Consumption smoothing and vulnerability in Russia

Applying bootstrapped quantile regression to the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) data, we examine the channels through which individuals experience and seek to cope with changes in consumption. We find that married individuals living in small households, with educated heads in urban areas are better equipped to smooth consumption. Investigating the impact of idiosyncratic shocks, we find that the labour market is an important transmission mechanism allowing households to smooth their consumption but also exposing them to risk, mainly through job loss. Outside of pension payments, the formal social safety net does not facilitate consumption smoothing, thus heightening the importance of informal coping institutions. It transpires that both support from relatives/friends and home production act as important insurance mechanisms for the most vulnerable. In contrast with previous findings, it would seem that regardless of its historical, political and social roots, the garden plots and dachas, often romanticized in Russian literature, do provide a means by which ‘urban’ Russians are able to cope with economic fluctuations. We finish by stressing the important policy lessons for Russia's developing market economy.     

Give it to us straight (most of the time): Top managers’ use of concrete language and its effect on investor reactions

Research Summary : Building on the communications and linguistics literatures, we explore the language attributes managers use in interactions with investors and the subsequent reactions of investors. Specifically, we hypothesize that top managers’ use of concrete language attributes in communication with investors broadly associates with positive investor reactions. We further posit that this relationship will be moderated by the level of firm risk. Our results support our hypotheses and, thus, offer important insights to the impression management literature. First, subtle elements of managerial communication can have significant impression management consequences. More specifically, language concreteness is a key language attribute that generally induces positive investor responses. Finally, the effectiveness of language concreteness is conditional on the informational environment of the firm. Managerial Summary : How can managers communicate in a way that presents the firm more positively or reduces the negativity associated with perceived firm risks? Our findings indicate that choosing appropriate persuasive language features in interactions with investors can help a firm manage its impressions. Specifically, we find that top managers’ use of concrete language that provides details and specific information in communication with investors, in general, garners positive investor reactions. Further, the effectiveness of top managers’ use of concrete language depends on investor concerns. More specifically, we find that when a firm is seen as having a riskier profile, using concrete language helps induce a more positive investor response; while when a firm is seen as low risk, using abstract language may be more beneficial.     

Rethinking incrementalism

This paper discusses different notions of incremental strategic management and, on the basis of empirical data from a longitudinal study of strategic management, and existing research and theory, reconceives the subject within an ‘organization action’ framework. The paper also argues that such an approach raises important issues concerned with the management of strategic change in organizations.     

Energy conservation — what price a local initiative?

With the collapse of oil prices, shortages and long term increases in energy prices seem far away, and conservation is the last thing on our minds. Thus, national energy supply monopolies encourage the use rather than conservation of energy, whilst the alleged prospect of a long-term increase in electricity demand is used to justify investment in nuclear power. This article examines how decentralisation and a greater local involvement in national energy policy could overcome this contradiction. It also finds that the conservation strategies developed, after the oil crisis of the 1970's, in several other countries have, surprisingly, no British equivalent.     

The Influence of Riparian Protection Measures on Residential Property Values: The Case of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds

The Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds encourages residential property owners to plant riparian buffers in an effort to reduce stream temperature and thus improve fish habitat. This study estimates the change in the value of streamside residential properties in response to planting a treed riparian buffer. A hedonic pricing analysis suggests that treed riparian buffers reduce the market value of stream-front residential property in the study area.     

Corporate Disclosure Quality: Lessons from Australian Companies on the Impact of Adopting International Financial Reporting Standards

For annual reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2005, Australian companies were required to comply with the Australian equivalents of International Financial Reporting Standards (AIFRS). To ensure a smooth transition, a broadly defined standard (AASB 1047) mandated pre-adoption company disclosures of the AIFRS' impact. The standard provided managers with the opportunity to exercise considerable discretion in complying with the underlying disclosure requirements. We examine how this discretion impacted on the quality of pre-adoption AIFRS disclosures provided by a sample of large Australian companies. Using a disclosure quality index, we find considerable evidence of a cross-sectional variation in disclosure quality that varies according to differences in the AIFRS financial impact, size, industry and profitability factors. Importantly, we also observe individual Big 4 audit firm influences on disclosure quality. These findings highlight consequences of mandating corporate disclosures based on broadly defined principles.     

Information technology and rural development: unique opportunity or potential threat? *

The less deterministic view of the potential contribution of information technology to rural development suggests a range of possible outcomes including centralization and decentralization. Evidence from the Republic of Ireland indicates a weak trend towards rural areas benefiting from the new technologies, and an expansion of the information economy in the urban core.     

Multi-Channels: The Real Winners in the B2C Internet Wars

This article presents evidence that multi-channel retailers are out-performing online-only ("pure-play") retailers, and that their success is reflected in their market value. Multi-channel retailers are most successful when they define distinct roles for each channel, use the Web creatively as a customer acquisition tool, and work hard at converting browsers to buyers. To help get this last part right, the authors isolate key defection points – critical moments when retailers are apt to lose customers. They conclude that, for retailers, the key to making the most of the Internet is to correctly determine its strategic role in relation to other channels and invest to play that role excellently.     

A cognitive perspective on managers' perceptions of competition

This paper focuses on the way managers perceive their competitive environment. Within a cognitive perspective it discusses why they might group similar competitors and considers whether they are attentive to all competing firms. The literature on similarity of perceptions between managers is reviewed. Interviews amongst managers in the North Sea off‐shore oil pumps industry revealed that they made sense of competition through a categorization process. None perceived the industry in the objective manner as economists suggest. Different perceptions as to the nature of competitions were found between managers, but more homogeneous perceptions were seen between managers in the same firm than between different firms.     

A true and fair view on a harmonious and well-balanced alliance: EAA and EIASM

Allegations of creative accounting by management of listed corporations in the UK do not abate. To the extent that these practices distort the underlying reported financial performance of firms, they conflict with the basic aims of accounting regulation – to provide consistent and comparable financial information to users. Studies have shown that accounting choices are influenced by a range of contracting, financing and operational factors. However, we still know little about what constraints exist against the practice of creative accounting and how effective these are. Issues such as the extent to which the press and analysts are successful in restraining creative accounting, and the role the ‘true and fair view’ principle and auditors play in the prevention of such practices still remain unresolved. This article explores these themes by examining the accounting practices of two UK companies which issued a creative financing instrument. Using a combination of interview, documentary, and financial statement information, the analysis shows that management took advantage of gaps in accounting standards to present a biased picture of financial performance. Auditors did not appear to restrain such practices, and the true and fair view principle, rather than unifying accounting practice, appears to tolerate a range of interpretations. Adverse media publicity appears to be a successful deterrent in the medium term, but since the press are not regulators, their reporting is not necessarily consistent or predictable. UK analysts at the time did not evaluate accounting practices in any significant detail, and thus this potential restraint was not effective. Overall, the influences and constraints on creative accounting are illuminated in this study in a way which provides new insights into our understanding of financial reporting.