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The purpose of this paper is to examine the empirical relationship between trades undertaken by informed agents (managers) and the proxies for informed trades computed by bid-ask spread decomposition models.

An econometric application of spread decomposition models to data from the London Stock Exchange, with an examination of whether the model predictions are co-integrated with actual outcomes.

The authors find overwhelming evidence of non-stationary behaviour between the actual and predicted informed trade prices. The findings suggest that there is a clear need for an alternative to extant spread decomposition models perhaps incorporating findings from behavioural finance.

Given the importance of stock market liquidity and the extensive use of spread decomposition models in predicting informed trades, the authors believe that the research conducted in the paper is an important contribution to the market microstructure literature.

The specific purpose of this article is to describe customer profitability analysis and evaluate its compatibility with quality management systems. Besides, its more general objective consists in shedding further light on the links between management accounting and quality management, which is still an emerging topic.

The first part of the document presents a theoretical description of the disciplines and tools that are relevant to the study. Afterward, an explanation of the way in which customer profitability analysis is operationalized in practice is provided. Subsequently, a framework for the incorporation of customer profitability analysis into a quality management system is introduced. The final section includes some recommendations for future research.

Through the analysis of the benefits of the incorporation of customer profitability analysis into an ISO 9000 model, the study provides further support to the premise that the joint consideration of management accounting techniques and quality management tools is beneficial to organizations.

The article combines two disciplines closely related in practice but seldom concurrently addressed in the literature.

Extant research posits that host country investors value geographical proximity and familiarity. American investors are likely to be more familiar with business, legal and economic conditions of Latin America compared to distant emerging market countries. Furthermore, the trading time of Latin American stock markets overlap significantly with that of U.S. markets. Therefore, we expect Latin American ADRs to enjoy better liquidity than ADRs from other emerging markets. Consistent with our expectations, we find weak evidence that ADRs from Latin America have lower effective spreads and adverse selection component of spreads compared to ADRs from other emerging markets.

The increasing rate of change in technologies and markets and the search for competitive advantage, have led to a new focus on logistics strategy and management. In the dynamic, competitive environment of the 1990s, the successful companies will be those who recognize and take advantage of the leverage which can be gained by effective management of the supply chain, from supplier through end users. The starting point in developing a logistics strategy must be a thorough understanding of final customers′ requirements. Only then is it possible to determine the required performance of firms throughout the supply chain. Integrated information systems and strategic alliances/partnerships will play an important role in achieving the desired levels of service performance. As markets fragment, it will be critical to be able to identify the profitability of customers and products as well as how alternative logistics strategies affect the profitability of these segments of the business.

Increasingly many companies have recognised the need to develop more formal approaches to planning. The uncertainties of the market environment and the increased complexity of business decisions have provided an incentive to these organisations to seek ways in which corporate resources can be better allocated and contingencies provided for. Nevertheless, formal business planning still tends to be confined to the larger companies, and often those that are involved in so‐called fast‐moving markets. Thus the Unilevers and Procter and Gambles of the world are using highly sophisticated planning techniques, but many other companies still lag behind. This is due not so much to a lack of a resources to commit to the planning function but more often to a lack of appreciation of the necessity for planning.

Managing a complex, boundary‐spanning function to maximize its contribution to the firm can be a challenging task. This research is concerned with providing management with increased understanding of the effects of different ways of managing a function, especially a significant boundary‐spanning operation. Conducted in the context of a procurement function, through a laboratory experiment, explores the impact of performance measures, interaction with other internal organizations and access to information about external events on an individual′s decision making and “comfort level”. Results indicate that the performance measurement system determines an individual′s decision‐making performance. The broader, more effectiveness‐oriented measures also tend to make the individuals more confident and satisfied with their operating environment and decisions. The availability of interaction with other internal organizations and the access to information about external events impact on an individual′s decisions but have relatively little effect on his/her comfort level.

In logistics strategy, it is now being recognized that revenue generation is as important as cost reduction. Although it has long been known that logistics customer service has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, little research has been conducted to determine precisely the degree to which logistics customer service affects sales and generates the revenues for the firm. The purpose of this paper is to identify, categorize, and illustrate methods for estimating revenues associated with various levels of logistics customer service offerings.

The purpose is achieved through simulation, statistics, and case studies.

When the revenue effects of logistics customer service can be approximated, logistics strategies can be formulated that optimize profits and/or return on investment. Otherwise, logistics strategy is in danger of being sub‐optimized when logistics customer service levels are treated as planning constraints and costs minimized to meet them.

The paper sets forth a number of methods by which this sales‐service relationship can be generated and the effect of service on sales quantified. This provides an important basis for optimizing logistics strategy.

This paper presents a study on the impacts of information sharing and ordering co‐ordination on the performance of a supply chain with one capacitated supplier and multiple retailers under demand uncertainty. In particular, a computer model is proposed to simulate inventory replenishment decisions by the retailers and production decisions by the supplier under different demand patterns and capacity tightness. It is found that information sharing and ordering co‐ordination significantly impact the supply chain performance in terms of both total cost and service level. It is also found that the value of sharing information and ordering co‐ordination is significantly affected by demand patterns and capacity tightness. Guidelines are developed for companies to share information and co‐ordinate orders under different conditions. These guidelines can help companies reduce costs and improve customer service levels in the supply chain.

Prior studies find increased bid‐ask spread around earnings announcements of U.S. firms. These findings show that increased adverse selection cost is the dominant factor affecting bid‐ask spread. Using a sample of foreign firms that are cross‐listed on Nasdaq as American Depositary Receipts, we find that there is significant decrease in bid‐ask spread around earnings announcements of these foreign firms. The results suggest that increased trading volume is the dominant factor affecting the bid‐ask spread of American Depositary Receipts around earnings announcements.

The size of the logistics market is typically estimated from the national accounting and market data. However, this data does not take certain in-house logistics services into account and most likely underestimates the true size of the market. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for estimating the potential size of the logistics market in terms of overall logistics expenditure and to also account for in-house services.

The research approach involves combining longitudinal industry- and firm-level turnover data, incorporating survey data from Finland on logistics outsourcing and costs, and calculating yearly logistics expenditure and the market demand for logistics services. Descriptive statistics, weighted arithmetic means and analyses of variance are employed in the estimations.

The research suggests and demonstrates a rigorous method for estimating the size of the logistics market, including both market-based demand and in-house services.

The empirical data used to illustrate the result are limited to a single country. The methodology should be further validated with data from other countries. The quality of the survey data could be improved by targeting multiple informants from a single firm.

One outcome of the research is that policymakers will be better able to estimate the size of the logistics market on a national level. For service providers, the results provide additional information on the market potential of logistics services.

The novelty of the research lies in combining multiple data sources and expanding the estimation of the logistics market to include services provided in-house.