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Full-Text Articles in Business

A Surgical Approach To Orchestra: How Singpost Is Bracing Itself For Change, Knowledge@Smu Feb 2010

A Surgical Approach To Orchestra: How Singpost Is Bracing Itself For Change, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

No longer the traditional company that commands mental images of the sweaty postman, his motorbike or sacks of undelivered mail – this is the goal set out by SingPost's Group CEO, whose vision of a corporate reinvention evokes metaphors of classical orchestra and medical surgery. And reinvented he has – with a slew of new service offerings. Through diversification, the nation's most established postal service provider is bracing itself for the day when snail mail becomes a thing of the past.


Doing More With Mobile Networks: More Users, More Uses?, Knowledge@Smu Feb 2010

Doing More With Mobile Networks: More Users, More Uses?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

With so many mobile devices entering the market, from hand phones to laptops and now, iPads and Kindles, it is no wonder that more and more people are jumping on board the mobile bandwagon. However, are today's mobile networks designed to serve and connect a fast expanding number of users? It makes sense that when too many users enter a network, that network will become congested and connectivity will be compromised – or will it? According to SMU information systems assistant professor Kyriakos Mouratidis, "spatial optimisation" of existing connection points within a network may break new grounds in enhancing the …


An Economist's Take On The Opportunities And Threats That Lie Ahead For Asia, Knowledge@Smu Feb 2010

An Economist's Take On The Opportunities And Threats That Lie Ahead For Asia, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Say you have the ability to foresee the ups and downs of the economy; what would you do with that power? Stephen Roach's answer: Become a celebrated economist, columnist and author! His latest book, The Next Asia, is a 2006 to 2009 greatest hits collection of essays on what, he believes, are the region's shortfalls and opportunities. There is plenty to chew upon – from what Roach believes are the factors that led to the recent financial crisis to the various issues that will plague the continent's rapidly developing economies.


An Analysis Of Extreme Price Shocks And Illiquidity Among Systematic Trend Followers, Wing Bernard Lee, Shih-Fen Cheng, Annie Koh Feb 2010

An Analysis Of Extreme Price Shocks And Illiquidity Among Systematic Trend Followers, Wing Bernard Lee, Shih-Fen Cheng, Annie Koh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We construct an agent-based model to study the interplay between extreme price shocks and illiquidity in the presence of systematic traders known as trend followers. The agent-based approach is particularly attractive in modeling commodity markets because the approach allows for the explicit modeling of production, capacities, and storage constraints. Our study begins by using the price stream from a market simulation involving human participants and studies the behavior of various trend-following strategies, assuming initially that their participation will not impact the market. We notice an incremental deterioration in strategy performance as and when strategies deviate further and further from the …


Sourcing Reform Competency And Effective Collaboration: A Resource Based View, Sudhi Seshadri Feb 2010

Sourcing Reform Competency And Effective Collaboration: A Resource Based View, Sudhi Seshadri

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Firms in the Asia Pacific region are rapidly globalizing their sourcing processes and effective collaboration with suppliers across borders is necessary for superior sourcing performance. Recent work in Resource Based View calls for business process level research into the resource-performance link and for survey research into global sourcing. We report on a survey research study with managers in the region, and develop measures that link practices to the goals of De-Constraining, Re-Branding and Re-Optimizing. We develop a model and test hypotheses based on predictions of RBV. We find that a latent sourcing resource Reform Competency is positively associated with these …


The Optimal Degree Of Reciprocity In Tariff Reduction, Pao Li Chang Feb 2010

The Optimal Degree Of Reciprocity In Tariff Reduction, Pao Li Chang

Research Collection School Of Economics

This article clari.es the roles played by trade policy, in contrast with iceberg transport cost, in the popular setting of Melitz (2003), and characterizes the optimal reciprocal trade policy in such a setting. I show that import tariffs and iceberg transport cost are not equivalent in the strength of their trade-restricting e¤ects and their welfare implications. With all the con.icting effectsof import tari¤s on welfare considered, the optimal degree of reciprocity in multilateral tari¤ reduction turns out to be free trade.


Future Directions Of Crisis Communication Research: Emotions In Crisis – The Next Frontier, Jin, A. Pang Feb 2010

Future Directions Of Crisis Communication Research: Emotions In Crisis – The Next Frontier, Jin, A. Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.


An Analysis Of Extreme Price Shocks And Illiquidity Among Trend Followers, Bernard Lee, Shih-Fen Cheng, Annie Koh Feb 2010

An Analysis Of Extreme Price Shocks And Illiquidity Among Trend Followers, Bernard Lee, Shih-Fen Cheng, Annie Koh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We construct an agent-based model to study the interplay between extreme price shocks and illiquidity in the presence of systematic traders known as trend followers. The agent-based approach is particularly attractive in modeling commodity markets because the approach allows for the explicit modeling of production, capacities, and storage constraints. Our study begins by using the price stream from a market simulation involving human participants and studies the behavior of various trend-following strategies, assuming initially that their participation will not impact the market. We notice an incremental deterioration in strategy performance as and when strategies deviate further and further from the …


The Outsourcing Of Creative Work And The Limits Of Capability: The Case Of The Philippines Animation Industry, Feichin Ted Tschang, Andrea Goldstein Feb 2010

The Outsourcing Of Creative Work And The Limits Of Capability: The Case Of The Philippines Animation Industry, Feichin Ted Tschang, Andrea Goldstein

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The animation industry, like many information-technology-enabled services sectors, has been of interest to many developing countries interested in developing services outsourcing industries. We analyze the case of the Philippines' animation industry. This paper investigates the outsourcing process in animation and the nature of capabilities within that, with the goal of contributing to a more general understanding of services outsourcing. We examine the industry's history, interview data with industry participants, and secondary data. We find that strong labor force skills have been central to capabilities rather than organizational abilities. Outsourcing of production takes place only so far as the work is …


Investing Into The Abyss: The Continued Misclassification Of Multi-Sector Managed Funds, N. Allen, Kok Fai Phoon, J. Watson, J. Wickramanayake Feb 2010

Investing Into The Abyss: The Continued Misclassification Of Multi-Sector Managed Funds, N. Allen, Kok Fai Phoon, J. Watson, J. Wickramanayake

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The rapid expansion in assets managed by the Australian managed fund industry has resulted in it becoming a major sector of the financial system, second only to that of the banking industry. With more than A$550 billion invested in the industry investors should be concerned about the lack of reliable information available in regard to equity style management. In particular investors should be concerned about the probable mis-match between stated objectives and the actual objectives pursued by fund managers. In this study, we apply return-based style analysis (Sharpe 1988, 1992) to investigate the style and asset allocation strategies of 50 …


Is Firm-Specific Innovation Associated With Greater Value Appropriation? The Roles Of Environmental Dynamism And Technological Diversity, Heli Wang, Wei-Ru Chen Feb 2010

Is Firm-Specific Innovation Associated With Greater Value Appropriation? The Roles Of Environmental Dynamism And Technological Diversity, Heli Wang, Wei-Ru Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper extends the resource-based theory of the firm to examine the contingencies that either intensify or reduce the relationship between firm-specific innovation and value appropriation. Based on a large-scale analysis of a sample of US manufacturing firms, we found that greater innovation rents appropriation is associated with an increase in firm specificity of its innovative knowledge. But the positive relationship between firm-specific innovations and firm value appropriation tends to decrease when the product or technology market is highly dynamic. Further, under high environmental dynamism, firms should increase the diversity in their knowledge composition in order to mitigate the risk …


Disambiguating The Role Of Ambiguity In Perceptual Assimilation And Contrast Effects, Michelle P. Lee, Kwanho Suk Feb 2010

Disambiguating The Role Of Ambiguity In Perceptual Assimilation And Contrast Effects, Michelle P. Lee, Kwanho Suk

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine how perceptions of a product are affected by the presence of extreme exemplars and find that ambiguity of the product is an important moderator. When the target is a novel one, perceptions assimilate to the context, whereas when it is highly familiar, perceptions are immune to the influence of context. This is as predicted by the interpretation-comparison model. Contrary to this model, however, we find that effects on perceptions are not always assimilative in nature. When product ambiguity falls between the extremes of novel and highly familiar, a contrast effect in perception can occur. This is consistent with …


An Investigation Of Value Updating Bidders In Simultaneous Online Art Auctions, Mayukh Dass, Lynne Seymour, Srinivas K. Reddy Feb 2010

An Investigation Of Value Updating Bidders In Simultaneous Online Art Auctions, Mayukh Dass, Lynne Seymour, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Simultaneous online auctions, in which the auction of all items being sold starts at the same time and ends at the same time, are becoming popular especially in selling items such as collectables and art pieces. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of bidders (Reactors) in simultaneous auctions who update their pre-auction value of an item in the presence of influencing bidders (Influencers). We represent an auction as a network of bidders where the nodes represent the bidders participating in the auction and the ties between them represent an Influencer?Reactor relationship. We further develop a random effects bilinear model …


What’S In It For Them? Advantages Of Higher Status Partners In Exchange Relationships, Fabrizio Castellucci, Gokhan Ertug Feb 2010

What’S In It For Them? Advantages Of Higher Status Partners In Exchange Relationships, Fabrizio Castellucci, Gokhan Ertug

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article explores the motivations that high-status firms have to enter exchange relationships with lower-status partners. We argue that high-status firms can secure greater effort from lower-status partners and that the amount of effort will be proportional to their status advantage over these partners. We further propose that such effort will translate to increased performance by mediating the negative consequences of affiliations with lower-status partners. This increase in performance constitutes the motivation for high-status firms to enter exchange relationships with lower-status partners. Findings using data on Formula One racing support our argument.


Audit Market Concentration And Audit Quality, Sanjay Kallapur, Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy, Yoonseok Zang Feb 2010

Audit Market Concentration And Audit Quality, Sanjay Kallapur, Srinivasan Sankaraguruswamy, Yoonseok Zang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Policymakers and regulators have been concerned about the impact of audit market concentration resulting from decline in the number of audit firms due to mergers and the demise of Arthur Andersen. In this paper we find a positive association between audit market concentration (Herfindahl index) at the MSA level and audit quality (measured by discretionary accruals and the Dechow-Dichev (2002) measure of accrual quality). We control for fixed year effects, therefore our results are unlikely to be affected by the increase in concentration due to Andersen’s demise contemporaneous with an increase in audit quality because of regulatory measures such as …


Indian Microfinance: Swimming Fully Clothed!, Eric Savage, Abhijit Ray, Abhishek Fogla Jan 2010

Indian Microfinance: Swimming Fully Clothed!, Eric Savage, Abhijit Ray, Abhishek Fogla

Social Space

Along with the growth of social enterprises, India has seen its microfinance industry flourish. No longer merely dependent on donor and aid money, poor borrowers have begun demonstrating their creditworthiness, attracting commercial funders encouraged by this sea-change. The authors explore the world of Indian microfinance and the benefits of swimming fully clothed.


Random Thoughts On Innovation, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Institute Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship Jan 2010

Random Thoughts On Innovation, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Institute Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship

Research Collection Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

We had to bring about an organizational innovation by reengineering the organization itself!!! The late 1990s saw us redefine the mission of the organization to be user and market centric aiming to produce solutions with a 10X difference. We had to create a program that will allow promising technologies and solutions created by engineers and scientists who were passionate to see their works utilized by the world. This required transforming a quasi-academic publicly funded lab into an engine that would generate new businesses. The transformation was not easy. This was also about the time when the dot com bubble was …


Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore: Executive Summary 2009, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu Jan 2010

Customer Satisfaction Index Of Singapore: Executive Summary 2009, Institute Of Service Excellence, Smu

Research Collection Institute of Service Excellence (2007-2024)

Since 2007, customer satisfaction from the consumption of products and services in 8 key economic sectors of Singapore were measured and scores released annually through the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG). Currently the CSISG is undergoing a transition from an annual to quarterly release of results. CSISG results of 6 economic sectors were released in October 2009. The release of results for the 2 remaining sectors: Healthcare, and Finance & Insurance, and an update to the national score concludes the measurement for 2009. Starting from 2010, CSISG company, subsector, and sector scores will be updated quarterly, on a rolling …


Corporate Social Innovation, Jared Tham Jan 2010

Corporate Social Innovation, Jared Tham

Social Space

CSR has long been perceived as an afterthought in the corporate world. However, perceptions are shifting, and CSR is becoming part of the innovation paradigm of a corporation, creating what is arguably a turning point in the history of the CSR movement.


Socially Responsible Investment In Asia, Geoffrey Williams Jan 2010

Socially Responsible Investment In Asia, Geoffrey Williams

Social Space

Recent worries about product safety, transparent corporate governance and the social and environmental impact of corporate activity have been the drivers of “Socially Responsible Investment” (SRI) in Europe and North America. Geoffrey Williams delves into the rise of SRI in Asia, where opportunities for strong investment returns are wide and growing.


Uncovering The Dirty Secrets Of A Food Paradise: Young Journalists Go Undercover, Estelle Low, Miak Aw Jan 2010

Uncovering The Dirty Secrets Of A Food Paradise: Young Journalists Go Undercover, Estelle Low, Miak Aw

Social Space

Singapore is universally known as a food paradise, but far less is known about the enormous amount of waste generated daily by individuals, supermarkets, food outlets and hotels. 20-something investigative journalists Miak Aw and Estelle Low go undercover to shed light on how much we waste as a nation and why this needs to change.


Storytellers As Philanthropic Champions: An Interview With Claire Chiang, Lien Centre For Social Innovation Jan 2010

Storytellers As Philanthropic Champions: An Interview With Claire Chiang, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore’s charity sector is undergoing significant changes to enhance management quality, accountability and transparency. But despite these positive changes, Ms Claire Chiang, entrepreneur and philanthropist, argues that Singapore also needs to cultivate a more visionary and global approach to philanthropy. She shares with Social Space her thoughts on storytelling and the need for mentors to champion the most urgent causes of the day.


Contextualising Csr: Multi-Stakeholder Approaches To Development Initiatives In Southeast Asia, Christine Davis, Stephanie Soderborg Jan 2010

Contextualising Csr: Multi-Stakeholder Approaches To Development Initiatives In Southeast Asia, Christine Davis, Stephanie Soderborg

Social Space

As the focus on CSR expands throughout Asia, discussion prevails about the form it needs to take to be germane to the needs of each respective country. The authors discuss Kenan Institute Asia’s efforts in developing a responsible management education (or CSR curriculum and training) for future managers and business leaders in Vietnam.


Civil Society Sector And Political Change: An Interview With Catherine Lim, Lien Centre For Social Innovation Jan 2010

Civil Society Sector And Political Change: An Interview With Catherine Lim, Lien Centre For Social Innovation

Social Space

Singapore is a society undergoing transitions. With a burgeoning migrant community, the advent of integrated resorts with casinos and an arguably increasingly effervescent non-profit, civil society sector, Singapore looks to be a society that is rapidly opening up. Yet, as writer and political commentator Catherine Lim controversially proposes, civil society and non-profit activists cannot create change without getting their voices heard and actively participating in the political process. She shares with Social Space, her thoughts on the indispensable ingredients for openness and political engagement in a society that wants to be truly global.


Media And The Non Profit World: A Case-Study On Wwf-Malaysia's Use Of Media Tools To Champion Advocacy, Anita Devasahayam Jan 2010

Media And The Non Profit World: A Case-Study On Wwf-Malaysia's Use Of Media Tools To Champion Advocacy, Anita Devasahayam

Social Space

As issues and campaigns for various causes in the non-profit space have begun to proliferate across Asia, the struggle to remain relevant and gain critical attention is growing. Author Anita Devasahayam discusses how the Malaysian chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature tackled the challenge by devising new media strategies and advocacy campaigns to remain relevant in an increasingly connected and cause-conscious world.


Transitions Within The Ecosystem Of Change, Willie Cheng Jan 2010

Transitions Within The Ecosystem Of Change, Willie Cheng

Social Space

The ecosystem paradigm provides a framework to understand and influence the forces of change facing the nonprofit sector. In this extract from the forthcoming book, “The World That Changes The World: How philanthropy, entrepreneurship and innovation are transforming the social ecosystem,” Willie Cheng describes the social ecosystem framework, its change enablers and macro-trends.


Business Solutions To Global Challenges, Richard Welford Jan 2010

Business Solutions To Global Challenges, Richard Welford

Social Space

Despite the prevalence of CSR initiatives in companies, there is a need to leverage on current practices to make them more effective and meaningful. Richard Welford looks at the advantages to such an approach.


Readings In Innovation, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Institute Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship Jan 2010

Readings In Innovation, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, Institute Of Innovation And Entrepreneurship

Research Collection Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This is a collection of practice oriented papers that I had written from 2005 – 2010 and published in relevant conferences. The papers were written primarily to share my experiences as an innovator and an innovation manager over thirty five years of my professional life. They are a collection of frameworks, heuristic algorithms and processes that I have penned down from my experience. They are neither theories nor only options available to innovators and innovation managers. This is yet another offering in the world of “Innovation Buffet” that innovators could consume. The sole purpose in compiling these papers is to …


Microfinance For Migrant Workers: Asia's Next New Market Opportunity?, Patsian Low Jan 2010

Microfinance For Migrant Workers: Asia's Next New Market Opportunity?, Patsian Low

Social Space

Employment in developed countries is often the main source of income for many people at the bottom of the pyramid in developing countries and has led to the growth of an industry based on remittances. Patsian Low studies the ramifications this has for developing microfinance in host countries and the potential for cross-border collaboration in Singapore and Asia.


Discovering The Asian Form Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Bindu Sharma Jan 2010

Discovering The Asian Form Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Bindu Sharma

Social Space

This article is part of an on-going research project that will look at the how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being re-contextualised and re-defined in ten countries across Asia and how these perspectives contrast with the discourse of CSR in global (primarily Western) multinational corporations.