Different Measures Of Performance Research Articles

From performance to horizon: managements’ horizon and firms’ investment efficiency

PurposeThis study proposes a novel measure for management’s horizon (short-termism or myopia vs long-termism or hyperopia) derived from easily obtainable firm-level accounting and stock market performance data. The authors use the measure to explore the impact of managements’ horizon on firms’ investment efficiency.Design/methodology/approachThe authors rely on two commonly used but uncorrelated measures of management performance: accounting performance (return on capital employed, ROCE) and stock market performance (average abnormal return, AAR). The authors combine these measures to develop a multidimensional framework for performance, which classifies firms into four groups: efficient (high accounting and high market performance), poor (low accounting and low market performance), myopic (high accounting and low market performance) and hyperopic (low accounting and high market performance). The authors validate this framework and deploy it to explore the relationship between horizon and firms’ investment efficiency.FindingsIn validation tests, the authors show that management myopia (hyperopia) explains firms’ decision to cut (grow) research and development investments. Further, as expected, myopic (hyperopic) firms are associated with significantly more (less) accrual and real earnings management. The empirical tests on the link between horizon and investment efficiency suggest that myopic managers cut new investments while their hyperopic counterparts grow the same. Ultimately, the authors find that myopia (hyperopia) exacerbates(mitigates) the over-investment of free cash flow problem.Originality/valueThe authors introduce a framework for assessing management’s horizon using easily obtainable measures of performance. The framework explains inconsistencies in prior empirical research using different measures of performance (accounting versus market). The authors demonstrate its utility by showing that the measure explains decisions around research and development investment, earnings management and firm investments.

Dairy herd health management activities in relation to training of veterinarians in motivational interviewing

Communication has been identified as one constraint for cattle veterinarians to act as proactive health consultants. Motivational Interviewing (MI), an evidence-based client-centered communication methodology, may therefore be a useful tool in veterinary herd health management (VHHM). The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate associations between training in MI and different measures of performance in VHHM. MI skills of 36 Swedish cattle veterinarians randomly assigned to two groups - MI veterinarians (n = 18) who had received six-months training in MI and control veterinarians (n = 18) who were not trained - were assessed using the MI Treatment Integrity coding system. Skills were categorized as untrained, trained_poor, trained_near moderate and trained_moderate. Veterinarians each visited two to six cattle farms for VHHM consultations and revisited the same farms three to six months later to document implementation of recommendations. A gamma model and logistic or ordered logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between MI training and performance measured as: a) proportion of consultations resulting in written herd health plans, b) proportion of recommended measures fully or partially implemented, c) Likert scores of different estimates of client satisfaction and d) total time during 6 months allocated to VHHM visits on cattle farms. We found no evidence of any significant effects of MI training on the eight performance variables analyzed. However, a pattern of numerically higher values (better performance) in trained veterinarians with poor or moderate MI skills than in untrained veterinarians was observed in most variables. Clients were highly satisfied with veterinarians’ attitude, competence and time efficiency. Farms implemented a median of 66.7% (interquartile range: 50–100) of the measures partially or fully. Veterinarians allocated little time to VHHM visits (median: 2.2; interquartile range: 0.65–4.1 h per week of full-time work within cattle). Veterinarians with moderate skills spent 2.14 times more time on VHHM visits than untrained veterinarians, but the confidence interval was wide (0.88–5.21). The pattern of numerically higher values in trained veterinarians supported findings from other studies in the same project indicating a positive effect of MI training on VHHM. Our observations suggest a considerable potential to increase veterinarians’ engagement in VHHM.

Workload Balancing on Identical Parallel Machines: Theoretical and Computational Analysis

This paper considers the problem of assigning nonpreemptive jobs on identical parallel machines to optimize workload balancing criteria. Since workload balancing is an important practical issue for services and production systems to ensure an efficient use of resources, different measures of performance have been considered in the scheduling literature to characterize this problem: maximum completion time, difference between maximum and minimum completion times and the Normalized Sum of Square for Workload Deviations. In this study, we propose a theoretical and computational analysis of these criteria. First, we prove that these criteria are equivalent in the case of identical jobs and in some particular cases. Then, we study the general version of the problem using jobs requiring different processing times and establish the theoretical relationship between the aforementioned criteria. Based on these theoretical developments, we propose new mathematical formulations to provide optimal solutions to some unsolved instances in order to enhance the latest benchmark presented in the literature.

Equal Performance, Different Grade: Women's Performance in Discussion Perceived Worse Than Men's.

We investigate how men and women are evaluated in group discussions. In five studies (N = 761) using a variant of a Hidden Profile Task, we find that, when experimentally and/or statistically controlling for actual gender differences in behavior, the female performance in a group discussion is devalued in comparison to male performance. This was observed for fellow group members (Study 1) and outside observers (Studies 2-5), in both primarily student (Studies 1, 4, and 5) and mixed samples (Studies 2 and 3), for different measures of performance (perceived helpfulness of the contribution, for work-related competence), across different discussion formats (preformulated chat messages, open chat), and when controlling for the number of female group members (Study 5). In contrast to our hypothesis, we did not find a moderating effect of selection procedure in that women were devalued to a similar degree in both situations with a women's quota and without.

Examining Methods for Combining Speed and Accuracy in a Go/No-Go Vigilance Task

In many human performance tasks, researchers assess performance by measuring both accuracy and response time. A number of theoretical and practical approaches have been proposed to obtain a single performance value that combines these measures, with varying degrees of success. In this report, we examine data from a common paradigm used in applied human factors assessment: a go/no-go vigilance task (Smith et al., 2019). We examined whether 12 different measures of performance were sensitive to the vigilance decrement induced by the design, and also examined how the different measures were correlated. Results suggest that most combined measures were slight improvements over accuracy or response time alone, with the most sensitive and representative result coming from the Linear Ballistic Accumulator model. Practical lessons for applying these measures are discussed.

Corporate Performance Evaluation through Economic Value Added (EVA) and Other Conventional Measures: An Empirical Study

A successful performance measure evaluates how well an organisation performs in relation to its objectives. Since the primary objective of commercial organizations is normally assumed to be the maximisation of the wealth of its shareholders, it follows that performance measures should evaluate this. Besides the traditional measures like Return on Net worth (RONW), Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and Earnings per Share (EPS), EVA is a new measure available to the corporate managers. The EVA framework developed by Stern Stewart & Company is gradually replacing the traditional measures of financial performance on account of its robustness and its immunity from creative accounting. The present paper measures corporate performance of selected Indian companies by using EVA and other conventional measures. An attempt has been made to analyze the effectiveness of Economic Value Added over conventional measures of corporate performance. The relationship between different measures of performance is studied by using correlation and regression analysis. After detailed analysis it was found that HUL is the best performing company as per three measures of performance namely, EVACE, ROCE and RONW. It was also found that RONW and EVACE are highly correlated and RONW and ROCE significantly affect EVACE.

Does activity sector matter for the relationship between eco-innovation and performance? Implications for cleaner production

The literature confirms that every industry is affected by sector-specific technology, which determines innovations in goods and services, although these technological differences remain ambiguous in the context of eco-innovation. Further, the relationship between eco-innovation (understood as management of clean production in the firm) and the different measures of performance is not completely clear. This study aims to clarify the relationship between technology intensity in the sector and eco-innovation, and to determine the effect of eco-innovation on revenues. To achieve this goal, we establish two levels of study. The first is a cross-sector analysis that compares the differences among industries with widely disparate technologies. The second is an analysis of the organizations to examine specification of the eco-innovation goals and their repercussions for differences in revenues from new products for the firm, revenues from new products for the market, and revenues from unmodified products. The variable revenues is the measure that best reflects eco-innovation’s direct effects on the market.We test the theoretical model with a sample of 2094 firms, analyzing data on revenue two years after the firms implemented eco-innovation.Our data indicate that eco-innovation influences revenue positively in all sectors analyzed and confirm the technological differences among the sectors. Despite technological inequalities among the sectors, the effect of eco-innovation on business volume is positive and significant in all sectors. We discuss and analyze the results.

More than Meets the Eye: Reassessing the Empirical Evidence on US Dual-Class Stock

Dual-class stock enables a company’s controller to retain voting control of a corporation while holding a disproportionately lower level of the corporation’s cash-flow rights. Dual-class stock has led a tortured life in the US. Between institutional investor derision and the exclusion or restriction of dual-class stock from certain indices, one may assume that dual-class structure must be harmful to outside stockholders. However, in this article, the existing empirical evidence on US dual-class stock will be reassessed by contrasting studies that use different measures of performance. It will be shown that although dual-class firms are generally valued less than similar one-share, one-vote firms, they perform as well as, and, in many cases, outperform, such firms from the perspective of operating performance and stock returns. When it comes to dual-class stock, more than meets the eye, and a presumption that dual-class stock is harmful for outside stockholders should not guide policy formulation.

International experience, commitment, distribution adaptation and performance: a study of Ghanaian firms in B2B export markets

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the existing understanding of export practices in sub-Saharan African firms with a contextual focus on Ghanaian exporters operating in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Underpinned by resource-based theory and its association with the relational view, it examines how the interplay between various decision makers’ international experience, export commitment and distribution adaptation decisions influence firms’ performance.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a mixed methods approach, using survey data from 116 internationalising Ghanaian businesses across three sectors, supplemented with qualitative insights from 18 follow-up interviews.FindingsThe study establishes a full mediation effect of export commitment on the association between international experience and export performance; also, the moderating effect of distribution adaptation on export commitment – performance relationships. Unique insights are provided into the perceived role of trustworthy, intermediaries as “stakeholders” that add to a respective firm’s resource base; that is, in building capabilities in overseas markets and informing evolving business model decisions to overcome potential export barriers.Originality/valueThe insights from sub-Saharan African firms provide contextual value given the relatively under-represented existing research from the region. Original insights highlight ways in which decision makers build capabilities and that they do not always follow a forward moving internationalisation process, so use different measures of performance regarding B2B product-market ventures over time.

Has aggressive investing strategy performed? An insight from Malaysia listed companies

This study examines the role of aggressive investing strategy on firm performance for a sample of 514 listed firms in Malaysia from 2010 to 2017. In our first objective, we investigate the investing activism effect on firm performance by simultaneously controlling the firm characteristics and industry in our model. Our second objective is to test whether aggressive investing activism affects firm performance. Lastly, we want to investigate whether this aggressive investing may produce different results with different measures of performance. Our findings show that investment has significant effects on firm performance. Our research further indicates that companies with aggressive investing strategies had a better firm performance than compared to its peers. We test this theory using three different measures of aggressive investing strategies and substantiate this conclusion. Our research confirms the resource-based view theory and empirically proves that aggressive investments would result in better firm performance. JEL Classification : C23, D21, G31, L25 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26905/jkdp.v23i3.3069

Evaluating the HERO Ramp-Metering Algorithm with San Diego’s Integrated Corridor Management System Model

The FHWA project “Alternative Designs to Alleviate Freeway Bottlenecks at Merge/Diverge and Weaving Areas” aims at evaluating six different methods to mitigate merge impacts. In this paper, the following ramp-metering algorithms were tested: HEuristic Ramp metering coOrdination (HERO), Asservissement Linéaire d’entrée sur Autoroute (ALINEA), and San Diego Ramp Meter System (SDRMS). These were compared with a “do-nothing” base scenario. The algorithms were tested during a 5 h morning peak period simulation using the integrated corridor management system (ICMS) Aimsun network, a complete and wide-ranging network covering San Diego’s I-15 mainline corridor, on-off ramps and arterial roads. Whereas ALINEA is already included in the base distribution of Aimsun, a new implementation of HERO was programmed from algorithms found in the literature and adapted for use on such a network. Different measures of performance (MOP) were used to assess the efficiency of each algorithm and HERO was found to outperform all the other algorithms: gains of 1.5% over ALINEA and 4% over do-nothing on the mainline average travel time, and gains of 0.5% over ALINEA and 1.5% over do-nothing for the average weighted harmonic speed on all mainline and ramp sections. However, although tests showed that better results can be obtained on the mainline, careful calibration was needed to attain overall positive MOP and not penalize vehicles entering on ramps. The paper concludes with proposed improvements to the original algorithm.

A direct silicon bonded reference object for performance assessment of computed tomography systems

Using X-ray computed tomography (CT) as an industrial measurement tool requires the development of standards and reference objects for calibration. The purpose of this paper is to describe a manufacturing process for a reference object made from silicon and containing cavities with sub-millimeter features. Lithographic processes are used to etch silicon wafers to produce features arranged within 4 × 4 mm2 areas. The patterned wafer is diced and multiple pieces are bonded to form a 2 mm thick layered solid. For ease of handling, a protective shell is fabricated around the silicon stack and is made from glass and UV cure epoxy. Measurements obtained by coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) and CT are used to illustrate a comparative data analysis. Because different systems and process parameters would result in different measures of performance, no attempt has been made to optimize measurement procedures in this study. A feature with major dimensions 300 μm by 400 μm and containing a cubic shaped edge was extracted from the CT data. From the same wafer, a different pattern containing a similar feature was measured by CSI. Linear dimensions between edges from nominal were within 1 μm for the CSI measurements and up to 3.1 μm for the CT. The curve shape edge was fitted to the coefficients of a nominal shape and to best fit coefficients of a cubic polynomial. Both fits resulted in comparable residuals with standard deviations from nominal fit of 0.141 μm for CSI and 0.387 μm for CT, and respectively 0.117 μm and 0.320 μm for the polynomial fits.

Boardroom Gender Diversity and Performance of Listed Companies in Italy

The proportion of women in boardroom has traditionally been low around the world. Over the last decades, several jurisdictions have adopted legislative actions in order to trigger a tangible progress in female representation, also moving from the assumption that gender balanced boards result in improved corporate governance and performance. The investigation of the relationship between female boardroom representation and firm value is therefore key on policy grounds. The empirical evidence gathered so far is however inconclusive, given that potential reverse causality may bias results. In Italy, the Law 120/2011 envisaged mandatory quotas for the three board appointments subsequent August 2012, by setting out a minimum objective of one-third of the corporate board seats for members of the under-represented gender, lowered to one-fifth for the first term. The Italian law has introduced an exogenous shock in board composition, which may enable to overcome the endogeneity problem potentially impairing the analysis of boardroom diversity. This paper contributes to the literature by analyzing both the effectiveness of the Law in terms of its impact on boardroom gender diversity and on other board attributes, and by analyzing the impact of gender quotas on the profitability of listed Italian firms over the period 2008-2016. The analysis confirms a positive impact of the reform: we estimate an instant reform effect on the percentage of female directors of 17 percentage points and a follow-up effect of 11percentage points. The entry of new women pursuant to the law has also contributed to affect other board characteristics, lowering the average age, increasing the diversity in terms of age and professional background, increasing the level of education and the percentage of female interlockers. As for the impact on firms performance, results are not significant when static models are used. Differently, when a dynamic model is considered, female representation is estimated to yield a positive effect on different measures of performance when it exceeds a certain threshold, ranging between about 17% and 20% of the board members, roughly equivalent to at least two seats held by women, given that the average board size over the sample period is around ten members. This evidence supports the idea underpinning the critical mass theory, i.e., the hypothesis that women may influence board decisions and consequently firm performance when a minimum weight is achieved.

Total quality management practices and organizational performance: the mediating roles of strategies for continuous improvement

ABSTRACTThe relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and organizational performance has been widely reported in literature without consensus on its nature. This study examined the nature of relationship as well as influence of TQM practices and strategies for continuous improvement on different measures of performance among large- and medium-sized construction companies in the Nigerian construction industry. Unlike earlier studies, the research gives specific thought to how the relationship between TQM practices and performance is mediated by strategies for continuous improvement. The study was conducted using sequential mixed methods. In-depth structured interviews were first conducted which formed the basis for cross-sectional survey that subsequently followed. One hundred and twenty-eight valid questionnaires from well-structured questionnaires that were self-administered to 155 medium- and large-sized construction companies were received. Based on the factor analysis and partial least square structural equation modelling that were carried out, the study revealed that TQM practices have significant effects on organizational performance. However, the mediating roles of strategies for continuous improvement are necessary to ensuring better organizational performance. Therefore, it is imperative for organizations that are craving for competitive advantage to place high premium on TQM practices while ensuring that the right strategies for continuous improvement are put in place.

A computational study of primal heuristics inside an MI(NL)P solver

Primal heuristics are a fundamental component of state-of-the-art global solvers for mixed integer linear programming (MIP) and mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). In this paper, we investigate the impact of primal heuristics on the overall solution process. We present a computational study, in which we compare the performance of the MIP and MINLP solver SCIP with and without primal heuristics on six test sets with altogether 983 instances from academic and industrial sources. We analyze how primal heuristics affect the solver regarding seven different measures of performance and show that the impact differs by orders of magnitude. We further argue that the harder a problem is to solve to global optimality, the more important the deployment of primal heuristics becomes.

Territorial capital and growth over the Great Recession: a local analysis for Italy

The consequences of the crisis have been mainly analyzed at national/international levels, neglecting its differential effects on local areas. Notwithstanding the international character of the Great Recession, the different local structural features might have influenced the economic and social impact of the crisis, determining effects on the resilience and recovery chance. In this paper, we focus on the role of different territorial indicators by looking at how their relevance has changed during the recent crisis at provincial level. Our aim is threefold. First, we identify the strategic territorial elements which might be particularly relevant in ensuring a greater local absorption capacity. Second, we test whether the crisis has increased the role of specific local factors. In doing that, we use different measures of performance (GDP, exports and employment). Third, we control for macro-regional characteristics (i.e., North versus South) and local specific effects through a panel analysis of the dynamics of the performance variables in three sub-periods over the years 2000–2014. For that purpose, we use a multidimensional dataset for Italian provinces aiming at estimating the empirical relations between the set of territorial elements (i.e., the components of the so-called territorial capital) and the change in local performance. The results stress the role of some localized variables (i.e., human and cultural/natural/capital, agglomeration economies) over the whole period and the changing role of other territorial dimensions (material and non-material) according to the performance variable considered and during the crisis.

Engineer CEOs and Firm Performance in BIST Manufacturing Firms

We study the relation between the educational background of chief executive officers (CEOs) and firm performance for firms traded on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) between 2009-2015. We focus on manufacturing firms and analyze two different measures of performance, namely operating performance and market-based performance. We find that firms that have CEOs with an engineering background experience higher operating performance measured by return on assets (ROA) than firms that have CEOs with other educational background. Moreover, firms with engineer CEOs also experience better market-based performance measured by Tobin’s Q. The positive association between having CEOs with an engineering background and firm performance that we document is robust to the inclusion of several firm-level control variables in our multivariate analysis. We also find that this positive relation is more pronounced for public manufacturing firms of smaller size.

Determinants of organizational performance in a reinventing government setting: evidence from the Milwaukee school voucher programme

ABSTRACTThis paper advances the institutional entrepreneurial literature by exploring how, and when, the institutional entrepreneurial concepts embedded in theories of Reinventing Government and New Public Management are successful. Specifically, organizational level data from the nation’s oldest and largest urban school voucher programme are used to test how fundraising, reliance on government revenue, and membership in an umbrella organization impact different measures of performance. The analysis shows that organizations that fundraise, establish diverse revenue streams, and/or are members of established networks have certain performance advantages. The results are relevant to policymaker considering governance reforms premised on entrepreneurial activity.

Efficient Techniques for Crowdsourced Top-k Lists

We propose techniques that obtain top-k lists of items out of larger itemsets, using human workers to perform comparisons among items. An example application is to short-list a large set of college applications using advanced students as workers. A method that obtains crowdsourced top-k lists has to address several challenges of crowdsourcing: there are constraints in the total number of tasks due to monetary or practical reasons; tasks posted to workers have an inherent limitation on their size; obtaining results from human workers has high latency; workers may disagree on their judgments for the same items or provide wrong results on purpose; and, there can be varying difficulty among tasks of the same size. We describe novel efficient techniques and explore their tolerance to adversarial behavior and the tradeoffs among different measures of performance (latency, expense and quality of results). We empirically evaluate the proposed techniques using simulations as well as real crowds in Amazon Mechanical Turk. A randomized variant of the proposed algorithms achieves significant budget saves, especially for very large itemsets and large top-k lists, with negligible risk of lowering the quality of the output.

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

Abstract This paper studies possible complementarities and substitution effects between such strategic choices as alliances, acquisitions and internal R&D investments. The findings indicate that a firm’s absorptive capacity affects the presence of complementarities and substitution effects among those strategic choices. Firms with high absorptive capacity exhibit substitution effects between alliances and acquisitions and between alliances and internal R&D investments. Firms with high absorptive capacity also exhibit complementarities between acquisitions and additional R&D investments. These results were obtained from panel data of large and medium U.S. companies spanning the years 1998-2009. The results are robust to the use of different measures of performance: profitability, market-to-book value, and sales growth. This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of absorptive capacity for the optimal choice of inter-organizational strategy vs. greater internal R&D investments.