The relative and incremental value relevance of goodwill before and after SFAS No. 142

We explore the value relevance of goodwill against two benchmarks: other accounting information and long-lived tangible assets. Prior research suggests that fair value estimates for goodwill must be inferred from other available information because of the nature of goodwill, including its intangibility. Such inferences are highly discretionary and may limit the usefulness of reported goodwill estimates. Because Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 142 relies exclusively on fair value estimates to subsequently measure goodwill, reported values considering management’s increased discretion may be less reliable and less value relevant when presented in conjunction with other accounting information. However, the subsequent accounting measurement for goodwill is not dissimilar from the subsequent measurement for long-lived tangible assets, which are also subject to impairment. In general, impairment measurement is subjective; management may have greater insight, even in the presence of management incentives and other accounting information, that may help confirm or disconfirm investors’ own goodwill estimates. Using other accounting information and long-lived tangible assets as benchmarks for the value relevance of goodwill, we find that reported goodwill provides greater value relevance relative to other accounting information after SFAS 142 and that the difference between the value relevance of goodwill and other long-lived tangible assets is also significantly greater following SFAS 142.     

Exploring reverse knowledge transfer and asset augmentation strategy by developed country MNEs: Case study evidence from the Indian pharmaceutical industry

Using an in-depth qualitative longitudinal case study approach, we examine strategic asset and knowledge augmentation strategies of an advanced economy multinational enterprise (MNE). Our study is unique as it is contextualized in the knowledge-intensive pharmaceutical industry within the changing institutional landscape in India. And, in contrast to previous studies, it focuses on RKT from a newly acquired subsidiary where the protocol for knowledge transfer and relationship between MNE headquarters (HQ) and subsidiary does not exist. We contribute to the evolving literature on reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) which assumes that MNEs extract knowledge from their existing subsidiaries to strengthen their competitive advantages. We also reveal that MNEs design an architecture, that is reflected in the mechanism, governance structure, and timing, for efficient transfer and effective absorption of the knowledge and assets acquired. We introduce a novel concept of ‘reverse asset augmentation’ (RAA) to capture the MNE’s behavior of strategic asset seeking from emerging economies. RAA is parallel to and entwined with RKT conceptualization as knowledge is embedded within certain physical assets, other assets, such as brand name/image, may not embody knowledge. Thematic and processual analysis of interview data, collected in three phases, suggests that RAA complements RKT and that both concepts together capture the unconventional strategies of advanced economy MNEs acquiring emerging economy MNEs in search of strategic assets and knowledge.     

乡村外包对江苏服务外包产业影响研究

金融危机与欧债危机的双重背景下,美国服务外包领域的乡村外包作为一种新兴产业新模式,正受到业界高度重视。专家预测,随着乡村外包模式的逐渐成熟,美国极有可能将在亚洲的离岸外包业务转变成乡村外包模式发包。文章在对离岸外包企业进行调查问卷、深度访谈与参看内部资料的基础上,借助扎根理论研究乡村外包模式对江苏省服务外包产业的可能性影响,经过开放性编码、关联性编码与核心性编码分析总结出8个结论,构建了一个包括3个一级指标、6个二级指标、12个三级指标的有效应对乡村外包的竞争力体系。研究结果表明,乡村外包模式降低了美国接发包企业的成本、国际市场风险、汇率风险与国际法律纠纷风险等,也符合美国政府刺激经济复苏、呼吁提高就业率的号召。江苏省承接离岸外包的企业必须采取积极措施加以应对。     

新中国初期公费医疗制度建设研究——基于反浪费的视角

新中国公费医疗制度1952年第一次以法规的形式正式确立。1956年,制度建设中的奠基工作基本完成,形成了一套较完整的公费医疗制度。新中国初期公费医疗的施行,对增进国家机关工作人员的健康,保证了社会主义建设事业的胜利进展,均起到了积极作用。但是,公费医疗中浪费超支现象也随即出现,并渐变为一种普遍性的严重问题。严重的浪费超支引起党和政府的高度重视和社会舆论的集中关注,1957年开始,在"勤俭建国"方针的指引下,以改进制度为主要应对思路的"反浪费"工作在公费医疗领域深入展开。该项工作一直持续至1965年,改进符合当时实际,其间取得过一些效果,但终因情况过于复杂,未能完全收到预期成效。     

Competencies required for future club managers' success

A 1999 survey of 369 members of the Club Managers Association of America sought to determine the most important competencies for a club manager in the year 2005. This survey was similar to two others conducted during the 1990s, however, the current study was forward looking. It found that CMAA members do not see radical changes in the competencies needed for successful club management, with perhaps one exception. That is the need for more personal-time management, which shows up in the top-ten items of the prospective survey, but did not appear in the earlier studies. Club managers will still need to be strong in general management skills, accounting and finance, and human resources.     

乡村旅游发展潜力评价指标体系与模型研究

乡村旅游在迅猛发展的过程中也面临着一系列内在矛盾和外在问题,科学合理评价乡村旅游发展潜力有利于乡村旅游的可持续发展和进一步提升乡村旅游竞争力。在借鉴相关研究的基础上,构建了乡村旅游潜力评价指标体系,并在此基础上建立了乡村旅游发展潜力定量与定性相结合的多层次模糊综合评价模型。     

How ongoing structural change creates a double dividend: outdating of technologies and green growth

Portuguese Economic Journal - In this paper we study how the ongoing transition to newer technologies, what we refer to as dynamic structural change, in a doubly-differentiated R&D-based...     

Firm-level political risk and debt choice

We examine the effect of firm-level political risk on debt choices and find: (i) firms with higher political risk display a preference for private debt over public debt; (ii) the magnitude of this preference varies with the aggregate policy uncertainty; (iii) politically risky firms indeed receive less favorable terms in the bond market. To explain such findings, we show that private lenders have several advantages in serving politically risky borrowers. First, to the extent that lenders cannot perfectly foresee the adoption of new government policies, private lenders' expertise in implementing the reorganization process is important to limit their potential loss. Second, politically risky borrowers must undertake significant operation adjustments facing rising policy uncertainty. Private lenders can gather accurate information and closely monitor these adjustments. Last, as the severity of political risk varies with aggregate policy uncertainty, there exists an implicit contract between a borrower and its relationship bank, whereby a borrower accepts less favorable terms during normal times in exchange for the bank's support during difficult times. Taken together, this study advances our understanding of how cross-sectionally heterogeneous political risk influences corporate debt choice.     

Asymmetric response to earnings news across different sentiment states: The role of cognitive dissonance

Using the Chinese stock market data, we test the hypothesis that cognitive dissonance influences the stock market response to earnings news. Supporting this notion, we find that investors disregard earnings news that contradicts their sentiment due to cognitive dissonance, thereby causing a muted announcement date price reaction to such news. Further analysis shows that higher retail concentration and greater valuation uncertainty of the underlying firm exacerbate this cognitive dissonance and hence amplify its impact, but less credible financial report does not. Finally, we find that cognitive dissonance is temporary for bad news under optimism, but is quite persistent for good news under pessimism. Overall, our findings offer a behavioral bias explanation to understand why investors underuse accounting information.