Marketing and the law

Marketing decisions are particularly vulnerable to legal rulings made in both the courts and the legislatures. The effective management of those legal implications challenges the modern marketing professional. Grasping marketing’s overall legal environment, including its governing case law, regulatory statutes and future trends, is essential. This review will provide analysis of recent court cases and legislation with particular emphasis on creatively assisting the marketer’s management of the legal factor.     

An Analysis of REIT CEO Stock-Based Compensation

Academic research findings on the determinants of executive compensation are mixed. Some researchers attribute this to the inclusion of stock-based compensation in the more recent studies. We study the determinants of stock-based compensation schemes in the REIT industry for the period 1997–2000. While previous research analyzes REIT CEOs' cash-based compensation, we concentrate on option compensation structures. Using the Tobit method, we study both the level of option awards and the mix of option awards to total compensation. We find that REIT CEOs receive larger option awards when they increase growth opportunities, funds from operation, earnings per share and when there is greater variability of returns. Thus, our results validate most of the theories on stock-based compensation.     

Efficiency in Banking: Empirical Evidence from the Czech Republic

The paper examines the cost efficiency of the Czech-banking system in the 1990s by applying the distribution free approach model. Reported results indicate that foreign banks were on average more efficient than the other banks, although their efficiency was comparable with the ‘good’ small banks’ efficiency in early years of their operation. Based on the estimated results it is argued that early privatisation of state-owned commercial banks and more liberal policy towards foreign banks in the early stage of transition would have enhanced the efficiency in the banking system. Anita Taci - The views and opinions are those of the author and not necessarily those of the EBRD.     

The European Emissions Trading Scheme: An exploratory study of how companies learn to account for carbon

European companies were confronted with new organisational challenges when the European Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was introduced in 2005. What were their cognitive sources for developing an orientation in this scheme? This paper presents original data from a survey of the University of Hamburg, dealing with companies’ responses to the EU ETS in 2005–2007. The survey was conducted three times and addressed all companies covered by the trading scheme in Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands (response rate of 19%–23% over three years). Results are provided on the share of companies that traded emission allowances, on the knowledge of their own CO₂ abatement costs, on the organisational unit that was responsible for decisions on emissions trading, and on the use of internal and external sources of advice. The data thus provides an insight into the cognitive resources that companies brought to bear when looking for an orientation in the new trading scheme. The sources of advice and the internal assignment of responsibility build the framework of competencies in which companies learn to account for carbon.     

Income diversification and risk: Does ownership matter? An empirical examination of Indian banks

We examine the impact of ownership on income diversification and risk for Indian banks over the period 2001–2009. We investigate both the determinants of non-interest income and the impact of diversification on various profitability and insolvency risk measures for public sector, private domestic, and foreign banks. We document that ownership does matter in the pursuit of non-interest income. Relative to private domestic banks, public sector banks earn significantly less fee-income, while foreign banks report higher fee income. Public sector banks with higher levels of governmental ownership are significantly less likely to pursue non-interest income sources. Fee-based income significantly reduces risk, measured by profitability variables, for public sector banks. Default risk is also reduced for these banks. From a regulatory perspective, it appears that diversification benefits India’s public sector banks. Our research has implications for the changes in the risk profile for banks in emerging banking markets pursuing non-interest revenue sources.     

Medicaid and long‐term care: The effects of penalizing strategic asset transfers

Medicaid provides a critical source of insurance for long‐term care, and individuals may strategically offload assets (typically to children) to meet the means‐tested eligibility requirement. In this article, we quantify the extent of such behavior using variation in the penalty for improper parent‐to‐child transfers induced by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. We estimate difference‐in‐differences models based on the hypothesis that only individuals with high levels of nursing home risk (high risk) will alter transfers because of the Act. We find that over a 2‐year horizon, high‐risk individuals reduced transfers to children on the extensive margin by 11 percent and that the average total amount of transfers decreased by $4,860. The results hold only for coupled respondents. We also conduct a triple‐differences analysis to examine heterogeneity with financial literacy and find that even those with a low level of financial literacy responded to the penalty.