Network analysis of the Caucasus’ image

Destination image is influenced by many factors, including destination promotion materials, the mass media as a general familiarity agent, the perceivers’ own characteristics and even researchers’ methodological choices. To isolate and minimize the impact of research on destination image, different qualitative and quantitative designs and analysis techniques have been utilized. However, no previous study utilized the network analysis technique, which may be useful to reveal a picture of destination image with the interconnections and hidden dynamisms of dimensions as well as its correlates. The present study applies this technique on qualitative data from an online sample of Americans on their perceptions of a relatively remote and unfamiliar destination, the Caucasus region, in order to hone in on the dramatic impact of mass media on destination image. Results revealed networks of meanings with residue of mass media messages about Boston bombing, with some differences among different genders and education levels.     

Bank activity and funding strategies: The impact on risk and returns

This paper examines the implications of bank activity and short-term funding strategies for bank risk and return using an international sample of 1,334 banks in 101 countries leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Expansion into noninterest income-generating activities such as trading increases the rate of return on assets, and it could offer some risk diversification benefits at very low levels. Nondeposit, wholesale funding in contrast lowers the rate of return on assets, while it can offer some risk reduction at commonly observed low levels of nondeposit funding. A sizable proportion of banks, however, attract most of their short-term funding in the form of nondeposits at a cost of enhanced bank fragility. Overall, banking strategies that rely prominently on generating noninterest income or attracting nondeposit funding are very risky, consistent with the demise of the US investment banking sector.     

Social media adoption: A process-based approach

This research conceptualizes and measures social media adoption (SMA) of companies with a process-based approach and explains its antecedents of micro- and macro-environment, size, and ownership, as well as its consequence of intention to increase resources dedicated to social media. Based on data from 310 Turkish small and medium enterprises, the study first develops a conceptual framework on the pillars of internal and external stakeholder focus as well as relationship and information oriented implementation. Based on these two dimensions, it discusses the novel concepts of social customer relations, social stakeholder communication, social intelligence, and social responsiveness related to SMA. The study further indicates that ownership type and micro environment play a role in SMA and that path dependence exists in the interplay of current adoption and future intentions.     

The Impact of Multinational Presence on Domestic Investment: Firm‐Level Evidence from South Korea

In order to analyze the effects of foreign multinationals' presence on domestic firms' investment, we use a detailed firm level data set from South Korea for the 2006–2014 period. We combine it with the input‐output tables provided by the Bank of Korea to construct industry level measures of multinational presence in sectors that are horizontally and vertically linked, and estimate dynamic investment equations that are augmented with these foreign presence measures. We find a positive and significant effect of foreign presence in both horizontally and vertically linked industries on domestic firm's investment rate, with larger effects arising from multinational presence in the supplying sectors. Quantitatively, a 2 percentage point increase in the presence of multinational suppliers increases the domestic firm's investment rate by 3.24 percentage points. We also find that this effect is larger for small and medium firms, private firms, nonexporters, firms that are not part of a chaebol, and for firms in external finance dependent industries. A similar 2 percentage point increase in the foreign presence in downstream sectors increases the investment rate of domestic suppliers by 0.55 percentage points. This effect is larger if the domestic firm is part of a chaebol, or is in a less external finance dependent industry. Investment increase by 0.53 percentage points following a 2 percentage point increase in horizontal linkages.     

Hospitality Cobranding: An Experimental Investigation of Enhancement and Erosion in Consumer-Based Brand Equity

ABSTRACT

Cobranding is suggested as a competitive strategy for the hospitality industry due to its potential benefits. Although implied, the potential impact of cobranding on consumer-based brand equity of partner brands and the composite brand has not been empirically investigated in the hospitality industry context. Therefore, a quasi-experimental study design with a structured survey was applied to general tourist population in Hong Kong to identify the potential influence of cobranding on the brand equity of individual brands as well as the hotel–restaurant composite brand versus the hotel–retail composite brand. Surprisingly, results revealed brand equity erosion rather than brand equity enhancement for even the presumably fit hotel, restaurant, and retail brands. Theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Are banks too big to fail or too big to save? International evidence from equity prices and CDS spreads

Deteriorating public finances around the world raise doubts about countries’ abilities to bail out their largest banks. For an international sample of banks, this paper investigates the impact of bank size and government deficits on bank stock prices and CDS spreads. We find that a bank’s market-to-book value is negatively related to the size of its liabilities-to-GDP ratio, especially in countries running large public deficits. CDS spreads appear to decrease with stronger public finances. These results suggest that systemically important banks can increase their value by downsizing or splitting up, especially if they are located in countries with weak public finances. We document that banks’ average liabilities-to-GDP ratio reached a peak in 2007 before a significant drop in 2008, which could reflect these private incentives to downsize.     

Stealth trading: The case of the Tokyo Stock Exchange

The stealth trading hypothesis asserts that informed traders trade strategically by breaking up their orders so as to more easily hide among the liquidity traders. Using data for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), a pure order-driven market, we find evidence that price changes are driven by small- and medium-size trades, with small trades making the greatest contribution to price change relative to their contribution to trading volume. We also find that large trades explain a greater portion of the cumulative price change on high volatility days. Hence, our results support the stealth trading hypothesis for the TSE.     

Determinants of private savings behaviour in Turkey

This study investigates the effects on private saving rates of a number of policy and non-policy variables. The analysis covers the period 1968–1994. The empirical private saving model for Turkey is estimated. The findings support the hypothesis that private saving rates have strong inertia. The evidence indicates that government saving does not tend to crowd out private savings and the Ricardian equivalence does not hold strictly. Income level has a positive impact on private saving rate, and growth rate of income is not statistically significant. From a policy point of view, financial depth and development measures in Turkey suggest that countries with deeper financial systems tend to have higher private saving rates. Private credit and real interest rates try to capture the severity of the borrowing constraints and the degree of financial repression for Turkey. Moreover, the negative impact of life expectancy rate lends support to the life-cycle hypothesis. The precautionary motive for saving is supported by the findings that inflation captures the degree of macroeconomic volatility and has a positive impact on private saving in Turkey.     

Capital accumulation and growth: a new look at the empirical evidence

Using annual data for 75 countries in the period 1960–2000, we present evidence of a positive relationship between investment as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) and the long‐run growth rate of GDP per worker. This result is robust for our full sample and for the subsample of non‐OECD countries, but not for the subsample of OECD countries. Our analysis controls for time‐invariant country‐specific heterogeneity in growth rates, and for a range of time‐varying control variables. We also address endogeneity issues, and allow for heterogeneity across countries in model parameters and for cross‐section dependence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who creates jobs in developing countries?

This paper investigates the contribution of small firms to employment, job creation, and growth in developing countries. While small firms (<20 employees) have the smallest share of aggregate employment, the small and medium enterprise sector’s (<100 employees) contribution is comparable to that of large firms. Small firms have the largest shares of job creation, and highest sales growth and employment growth, even after controlling for firm age. Large firms, however, have higher productivity growth. Conditional on size, young firms are the fastest growing and large mature firms have the largest employment shares but small young firms have higher job creation rates.