Turning local: Home-bias dynamics of relocating foreigners

Using comprehensive data from Denmark, we study private investors’ preferences for domestic stocks. We compare the equity home bias of foreigners recently relocated to Denmark to the equity home bias of other investors. We find that home bias of recently relocated foreigners is lower than home bias of other investors. Our main result is that when relocated foreigners’ duration of stay increases, their home bias also increases. After 7–8 years, home bias of relocated foreigners does not differ from home bias of other investors. Our results imply that familiarity with domestic stocks develops dynamically with the length of stay in a given country. We discuss implications for explanations of the home-bias puzzle building on information asymmetries.     

A Markov‐switching analysis of Nigeria's business cycles: Are election cycles important?

The study examines Nigeria's business cycles between October 1998 and October 2017 and ascertains the importance of general elections cycles in engendering cyclical fluctuations in different measures of business cycles. A framework based on political business cycles theory was estimated with a dynamic Markov‐switching regression technique. The study finds that election cycles are adequate in predicting cycles in food prices, non‐farm prices, exports, and imports in Nigeria while a significant effect of election cycles on the stock market, general price level, and exchange rate could not be established. The study concludes that cycles in food, non‐farm prices, imports, and exports can be predicted by future general elections while re‐election seeking behaviour of politicians lacks the power to influence stock market performance and exchange rate in Nigeria. Hence, artificial business cycles that result primarily from politicians manipulating certain fiscal tools targeted at stimulating the economy only to increase the re‐election chances could be minimized if monetary and fiscal institutions are strong, effective, and truly independent. This will ensure that policies are not manipulated between elections by politicians but are well targeted at achieving a set of long‐term developmental goals.     

Leadership in agricultural machinery circles: experimental evidence from Tajikistan

Leadership is critical for the viability of rural groups. The way in which leadership is legitimised can mediate leader and group member behaviour in the face of social dilemmas. Yet there has been scant research on leader‐follower dynamics in naturally occurring groups. Highlighting the case of agricultural machinery circles in Tajikistan, the effect of leading by example on investments to a collective good is studied in a framed field experiment. To increase realism, and contrary to standard economic experiments, this investment is a voucher allowing the group to make a real‐world machinery purchase at reduced costs. Two treatments manipulate leaders’ legitimisation. Elected leaders achieve 30 per cent higher contributions to the collective investment against a baseline version without a leader. Contributions remain, on average, relatively stable over the course of the game. The results are discussed with reference to the debate on external intervention in agricultural producer organisations.     

浅谈铁路建设项目资格预审申请文件、商务标编写方法及建议

2014年以来,铁路固定资产投资每年基本稳定在8000亿元左右,对施工企业而言,要抓住当前的有利机会,争取更多的施工任务。结合当前铁路建设项目资格预审及招标的特点,简要介绍资格预审申请文件、商务标的编写方法,提出相关建议,以期为从业人员提供借鉴。     

基于业财融合的铁路运输企业全面预算管理体系研究

随着铁路运输企业不断深化改革和转型升级,作为企业财务管理有效工具之一的全面预算管理也应适应经济发展而不断优化。以业财融合为出发点,结合我国铁路运输企业的经营业务和预算管理的研究现状,对预算管理指标体系进行了总体分析及结构设计,构建了“国铁集团—路局—基层站段”三级次的预算指标模型,并设计了国铁集团到路局层面以及路局到站段层面的闭环式预算编制流程,健全和完善了相应的预算管理流程和责任分工。     

Dreaming of the West: The power of the brand in Soviet Lithuania, 1960s–1980s

Abstract

The article reveals the interest in foreign trademarks observed in Lithuanian society from the 1960s through the 1980s, when the demand for brand names spread after Western culture reached the Soviet Union. The consumption of Western cultural products, or imitations thereof, became one of the key symbolic expressions of freedom in Soviet society. In Lithuania, the most popular clothes were those bearing fake trademarks, even though Soviet authorities attempted to prevent the desire for and the wearing of these garments through the use of ideological tools.     

Net-zero emission targets and the role of managerial environmental awareness,customer pressure,and regulatory control toward environmental performance

To avoid the worst effects of global warming, countries agreed to limit warming below 2.0°C and ideally to 1.5°C preindustrial level. This requires countries to drop half of their greenhouse gas emission by 2030 and reach net-zero emission by 2050. In this regard, current study explores the role of green production as a mediator in the impact of managerial environmental awareness, customer pressure, and regulatory control on environmental performance. The data collected from 381 managers was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Results indicate that customer pressure, regulatory control, and managerial environmental awareness play a pivotal role toward green production, whereas only managerial environmental awareness among them directly influences environmental performance. Green production fully mediates the relationship from customer pressure and regulatory control to environmental performance. However, it partially mediates the relation between managerial environmental awareness and environmental performance. Similarly, the importance of green production for environmental performance is highlighted.     

Above and beyond? How businesses can drive sustainable development by promoting lasting pro-environmental behaviour change: An examination of the IKEA Live Lagom project

Current global changes require new business approaches driving sustainable development on all fronts. To date, most business approaches have focused on sustainable marketing and corporate social responsibility initiatives. In this field study, we examine IKEA's Live Lagom project, a 3-year behaviour change initiative that aimed to explore how to go above and beyond conventional approaches demonstrating how businesses could support sustainable development by supporting their customers' attempts to live more sustainable lifestyles. We examined the effectiveness of the project involving multifaceted behaviour change interventions, testing for behavioural changes both during and after the project period. In addition, we explored changes in participants' attitudes towards the company. Findings show that the extensive set of interventions led to changes in pro-environmental behaviours across all three participant groups with potentially positive impacts on the customer–company relationship. The article thus provides a call for further businesses to engage in similar behaviour change projects that would allow citizens to engage in more sustainable lifestyles and behaviours across contexts.     

广西民间传统手工艺转型发展商业模式探究--以博白竹藤编织工艺为例

民间传统手工艺是一个民族文化的重要组成部分。广西是一个多民族聚居区,存在丰富多样的传统手工艺文化。面对如今经济社会快速发展的时代,现代化工业的快速发展、社会环境的浮躁、缺乏关注导致创新的缺失等原因使得民间传统手工艺的传承和发展面临较大的困难。除了政府的制度和措施,也应积极探索其他方式。论文以广西博白竹藤编织手工艺面临的困境为研究对象,对其创新发展的市场潜力与可行性、商业模式的转型发展进行探索,以期对我国民间传统手工艺的传承与壮大提供一定的参考和借鉴。     

South African consumers' willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb: The influence of subjective and objective knowledge,label information and demographics

In South Africa, Karoo Lamb is a prestigious product associated with free range production. This study examined the influence of subjective and objective Karoo Lamb knowledge, the importance of label information, and demographics on consumers' willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb products. A panel of 355 consumers who had previously purchased lamb/mutton products completed an online questionnaire. The importance of Karoo Lamb label information, subjective Karoo Lamb knowledge and population group had a significant positive impact on willingness to pay a premium for Karoo Lamb. Objective Karoo Lamb knowledge and other demographics did not have a significant impact.