This paper develops a structural multi-location consumer demand model to analyze spatially differentiated retail networks. A novel feature is that we allow consumers to care about outlets that are close to either home or workplace locations. This is in contrast to the previous literature, which...

Mutual funds are analyzed from a risk management perspective to explain their existence as financial intermediaries. Due to their organizational features, in particular the open-end capitalization and the marked-to-market valuation, mutual funds simultaneously allow for diversi cation, asset...

This paper analyzes the cost efficiency of Egyptian banks in a period that witnessed major regulatory and structural changes. Using the full set of Egyptian commercial banks over the period 2000 to 2006, a multi-output cost function is specified and estimated by a stochastic frontier model. The...

We examine the impact of demutualization announcements by 13 life insurance companies during 1996-2000 on the value of existing stock-owned life insurance companies and companies in other segments of the insurance industry. Demutualization announcements are associated with negative stock price...

It has long been recognized in the literature that the Lean and Six Sigma methodologies can complement each other fruitfully. So far, however, researchers have not been able to derive definitive conclusions on how to combine these methods; furthermore, there is little research on how to apply...

We examine the impact of demutualization announcements by 13 life insurance companies during 1996-2000 on the value of existing stock-owned life insurance companies and companies in other segments of the insurance industry. Demutualization announcements are associated with negative stock price...

The aim of this work is to give a perspective about the utility of the strategic alliances from the view of three theories: The resource-based theory, the industry-based theory and the institutional-based theory. The raised hypotheses were that the strategic alliances are useful to enter to the...

I estimate demand for auto insurance in the presence of two types of market frictions: search and switching costs. I develop an integrated utility-maximizing model in which consumers decide over which and how many companies to search and from which company to purchase. My modeling approach...

We provide evidence on the validity of the conglomeration hypothesis versus the strategic focus hypothesis for financial institutions using data on U.S. insurance companies. We distinguish between the hypotheses using profit scope economies, which measures the relative efficiency of joint versus...

Property-liability insurance is distributed by independent agents, who represent several insurers, and exclusive agents, who represent only one insurer. The independent agency system is known to have higher costs than the exclusive agency system. The market imperfections hypothesis attributes...