无风险利率变化时的实物期权定价方法研究

在现有的实物期权定价模型中,作为折现率的无风险利率被视为常数不发生变化,但实际上由于实物期权的到期时间较长而且不一定固定不变,作为折现率的无风险利率也并不总是固定的,而有可能发生变化.因此,研究无风险利率变化时的实物期权定价方法具有重要的理论意义和现实意义.本文正是考虑到这一点,首先假设无风险利率的变化服从Ornstein-Uhlenbeck随机过程,得到无风险利率变化时的实物期权定价公式,然后放松假设条件用Cox的利率均衡模型重新描述无风险利率的运动形式后,又对上述定价公式进行了修正,在此基础上本文给出一个数字实例对传统实物期权定价方法和考虑无风险利率变化时的实物期权定价方法进行比较.     

投资决策中实物期权法与净现值法的比较

NPV（净现值）法作为传统投资决策方法,虽然有其固有优势,但是在不确定性环境中,实物期权法显得更为合理。本文通过对NPV法与实物期权法在投资决策中的比较分析,说明实物期权法对于有效解决目前日益增加的环境不确定性问题,以及改变企业管理者的决策思维方式,具有重要的意义。     

不对称信息下信息技术服务外包合同设计

本文针对客户企业向IT供应商外包信息技术服务这一背景,考虑IT供应商不仅具有开发信息系统能力的私有信息,且其开发过程中的努力行为对于客户企业不可见的情况,研究了客户企业信息技术服务外包合同设计问题。研究发现,不对称信息下,客户企业可以通过设计最优合同菜单来甄别不同能力的IT供应商,但是此时客户企业需要向高能力IT供应商支付信息租金。同时,客户企业可以通过设计最优合同有效规制高能力IT供应商系统开发过程中的努力行为,但是相比于信息对称的情况,不对称信息下低能力IT供应商会存在努力不足的现象。低能力IT供应商努力不足的现象会降低社会福利和客户企业的期望利润;客户企业向高能力IT供应商支付信息租金的行为也会减少客户企业的期望利润。增加系统调试阶段的调试时间或者选择信息系统故障检出率高的IT供应商,可以降低高能力IT供应商的信息租金,并缓解低能力IT供应商努力不足的现象,进而减少信息不对称给客户企业带来的利润损失。     

需求不确定性下IT服务外包合同设计与分析

IT服务业务环境和技术环境的不确定性往往会引起服务需求的不确定性.针对IT服务外包中的需求不确定性问题,运用委托代理理论设计了不同需求环境下的合同,比较分析了固定价格合同、时间材料合同和收益共享合同的系统收益.研究表明:在需求确定的情形下,3种合同的系统收益水平是无差异的,都可达到整合供应链下的系统最优收益水平;在需求不确定的情形下,固定价格合同无法达到整合供应链下的系统最优收益水平,而其它合同形式可以达到,并且其它合同与固定价格合同的系统收益之差随着需求不确定性的增大而增大.最后,通过对需求为连续分布和离散分布时的算例分析,验证并拓展了相关结论.     

Excel在实物期权建模分析中的应用

对于不确定性环境中的价值评估,应用传统的净现值方法容易导致决策失误,实物期权分析是一门很好的补充技术,本文结合Excel对基于连续时间的实物期权定价技术——布莱克-舒尔斯公式作了探讨,建立了基于Ex-cel的期权定价模型和敏感性分析模型,并举例说明,以期有助于决策者更好地运用期权思想提高决策质量。     

基于实物期权理论的矿产资源最优投资策略模型

矿产资源投资周期长、数额大、且不确定性高,应用传统的净现值方法来评估矿产资源投资价值具有很大的局限性。本文运用实物期权理论,通过建立矿产资源最优投资的策略模型,讨论了在矿产品价格以及汇率存在不确定性的情况下,如何对海外矿产资源价值进行评估的问题,并以国内某海外矿产资源项目为例,验证了模型的有效性。研究结果表明,相对于传统的净现值法,实物期权方法可以更好地考虑未来的不确定性对矿产资源项目估值的影响;汇率风险是对海外矿产资源投资的影响很大;矿产资源丰度差异对矿产资源价值的影响很大。     

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。     

低碳港口存货质押贷款利率定价理论和模型

在港口低碳转型大趋势下,港口存货类质押贷款业务在实践中得到高速发展,如何在港口物流存货质押贷款理论决策中融入低碳港口约束因素、间接推动港口转型升级显得十分迫切。本研究深入探讨低碳转型下的港口质押贷款利率决策理论,提出了无风险套利原理、期权调整利差原理、低碳控制原理和质押风险控制原理。在此基础上,借助看跌期权反映客户违约风险调整价差、构建质押货物的碳排风险调整价差、采用VaR方法界定港口存货类质押率,建立了低碳港口流动性较强存货类物流质押贷款利率决策模型。重要参数敏感性分析表明:质押贷款利率与质押率呈现初始平稳、后上升、最后显著下滑,与回收率、质押物初始价格和质押物价格增长率三参数呈现初始显著下滑,最后平稳,与碳排治理成本率、融资成本率、经营成本率、无风险利率四参数呈现同方向类线性增长变化,与质押物价格波动率、质押物价值变动率两参数呈现反方向变化。最后,采用某港口实际数据,验证了模型可行性、可用性。     

亚式期权在依赖时间的参数下的定价

假定标的资产价格模型中的参数为时间t 的函数(即无风险利率r ( t) ,标的资产的期望 收益率μ( t) ,波动率σ( t) 及红利率g ( t) ) ,利用风险中性定价及随机积分的性质,得到连续几 何平均欧式亚式期权在六种情形下价格的解析公式和一个平价关系,且通过调整执行价格的 形式而得到固定执行价格的连续算术平均欧式亚式期权的渐进公式     

实物期权风险投资项目的价值评估

一种新的期权定价模型在风险投资项目中得到广泛应用,本文以美式期权为例,基于二叉树模型得出项目价值。算例表明,传统的净现值法由于忽视项目实物期权价值而具有一定的缺陷。     

Sourcing Information Security Operations: The Role of Risk Interdependency and Competitive Externality in Outsourcing Decisions

Firms are increasingly outsourcing information security operations to managed security service providers (MSSPs). Cost reduction and quality (security) improvement are often mentioned as motives for outsourcing information security, and these are also the frequently cited reasons for outsourcing traditional information technology (IT) functions, such as software development and maintenance. In this study, we present a different explanation—one based on interdependent risks and competitive externalities associated with IT security—for firms' decisions to outsource security. We show that in the absence of competitive externalities and interdependent risks, a firm will outsource security if and only if the MSSP offers a quality advantage over in‐house operations, which is consistent with the conventional explanation for security outsourcing. However, when security risks are interdependent and breaches impose competitive externalities, although firms still have stronger incentive to outsource security if the MSSP offers a higher quality in terms of preventing breaches than in‐house management, a quality advantage of MSSP over in‐house management is neither a prerequisite for a firm to outsource security nor a guarantee that a firm will. In addition to MSSP quality, the type of externality (positive or negative), the degree of externality, whether outsourcing increases or decreases risk interdependency, and the breach characteristics determine firms' sourcing decisions. When security breaches impose a positive externality, the incentive to outsource is enhanced if the MSSP decreases the risk interdependency and diminished if the MSSP increases this interdependency. A negative externality has the opposite effect on firms' incentives to outsource. A high demand spillover to a competitor, together with a high loss in industry demand because of a security breach, enhances these incentives to outsource security operations when the externality is negative. Finally, we extend our base model in several dimensions and show that our main results regarding the impact of interdependent risks and competitive externalities on sourcing decisions are robust and generalizable to different specifications.     

Staffing Call Centers with Uncertain Arrival Rates and Co‐sourcing

In a call center, staffing decisions must be made before the call arrival rate is known with certainty. Once the arrival rate becomes known, the call center may be over‐staffed, in which case staff are being paid to be idle, or under‐staffed, in which case many callers hang‐up in the face of long wait times. Firms that have chosen to keep their call center operations in‐house can mitigate this problem by co‐sourcing; that is, by sometimes outsourcing calls. Then, the required staffing N depends on how the firm chooses which calls to outsource in real time, after the arrival rate realizes and the call center operates as a M/M/N + M queue with an outsourcing option. Our objective is to find a joint policy for staffing and call outsourcing that minimizes the long‐run average cost of this two‐stage stochastic program when there is a linear staffing cost per unit time and linear costs associated with abandonments and outsourcing. We propose a policy that uses a square‐root safety staffing rule, and outsources calls in accordance with a threshold rule that characterizes when the system is “too crowded.” Analytically, we establish that our proposed policy is asymptotically optimal, as the mean arrival rate becomes large, when the level of uncertainty in the arrival rate is of the same order as the inherent system fluctuations in the number of waiting customers for a known arrival rate. Through an extensive numerical study, we establish that our policy is extremely robust. In particular, our policy performs remarkably well over a wide range of parameters, and far beyond where it is proved to be asymptotically optimal.     

Outsourcing Decisions and Managerial Incentives*

An agency model is presented in which outsourcing strictly dominates in-house production. We argue that firms outsource in order to improve managerial incentives. Conditions are established under which the firm is strictly better off with outsourcing. The benefit of outsourcing, however, is constrained by the trade-off between the incremental coordination costs of outsourcing and the improved incentive structure. The optimal contract is also shown to be a function of whether or not the firm is publicly held. For a publicly held firm, the contract is constant. For a privately held supplier, the contract is likely to be of a cost-sharing type. These findings offer preliminary incentive explanations for commonly observed outsourcing practices.     

Analysis of the Market‐Based Adjustable Outsourcing Contract under Uncertainties

The market‐based adjustable contract for customized goods or services has emerged in outsourcing practices. Its objective is to minimize the operational risks inherent in today's volatile environment of operations. Our research reveals several important properties of this contract through a continuous‐time analytical approach. Specifically, we consider the determination of this contract between two risk‐averse firms through a Nash bargaining process. We derive the optimal adjusting mechanism analytically and extensively analyze the application boundary of the market‐based adjustable outsourcing contract. We conclude by discussing implications for practice and research.     

Shared Services Transformation: Conceptualization and Valuation from the Perspective of Real Options

In today's volatile global economy, where many organizations face severe pressure to downsize, the “shared services” model, in which a firm merges common functions performed by multiple units into a single service delivery organization, provides an innovative approach to make business more efficient and effective. To successfully implement shared services, firms need to strategically decide whether and how to pursue various service transformation alternatives such as simplification, standardization, consolidation, insourcing, or outsourcing. In this study, we develop the notion of real options into a unique theoretical lens for conceptualizing service organizations and their transformation in an uncertain business environment. Specifically, we view service organization as a set of strategic options that give the firm preferential access to future transformation opportunities. We create a taxonomy of these options, and introduce a decision methodology for valuing alternative shared services transformation approaches. We illustrate this methodology by applying it in a real business case to justify a global firm's decision regarding the transformation of its finance organization.     

Performance Impacts of Strategy,Information Technology Applications,and Business Process Outsourcing in U.S. Manufacturing Plants

This paper develops a conceptual model to study the role of outsourcing strategies and plant‐level information technology (IT) application infrastructure in the outsourcing of production and support business processes, as well as their subsequent impact on overall plant performance. We validate this model empirically using cross‐sectional survey data from U.S. manufacturing plants. We find that some IT applications are more effective at enabling the outsourcing of business processes than others. For example, the implementation of enterprise management systems is associated with the outsourcing of both production and support processes, whereas operations management systems are not associated with the outsourcing of plant processes. Plants with a low‐cost outsourcing strategy are more likely to outsource support processes than plants with a competency‐focused outsourcing strategy. However, both cost‐ and competency‐based strategies have a positive and similar impact on the outsourcing of production processes. In terms of implications for plant performance, our findings indicate that the outsourcing of production and support processes is associated with higher gross margins. Although plant IT infrastructure is positively associated with favorable on‐time delivery rates, there is no positive association between the incidence of plant outsourcing and on‐time delivery rates. These results have implications for crafting plant‐level outsourcing strategies and for investments in IT systems to facilitate the outsourcing of business processes for enhanced plant performance.     

Risks in offshore IT outsourcing: A service provider perspective

Offshore outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) services is the prevalent practice in global businesses today. Despite the strategic advantages and cost benefits that offshore outsourcing offers, outsourcing relationships also involve risks, for both the client, as well as the service provider – a fact that is evidenced by the reported failures of such engagements. Some of the prior researches in this area have focused on identifying various types of client risks and their sources. However, the study of risks from a service provider’s perspective has not received due treatment in literature. This study analyses offshore IT outsourcing risks from the perspective of service providers. A case based approach using the principles of grounded theory was used for studying the risks. Theoretical sampling was used to collect data from 5 mid-tier offshore third party service providers based in Bangalore, India. From our coding and analysis three broad categories of service provider risks emerged, namely, macroeconomic, relationship specific and project specific. Relationship maturity, nature of contract, nature of service or project and nature of client were identified as contextual factors which influence the degree of risk.