Showing papers by "HEC Montréal published in 1998"
TL;DR: Analysis of patterns of association between IT usage and the nature of managerial work in different organizational contexts suggests that heavy IT users paid greater attention to and spent more time on the roles they performed best with the technology, and may in fact have been embarking on an over-specialization trajectory.
Abstract: Modern organizations are investing heavily in information technology (IT) with the objective of increasing overall profitability and the productivity of their knowledge workers. Yet, it is often claimed that the actual benefits of IT are disappointing at best, and that IT spending has failed to yield significant productivity gains -- hence the productivity paradox. Evidence is fragmented and somewhat mitigated. This paper argues that the current state of empirical research results from a failure to understand the interplay between IT and managerial work. It addresses this issue by analyzing patterns of association between IT usage and the nature of managerial work in different organizational contexts. Fifty-nine semi- structured interviews were conducted with middle line managers in three large companies: a Bank, a Telecommunications company, and a Utility. In addition, daily activities and IT usage were logged. The data indicate that the relationship between the level of IT usage and the nature of managerial work was stronger in the two organizations that were reorienting their strategies (Bank, Telecommunications) than in the one pursuing its existing strategy (Utility). It was also found that the pattern of the relationship between IT usage and the nature of managerial work depended on the kind of strategic reorientation implemented by the firm. For instance, in the Bank, the level of IT usage was associated with the amount of time spent by managers on information-related activities (e.g., reading reports, gathering information) and on disturbance handling activities (e.g., resolving conflicts, managing crises). In the Telecommunications company, IT usage was associated with more time spent on information-related activities and less on negotiation-related activities (e.g., discussions with colleagues on resource sharing, discussions with subordinates on performance standards). This finding suggests that heavy IT users paid greater attention to and spent more time on the roles they performed best with the technology (information-related activities), and may in fact have been embarking on an over-specialization trajectory.
186 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a model of household labor supply based on the collective approach developed by Chiappori (JPE, 1992) is presented, which assumes that the intra-household decision process leads to Pareto efficient outcomes.
Abstract: In this paper we estimate a model of household labor supply based on the collective approach developed by Chiappori (JPE, 1992). This approach assumes that the intra-household decision process leads to Pareto efficient outcomes. Our model extends this theory by allowing the marriage market, and especially the sex ratio, to affect the sharing rule and the household labor supplies. We show that our model imposes new restrictions on the parameters of the labor supply functions. Also, individual preferences and the sharing rule are recovered using an identification procedure that is both simpler and more robust than in Chiappori's initial approach. The model is estimated using PSID data for the year 1988. Our results do not reject the restrictions imposed by the model. Moreover, the sex ratio influences the sharing rule and the labor supply behavior in the directions predicted by the theory. Finally, the impact of individual wage rates suggests that spouses behave in an altruistic manner within the household.
69 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated whether there is more than one regime in the return-generating processes of nine emerging markets and the specific characteristics of each regime and found that the two regimes through which emerging markets evolve are different whether one takes the domestic investors' perspective or that of foreign investors.
Abstract: Many emerging markets have experienced significant changes in government policies and capital market reforms. These changes may lead to changes in their return-generating processes. Based on Markov-switching models, this paper investigates whether there is more than one regime in the return-generating processes of nine emerging markets and the specific characteristics of each regime. The results show very strong evidence of regime-switching behavior in emerging stock market returns. The two regimes through which emerging markets evolve are different whether one takes the domestic investors' perspective or that of foreign investors. For foreign investors, changes in volatility seem to be the main characteristic of emerging market regimes. The implications of these findings for the stability of emerging stock markets are discussed.
32 citations
01 Oct 1998
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an exact approach for solving the simultaneous vehicle and crew scheduling problem in urban mass transit systems, where they consider the single depot case with a homogeneous fleet of vehicles.
Abstract: This paper presents an exact approach for solving the simultaneous vehicle and crew scheduling problem in urban mass transit systems. We consider the single depot case with a homogeneous fleet of vehicles. This approach relies on a set partitioning formulation for the driver scheduling problem that incorporates side constraints for the bus itineraries. The proposed solution approach consists of a column generation process (only for the crew schedules) integrated into a branch-and-bound scheme. The side constraints on buses guarantee that an optimal vehicle assignment can be derived afterwards in polynomial time. A computational study shows that this approach out-performs the previous methods found in the literature for a set of randomly generated instances. A heuristic version of the solution approach is also proposed and tested on larger instances.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Caron-Dionne et al. developed a tool to aid insurance company adjusters in their decision making and to ensure that they are better equipped to fight fraud.
Abstract: The goal of this study is to develop a tool to aid insurance company adjusters in their decision making and to ensure that they are better equipped to fight fraud. This tool is based on the systematic use of fraud indicators. We first propose a procedure to isolate those indicators which are most significant in predicting the probability that a claim may be fraudulent. We applied the procedure to data collected in the Dionne-Belhadji study (1996). The model allowed us to observe that 18 of the 50 indicators used were significant in predicting the probability of fraud. Our study also discusses the model's accuracy and detection capability. The detection rates obtained by the adjusters who participated in the study constitute the reference point of this discussion. As shown in Caron-Dionne (1997), there is the possibility that these rates underestimate the level of fraud. Our second step was to develop software allowing us to use the results of the statistical model to estimate the probability of fraud in files and to decide whether or not an in-depth investigation should be conducted. This software contains the mathematical equation and the parameters calculated by the Probit model. As indicated in the report, these parameters reflect the data from all the firms having participated in the study and not from any one company in particular. It is not obvious that the same indicators would be significant or even that the coefficients would be the same for any one insurer in particular. Any insurer wishing to use the software is advised to carry out a systematic study of the company's own files. Once adapted to the insurer's use, the software can easily be used by claims adjusters. It would then be a matter of entering the indicators present in the files. The software will calculate the probability of fraud in a file and help the adjuster to decide whether an in-depth investigation is warranted.
18 citations
TL;DR: Two new algorithms are proposed for the problem of positioning a new product in attribute space in order to attract the maximum number of consumers by considering sets of balls bounded by indifference surfaces and finding points belonging to the largest weighted number of them.
9 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the informational content of elective teams in a dynamic principal/multiple-agents framework with adverse selection is studied. And the distributions on agents' types, nature and wages such that teams are formed exclusively by good-type agents, with and without side payments.
Abstract: This paper studies the informational content of elective teams in a dynamic principal/multiple-agents framework with adverse selection. Two agents with different employment histories are paid their conditional expected marginal product. They observe their types (good or bad), and choose between working together or separately. We characterize the distributions on agents' types, nature and wages such that teams are formed exclusively by good-type agents, with and without side payments. As employment records matter when idiosyncratic contributions are difficult to isolate, a good-type agent prefers not to jeopardize his reputation by teaming up with a bad-type agent.
3 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a robust and interesting relationship between the real domestic price of oil and real effective exchange rates for Germany, Japan and the United States is investigated, and an explanation for why the real oil price captures exogenous terms of trade shocks is given.
Abstract: We document a robust and interesting relationship between the real domestic price of oil and real effective exchange rates for Germany, Japan and the United States. We also offer an explanation why the real oil price captures exogenous terms of trade shocks, and why such shocks could be the most important factor determining real exchange rates in the long run.
2 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the global effect of CERCLA is revisited in an different but realistic framework, and the authors show that this form of regulation cannot reach its two main objectives because it is not possible to simultaneously improve prevention done by the frims and increase the funds available for indemnification and clean-up.
Abstract: Since CERCLA's legislation in the United States, extending the liability to banks in case of an environmental damage has been the main concern of many studies. Most of them show that this form of regulation cannot reach its two main objectives because it is not possible to simultaneously improve prevention done by the frims and increase the funds available for indemnification and clean-up. In this paper, the global effect of CERCLA is revisited in an different but realistic framework.
2 citations
06 Jan 1998
TL;DR: Outsourcing is a strong trend in current business as mentioned in this paper and a recent study of 426 organizations indicated that outsourcing was up 42 percent since last year, and many factors come into play to explain this rapid growth: shortage of skills, Y2000, increased pressure on most organizations to reduce costs while offering more services, increased complexity of technology, etc.
Abstract: Outsourcing is a strong trend in current business. A recent study of 426 organizations indicated that outsourcing was up 42 percent since last year (1). Many factors come into play to explain this rapid growth: shortage of skills, Y2000, increased pressure on most organizations to reduce costs while offering more services, increased complexity of technology, etc. Dataquest estimates that the global IT services market will double over the next five year, reaching a value of $622 billion-(2).
TL;DR: In this article, the authors derived analytical gradients for a broad class of regime-switching models with Markovian state-transition probabilities, which considerably speed up maximum-likelihood estimation with no loss in accuracy.
Abstract: This paper derives analytical gradients for a broad class of regime-switching models with Markovian state-transition probabilities. Such models are usually estimated by maximum likelihood methods, which require the derivatives of the likelihood function with respect to the parameter vector. These gradients are usually calculated by means of numerical techniques. The paper shows that analytical gradients considerably speed up maximum-likelihood estimation with no loss in accuracy. A sample program listing is included.