Firm-Specific Assets, Multinationality, and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analytic Review and Theoretical Integration

Through a meta-analysis of 120 independent samples reported in 111 studies, we test the predictions of internalization theory in the context of the multinationality-performance relationship. Findings indicate that multinationality provides an efficient organizational form that enables firms to transfer their firm-specific assets to generate higher returns in international markets. In addition, the results delineate the conditions under which firm-specific assets have the strongest impact on the multinationality-performance relationship. Meta-analytic evidence also suggests that multinationality has intrinsic value above and beyond the intangible assets that firms possess, given analyses controlling for firms\u27 international experience, age, size, and product diversification

A Heuristic for Obtaining and Initial Solution for the Transportation Problem

A heuristic for obtaining an initial solution for the transportation problem is presented. Comparison of findings obtained by the new heuristic and Vogel's approximation method (VAM) are tabulated for 480 examples. Superior performance of the new heuristic over VAM is discussed in terms of total costs obtained, number of iterations required to reach the final solution, and CPU time required to solve the problems. Experimental design aspects are also presented

You gotta serve somebody: the effects of firm innovation on customer satisfaction and firm value

Marketing actions must create value for two key stakeholders: customers and investors. Nevertheless, these two stakeholders differ in their evaluations of firm actions in critical ways. As a result, most managers believe that there is a critical trade-off between serving customers and shareholders. Drawing upon the marketing–finance interface, the authors investigate how this trade-off unfolds to impact customer satisfaction and firm value in the context of innovation. Specifically, the present study demonstrates that creating value for customers and shareholders are not two completely distinct goals, as the business press and managers fear; innovation can create value for shareholders by satisfying customers. However, results also indicate that a crucial trade-off between satisfying consumers and creating value for investors is indeed present, as those same factors (i.e., firm’s branding strategy and level of market dominance, industry-level competitive intensity) that enhance the effects of innovation on customer satisfaction depress the effects of innovation on firm value, and vice versa. The authors discuss the implications of these important findings for research and practice

Homeopathy and cancer

Homeopathy developed about 200 years ago by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann has overtime become one of the most common complementary and alternative medicine procedures performed to treat cancer in the United States and Europe. In this procedure, based on the principle of “like cures like”, substances that have been diluted many times are used to treat patients, who show symptoms that the substances would cause when used in healthy people. Homeopathy is thought to stimulate the body's self-healing ability in this way. The studies carried out up to date have provided no strong evidence supporting the use of homeopathy in any clinical condition. The studies that have given positive results were methodologically incomplete. The procedure is claimed to be harmless, based on the fact that the active ingredients contained in homeopathic products are highly diluted. Sufficiently diluted homeopathic products are harmless as claimed, except for rare and non-serious side effects such as allergic reactions. However, studies reveal that also inadequately diluted products containing high levels of active ingredients are available in the market. Taking into account this danger, it is hard to say that the method is totally harmless

Reflexology and cancer

Reflexology is a complementary alternative medicine procedure carried out by applying pressure to specific points located mostly in the feet (sometimes in the hands), with intent to provide relief from certain symptoms. In reflexology thought to have a history of approximately 5000 years, it is believed that specific points in the feet are linked to certain organs and systems in the body, through energy channels, and that applying pressure to these points provides relief in the relevant organ and system, as well. However, no evidence has yet to be found that proves the alleged connections and mechanisms of reflexology. Indeed, studies carried out up to date were focused on the symptomatic effects of reflexology, rather than such links and mechanisms. In some studies, certain positive results have been obtained especially in terms of pain and anxiety. However, these studies were methodologically incomplete, as well, due to challenges such as the difficulty in creating blinding and placebo effect. As a result, currently we have no reliable evidence about the use of reflexology in any clinical situation. Nevertheless, when it is considered to be a safe procedure in terms of unwanted effects, it can be provided to patients as a supportive care service. Keywords: Reflexology, Cancer, Alternative medicine, Complementary medicin

COATED NANOPOROUS STRUCTURES SUBJECTED TO STRESS RELIEF ANNEALING

In this study, the mechanical improvement of the platinum coated nanoporous gold is investigated by performing molecular dynamics simulations. The tensile properties of the structure is enhanced by a stress relief annealing which prevents the high stress concentration observed between the coating and the core materials. The annealing process is performed at 500K for 100ps with a heating and cooling rate of 1K/ps. After the annealing process, tensile loading is applied to the coated structure with a strain rate of 0.001ps-1. According to the result of the tensile analysis, the Young’s modulus increases from 12.2 to 15.25 GPa while the yield strength enhances from 584 to 615 MPa

High-dose vitamin C and cancer

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid, ascorbate) is a basic compound that is of great importance with its role in various enzymatic reactions including the synthesis of collagen, as well as with its redox functions. Vitamin C has become the center of interest in cancer studies, in consequence of the facts that connective tissue changes and vitamin C deficiency were first alleged to be associated with cancer in the 1950s; and that high doses of vitamin C was asserted to be cytotoxic for cancer cells, later on. The results of the first study carried out in the 1970s were promising; but afterwards, the studies were ascertained to be faulty. Despite the positive results achieved from some laboratory and animal experiments, randomized clinical trials did not verify those findings, and no clear benefit of vitamin C for cancer treatment could be demonstrated. As for studies, where its use in combination with other cancer treatment regimens was assessed, conflicting results were obtained. Although intake of high doses of vitamin C is alleged to be harmless, based on that it is in the group of water soluble vitamins and is not stored in the body, there are many side effects and drug interactions reported in the literature. For now, it is better to abstain from this treatment, until the benefit of the treatment (if any) is clearly demonstrated, considering the potential side effects and interactions

Runtime Verification for Anomaly Detection of Robotic Systems Security

Robotic systems are widely used in industry, agriculture, the inspection of infrastructure, and even in our daily lives. The safety and security of robotic systems have become a primary concern as their interaction with humans increases. In this context, attacks on robotic systems have increased for diversified field applications. It is necessary to accurately detect these abnormal events in these systems as soon as possible. However, these systems also need a runtime verification approach on whether they conform to the established specifications. In this study, runtime verification for anomaly detection methods is proposed for the security of the robot operating system (ROS). Firstly, an anomaly detection method is proposed to detect unexpected situations, such as the number of the received packages being decreased under DoS attacks. Then, a holistic runtime verification architecture is proposed for the anomaly detection method. This architecture consists of three major entities: a verification device, an attacker device, and a robotic platform without losing generality. In the verification device, ROSMonitoring and Oracle are used to implement runtime verification. The proposed architecture is verified through an experimental setup. It is shown that the architecture can be used for runtime verification of different anomaly detection algorithms. A discussion on the security of robotic systems is also presented