Business Commons^™

Bettr Barista: A Shot At Better Lives, Heli Wang, Sheetal Mittal, Adeline Natalia Sue Yi Lai

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This chapter presents a case study in which Pamela Chng, the founder of Singapore-based Bettr Barista (BB), believes that a workplace cannot exist aloof from society's challenges and that companies need to be accountable for their contribution to society. The enterprise offers a four-month-long holistic programme, equipping them with job skills as a barista. The chapter highlights the challenge in maintaining the balance between financial and social goals, as this drives most of the decisions taken by the company, be it its value chain or the key stakeholders. The social programme was a comprehensive training course for the marginalised section …

Smart Contract Development: Challenges And Opportunities, Weiqin Zou, David Lo, Pavneet Singh Kochhar, Xuan-Bach D. Le, Xin Xia, Yang Feng, Zhenyu Chen, Baowen Xu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Smart contract, a term which was originally coined to refer to the automation of legal contracts in general, has recently seen much interest due to the advent of blockchain technology. Recently, the term is popularly used to refer to low-level code scripts running on a blockchain platform. Our study focuses exclusively on this subset of smart contracts. Such smart contracts have increasingly been gaining ground, finding numerous important applications (e.g., crowdfunding) in the real world. Despite the increasing popularity, smart contract development still remains somewhat a mystery to many developers largely due to its special design and applications. Are there …

Boosting Employee Motivation With Loving- Kindness, Jochen Reb, William Tov, Smu Office Of Research

Research@SMU Infographics

New research at SMU, conducted by Professor Jochen Reb and his collaborators, Assosiate Professor William Tov and PhD student Theodore Masters-Waage, shows that loving-kindness can increase employee motivation and cultivate a positive mental state. This can impact job performace and job satisfaction.

Business Families As Stewards Of Sustainability, John Cheng, Ankesh Shahra, Cynthia Handriani Wijaya, Louise Dudley

Perspectives@SMU

The drive to preserve the business for future generations makes family-owned enterprises especially suited to sustainability initiatives. Embracing ESG frameworks will help measure their effectiveness

How Has Covid Changed The Way We Need To Collaborate And Innovate?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Organisations need to adopt a specific approach to hybrid working in order to improve collaboration, communication, productivity and innovation

How ‘Human’ Should Robots Be?, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Hotel guests like interaction with devices that look and sound like them, but they can spark displeasure after service failures, new CUHK study shows

Communicating Business, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Communications heads should have a seat in boardrooms to facilitate strategic communication. But they need to demonstrate how communications drive business

Greening E-Commerce In China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, is leading the charge to address e-commerce’s waste and carbon footprint issue

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore 2021: Q2 Results, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) computes customer satisfaction scores at the national, sector, sub-sector, and company levels. The CSISG serves as a quantitative benchmark of the quality of goods and services produced by the Singapore economy over time. 2021 marks the 15th year of measurement for the CSISG national study.

Declining Discount Rates In Singapore's Market For Privately Developed Apartments, Eric Fesselmeyer, Haoming Liu, Alberto Salvo

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Singapore's market for new privately developed apartments exhibits wide quasi-experimental variation in ownership tenure. We develop an empirical model in which prices are decomposed into the utility of housing services and a factor that shifts with asset tenure and the discount rate schedule, which we discipline to vary smoothly over time. We estimate discount rates that decline over time and, to accommodate the observed price differences, fall to 0.5-1.5% p.a. by year 400. The finding that households making sizable transactions do not entirely discount benefits accruing centuries from today is relevant, with the appropriate risk adjustment, for evaluating climate-change investments.

Dynamic Analysis Of Money Supply, Unemployment And Inflation Rate In The Us, Guangyu Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Price stability is not only an important indicator of the healthy and stability of macro-economy, but also one of the goals of macroeconomic policy. There are many factors affecting inflation. Different monetary policy instruments, such as money supply, liquidity and market expectations, have different effects on inflation. Meanwhile, monetary policy goals, such as inflation rate, employment rate and economic growth rate, also affect each other.

This paper provides an empirical study of money supply, inflation and unemployment in the US economy. Based on the existing theoretical and empirical analysis, this paper selects different research models and new data dimensions to …

Digital Sustainability And Entrepreneurship: How Digital Innovations Are Helping Tackle Climate Change And Sustainable Development, Gerard George, Ryan K. Merrill, Simon J. D. Schillebeeckx

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We explore how digital technologies are helping address grand challenges to tackle climate change and promote sustainable development. With digital technologies, entrepreneurial organizations have adopted innovative approaches to tackle seemingly intractable societal challenges. We refer to these broadly as digital sustainability activities. By focusing on the digital toolbox employed by pioneering organizations, we propose a research agenda that generates novel questions for entrepreneurship, business models, and ecosystems as well as new ways of thinking about trust and institutional logics. We believe that digital sustainability can spur empirical advances in entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy with potential for positive impact on society.

Do Investor Sentiments Drive Cryptocurrency Prices?, Erdinc Akyildirim, Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Oguzhan Cepni, Pinar Darendeli

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper studies the dynamic network connectedness between cryptocurrency returns and sentiments using the novel cryptocurrency-specific MarketPsych sentiment data for 13 cryptocurrencies with the highest market capitalization. The results indicate the dominance of cryptocurrencies with higher market capitalization and information transmission from cryptocurrency returns to sentiments. Our results also show that Bitcoin is losing its dominance to alt-coins in return spillovers while still dominant in sentiment spillovers.

The 2021 Ipr Future Of Communications In Asia Report, Tina Mccorkindale, Sarah Crawshaw, Su Lin Yeo, Stephen Thomas, Alexis B. Fitzsimmons, Pang, A.

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The communication function within Asian-headquartered organizations is undergoing significant growth and changes that will be pivotal for its future success, according to a new Institute for Public Relations (IPR) research report. The “IPR Future of Communications in Asia” research report investigates key changes that will impact the future of the communications function. The analysis is based on interviews with 30 senior communications executives based in Asia in a variety of industries from 2019 to 2020, and three focus groups with nearly 20 senior communication leaders in late 2020.

Inside Brokers, Frank Weikai Li, Abhiroop Mukherjee, Rik Sen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We identify the broker each corporate insider trades through, and find that analysts and mutual fund managers affiliated with such “inside brokers” have a substantial information advantage on the insider’s firm. Affiliated analysts issue more accurate earnings forecasts, and affiliated mutual funds trade the insider’s stock more profitably than their peers, following insider trades through their brokerage. Notably, this advantage persists well after these insider trades are publicly disclosed. Our results challenge the prevalent perception that information asymmetry arising from insider trading is acute only before trade disclosure, and suggest that brokers facilitating these trades are in a position to …

Trust In Fair Value Accounting: Evidence From The Field, Clarence Goh, Chu Yeong Lim, Jeffery Ng, Gary Pan, Kevin Ow Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We survey stakeholders in the financial reporting process to examine trust in fair value accounting. Although respondents demonstrate high confidence in financial statements, they believe that fair value accounting decreases trust in financial reporting and that preparing fair value numbers is costly but beneficial. They also strongly believe in the Conceptual Framework underlying standard setting. Using multivariate regression analyses, we find that perceiving fair value accounting as beneficial is positively associated with trust in it, consistent with the theory of reasoned action that people engage in behavior (e.g., trust) based on expected positive outcomes of that behavior. We find that …

Creating Exceptional Customer Experience With Data, Themin Suwardy, Melvin Yong

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In a joint commentary, SMU Associate Provost for Postgraduate Professional Education and Associate Professor of Accounting (Practice) Themin Suwardy and Melvin Yong, Singapore Country Head of CPA Australia, discussed how exceptional customer services can be created with data. They opined that this involves employing technology and analytical skills, with agile teams working across functional lines. SMU Associate Dean of the School of Computing and Information Systems and Professor of Information Systems (Education) Michelle Cheong said, “Sustainable competitive advantage can come from improvements in their product and service offerings which can be implemented quickly, cannot be imitated easily, and can bring …

The Impact Of Global Crisis On Innovation And Succession On Family Business From A Socioemotional Wealth Perspective, Lai Kuan Kim Wong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The ongoing pandemic provides an invaluable opportunity to observe family businesses under extenuating circumstances, especially the Circuit Breaker which forced all non-essential workplaces to close to curb the spread of COVID-19; this in effect mandated that everyone should work from home. (Ministry of Health Singapore, 2020). This meant that for those working in intergenerational family businesses, they could also be living and working in the same confined space for an extended period. Does the accumulation of these circumstances create a phenomenon that leads to interactions that generate innovation and renew family bonds leading to succession?

Family businesses are known to …

Path To Global Inflence:Conditions For Chinese Film Industry To Succeed, Dong Yu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The world has undergone tectonic transformations since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Inevitably, the pandemic created the perfect conditions for the acceleration of digitization and new infrastructural technologies aimed to increase the speed and availability of content. In China, the pandemic forced
major releases to be streamed via online platforms and drastically altered consumer’s perception of the quality of digital content. Most importantly, digital streaming has shown huge capitalization potential, aided by the spread of 5G technologies, as those who embraced online platforms thrived in the midst
of the global pandemic. During the course of this dissertation, the Chinese …

Entrepreneurship In Singapore, Jungho Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

Singapore has completed its catch-up growth phase and needs to find a new growth engine. Entrepreneurship can contribute to a nation’s productivity growth. The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, a theoretical framework is presented, along with empirical evidence, to understand government interventions aimed at boosting entrepreneurship. Second, using the framework, the chapter discusses whether Singapore’s current policies are suitable for helping entrepreneurship. The theory demonstrates four reasons why government intervention is needed: (1) resource misallocation, (2) positive externality, (3) entrepreneurial human capital, and (4) tax and default policies. Singapore’s government has implemented various policies that potentially fix market …

Sporting Excellence And Ns: Abiding Principles For Rite Of Passage For Singaporean Sons, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed how strict criteria for long-term national service (NS) deferment are necessary and fair to preserve universality and equity for all national servicemen, and must be applied without fear or favour. He explained the principles undergirding NS and gave examples of athletes achieving sporting excellence alongside fulfilling NS duties.

Implementing An Insolvency Framework For Micro And Small Firms, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) represent the vast majority of businesses in most countries around the world. Despite the economic relevance of these firms, most insolvency jurisdictions do not provide adequate responses to MSMEs. Moreover, with a few exceptions, the academic literature on insolvency law has not traditionally focused on the treatment of MSMEs in insolvency. This article seeks to contribute to the debate by exploring the primary features and problems of MSMEs in insolvency as well as the weaknesses of the ordinary insolvency framework to deal with MSMEs. It also provides a general overview of the primary reforms …

Singapore Will Soon Have Workplace Anti-Discrimination Laws: Here’S What You Need To Know, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Work is often a significant part of one’s life. Decisions by employers — including hiring decisions and choices on how to treat employees at work — can have life-changing effects on lives and livelihoods. Therefore, if there were reason to suspect that some employers make such decisions on the grounds of applicants’ or employees’ race, sex, or other personal characteristics without a valid reason, then we should be worried. If that were to become widespread, our society would suffer. Some people would face greater challenges than others at work, and therefore in life, merely because of who they are.

Artificial Intelligence And Work: Two Perspectives, Steven Miller, Thomas H. Davenport

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

One of the most important issues in contemporary societies is the impact of intelligent technologies on human work. For an empirical perspective on the issue, we recently completed 30 case studies of people collaborating with AI-enabled smart machines. Twenty-four were from North America, mostly in the US. Six were from Southeast Asia, mostly in Singapore. We compare some of our observations to one of the broadest academic examinations of the issue. In particular, we focus on our case study observations with regard to key findings from the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future report.

Turning The Tables In Research And Development Licensing Contracts, Niyazi Taneri, Pascale Crama

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Research and development (R&D) collaborations between an innovator and her partner are often undertaken when neither party can bring the product to market individually, which precludes value creation without a joint effort. Yet, the uncertain nature of R&D complicates the monitoring of effort, and the resulting moral hazard reduces a collaboration’s value. Either party can avoid this outcome by acquiring the capability that is missing and then taking sole ownership of the project. That approach involves two types of risks: one related to whether the other party’s capability will be acquired and one related to how well it will be …

Media Connection And Return Comovement, Zilin Chen, Li Guo, Jun Tu, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Media news may cover multiple firms in one article, which establishes a media connection across firms. We propose a media connection strength (MCS) measure between two given firms, which is defined as the number of news articles co-mentioning these two firms. We show that the MCS measure can significantly explain and forecast return comovement of media-connected firm-pairs. Further analyses show that our results are robust to various alternative explanations. We argue that the MCS measure can capture comprehensive and complex correlated fundamental information among media-connected firms and hence may provide a new mechanism for return comovement beyond the existing rational- …

Understanding Organizational And Socio-Cultural Contexts: A Communicative Constitutive Approach To Social License To Operate Among Top Hong Kong Companies, Angela K. Y. Mak, Suwichit (Sean) Chaidaroon, Alessandro Poroli, Pang, A.

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Embracing a constitutive view of communication, this study explores how organizations in Hong Kong make sense of and negotiate their corporate societal commitment. It does that by examining how the considered organizations construct their engagement in society and talk of their aspirations on identified society-oriented doings by cultural discourse analysis. Findings show that the studied Hong Kong companies constructed their engagement by communicationally relating to other societal actors, establishing we-ness in community engagement actions, incorporating elements of the local cultures (languages and places) and in their reasoning and disclosing emotion-rich considerations. Aspirations were instead presented through a constant reference to …

A Dynamic Delegated Investment Model Of Spacs, Dan Luo, Jian Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study SPACs in a continuous-time delegated investment model. Our model is built upon three unique features of SPACs: the sponsor and the investor are only partially aligned, a SPAC has a short time horizon, and the investor has the final control over investment approval. Due to the misalignment in incentives, the sponsor has an increasing incentive to propose unprofitable projects to the investor; in response, the investor exerts more stringent screening based on her information. Although the screening helps curb the sponsor’s moral hazard, it also dampens the disciplining effect of partial alignment in incentives. When the investor’s information …

Inventory Sharing And Demand-Side Underweighting, Hui Zhao, Liang Xu, Enno Siemsen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Problem definition: Transshipment/inventory sharing has been used in practice because of its risk-pooling potential. However, human decision makers play a critical role in making inventory decisions in an inventory sharing system, which may affect its benefits. We investigate whether the opportunity to transship inventory influences decision makers' inventory decisions and whether, as a result, the intended risk-pooling benefits materialize. Academic/practical relevance: Previous research in transshipment, which is focused on finding optimal stocking and sharing decisions, assumes rational decision making without any systematic bias. As one of the first to study inventory sharing from a behavioral perspective, we demonstrate a persistent …

Essence Of Partnership Management In Project-Based Learning: Insights From A University’S Global Project Programme, Gary Pan, Poh Sun Seow, Shankararaman, Venky, Kevin Koh

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Universities today are embracing teaching pedagogy of project-based learning (PBL) through collaboration with industry. PBL allows students to learn theory in the classroom, then apply what they have learned in the field, solving a wide array of business or societal challenges facing organizations, while at the same time, solidifying their own knowledge. While there are many benefits of such academic-industry partnership, there are also challenges that if not addressed, may have serious consequences. This study aims to develop a framework that highlights the essence of partnership management in a PBL setting and validate the framework by conducting a focus group …