Are you in with the in crowd?

At the core of your company, there is a group of people who seem to call the shots--or, rather, all the shots seem to be called for their benefit. This core group can't be found on any organization chart. It exists in people's hearts and minds. It comprises the people whose perceived interests and needs are taken into account as decisions are made throughout the organization. In most companies, talking explicitly about this group is taboo; its existence seems to contradict the vital corporate premise that we all have a common stake in the firm's success. In the best organizations, the core group can be a resource: Members represent the unique values and knowledge that distinguish their companies. When core groups display independence, creativity, and power, the rest of the company follows. Such behavior on the part of the company, in turn, creates value for shareholders, especially over the long term. But because of the core group's enormous power, members need to make themselves aware of the signals they send, both intended and unintended. For better and for worse, the core group reinforces whatever it pays attention to. A core group member who casually mentions a product might well discover three weeks later that someone has spent $1 million introducing it. If you do not know who constitutes the core group in your organization, or what the members stand for, you may find that leading will be extremely difficult--even if you are ostensibly the person in charge. If you want to move the organization in a new direction, you may need to explicitly challenge the core group. Otherwise the rest of the organization will not go along.     

Made in China

In early November 2007, Bohai Industrial Investment Fund Management Co., controlled by Bank of China Ltd., signed a deal to acquire a less than 20%equity interest in Tianjin Pipe （Group） Corporation for a consideration of approximately $200 million. This deal ranks among the biggest in mainland China.     

Portfolios in disguise? Window dressing in bond fund holdings

This paper builds on the limited body of research on window dressing by bond mutual funds. Our monthly bias-free sample allows us to undertake a more comprehensive study than is possible with the quarterly data traditionally employed in otherwise similar studies. We test window dressing in a straightforward manner using monthly undisclosed portfolios, which makes it possible to compare changes in public debt allocations around quarterly disclosures. Our results support the hypothesis that window dressing patterns vary with market conditions. We also conduct thorough tests that indicate the significant influence of fund size on window dressing. Individual analyses provide evidence that this cosmetic practice is not a widespread behaviour in the Spanish bond fund industry.     

Does trust in the bank build trust in its technology-based channels?

Trust appears as an important factor for the adoption of technology-based distribution channels. This paper investigates the construct of trust and its antecedents in the context of technology-based distribution channels, such as ATMs, the internet and phone banking. Specifically, it tests the role of trust in the bank in building trust in these channels. It reports findings from a retail bank customer survey, which revealed two dimensions of trust, affective and cognitive trust, and the significant role of three variables in forming trust in these channels: trust in the company, reputation of the company and disposition to trust. Implications of further research on understanding the antecedents of trust towards channels as well as managerial recommendations on how to build such trust are discussed.     

Opportunities for Cleantech in China

China and cleantech, when mentioned together, are receiving ever increasing attention and excitement from investors, industry, professional services, government bodies, and nongovernment/non-profit organizations. Whether as an investment destination, as a solution for making industrial processes more efficient, re-cycling waste, or cutting carbon footprints,cleantech is one the fastest growing sectors worldwide, and increasingly attracting government support and investment in China.     

Fraud Risk in Emerging Markets

David L. Stulb, joint leader of Ernst ＆ Young＇s global Fraud Investigations ＆ Dispute Servicespractice, said,“Major fraud and corruption scandals attract headlines around the world, dramatically affecting corporate and market values. With the fear of fraud greatest in emerging markets, and with 20% of all companies having been victims of fraud, the consequences for those companies that continue to underestimate the risk could be severe.” at the launch of the 9th Global Fraud Survey, Fraud Risk in Emerging Markets.     

Made in China之辨

一般理解Made in China的意思是“中国制造”，但实际上应该是“在中国制造”。因为只要是在中国境内生产的，都会打上“Made in China”的标签。如果要区别商品是由中国厂商生产的，可以用“由中国制造”来标识，即“Made by China”。     

Does risk disclosure in prospectus matter in ChiNext IPOs’ initial underpricing?

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - Using a unique and hand-collected dataset, we investigate the impact of the risk factors disclosed in the prospectuses on the initial returns for...     

What's New in Finance?

This paper prepares a list of the 300 most cited articles published in the area of Finance during the period 2000–2006. The articles are ranked based on the ratio of the number of citations and the number of years since publication, as of August 2007. Citation data come from Google Scholar and cover all articles in 29 Finance journals and Finance articles in 21 Economics, six Accounting, and two Operations research journals. The paper also reports the number of highly cited articles by number of authors, journal, research area, and institution.     

Business Opportunities in China 2006

Chinese Economy increased with high rate for recent 30 years. In 2005, Chinese GDP reached $2.3 trillion, an increase of 9.9% over the previ ous year. Though China got outstanding achievement in economy grow up, she still is facing a lot of troubles now or in potential.     

Risk and Return in Fixed-Income Arbitrage: Nickels in Front of a Steamroller?

We conduct an analysis of the risk and return characteristicsof a number of widely used fixed-income arbitrage strategies.We find that the strategies requiring more "intellectual capital"to implement tend to produce significant alphas after controllingfor bond and equity market risk factors. These positive alphasremain significant even after taking into account typical hedgefund fees. In contrast with other hedge fund strategies, manyof the fixed-income arbitrage strategies produce positivelyskewed returns. These results suggest that there may be moreeconomic substance to fixed-income arbitrage than simply "pickingup nickels in front of a steamroller."     

Governance and compliance in accounting education in Vietnam – case of a public university

Prior research suggests that despite the mass development of higher education in Vietnam recently, the quality of higher education is declining. This study aims to understand the impact of the education reform on the quality of university accounting education by investigating the involvement of different stakeholders in accounting education within one leading university in Vietnam. The findings from the interviews of key stakeholders suggest that accounting education in Vietnam is driven by reduced state control, growing institutional autonomy and increasing external guidance. This has come at the expense of reduced academic self-governance as lecturers have discretion in curriculum delivery at the individual course level, but little input into the decision-making at the school or university level and minimal participation in the curriculum development process. The findings enable regulators and decision-makers to better understand the dynamics between stakeholders in accounting education to enhance accounting graduates’ competencies and outcomes.     

The Only Fund in Town? Geographic Segmentation in the US Mutual Fund Industry

We find that mutual funds located in regions with more competing funds charge lower management fees, but higher fees related to sales and distribution (12b‐1 fees), sales loads, and other nonmanagement fee expenses. There is some evidence that funds in more competitive regions have higher total expense ratios than similar funds in less competitive regions. Our results indicate that while increased competition drives down fund profits, it creates a negative externality by way of increased sales expenses. Overall, our results suggest the mutual fund industry is characterized by monopolistic competition determined at the local level.     

Jamie Paton Prowling About in China

On 26th July 2006, 3i associated with Prax Capital co-invest in Inner Mongolia Little Sheep Catering Chain Co., Ltd. with US $25m. At present, the Little Sheep Catering has become the largest catering chain enterprise with more than 700 outlets in China. The investment of Little Sheep is 3i＇s llth investment in China. The other portfolio companies in China are Focus Media, CSMC Technologies Corporation, Chinadigital, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation （SMIC）, Amperex Technology Limited, and so on. All of these portfolio companies are regarded as the excellent projects in the VC field.     

．in域名走向全球开放

2005年1月1日，印度国家顶级域名.in开始面向全球开放知名品牌保护性注册，拉开全面开放注册的序幕。     

Konvergenz des Versicherungsvertragsrechts in Europa?

Insurance law has been embedded in an international context ever since. This is true not only for marine insurance and reinsurance but also for manifold other branches of the insurance sector. Against this background, the European Single Market and the intended legal harmonisation and integration are particularly important for insurance contract law. The future development of insurance law should give special attention to the question if and to what extent there is a convergence in the respective member state insurance contract laws. At the outset, the comparative analysis shows that French and German insurance contract law is governed by a “risk bearing community model” (Gefahrengemeinschaftsmodell) and that English law can be characterized as an “individual contract model” (Individualvertragsmodell). Convergence is not only found in European directives but also in reforms and reform proposals in member state law.     

Does Ignoring Heterogeneity in Impacts Distort Project Appraisals? An Experiment for Irrigation in Vietnam

Could the simplifying assumptions made in project appraisalbe so far from the truth that the expected benefits of publicinvestments are not realized? Using data for Vietnam, commonlyused estimates of the benefits from irrigation investments basedon means are compared with impacts assessed through an econometricmodeling of marginal returns that allows for household and areaheterogeneity using integrated household-level survey data.The simpler method performs well in estimating average benefitsnationally but can be misleading for some regions, and, by ignoringheterogeneity, it overestimates gains to the poor and underestimatesgains to the rich. At moderate to high cost levels, ignoringheterogeneity in impacts results in enough mistakes to eliminatethe net benefits from public investment. When irrigating aslittle as 3 percent of Vietnam's nonirrigated land, the savingsfrom the more data-intensive method are sufficient to coverthe full cost of the extra data required, ignoring other benefitsfrom that data.     

What Can Countries in Other Regions Learn from Social Security Reform in Latin America?

About a dozen countries in Latin America have enacted reformsthat include elements being contemplated elsewhere, includingthe partial privatization of social security. It is not easyto draw universal lessons for social security reform from theexperience of countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Mexico,however, where sizeable public pension systems went bankruptbefore the populations aged, mainly because of mismanagement.Most developing economies have much smaller social securitysystems. Relatively well-managed systems in industrial countriesface problems that are long term in nature and have been broughtabout by an aging population. The experiences of Latin Americanevertheless offer some general lessons for countries in otherparts of the world. These lessons relate to changes in labormarket incentives accompanying reforms and how workers reactto them, government actions that have met with success in managingthe transition to funded pensions, and the expectations of individualsfrom social security systems. Latin America's reforms suggestthat the most effective approach is to keep payroll taxes low,governments solvent, and social security systems focused onproviding reasonable insurance against poverty in old age. JEL codes: G23, H31, H53, H55, J26     

China VC Succeed in 2Q

Venture capital investing in China reaches $480.1 million in second quarter of 2006, doubling from last year, the venture capital deal and early-stage financing in Mainland China has increased dramatically.