism And Local Development: The Case Of The Northern Mt Pelion, Greece, Polymeros Chrysochou, Isabella Gidarakou, Panagiota Kokkali, Alexandros Koutsouris

Polymeros Chrysochou

The paper intends to critically examine rural tourism development in Mt Pelion, one of the famous Greek destinations. The paper utilises two surveys conducted in Northern Pelion addressing: a) lodging owners, and b) tourists. Through the analysis and critical review of the data of the surveys a number of issues emerge as far as the profiles of lodging owners and tourists, the tourism ‘pull factors’ of the area and the role of rural tourism in local development are concerned. Thereafter, a number of policy implications concerning rural tourism in the area are drawn.

On The Debt Capacity Of Growth Options*, Michael Barclay, Clifford W. Smith, Erwan Morellec

Clifford W Smith

No abstract provided.

Optimal Sequential Exploration: A Binary Learning Model, J. Eric Bickel, James E. Smith

Eric Bickel

In this paper, we develop a practical and flexible framework for evaluating sequential exploration strategies in the case where the exploration prospects are dependent. Our interest in this problem was motivated by an oil exploration problem, and our approach begins with marginal assessments for each prospect (e.g., what is the probability that the well is wet?) and pairwise assessments of the dependence between prospects (e.g., what is the probability that both wells i and j are wet?). We then use information-theoretic methods to construct a full joint distribution for all outcomes from these marginal and pairwise assessments. This joint distribution …

Some Determinants Of Corporate Risk Aversion, Eric Bickel

Eric Bickel

In this paper we roughly quantify the degree of risk aversion induced by three rationales for corporate risk management: the cost of financial distress, costly external finance, and the principal-agent relationship between shareholders and management. In so doing, we provide a foundation for the use of corporate utility functions. However, we are unable to fully support the degree of risk aversion reported in the decision analysis literature. Specifically, financial distress and costly external finance appear to induce relatively little risk aversion, while principal-agent concerns lend only partial support to published corporate risk tolerance guidelines.

When Does Culture Matter In Marketing, Donnel A. Briley, Jennifer L. Aaker

Donnel A Briley

No abstract provided.

When Does Culture Matter?: Effects Of Personal Knowledge On The Correction Of Culture-Based Judgments, Donnel A. Briley, Jennifer L. Aaker

Donnel A Briley

Four experiments demonstrate that culture-based differences in persuasion arise when a person processes information in a cursory, spontaneous manner, but these differences dissipate when a person’s intuitions are supplemented by more deliberative processing. North Americans are persuaded more by promotion-focused information, and Chinese people are persuaded more by prevention-focused information, but only when initial, automatic reactions to messages are given. Corrections to these default judgments occur when processing is thoughtful. These results underscore the idea that culture does not exert a constant, unwavering effect on consumer judgments. A key factor in determining whether culture-based effects loom large or fade is …

Bridging The Culture Chasm: Ensuring That Consumers Are Healthy, Wealthy And Wise, Donnel A. Briley, Jennifer L. Aaker

Donnel A Briley

This article pulls together streams of culture-related research found in information-processing and behavioral decision theory literature, and it complements them with a focus on motivations and goals. The authors propose a framework that suggests that (1) the treatment of culture is useful when it incorporates subcultures, including those defined by nationality, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and neighborhood or local surroundings; (2) goals are determined by both cultural background and situational forces; and (3) through its impact on goals, culture influences the inputs used to make a decision, the types of options preferred, and the timing of decisions. The authors highlight the …

The Role Of Connective Tissue Growth Factor In Skeletal Growth And Development, Philadelphia University

Philadelphia University, Jordan

No abstract provided.

Trading In The Australian Stockmarket Using Artificial Neural Networks, Bruce Vanstone

Bruce Vanstone

This thesis focuses on training and testing neural networks for use within stockmarket trading systems. It creates and follows a well defined methodology for developing and benchmarking trading systems which contain neural networks.

Four neural networks and consequently four trading systems are presented within this thesis. The neural networks are trained using all fundamental or all technical variables, and are trained on different segments of the Australian stockmarket, namely all ordinary shares, and the S&P/ASX200 constituents.

Three of the four trading systems containing neural networks significantly outperform the respective buy-and-hold returns for their segments of the market, demonstrating that neural …

School Of Business Library Research Tutorial, Darin L. Gerdes

Darin L. Gerdes

The Liberty University School of Business Library Research tutorial.

Social Choice Theory Implications For Management Control Systems, David Randall Jenkins

David Randall Jenkins

This paper contributes a social choice theory competent context to managerial accounting. This context enables an economic progression framework that will ultimately drive performance measure content and, inter alia, contribute a meaningful standard for financial accounting's going concern assumption.

Audit Committee Financial Experts: A Closer Examination Using Firm Designations, Joseph V. Carcello, Cw Hollingsworth, Terry L. Neal

Joseph V. Carcello

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requires the disclosure of whether the audit committee has a financial expert. We examine disclosures related to audit committee financial experts (ACFEs) in the first year that this disclosure requirement is in effect. We find that virtually all companies disclose whether an ACFE is on the audit committee, although the transparency of the disclosure regarding the ACFE’s background is limited. We also find that most ACFEs do not have a background in accounting or finance, although there are notable differences between stock exchanges on this dimension. In addition, we find that companies designate ACFEs who would …

Harnessing Innovative Technologies In Higher Education, Kathleen P. King, Joan K. Griggs

Kathleen P King

This publication is an attempt to capture the evolution of distributed higher education over the last decade by tracing the applications of new technologies funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). As FIPSE surveyed the current state of distance/distributed education, there existed an opportunity to help post econdary education make the transition to this new generation of distance education made possible by the explosive growth of the Internet and other new technologies. These technologies created the potential for students to access learning that was interactive, customized, and self-paced; to more easily merge lifelong learning with the …

A Review Of Restaurant Valuation Literature, M. C. Dalbor, Andrew H. Feinstein, Z. Mao

Andrew H. Feinstein

This research examines pre 2005 restaurant valuation literature in an effort to identify unexplored areas in this emerging field. Although much has been written regarding valuation in general, there has been very little appraisal literature focusing specifically on restaurants. Of the research that has been conducted, there has been some controversy about whether the appropriate value of a restaurant is a market value or a going concern value. We also explore the continuing usage of “rules of thumb” in restaurant valuation. Although these rules are often based in theory as well as practice, their breadth can severely limit their usefulness. …

Electronic Channels Of Distributions: Challenges And Solutions For Hotel Operators, P. Brewer, Andrew H. Feinstein, B. Bai

Andrew H. Feinstein

This paper addresses the issues of hotel operators identifying effective means of allocating rooms through various electronic channels of distribution. Relying upon the theory of coercive isomorphism, a think tank was constructed to identify and define electronic channels of distribution currently being utilized in the hotel industry. Through two full-day focus groups consisting of key hotel electives and industry practitioners, distribution channels wen identified as were challenges and solutions associated with each.

Research Agenda For Studying Open Source Ii: View Through The Lens Of Referent Discipline Theories, Ashley R. Davis, Fred Niederman, Martina E. Greiner, Donald Wynn, Paul T. York

Ashley R. Davis

In a companion paper [Niederman et al., 2006] we presented a multi-level research agenda for studying information systems using open source software. This paper examines open source in terms of MIS and referent discipline theories that are the base needed for rigorous study of the research agenda.