Product innovation is a necessary requirement for companies to sustain an innovative edge and to ensure future profitability. Successful research endeavors lead to new product introductions which in turn suggest additional future cash flows. Therefore, new product releases provide economically relevant information and should translate into positive stock price reactions (Fama (1970) and (1991)). Several empirical studies document the positive shareholder wealth effects accompanying new product introductions (Chaney et al. (1991), Bosch et al. (1994), Sharma and Lacey (2004), Sarkar and De Jong (2006), Dedman et al. (2008)).
The recent credit crisis has emphasized the importance of a good understanding of the information based on which credit instruments are priced. A significant body of literature examines the role of macroeconomic, industry-specific and firm-specific factors on the credit market in a variety of settings. However, surprisingly little empirical research has been done to evaluate the credit market’s use of earnings-related information, even though prior research finds that earnings information can predict firm bankruptcies (e.g. Altman, 1968; Beaver, 1968; Ohlson, 1980). In addition, there is no evidence on the use of earnings related information when credit markets are under heightened uncertainty and information asymmetry. We extend the literature by investigating the credit market’s response to management earnings forecasts during the periods before and after the onset of the credit crisis.
Friendship and love are considered by most people as necessary aspects of a good life and this idea transcends different cultures and times. They are considered by many psychologists to be genetic dispositions, hard-wired into our very essence and a necessary component for every human being to be able to to lead a good life. According to the kin selection theory, animals help close relatives more often than they help non relatives. In human society this is referred to as nepotism and cross cultural research shows that this behaviour is common everywhere.
The subject of friendship and love has been much discussed in ancient philosophy, but has been somewhat ignored in modern ethical theories. Michael Stocker argues that modern ethical theories can not account for the importance most of us attach to love and friendship. Stocker directs his criticism in particular at Kantian deontologies and consequentialist theories, such as act-utilitarianism and rule- utilitarianism.
