Keiretsu centrality — profits and profit stability: A power dependence perspective

Prior studies compare keiretsu member firm and independent firm performance. Here, we use historical and power dependence perspectives to theorize that the Japanese keiretsu system primarily benefits the most central firms. We test this by examining the performance of two types of keiretsu firms (central firms and other member firms) within two types of keiretsu (horizontal and vertical). We hypothesize and find that: (1) central vertical keiretsu firms are more profitable than central horizontal keiretsu firms; (2) central horizontal keiretsu firms have greater profit stability than central vertical keiretsu firms; (3) central vertical keiretsu firms are more profitable than non-central vertical keiretsu firms; and (4) central horizontal keiretsu firms have greater profit stability than non-central horizontal keiretsu firms. Implications for managers and future research directions are discussed.     

Board size,corporate regulations and firm valuation in an emerging market: a simultaneous equation approach

We investigate the association between board size and firm valuation for a sample of 169 firms from 2002 to 2011 in South Africa (SA). The SA corporate context is interestingly and uniquely characterised by an urgency to meet affirmative action regulations, such as black empowerment in board appointments, limited qualified and experienced directors, especially black directors, concentrated ownership, weak enforcement of corporate regulations and greater government ownership. These features make SA corporate boards perform a weaker agency (advisory, monitoring and disciplining) role than Western European and US boards, but a stronger resource dependence role, by providing access to resources, such as business contacts and contracts. This suggests that any positive impact of board size on firm valuation is likely to depend on the effective execution of the resource dependence role more than the agency role. Our results suggest that board size has a positive association with firm valuation, consistent with larger boards providing better access to resources. Overall, our results support the resource dependence role of boards more than their agency role. The results are robust across a raft of econometric models that control for different types of endogeneity, as well as different types of accounting and market-based firm valuation measures.     

Sustainable tourism development and residents’ perceptions in World Heritage Site destinations

Set in Malaysia’s Lenggong Valley World Heritage Site (WHS), this paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the heterogeneity of positive and negative perceptions among residents and their effects on residents’ support for and participation in sustainable tourism development. Data from 221 completed questionnaire surveys revealed heterogeneous negative perceptions across residents’ age, level of education and economic involvement in tourism. Moreover, residents’ positive perceptions had a positive effect on their support for and participation in tourism development. This study contributes to the resident perception literature by using stakeholder theory to conceptualise the heterogeneity of residents’ perceptions and by examining the effects of those perceptions on their support for and participation in tourism development in a rural WHS destination in the developing world. Furthermore, the findings of this study have practical implications for local authorities aiming to improve residents’ support and participation in tourism planning for sustaining tourism development.     

Policy‐related implementational fluidity in subsistence marketplaces

This paper sheds light on policy‐related implementational fluidity—a context‐dependent adaptation of policies—adopted by policy implementers to address heterogeneous needs of subsistence consumer‐merchants (SCMs). In subsistence research, despite the emphasis on bottom‐up policymaking, implementational fluidity persists because of institutional and sociocultural factors that hinder policy implementers’ from effectively and accurately implementing the policies. To enrich the current bottom‐up policy process, this paper shares insights from an ethnographic study of Fijian market traders and marketplace personnel (policy implementers) and shares insights on how implementational fluidity manifests in subsistence marketplaces. Analysis reveals the interplay amongst sociohistorical context, marketplace relational dynamics and policies leading to policy adjustments and re‐negotiation by marketplace personnel and perceived injustices amongst the SCMs. The paper provides policy recommendations and practice ideas for subsistence researchers and policy practitioners to examine policy implementation gaps and the role of policy implementers in subsistence marketplaces.     

基于三维分形的山东省农户分化及耕地利用异质性分析

研究目的:揭示农户分化的内在机制及其耕地利用异质性,正确引导农户耕地经营行为和可持续利用。研究方法:基于分形理论建立"职业—收入—耕地规模"三维农户分类体系,开展山东省农户耕地利用调研及实证分析。研究结果:(1)农户间耕地利用行为具有差异性,耕地面积较大的兼业户表现出"高投入—低收益"特征,且农户类型存在动态变化的可能性;(2)经济发展水平较高的城市呈现以"高度兼业户"为主要农户类型的"单核心"分化趋势;(3)农户分化过程除大规模纯农户和高度兼业户的"终点"外,还存在对农业依赖较大的兼业户和耕地面积较大兼业户等"中间态"。研究结论:农户分化过程有律可循,应针对性地制定耕地利用政策加以引导。     

Dynamics of female labour force participation in France

This article formulates and estimates a structural intertemporal model of labour force participation. Relying on theoretical characterizations derived from an economic model of lifetime behaviour, we estimate a dynamic probit model with correlated random effects using longitudinal data to allow for a dynamic structure. The model is applied to a panel of married women drawn from the 1997–2002 French Labour Force surveys in order to represent their participation behaviour. It is estimated by maximum simulated likelihood. Our results show that women’s decisions to go out to work are characterized by significant state dependence, unobserved heterogeneity and negative serial correlation in the transitory error component. In addition, we find that the presence of young children in a woman’s household reduces her labour participation, but unequally according to their age and number. As expected, educational level has a positive impact on women’s participation. Last, a rise in the husband’s wage is found to raise female participation initially and to lower it subsequently. This empirical finding suggests that leisure may not systematically be a normal good, contrary to what is frequently assumed in the literature.     

Adaptive capacity to technological change: A microfoundational approach

Research summary> : W e take a microfoundational approach to understanding the origin of heterogeneity in firms' capacity to adapt to technological change. We develop a computational model of individual‐level learning in an organizational setting characterized by interdependence and ambiguity. The model leads to organizational outcomes with the canonical properties of routines: constancy, efficacy, and organizational memory. At the same time, the process generating these outcomes also produces heterogeneity in firms' adaptive capacity to different types of technological change. An implication is that exploration policy in the formative period of routine development can influence a firm's capacity to adapt to change in maturity. This points to a host of strategic trade‐offs, not only between performance and adaptive capacity, but also between adaptive capacities to different forms of change . Managerial summary : W hy are firms differentially effective at adapting to technological change? We argue that firms differ in the adaptive capacity of the routines that underlie their capabilities. These differences arise well before change occurs, and result because firms build routines that are differentially responsive to signals of performance decline associated with technological change. Thus, early managerial efforts to build superior productive efficiency must be complemented by efforts to build superior adaptive capacity. Our theory suggests that managers can prepare for technological change by implementing policies, in the formative period of organizational development, that promote individuals' exploration of novel actions. However, there are trade‐offs because preparation aimed at building adaptive capacity to one type of technological change may limit adaptive capacity to other types of change . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of exports on facility environmental performance: Evidence from a matching approach

This paper employs matching techniques to investigate the effects of facility export status on environmental performance. Using facility-level criteria air emission data in the US manufacturing industry, we find the industry-specific effects of export status on emission intensity, measured by emissions per value of sale. In some industries, there is consistent and robust evidence supporting the superior environmental performance of exporters relative to non-exporters in terms of emission intensity for all criteria air pollutants tracked. In other industries, we find weak evidence that exporters appear to have a higher emission intensity than non-exporters. This industrial heterogeneity in the effects of exporting on the environment is closely related to industrial characteristics including pollution abatement capital expenditure, trade costs, capital intensity and others.     

Firm heterogeneity and immigrant wage assimilation

This article investigates the role of job mobility in immigrant wage assimilation. I use longitudinal linked employer–employee data for Portugal to estimate the immigrant wage catch-up in log wage regressions with both individual and firm fixed effects. I show that moving to firms with higher wage premiums accounts for approximately 30% of the immigrant wage catch-up in the first years.