We use a holdings-based attribution model to disaggregate the benchmark-adjusted returns to U.S. equity mutual funds into components that reflect persistent segment tilts, the timing of segment returns, and stock selection relative to their benchmarks. We find that large-cap funds add value by...

We examine the role of board connections in explaining how the controversial practice of backdating employee stock options spread to a large number of firms across a wide range of industries. The increase in the likelihood that a firm begins to backdate stock options that can be explained by...

Theoretically and empirically, debt and leases have been shown to be both substitutes and complements. To explore the relation, we divide our sample into two subsets: those that exhibit a complementary relation (43% increase debt after increasing leases), and those that exhibit a substitutionary...

The fundamental paradigm shift from traditional value chains to agile service value networks (SVN) implies new economic and organizational challenges. This work provides an auction-based coordination mechanism that enables the allocation and pricing of service compositions in SVNs. The mechanism...

This paper proposes an approach for evaluating the relationship witha customer, leading to the creation of a Customer Intimacy Grade (CIG), acrossmultiple levels of granularity: employee, team, business unit and wholeorganization. Our approach focuses on B2B service organizations whichprovide...

The fundamental paradigm shift from a product- to a service-oriented economy implies novel technical and organizational challenges. The value generated by a service is mainly represented by intangible elements exposed at execution (Hill 1977). Therefore, a service consumer expects a service to...

The current trend towards dynamic and highly scalableservice provisioning fosters the rise of Software as a Service(SaaS) platforms and so called Compute Clouds. Theon-demand provisioning of services gains more and moreinfluence. For offering enriched services that are capableof performing...