Impact of Price Postponement on Capacity and Flexibility Investment Decisions

Investments in dedicated and flexible capacity have traditionally been based on demand forecasts obtained under the assumption of a predetermined product price. However, the impact on revenue of poor capacity and flexibility decisions can be mitigated by appropriately changing prices. While investment decisions need to be made years before demand is realized, pricing decisions can easily be postponed until product launch, when more accurate demand information is available. We study the effect of this price decision delay on the optimal investments on dedicated and flexible capacity. Computational experiments show that considering price postponement at the planning stage leads to a large reduction in capacity investments, especially in the more expensive flexible capacity, and a significant increase in profits. Its impact depends on demand correlation, elasticity and diversion, ratio of fixed to variable capacity costs, and uncertainty remaining at the times the pricing and production decisions are made.     

A Knowledge Based Decision Support System for Setup Reduction

The issue of setup reduction is important for firms seeking to incorporate advanced procedures and concepts such as flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing to improve manufacturing productivity. Investing adequate amounts in setup reduction is a complex decision affected by many factors including the existing level of automation, worker characteristics, product features, and the manufacturing environment. The consequences of improper investment (i.e., over- and underinvestment) includes possible disruption of manufacturing operations as well as wasted resources. Much of the knowledge involved in the investment decision is heuristic and experience-based, and takes on greater significance when the form of the setup reduction function is not known a priori. This paper describes the development of a knowledge-based decision support system (KBDSS) that combines both heuristic and procedural knowledge to provide support for the setup reduction investment decision. The system uses codified manufacturing expertise to improve both the accuracy and effectiveness of setup-reduction decision making. Use of the KBDSS is illustrated by two examples based on disparate manufacturing contexts.     

序列投资下的石油勘探投资最优时机选择

综合考虑石油勘探投资的不可逆性、序列性和不确定性,结合市场需求和勘探储量的不确定性刻画勘探储量转让价格的随机动态变化,运用实物期权思想下的序列投资决策方法探究了石油勘探项目的最优投资时机选择问题,得出各阶段最优投资时机临界值的解析表达式,并与一次性完成投资的决策结果进行对比,进而剖析了不确定性参数对各阶段最优投资时机的影响。结果表明,序列投资决策模型能够弥补一次性投资决策模型容易错失投资机会的局限性;各阶段最优投资时机临界值同市场需求波动率、勘探主体价格控制能力呈同向变动,同市场需求漂移率呈反向变动;随勘探进程的不断深入,最优勘探投资时机临界值对以上参数的敏感性程度不断增强。     

Accounting Performance and Capacity Investment Decisions: Evidence from California Hospitals

Capacity decisions involve trade‐offs between the cost of capacity and the opportunity costs of lost sales. Accounting researchers posit that accounting performance provides sufficient information about these trade‐offs and thus can be used to formulate simple rules to assist capacity decisions. Empirical research has not examined the role of accounting information in capacity investment decisions at the department level in a multiproduct firm in the presence of social costs. Empirical analyses using department‐level data from California hospitals for the period 1998–2005 show that hospitals are more likely to make capacity investments in departments with high accounting performance. However, in the presence of demand variability, the association between accounting performance and capacity investment is attenuated because of the resulting increase in noise in accounting performance measures. Thus, the weight on accounting performance as a decision tool for capital investments reduces when there is demand variability. Another factor that reduces the weight on accounting performance is capacity utilization. Higher capacity utilization can lead to turning away or rerouting of patients to other hospitals and negatively impacts reputation and quality of care, which increases the hospital's social costs. Hence, hospitals do not require high accounting performance before investing in a department with high capacity utilization. This empirical evidence of the role of accounting performance in capacity investment decisions fills a gap in the capacity investment literature and furthers our understanding of the interactions between accounting performance and the operational determinants of firms’ capacity investment behavior.     

Financial appraisal to support technological investment

Short termism inhibits U.K. investment in Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) in four areas: appraisal methodologies; corporate governance; financial market forces; and macroeconomic regulation. High interest rates are not neutral between traditional processes investment and (AMT). We demonstrate the impact of high discount rates on AMT and long term investments. Bias against AMT investments arises from unsuitable means of financial appraisal, misuse of appropriate techniques and insufficient linkage with corporate strategy. A three stage methodology for appraising AMT investment is developed. We highlight the advantages of better informed and more involved providers of funds, and more varied macroeconomic controls are urged.     

契约型战略联盟的灵活性期权价值研究

当面对较高程度的不确定性时,企业可以选择契约型战略联盟作为战略投资的治理模式,根据相关不确定因素的发展变化而选择不同的合作伙伴,这样,不但确保了战略投资灵活期权价值的实现,而且此治理模式本身也具有较灵活的期权价值.契约型联盟可以分为紧密型战略联盟和松散型战略联盟.本文应用期权动态规划定价模型,对紧密型联盟治理模式和松散型联盟契约治理模式的灵活性期权价值做了模型分析,并进行了相关参数的敏感性比较.分析结果表明,在一定范围内.当战略投资相关因素的不确定性程度较高时,应该选择较灵活的治理模式,如松散型战略联盟.     

When Gray is Good: Gray Markets and Market‐Creating Investments

Gray markets arise when an intermediary buys a product in a lower‐priced, often emerging market and resells it to compete with the product's original manufacturer in a higher priced, more developed market. Evidence suggests that gray markets make the original manufacturer worse off globally by eroding profit margins in developed markets. Thus, it is interesting that many firms do not implement control systems to curb gray market activity. Our analysis suggests that one possible explanation lies at the intersection of two economic phenomena: firms investing to build emerging market demand, and investments conferring positive externalities (spillovers) on a rival's demand. We find that gray markets amplify the incentives to invest in emerging markets, because investments increase both emerging market consumption and the gray market's cost base. Moreover, when market‐creating investments confer positive spillovers, each firm builds its own market more efficiently. Thus, firms can be better off with gray markets when investments confer spillovers, provided the spillover effect is sufficiently large. These results provide a perspective on why firms might not implement control systems to prevent gray market distribution in sectors where investment spillovers are common (e.g., the technology sector) and, more broadly, why gray markets persist in the economy.     

Marketing as an Investment in Shareholder Value

We present resource‐based and capability‐based arguments of marketing investment intensity to offer a strategic view of marketing as an investment in shareholder value. We find that marketing investment intensity has a U‐shaped quadratic effect on shareholder value creation (Tobin's q) that calls for marketing investment to be protected and increased, not surrendered. We show how marketing investments interact with investments in R&D, human capital and operations to reveal how strategic co‐investments can alter the shareholder value of marketing. Finally, we show how competitive intensity and failings in the firm's investment productivity (its ability to convert investment expenditure into sales) point to malaise in the firm's own strategic architecture as a fault for perceived poor returns from marketing investments. Our findings suggest that marketing investment should not be scapegoated when its contributions to shareholder value are not as expected. When invested in strategically and in combination with other investments, marketing can unlock exciting improvements in shareholder value.     

中国市场管理者短视、投资者情绪与公司投资行为扭曲研究

本文研究了在股东短视从而造成管理者短视的情况下,投资者估价对中国上市公司投资的直接影响。通过比较常用的市场估价指标(市值账面比)和新的错误估价指标(非均衡估价),分析不同管理者短视程度下投资者情绪对公司的长期投资、短期投资和总体投资的影响,并考察了市场错误估价与管理者短视对公司投资扭曲的混合作用。研究发现,管理者短视程度越大,公司投资对市场估价的敏感性也越高—市场估价越高,公司投资越旺盛。另外,公司的长期投资决策对非均衡估价所表示的市场错误估价具有更大的敏感性,而短期投资及其他非长期投资决策对市值账面比所表示的市场错误估价具有更强的敏感性。短期投资决策对市值账面比的强敏感性说明中国市场尚属非有效市场,市值账面比在很大程度上反映了投资者的非理性估价心理。     

制造商成本削减策略对风险规避型零售商信息共享策略的影响

考虑一个风险中性制造商和一个风险规避零售商构成的供应链,需求随机且受销售价格的影响。在销售季节之前,零售商对需求进行预测,获取需求信号;制造商对生产进行投资降低生产成本。基于零售商的不同信息共享策略及制造商的投资策略,考虑四种不同策略模型,分别得到最优零售价、批发价（及投资水平）,并分析需求预测精确度对供应链成员决策和效用的影响。通过四种模型效用的对比分析,探讨制造商的投资策略以及零售商的风险规避态度对零售商信息共享策略的影响。研究发现,零售商共享需求信息对于制造商总是有益的,且制造商总是愿意采取成本削减策略;只有当制造商采取成本削减策略,且其投资成本系数较低时,共享需求信息对零售商才有益。最后,得到了制造商和零售商的均衡策略。     

Robust decisions in power system investments

The Turkish electrical system has been studied, particularly for the near term investment programme. The objective of the study was to determine the most likely investment alternatives for the next ten-year period, from a cost effectiveness point of view. A dynamic linear programming model was used in representing the national energy system, with special emphasis on the electricity sector. Hydro, coal, nuclear and oil-fired power plants as well as their interconnection investments were modelled. A 27-year planning horizon was defined. The scenario approach was utilized in establishing the effects of different factors, such as foreign currency requirements of projects, nuclear plant costs and nuclear fuel costs, demand growth rates for electricity as well as other fuels, availability of foreign currency and skilled manpower, and the development rates of coal mines, coal power plants and nuclear power plants. After analyzing the results of 24 different scenarios, robust plans for developing the power system are suggested. Other investments that are subject to the realization of certain conditions are also indicated.     

The syndication of venture capital investments

This paper examines competing finance, resource-based and deal flow explanations for the syndication of venture capital investments. Evidence from 60 firms (a 58.8% response rate) is analysed. Overall the finance perspective provides a strong explanation of motives for syndication, but the resource-based view is found to be much more important for those firms involved in at least some early stage transactions. The implications for researchers are that venture capital firms should not be treated as a homogeneous group and that the investment stages in which they operate may strongly influence attitudes towards syndication. In addition, there are implications for practitioners as venture capital firms may not be attributing sufficient attention to the need to augment their own resource base in order to enable them to make superior decisions when selecting deals and managing investments.     

Does Investment in ICT Curb or Create More Corruption? A Cross-Country Analysis

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been increasingly advocated as a solution to deal with a corruption problem. However, whether these investments can reduce or lead to more corruption is still unanswered. In this study, we show that the country’s investment in ICT can have both negative and positive effect on corruption. Although the increase in ICT investment provides technology infrastructures that can effectively monitor and control corruption, more investment itself can also provide an opportunity for corruption to occur.     

CLUSTERING IN N‐PLAYER PREEMPTION GAMES

We study a complete information preemption game in continuous time. A finite number of firms decide when to make an irreversible, observable investment. Upon investment, a firm receives flow profits, which decrease in the number of firms that have invested. The cost of investment declines over time exogenously. We characterize the subgame‐perfect equilibrium outcome, which is unique up to a permutation of players. When the preemption race among late investors is sufficiently intense, the preemption incentive for earlier investors disappears, and two or more investments occur at the same time. We identify a sufficient condition in terms of model parameters: clustering of investments occurs if the flow profits from consecutive investments are sufficiently close. This shows how clustering can occur in the absence of coordination failures, informational spillovers, or positive payoff externalities.     

AN ANALYSIS OF SHAREHOLDER AGREEMENTS

Shareholder agreements govern the relations among shareholders in privately held firms, such as joint ventures and venture capital‐backed companies. We provide an economic explanation for key clauses in such agreements—namely, put and call options, tag‐along and drag‐along rights, demand and piggy‐back rights, and catch‐up clauses. In a dynamic moral hazard setting, we show that these clauses can ensure that the contract parties make efficient ex ante investments in the firm. They do so by constraining renegotiation. In the absence of the clauses, ex ante investment would be distorted by unconstrained renegotiation aimed at (i) precluding value‐destroying ex post transfers, (ii) inducing value‐increasing ex post investments, or (iii) precluding hold‐out on value‐increasing sales to a trade buyer or the IPO market. (JEL: G34)     

Minority and majority private equity investments: firm performance and governance

This paper adds to the literature on the determinants of the effects of private equity (PE) investments. Using an original dataset of 191 target firms in Italy, we study the effects on performance and governance of the stakes acquired by the PE investor. We employ a difference-in-differences approach and compare target and control firms sharing similar characteristics and performance in the years preceding the deal. We find that PE investment has a positive effect on profitability, sales, and employment; these effects are larger for minority investments. We argue that this signals effective governance that follows from complementing rather than substituting incumbent managers in minority investments.     

Process Improvement,Learning, and Real Options

We use a real‐options approach to analyze investments in process improvement. We develop a simple, stochastic model of a firm making investment decisions in process improvement. Our analysis offers several interesting insights into investments in process improvement. First, early investment in process improvement results in valuable knowledge, which helps increase the value of the option to invest in process improvement in future periods. This may motivate a firm to invest in process improvements as early as possible. Second, it may be optimal for a firm to stop investing when such investments do not create enough value in the later stages of the investment horizon. Third, although one would expect the state of a firm's process relative to that of other firms to impact a firm's decision to invest in process improvement, this study finds that the impetus is conditional and identifies these conditions. Finally, in such an environment, the delay of investment in process improvement incurs an opportunity cost for a firm, and we show that the traditional net present value rule must incorporate this opportunity cost and the knowledge‐induced change in future option values to lead to a correct investment decision.     

Industry Implications of Value Creation and Appropriation Investment Decisions*

Managers face a critical task in making firm investment decisions that are targeted toward creating and appropriating value. As managers weigh their resource investment decisions, we argue that these investments have a direct impact on the growth and volatility of the firm's industry. With data covering 377 industries across 16 years, we investigate relationships for aggregate firm investments on the growth and volatility of industry profit and sales. Results reveal important, complex relationships between investment in value creation and appropriation and different elements of the industry environment. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed.     

Corporate investments and environmental regulation: The role of regulatory uncertainty,regulation-induced uncertainty,and investment history

The relation between uncertainty related to environmental regulation and corporate investments has received considerable attention in the academic literature. Previous quantitative studies, however, have not distinguished between different types of perceived regulation-related uncertainty and do not consider the potential influence of prior investments on firms' investment decisions. Therefore, this paper analyzes how decision makers' perception of two types of uncertainties – regulatory and regulation-induced uncertainty – affects corporate investments in measures to reduce environmental impact. We analyze survey data from a sample of more than 250 companies participating in the EU Emissions Trading System. The data set includes firms from different industries and countries, and covers the first two periods of the trading scheme. Regression results reveal that regulation-induced uncertainty is positively related to a firm's decision to invest, while we find no statistically significant relation to regulatory uncertainty. Moreover, we find that investment history is positively associated with investments in a specific year, but does not moderate the uncertainty–investment relation.     

面向产品生命周期的部分柔性技术选择

本文研究随机需求下产品生命周期不同阶段的部分柔性技术选择与生产能力规划问题。部分柔性技术是相对于完全柔性技术而言的,一种生产技术的柔性程度定义为能生产一产品类中产品个数多少的能力。不同柔性强度的生产技术,其投资成本和运行成本不同。本文首先建立了以计划期上总成本最小为目标的技术选择和生产能力规划模型,然后根据产品在其生命周期不同阶段的特点与市场需求的特点,应用所建立的模型进行仿真并总结产品导入期和成熟期技术选择的特点。