Observational Learning with Position Uncertainty

Observational learning is typically examined when agents have precise information about their position in the sequence of play. We present a model in which agents are uncertain about their positions. Agents are allowed to have arbitrary ex-ante beliefs about their positions: they may observe their position perfectly, imperfectly, or not at all. Agents sample the decisions of past individuals and receive a private signal about the state of the world. We show that social learning is robust to position uncertainty. Under any sampling rule satisfying a stationarity assumption, learning is complete if signal strength is unbounded. In cases with bounded signal strength, we show that agents achieve what we define as constrained efficient learning: individuals do at least as well as the most informed agent would do in isolation.social learning; information aggregation; herds; position uncertainty; observational learning

Determinants of director compensation in two-tier systems: evidence from German panel data

Building on a unique panel data set of German Prime Standard companies for the period 2005-2008, this paper investigates the influencing factors of both director compensation levels and structure, i.e. the probability of performance-based compensation. Drawing on agency theory arguments and previous literature, we analyze a comprehensive group of determinants, including detailed corporate performance, ownership and board characteristics. While controlling for unobserved heterogeneity, we find director compensation to be set in ways consistent with optimal contracting theory. I.e. compensation is systematically structured to mitigate agency conflicts and to encourage effective monitoring. Thus, our results indicate that similar types of agency conflicts exist in the German two-tier setting. --Director Compensation,Corporate Governance,Outside Directors,Two-tier System,Agency Costs

Sound Analysis - An intelligent device produced with CAD and CNC machinery using Industrial design and product development methods

This Master Thesis will cover the development of the mechanics and design aspects for a new product innovation made for IPsense AB (at Lund Technical University and Ingvar Kamprad Design Center in Lund, Sweden). Due to the sensitivity of the project some information has been left out. The product is part of an IP-based network concept developed for analyzing sound in real time. The total concept also involves software solutions integrated with a sound analyzing interface. The task was to design and develop the mechanical parts for a new concept. The goal of the thesis was to develop a solution in how to mechanically and ecstatically design the optimum electronic housing that will cope with the technical specifications given being possible to manufacture in smaller series. The result offers a good balance within design, sound design and flexibility. To achieve this, the product design was made modular using CAD, produced with CNC-machines for a rapid production in small series. Looking at the current situation: - Which are the customer needs for such a product - What products exists in the marketplace Further on: - Research and analyze customer needs and design issues - Choose the best housing-solution for prototyping - Manufacture and test the prototypeSound Analysis An intelligent device produced with CAD and state of the art CNC machinery, using Industrial design and product development methods, made for analyzing environment sounds. This Master Thesis resulted in a new product inspired by the human ear. The test showed some remarkable increase of the sound gradient which would interest the client, IPsense to file for a patent

Considering the shareholder perspective: value-based management systems and stock market performance

We empirically study the use of value-based management systems in listed German firms and examine implications for firms' stock market performance. Using a novel, hand-collected data set covering 1,083 firm years from 2002 to 2008, we find that value-based management systems become increasingly common. Specifically, in 2008 42% of our sample firms have implemented such a system. In the empirical analysis, we find that firms that implement value-based management systems earn statistically significant and economically substantial abnormal stock market returns measured within a two-year adoption phase. These excess returns are not jeopardized by poor post-adoption returns. In the analysis, we carefully control for risk and account for endogeneity concerns. Overall, our findings support the view that shareholders consider the adoption of a value-based management system as a credible signal that management will focus on shareholder interests and that such systems actually increase shareholder value. --value-based management,corporate governance,econometric analysis,Germany

On predictive entrepreneurial action in uncertain, ill-structured conditions

Decision-making is at the heart of entrepreneurship. Unsurprisingly, entrepreneurship research has engaged with processes of entrepreneurial decision-making resulting, most importantly, in the notions of causation, effectuation, and enactment. Nevertheless, the range of processes delineated to date remains somewhat incomplete. Drawing on crucial insights from the analysis of decision problem structures reveals that entrepreneurship theory has lacked a process that both recognizes the ill-structuredness typically surrounding entrepreneurial decisions and places prognoses center stage. While effectuation implicitly addresses structural defects but denies prognoses a central role, causation emphasizes the importance of predictions while being associated with well-structured, risky environments, and thus, unaffected by structural defects. Theorizing about a combination thereof, that is, a process recognizing and considering the ill-structuredness of entrepreneurial environments yet building on predictions of the future is overdue. This paper, therefore, seeks to foster a more comprehensive yet nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial decision-making processes by outlining the intrinsic features of one such process that we term execution and relating it to existing processes

From Knightian uncertainty to real‐structuredness: Further opening the judgment black box

Research Summary: Entrepreneurial judgment remains a concept that resembles a black box. This article attempts to further open that black box by developing a dimensionalization of types of judgment. To achieve this, it joins recent efforts to explicitly link entrepreneurship to Simonian themes by integrating the notion of decision problem structures into the judgment-based approach (JBA) to entrepreneurship. This article proposes a more comprehensive and nuanced approach to judgment in the face of decision problems we label “realstructured.” Extending the JBA comes with several important implications: It uncovers additional entrepreneurial knowledge problems, provides new insights for both economic organization and judgment communicability, and informs research on entrepreneurial success and failure. It also sheds new light on the controversy over the relationship between effectuation and judgment. Managerial Summary: When taking decisions, entrepreneurs cannot know how the future will pan out. Those decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty and only time will tell whether they prove astute or otherwise. The uncertainty of the future leads entrepreneurs to exercise judgment based on their individual beliefs and to act accordingly. The components of that entrepreneurial judgment remain rather underexplored. The purpose of this article is to dig deeper into, and thereby improve, the understanding of entrepreneurial judgment. The main result of this article is a four-part dimensionalization of judgment, covering entrepreneurial (sub-)judgments on the effects incurred by action, the appraisal of action alternatives, the goals underlying action, and resolving the decision problem

Space shuttle food system summary, 1981-1986

All food in the Space Shuttle food system was precooked and processed so it required no refrigeration and was either ready-to-eat or could be prepared for consumption by simply adding water and/or heating. A gun-type water dispenser and a portable, suitcase-type heater were used to support this food system during the first four missions. On STS-5, new rehydratable packages were introduced along with a needle-injection water dispenser that measured the water as it was dispensed into the packages. A modular galley was developed to facilitate the meal preparation process aboard the Space Shuttle. The galley initially flew on STS-9. A personal hygiene station, a hot or cold water dispenser, a convection oven, and meal assembly areas were included in the galley

Analysis of Ammunition by X-Ray Fluorescence

Nondestructive analysis of lead shotgun pellets by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) shows considerable promise in assignment of the identity of the ammunition source. X-ray fluorescence spectra of various shotgun pellets and of standard alloys were obtained using an energy-dispersive instrument and an Am-241 source. The correlation obtained between the precent antimony in the standard alloys and the intensity of the Ka fluorescence peak from antimony was excellent. Peak areas from antimony in shotgun pellets were measured and compared to calibration plots from the standard alloys. The method was capable of distinguishing among lead-based alloys, such as ammunition, with antimony content as high as 10%

Unternehmensmerkmale, Performance und Corporate Governance-Mechanismen als Determinanten der Vorstandsvergütung in deutschen Aktiengesellschaften – Eine empirische Untersuchung für DAX, MDAX, SDAX und TecDAX-Unternehmen

Wir untersuchen die Vorstandsvergütung der in DAX, MDAX, SDAX oder TecDAX geführt deutschen Aktiengesellschaften. Nach einem deskriptiven Überblick über die Höhe und die Zusammensetzung der gewährten Vergütung analysieren wir Einflussfaktoren auf der Höhe der Gesamtvergütung, wie auch der variablen Vergütungsbestandteile. Wir unterscheiden dabei drei Kategorien möglicher Einflussfaktoren: Unternehmens-, Performance- und Corporate Governance-Merkmale. Bereits einfache Unternehmensmerkmale, wie beispielsweise die Bilanzsumme weisen einen hohen Erklärungsgehalt auf. Während wir dann jedoch für akti-enkursorientierte und buchhalterische Performancemaße ökonomisch nur sehr schwache Effekte auf die Vorstandsvergütung finden, erweisen sich die von uns untersuchten Corporate Governance-Merkmale, wie Eigentümer- und Aufsichtsratsstruktur, sowohl unter statistischen als auch unter ökonomischen Gesichtspunkten als substantielle Determinanten der Managementvergütung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen sich konsistent für die Analysen der Gesamtvergütung und der variablen Vergütungsbestandteile und lassen damit auf hohe Agencykosten in deutschen Aktiengesellschaften schließen.Managemententlohnung, Corporate Governance,