Language and market inclusivity for women entrepreneurship: the case of microfinance

Inclusive markets are key to fostering female entrepreneurship, and the microfinance sector has recognized and acted on this. Existing research has studied how institutions and organizational factors facilitate the process by which microfinance and other financial intermediaries tackle gender-based financial exclusion. But while the role of cultural institutions has been recognized as important, little research has systematically integrated culture in the study of gender-based financial exclusion. We posit that language is a cultural institution that influences the extent to which financial intermediaries are successful in outreaching women and supporting female entrepreneurship. Inspired by a performativity approach, we develop a set of hypotheses that delineate how a specific feature of language, gender marking in grammar, moderates the role of institutional (state capacity) and organizational (NGO status and global ties) factors in shaping microfinance outreach to women. Using the ratio of female to male borrowers in 2361 microfinance organizations from 115 countries during the period 1995–2015, we confirm that market inclusion of women depends on organizational and institutional factors, and that gender marking in grammar influences those relationships.     

Do security breaches matter? The shareholder puzzle

This article analyzes the effect of computer breaches on publicly traded equities from 2005 to 2017. An event study is performed and breaches analyzed conditioned on whether the breach announcement has been made in the mainstream media or through other channels. We find that in the period prior to the announcement date in the media, the mean abnormal return is negative, reflecting a likely leakage of information. In the period following the announcement date, the mean abnormal return is positive, often more than offsetting the previous declines. The findings have important implications for analysts, portfolio managers, institutional investors, and regulators.     

On the value relevance of information on environmental and social activities and performance – Some evidence from the UK stock market

Motivated by the requirements of the UK Companies Act 2006 for a Strategic Report introduced in late 2013, and the subsequent Directive 2014/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, we investigate the relationship between the levels of disclosures on environmental and social activities and performance (analyst following) and subsequent analyst following (subsequent levels of disclosures on environmental and social activities and performance). We do so to investigate the value relevance of information about environmental and social activities and performance. Our evidence is consistent with their value relevance and an associated demand for, or general interest in, such disclosures from informed market participants. We also argue that our results suggest positive links between analyst following and the quality of environmental and social disclosure.     

Price discrimination in service industries

This article outlines recent methods and applications directed at understanding the profit and consumer welfare implications of increasingly prevalent price discrimination strategies in the service sector. These industries are typically characterized by heterogeneity in consumers?? valuation and usage of the service, resale constraints, and a focus on price as the service??s key attribute. The article focuses on how firms use nonlinear pricing or bundling strategies to benefit from the heterogeneity in consumer demand. We describe the basic economic model commonly used in the literature to analyze such strategic choices and present recent methodological improvements to this benchmark. A discussion of existing applications and future research opportunities concludes the article.     

Twenty-five years of bicycle helmet promotion for children in Skaraborg District, Sweden

The purpose of this study is to describe some of the results of a long-term bicycle helmet campaign for children in Skaraborg District, Sweden. The hospital discharge data for bicycle-related injuries occurring in children under the age of 15 were reviewed, to assess changes in patterns for head and other body injuries. The study shows that head injuries to children as a result of bicycle injuries were reduced between 94 and 99% in the study areas. The tremendous gains in safety for children who ride bicycles in Skaraborg District were the result of not only national policy changes that occurred in the latter half of this study period but also the result of local collaborations based on the Safe Communities model, which were organised during the first part of the study period.     

An analysis of predictors of team satisfaction in product development teams with differing levels of virtualness

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine and assess the moderating effects of extent of virtualness on a variety of well-established predictors of new product development team satisfaction. We focus our study on 178 different new product development teams from a variety of industries and use extent of virtualness as a structural characteristic of the teams, measuring it on a continuum. The predictors of team satisfaction we studied are relationship conflict, familiarity, goal clarity and preference for group work. Primary findings include: (1) relationship conflict has a more deleterious effect on team member satisfaction as teams become more virtual, mainly because it is very difficult for team members of virtual teams to resolve their interpersonal disputes; (2) the relationship between preference for group work and team satisfaction is moderated by extent of virtualness, such that preference for group work increases team satisfaction more as virtualness increases; (3) goal clarity and familiarity are not moderated by extent of virtualness, but have a significant direct effect on team satisfaction. Managerial and research implications of these findings relative to new product development teams are also discussed.     

On modelling the informal sector

A recent plea by Robert Hackenberg to develop new conceptual models in order ‘to take full account of the new realities of the urban informal sector’ and ‘rid the field from divergent connotations’ is questioned. It seems that existing models easily lend themselves to analysis of the formal-/informal-sector interactions and that divergent conditions necessarily lead to ‘contradictions’. Thus, the existing arsenal of models cannot be held responsible for ‘analysis paralysis’. New research on the informal sector, rather than aiming at ultra-generalizations, should concentrate on issues such as identification of the determining factors of the urban production technologies and the nature of linkages and elasticity of substitution between formal and informal production.