Business Commons^™

A New Perspective On Role-Player Training In Assessment Centres, Eveline Schollaert, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The most recent assessment centre guidelines emphasize that exercises should be designed to evoke a substantial amount of relevant behaviour (International Task Force on Assessment Center Guidelines, 2009). However, no empirical evidence exists of how one can manage this This study aims to fill this gap by suggesting that role-player training should be extended via the use of 'prompts' to evoke behaviour. Prompts are standardized cues that a role-player consistently mentions in an AC exercise across candidates to elicit behaviours related to specific job-related dimensions In the present study, role players and candidates were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions …

Strategic Management Of Communication: Insights From The Contingency Theory Of Strategic Conflict Management, Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, Glen T. Cameron

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The dilemma facing crisis scholars could not be more paradoxical: How does one explain and predict the outcome of a phenomenor - characteristics which Chaffee and Berger (1987) argue to be the foundation of a theory - that is so contextual-dependent, where the twists and turns of unfolding events often frustrate the natural ebb of what one could reasonably surmise as logical trajectory?

China's Innovation Landscape, Kenneth G. Huang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The People's Republic of China has experienced three decades of sustained, strong annual economic growth as it transitions from a centrally planned economy to a free market. Currently the world's second largest economy, China recognizes scientific and technological innovation as an increasingly important strategy to fuel the next phase of its productivity growth. However, the drivers and trajectories of China's scientific and technological growth remain under-investigated. To understand elements of China's innovative activities, particularly in science and technology, an analysis of comprehensive patent data provided by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China is presented here.

Rethinking Growth: Differential Impact Of Large Absolute Vs Relative Expansion In De Novo Ventures, Terence Ping Ching Fan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

By considering how in many industries an augmentation in production capacity is necessary to bring about significant growth in sales or eventual profit, this study adds an important footnote to prevailing theories of firm survival and competitiveness in strategic management. First, it distinguishes between attempts for new ventures to grow their production from the outcome of their expansions. Second, this study delineates the role of large absolute versus relative growths in production and their differential implications on young, de novo ventures: the former being conducive to firm survival while the latter being detrimental to it. This prediction is supported empirically …

Price Movers On The Stock Exchange Of Thailand: Evidence From A Fully Automated Order-Driven Market, Charlie Charoenwong, David K. Ding, Nattawut Jenwittayaroje

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines trade sizes used by informed traders. The selected sample includes 73 active stocks from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), a pure limit order market, that cover two distinct market conditions of a bull and bear market. Using intraday data, the study finds that large sized trades (i.e., larger than the 75th percentile) account for a disproportionately large impact on changes in traded and quoted prices. This finding compares with the results of studies conducted on U.S. markets that show informed traders employ trade sizes falling between the 40th and 95th percentiles (Barclay and Warner 1993; Chakravarty …

A Dynamic Model For The Forward Curve, Choong Tze Chua, Foster Dean, Krishna Ramaswamy, Robert Stine

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article develops and estimates a dynamic arbitrage-free model of the current forward curve as the sum of (i) an unconditional component, (ii) a maturity-specific component and (iii) a date-specific component. The model combines features of the Preferred Habitat model, the Expectations Hypothesis (ET) and affine yield curve models; it permits a class of low-parameter, multiple state variable dynamic models for the forward curve. We show how to construct alternative parametric examples of the three components from a sum of exponential functions, verify that the resulting forward curves satisfy the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) conditions, and derive the risk-neutral dynamics for the …

The Real Knowledge Transfer, Stefano Harney

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In Britain, knowledge transfer (KT) is taking a new turn. As a university policy, KT emphasized intellectual property rights. The dream of the managers of the university was to patent knowledge produced in university departments, laboratories, and lecture halls. This new proprietary knowledge would then either earn rent from the private sector, and in some cases the public sector, or lead to the founding of new private firms, owned in part by the university, the so-called spin-off.

Characteristics Of Services: A New Approach Uncovers Their Value, Sabine Moeller

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Four characteristics have been regularly applied to services: intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, perishability (IHIP). More and more exceptions occur which have resulted in substantial criticism. This paper aims to show that each characteristic is valid and useful when related to an individual aspect of services instead of being assigned to services as a single entity. Design/methodology/approach: Based on customer integration, a framework (FTU framework) and a resource typology are developed. These approaches are the theoretical foundation of the analysis. Findings: The FTU framework and a resource typology reveal different aspects of services and allow the assignment of the IHIP characteristics …

Incorporating Economic Objectives Into Bayesian Priors: Portfolio Choice Under Parameter Uncertainty, Jun Tu, Guofu Zhou

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper proposes a way to allow Bayesian priors to reflect the objectives of an economic problem. That is, we impose priors on the solution to the problem rather than on the primitive parameters whose implied priors can be backed out from the Euler equation. Using monthly returns on the Fama-French 25 size and book-to-market portfolios and their 3 factors from January 1965 to December 2004, we find that investment performances under the objective-based priors can be significantly different from those under alternative priors, with differences in terms of annual certainty-equivalent returns greater than 10% in many cases. In terms …

Win Or Lose The Battle For Creativity: The Power And Perils Of Intergroup Competition, Markus Baer, Roger Leenders, Greg R. Oldham, Abhijeet K. Vadera

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating and refining social interdependence theory and structural adaptation theory, we examined the effects of intergroup competition on the creativity of 70 four-person groups engaged in two idea generation tasks. We manipulated both group membership change (change, no change) and intergroup competition level (low, intermediate, high). Competition had the expected U-shaped relation with creativity in open (membership change) groups but failed to produce the hypothesized inverted U-shaped pattern in closed (no membership change) groups. In the latter, effects were positive for low to intermediate competition and flat for intermediate to high levels. Within-group collaboration mediated these effects.

The Liquidity Risk Of Liquid Hedge Funds, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper evaluates hedge funds that grantfavorable redemption terms to investors. Within this group of purportedlyliquid funds, high net inflow funds subsequently outperform low net inflowfunds by 4.79% per year after adjusting for risk. The return impact of fundflows is stronger when funds embrace liquidity risk, when market liquidity islow, and when funding liquidity, as measured by the Treasury-Eurodollar spread,aggregate hedge fund flows, and prime broker stock returns, is tight. Inkeeping with an agency explanation, funds with strong incentives to raisecapital, low manager option deltas, and no manager capital co-invested are morelikely to take on excessive liquidity risk. These results …

Effect Of Credit Ratings On Airport Financing And Management, Kazusei Kato, Koichiro Tezuka, Joyce M. W. Low

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the effect of airport ownership structure on management efficiency as reflected through their credit ratings. A game-theoretical model is proposed to examine the role of credit ratings in mitigating the moral hazard problem of public-owned airports. The analytical results derived from the model are then used to supplement a supporting case study. Notwithstanding the fact that the less competitive environment of a public-owned entity and its credit ratings might bring some welfare loss , this research concludes that public-owned airports have some advantages.

The Upstart's Assault, Marco Bertini, Nirmalya Kumar

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The article presents a fictional case study that focuses on how to manage competition in the telecommunication services industry. The issue is that one company could lose customers and market share because another company is offering free broadband. Georg Tacke, co-chief executive officer of Simon-Kucher & Partners company, and Anne Gro Gulla, a branding director at Telenor Group company, offer their views on how to respond to a competitive attack without causing a price war.

Research Methods And Issues, Laura R. Weingart, Kenneth T. Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Group processes can be conceptualized as the mechanisms or intervening factors that connect properties of groups (e.g., group size, average skill level, diversity, or identity) to outcomes. Examples include the actions or communication that groups engage in while making decisions, negotiating, or coordinating their activities. These behaviors are driven by the group's task and associated performance goals, creating interdependencies among group members that lead to coordinated and actively integrated behavior. It is this set of behaviors that researchers investigating group processes attempt to capture and analyze.

Industry Recommendations: Characteristics, Investment Value, And Relation To Firm Recommendations, Ohad Kadan, Madureira Leonardo, Rong Wang, Tzachi Zach

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study analysts’ industry recommendations. We find that the distribution of industry recommendations is quite balanced. Analysts show more optimism towards industries with high levels of R&D, past profitability and past returns. Industry recommendations possess investment value as portfolios based on these recommendations generate risk-adjusted abnormal returns. Finally, industry recommendations contain information which is orthogonal to that included in firm recommendations, and more so for brokers who benchmark their firm recommendations to industry peers. Consequently, the investment value of analysts’ recommendations is enhanced when both industry and firm recommendations are used.

Reference Point Adaptation And Disposition Effect: Evidence From Institutional Trading, Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana, Zongfei Yang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Using a large proprietary database of institutional trades, we investigate whether, and to what extent, the dynamic adaptation of reference point translates into variations in the disposition effect, and establish three key results. First, the propensity to realize losses declines sharply with the magnitude of prior losses due to insufficient adaptation of reference point. Second, recent adverse information accelerates investors’ adaptation to price depreciation and increases investors’ willingness to realize losses. Finally, a priori of losing money in highly speculative investments decreases investors’ aversion to realize losses. Collectively, the findings suggest that both prior outcomes and recent expectations contribute to …

Corporate Valuation Around The World: The Effects Of Governance, Growth, And Openness, Choong Tze Chua, Cheol S. Eun, Sandy Lai

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of corporate valuation around the world. Specifically, we (i) document and compare corporate valuation around the world, and (ii) identify the key factors that drive cross-country differences in valuation. In doing so, we utilize the country-level Tobin's q (CTQ), computed as the ratio of the aggregate market value to book value of all assets held by all public firms domiciled in a country, which amounts to the Tobin's q for the [`]market portfolio' of the country. The key findings of the paper are: First, CTQ varies greatly across countries, …

Mir Talks To Vinita Bali, Managing Director And Ceo Of Britannia Industries, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Today we live in a truly global economy, no matter whether we talk about goods, services or manpower. Whereas economic growth rates in Europe and North America remain moderate, many Asian countries are booming despite last year´s economic downturn. This is reason enough for MIR to take a closer look at one of the rising stars: India. In June 2010, MIR talked to Vinita Bali, one of the few female CEOs of leading companies, who has worked in influential marketing positions on five continents. In describing how Britannia, one of the most famous Indian brands, handles everyday business and marketing …

Investor Diversification And The Pricing Of Idiosyncratic Risk, Fangjian Fu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Theories predict that, due to investor under-diversification, idiosyncratic risk is positively priced in expected stock returns. Empirical studies based on various methodologies yield mixed evidence. This study circumvents the debate on methodological issues and traces the pricing of idiosyncratic risk to its economic source – investor under-diversification. Assuming that institutional investors tend to hold more diversified portfolios and thus care little about idiosyncratic risk relative to individual investors, we find that the positive relation between idiosyncratic risk and stock returns is significantly stronger (weaker) in stocks that are held and traded more by individual (institutional) investors. In addition, the pricing …

Exploiting Metaheuristics To Strategize On Performance-Based Logistics Contracts For Mro Services, Arnd Schirrmann, Elaine Wong, Zhichao Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

An inherent challenge of using Performance-Based Logistics (PBL) contracts for aircraftmaintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services is pricing. As with traditional bricks andmortar services, under-priced contracts cannot cover costs, while overpriced contracts loseout to competition. Furthermore MRO services have an additional element of uncertainty.Performance uncertainties arise due to the inability to accurately forecast demand of spareparts, while cost uncertainties are a result of globally distributed operations subjected tofluctuating economic conditions. Previous work to solve this contracting problem adoptedthe principal-agent model, obtaining an optimal solution from the perspective of both riskaverseparties (i.e., a price-sensitive customer and a profit-driven service provider). Thiswork …

How Predictable Is The Chinese Stock Market?, Fuwei Jiang, David E. Rapach, Jack K. Strauss, Jun Tu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We analyze return predictability for the Chinese stock market, including the aggregate market portfolio and the components of the aggregate market, such as portfolios sorted on industry, size, book-to-market and ownership concentration. Considering a variety of economic variables as predictors, both in-sample and out-of-sample tests highlight significant predictability in the aggregate market portfolio of the Chinese stock market and substantial differences in return predictability across components. Among industry portfolios, Finance and insurance, Real estate, and Service exhibit the most predictability, while portfolios of small-cap and low ownership concentration firms also display considerable predictability. Two key findings provide economic explanations for …

The Interaction Of Roles, Resources, And Organizational Structures In Creative Work, Feichin, Ted Tschang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Creativity is known to be located at both the individual and group levels. We look at the case of videogame development, as an instance of project level creativity. We focus in particular on the design of the artifact. By examining the loci of creativity at the individual and group levels, we shed light on the roles and tasks of the designer, and on the organizational group structure known as the design cabal. In comparing the two extremes, we discover that the lack of organizational resources (namely, well known designers) leads in certain projects to the adoption of cabals or cabal-like …

Growth And Survival Of International Joint Ventures: An External-Internal Legitimacy Perspective, Jane W. Lu, Dean Xu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors examine the growth and survival of international joint ventures (IJVs) from a legitimacy perspective. In a sample of 291 Sino-Japanese joint ventures in China, they found that Chinese parent age, Chinese parent size, and IJV industry relatedness to either parent had a positive effect on IJV growth and/or survival. However, IJV industry relatedness to both parents led to lower rates of IJV growth and survival. The findings highlight the importance for IJVs to obtain both external and internal legitimacy, as well as the difficulties IJVs face in acquiring internal legitimacy from both parents simultaneously.

The Theoretical Underpinnings Of Emotional Dissonance: A Framework And Analysis Of Propositions, Brendan Phillips, Tsu Wee, Thomas Tan, Craig Julian

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose

The research objective of this paper is to study the broad context of emotional labor and dissonance and its importance to service marketing. This knowledge would provide a better understanding of the factors that contribute to job performance and job satisfaction amongst high contact service workers.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review is used to define and set out the main conceptual framework and propositions for further research.

Findings

Three key hypotheses divided into six sub parts are set out to test the relationships between emotional dissonance and customer orientation, job satisfaction and performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study should be extended …

Financial Sector Liberalization And Its Challenges To The Local Banks: The Experience Of Singapore, Swee Liang Tan, Gilbert Yip Wei Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The main theme of the paper is about the challenges that financial sector liberalization poses to local banks. It reviews the experience of Singapore. We begin by explaining the unique circumstances surrounding Singapore. A small city-state controlled by a single party with about 65% majority in Parliament, Singapore has a paternalistic government that can be protective of industries that are strategic to the development of the country. Yet its government is also pragmatic, forward looking and pro-reformists. Because of its unique circumstances, the Singapore experience with liberalization is worth studying. Three key ideas will emerge in the paper. First, the …

Creating Competitive Advantages In The Global Marketplace: The Singapore Experiment In India, Caroline Yeoh, Victor Sim, Norhanna Yumi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Pricing Options In An Extended Black Scholes Economy With Illiquidity: Theory And Empirical Evidence, Umut Cetin, Robert Jarrow, Mitchell Protter, Mitchell Warachka

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This article studies the pricing of options in an extended Black Scholes economy in which the underlying asset is not perfectly liquid. The resulting liquidity risk is modeled as a stochastic supply curve, with the transaction price being a function of the trade size. Consistent with the market microstructure literature, the supply curve is upward sloping with purchases executed at higher prices and sales at lower prices. Optimal discrete time hedging strategies are then derived. Empirical evidence reveals a significant liquidity cost intrinsic to every option. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Competition, Competitiveness And 'Created' Competitive Advantages: Re-Positioning The Singapore 'Advantage' In China, India, Vietnam And Indonesia, Caroline Yeoh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

Do Shareholders Or Stakeholders Appropriate The Rents From Corporate Diversification? The Influence Of Ownership Structure, Parthiban David, Jonathan P. O'Brien, Toru Yoshikawa, Andrew Delios

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Prior work on the performance consequences of corporate diversification has treated all powerful owners as seeking the same benefits from diversification (i.e, higher profit rather than growth) and therefore limiting value appropriation by other stakeholders such as employees and managers. In contrast, we distinguish between domestic "relational" owners and foreign "transactional" owners in Japanese corporations. Although transactional owners do indeed prioritize profitability when diversifying, relational owners primarily seek growth rather than profits from diversification. Furthermore, relational owners also allow managers and employees to appropriate more of the rents arising from diversification than do transactional owners.

Spirituality At Work And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Replication Study In Taiwan, Gilbert Tan, Christine Kuo, Eugene Zhen Yao Geh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Interest in Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) research has surged over the last decade. However, most of the studies are done in the Western context. Tan and Geh’s (2009) is an exception. In Tan and Geh’s study, they provided a theoretical model linking spirituality at work with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through organizational commitment as the mediator and tested it empirically. The findings of the study, though exploratory, were interesting. They affirmed the effectiveness of affective commitment as a mediator between spirituality at work and OCB. Normative commitment, however, was not as effective. Their findings also show that continuance commitment …