Shareholders' Wealth‐Maximizing Operating Decisions and Risk Management Practices in a Mixed Contracts Economy

This paper establishes a critically important positive role for operations management practices and financial hedging. We show that operations management decisions and financial hedging are intertwined, and we advance a framework that can identify their combined effects on investors' wealth. We show that: (a) firms (publicly traded corporations) will optimally hold adequate riskless working capital (e.g., cash) to minimize the cost of obtaining non‐financial inputs, and the magnitude of this cash holding depends on operating details, and (b) operations management and financial hedging can lower firms' cash requirements, and boost productivity, defined as the wealth created in the firm per dollar of invested capital. Productivity‐enhancing practices—by “freeing up” some of the firm's cash—can maximize the investors' wealth. We show that these results obtain because firms' contracts with many of the providers of non‐financial inputs are not traded, and because investors can invest not just in public corporations but also in businesses “outside the markets” (e.g., proprietorships, partnerships, and private equity).     

Pool‐Point Distribution of Zero‐Inventory Products

We study zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery. The zero‐inventory production and distribution paradigm is supported in a variety of industries in which a product cannot be inventoried because of its short shelf life. The advantages of pool‐point (or hub‐and‐spoke) distribution, explored extensively in the literature, include the efficient use of transportation resources and effective day‐to‐day management of operations. The setting of our analysis is as follows: A production facility (plant) with a finite production rate distributes its single product, which cannot be inventoried, to several pool points. Each pool point may require multiple truckloads to satisfy its customers' demand. A third‐party logistics provider then transports the product to individual customers surrounding each pool point. The production rate can be increased up to a certain limit by incurring additional cost. The delivery of the product is done by identical trucks, each having limited capacity and non‐negligible traveling time between the plant and the pool points. Our objective is to coordinate the production and transportation operations so that the total cost of production and distribution is minimized, while respecting the product lifetime and the delivery capacity constraints. This study attempts to develop intuition into zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery by considering several variants of the above setting. These include multiple trucks, a modifiable production rate, and alternative objectives. Using a combination of theoretical analysis and computational experiments, we gain insights into optimizing the total cost of a production‐delivery plan by understanding the trade‐off between production and transportation.     

Research Constituents and Authorship Patterns in the Production and Operations Management Journal

The Production and Operations Management Society is the largest professional society dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge in product and process design, operations, and supply chains for the management of manufacturing and services. Its research journal, Production and Operations Management (POM), covers all topics in the discipline and all research paradigms to serve the entire community. Since its inception in 1992, POM has become recognized as a top tier outlet for operations management research. We identify research institutions in the operations management community that have played major roles in developing the journal based on the research of their faculty members and doctoral graduates. Our findings show that the constituency of the journal reflects the constituency of the society.     

公司证券投资、所有权类型与资本结构决策关系研究

考察了股市收益波动与公司资本结构决策之间的关系,以此分析上市公司是否存在违规举债炒股行为。研究发现:股市收益波动与公司负债水平正相关,即上市公司会根据市场收益情况举债进行证券投资决策,这种正相关关系在非国有企业更为显著;政府的监管政策效果不明显。研究结果证实了上市公司存在违规举债炒股行为,检验了政策效果并明确了监管的重点与方向。     

Managing Quality in the E‐Service System: Development and Application of a Process Model

In this paper, we develop a process model for assessing and managing e‐service quality based on the underlying components of the e‐service system and, in turn, address the growing need to look in more detail at the system component level for sources of poor quality. The proposed process model is comprised of a set of entities representing the e‐service system, a network defining the linking between all pairs of entities via transactions and product flows, and a set of outcomes of the processes in terms of quality dimensions. The process model is developed using Unified Modeling Language (UML), a pictorial language for specifying service designs that has achieved widespread acceptance among e‐service designers. Examples of applications of the process model are presented to illustrate how the model can be use to identify operational levers for managing and improving e‐service quality.     

Unobservable Investment and the Hold‐Up Problem

We study a two‐person bargaining problem in which the buyer may invest and increase his valuation of the object before bargaining. We show that if all offers are made by the seller and the time between offers is small, then the buyer invests efficiently and the seller extracts all of the surplus. Hence, bargaining with frequently repeated offers remedies the hold‐up problem even when the agent who makes the relation‐specific investment has no bargaining power and contracting is not possible. We consider alternative formulations with uncertain gains from trade or two‐sided investment.     

股权制衡、终极所有权性质与上市企业非效率投资

本文采用基于海洋博弈的shapley指数,对我国上市公司第一大股东的实际控制度与股权制衡度进行了测度,在此基础上.运用门槛面板模型研究了股权制衡度、终极所有权性质与上市公司非效率投资行为的关系.结果表明:第一大股东对上市公司的实际控制度与上市公司的非效率投资行为表现为一种非线性关系;股权制衡能够抑制大股东利益主导下的过度投资行为,但过度的股权制衡会带来投资不足的问题;不同终极所有权性质对上市公司资源配置行为和股权制衡效果影响显著:相对于中央直属上市公司,地方政府控制的上市公司表现出强烈的过度投资倾向,且利益趋同效应在地方政府所属上市公司比较微弱,而中央直属和省级政府所属上市公司的股权制衡效果相对较差.     

负债融资与企业投资决策：破产风险视角的互动关系研究

本文以中国上市公司为样本,研究了破产风险视角下负债融资与企业投资之间的动态作用关系.结果发现,在整体上负债融资会通过对破产风险的正向影响负向地作用于企业的投资决策,反过来.投资支出会负向地影响企业的破产风险,从而有利于负债融资的增加.在代理冲突下这种互动关系会产生异化:在低成长情形下,破产风险一方面会导致控股企业过度投资,另一方面会对非控股企业过度投资产生治理效应;由于低成长企业股东或经理过度投资问题,投资不会降低企业破产风险;在高成长情形下,破产风险会导致绝对控股企业投资不足;高成长情形下,只有相对控股企业的投资具有显著的风险抑制效应.     

Inventory Rationing in a Make‐to‐Stock System with Batch Production and Lost Sales

We address an inventory rationing problem in a lost sales make‐to‐stock (MTS) production system with batch ordering and multiple demand classes. Each production order contains a single batch of a fixed lot size and the processing time of each batch is random. Assuming that there is at most one order outstanding at any point in time, we first address the case with the general production time distribution. We show that the optimal order policy is characterized by a reorder point and the optimal rationing policy is characterized by time‐dependent rationing levels. We then approximate the production time distribution with a phase‐type distribution and show that the optimal policy can be characterized by a reorder point and state‐dependent rationing levels. Using the Erlang production time distribution, we generalize the model to a tandem MTS system in which there may be multiple outstanding orders. We introduce a state‐transformation approach to perform the structural analysis and show that both the reorder point and rationing levels are state dependent. We show the monotonicity of the optimal reorder point and rationing levels for the outstanding orders, and generate new theoretical and managerial insights from the research findings.     

终极控制人、负责融资与企业非效率投资

通过对LSV模型的扩展,构建终极控制人对企业投资影响两期静态理论模型,研究终极控制人对企业投资的影响.分析表明,终极控制人在谋取控制权私有收益情况下,"隧道挖掘"成本越小,企业投资者保护程度越差时,终极控制人越易进行过度投资;终极控制人为国有性质的企业比终极控制人为非国有性质的企业更易过度投资;负债融资具有一定的相机治理效应,可提高终极控制人的投资决策点,抑制终极控制人过度投资.     

Martin K. Starr: A Visionary Proponent for System Integration,Modular Production,and Catastrophe Avoidance

Martin K. Starr facilitated the creation of an identity for production and operations management (POM) as an academic discipline. This paper aims to summarize Starr's substantial contributions to scholarly inquiry on system integration and interfunctional coordination, modular production, and catastrophe avoidance. Even after four decades, we describe how his legacy in these areas continues to define several major drivers of operations and supply chain management research and practice. Starr has influenced several generations of students, professors, and executives with his writings, teaching, and leadership roles in the POM community that include 32 years on the faculty of the Columbia School of Business, 15 years as Editor‐in‐Chief of Management Science, and presidency of the Production and Operations Management Society.     

Optimal Production and Admission Policies in Make‐to‐Stock/Make‐to‐Order Manufacturing Systems

In this article, we study optimal production and admission control policies in manufacturing systems that produce two types of products: one type consists of identical items that are produced to stock, while the other has varying features and is produced to order. The model is motivated by applications from various industries, in particular, the automobile industry, where a part supplier receives orders from both an original equipment manufacturer and the aftermarket. The product for the original equipment manufacturer is produced to stock, it has higher priority, and its demands are fully accepted. The aftermarket product is produced to order, and its demands can be either accepted or rejected. We characterize the optimal production and admission policies with a partial‐linear structure, and using computational analysis, we provide insights into the benefits of the new policies. We also investigate the impact of production capacity, cost structure, and demand structure on system performance.     

政府刺激性投资政策下中小微企业银税互动设计及其投融资决策

银税互动是中国解决中小微企业融资问题的金融创新。文章在政府刺激投资政策(财政补贴和税收减免)下研究银税互动设计与中小微企业投融资问题，采用实物期权方法，并运用资产定价理论和动态规划理论解析地得到了企业各未定权益价值以及企业决策结果。通过静态比较分析，文章发现与税收减免政策相比较，财政补贴的企业投资加速，破产风险较低，企业价值较高，对应银行紧缩的信贷政策。在债务融资结构方面，企业一般选择银税互动融资。但是，对于财政补贴政策而言，在较稳定的金融环境下，企业会选择银税互动和民间借贷混合的融资方式。此外，文章从企业基本面角度发现，对于波动率较低的企业，银行应采取宽松的信贷政策；对于波动率较高的企业，银行应采取紧缩的信贷政策。最后，从企业和政府角度均发现，在政府政策中财政补贴可能占优。     

Uncertainty,flexibility and buffers in the management of the firm operating system

The role that buffers can assume in the management of uncertain situations that can occur in industrial firms is demonstrated. An outline is provided of the various types of buffers with regard to different types of uncertainty faced and to the characteristics of the production system. Although the prevalent scholarly trend is to evaluate buffers as factors which uselessly increase the complexity of the firms operating systems, this work tries to analyse the contributions they offer to the management process. Buffers are considered as alternative and complementary factors to technological flexibility. Technological flexibility is often considered the only competitive means able to face both external and internal uncertainties. The choice to use or not use buffers as a complementary resource or as an alternative to technological flexibility, depends on a comparison of the cost-benefits of the two solutions     

基于递阶生产系统投入产出模型的企业生产经营决策优化应用的研究

本文基于递阶生产系统投入产出模型,以某锦纶厂为应用背景,在建立销售结构优化模型的基础上,对企业销售结构优化、企业内部潜力挖掘和产品定价等几个方面的经营决策优化问题进行了探讨,并进行了成功的实践。     

A Note on the Relationship Among Capacity,Pricing, and Inventory in a Make‐to‐Stock System

We address the simultaneous determination of pricing, production, and capacity investment decisions by a monopolistic firm in a multi‐period setting under demand uncertainty. We analyze the optimal decision with particular emphasis on the relationship between price and capacity. We consider models that allow for either bi‐directional price changes or models with markdowns only, and in the latter case we prove that capacity and price are strategic substitutes.     

An Empirical Study of the Relations Between Hospital Volume,Teaching Status,and Service Quality

This paper contributes to research on quality drivers in healthcare settings by examining the relationships between patient volume, teaching mission, and process quality in US hospitals. To develop a model that accurately assesses the impact of patient volume and teaching status on quality, we draw on three related research streams pertaining to the volume–quality relationship, the comparative quality of care in teaching and non‐teaching hospitals, and quality drivers in service institutions. We propose the impact of patient volume on process quality varies across hospitals with different teaching intensities. The test of this proposition uses a large data set that measures process quality for treatments for heart attacks and heart failures in all major US hospitals. Our results suggest that, as hospital teaching intensity increases, greater patient volume is associated with decreased process quality. Never before was such a relationship uncovered. This initial finding has important practical implications. First, the regionalization policy of hospitals should be re‐evaluated in light of their teaching function. Second, the root causes for the lower quality scores of large, high resident‐to‐bed ratio teaching hospitals, compared with smaller versions, must be found.     

Ownership Structure,Corporate Value and Firm Investment: A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Spanish Companies

This paper is concerned with the set of mutualrelationships between firm valuation andinvestment, and with the possible endogeneityof ownership structure. In order to deal withthem properly, we aim to test the mutual impactof investment, corporate value and ownership bybroadening the usual framework with asimultaneous equations approach. Using a sampleof 140 Spanish listed companies for the1991–1997 period, we have found that,consistent with previous research, thealignment and entrenchment hypotheses seem tobe confirmed by the estimation of aone-equation model. However, when analyzed bymeans of a system of simultaneous equations inwhich a set of mutual relationships isintroduced, quite different results wereobtained. Although valuation and investment offirms are determined by managerial ownership,we have found that ownership structure may alsobe influenced both by investment and value.Consequently, it is not completely right toinfer that ownership structure determines firmvalue unidirectionally; however the benchmarkshould be broadened so as to take an explicitaccount of the mutual links between firm value,investment and ownership.     

Measuring the Contribution of Workers' Health and Psychosocial Work‐Environment on Production Efficiency

Increasingly many firms have started to implement programs intended to improve the workers' health and the psychosocial work‐environment, as well as other attributes of labor quality. Motivated by the need for evaluating to what extent the programs affect a firm's productivity performance, this study discusses a model for analyzing the contribution of labor quality attributes toward firm productivity. To assess the contribution from the labor quality attributes, we model firm productivity as the outcome of two separate processes within a firm: the physical production process and the labor quality process. Firm productivity is measured by a Malmquist‐like productivity index and is computed by Data Envelopment Analysis. Based on bootstrap methods we analyze potential statistical bias and provide bias‐corrected productivity estimates. The labor quality attributes are first modeled at an individual worker level as latent variables using Item Response Theory, and then aggregated to a firm‐level. The model is empirically validated using data from three manufacturing plants that participated in a coordinated worksite health promotion program. Over a 4‐year period (2000–2003), we observed a general improvement in efficiency of 2–5%, half of which could be attributed to an improvement in workers' health and psychosocial work‐environment. A key benefit with the model is that it is practical, easy to implement, and very fast to compute. The model also constructively contributes to the discourse on sustainability by providing a framework for deriving meaningful metrics and providing tangible measurements on the effect of sustainability‐related issues.     

股票流动性、股价信息含量与企业投资决策

市场微观结构和公司财务学的交叉研究是当前的研究热点,以2001年～2007年仅发行A股的非金融类上市公司平衡面板数据为样本,采用高频数据构造相对有效价差和相对报价价差衡量股票流动性,考察股票流动性、股价信息含量与公司投资决策之间的关系。研究结果表明,股票流动性与股价信息含量呈倒U型关系,但是股票信息含量的大小并没有影响到投资和股价之间的敏感性,说明市场上的投资者可能更多的是挖掘管理者已有但没有披露出来的私有信息,而不是管理者没有的私有信息,因而管理者并不需要据此进行投资决策。此外,股票流动性与企业投资水平正相关,意味着股票流动性通过扩展企业的投资机会集而影响企业的投资行为。使用不同的代理变量进行稳健性检验均没有改变研究结论。