Hybridization: Understanding the microdynamics of a postacquisition integration process

There is no shortage of theoretical or empirical research on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Knowledge on the subject has grown substantially in recent decades. However, the integration of firms involved in M&A remains a challenging and often unsuccessful process. In addition, there is a scarcity of research on temporal dynamics within integration projects. This article reports on the postacquisition integration of a business school into a university using the concept of organizational hybridization as a theoretical lens. The aim was to identify the microdynamics that occurred during integration. We conducted an inductive case study, interviewing professionals involved in the integration process, analyzing a wide range of documents, and conducting participant observation over 6 years. Field research revealed that different organizational components underwent distinct hybridization processes that were characterized by different degrees of conflict. This study contributes to the understanding of the microdynamics that occur in postmerger or postacquisition integration processes, focusing on the complex adjustments inherent in these developments.     

中国“一带一路”战略定位的三个问题

"一带一路"战略在大方向基本清晰的情况下,在战略定位上仍然存在着三个有待进一步厘清的问题,包括:"一带一路"是全球战略还是区域战略?"一带一路"应以多重双边伙伴关系为基础还是应以跨区域整合为基础?"一带一路"战略应以西北方向为优先还是应以东南方向为优先?对这三个问题的诠释对于"一带一路"战略的推进有着极为重要的意义。这一战略虽然表现出了一定的全球战略的特征,但在本质上还是区域性的;其的推进必须以多重双边伙伴关系为基础。就目前的具体政治形势与经济形势来看,"一带一路"战略开拓西北面临更大的不确定性。     

并购中的价格锚定:金融创新还是价值掠夺--基于上市公司并购重组的案例分析

高并购溢价一直是理论界和监管层关注的重点问题。本文以上市公司高并购溢价为例,深入分析了并购交易中锚定价格的动机及其经济后果。研究发现,上市公司的支付对价与并购标的业绩承诺现值之间的差额是融资购买股权的费用,并不是并购标的未来现金流的折现。这主要是上市公司利用信息不对称将融资购买股权的费用直接锚定在股价中,引导外部投资者看好此次并购,最终上市公司大股东通过减持掠夺了中小股东的利益。本文给监管层的政策建议是要规范并购重组中的定价问题,并详细披露相关的信息,以降低与外部投资者之间的信息不对称。     

Resilience and well-being production among vulnerable consumers facing systematic constraints

This paper explores how vulnerable consumers within systematic constraints of economic inequality, institutional barriers, and social segregation in an urban environment cope with their vulnerabilities to achieve their well-being. Taking China's internal migrant workers as a research context, our study examines their vulnerable experiences and reveals the impact of systematic constraints on migrant workers' self-perception, interpretation, and actions. It discovers a staged process through which migrant workers acquire resilience to optimize life satisfaction by fulfilling a sense of control over their migration life. Through a situated approach to capture the contextual impact of systematic constraints on vulnerability experiences and the construction of resilient pathways to achieve well-being, this paper puts forward critical welfare issues such as inclusive marketplace, social capital, and community empowerment which are important to migrants' social integration and capability building. This calls for more coordinated efforts to promote effective resilience building and sustained well-being among resource-constrained consumers.     

An exploratory study of earnings management detectability,analyst coverage and the impact of IFRS adoption: Evidence from China

Analysts serving as external monitors to managers is a topic of considerable interest in the analyst coverage literature. There are two outcomes of analyst coverage studies: curbing and stimulating earnings management. However, recent studies (such as Yu, 2008) only provide evidence supporting the curbing side. Given the fact that the data of these studies focus on developed markets and the finding of Rodríguez-Pérez and Hemmen (2010) that external governance mechanisms may stimulate earnings management in an opaque information environment, we conjecture whether stimulating side would be dominant in emerging markets. China offers a valuable setting for us to test the question. Using the data of China capital market from 2003 to 2009, we find that analyst coverage stimulates earnings management through above-the-line items (ALIs) where earnings management cannot be easily detected, and curbs earnings management through below-the-line items (BLIs) where earnings management can be easily detected. We also find that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in China does create many new opportunities for managers’ earnings management but does not significantly improve the monitoring effect of analyst coverage. We only find that compared to those without analyst coverage, firms with analyst coverage have a lower level of earnings management through BLIs after IFRS adoption. These findings suggest that information opacity may weaken the monitoring effect of external corporate governance mechanisms and high quality accounting standards in the literal sense may not enhance the monitoring effect of external corporate governance mechanisms if it is not compatible with the market’s institutional environment. In addition, we find that firms with earnings meeting the benchmark have a lower level of earnings management, which indicates that bright-line accounting based rules used in emerging capital markets may constrain the managers’ behavior.     

成德同城化经济发展评价——基于都市圈效应视角

同城化发展是我国区域经济发展的新模式，是都市圈和城市集群发展的延续与补充。文章运用都市经济圈效应分析方法分析了成德同城化发展的聚集效应、扩散效应和产业结构效应。分析结果表明:成德都市圈GDP占全省比重呈明显增长态势，成都对德阳的城市公共服务延伸及产业扩散效应不明显，成德产业结构效应从负效应向正效应转变。为促进成德同城化发展，文章提出相应的对策建议:大力加强区域产业分工，建设城市公共服务体系，加强同城化文化品牌建设，建设创新型城市。     

旅游业上市公司多元化经营能够降低公司风险吗？——基于2004—2012年A股上市公司数据的实证研究

我国的旅游业上市公司普遍存在进入房地产业、高新技术产业等行业的多元化经营现象。国内外学者对多元化经营与公司风险之间的关系展开了一系列的研究,但是没有得出一致的结论。截至目前,对旅游类企业多元化经营能否降低公司风险的研究仍较为欠缺。因此,文章以2004—2012年国内23家A股旅游业上市公司1的184个截面数据为样本,利用多元回归分析法检验了旅游业上市公司多元化经营对其公司风险的影响。旅游行业自身的行业特征及其多元化特点使得针对旅游业上市公司多元化经营行为的分行业研究产生了与以往整体层面的研究截然不同的结论：旅游业上市公司多元化经营能够降低公司的财务风险,但无法降低公司的经营风险。进一步对多元化类型进行区分后发现：旅游业上市公司相关多元化水平的提升可以显著地降低公司的财务风险,但无法显著地降低公司的经营风险;而非相关多元化水平的提升无法显著地降低公司的财务风险与经营风险。基于上述研究成果,文章从促进融资体系多元化、完善主业发挥自身优势、谨慎选择多元化行业3个角度对旅游业上市公司的多元化发展提出了建议。     

Following brands on Twitter: an extension of theory of planned behavior

Due to its immediacy and efficiency, Twitter has recently emerged as a form of marketing communication tool that offers unique advantages for two-way communication between marketers and consumers. This study examines brand-following behavior on Twitter using the Ajzen's model of theory of planned behavior (TPB). Results show that attitude toward brand following, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and brand attachment are positively associated with intention to follow brands on Twitter. Consumers’ intention to create (i.e., intention to tweet at brands) and disseminate (i.e., intention to retweet the links of brands) brand-related information, as well as purchase intention, are the outcomes of intention to follow brands on Twitter. Overall findings suggest that TPB model can be used to predict Twitter users’ brand-following behavior. More importantly, our finding that brand attachment drives consumer intention to follow brands on Twitter extends the TPB framework. This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications.     

Maintaining a Reputation for Consistently Beating Earnings Expectations and the Slippery Slope to Earnings Manipulation

This paper investigates whether maintaining a reputation for consistently beating analysts' earnings expectations can motivate executives to move from “within GAAP” earnings management to “outside of GAAP” earnings manipulation. We analyze firms subject to SEC enforcement actions and find that these firms consistently beat analysts' quarterly earnings forecasts in the three years prior to the manipulation period and continue to do so by smaller “beats” during the manipulation period. We find that manipulating firms beat expectations around 86 percent of the time in the 12 quarters prior to the manipulation period (versus 75 percent for control firms) and that manipulation often ends with a miss in expectations. We document that executives of manipulating firms face strong stock market and CEO pressure to perform. Prior to the manipulation period, these firms have high analyst optimism, growing institutional interest, and high market valuations, along with powerful CEOs. Further, we find that maintaining a reputation for beating expectations is more important than CEO overconfidence and is incremental to CEO equity incentives for explaining manipulation. Our results suggest that pressure to maintain a reputation for beating analysts' expectations can encourage aggressive accounting and, ultimately, earnings manipulation.     

中国失业保险制度改革方向:纳入社会救助——基于历史背景与功能定位的分析

失业保险在建立和长期发展过程中,具有缓和劳资矛盾、天然双向平滑经济波动、提供失业保障和平滑个人收入的基本功能。但随着各国劳动保护及福利制度的发展,失业保险在政治和经济方面的功能减弱,且其失业收入损失补偿功能常常引发失业陷阱,于是各国进行了以促进积极就业为导向的改革。中国失业保险制度曾经为经济体制转型起到了“减震器”的作用。随着劳动保护和社会保障制度的发展和政府就业政策的完善,在二元就业结构、户籍制度、公共部门人力资源管理制度及政府承担就业促进任务的影响下,我国失业保险的政治、经济、失业人口收入补偿、就业促进功能未能有效发挥。在比较了若干改革方案后,本文认为,取消失业保险并将其功能并入社会救助体系是新时代背景下我国失业保险制度的最优改革路径。