Fair value accounting from a distributed cognition perspective

This study offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on fair value accounting. The growing influence of esoteric financial instruments whose valuation is becoming increasingly complex makes it necessary to focus on actual valuation practices. Based on an extensive review, this paper regards fair value accounting for complex financial instruments as involving processes distributed among actors located inside and/or outside a reporting entity. It also draws attention to collaboration by organizations that apply their external and internal resources to perform complex financial valuations. Furthermore, it demonstrates that cases involving unusual market conditions underline the importance of human interactions to the valuation process.     

The role of stock ownership by US members of Congress on the market for political favors

I examine whether stock ownership by politicians helps to enforce noncontractible quid pro quo relations with firms. The ownership by US Congress members in firms contributing to their election campaigns is higher than in noncontributors. This bias toward contributors depends on the financial incentives of politicians and the relation's value. Firms with a stronger ownership–contribution association receive more government contracts. The financial gains from these contracts are economically large. When politicians divest stocks, firms discontinue contributions to the politicians, lose future contracts, and perform poorly. Politicians divest the stocks in contributors, but not in noncontributors, in anticipation of retirement.     

Style chasing by hedge fund investors

This paper examines whether investors chase hedge fund investment styles. We find that better-performing and more popular styles are rewarded with higher inflows in subsequent periods. This indicates that investors compare hedge fund styles in terms of recent performance and popularity, and they subsequently reallocate funds from less successful to more successful styles. Furthermore, we find evidence of competition between individual hedge funds of the same style. Funds outperforming the other funds in their styles and funds whose inflows exceed the average flows in their styles experience higher inflows in subsequent periods. One of the reasons for competition among same-style funds is investors’ search for the best managers. The high minimum investment required to invest in a hedge fund limits investors’ diversification opportunities and makes this search particularly important. Finally, we show that hedge fund investors’ implementation of style chasing in combination with intra-style fund selection represents a smart strategy.     

石油金融：融合态势与中国发展战略

随着现代经济的发展,石油与金融的结合越来越紧,石油金融化趋势日益凸显。因此,为应对国际石油价格的未来走势,保障中国金融体系和中国经济的安全和长期稳定发展,中国迫切需要制定石油金融体系。新形势下中国石油金融体系构建的战略取向为：多层次构建石油交易市场体系;多渠道营造石油银行系统;多途径形成石油基金组合;多方位灵活运用石油外汇等。     

西部地区投资效率、投资结构及其机制研究

当前,西部地区已进入投资高峰期,但主流观点认为与高投资相伴随的往往是低效率,如何确保大规模投资更好地拉升区域经济?这就需要提高投资效率。本文通过测算西部各省经济运行效率并与东部省份进行比较,分析西部地区投资动态效率及其形成机制。结果显示西部地区经济运行动态无效,并且西部各省资本配置效率逐渐趋同于较低水平,这些表明了西部地区整体和各省的投资产出效率都极低。分析其原因,主要是投资的行业结构及资金来源结构存在不合理性,因此西部地区若想有效促进经济社会持续发展,就必须将投资机制进行结构性调整。     

SME internationalization and performance: Growth vs. profitability

Lu and Beamish (2001) examined the effect of two internationalization strategies, exporting and foreign direct investment (FDI), on SME performance (ROA). We extend this research by examining the differential effects of these strategies on two other dimensions of SME performance: growth and ROS. We develop and test four sets of hypotheses using a sample of 164 Japanese SMEs. We find that exporting activity has a positive impact on growth, but negative impact on profitability. FDI activity has a positive relationship with growth, but a U curve relationship with profitability. Exporting activity has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between an SME’s FDI activity and firm growth, a negative moderating effect on the relationship between an SME’s FDI activity and firm profitability. An SME’s age when it starts to make FDIs has a negative moderating impact on the relationship between FDI and firm growth and profitability.     

全球国际直接投资发展的态势、动因与影响

文章从总体态势、地域分布、国家层次、投资方式、产业高度等方面分析了20世纪70年代以来国际直接投资发展的主要特征,并从制度、技术、政策等方面探讨了推动这种态势形成的基本动因,总结了世界FDI发展对全球国际生产、贸易、分工格局的主要影响.     

Privatization and foreign competition

This paper determines the equilibrium market structure in an international oligopoly, where a state enterprise is sold at an auction. The paper suggests that high greenfield costs and high trade costs do not necessarily induce foreign acquisitions in privatizations, despite the fact that foreign firms would gain considerably from acquiring in such situations. The reason is that domestic firms can then prevent foreign firms from becoming strong local competitors and thus, their willingness to pay for the state assets is high.     

Investment liberalization — Why a restrictive cross-border merger policy can be counterproductive

Investment liberalizing countries are often concerned that cross-border mergers and acquisitions, in contrast to greenfield investments, might have an adverse effect on domestic firms and consumers. However, given that domestic assets are sufficiently scarce, we identify a preemption effect and an asset complementarity effect, which imply that the acquisition price is substantially higher than the domestic seller's profits. Moreover, we show that for the acquisition to take place, the MNE must be sufficiently efficient when using the domestic assets, otherwise rivals will expand their business, thereby making the acquisition unprofitable. Consequently, restricting cross-border M&As may also hurt consumers.     

SMEs and CSR Theory: Evidence and Implications from an Italian Perspective

This paper reviews the development of socially responsible investment (SRI) in the Spanish financial market. The year, 1997 saw the appearance in Spain of the first SRI mutual fund, but it was not until late 1999, that major Spanish fund managers offered SRI mutual funds on the retail market. The development of SRI in the Spanish financial market has not experienced the high levels of development seen in other European countries, such as France or Italy, where interest in SRI began during the same period. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of SRI mutual funds managed by Spanish fund managers comparing the evolution of managed assets and number of investors. We also analyse the investment strategies adopted by these funds, which mainly use negative screening criteria and the participation of non-governmental organisations as institutional investors. An analysis of the take up of socially responsible investment in the Spanish financial market shows majors deficits in this process. This is due to Spanish investors having limited sensitivity to social issues and knowledge of SRI, and a lack of development of SRI investment strategies, such as engagement or shareholder activism by fund managers. Furthermore, the take-up of SRI mutual funds in the Spanish financial market coincided with a fall in the stock market at the beginning of the 21st Century. We conclude with an analysis of the relationship between SRI and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).Josep M. Lozano is currently Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, Universidad Ramon Llul-URL and Director of the school’s Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES). Co-founder of ética, Economía y Dirección (Spanish branch of the European Business Ethics Network), member of the international Editorial Board of ‚Ethical Perspectives’ and member of the Business Ethics inter-faculty group of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). He has been a highly-commended runner-up in the European division of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Award. Author of Ethics and Organizations. Understanding Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.Laura Albareda is a Researcher at the Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES), ESADE, Universidad Ramon Llull-URL. She is manager of the Observatory on Ethical, Ecological and Social Investment funds in Spain, an annual IPES publication on Socially Responsible Investment in Spain. Fields of research and academic interest are Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, Global Governance, Governments and Public Policies on CSR and Socially Responsible Investment.M. Rosario Balaguer is a Lecturer in the Department of Finance and Accounting at Universitat Jaume I. Research areas focus on finance-based analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility and Socially Responsible Investment, covering issues such as profitability, risk and performance. She has taken part in several national and international conferences and published a number of articles in this field.