Cross-Industry Product Diversification and Contagion in Risk and Return: The Case of Bank-Insurance and Insurance-Bank Takeovers

We investigate the impact of domestic/international bancassurance deals on the risk-return profiles of announcing and non-announcing banks and insurers within a GARCH model. Bank-insurance deals produce intra- and inter-industry contagion in both risk and return, with larger deals producing greater contagion. Bidder banks and peers experience positive abnormal returns, with the effects on insurer peers being stronger than those on bank peers. Insurance-bank deals produce insignificant excess returns for bidder and peer insurers and positive valuations for peer banks. Following the deal, the bank bidders’ idiosyncratic (systematic) risk falls (increases), while insurance bidders exhibit a lower systematic risk and maintain their idiosyncratic risk.

Integrating Social Knowledge and Collaboration Tools into Dispersed Product Development

Employee collaboration and knowledge sharing is vital for manufacturing organisations wishing to be successful in an ever-changing global market place; Product Development (PD) teams, in particular, rely heavily on these activities to generate innovative designs and enhancements to existing product ranges. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of a validation study carried out during an Engineering Education Scheme project to confirm the benefits of using bespoke Web 2.0-based groupware to improve employee collaboration and knowledge sharing between dispersed PD teams. The results of a cross-sectional survey concluded that employees would welcome greater usage of social computing technologies. The study confirmed that groupware offers the potential to deliver a more effective collaborative and knowledge sharing environment with additional communication channels on offer. Furthermore, a series of recommended guidelines are presented to show how PD teams, operating in globally dispersed organisations, may use Web 2.0 tools to improve employee collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Global nation product equity depending on a level of cultural diffusion

Purpose This paper aims to propose the global nation product equity model (GNPE) to measure global consumers’ equity of a product that a country produces, especially a nation’s cultural products (i.e. culducts). The model also examines the significant difference of GNPE depending on a cultural diffusion level. GNPE model proposes that depending on the level of people’s recognition/acceptance/preference of a culture from another country (i.e. cultural diffusion level), the equity of a product from that country could be different in different countries. As variables that affect GNPE, global nation product equity in general, global nation product equity of a product category and nation cultural equity are included in the model. Design/methodology/approach To test the model, this study developed Hallyu (Korean cultural diffusion)-related Korean culducts and measured global consumers’ equity for the Korean culducts. In all, 351 surveys were collected from China, France, England and the USA. Findings The results show the significantly different equities and relationships among equities depending on the level of Hallyu diffusion in each country. Therefore, Korea is suggested to focus on different equities in different countries. Originality/value This research proposed a new model that extends the previous brand equity models to non-branded products (i.e. cultural products). This model proposed new variables that affect equity of a product mentioned above and suggests different equities to improve in different countries depending on their level of cultural diffusion. Also, this cross-cultural study suggests a direction of culduct design, distribution and promotion strategies in the global market.

Damaging effects of advanced glycation end product in the murine macrophages cell line J774A.1.

The interaction of reducing sugars, such as aldose, with proteins and the subsequent molecular rearrangements, produces irreversible advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), a heterogeneous class of non-enzymatic glycated proteins or lipids. AGEs form cross-links, trap macromolecules and release reactive oxygen intermediates. AGEs are linked to aging, and increase in several related diseases. The aim of this study was to assess, in a murine macrophage cell line, J774A.1, the effects of 48 h of exposure to glycated serum containing a known amount of pentosidine, a well-known AGE found in the plasma and tissues of diabetic and uremic subjects. Fetal bovine serum was incubated with ribose (50 mm) for 7 days at 37 °C to obtain about 10 nmol/ml of pentosidine. The cytotoxic parameters studied were cell morphology and viability by neutral red uptake, lactate dehydrogenase release and tetrazolium salt test. In the medium and in the intracellular compartment, bound and free pentosidine were evaluated by HPLC, as sensitive and specific glycative markers, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), as index of the extent of lipid peroxidation. Our results confirm that macrophages are able to take up pentosidine. It is conceivable that bound pentosidine is degraded and free pentosidine is released inside the cell and then into the medium. The AGE increase in the medium was combined with an increase in TBARs, meaning that an oxidative stress occurred; marked cytotoxic effects were observed, and were followed by the release of free pentosidine and TBARs into the culture medium.