Corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage: A developing country perspective

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attracted wider research interests over recent decades. While some studies have examined the impact of CSR activities on firm competitive advantage (CA), the findings so far remain contradictory. Moreover, the role of export orientation, firm strategy, and structure on the association between CSR and CA has not been explicitly examined. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of export orientation, firm strategy, structure, and firm size on the association between CSR and CA. Using a sample of 179 responses from management staff in organizations across five sectors in a developing country context of Ghana, the study found positive effects of CSR on CA. The study contributes to the resource‐based view (RBV) scholarship by confirming the important complementary effect of export orientation and organizational structure as important resources and capabilities on the CSR–competitiveness relationship. However, no evidence of a moderating effect of firm strategy, or firm size on the CSR–CA relationship was found. These findings are instructive, impactful, and enrich the existing literature on CSR and strategy. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.     

Failure to learn from failure: The 2008 mortgage crisis as a déjà vu of the mortgage meltdown of 1994

This article traces the developments in the market for residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) during the period 1970–2008. Drawing on an analysis of trade publications, business press, and interviews with practitioners, it shows that an MBS market meltdown in 1994 provided clear signals of problems with MBS. The market participants did not re-evaluate their use of risk management tools or adjust security design in response to the 1994 crisis, suggesting a lack of understanding of the implications of the crisis. The 1994 meltdown showed that MBS were vulnerable to systematic risks and that these risks could precipitate an MBS market crash. Furthermore, the 1994 meltdown demonstrated that large-scale investment in MBS could affect the primary mortgage market, thereby rendering the MBS risks unpredictable. After 1994, MBS investment shifted to MBS backed by mortgages with default risk – a development that led to the crash of 2008. By drawing parallels between the 1994 and 2008 crises, this article shows how the MBS market failed to self-correct. The results suggest that financial market participants do not always incorporate relevant information in their decision-making and that market participants have difficulties in both foreseeing the effect of financial innovations on markets and interpreting these effects.     

Secrets to design an effective message on Facebook: an application to a touristic destination based on big data analysis

The objective of this research is to identify which are the key variables for designing a message in a social network that can be used by an advertiser to generate Positive/Negative Engagement. The message’s design variables have been classified into four main groups: (i) Message Tools (presence of text, images, video, labels, applications, interactive games and events calendar or others), (ii) Appropriate Message Structure (length and intelligibility), (iii) Informative Cues (links to the brand, orientation towards the product or the brand, topics relevant to the audience, and a remuneration’s promise) and (iv) Persuasive and Emotional Cues (emotional signals, valence, endorsement and influencer mentions). The focus has been a tourist destination: Brand Spain that is advertised through Facebook. A content analysis was carried out and regression analysis with optimal scaling was used on 180 Spain brand’s publications; 57,626 audience reactions to such publications; and 1361 audience comments on the Brand Spain Official Fan Page. According to our results, from the four blocks of predictive variables, only two of them are useful to predict Positive/Negative Engagement: (i) the use of Message Tools (videos), and (ii) the use of informative cues (relevant topics, links on posts, and post’s orientation towards product).     

Supply chain capabilities for facilitating the internationalisation of retailers – a multiple case study of three Swedish retail companies

ABSTRACT

Market-oriented aspects of retail internationalisation have received a lot of research attention since the 1990s. However, beyond these aspects lies also supply-chain oriented capabilities that are necessary for retailers to successfully internationalise into foreign sales markets. By using a perspective based on resource-based theories, this paper explores supply-chain oriented capabilities that facilitate retail internationalisation. The research is based on a multiple case study of three Swedish retailers. Through the perspective of research based theories, specifically capabilities, the empirical data is studied in a single-case as well as a cross-case analysis. Findings reveal three supply chain-oriented capability categories (leadership capability, integration capability and learning capability) of importance for retail internationalisation. Resources necessary for the capabilities are to be found internally at the retailer, but also externally at other firms. This research adds to the market-oriented knowledge on retail internationalisation by adding a supply-chain oriented perspective. Further, it provides an understanding of the early phases of retail internationalisation.     

山高皇帝远:地理距离与上市公司股价崩盘风险的经验证据

鉴于信息不对称程度、制度实施成本和心理文化差异，文章提出"监管距离"假说，认为监管者和被监管者之间距离远近可以影响监管效果。实证分析中国沪深上市公司数据，文章从非对称风险视角出发，研讨了上市公司注册地距所在地中国证监会派出机构的地理距离对公司层面的股价崩盘风险的影响。我们发现，监管机构与上市公司总部的地理距离越远，该上市公司股价的崩盘风险越大。进一步分析发现，如果开通高铁或者上市公司所在地社会信任水平足够高，那么监管距离和崩盘风险的正相关关系是不显著的；如果监管负担严重或政府效率低下，那么监管距离和崩盘风险之间正相关关系更为显著。文章认为，地理距离具有监管信息效应、监管威慑效应和监管执行效应，能够影响股价崩盘风险。也就是说，"山高皇帝远"可以改变上市公司行为，提高金融监管效率不应忽视非正式制度的影响。     

城市造林工程农户行为意向影响因素研究——以北京市平原造林工程为例

以北京市平原造林工程为例,利用典型项目区调查数据建立结构方程模型,探讨影响退耕农户行为意向的主要因素。结果表明:农户综合素质、家庭经济基础和农户土地依赖性对农户满意度和农户行为意向具有显著正向影响;同时,农户综合素质、家庭经济基础和农户土地依赖性还会通过农户满意度对农户行为意向产生影响。据此,后续城市造林过程中应进一步加强对农户满意度的服务工作,同时根据个体农户特征,对被征地农户在再就业、技能培训、农地补偿等方面开展更具针对性的服务工作。     

基于PSO的信息熵数据融合非均匀分簇路由算法

针对无线传感器网络分簇算法中能量分布不均衡导致的"热区"和簇头负载过重问题,提出了一种基于PSO算法优化簇头选举的非均匀分簇算法。在候选簇头选举和竞争半径计算过程中综合考虑节点动态能量、节点密度和节点距基站距离,将网络进行非均匀分簇,并引入PSO算法进行最终簇头选举。根据节点能量、节点密度和距基站距离确定簇间单跳多跳结合的路由规则,选取代价函数小的节点作为下一跳节点。基于节点信息熵确定融合阈值,进行簇内数据融合剔除冗余数据。仿真结果表明,改进算法的数据传输量比EEUC算法和UCRA算法分别提高了20%和10%,提升了数据的融合效率,有效延长了网络生命周期,簇头能量消耗得到均衡,减少了网络能量消耗,网络的整体性能显著优于其他对比算法。     

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures

In an initial coin offering (ICO), new ventures raise capital by selling tokens to a crowd of investors. Often, this token is a cryptocurrency, a digital medium of value exchange based on the distributed ledger technology. Both the number of ICOs and the amount of capital raised have exploded since 2017. Despite attracting significant attention from ventures, investors, and policy makers, little is known about the dynamics of ICOs. This initial study therefore assesses the determinants of the amount raised in 423 ICOs. Drawing on signaling theory, the study explores the role of signaling ventures' technological capabilities in ICOs. The results show that technical white papers and high-quality source codes increase the amount raised, while patents are not associated with increased amounts of funding. Exploring further determinants of the amount raised, the results indicate that some of the underlying mechanisms in ICOs resemble those found in prior research into entrepreneurial finance, while others are unique to the ICO context. The study's implications are multifold and discussed in detail. Importantly, the results enable investors to more accurately understand crucial determinants of the amount raised (e.g., technical white papers, source code quality, token supply, Ethereum-standard). This reduces the considerable uncertainty that investors face when investing in ICOs and enables more informed decision-making.     

What determines international tourist arrivals in India?

Using data for 18 major tourist originating countries to India from 2001 to 2015, this study examines the major determinants of international tourist arrivals in India. The results indicate that past experiences of the tourists, per capita income in the tourist originating country, relative costs of living between India and the country of origin, and the level of infrastructure development in India are key determinants of international tourist arrivals in India. Furthermore, both transportation and communication infrastructure are important in attracting tourists to India. In particular, evidence suggests that availability of road and air network and telephone connections has favourable impacts on international tourist arrivals in India. These results are robust to the inclusion of additional variables. These results have important policy implications.     

Accounting as an engine for the re‐creation of strategy at a university

This paper examines the role of accounting in the strategy re‐creation of a university. Drawing on Donald MacKenzie's theoretical notion of performative engines, our field study of an Australian university reveals how accounting, through various calculative practices, fuelled change and steered people into strategic action, leading to the formation of a new strategic plan. We contribute to the existing accounting and higher education literature on university strategising by illustrating how accounting, when convincing and accepted by decision‐makers, can function as an engine for the transformation and financialisation of universities’ strategies.