Price Adjustment with Price Conjectures

We derive a measure of firm speed of price adjustment that is directly inversely related to market power and compare this to the measure derived by Martin (1993). However, both measures are incorrect when firms have price conjectural variations. This is because Taylor expansions of the demand function implicitly assume that firms influence the level of competing prices in a way that is consistent with their conjecturesPrice adjustment; market power; conjectural variations

ADJUSTMENT OF PRICING: EVIDENCE FROM INDIAN MANUFACTURING

In India, manufacturing plays a significant role in economic development, growth and as a source of employment. This paper analyses the pricing behaviour in Indian manufacturing sector considering both domestic and external variables. Price adjustment models are developed based on Industrial Organization literature and are examined with 28 manufacturing industries at the 3-digit level over the period from 1963 to 2001. Domestic structural factors are found to be important in determining speed of price adjustment.Speed of price adjustment; Competitiveness; Indian manufacturing

Sustaining the co-operative approach in an era of change: A case study from Cork Ireland

This collection of essays draws together the research of fourteen international scholars to examine how the co-operative business model functions in practice within diverse cultural and social contexts. It includes case studies of co-operatives and credit unions operating in different national settings across Britain, continental Europe, Australasia and the Americas. Together the essays show how the concept of democratic co-operation, applied to enterprise in commercial markets, developed into the basis of a truly global movement. The Co-operative Model in Practice will be of interest to students and scholars in economics, business studies, sustainable development, history, and organisational theory and behaviour. It also serves as a valuable resource for policy-makers seeking alternative models for organising enterprise and society

Charginos and Neutralinos in the Light of Radiative Corrections: Sealing the Fate of Higgsino Dark Matter

We analyze the LEP constraints from searches for charginos $\chi^{\pm}$ and neutralinos $\chi_i$, taking into account radiative corrections to the relations between their masses and the underlying Higgs-mixing and gaugino-mass parameters $\mu, m_{1/2}$ and the trilinear mass parameter $A_t$. Whilst radiative corrections do not alter the excluded domain in $m_{\chi^{\pm}}$ as a function of $m_{\chi^{\pm}} - m_{\chi}$, its mapping into the $\mu, m_{1/2}$ plane is altered. We update our previous lower limits on the mass of gaugino dark matter and on tan$\beta$, the ratio of Higgs vacuum expectation values, in the light of the latest LEP data and these radiative corrections. We also discuss the viability of Higgsino dark matter, incorporating co-annihilation effects into the calculation of the Higgsino relic abundance. We find that Higgsino dark matter is viable for only a very limited range of $\mu$ and $m_{1/2}$, which will be explored completely by upcoming LEP runs.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D., 21 pages in LateX, including 10 encapsulated postscript figures; uses epsf.sty.; Figures modified (one deleted), conclusions unchange

Conserved charges and soliton solutions in affine Toda theory

We study the conserved charges of affine Toda field theories by making use of the conformally invariant extension of these theories. We compute the values of all charges for the single soliton solutions, and show that these are related to eigenvectors of the Cartan matrix of the finite-dimensional Lie algebra underlying the theory.Comment: 18 pages, plain tex, minor changes, references adde

An alternative approach to oversight: the case of the supervisory committee in Irish credit unions

The credit union supervisory committee, as a distinct model of organisational oversight, is very much invisible within corporate governance research. The focus is almost entirely on its corporate counterpart, the audit committee. This means that best practice is based almost entirely on audit committee experience, even though the audit committee model has not always prevented large-scale corporate losses. Audit committee and corporate and co-operative governance literature may benefit from the perspective of alternative models, such as that of the credit union supervisory committee. This paper explores the role of the supervisory committee in credit union governance and the structure of supervision, oversight and regulation within the Irish credit union movement. It reports the findings of a survey of credit union supervisory committees and qualitative interviews with key players in credit union supervision and development in Ireland, including the regulators of the credit union movement. A profile of the composition, activities and skills levels of supervisory committees is examined. The findings show that it is the high level of activity of the supervisory committee and its clear-cut independence that set it apart from other organisational oversight models

Meeting the credit needs of low income groups: Credit unions versus moneylenders

Although Ireland has a very well established credit union movement, moneylending continues to thrive. The purpose of this study is to estimate the extent of moneylending in a number of communities in Munster and to examine the extent to which credit unions contribute to financial inclusion. The study puts particular focus on comparing the service offered by the credit union with that of the moneylender. We estimated the extent of moneylending through a survey method and we examined the credit union service through interviews with credit union and MABS officers. We also compared the credit union service with that of the moneylenders. We interviewed a number of representatives from two of the main moneylending companies. We found that more than half (65 per cent) of those who are currently borrowing from moneylenders are also currently borrowing from other sources. Thus, it could be said that many of the people borrowing from moneylenders are not financially excluded. The financial exclusion literature tends to focus primarily on issues of ‘access’. However, as we found, more than half of the people currently borrowing from moneylenders do not have ‘access’ problems. So, why are they borrowing from moneylenders, if they have other options? We are of the view that for a significant number in Ireland, it is an issue of ‘use’ rather than ‘access’. Quinn and Ní Ghabhann’s (2004:26) study would support this, where 66 per cent of Travellers who were not credit union members cited ‘use’ factors such as ‘inability to save’ and ‘general lack of interest’ as reasons for not joining the credit union. Quinn and Ní Ghabhann indicated that many of the Travellers in their study were borrowing from legal and illegal moneylenders. While credit unions would appear to be very accessible, we highlight that they need to continue to offer small loans, promote small-scale saving and develop EFT (electronic funds transfer) services. We also highlight the need for credit unions to develop an emergency loan service, which members could access easily and quickly. In terms of ‘use’ of financial services, we highlight that credit unions must greatly improve on marketing and on the financial education of members, with particular focus on low-income groups. Financial advice and education in credit unions are of an ad-hoc nature and may only be available to those who have become indebted. One of the key principles of credit union philosophy is member education. Thus, in line with their philosophy and in their own interests and those of their members, credit unions should be more proactive in terms of providing financial education to their members and, in turn, building the members’ financial autonomy. In Ireland, we are very privileged to have a well-established and coherent money advice infrastructure in the form of MABS. MABS is currently developing a community education function, and thus will not only provide financial education to those who are indebted but will also be performing a preventative education role. From our research, we are led to believe that the increasing business of the moneylender is directly related to the decreasing financial autonomy of people. However, it would seem that for people on a low income, building financial autonomy can be very difficult. Additionally, our research would indicate that credit unions and MABS alone cannot build the financial autonomy of low-income groups and that this is a wider societal issue which requires a broad response

Data-driven airport management enabled by operational milestones derived from ADS-B messages

Standardized, collaborative decision-making processes have already been implemented at some network-relevant airports, and these can be further enhanced through data-driven approaches (e.g., data analytics, predictions). New cost-effective implementations will also enable the appropriate integration of small and medium-sized airports into the aviation network. The required data can increasingly be gathered and processed by the airports themselves. For example, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) messages are sent by arriving and departing aircraft and enable a data-driven analysis of aircraft movements, taking into account local constraints (e.g., weather or capacity). Analytical and model-based approaches that leverage these data also offer deeper insights into the complex and interdependent airport operations. This includes systematic monitoring of relevant operational milestones as well as a corresponding predictive analysis to estimate future system states. In fact, local ADS-B receivers can be purchased, installed, and maintained at low cost, providing both very good coverage of the airport apron operations (runway, taxi system, parking positions) and communication of current airport performance to the network management. To prevent every small and medium-sized airport from having to develop its own monitoring system, we present a basic concept with our approach. We demonstrate that appropriate processing of ADS-B messages leads to improved situational awareness. Our concept is aligned with the operational milestones of Eurocontrol’s Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) framework. Therefore, we analyze the A-CDM airport London–Gatwick Airport as it allows us to validate our concept against the data from the A-CDM implementation at a later stage. Finally, with our research, we also make a decisive contribution to the open-data and scientific community

Merging into the mainstream? An empirically based discussion of the potential erosion of competitive advantage in a restructured Irish credit union movement

Credit unions are key constituents of the financial services landscape in Ireland. Currently, the movement comprises mostly small-medium, local, autonomous credit unions. Restructuring is viewed as a means to ensuring viability and achieving economies of scale and scope. Debate has focused on the advantages of restructuring without due concern for its negative consequences. We argue that the competitive advantage of community-based credit unions is inextricably linked to their geographical scale and the implications of restructuring for competitive advantage must be considered. Using qualitative data obtained through interviews with borrowers in seventeen community-based credit unions, we construct a typology of factors influencing members’ decisions to borrow from credit unions during a time when credit was widely available and marketed aggressively by the conventional banking sector. We conclude that non-bureaucratic, member-centred systems and relational factors tend to outweigh material considerations in members’ decisions to borrow from credit unions. Moreover, both sets of factors relate not only to the movement's ethos but also to the ‘connectedness’ or sense of ‘the local’ experienced by credit union members. In the context of a restructuring agenda dominated by mergers and amalgamations, there is a need to guard against the erosion of the movement's unique, community-embedded competitive advantage