Abstract: A warrant is a financial contract that confers the right but not the obligation, to buy or sell a security at a certain price before expiration. The standard procedure to value equity warrants using call option pricing models such as the Black–Scholes model had been proven to contain many flaws, such as the assumption of constant interest rate and constant volatility. In fact, existing alternative models were found focusing more on demonstrating techniques for pricing, rather than empirical testing. Therefore, a mathematical model for pricing and analyzing equity warrants which comprises stochastic interest rate and stochastic volatility is essential to incorporate the dynamic relationships between the identified variables and illustrate the real market. Here, the aim is to develop dynamic pricing formulations for hybrid equity warrants by incorporating stochastic interest rates from the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model, along with stochastic volatility from the Heston model. The development of the model involves the derivations of stochastic differential equations that govern the model dynamics. The resulting equations which involve Cauchy problem and heat equations are then solved using partial differential equation approaches. The analytical pricing formulas obtained in this study comply with the form of analytical expressions embedded in the Black-Scholes model and other existing pricing models for equity warrants. This facilitates the practicality of this proposed formula for comparison purposes and further empirical study.
Abstract: The need to use high volumes of data and the high
competition are only two reasons which make necessary the use of
information technologies. The objective of our research is to establish
the impact of information technologies on the accounting department
of the Romanian companies. In order to achieve it, starting from the
literature review we made an empirical research based on a
questionnaire. We investigated the types of technologies used, the
reasons which led to the implementation of certain technologies, the
benefits brought by the use of the information technologies, the
difficulties brought by the implementation and the future effects of
the applications. The conclusions show that there is an evolution in
the degree of implementation of the information technologies in the
Romanian companies, compared with the results of other studies
conducted a few years before.
Abstract: Attributes and methods are the basic contents of an
object-oriented class. The connectivity among these class members
and the relationship between the class and other classes play an
important role in determining the quality of an object-oriented
system. Class cohesion evaluates the degree of relatedness of class
attributes and methods, whereas class coupling refers to the degree to
which a class is related to other classes. Researchers have proposed
several class cohesion and class coupling measures. However, the
correlation between class coupling and class cohesion measures has
not been thoroughly studied. In this paper, using classes of three
open-source Java systems, we empirically investigate the correlation
between several measures of connectivity-based class cohesion and
coupling. Four connectivity-based cohesion measures and eight
coupling measures are considered in the empirical study. The
empirical study results show that class connectivity-based cohesion
and coupling internal quality attributes are inversely correlated. The
strength of the correlation depends highly on the cohesion and
coupling measurement approaches.
Abstract: This work is about Six Sigma (SS) implementation in Mexico by using an empirical study. Main goals are to analyze the degree of importance of the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of SS and to examine if these factors are grouped in some way. A literature research and a survey were conducted to capture SS practitioner’s viewpoint about CSFs in SS implementation and their impact on the performance within manufacturing companies located in Baja California, Mexico. Finally, a Principal Component Analysis showed that nine critical success factors could be grouped in three components, which are: management vision, implementation strategy, and collaborative team. In the other hand, SS’s success is represented by cost reduction, variation reduction, experience and self-esteem of the workers, and quality improvement. Concluding remarks arising from the study are that CSFs are changing through time and paying attention to these nine factors can increase SS’s success likelihood.
Abstract: IT consultants often take over an important role as an
interface between technological, organizational and managerial
structures. As a result, the services offered are in many cases
assigned to different disciplines which can cause a lack of
transparency on the market for consulting services. However, not all
consulting products are suitable for every company because of
different frameworks and business processes. In this context the
questions arises as to what consulting products are currently offered
and how they can be compared as well as how the market for IT
consulting services is structured on the supply side. The presented
study aims to shed light on the IT consulting market by giving an
overview of the current structure of the supply-side for IT consulting
services as well as proposing a categorization of the currently
available consulting services (consulting fields) in order to provide a
theoretical background for the empirical study. Apart from these
theoretical considerations, the empirical results of field surveys on
the Austrian IT consulting market are presented and analyzed.
Abstract: Modern information and communication technologies
offer a variety of support options for the efficient handling of
customer relationships. CRM systems have been developed, which
are designed to support the processes in the areas of marketing, sales
and service. Along with technological progress, CRM systems are
constantly changing, i.e. the systems are continually enhanced by
new functions. However, not all functions are suitable for every
company because of different frameworks and business processes. In
this context the question arises whether or not CRM systems are
widely used in Austrian companies and which business processes are
most frequently supported by CRM systems. This paper aims to shed
light on the popularity of CRM systems in Austrian companies in
general and the use of different functions to support their daily
business. First of all, the paper provides a theoretical overview of the
structure of modern CRM systems and proposes a categorization of
currently available software functionality for collaborative,
operational and analytical CRM processes, which provides the
theoretical background for the empirical study. Apart from these
theoretical considerations, the paper presents the empirical results of
a field survey on the use of CRM systems in Austrian companies and
analyzes its findings.