Volatility-based Effects on Shareholder Value: Alliance Activity in the Computing Industry

We use an event-study analysis to understand how alliance activity affects firm risk. The risk measure is the implied volatility of a firm’s stock price and the events are alliance announcements to the market. We build on the previous event-studies in the alliance literature that focus on the change in shareholder value by taking the first step in delineating what part of that value arises from the changes in the firm’s risk. The analysis reveals that a number of factors within a firm’s control can be used to manipulate risk exposure in an alliance, including the similarity of the firm’s and the alliance’s core activities, the governance form of the alliance, and the function of the alliance.     

A Conceptual Model for Researching the Creation and Operation of Supply Networks1

This paper presents a conceptual model for the creation and operation of supply networks. Existing conceptual research relating to interorganizational relationships and networks is reviewed in terms of its relevance to understanding supply networks; this research is drawn from the fields of strategic management, channel management, industrial marketing and purchasing, organizational behaviour and supply‐chain management. The different perspectives each field has on networks are highlighted. Contributions made by each in assisting to understand supply networks are discussed and synthesized. Findings from an exploratory survey are used to structure the design of a conceptual model for analysing the processes involved in the creation and operation of supply networks. The authors identify nine different types of networking activities and discuss the nature of these activities in the context of supply. Four different types of contextual factors relating to supply networks are identified. The model is tested in eight in‐depth case studies and a validating survey of 58 focal firm networks. It is concluded that it provides a robust structure that enabled complex, cross‐case analysis of multi‐variable, multi‐disciplinary data from interorganization product/service supply networks, but that further testing by other researchers is required.     

Developing the Concept of Transparency for Use in Supply Relationships

Management concern surrounding the supply of goods and services from business to business, and the related attempts to understand the phenomena observed therein, appears to rest upon a broad range of incompatible perspectives, from political science (often limited to considerations of power) to the logistical (akin to manipulation of a great, benign but dynamic jigsaw puzzle). It appears that all perspectives abrade against the difficulties of exchanging information, knowledge and innovation within the relationships between buying and selling organizations and the apparent chronic systemic inefficiency that transactions often represent in this context. This article addresses these concerns, exploring the concept of transparency and the developments necessary for it to be useful in exchanging sensitive information and tacit knowledge in supply relationships. Our central concern is how the understanding of transparency and its commercial importance may change when it is expressed as a manageable element of the relationship between two organizations rather than as a general property of a broader system (e.g. a supply network, industrial sub-sector, geographical cluster) and what utility this differentiation might hold for managers. The conclusion to the article, and the implication for managers, is that transparency might indeed be created and usefully managed within supply relationships but that it would differ fundamentally in meaning from previously posited concepts, with the same name, in different contexts.     

南充市城区已婚育龄妇女二孩生育意愿研究

2018年4—5月在四川省南充市城区采用便利抽样,以已婚且未育或已育一个小孩的育龄妇女为研究对象,采用自制匿名问卷,以面对面的形式收集资料,了解实施全面二孩政策后南充市育龄妇女的生育意愿,为南充市的人口研究提供参考依据。在213名调查对象中,56人(26.3%)有二孩生育意愿,140人(65.7%)无二孩生育意愿,17人(8.0%)不确定是否生育二孩。南充市被调查者的理想子女个数均值为1.46,意愿子女个数均值为1.27。不同文化程度(χ2=7.512)、配偶月收入(χ2=12.641)、理想子女数(χ2=66.401)、一孩性别(χ2=5.441)的育龄妇女间二孩生育意愿差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。Logistic回归分析显示,第一个孩子性别为女孩(OR=2.641,P=0.021)、丈夫月收入越高(OR=1.761,P=0.028)、理想子女数多于1个(OR=29.040,P<0.001)的育龄妇女更有意愿生育二孩。南充市城区二孩生育意愿处于较低水平,经济收入、理想子女数、一孩性别会影响育龄妇女的二孩生育意愿。全面二孩政策对于促进育龄妇女生育二孩的效应有限,应当建立相关的配套政策,以促进全面二孩政策的实施。     

A cyclical view of the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management

The vast majority of research on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management focuses on the impact of corporate governance on strategic management. In this article we propose a cyclical model, highlighting that strategic decisions can also affect corporate governance through shaping firm ownership structure. We discuss the impacts of strategic decisions on firm ownership structure and corporate governance in the contexts of publicly traded firms, private firms, and the privatization of state-owned enterprises. We hope that our cyclical model can promote researchers to develop a more complete view about the relationships between strategic management, ownership structure, and corporate governance.     

Transient detailed balance and product form for reaction networks

This paper explores the boundary of the set of reaction networks that have an exact transient (truncated) multidimensional Poisson or product-form distribution for the number of particles of different types. Motivated by the birth–death process, we introduce the notions of transient detailed balance and delay functions, and use these notions to obtain the novel transient product-form distribution in a coagulation-fragmentation process for polymers with a tree-like structure from that of the pure coagulation process.     

Stream salamander responses to varying degrees of urbanization within Maryland’s piedmont physiographic province

The main objective of this study was to determine how stream salamander assemblages and species respond to varying levels of impervious surface cover within Maryland’s Piedmont physiographic province. We sampled stream salamanders in 21 first-order streams located in watersheds representing a range of impervious surface cover (0–24 %) across the northeastern part of Maryland’s Piedmont region. Habitat data, including stream substrate and riparian characteristics, were measured at each site. Eurycea bislineata was the predominant species of stream salamander encountered during this study (> 99 % of individuals) and most of these individuals were larvae (> 92 %). Consequently, statistical analysis was limited to E. bislineata larvae. We were unable to detect a difference in E. bislineata abundances or body mass index’s among varying levels of impervious surface cover % or any individual site habitat variables alone. These results suggest that in smaller watersheds within the Piedmont of Maryland, local habitat variables, in conjunction with land use variables, are necessary in determining the abundance and body mass index of E. bislineata larvae populations. This study makes a strong case for halting the over-simplification of the relationship between urbanization and the presence/abundance of stream salamanders.

     

Infusing Career Development to Strengthen Middle School English Language Arts Curricula

An approach is presented for strengthening middle school standards‐based English language arts (ELA) classroom instruction by infusing theory‐ and research‐supported career development constructs and practices. Over an 8‐week period, 90 urban 7th graders participated in an integrated ELA–career development curriculum. Career agency emerged as an important construct for students. It was related to key markers of ELA achievement (i.e., standardized test scores, grades, and positive change in 6th‐ to 7th‐grade test scores) and elaborated on in nuanced ways by students in their written narratives. Four themes related to career agency were identified in student writings: time perspective, challenges of self‐direction, career development, and social and emotional development. Advantages for students and schools related to synergy, scale, and sustainability are discussed.