HEC Paris

About: HEC Paris is a education organization based out in Jouy-en-Josas, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Market liquidity & Entrepreneurship. The organization has 584 authors who have published 2756 publications receiving 104467 citations. The organization is also known as: Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales & HEC School of Management Paris.

Strategic Brand Management: New Approaches to Creating and Evaluating Brand Equity

Abstract: Thousands of companies now recognize that brand names are their most valuable assets, but too often branding is merely a tactical decision, almost an afterthought. In this thought-provoking work, Jean-Noel Kapferer, an international authority on brand management and marketing, provides the most comprehensive model for strategic brand management to date. With hundreds of examples and case studies of brands throughout the world, Kapferer deals with the very essence and culture of branding and provides an overall philosophy for every aspect of brand management. At the heart of the book is Kapferer's concept of the brand as a pyramid with three levels: the apex is the kernel or core identity; the middle is the style or personality; and at the bases are the underlying themes and advertising programs. A brand, Kapferer argues, is not a product, but the product's essence, its meaning, and its direction. Strategic brand management starts with a holistic understanding of this gestalt rather than its component parts: the brand name, logo, design or packaging, and image. This gestalt must be managed, not just in marketing, but throughout the entire company. The most successful brand managers, Kapferer explains, search for new opportunities and new markets through the explosive phenomenon of global branding. Kapferer takes the reader through a comprehensive list of benefits, dangers, and pitfalls, and also step-by-step through each of the globalization phases -- from name transitions to maintaining consistency. He describes the conditions under which global branding works best, and the appropriateness of a multi-domestic marketing mix as opposed to a global mix. He also dealswith the corporate barriers to having global brands and the structural changes that corporations may have to undergo if they are to fully maximize the benefits of global branding. This hook, already a standard reference in Europe, brings branding in the U.S. into the 1990s.

On the Term Structure of Default Premia in the Swap and LIBOR Markets

Abstract: Existing theories of the term structure of swap rates provide an analysis of the Treasury‐swap spread based on either a liquidity convenience yield in the Treasury market, or default risk in the swap market Although these models do not focus on the relation between corporate yields and swap rates ~the LIBOR‐swap spread!, they imply that the term structure of corporate yields and swap rates should be identical As documented previously ~eg, in Sun, Sundaresan, and Wang ~1993!! this is counterfactual Here, we propose a model of the default risk imbedded in the swap term structure that is able to explain the LIBOR‐swap spread Whereas corporate bonds carry default risk, we argue that swap contracts are free of default risk Because swaps are indexed on “refreshed”-credit-quality LIBOR rates, the spread between corporate yields and swap rates should capture the market’s expectations of the probability of deterioration in credit quality of a corporate bond issuer We model this feature and use our model to estimate the likelihood of future deterioration in credit quality from the LIBOR‐swap spread The analysis is important because it shows that the term structure of swap rates does not ref lect the borrowing cost of a standard LIBOR credit quality issuer It also has implications for modeling the dynamics of the swap term structure EXISTING MODELS OF SWAP RATES focus on the spread between swap rates and Treasury yields In this article, we provide a direct comparison of the term structures of swap rates and of corporate bond yields An interest rate swap is a contract by which a fixed payment stream is exchanged against a f loating payment stream The f loating leg of the swap is usually set at the interbank interest rate for the relevant currency ~typically the six-month LIBOR for dollar swaps! Once the f loating leg is specified, the market rate for a swap is simply the coupon rate on the fixed leg of the swap The generic swap rate applies to a top-quality client rated AA or better Dealers use this market rate as a reference when they quote an actual swap rate to a client and adjust for default risk and other characteristics of the client In this paper we only consider generic swaps quoted for

Dispersion as Cross-Sectional Correlation

Abstract: We introduce the concept of cross-sectional dispersion of stock market returns as an alternative to the time-series approach to estimating the global correlation level of equity markets. Our objective is to derive a simple, instantaneous measure of the general level of global market correlation. Our cross-sectional method of estimating global correlation is dynamic and, using cross-sectional data, gives instantaneous information on the trend of global correlation. The traditional time-series method requires a long period of observations, and overlapping data have to be used to study the change in correlation. Both methods yield similar estimates for a “long” period, however, so a combination of the cross-sectional and time-series approaches should be of practical use to global asset managers.

Hungry for Money The Desire for Caloric Resources Increases the Desire for Financial Resources and Vice Versa

Abstract: This report attempts to provide an evolution- ary explanation for humans' motivation to strive for money in present-day societies. We propose that people's desire for money is a modern derivate of their desire for food. In three studies, we show the reciprocal association between the incentive value of food and of money. In Study 1, hungry participants were less likely than satiated par- ticipants to donate to charity. In Study 2, participants in a room with an olfactory food cue, known to increase the desire to eat, offered less money in a give-some game com- pared with participants in aroom free ofscent.InStudy3, participants' desire for money affected the amount of M&M's s theyateinasubsequenttastetest,butonlyamong participants who were not restricting their food intake in order to manage their weight.