Gatekeepers to consumer markets: the role of retailers in international trade

This study explores how recent developments in the retail sector affect trade in consumer goods. It focuses on three developments in the retail sector: (i) internationalization; (ii) market structure; and (iii) the growing market share of retailers' private labels. Using gravity model estimation techniques it is found that the foreign operations of a retailer are positively related to imports from the host to the home country of the retailer. Imports are negatively related to ownership concentration, while the market share of private labels is negatively related to imports of food and positively related to imports of non-food consumer goods. For both product categories private labels shift sourcing towards poor countries. The trade response to trade liberalization is higher both at the extensive and intensive margin in countries with lower retail concentration.     

市场结构与家电零售厂商绩效——基于一线城市数据的实证检验

本文采用2002-2008年18个一线城市家电零售企业层面的数据,对家电零售行业市场结构与利润的关系进行了研究。结果表明,我国家电零售行业市场份额和市场集中度对利润率的影响都比较微弱,无论是基于合谋的SCP假说还是基于单方面效应的相对市场势力假说都不成立。而X-效率变量既与利润率呈显著正相关,又与市场份额呈显著正相关,因此相对于其他三种假说,X-效率结构假说对家电零售行业市场结构-利润关系更有一定程度的解释力。由于国美对永乐、大中的并购既没有提升利润,也没有增加市场势力,所以不应采取过分严厉的反垄断并购政策。     

The “grabbing hand” or the “helping hand” view of corruption: Evidence from bank foreign market entries

This study adopts a resource perspective to explore a non-linear relationship between corruption and two measures of bank foreign market commitment, the capital invested and the share of equity, on a sample of 131 bank entries in forty host countries. Our findings support a U-shaped relationship providing evidence of the “grabbing hand” view at low to moderate levels of corruption and, supporting the “helping hand” view at high levels of it. In addition, market-seeking motives are found to have a positive moderating effect on this relationship. This study contributes to the long-standing debate about the effects of corruption on FDI.     

Taxation and Bank Efficiency: Cross-Country Evidence

This paper investigates the relationship between the effective tax rate on bank income and bank profit efficiency. Our sample consists of 3,472 observations from 533 publicly quoted commercial banks operating in 46 countries between 2001 and 2009. We estimate a global frontier while controlling for various country-specific characteristics such as regulations, macroeconomic conditions, market concentration, and financial and overall development. The results indicate that a higher tax rate results in higher pre-tax profit efficiency. However, the relationship is non-linear, indicating that there is a point after which a further increase in taxation reduces bank profit efficiency. We also find that concentration in the banking sector enhances the effect of taxation on profit efficiency. Overall, the results provide some support to the tax-shifting hypothesis. However, there is no robust evidence that the impact of taxation on profit efficiency is influenced by the extent of private monitoring.     

我国吸纳金融创新的时滞效应及其制度因素分析

长期以来,对金融创新在中国金融市场扩散吸收中的时滞效应的认识往往归咎于微观市场主体缺乏吸收能力或竞争所致,而忽略了中国这样的转型经济国家所具有的制度性因素的影响。本文通过分析我国与金融创新国在金融体系、经济体制、经济发展水平、金融相关率、产权制度、市场结构等因素上存在的结构性不均衡,发现异质性金融市场间的结构和金融工具比例的差异性对金融创新扩散可能产生的阻碍机制也是引发我国采纳金融创新扩散中出现时滞现象的重要原因。     

产品市场竞争程度会影响企业的劳动关系吗?——基于浙江制造业的实证研究

本文利用浙江省经济普查数据,探讨了产品市场竞争程度对制造业企业劳动关系的影响.研究发现,制造业行业私营企业比重的增加与企业劳动关系恶化之间有一定的相关性,行业市场集中度的提高将改善劳动关系,行业平均利润率或企业人均利润水平的提高有助于企业劳动关系的改善,因而产品市场竞争程度是影响企业劳动关系的重要因素.本文认为在我国经济转型过程中出现的劳动关系恶化现象,其中有产品市场竞争程度不断提高方面的原因.     

Foreign banking in developing countries; origin matters

Driven by globalization and increased financial integration, the last decade has seen many foreign banks entering developing countries. Although the majority of these banks are from high-income countries, recently banks from developing countries have followed suit. This paper looks at this phenomenon, by examining the differences and similarities between developing and high-income country foreign banks. Using a large dataset on banking sector FDI in developing countries, we find that 27% of all foreign banks in developing countries are owned by a bank from another developing country, while these banks hold 5%of the foreign assets. The importance of developing country foreign banks is much larger in low-income countries (both in number of banks and in terms of assets) and this type of foreign banking is strongly regionally concentrated. Although foreign bank entry by both developing country as well as high-income country banks seems to be driven by economic integration, common language and proximity, banks from developing countries are more likely to invest in small developing countries with weak institutions where high-income country banks are reluctant to go. This result seems to suggest that developing country banks have a competitive advantage dealing with countries with a weak institutional climate. Furthermore, our results indicate that developing country foreign banks have a higher interest margin and are less profitable than foreign banks from high-income countries.     

The interplay between home and host country institutions in an emerging market context: Private equity in Latin America

This study examines how the interplay between home and host country regulatory institutions affects the investment strategy of private equity (PE) firms in an emerging market context. To answer this question, we consider three different mechanisms: (1) the institutional hazard avoidance effect, (2) the institutional escapism effect, and (3) the dysfunctional institutions effect. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we argue that regulatory institutional differences between home and host countries can sometimes have a positive rather than a negative effect on investment likelihood. Our findings show that when a host emerging market has a strong regulatory institutional system relative to other emerging markets, it is more likely that this country will attract PE investments from firms based in home countries with very strong and very weak institutional systems. The empirical analyses, based on a polynomial specification and a dataset covering more than 300 PE firms that made close to 1500 investment transactions in Latin America during 1996–2011, are consistent with our main theoretical arguments.     

Pro-market institutions and outward FDI of emerging market firms: An institutional arbitrage logic

We offer new theory and evidence regarding the effects of pro-market institutions on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) of emerging market firms (EMFs). Drawing on the logic of institutional arbitrage, we integrate the escapism and exploitation mechanisms of EMF internationalization into a unified theoretical context. We propose an inverted U-shaped relationship between host market-supporting institutions (MSI) and the investment scale of an EMF’s FDI project in the country, showing an escape-driven upward slope for low-to-medium MSI levels and an exploitation-driven downward slope for medium-to-high MSI levels. We supplement this main argument with two boundary conditions: the alleviating effect of home market liberalization (HML) and the strengthening effect of home government subsidies (HGS), demonstrating the coexistence and variation of pro- and anti- market institutions in an emerging market. Using information on 1,450 FDI projects conducted by 288 Chinese listed firms in 116 host countries, we obtain supportive evidence for the predicted relationships between the three institutional forces. This study enriches the literatures on institutional arbitrage and pro-market institutions with evidence from EMFs.     

The determinants of Islamic bank capital decisions

We report new evidence on the bank and institutional determinants of Islamic bank capital ratios in 28 countries between 1999 and 2013. Overall, we find that smaller, more profitable, and highly liquid Islamic banks are more highly capitalized. Additionally, improvements in the economic and financial environments and market discipline within a country correspond with higher Islamic bank capitalization. The results shed light on the impact that Sharia'a law restrictions have on Islamic banking capitalization. Our findings are most robust to banks that choose to hold capital well in excess of that required by regulators, consistent with traditional capital structure theory. Our results highlight the role that stable economic and political systems play in improving bank capitalization and reducing financial sector risk. By reducing political instability and corruption, improving legal systems, and encouraging access to capital markets, policymakers may incentivize managers to make financing decisions that increase the capitalization of the Islamic banking industry in developing countries.     

Institutional Investors,Earnings Quality and Asset Liquidity: Evidence from China’s Stock Market

This paper investigates how institutional holding and earnings quality influence the liquidity of assets. Contrary to findings in developed markets, we document several novel results in China’s stock market: (1) institutional holding negatively affects assets’ liquidity, (2) earnings quality is negatively related with liquidity. Since earnings quality captures asymmetric information, low earnings quality induces high divergence in investor opinions and thus boosts market trading, and (3) interestingly, the effect of earnings quality on liquidity is greater if institutional investors’ holding is at a high level. Overall, our findings cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that institutional investors and earnings quality improve market liquidity. The results are robust to different measures and alternative model specifications.     

中国对日农产品出口的增长因素研究 ——基于CMS 模型的实证分析

日本是中国农产品出口的主要对象国,两国贸易关系相当密切。本文采用CMS模型对中国农产品出口日本市场的增长因素进行实证研究得出:中国输日农产品增长主要由日本国内市场需求增长所引致;产品结构效应对中国农产品输日增长具有显著的正向影响,而综合竞争力效应和产品竞争力效应对中国农产品输日增长产生阻碍作用。为扩大中国农产品对日出口,本文针对不同影响因素提出相应的对策建议。     

On Market Integration and Product R&D: A Monopoly Case

Applying a monopoly model with endogenous quality choice to the case of multiple national markets, we consider the effect of market integration on product R&D incentives (i.e., quality-improving), profit, and consumer surplus. We demonstrate that the effect of market integration depends on the difference in income distributions between two countries and the level of trade cost. In particular, if the difference in income distributions between two countries is large (small) and/or trade cost is low (high), market integration can decrease (increase) the level of product quality and social welfare in the two countries.     

Liabilities of origin and its influence on firm's corporate social performance? A study of emerging market multinational corporations

This study draws upon the institutional-based view to examine how home country institutional voids affect the corporate social performance (CSP) of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs). We propose that home country institutional voids of EMNCs are positively related to CSP. We also argue that EMNCs' internationalization and visibility will further augment the above relationships. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 89 EMNCs from 10 countries from 2009 to 2018 and found support for our arguments. Our findings show that EMNCs use CSP to overcome the liabilities of origin due to their home-country institutional voids. Internationalization and visibility increase the challenges of origin liabilities and EMNCs respond by enhancing their CSP. Our research adds to the existing knowledge base on institutional voids within the realm of international business.     

贸易中间商在出口中相对盛行的影响因素研究——基于2010 年鞋产品企业层面出口数据的实证分析

本文利用2010年中国海关鞋产品企业层面的出口数据,考察了贸易中间商在出口中相 对盛行的影响因素。结果表明：从国家层面看,贸易中间商的经手份额与出口目标 国的市场规模、制度环境呈反比,与出口目标国的关税水平以及中国到出口目标国 之间的距离呈正比;从省市区层面看,贸易中间商的经手份额与中国各省市区的市 场规模呈反比,与各省市区的中介市场发育度呈正比。     

Institutional voids,liability of origin,and presence of women in TMT of emerging market multinationals

This study examines the association between the pervasiveness of institutional voids in emerging markets and the inclusion of women in top management teams (TMTs) by emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) as a legitimation strategy. Leveraging institutional theory, we argue that EMNCs increase women presence in TMTs as a legitimation strategy to overcome the challenges of stakeholders' skepticism in foreign markets by disassociating themselves from the image of their home markets. Using a subsidiary level dataset of 1047 EMNCs from 26 emerging countries between 2009 and 2018, we find robust evidence indicating that the pervasiveness of institutional voids at home is positively related to the percentage of women in TMT's EMNCs' foreign units. This effect is particularly stronger for firms operating in countries with high institutional gender parity and low level of corruption.     

Factors influencing the foreign entry mode of Asian and Latin-American banks

The majority of past studies on the foreign market mode of entry have focused on manufacturing industries. Although some studies have explored the entry mode decisions of the banking industry, most of them have adopted the case study method, and systematic studies have been relatively few. This study intends to fill this gap through an investigation of 7041 Asian and Latin-American bank branches covering the period from 1999 to 2005. The analytical results demonstrate that both Asian and Latin-American banks are market seekers. However, Latin-American banks are not customer followers. In addition, the larger the scale of the bank or the greater the net interest margin the more likely it is that high-control entry modes will be adopted. In contrast, in countries in Asia with a greater cultural distance, banks tend to establish low-control entry modes to avoid uncertainty. However, this does not apply in the case of Latin America.     

新兴市场国家吸引跨国并购的决定因素——从市场化程度视角的解析

近年来,发展中国家外国直接投资的流入量持续增加,并且跨国并购成为越来越重要的外资主要进入模式。本文考察新兴市场发展潜力与吸引跨国并购规模的内在相关性。通过理论和实证分析证实,新兴市场的市场潜力越大,特别是其中经济自由度、市场强度、商业基础设施的发展水平越高,吸引跨国并购的能力也越强。本文的启示是新兴市场国家市场经济制度的完善及与发达国家的接轨是提高吸收外资竞争力的重要条件。     

信邦制药股票回购动因及市场效应分析

股份回购在西方发展较早,已经成为资本主义国家公司管理层提高股价或调节资本结构的成熟手段.然而我国的股票回购在21世纪初才起步,实践经验较为不足.本文将分析信邦制药两次股票回购的市场反应并进行对比.结果发现,两次股票回购的实施确实产生了积极的市场影响.此外,基于差异性对比发现,回购目的、回购规模及高管增持公告三方面因素共...     

Financial market development in host and source countries and their effects on bilateral foreign direct investment

We study an underexplored research question, namely whether financial market development in both host and source countries has an effect on bilateral stocks of foreign direct investment (FDI) and, particularly, whether the effect of financial market development in one member of the country pair conditions the effect of financial market development in the other member. We estimate gravity-type models in a global sample of 43 source and 137 host countries over the period 2001–12. We address reverse causality concerns by restricting the sample to observations where reverse causality, if existent, should be less relevant. Our major and robust findings are that bilateral FDI increases with better developed financial markets in both the host and the source country and that for developing host countries, financial market development in source and host countries functions as substitutes for each other.