Integration capacity and knowledge‐based acquisition performance

Even though knowledge‐based acquisitions (KBAs) are common, their performance often lags expectations due to difficulties during integration. Building on Penrose’s foundational ideas that managers limit firm growth, we outline a theoretical model that explores how an acquirer’s integration capacity mediates the impact of acquirer and target characteristics (influenced by contextual conditions) on the performance of KBAs. Our theoretical model, based on research consistent with the resource‐based view and resource orchestration, suggests the success of acquisitive growth rests on the quality and quantity of an acquirer’s managerial talent. This contributes to research by identifying conditions where acquisitions can provide a means of growth. Additionally, it provides managers a means to assess whether an identified target firm is within an acquirer’s integration capacity.     

Gender in international business journals: A review and conceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces

The paper reviews 105 contributions published in journals pertinent to the field of International Business (IB) between 1991 and 2014 and details four main conceptualizations of gender: how women are compared against men, how gender is treated as a control variable and a cultural macro variable, and how gender is 'done' in international organizations. The review reveals that positivist epistemological assumptions dominate the IB field and that the current understanding of gender is limited. To advance the research, the paper develops the notion of MNCs as gendered social spaces and explains why the IB field would benefit from a more nuanced understanding and incorporation of gender relations into its analyses and discussions. The paper outlines theoretical and methodological advances associated with the reconceptualization of MNCs as gendered social spaces.     

An Exploratory Study of Counterexplanation as an Ethical Intervention Strategy

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the use of an ethical intervention strategy – counterexplanation – on individuals’ ethical decision-making. As opposed to providing reasons to support a decision in the case of explanation, counterexplanation is the provision of reasons that either speak against or provide evidence against a chosen course of action. The number of explanations and/or counterexplanations provided by the participants is expected to have a significant effect on ethical evaluation and intention. The number of explanations is expected to be negatively related to ethical decision-making while the number of counterexplanations is expected to be positively related to ethical decision-making. The experiment, that made use of five ethical vignettes, manipulated four treatment groups – explanation, counterexplanation, explanation/counterexplanation, and counterexplanation/explanation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four reatments. They performed the requirements of their treatment before recording their ethical evaluations and intentions. As expected, larger numbers of explanations led to less ethical decision-making and larger numbers of counterexplanations led to more ethical decision-making. However, when both types of explanations are required, the order of counterexplaining before explaining is more desirable as it leads to more ethical decision-making. The study also reports that individuals with high social desirability bias (a tendency to present oneself in a culturally acceptable manner) may generate less counterexplanations. Implications of the findings are explained in the paper.     

Enhancement of value investing strategies based on financial statement variables: the German evidence

This paper examines the added-value of combining traditional valuation ratios with each other as well as with some financial statement variables in the German stock markets during the 2000–2015 period. The results show that combination pays off and, moreover, that the benefits of combination are greater in Germany than in most other developed stock markets. Particularly, we find strong evidence of the added-value of using Piotroski’s F-score as a supplementary selection criterion for value stocks as well as for low-accrual stocks. Our results show further that the F-score also boosts the efficacy of other valuation ratios besides the book-to-price ratio. In addition, the inclusion of F-score besides a relative value measure tends to increase the average market equity of portfolio firms. The decomposition of the full-sample-period performance into separate bull- and bear-period performance shows clearly that the better performance of F-score-boosted portfolios is mostly attributable to their outperformance during bearish periods, even though on average, they also generate higher bull-period returns than the comparable value portfolios formed without F-score. The use of F-score as a supplementary criterion also increases the proportion of stocks that earn above-market-average returns during the subsequent holding period. For the first time in the financial literature, we also document a strong relationship between high F-score stocks and momentum stocks.     

Green virus: Exploring the environmental product concept

Environmental issues expose firms to numerous threats from their ecological and institutional surroundings. Many enterprises today react to these threats with technical innovations designed to improve the company's green image and performance. However, the critical test of corporate greening is how effectively the firm deals with the organizational relationships that can support or undermine the technically conceived green artifact. Successful firms comprehensively fuse ecological awareness and environmental management procedures into their raison d'etre, namely, the product. Environmental regulators, competitors, customers, the public and the press become key formulators of the new environmental product concept. This paper explores what these concepts are and how they are conceived. Using the concept of industrial ecology as a starting point, three key areas of green product innovation are identified: competitors, regulators and customers. Competitive pressures reorientate firms towards dematerialization and services. Novel regulatory arrangements such as covenants and environmental product profiles are information-gathering devices and add value to the product. Finally, the necessity to close material loops forces recycling firms to attract customers with reliable, long-term input–output agreements. vir.us n., pl. - rus.es. …having the ability to replicate only inside a living cell (The American Heritage Dictionary, 1982).     

Schumpeter's Challenge to Economists: History,Theory, and Statistics as Key Competencies and Sociology as a Vision for the Future

Schumpeter wrote that a “scientific” economist is competent in three “techniques”: economic theory, economic history, and statistics. In addition, he mentions economic sociology. The current interpretation is that theory, history, and statistics refer to aspects of research that can emerge in any field of science. Their content and relations can be clarified with Mach's writings. Economic sociology is not a technique within economics, but a part of general sociology. The rationale of economic and general sociology becomes clear by considering Schumpeter's interpretations of Marx's ideas. Schumpeter's ultimate ambition may have been a grand theory following Marx's vision.     

Sustainability in coastal tourism development: an example from Denmark

Denmark’s coastlines have been protected from tourism development and construction for more than 80 years. In 2014, the Danish politicians opened up for softer regulation of the coastlines and invited proposals for tourism development projects within the hitherto protected coastal zone. The call explicitly requested nominations for sustainable tourism projects. A comparison between academic sustainability discourse and the approved projects suggests that tourism actors do not address sustainable tourism development as a holistic concept. Long-term perspectives are largely absent, whereas economic benefits are emphasized. Key findings also indicate weak political leadership in the envisaged transfer towards sustainable tourism development.     

Understanding the Restatement Process

Much research examines investors' reactions to restatements and the effects of restatements on chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and auditor turnover; however, little research explores the process of restating financial reports. In this study, we investigate the process of issuing a restatement. We specifically focus on the interactions among the parties involved (e.g., CFO, board, audit committee, audit partner, and regulators) in determining and ultimately resolving a restatement, as well as the impact of the restatement on the relationships among these parties. We investigate the restatement process via semi‐structured interviews. We immersed ourselves in the restatement process by interviewing all parties typically involved, such as CFOs, auditors, and regulators. Given the findings in the auditor–client management negotiation area, which suggest that negotiation of accounting treatment and disclosure is frequent, our findings indicate that negotiations and/or difficult discussions take place among the parties involved when determining whether a restatement is necessary as well as in achieving the ultimate restatement outcome. Our findings (based on a small sample) suggest that the restatement process may influence or be influenced by such factors as the nature of the misstatement, the party that identified the misstatement, the reaction of the various parties to the misstatement, disagreement among the parties on whether to restate, communication with the regulator, the press release, client size, the personality of the CFO, audit committee strength, and the relationships among the parties subsequent to the restatement.