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Corporate finance studies of mergers and acquisitions have relied mostly on stock price reactions to evaluate the impact of these events. In this paper, we analyze the performance of a sample of merged firms over a ten year period using a managerially controlled efficiency measure, data envelopment analysis (DEA). Our individual firm‐level year‐by‐year analyses indicate that the managerial performance of the merged firms generally improved in the post‐merger period as documented in the earlier studies of mergers and acquisitions. However, there were also a significant number of cases where we could not observe improved managerial efficiency using this less aggregated approach. We conclude that DEA based disaggregated approaches are useful tools in the hands of corporate governance boards with an interest in yearly or even quarterly managerial performance at the individual firm level.

This paper aims to present an extension of price sensitive measurement (PSM) combined with activity-based costing (ABC) for supporting activity-based pricing approaches in the small and medium-sized restaurants.

The joint model of PSM and ABC is applied to the fixed menu pricing analysis of a typical medium-small Italian restaurant.

The outcomes confirm the potential of the activity-based pricing approach for supporting pricing decision-making in the small and medium-sized restaurants. However, the complexity of the model for these contexts suggests testing simplified versions of ABC, proposed for other sectors, to exploit integration with PSM. Further, the authors find evidence of the need to further investigate the role of informal conditions, characterizing small-medium enterprises, which may play for the successful implementation of the approach proposed.

There is no analysis using the suggested approach for supporting menu pricing in medium-small restaurants. This case study contributes to the literature on activity-based pricing for small and medium-sized restaurants, based on the ABC approaches.

Because communication channels are inherently unique, they may differentially affect customers depending on their preferred communication style. Therefore, the information that firms provide might not have the intended effect, which is to increase program loyalty. The purpose of the current study is to present a marketing communication model that focuses on promoting program loyalty via self-congruity with the communication style of information channels.

The study introduces a self-congruity theory-based structural equation model, which is validated through an online sample of 575 respondents. The model begins with communication style and investigates its impact on satisfaction and loyalty in relation to hotel loyalty program members.

The model confirms that different forms of communication have varying levels of relevance to program loyalty. Communication style, information quality, self-congruity and satisfaction are all significant predictors of program loyalty.

Management can cultivate a community of loyal program members through the recognition of self-image congruence and its relationship with communication style, along with a solid understanding of target markets.

Despite the apparent influence that communication has on loyalty, very little research evaluates the typologies (firm-created and customer-created), dimensions (electronic and in-person) and attributes of information in terms of their effects on program loyalty.

In this paper, we explore how corporations use visual artifacts to translate and recontextualize a globally theorized managerial concept (CSR) into a local setting (Austria). In our analysis of the field-level visual discourse, we analyze over 1,600 images in stand-alone CSR reports of publicly traded corporations. We borrow from framing analysis and structural linguistics to show how the meaning structure underlying a multifaceted construct like CSR is constituted by no more than a relatively small number of fundamental dimensions and rhetorical standpoints (topoi). We introduce the concept of imageries-of-practice to embrace the critical role that shared visual language plays in the construction of meaning and the emergence of field-level logics. In particular, we argue that imageries-of-practice, compared to verbal vocabularies, are just as well equipped to link locally resonating symbolic representations and globally diffusing practices, thus expressing both the material and ideational dimension of institutional logics in processes of translation. We find that visual rhetoric used in the Austrian discourse emphasizes the qualities of CSR as a bridging concept, and facilitates the mediation of inconsistencies in several ways: By translating abstract global ideas into concrete local knowledge, imageries-of-practice aid in mediating spatial oppositions; by linking the past, present, and future, they bridge time; by mediating between different institutional spheres and their divergent logics, they appease ideational oppositions and reduce institutional complexity; and, finally, by connecting questionable claims with representations of authenticity, they aid in overcoming credibility gaps.

In this paper, we explore how corporations use visual artifacts to translate and recontextualize a globally theorized managerial concept (CSR) into a local setting (Austria). In our analysis of the field-level visual discourse, we analyze over 1,600 images in stand-alone CSR reports of publicly traded corporations. We borrow from framing analysis and structural linguistics to show how the meaning structure underlying a multifaceted construct like CSR is constituted by no more than a relatively small number of fundamental dimensions and rhetorical standpoints (topoi). We introduce the concept of imageries-of-practice to embrace the critical role that shared visual language plays in the construction of meaning and the emergence of field-level logics. In particular, we argue that imageries-of-practice, compared to verbal vocabularies, are just as well equipped to link locally resonating symbolic representations and globally diffusing practices, thus expressing both the material and ideational dimension of institutional logics in processes of translation. We find that visual rhetoric used in the Austrian discourse emphasizes the qualities of CSR as a bridging concept, and facilitates the mediation of inconsistencies in several ways: By translating abstract global ideas into concrete local knowledge, imageries-of-practice aid in mediating spatial oppositions; by linking the past, present, and future, they bridge time; by mediating between different institutional spheres and their divergent logics, they appease ideational oppositions and reduce institutional complexity; and, finally, by connecting questionable claims with representations of authenticity, they aid in overcoming credibility gaps.

The paper examines financial resilience responses/capacities of governments from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana in relation to COVID-19. It highlights the governments’ fiscal, budgetary and actions as either anticipatory or coping mechanisms towards the pandemic.

Multiple case studies and secondary data were used, including official government documentation/records, expert views, policy publications by supranational organisations and international financial institutions and media reports. Textual analysis was conducted to evaluate the case countries’ resilience.

The paper highlights how governmental budgetary initiatives, including repurposing the manufacturing sector, can sustain businesses, aid social interventions and reduce vulnerability during health crises. In addition, the paper highlights that external borrowing continues to be indispensable in the financial and budgetary initiatives of the case countries. The paper finds that lessons learnt from the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa within the last decade have shaped the anticipatory resilience capacities of the case countries against COVID-19.

The paper uses the notion of resilience, the dimensions of the resilience framework and the resource-based view (RBV) theory to unearth resilience patterns. This sort of combined approach is new to financial resilience studies.

The development of new advanced materials, such as photopolymerizable resins for use in stereolithography (SLA) and Ti6Al4V manufacture via selective laser melting (SLM) processes, have gained significant attention in recent years. Their accuracy, multi-material capability and application in novel fields, such as implantology, biomedical, aviation and energy industries, underscore the growing importance of these materials. The purpose of this study is oriented toward the application of new advanced materials in stent manufacturing realized by 3D printing technologies.

The methodology for designing personalized medical devices, implies computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) techniques. By realizing segmentation, reverse engineering and deriving a 3D model of a blood vessel, a subsequent stent design is achieved. The tessellation process and 3D printing methods can then be used to produce these parts. In this context, the SLA technology, in close correlation with the new types of developed resins, has brought significant evolution, as demonstrated through the analyses that are realized in the research presented in this study. This study undertakes a comprehensive approach, establishing experimentally the characteristics of two new types of photopolymerizable resins (both undoped and doped with micro-ceramic powders), remarking their great accuracy for 3D modeling in die-casting techniques, especially in the production process of customized stents.

A series of analyses were conducted, including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, mapping and roughness tests. Additionally, the structural integrity and molecular bonding of these resins were assessed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy–attenuated total reflectance analysis. The research also explored the possibilities of using metallic alloys for producing the stents, comparing the direct manufacturing methods of stents’ struts by SLM technology using Ti6Al4V with stent models made from photopolymerizable resins using SLA. Furthermore, computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulations for two different stent struts were carried out, providing insights into the potential of using these materials and methods for realizing the production of stents.

This study covers advancements in materials and additive manufacturing methods but also approaches the use of CAE analysis, introducing in this way novel elements to the domain of customized stent manufacturing. The emerging applications of these resins, along with metallic alloys and 3D printing technologies, have brought significant contributions to the biomedical domain, as emphasized in this study. This study concludes by highlighting the current challenges and future research directions in the use of photopolymerizable resins and biocompatible metallic alloys, while also emphasizing the integration of artificial intelligence in the design process of customized stents by taking into consideration the 3D printing technologies that are used for producing these stents.

This study explores the history of conflict and future options for cooperation between two distinct ethnic groups in New York City, Caribbean-Americans and Jews. The argues, however, that relations between both groups cannot be read through the crude lens of “Black/Jewish relations.” The article is divided in two major parts. In the first part, the authors explore the historical trajectory of relations between the two groups largely by focusing on the Crown Heights district in Brooklyn, home to a variety of Caribbean nationals, and the Jewish Lubavitcher Hasidic community. As the survey of historical material will reveal, in the late 1960s/early 1970s, issues pertaining to contestation over space and resources increasingly affected relations between both groups. A low point was reached in 1991 with the “Crown Heights unrest,” which threw this part of Brooklyn into several days of openly violent conflict. Although – as Part II will demonstrate – issues such as crime, cultural peculiarities, access to resources and political influence, remain on the agenda, both groups have since managed to restore less conflict-prone and productive relationships. Although conflicts have been often couched in terms of these relations, additional cultural factors suggest that the conflict has been shaped by other dynamics.