Showing papers by "HEC Paris published in 2003"

Do brand personality scales really measure brand personality

Abstract: Since 1997, literature and research on the concept of brand personality have been flourishing, and specific scales have gone into widespread use in academic circles, unchallenged on their validity. Brand personality is certainly a key facet of a brand identity. As this paper will demonstrate, however, the current scales of brand personality do not in fact measure brand personality, but merge a number of dimensions of brand identity — personality being only one of them — which need to be kept separate both on theoretical grounds and for practical use. Brand research and theorising, as well as managerial practice, have nothing to gain from the present state of unchallenged conceptual confusion.

Prediction of clinical outcome with microarray data: a partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) approach

Abstract: Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) is a partial least squares regression of a set Y of binary variables describing the categories of a categorical variable on a set X of predictor variables. It is a compromise between the usual discriminant analysis and a discriminant analysis on the significant principal components of the predictor variables. This technique is specially suited to deal with a much larger number of predictors than observations and with multicollineality, two of the main problems encountered when analysing microarray expression data. We explore the performance of PLS-DA with published data from breast cancer (Perou et al. 2000). Several such analyses were carried out: (1) before vs after chemotherapy treatment, (2) estrogen receptor positive vs negative tumours, and (3) tumour classification. We found that the performance of PLS-DA was extremely satisfactory in all cases and that the discriminant cDNA clones often had a sound biological interpretation. We conclude that PLS-DA is a powerful yet simple tool for analysing microarray data.

Market Making with Costly Monitoring: An Analysis of the SOES Controversy

Abstract: We develop a model of price formation in a dealership market where monitoring of the information flow requires costly effort The result is imperfect monitoring, which creates profit opportunities for speculators who pick off "stale quotes" Externalities associated with monitoring give rise to multiple equilibria in which dealers earn strictly positive expected profits We obtain various policy implications A switch to automatic execution can improve or worsen spreads and price discovery depending on the specific equilibrium A reduction in the minimum quoted depth tightens the spread but it reduces price efficiency Our analysis is relevant for the SOES controversy given that speculators in our model behave as the real world SOES "bandits" Our model predicts that SOES bandits should trade in stocks with small spreads and that SOES bandit activity should widen the spread We provide empirical evidence consistent with these predictions

Financial Contracting with Optimistic Entrepreneurs: Theory and Evidence

Abstract: This paper looks at the effects of entrepreneurial optimism on financial contracting and corporate performance. Optimism may increase effort, but is bad for adaptation decisions as the entrepreneur underweights negative information. The first-best contract with an optimist uses contigencies for two distinct purposes: (1) bridging the gap in beliefs by letting the entrepreneur take a bet on his project's success, and (2) imposing adaptation decisions in bad states. When the contract space is restricted to debt, there may exist a separating equilibrium where optimists self-select in short-term debt and realists in long-term debt. We confront our theory to a large dataset of entrepreneurs. First, we find that differences in beliefs may be (partly) explained by usual determinants put forward in psychology and management literature. Second, in line with the two main predictions of our model, we find that (1) optimists tend to borrow more short term and (2) those optimists that borrow more short term perform better. Last, we find that firms run by optimists tend to grow less, die sooner and be less profitable, which we view as a confirmation that our measure of optimism does not proxy high risk - high return projects.

Optimal Patent Protection in a Two-Sector Economy

Abstract: This article addresses the issue of optimal patent protection in an economy with a downstream and an upstream sector. The key insight is that higher patent protection in the downstream sector raises the incentives of agents to do R&D in that sector but discourages innovation in the upstream sector because of a market size effect. Hence, higher patent protection in the upstream sector accelerates growth whereas higher patent protection in the downstream sector slows it down. If some innovation is socially desirable, optimal patent protection is necessarily higher in the upstream than in the downstream sector.

Engineering Hedonic Attributes to Generate Perceptions of Luxury: Consumer Perception of an Everyday Sound

Abstract: For the last twenty years, the perception of hedonic attributes has been a problematic matter in consumer research. We argue that the perception of a hedonic product attribute should not be considered as an irreducible holistic experience, but rather as a complex set of sensory experiences, the components of which are identifiable and quantifiable. We provide evidence for this position by proposing a reliable method linking the features of product-related sound stimuli to consumer perception of hedonic attributes. To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kind offering a detailed investigation of consumer perception of everyday sounds (as opposed to music). We discuss managerial and consumer-level implications of the findings and provide an agenda for future research.

The Effect of Time-to-Build on Strategic Investment Under Uncertainty

Abstract: We show that time-to-build, which creates a lag between the decision to invest and production, is an important element of industry structure. We study a multiperiod investment game where there is demand uncertainty. Adding time-to-build to the model alters the classic tradeoff between making strategic commitments and exploiting the option to wait. Furthermore, time-to-build gives rise to novel equilibria in which firms invest incrementally, which contrasts with most prior work on multiperiod investment games in which firms invest only once. We show how time-to-build affects firm heterogeneity, investment timing, the option value of waiting, the evolution of prices, and social welfare.

Les facteurs déterminants de la stratégie des groupes français en matière de communication sur les activités de R&D

Abstract: This study is interested in the relationship between firm's characteristics (R&D intensity, industry, American or British stock market listing, R&D accounting method used, and size) and its strategy of communication on its R&D activities. We have analyzed annual reports of firms belonging to the SBF 250 index in order to determine the disclosure level of each company on R&D. The study confirmed the impact of Anglo-Saxon market listing (or of the size of the firm) and of the belonging to certain high-tech sectors on the communication related to the R&D. It also showed the lack of linkage between this communication and the R&D intensity, which is explained by the primacy of the preservation of industrial secrets on a full disclosure policy.

Los Fundamentos del Pensamiento y las Prácticas Administrativas. 1- EL ROMBO Y LAS CUATRO DIMENSIONES FILOSÓFICAS

Abstract: Durante mis estudios de doctorado, experimente muy tempranamente la dificultad de encontrar una metodologia apropiada que mepermitiera dar cuenta de las informaciones y delos datos empiricos recolectados durante losquince anos que habia ejercido la funcion de asesora adjunta a la alta direccion de la Universidad Laval, experiencia que constituiriael material de base de mi tesis.

Combining Gene Expression and Molecular Marker Information for Mapping Complex Trait Genes: A Simulation Study

Abstract: A method for mapping complex trait genes using cDNA microarray and molecular marker data jointly is presented and illustrated via simulation. We introduce a novel approach for simulating phenotypes and genotypes conditionally on real, publicly available, microarray data. The model assumes an underlying continuous latent variable (liability) related to some measured cDNA expression levels. Partial least-squares logistic regression is used to estimate the liability under several scenarios where the level of gene interaction, the gene effect, and the number of cDNA levels affecting liability are varied. The results suggest that: (1) the usefulness of microarray data for gene mapping increases when both the number of cDNA levels in the underlying liability and the QTL effect decrease and when genes are coexpressed; (2) the correlation between estimated and true liability is large, at least under our simulation settings; (3) it is unlikely that cDNA clones identified as significant with partial least squares (or with some other technique) are the true responsible cDNAs, especially as the number of clones in the liability increases; (4) the number of putatively significant cDNA levels increases critically if cDNAs are coexpressed in a cluster (however, the proportion of true causal cDNAs within the significant ones is similar to that in a no-coexpression scenario); and (5) data reduction is needed to smooth out the variability encountered in expression levels when these are analyzed individually.

The Winner's Curse of Human Capital

Abstract: We extend a model developed by Evans and Jovanovic (1989) to explain when start-ups are credit constrained. We show that the magnitude of the credit constraint is conditioned by the relative productivity of human capital in both wage work and self-employment. The effect of predicted household income on start-up capital is used to indicate the existence of financial constraint. Empirical analysis reveals that entrepreneurs with high human capital have both greater financial wealth and greater levels of start-up capital pointing to the endogenous nature of credit constraints. High human capital relaxes financial constraints, apparently due to greater productivity of human capital in wage work than in self-employment. Those who are the least likely to be credit constrained in self-employment are those that are least likely to switch into self-employment, and vice versa.

‘Shopping Around’ for Accounting Practices: The Financial Statement Presentation of French Groups

Abstract: This article illustrates the progressive move away from traditional accounting practices through a study of the presentation of financial statements. Based on a sample of one hundred large French industrial and commercial groups over a ten-year period, and applying a logistic regression method, our survey confirms a trend among French companies, which are increasingly turning their backs on traditional national practices as regards the balance sheet format, the income statement format, the voluntary disclosure of a statement of changes in shareholders’ equity and the cash flow statement format. This move towards ‘alternative’ practices is made possible by the flexibility of French regulation, and can probably be explained by the desire of French firms to attract more investment on international capital markets. However, this trend shows no signs of a clear orientation towards any particular accounting model (IAS, U.S. or U.K.). The behaviour of the French firms observed in our study can be considered as a kind of ‘shopping around’ for accounting practices.

Equal Employment Policy in France: Symbolic Support and a Mixed Record

Abstract: This article analyzes the policy framework for and the implementation of equal employment policy in France. After presenting the equal employment policy framework and the role of state feminist women's policy offices in its development, the author discusses the limited support for positive action strategies among French firms and unions. The implementation of equal employment policy has had a mixed record, often limited to symbolic gestures rather than concrete change. Contributing to this symbolic dynamic are the effects of reconciliation policy and the impact of the development of part-time work on women employment. The analysis argues that reconciliation policy has not for its part always privileged an egalitarian set of measures that facilitates the sharing of family and domestic work between men and women. The article asserts that the development of part-time work has contradicted equal employment policy efforts and has effectively contributed to maintaining women's positions in low-paying and marginal jobs. The article concludes that despite an apparently comprehensive policy framework for equal employment policy in France, the situation of women workers appears to be followin two tracks: a top-tier track of qualified, relatively well-paid women who are able to have a career and to reconcile family and work, and a lower-tier track of less-skilled, lower-paid women workers who continue to be marginalized on the labor market.

Cohérence et cohésion de l'équipe de direction dans la petite et moyenne entreprise : Le cas des hôtels familiaux au Yucatan

Abstract: Cette these vise a contribuer au developpement des connaissances concernant la convergence au sein des equipes dirigeantes et pour cela a distinguer entre la convergence des actions et celles des affects. En outre, la these essaie, grâce a la mise en place d'un systeme formel de gestion, de comprendre l'interaction entre ces deux dimensions et leurs effets sur les resultats des entreprises. Pour cela, cette these propose d'analyser la convergence en faisant la difference entre la coherence et la cohesion. La coherence correspond au degre d'articulation des differentes fonctions des elements d'un groupe qui permet, a travers la realisation des objectifs individuels, d'atteindre les objectifs collectifs. La cohesion correspond au degre d'adhesion volontaire des membres du groupe a un ideal, une aspiration ou un sentiment communs, qui leur permet de se renforcer emotionnellement les uns les autres et ainsi de faire face, comme un tout, aux difficultes qu'ils rencontrent. La coherence releve donc du champ des faits et des actions quand la cohesion releve des valeurs, des sentiments et des affects. L'approche methodologique a multiplie les sources de donnees qualitatives (observation participante et entretiens en profondeur) et quantitatives (questionnaires structures et fermes) en s'appuyant sur une demarche de recherche-action, completee par un schema experimental destine a ameliorer la validite et le degre de generalisation des resultats et permettant de mesurer les effets de l'intervention du chercheur. Ce protocole a ete applique a trois moyennes entreprises hotelieres mexicaines. La these a ainsi pu mettre en evidence l'existence d'une relation helicoidale entre la coherence et la cohesion et montrer comment un systeme formel de gestion pouvait ameliorer ces dernieres. Elle a principalement demontre que: * une cohesion minimale etait une condition necessaire de la coherence, * la coherence sanctionnee par des consequences positives peut contribuer a augmenter l'adhesion des participants et ameliorer la cohesion, * l'amelioration de la cohesion, en engendrant une atmosphere conviviale, peut contribuer a ameliorer la coherence, * il est possible a travers la mise en place d'un systeme formel de gestion, de developper a la fois la coherence et la cohesion. La these essaie de proposer a la fois un apport conceptuel (la distinction entre coherence et cohesion), un apport methodologique (l'etablissement de la complementarite entre la recherche-action et la methode experimentale) et un apport pratique (la proposition de solutions operationnelles pour ameliorer la coherence et la cohesion)

The Value of Benchmarking

Abstract: We consider the provision of venture capital in a dynamic model with multiple research stages, where time and investment needed to meet each benchmark are unknown. The allocation of funds is subject moral hazard. The optimal contract provides for incentive payments linked to attaining the next benchmark, which must be increasing in the funding horizon of each stage. Benchmarking reduces agency costs, directly by shortening the agent's guaranteed funding horizon, and indirectly via an implicit incentive effect of information rents in future financing rounds. The ex ante need to provide incentives and the venture capitalist's desire to cut information rents ex post create a hold-up conflict, which can be overcome by providing all funds in every stage in a single up-front payment. Empirical patterns of the evolution of financing rounds and research intensity over the lifetime of a project are explained as optimal choices: the optimal capital allocated and the funding horizon are increasing from one stage to the next. This emphasizes the notion that early stages are the riskiest in an innovative venture.

Le contrôle de gestion - Organisation et mise en oeuvre

Abstract: Cet ouvrage presente les aspects organisationnels et les outils classiques du controle de gestion, et met l'accent sur les evolutions actuelles et les nouveaux enjeux de la discipline. Il developpe ainsi : les fondamentaux dont il offre une mise en perspective critique : centres de responsabilite, budget et controle budgetaire, evaluation de la performance ; les outils recents du pilotage, dont les tableaux de bord et le balanced scorecard ; les aspects humains, comportementaux et contextuels (par exemple, les activites de service) ; le role et les fonctions du controleur de gestion aujourd'hui. Entierement actualisee, cette 3e edition propose notamment un nouveau chapitre sur la gestion du risque et la responsabilite sociale de l'entreprise. Pedagogique, illustre par de nombreux cas d'application, cet ouvrage est destine a un large public d'etudiants (universite, ecoles de commerce, ecoles d'ingenieurs) et de praticiens.

International differences in R&D disclosure practices: evidence in a French and Canadian context

Abstract: This paper compares the R&D disclosure practices in France and Canada, as evidenced in the annual reports of 76 French and 110 Canadian listed companies. It finds that Canadian high-tech companies (hardware, software, and biotechnology) disclose significantly more information on their R&D activities than their French counterparts. It also finds a strong link between R&D intensity and R&D disclosure among Canadian high-tech companies. Canadian companies overall are also found to be more likely to use non-financial disclosure as a means to resolve any R&D information asymmetry, while French firms disclose more traditional financial and accounting information. Canadian companies are also more willing than French firms to provide information concerning their future R&D expenditures. These results are consistent with inherent cultural and capital market differences between France and Canada. In contrast, the study does not find any significant difference in R&D expenditure capitalization policies between French and Canadian firms.

Bank Performance around the Introduction of a Section 20 Subsidiary

Abstract: As of 1987, commercial banks in the United States were allowed to establish Section 20 subsidiaries to conduct investment-banking activities. A concern of regulators was that these activities would result in a decrease in performance of commercial banks relative to the risk being undertaken. This paper examines the performance of commercial banks around the establishment of a Section 20 subsidiary. We find that Section 20 activities undertaken by banks result in increased industry-adjusted operating cash flow return on assets, due mainly to revenues from noncommercial-banking activities. Further, risk measures for the sample banks do not change significantly.

Start-Up Financing, Owner Characteristics, and Survival

Abstract: We investigated the relation between the survival of new small businesses and their having a bank loan. This was done in the context of a model that included other loan sources, human capital variables, as well as company and industry descriptors. We found, that, over the sample, there is a negative correlation between having a bank loan and business survival. There was, on the other hand, a positive correlation between having a non-bank loan and survival. However, having a bank loan was a ceteris paribus positive predictor of the survival of start-up companies. Our findings enabled some inferences about the process of selection of loan sources by start-up business owners, and about the process of granting loans by banks. There was evidence of self-selection towards non-bank sources of funds by owners with high levels of observable human capital and wealth and weak evidence of adverse selection against banks.

Réinventer la marque

Abstract: Manage-t-on les marques en 2003 comme on le faisait il y a a peine vingt annees? Quelles modifications substantielles de l’environnement, des consommateurs, des marches, de la concurrence, de la technologie ont impacte le management de marque de facon durable et profonde? A ce titre doit-on parler de reinvention de la marque et de son management? J.-N. Kapferer examine tres concretement en quoi on doit manager les marques aujourd’hui tres differemment, mais aussi en quoi certaines facettes de ce management doivent ne pas changer.

Constructing the governable small practitioner: The changing nature of professional bodies and the management of professional accountants' identities in the UK

Abstract: This article aims at contributing to the sociology of the accountancy profession by analysing how professional organisations govern the various categories that have emerged in the professional body throughout its history. To this end, the attempt by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales to give an institutional existence to the category of "the small practitioner" is examined. The plasticity and the polysemic nature of the notion of smallness, which refers simultaneously to physical (small/big), geographical (local/global) and moral (anonymous/notorious) characteristics, offers a particular opportunity to show how these three dimensions have been integrated into evolving organisational arrangements and discourses aimed at legitimising the professional order. It is contended that the definition of what small practitioners are, and how they should be dealt with, can only be understood as part of the broader issue of governance of the accountancy community and the nature of the professional body. The ICAEW's efforts to problematise the nature of small practices indicates a will to integrate distant modalities of accounting expertise into a single professional space, so as to prevent the physical and geographical distance between big and small firms from becoming too conspicuous a hierarchical distinction, and thus preserve the ideal of the community of peers upon which professional bodies have been built.

Linkage Principle, Multi-dimensional Signals and Blind Auctions

Abstract: We compare the seller's expected revenue in a second price sealed bid auction for a single object in which bidders receive multidimensional signals. Bidders' valuations for the object depend on their signals and a signal observed privately by the seller. We show in various examples that the seller can be better off not revealing publicly his signal. Hence the linkage principle does not necessarily hold when bidders receive multidimensional signals.

Accuracy vs. Simplicity: A Complex Trade-Off

Abstract: Earlier versions of this paper circulated under the title “From Cases to Rules: Induction and Regression.”

Managing the unmanageable: How can SEAM give back to employees and work situations their anthropological original substance?

Abstract: Attempts to explain the sources of the basic assumption of the socio‐economic approach to management (SEAM): the existence of hidden costs and performance. These are due to the heterogeneity of situations and to the presence of multiple contradictions in these situations. Aims to show how SEAM can help to both spot these two dimensions and to shed light on the operational difficulties for managers to cope with them.