A checklist for managers to enhance influencer partnerships and avoid potential pitfalls

Influencer marketing continues to be popular with marketing managers because of its effectiveness as a marketing tactic for raising brand awareness and ROI. To date, much of the literature on influencer marketing focused on its benefits, but it also bears potential risks: not all influencer marketing experiences are positive. While influencer marketing is still emerging in the digital space, managers should not forgo supplier managerial principles when hiring influencers. This article provides a checklist to help managers navigate this marketing tactic and avoid potential mistakes by encouraging the same due diligence they would with other suppliers. The checklist asks nine questions during the life cycle of an influencer relationship—including selection, performance and contract management, and reputation management—and is corroborated by the marketing literature but should be applied by managers. To demonstrate this, several case studies were examined in which managers should have considered supplier management when engaging with influencers. By employing the checklist amid influencing marketing efforts, managers can avoid the mistakes identified in the case studies.     

How do cross-country differences in institutional trust and trust in family explain the mixed performance effects of family management? A meta-analysis

Cross-country research finds mixed performance effects of family involvement in management (FIM) but consistently positive performance effects of family involvement in ownership (FIO). We argue that cross-country differences in institutional trust and trust in family can help explain this discrepancy. We reason that trust in family normalizes family managers’ use of firm resources to satisfy family needs. In contrast, institutional trust orientates family managers’ attention toward improving firm performance. A meta-analysis supports our theory: greater trust in family increases and greater institutional trust reduces the gap between FIM and FIO's performance effects across countries.     

实施管理层收购的企业绩效研究--基于我国上市公司的实证分析

根据主成分分析法,本文选取国内多家上市公司作为样本,以选定的相关财务指标构建企业绩效的综合评分模型,对我国实施MBO的上市公司绩效进行配比分析。实证结果显示:实施管理层收购的企业在绩效方面显著优于相应未实施管理层收购的企业。因此,尽管目前管理层收购在我国存在着较大的争议,但应肯定其在解决国有企业内部激励不足、效益长期低下方面的积极意义。当前的问题不是要不要允许上市公司实施管理层收购,而是如何对其进行规范。     

我国上市公司管理层收购绩效研究

本文运用统计学的因子分析法,对我国2001-2002年17家实施了MBO的上市公司经营绩效进行了实证研究,结果表明:上市公司的经营业绩在MBO当年和后一年有所上升,但在MBO后两年却出现了一定程度的下滑。在目前,由于我国MBO运行的市场环境和制度环境尚不成熟和不完善,上市公司MBO还须慎行,应采取切实可行的措施规范上市公司MBO,以使上市公司MBO后的经营绩效能稳步提升。     

对上市公司MBO的实证分析

MBO是当今中国最为热门的话题之一 ,是目前国有资产退出方式的又一新尝试。在中国上市公司MBO中选取了 7家典型性样本公司 ,并从转让方式、定价、资金来源、业绩等方面进行实证分析 ,同时结合国外相关实践进行对比探讨 ,指出中国的MBO与国外盛行的MBO有着本质区别 ,因相应配套环境与措施的不健全 ,上市公司应慎行MBO ,应建设具有中国特色的MBO。     

Institutional Impediments to Voluntary Ethics Measurement Systems

In this paper, we argue that calls for widespread implementation of ethics measurement systems would be better informed by institutional economic analysis. Specifically, we assert that proponents of such systems must first recognize and understand the institutions that potentially impede such efforts. We identify two potential institutional impediments to measuring ethics and social responsibility. First, we suggest that neoclassical economics, supported by traditional business education and legal precedent, serves to reinforce the notion that shareholders are the primary corporate constituency group. Such an emphasis on the needs of shareholders severely hinders implementation of measurement systems that address the needs of multiple stakeholder groups. Second, we argue that the threat of litigation may constrain corporate managers from measuring and considering ethics and corporate social responsibility matters. In particular, managers may be reluctant to quantify various ethical concerns if the resulting measurements could be used as evidence against the corporation in a lawsuit.     

Managerial political ties and firm performance during institutional transitions: An analysis of mediating mechanisms

This study examines the role of mediating mechanisms impacting the relationship between managers' political ties and firm performance, with a focus on institutional transitions in China. Relying on both resource dependence and institutional theories, the analysis posits that three factors: organizational regulatory legitimacy building, institutional support, and institutional entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, mediate the relationship between managerial political ties and firm performance. Using survey data collected from 195 Chinese firms, the study concludes that institutional support and institutional entrepreneurial opportunity recognition represent two significant mediating mechanisms by which managerial political ties can result in improved firm performance. But, though a reliance on political utilization enhances organizational regulatory legitimacy, the results show that regulatory legitimacy does not directly contribute to firm performance. This study also discusses theoretical contributions, implications for managers, study limitations, and suggestions for future research.     

Differentiated effects of formal and informal institutional distance between countries on the environmental performance of multinational enterprises

This research examines the influence of environmental institutional distance between home and host countries on the standardization of environmental performance among multinational enterprises using ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression techniques and a sample of 128 multinationals from high-polluting industries. The paper examines the environmental institutional distance of countries using the concepts of formal and informal institutional distances. The results show that whereas a high formal environmental distance between home and host countries leads multinational enterprises to achieve a different level of environmental performance according to each country's legal requirements, a high informal environmental distance encourages these firms to unify their environmental performance independently of the countries in which their units are based. The study also discusses the implications for academia, managers, and policy makers.     

The Masculinisation of Ethical Leadership Dis/embodiment

Using a worldwide sample, we examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance has an impact on the value of cash holdings. We find that investors assign a higher value to cash held by firms that have a high CSR rating. This result is consistent with the idea that CSR policies are a means for managers to act in the shareholders’ interests by mitigating conflicts with stakeholders. Finally, we reveal that CSR performance has a positive impact on the value of cash holdings only for firms which operate in countries where shareholders are well protected from expropriation by managers and in countries where the institutional quality is high.     

我国实施MBO对内部人控制的影响

经理层融资收购是公司控制权市场作用的一种表现形式,它不但可以作为公司外部治理机制发挥作用,而且能够影响公司内部治理机制的运作效率。但是,经理层融资收购在解决公司治理结构方面也不是万能的。本文分析了我国实施MBO后新的“内部人控制”问题,提出了相应的政策建议。     

Information Sharing,Price Negotiation and Management Buy-outs of Private Family-owned Firms

Perspectives relating to agency theory, information asymmetries and game theory were utilized to explore two outcomes associated with the management buy-out (MBO) or management buy-in (MBI) of former private firms: whether information was shared equally between vendors (i.e., family firm owners) and purchasers (i.e., MBO/I management teams) and whether a mutually agreed price was achieved. With reference to the themes of company ownership structure, governance structure and company objectives several hypotheses were derived. Survey evidence was gathered from the managers of 114 former private family-owned firms located across Europe that recently reported an MBO/I. Multiple logistic regression analysis detected that respondents in founded (first generation) family firms and those reporting a high focus on the strategic importance of the market value increment were more likely to report that ‘information was shared equally between vendors and purchasers’. Respondents reporting no suitable family successor had been identified, a high focus on the strategic importance of the market value increment, and the involvement of venture capitalists in succession planning were more likely to report that a mutually agreed sale price had been achieved. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.      

我国住房公积金制度研究综述

我国的住房公积金制度作为一项制度创新,受到了国内学者以及广大住房公积金一线管理者的高度关注。从住房公积金制度的绩效分析、存在的问题以及未来改革方向三个方面归纳总结了现有研究成果,以期为今后的研究提供参考。     

What is in it for Me? Middle Manager Behavioral Integrity and Performance

We propose that middle managers’ perceived organizational support enhances their performance through the sequential mediation of their behavioral integrity and follower organizational citizenship behaviors. We test our model with data collected from middle managers, their direct subordinates, and their direct superiors at 18 hotel properties in China. The current study’s findings contribute to the existing literature on perceived organizational support and behavioral integrity. They also add a practical self-interest argument for middle managers’ efforts to maintain their word-action alignment by demonstrating that middle manager behavioral integrity positively affects middle managers’ own task performance ratings, both directly and via its positive effect on subordinates’ organizational citizenship behaviors.     

Capturing institutional home country conditions for exporting SMEs

In line with recent developments in institutional theory that indicate institutional settings can explain cross-national differences, this article proposes a measure of the institutional country profile relevant to exporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Combined emic and etic research approaches suggest a scale, derived through in-depth interviews with French and Romanian managers in SMEs and tested with 107 French export managers. The scale is psychometrically sound and supports a three-dimensional country institutional profile of exporting SMEs that comprises regulative, cognitive, and normative dimensions. The institutional profile of a country can complement, if not substitute for, culture as an explanation of export behavior. Furthermore, the proposed instrument can help researchers and managers diagnose countries' exporting strengths and weaknesses, according to their institutional conditions.     

What mbo really is: Results require a complete program

Management by objectives (MBO) is commonly described too narrowly; firms that report unsuccessful experiences have been practicing a limited program. To clear up the confusion that beclouds MBO, the authors first describe the concept and its emphasis on results (the achievement of objectives) and on human behavior and motivation (fulfillment of needs and participation). The MBO system is then examined. The system has four basic components: setting objectives, developing action plans, conducting periodic reviews, and appraising annual performance. Many firms have found that MBO plays the leading role in the managerial process of achieving corporate objectives. The authors list seven major benefits that an organization can expect.     

The ethical challenge of management buy-outs as a form of privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe

There has been a growing debate about the ethics of management buy-outs (MBOs). One possible criticism of the MBO is that it serves the interests of incumbent management at the expense of shareholders. In this paper we develop the general arguments concerning the ethical aspects of the MBO to include other forms of buy-out beyond “going privates” and apply the analysis to MBOs as a mode of privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). MBOs are justified in this context postperestroika as a means of incentivising economic activity by giving managers an ownership stake in former state enterprises. The actual mode of privatisation, though, raises issues of social justice and the criticism that MBOs are at the expense of the broader social good. The ethical problem for the CEE is to balance the economic gains of a move to markets with the ethical risks to the agents of these markets.     

Institutions and moral hazard in open economies

I investigate the interaction between international trade and national institutional development in an environment characterized by heterogeneous individuals choosing their education levels to maximize their utilities; and institutions alleviating moral hazard by allowing managers to better observe and verify the productive efforts of workers. Liberalized trade allows institutions to serve as independent sources of comparative advantage. In this setting, I examine the effect of trade liberalization on the distribution of income in institutionally developed and underdeveloped nations. Trade affects income via a direct effect on prices and an indirect effect on the incentives to invest in education.     

Focusing Service Management Efforts: A Model for Non profit Organizations

ABSTRACT

In recent years, many nonprofit organizations have experienced significant cut-backs in support from traditional sources while demand for their services has continued to increase. Many of these organizations have attempted to bridge this growing chasm by increasing their fund raising efforts. While not without value, these activities alone will not resolve the dilemma faced by many of these organizations. The authors present a 12-step model to assist managers in nonprofit organizations in determining how to reallocate scarce human and financial resources from non-crucial to truly critical service offerings and in so doing, better meet the needs of their critical constituencies.     

企业推行奖励旅游的制度探析

奖励旅游是会展旅游的重要组成部分,因具有良好的激励功效,以及在塑造组织文化、提高企业绩效等方面体现出的附加价值,受到越来越多企业管理者的重视和关注。企业是奖励旅游的重要购买主体。但作为一种制度化的组织,企业在推行奖励旅游的过程中,深受内外部制度、正式制度与非正式制度的影响。本文利用新制度经济学理论,对影响企业推行奖励旅游的制度因素进行探讨,以期为建立奖励旅游发展的制度环境提供理论依据,并从企业内部正式制度与非正式制度、外部正式制度与非正式制度四个维度探讨如何通过相关制度安排的不断完善促进奖励旅游发展。     

The unethical exploitation of shareholders in management buyout transactions

The accurate pricing of securities in the capital markets depends upon the markets being both efficient and fair. In management buyout transactions (MBOs), the price bid by inside managers enhances the efficient pricing of securities but raises a reasonable doubt about the fairness to existing shareholders. This study addresses this fairness question in MBOs and offers short-term and long-term legal alternatives which allow both the efficiency and fairness criteria to be met. In the short-term the case law established in the Basic v. Levinson decision for merger negotiation disclosures should be applied to MBO transactions. Over the longer horizon, legislative changes should be made to existing securities laws. Applying the investor protection principles of the 1933 and 1934 securities acts to MBO transactions will suppress the temptation of managers to extract shareholder wealth for their personal gain. Frederick P. Schadler, Assistant Professor of Finance at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina. Research interests include security issuances, investment banking, and ethical issues related to securities regulation. He has presented papers at regional and national meetings and has published in the Journal of Financial and Strategic Decisions and the Memphis State University Law Review. Jack E. Karns, an Associate Professor of Business Law at East Carolina University. Research is directed toward corporate law, securities, and government regulation of business issues including ethical considerations. He has published in numerous legal journals including the Dickinson, University of Richmond, and Memphis State University Law Reviews.