DeWayne L. Searcy

Continuous reporting benefits in the private debt capital market

The study is an experiment, administered over the Internet, measuring the effect that continuous reporting has on a companys ability to secure private debt capital. Specifically, we test whether commercial loan officers would be more willing to increase the probablity of loan acceptance to a mid-sized company operating in a continuous reporting environment than they would a company that operates in a traditional reporting environment. We find that high risk companies providing financial information to the lender on a daily basis have a higher probability of loan acceptance than do companies providing financial information to the lender on a quarterly basis. We did not find any results for low risk companies, suggesting the potential benefits of continuous reporting might not accrue to those type companies. The results were robust for both new and existing banking relationship scenarios. We did not find any results for the interest rate variable. The results of this study have significant implications for companies determined to be high risk. Commercial loans are the life-support for many companies, and failure to secure a line-of-credit could have devastating consequences for these high-risk companies.

An organisation's attempt at supply chain management: a qualitative field study

If the supply chain is now the source of competitive advantage then understanding how to manage the supply chain is crucial. Studies aimed at investigating the supply chain implementation process should further develop the theory of supply chain management (SCM). This study is thus a one-year qualitative field investigation of how an aerospace organisation managed its supply chain. Data are collected from three tiers of an aerospace supply chain and follow-up interviews are conducted with members of the focus organisation to examine the implementation of supply chain management. In moving toward supply chain management this study identifies six supply chain management execution antecedents that individual firms in a supply chain must address: proper alignment of management support; funding of verbal commitment; proper motivation; training; visioning; internal/external integration linkage. In addition, the study revealed the reinforcing linkage between internal integration and external integration.