Politically connected boards,family and business group affiliations,and cost of capital: Evidence from Indonesia

We investigate the effect of politically connected boards (both supervisory boards [SBs] and boards of directors [BODs]) on cost of debt and equity capital of listed companies in Indonesia which has established a two-tier corporate governance system. The results, based on 250 firms, suggest that companies with politically connected SBs experience lower cost of debt and equity capital, whereas politically connected BODs have no association with cost of either debt or equity. Furthermore, we find that family firms and firms belonging to business groups with politically connected SBs enjoy lower cost of debt and equity capital. Our main results are robust to alternative measures and to tests for endogeneity.     

Beta and firm age

We document a robust pattern of beta declining over the age of a firm. We find that changes in systematic risk via firm characteristics and life-cycle stages are insufficient to explain this pattern. Moreover, standard proxies for the quantity and quality of information also explain this pattern only partially. To fully explain this pattern we rely on the increasingly important role of familiarity in financial decision making: familiarity is a determinant of beta and firm age is a proxy for the degree of familiarity that investors feel toward individual stocks. To illustrate the implication of our findings, we document that when we control for firm age there is support for the CAPM and its use as an input for the cost of equity capital calculation.     

基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构设计研究

为使铁路调度集中系统更好地满足运输组织需求,提升运输组织效率,阐述我国铁路调度集中系统运用现状,针对存在的系统功能区域化割裂、系统部署灵活性较低、系统建设和运用成本高等问题,结合铁路调度集中系统运用特点,提出基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构方案,将铁路调度集中系统部署在由云平台资源层、云平台服务层、云平台用户与接口层组成的云平台上,按需分配系统资源并动态扩充系统边界,提升系统资源利用率,提高业务协调性和计划编制的统一性,减轻运输人员的劳动强度,保障铁路运输生产的安全稳定。     

基于库存理论的铁路始发直达运输产品设计

将库存理论运用到铁路始发直达运输产品设计,能够有效实现运输服务组织成本与库存成本的有机统一。为实现库存成本在铁路始发直达运输中的加载,在考虑周期非完整情况下的库存成本的同时,将铁路运输和库存成本纳入同一目标函数,在装卸车地库存能力约束下,构建基于库存理论的铁路始发直达运输产品设计模型,确定成本最小的铁路始发直达运输产品设计方案。以赤峰地区至山东省煤炭运输网络为例,设计方案有效降低了成本,有助于吸引客户选择铁路运输,以及辅助铁路运营单位研究调整始发直达运输产品方案。     

Conditional Mandates on Management Earnings Forecasts: The Impact on the Cost of Debt

Exploiting a unique conditional disclosure mandate on management earnings forecasts (MEFs) in China, we examine the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on the cost of debt. We find that firms providing voluntary MEFs have lower cost of debt than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters. The results of the channel analyses reveal that voluntary forecasters have greater commitment to voluntary MEFs in future periods than do mandatory forecasters and nonforecasters, and the precision, accuracy, and timeliness of MEFs are higher for voluntary forecasters than for mandatory forecasters. Additional analyses show that the differential effects of voluntary and mandatory MEFs on cost of debt are stronger for voluntary forecasters operating in opaque information environments, issuing high-quality and confirming forecasts, controlled by private shareholders, and operating in highly competitive product markets. Overall, our results indicate that, compared with mandatory MEFs, voluntary MEFs are more informative for credit investors, particularly for firms facing greater information risk and operating uncertainty.     

Transition Belsize Veg Bag scheme: The role of ICTs in enabling new voices and community alliances around local food production and consumption

This paper explores an unusual community-supported agriculture pilot project in London, concentrating on the contribution of ICTs in its development and impact. The paper contextualises the project within wider waves of local food activism and reflects on the relevance of using ICTs to increase awareness and community participation in the production and consumption of locally-grown food. The results are also analysed in light of the author's parallel research on the use of ICT for agricultural development, or “e-agriculture”, in Kenya. The paper contributes to ongoing debates on ICTs and agricultural development, by highlighting community-building and the emergence of new voices and conversations as key roles played by ICTs, contributing to the development of more participatory, resilient and locally-centred food systems. The results of the pilot however also acknowledge the essential role played by activities in real life in building communal food growing practices, which can be enhanced but not substituted by online communities.     

Option implied volatilities and the cost of issuing equity

The structure of a firm-commitment Seasoned Equity Offering (SEO) resembles a put-option underwritten by an investment bank syndicate (Smith, 1977). Employing implied volatilities from issuers’ stock options as a direct forward-looking measure, this paper examines the impact of expected price risk around SEO issue dates on the direct cost of issuing equity. Using a comprehensive sample of 1208 SEOs between 1996 and 2009, we find issuers with higher option implied volatilities raise less external equity capital and pay higher investment bank fees in the stock market, ceteris paribus. The effect of implied volatility on the investment bank fees is stronger for larger issuers with lower pre-SEO abnormal realized stock volatilities, and for SEOs with higher expected price pressures around issue dates. These relationships are robust to adjustments for correlations among control variables, sample selection bias and also simultaneous determination of offer size and SEO fees.     

Cost structure and productivity growth of the Taiwanese international tourist hotels

This study investigates the cost structure and economic implications of the Taiwanese international tourist hotel industry. A multi-product translog cost function with three inputs and three outputs is estimated using seemingly unrelated regression estimation and three-stage least squares. A balanced panel dataset consisting of 47 international tourist hotels in Taiwan over the period 1997–2001 was obtained from Taiwanese Tourism Bureau and used to estimate the cost function. The results show that both scale and scope economies exist in the Taiwanese international tourist hotel industry. In addition, productivity growth is positive over the study period. Managerial and policy implications for the Taiwanese international tourist hotel industry are also discussed.     

A Tale of Two Cities: Case Studies of Group Support Systems Transition

Research shows that, under certain circumstances, people using GSS can be substantially more productive than people who do not. However GSS has been slow to transition into the workplace. This paper argues that the Technology Transition Model (TTM) may be a useful way to explain this seeming paradox. The paper presents a case study of GSS transition in two organizations – one where a self-sustaining and growing community of users emerged, and one where it did not. Following TTM, it explores the frequency with which users perceived cognitive, economic, affective, political, social, and physical value from using the system. Comparison of the cases reveals differences in perceptions of value along several of these dimensions that are consistent with TTM. The findings suggest the model may be a useful way to explain the transition of collaboration technology, but more research will be required to test the model more rigorously.     

Institutional environment and firms' sources of financial capital in Central and Eastern Europe

The external business environment is a major determinant of which sources firms select to obtain financial capital. We examine how the regulatory, political, and financial dimensions of the institutional environment influence the extent to which firms rely on informal sources of financial capital. The analyses of data from 2869 firms in twenty-six transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) indicate that ineffective regulatory system, underdeveloped financial system, and government corruption are strong determinants of firms' reliance on informal channels for financial capital. We also find that smaller firms are more vulnerable when the local financial system is underdeveloped and the regulatory institutions are less effective in these transition economies. A subgroup analysis of firms' forms of establishment shows that private firms are sensitive to the level of development of the local financial system and state-owned enterprises are particularly sensitive to the degree of corruption.