Marginal Return of Infrastructure Investment on Bilateral Trade Performance

Investing in transport infrastructures such as roadways, airports and seaports has proven to improve a country's trade performance through reduction of transportation costs and providing access to production and market. This research investigates the diminishing return of infrastructure investment and also the rate of return of two types of infrastructure investment strategies on trade. An augmented gravity model is used with econometric analysis methods in this study. The results have shown that as roadway and airport densities increase, the marginal returns on trade decrease. Empirical evidence from the United States and China with all their trading partners from the past twenty years has also suggested existence of diminishing return of infrastructure investment on roadways and airports. Infrastructure investment strategy that focuses on increasing roadway and airport density experiences smaller diminishing return on trade. In contrast, seaport investment that focuses on port quality and efficiency generates higher return on trade. A trade benefiting infrastructure investment strategy that best utilizes financial resources must balance between quality and quantity based on a country's current level of infrastructure asset.

Comparison of performance measurement-systems used for order-picking

In consequence of rapidly changing market demands companies are permanently encouraged to review their own processes and structures and to modify them. Being one of these developments, order-picking is involved as part of an intra-logistics system. But to take appropriate actions, system performance and system costs have to be measured permanently. Concerning this the use of performance measurement-systems as further development of traditional systems of key figures is suitable. In this paper various performance measurement-systems are compared and their suitability for an implementation in order-picking systems is estimated. On the basis of the result of the evaluation a first concept of a performance measurement-system for order-picking will be developed by using typical key figures that are mentioned in academic literature. Finally, hints for a necessary detailed implementation and evaluation in practice will be given.

Long-run performance of initial public offerings: The evidence for Switzerland

We estimate the underpricing and long-run performance of Swiss initial public offerings (IPOs) from 1983 to 2000. The average market adjusted initial return is 34.97%. To examine the long-run performance of Swiss IPOs, we compute buy-and-hold abnormal returns, skewness-adjusted wealth ratios, and cumulative abnormal returns using 120 months of secondary market returns. In contrast to previous findings for the U.S. and Germany, we do not find strong evidence for a distinct IPO effect. We attribute long-run underperformance to the fact that IPO firms tend to be small firms. It virtually vanishes when we use a small capitalization index as a benchmark. In spite of distinct economic implications and statistical properties, our basic results are similar for all performance measures applied.

Postacquisition performance of acquiring firms

We investigate whether negative postacquisition stock-price performance of acquiring firms is a genuine phenomenon or a statistical artifact. Using a comprehensive sample of domestic acquisitions in the 1966-1986 period, we show that acquiring firms underperform a control portfolio only during the three years but not five years following the acquisition. There is evidence of negative performance in the second and third postacquisition years, but that performance occurs mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, and disappears in the 1980s. Thus, especially in the later years, the postacquisition years do not provide convincing evidence of wasteful corporate acquisitions, or strong evidence that contradicts market efficiency.

Three Essays on Age and Firm Performance

Old captains at the helm: Chairman age and firm performance Urs Waelchli and Jonas Zeller December, 2012 This paper examines whether the chairmen of the board (COBs) impose their life-cycles on the firms over which they preside. Using a large sample of unlisted firms we find a robust negative relation between COB age and firm performance. COBs age much like ‘ordinary’ people. Their cognitive abilities deteriorate and they experience significant shifts in motivation. Deteriorating cognitive abilities are the main driver of the performance effect that we observe. The results imply that succession planning problems in unlisted firms are real. Mandatory retirement age clauses cannot solve these problems. Corporate Aging around the World Jonas Zeller January, 2014 This paper examines whether firms internationally age as US firms do (Loderer, Stulz, and Wälchli, 2013). Using a large panel, I find that Tobin’s Q monotonically falls with firm Age across all nineteen countries in the sample. The decrease varies across countries but is generally extremely robust and economically significant. ROA, sales growth, and market share decrease over a firm’s lifetime in most countries as well. Furthermore, older firms reduce their capital expenditures and R&D outlays. Instead, they distribute more cash to their shareholders. Overall, the results suggest that corporate aging is not confined to the US but is a genuine phenomenon that affects listed firms worldwide. This evidence supports the hypothesis that corporate aging is driven by managers who optimally focus on managing their assets in place and neglect the development of growth opportunities. I finally ask whether the managers’ choice and with it the magnitude of the decline in Tobin’s Q is a function of country-level institutional settings. I find that most notably firms age faster in countries where employees are relatively well protected by labor regulation. Is employment protection the fountain of corporate youth? Claudio Loderer, Urs Wälchli, Jonas Zeller* September 2014 Acharya, Baghai, and Subramanian (2012, 2013) find that employment protection legislation (EPL) encourages innovation. We argue that this effect should be particularly strong in mature firms. We would therefore also expect EPL to boost growth opportunities. Using the natural Experiment created by the staggered passage of changes in EPL across seventeen countries, we find evidence that employment protection legislation does indeed stimulate Innovation efforts, especially in mature firms. The effect is stronger in countries in which patents are owned by the firm and in the context of regular contracts. Consistent with that, EPL encourages risk taking. Overall, however, there is Little evidence that the effect of EPL on innovation effort translates into higher firm value, not even in mature firms. EPL does motivate employees in those firms to put in a greater effort, as evidenced by stronger sales growth. Yet it also increases costs, reduces profitability, and depresses Tobin’s Q ratios in all firms, especially the mature ones, possibly because of the rigidities that characterize these firms [Loderer, Stulz, and Waelchli (2014)].

Schools and Housing Markets: An Examination of School Segregation and Performance in Connecticut

This paper examines the relationship between house price levels, school performance, and the racial and ethnic composition of Connecticut school districts between 1995 and 2000. A panel of Connecticut school districts over both time and labor market areas is used to estimate a simultaneous equations model describing the determinants of these variables. Specifically, school district changes in price level, school performance, and racial and ethnic compositions depend upon each other, labor market wide changes in these variables, and the deviation of each school district from the overall metropolitan area. The specification is based on the differencing of dependent variables, as opposed to the use of level or fixed effects models and lagging level variables beyond the period over which change is considered; as a result the model is robust to persistence in the sample. Identification of the simultaneous system arises from the presence of multiple labor market areas in the sample, and the assumption that labor market changes in a variable due not directly influence the allocation of households across towns within a labor market area. We find that towns in labor markets that experience an inflow of minority households have greater increases in percent minority if those towns already ahve a substantial minoritypopulation. We find evidence that this sorting proces is reflected in housing price changes in the low priced segment of the housing market, not in the middle and upper segments.

Technical Efficiency and Stock Market Reaction to Horizontal Mergers

This study examines the relationship between stock market reaction to horizontal merger announcements and technical efficiency levels of the participating firms. The analysis is based on data pertaining to eighty mergers between firms in the U.S. manufacturing industry during the 1990s. We employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure technical efficiency, which capture the firms. competence to produce the maximum output given certain productive resources. Abnormal returns related to the merger announcements provide the investor.s re-evaluation on the future performance of the participating firms. In order to avoid the problem of nonnormality, heteroskedasticity in the regression analysis, bootstrap method is employed for estimations and inferences. We found that there is a significant relationship between technical efficiency and market response. The market apparently welcomes the merger as an arrangement to improve resource utilizations.

Hospital district viability and Medicaid /market changes

Hospital districts (HD) that serve the uninsured and the needy face new challenges with the implementation of Medicaid managed. The potential loss of Medicaid patients and revenues may affect the ability to cost-shift and subsequently decrease the ability of the HD to meet its legal obligation of providing care for the uninsured. ^ To investigate HD viability in the current market, the aims of this study were to: (1) describe HD's environment, (2) document the HDs strategic response, (3) document changes in the HD's performance (patient volume) and financial status, and (4) determine whether relationships or trends exist between HD strategy, performance and financial status. ^ To achieve these aims, three Texas HDs (Fort Worth, Lubbock, and San Antonio) were selected to be evaluated. For each HD four types of strategic responses were documented and evaluated for change. In addition, the ability of each HD to sustain operations was evaluated by documenting performance and financial status changes (patient volume and financial ratios). A pre-post case study design method was used in which the Medicaid managed care “rollout'” date, at each site, was the central date. First, a descriptive analysis was performed which documented the environment, strategy, financial status, and patient volume of each hospital district. Second, to compare hospital districts, each hospital district was: (i) classified by a risk index, (ii) classified by its strategic response profile, and (iii) given a performance score based upon pre-post changes in patient volume and financial indicators. ^ Results indicated that all three HDs operate in a high risk environment compared to the rest of the nation. Two HDs chose the “Status Quo” response whereas one HD chose the “Competitive Proactive” response. Medicaid patient volume decreased in two of three HDs whereas indigent patient volume increased in two of the three (an indication of increasing financial risk). Total patient revenues for all HDs increased over the study period; however, the rate of increase slowed for all three after the Medicaid rollout date. All HDs experienced a decline in financial status between pre-post periods with the greatest decline observed in the HD that saw the greatest increase in indigent patient volume. ^ The pre-post case study format used and the lack of control study sites do not allow for assignment of causality. However, the results suggest possible adverse effects of Medicaid managed care and the need for a larger study, based on a stronger evaluation research design. ^

Effects of Bedding on Pig Performance

More pigs are being produced in bedded systems such as hoop barns due to the increase in demand for niche pork. Most of the current swine nutrition information has been generated in confinement settings without bedding. As omnivores, pigs ingest some bedding. There are questions about the effects of the ingested bedding on growth and feed utilization by the modern market pig. More knowledge in this area will allow for more accurate feed formulation in bedded systems.

Chapter 5 Industrial Policy, Structure, and Locations during the Transition toward a Market-oriented Economy in Myanmar

This paper examines Myanmar's industrial policy, structure, and locations during the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented one throughout the 1990s and up to the present. After the military government assumed power in 1988, it abandoned the socialist centrally planned economic system and began instituting a market-oriented one through a series of liberalization and deregulation measures, although most of which have stalled since 1997 and remain half-way implemented. Against this background, it is rather surprising that the impact of these new policies of international trade, finance, regulations, licensing and ownership requirements on industrial structure and location in Myanmar has been poorly documented and examined to date. Some key issues to understanding the impact and effectiveness of the market-oriented policies during the last two decades in Myanmar remain to be answered: Have the new trade and industrial policies changed the industrial structure and organizational behavior in Myanmar? Have they improved the performance of Myanmar's industrial sector? Have they had any impact on industry location in Myanmar? This paper reviews the series of liberalization programs implemented under the military government?the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)?and assesses their impact on industrial structure and its spatial distribution.

Estimating the effect of chemical safety standards on firm performance in Malaysia and Vietnam

This paper uses firm-level data to examine the impact of chemical safety regulations imposed by importing countries such as RoHS and REACH on the production costs and export performance of firms in Malaysia and Vietnam. We find that in addition to the initial setup costs for compliance, EU RoHS and REACH implementation causes firms to incur additional variable production costs by requiring additional labor and capital expenditures of around 12% of the variable costs, respectively. We also find that compliance with RoHS and REACH significantly increases the probability of export. Furthermore, we find that compliance with EU RoHS and REACH helps firms to penetrate into a greater variety of countries. Also, we find that multinational enterprises and firms participating in global value chains generally exhibit better export performance and their costs rise less steeply.

Influence of Current Pulse Shape on Directly Modulated Systems Performance in Metro Area Optical Networks

Due to the fact that a metro network market is very cost sensitive, direct modulated schemes appear attractive. In this paper a CWDM (Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing) system is studied in detail by means of an Optical Communication System Design Software; a detailed study of the modulated current shape (exponential, sine and gaussian) for 2.5 Gb/s CWDM Metropolitan Area Networks is performed to evaluate its tolerance to linear impairments such as signal-to-noise-ratio degradation and dispersion. Point-to-point links are investigated and optimum design parameters are obtained. Through extensive sets of simulation results, it is shown that some of these shape pulses are more tolerant to dispersion when compared with conventional gaussian shape pulses. In order to achieve a low Bit Error Rate (BER), different types of optical transmitters are considered including strongly adiabatic and transient chirp dominated Directly Modulated Lasers (DMLs). We have used fibers with different dispersion characteristics, showing that the system performance depends, strongly, on the chosen DML?fiber couple.

Free-Form, High Energy Performance, Transparent Envelope

This article examines, from the energy viewpoint, a new lightweight, slim, high energy efficient, light-transmitting envelope system, providing for seamless, free-form designs for use in architectural projects. The research was based on envelope components already existing on the market, especially components implemented with granular silica gel insulation, as this is the most effective translucent thermal insulation there is today. The tests run on these materials revealed that there is not one that has all the features required of the new envelope model, although some do have properties that could be exploited to generate this envelope, namely, the vacuum chamber of vacuum insulated panels (VIP), the monolithic aerogel used as insulation in some prototypes, reinforced polyester barriers. By combining these three design components — the high-performance thermal insulation of the vacuum chamber combined with monolithic silica gel insulation, the free-form design potential provided by materials like reinforced polyester and epoxy resins—, we have been able to define and test a new, variable geometry, energy-saving envelope system.

Dome-shaped Fresnel-Köhler: a novel high performance optical concentrator

The dome-shaped Fresnel-Köhler concentrator is a novel optical design for photovoltaic applications. It is based on two previous successful CPV optical designs: the FK concentrator with a flat Fresnel lens and the dome-shaped Fresnel lens system developed by Daido Steel, resulting on a superior concentrator. This optical concentrator will be able to achieve large concentration factors, high tolerance (i.e. acceptance angle) and high optical efficiency, three key issues when dealing with photovoltaic applications. Besides, its irradiance is distributed on the cell surface in a very even way. The concentrator has shown outstanding simulation results, achieving an effective concentration-acceptance product (CAP) value of 0.72, on-axis optical efficiency over 85% and good irradiance uniformity on the cell provided by Köhler integration. Furthermore, due to its high tolerance, we will present the dome-shaped Fresnel-Köhler concentrator as a cost-effective CPV optical design. All this makes this concentrator superior to other conventional competitors in the current market.

The Ventana Optical Train: a high-performance off-the-shelf HCPV optics solution

- PV and HCPV compete in the utility market - PV cost reduction has been dramatic through volume - A complete off-the-shelf optics solution by Evonik and LPI - Based on the best-in-class design: The FK concentrator