c

 



  
            This study
examines whether client satisfaction can help to explain cross-sectional vari-ations in
commercial vehicles finance. After controlling for other factors related to audit fees, overall
client satisfaction and satisfaction with the audit team are positively associated with audit fees.
There is weak evidence that satisfaction with the audit firm is associated with fees. The results
are consistent with the view of a LCV as a service that is differentiable in the eyes of client
management. An interpretation is that client satisfaction differences are costly to produce and
are impounded into the price of the audit and finance.

  ! "##"  Throughout Western Europe, the ideology of workfare has been
adopted for the unemployed and the socially excluded. For them, social citizenship has been
changed from status to contract. The change is justified in terms of "contracts of inclusion"
between welfare agencies and recipients. Recipients have "rights" to work or training and
obligations to participate. They will be empowered. Contracts of inclusion, however, necessarily
exclude. The paper examines the concepts of rights, contracts, and client satisfaction in terms
of the U.S. workfare experience. The evidence so far from Europe indicates similar problems in
administering workfare for the most vulnerable.

$%
%%&'  "## We present novel empirical evidence on the use of off-
balance sheet financing by publicly traded, U.S. non-financial firms. We find that about 5
percent of non-financial firms reported using a special purpose financing vehicle (SPV) to
finance receivables in 2006. At the origination of the off-balance sheet financing program, firms
experienced abnormal increases in stock prices on the order of 2 percent and experienced no
change in bond prices. Compared with firms that do not use SPVs, users are larger in size, more
likely to have access to internal and external financing, and have significantly more credit risk.
However, users have less senior, secured bank debt in their capital structure; and nearly all
users received explicit permission in a credit agreement to use off-balance sheet financing. The
combined evidence suggests that off-balance sheet financing can reduce the cost of capital for
a fairly unique set of firms that are relatively risky but do not rely on heavily on bank debt.

'    (( )  The most important thing to a successful law practice is clients. An
individual lawyer may be the most competent, brilliant, reliable and articulate advocate on the
block; however, without clients, the lawyer will starve. In this short article are presented some
do's and don'ts of client satisfaction.

! '  ( c 
 *
 "##  In the new business context, characterized by the
globalization of markets and the rise of the level in competition, many organizations are
interested in establishing special relations with their targets customer and client, the scope of
this interest being the creation and uses of ͞client capital͟. Achieving and using ͞client͟
resource does not suppose a simple process of relational marketing integrated in an ad-hoc
manner, but is conditioned by a coherent and systemic application of relational principles and
practices. The importance of developing and maintaining durable relations with the clients is a
general accepted principle of consumer markets. Though, in the last years the interest of
academic and business communities is concentrated on identifying and understanding the way
in which organization implicated in business markets can control the variables which influence
the effects of relational marketing.

$ +(%  c "##  Consider a firm that has the flexibility to actively manage
and customize the service offered to its customers in a repeat business context. What is the
long-term value of such flexibility, and how should firms manage the service relationship over
time? We propose a dynamic model of the firm-client relationship that relies on behavioral
theories and empirical evidence to model the endogenous evolution of service expectations
and customer satisfaction, as well as their impact on repurchase decisions. In general, we find
that firms can extract higher long-term value by managing service experiences and expectations
over time. Varying service in the long run is not optimal, however. We characterize the firm's
optimal dynamic service policy and show that it converges over time to a steady-state service
level. Loss aversion expands the range of constant optimal service policies, suggesting that
behavioral asymmetries limit the value of responsive service. Our results provide insights for
service suppliers seeking to leverage customer-level data and service flexibility in order to
prioritize clients and improve long-term performance.

,
 & % "##-  Client satisfaction surveys in developing countries are increasingly being
promoted as a means of understanding health care quality and the demand for these services.
However, concerns have been raised about the reliability of responses in such surveys: for
example, 'courtesy bias' may lead clients, especially if interviewed upon exiting clinics, to
provide misleadingly favorable responses. This study uses unique data from Madagascar to
investigate these and other issues. Identical questions about satisfaction with local health care
centers were asked in user exit surveys and in a population based household survey; the latter
would be less contaminated by courtesy bias as well as changes in provider behavior in
response to being observed. We find strong evidence that reported satisfaction is biased
upward in exit surveys for subjective questions regarding (for example) treatment by staff and
consultation quality, but is not biased for relatively objective questions about facility condition
and supplies. The surveys do provide useful information on the determinants of consumer
satisfaction with various dimensions of provider quality. Still, to obtain reliable estimates of
consumer perceptions of health service quality, household based sampling appears to be far
superior to the simpler exit survey method.

 & 
 ! ,  "##.  This paper investigates the extent to
which changes in the quantity and cost of non-bank finance impact on the quantity and interest
cost of UK-owned banks' corporate lending. The results give some support to the view that
there is substitution between market finance and bank loans - loan growth rises (falls) during
periods when corporate bond spreads widen (decline). In particular, bank loans seem to
substitute for other forms of finance in some periods of market stress such as in 1998 Q3.
Moreover, this increase in credit seems to be supplied on unchanged terms, perhaps suggesting
that banks passively accommodate changes in corporate loan demand. During other episodes
of disturbances in non-bank finance, such as when bond or commercial paper issuance falls
sharply, banks appear to increase their loan rates, perhaps reflecting greater perceived
borrower risk or some reduction in banks' own risk appetite

+' 
&/ !0 This paper examines the role of relationship lending
using a data set on small firm finance. We specifically examine price and nonprice terms of
commercial bank lines of credit (L/C) extended to small firms. Our focus on bank L/Cs allows us
to examine a type of loan contract where the bank-borrower relationship is likely to be an
important mechanism for solving asymmetric information problems associated with financing
small enterprises. We find that borrowers with longer banking relationships tend to pay lower
interest rates and are less likely to pledge collateral. These results are consistent with
theoretical arguments that relationship lending generates valuable information about borrower
quality.

12   !  "##): Micro enterprises make an important contribution to economic

output and employment in developing economies. While estimates vary greatly depending on
definitions, recent work by the World Bank suggests that almost 30 per cent of employment in
low-income countries is generated by the informal economy, while an additional 18 per cent is
provided by (formal) small and medium enterprises. Micro enterprise faces more problems in
raising finance, as the provider of finance may not find the return on investment interesting as
compared to large enterprise, and also investor is more skeptical about repayment. The micro
financing has blend of social & economic characteristics and hence the foundation can be
strong that can achieve objectives of micro financing efficiently and effectively, if one knows
the pillars of micro financing. The paper explores important elements of micro finance.

3%     45     3%
6 "##" We develop a model of informal financial
networks and present corroborating evidence by studying the role of professional property
brokers in the U.S. commercial real estate market. Our model demonstrates how service
intermediaries, who do not supply finance themselves, can facilitate their clients' access to
finance via repeated informal relationships with lenders. Empirically, we find that, controlling
for endogenous broker selection, hiring a broker strikingly increases the probability of obtaining
a bank loan from 40 to 58 percent. Our results demonstrate that even in the U.S., with its well-
developed capital markets, informal networks play an important role in controlling access to
finance. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing
countries may download this paper without additional charge at

: 7
 - In their historical development, organizational structure, and strategic
direction, universal banks constitute multi-product firms within the financial services sector.
Certainly within their home environments, universal banks effectively target most or all client-
segments, and make an effort to provide each with a full range of the appropriate financial
services. Outside the home market, they usually adopt a narrower competitive profile, in the
majority of cases focusing on wholesale banking and securities activities as well as international
private banking occasionally building a retail presence in foreign environments as well.

8/   
"##- With 70% of poor Indians working in agriculture, this sector is one of the
pillars of the national poverty reduction strategy. Given it represents 20% of GDP and 60% of
employment; it is difficult to imagine how India could strive for equitable growth without
revitalizing the agricultural sector. Microfinance, defined as the provision of financial services
(loans, savings, insurance and money transfers) to people excluded from the banking sector, is
often invoked as the solution for financing rural India. But financing of small farms and, more
broadly of the agricultural sector, is difficult for numerous reasons. Banking institutions must
face a variety of obstacles: insufficient infrastructure resulting in high transaction costs;
covariance risks related to climate, price fluctuations and markets; lack of experience in
evaluating the value of produce they are asked to finance; low education levels of farmers and
farm laborers; and difficulties securing guarantees, to name but a few.

4 / 7  9

! "### According to the conceptual model put forward in this
study, the intention to remain a member of a professional organization might be influenced by
both general and particular factors. General factors include professional commitment (or
attachment to the profession), organizational commitment (or attachment to the professional
organization), as well as satisfaction with the price-quality relationship and professional
networks
3   "##) Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code provides guidelines for securing
collateral. Lending institutions utilize these provisions in order to ensure that they will be
secured in the collateral of the debtor in case of default or bankruptcy. Specifically, this paper
will examine filing against attachments to avoid being unperfected, procuring agreements in
order to retain first priority (Intercreditor/Subordination Agreements), perfecting when the
primary lender will not cooperate (Purchase Money Security Interest), retaining perfection
during name changes, perfection of the correct lender when subleasing, payoff and proper
termination of debtor obligations, unique laws- titling and UCC filing required (Wyoming) and
proper filing procedures concerning fleet.

8%   8  "## p In striking contrast to any other service industry, lawyers
generally do not use even the most rudimentary methods for finding out how their clients
experience the services they provide and thus have no way of measuring "how the needle
moves" even if they seek to improve client satisfaction. The failure of the legal profession to
gather data about client satisfaction in a systematic way may be attributable to a widespread
assumption among lawyers that clients care primarily about outcomes not process, an
assumption inconsistent with growing evidence from social science research that the quality of
lawyer-client communication is an extremely important determinant of client satisfaction.pp
$+(% "## Consider a firm that has the flexibility to actively manage and customize the
service offered to its customers in a repeat business context. What is the long-term value of
such flexibility, and how should firms manage the service relationship over time? We propose a
dynamic model of the firm-client relationship that relies on behavioral theories and empirical
evidence to model the endogenous evolution of service expectations and customer satisfaction,
as well as their impact on repurchase decisions.

 8 "## p This article seeks to slightly shift the landscape of legal writing theory,
from one which primarily asks the writer to consider the audience, to one which also
incorporates principles of client-centeredness which require the writer to focus equally on the
client. Today, legal writing's model of persuasion communication is almost exclusively a linear
theory that focuses on the dialogue between the attorney/writer and the decision-
maker/judge. This model is embodied in legal writing's well-established advice that attorneys
must "know their audience." The roots of this theory are well established: Classical and New
Rhetoric Theory have consistently emphasized the audience's role in persuasive discourse.

4

"##" Commercial vehicle manufacturers took this market as a huge opportunity

to offer factory made fully built buses complying with all the design and safety standards with
certain teacher and student friendly features (mentioned in the comparison chart) at nominal
price segments with various seating capacity options, that is 16 seater, 25 seater, 32 seater, 40
seater and 52 seater with diesel and CNG options.

:7
"###): Private banking involves the provision of a highly attractive value-chain of

financial and related services to high net worth clients, both within the country of residence
and offshore. This value-chain is sufficiently lucrative - to banks, broker-dealers, asset
management companies, insurance companies and other financial services firms ranging from
specialists to universals and financial conglomerates - to place it high on the strategic priority
list of many domestic and global financial services players. At the same time, competing
effectively in this sector is not easy, and has changed dramatically over the years. This case
focuses on the undisputed leader in the industry