The effects of ownership concentration and corporate debt on corporate divestitures in Chinese listed firms

This study examines how ownership concentration and corporate debt impact corporate divestitures in China. Corporate divestitures reduce the asset base of a company and the opportunity for expropriation by majority shareholders. In emerging economies, weak legal institutions, combined with equity ownership concentration and high corporate debt, allow majority shareholders to avoid such disciplines. Consequently, the relationship between these governance mechanisms and divestiture activity exhibits a pattern that is different from that in developed economies. Using archival data collected from 1,210 Chinese listed companies during 1999–2003, we found that ownership concentration by the largest shareholder depressed corporate divestitures both in state-controlled and in non-state-controlled firms. The negative effect of corporate debt on divestitures only existed for state-controlled firms. Our finding provides corroborating evidence for principal–principal conflicts in emerging economies. It suggests that corporate strategy in these countries can be better explained by taking into account the unique agency problems that are prevalent in these economies.     

Patterns of abnormal returns and the competitive effects of horizontal mergers

This paper examines the abnormal stock returns of rivals of firms undertaking horizontal mergers that were challenged by the FTC over the period 1981–1987. At the time of merger announcements, the rivals earn positive abnormal return on average; at the time of the antitrust complaints, the rivals earn normal returns. Past studies have argued that this specific pattern of abnormal returns necessarily indicates that mergers could not have reduced competition. This paper finds that this pattern of abnormal returns is a result of the different effects of antitrust complaints on smaller and larger rivals. The evidence suggests that the mergers may have created efficiencies, but the pattern of abnormal returns is not inconsistent with mergers that may also have resulted in higher product prices.     

Poverty effects of food price escalation: The importance of substitution effects in Mexican households

Recent food price increases reportedly caused significant numbers of households to fall into poverty, particularly in the developing world. Most research into the welfare effects of these food price changes assumes constant demand or approximates second order substitution effects. Poverty forecasts with these assumptions may overestimate or underestimate the effect of food price increases in a nation where most households consume diverse food baskets. We account for full substitution by calculating a theoretically consistent food demand system, accounting for household responses to food price changes by decreasing some food purchases and increasing other food purchases. We use Mexican data to confirm the mitigation of adverse welfare effects from food price increases after accounting for country-specific dietary preferences in modeling demand. In comparison to previous literature, our welfare measures predict theoretically consistent numbers of Mexican households entering poverty due to recent food price changes.     

Empirical effects of short-term export bans: The case of African maize

Temporary export restrictions have been widely used in recent years in an attempt to stabilize domestic prices of staple grains. I use monthly, market-level price data to investigate the empirical effects of 13 short-term export bans on maize implemented by 5 countries in East and Southern Africa. I find no statistically significant effect of export bans on the price gaps between pairs of affected cross-border markets. My results for price gaps match those from a model simulation in which export bans are not implemented. However, prices and price volatility in the implementing country are significantly higher during export ban periods in the data than in the model simulation with no bans. Export bans in the region are imperfectly enforced, divert trade into the informal sector, and appear to destabilize domestic markets rather than stabilizing them.     

欧债危机发展趋势及其对油气行业的影响

欧债是国际金融危机引发的后遗症,具有长期性和反复性的特点,是短期内难以根本解决的制度性危机。债务危机、银行危机、政治危机相互影响,问题解决面临的变数越来越多,使欧洲经济陷入低迷,严重影响了世界经济的复苏进程。债务危机的主要影响:一是直接导致欧元区石油需求加速下降,但总体上对新兴经济体需求影响有限;二是使国际油价上攻动力减弱。尽管受到债务危机的影响,但全球油气投资依旧旺盛,投资重心向发展中国家转移。欧债危机对中国石油市场影响有限,但对下游市场的影响不可小觑。     

Estimates of returns to scale,elasticity of substitution,and the thrifty food plan meal poverty rate from a direct household meal production function

Many nutritional policies are designed to make home food production more affordable and yet very little is actually known about the home food production process. A better understanding of home food production can be used to help explain shortcomings in current nutrition policies and consequently help in designing better nutrition policies. This paper provides results from several home meal production function specifications that are rather robust. The median returns to scale and elasticity of substitution between money and time is in the 1.2–1.9 range and .33–.56 range, respectively, indicating increasing returns to scale but difficulty in substituting money for time in home meal production. A home ‘meal poverty rate’ is estimated, which is the percentage of the sample that produces fewer meals at home than consistent with dietary guidelines. The estimated home meal poverty rate is about 85%, which is consistent with recent research taking a less rigorous approach. Though the approach taken here is novel, the overall message is consistent with the recent literature: time is a more important factor in achieving nutritional targets than money.     

Nature and dynamics of appropriability: strategies for appropriating returns on innovation

The appropriability regime represents a combination of available and effective means of protecting intangibles and innovations, their profitability, and the increased rents due to research and development. It has a central role in appropriating returns on investment, but the nature of appropriability and the strategies for appropriation may not be fully known to managers, or even to researchers. The aim in this study, therefore, is to categorise the appropriability regime by extending, combining and complementing previous research. We also conducted a survey among 299 companies in order to determine the roles, availability, strength and efficiency of appropriability mechanisms. Such mechanisms offer institutional protection in the form of intellectual property rights, contracts and labour legislation, tacitness of knowledge, lead-time, practical secrecy and human-resource management. As a result, we suggest a conceptual clarification of the appropriability regime, and offer empirical evidence to increase understanding of the appropriation of returns on innovation.     

In search of El Dorado: The elusive financial returns on corporate political investments

Although many believe that companies' political activities improve their bottom line, empirical studies have not consistently borne this out. We investigate the relationship between corporate political activity (CPA) and financial returns on a set of 943 S&P 1500 firms between 1998 to 2008. We find that firms' political investments are negatively associated with market performance and cumulative political investments worsen both market and accounting performance. Firms placing former public officials on their boards experienced inferior market performance and similar accounting performance than firms without such board members. We find, however, that CPA is positively associated with market performance for firms in regulated industries. Our results challenge the profit‐maximizing assumptions underlying CPA research and focus on agency theory to better understand CPA. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

欧债危机加速我国玩具出口转型升级

在欧债危机的冲击下，我国玩具业正在通过扩展产业触角、增加文化含量、开辟国内市场等转型升级手段自救，产业面貌为之一新。这是记者15日在广州举行的“玩具行业形势新闻通报会”上了解到的。 据统计，2011年中国玩具出口247．838亿美元，同比增长17．57％。不过，广东省玩具协会常务副会长李卓明分析，去年中国玩具出口金额增长的原因主要是产品价格上升，实际上，相当部分产品的出口数量在下滑。     

The impact of stocks and flows of organizational knowledge on firm performance: an empirical investigation of the biotechnology industry

The knowledge‐based view of the firm is a recent approach to understanding the relationship between firm capabilities and firm performance. Specifically, this approach suggests that knowledge generation, accumulation and application may be the source of superior performance. Other research has conceptualized organizational knowledge in terms of stocks of accumulated knowledge in the firm and flows of knowledge into the firm. This paper tests the relationship between stocks and flows of organizational knowledge and firm performance in the biotechnology industry. We suggest that a firm’s geographic location, alliances with other institutions and organizations and R&D expenditures are representative of knowledge flows, while products in the pipeline, firm citations and patents are indicative of knowledge stocks. Through factor analysis, we develop an aggregated measure of location from several variables. A regression model suggests that location is a significant predictor of firm performance as are products in the pipeline and firm citations. A major contribution of this investigation is the operationalization of geographic location and its statistically significant link to firm performance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The joint impact of quality and innovativeness on short-term new product performance

In the last decade a number of conceptualizations of product quality and innovativeness have been suggested, and academics as well as managers have begun to understand that the relationships between quality, innovativeness and new product performance are more complicated than they may initially seem to be. While an innovation-oriented strategy depends on the exploration of new possibilities through search, risk-taking and experimentation, a high quality strategy requires the exploitation of existing certainties through efficiency, standardization and control. In this research, we demonstrate that the interaction effects of quality (objective and subjective) and innovativeness (for the firm and for the customer) on new product performance are different than the isolated impact of these variables. In addition, by focusing on the main and joint impact of these variables on short-term new product performance, we provide valuable recommendations for new product launch decisions.“The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.”—Oscar Wilde     

青岛市明星企业占用拖欠中小企业货款问题的分析

青岛市是一个有众多的明星企业的城市,明星企业在青岛经济发展中起着至关重要的作用,而青岛市的明星企业在与中小企业进行业务交往中,或多或少地存在着占用、拖欠中小企业贷款的问题,这一问题地解决与否,关系着青岛市未来经济能否健康稳定地发展。     

中国长期能源发展趋势研判

随着中国经济进入新常态,经济增速放缓,经济结构更加优化,中国能源发展也进入新常态:能源消费重心由生产领域逐步转向生活领域,对能源的需求也由对量的追求转变为对质的要求.预测期内,中国一次能源需求增速将逐步放缓,一次能源需求将于2040年前后进入峰值平台期.中国能源系统将不断朝清洁低碳、安全高效、智能多元的方向发展.清洁能源(天然气和非化石能源)将是2030年前新增能源主体,2030年后逐步替代煤炭,2045年前后占比将超过50％.2050年,煤炭、油气和非化石能源将呈三分天下的局面.     

Impact of loss aversion on the newsvendor game with product substitution

This paper studies a newsvendor game in which two substitutable products are sold by two different retailers (newsvendors) with loss-averse preferences. Each loss-averse retailer facing stochastic customer demand and deterministic substitution rate will make an order quantity decision to maximize his expected utility. Since product substitution causes two retailers to make decisions in a competitive environment, game theory is used to find the retailers' optimal order quantities. It is shown that under certain conditions, there exists a unique Nash equilibrium in the newsvendor game. Under a symmetry assumption, each retailer's equilibrium order quantity is decreasing in the loss aversion coefficient and increasing in the substitution rate. Further, if the effect of loss aversion on the order quantity is strong enough to dominate the effect of competition, the total inventory level of a decentralized supply chain will be lower than that of a centralized supply chain. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate our results.     

The contribution of product quality to competitive advantage: impacts on systematic variance and unexplained variance in returns

In our study, we argue that product quality may enhance competitive advantage, leading to increased returns but a reduction in variance in returns. More specifically, based on our analyses of strategy‐related theories, we propose a model in which a positive relationship is predicted between relative product quality and relative market share and between relative product quality and returns. An inverse association is predicted between quality and both systematic variance and unexplained variance in returns. Finally, relative product quality is expected to indirectly lower the variance in returns but enhance returns through the link between product quality, market share, and direct costs. Our findings are generally supportive of the model’s stipulations. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of firm and industry characteristics on returns from technology licensing deals: evidence from the US computer and pharmaceutical sectors

This study examines the relationships between firm and industry characteristics and firms' abnormal stock market returns accompanying the announcement of technology licensing deals. In particular, I examine the fit among firms' licensing activities, their resource endowments, and their industry context, and develop hypotheses on its impact on abnormal stock market returns after licensing deals. Analyzing 11 years of inward and outward licensing transactions in the US computer and pharmaceutical industries between 1990 and 2000, I find support for my argument that while firms profit from both inward and outward licensing, the magnitude of such profits is determined by licensing firms' resource endowments, and that these determinants have a different impact in different industry contexts. Understanding these relationships helps explain when firms should use licensing to exploit their proprietary technologies and make better predictions about the impact of licensing transactions on firm performance.     

砌体常见裂缝的分析与预防

本文详细论述了砌体结构裂缝产生的原因,并提出了相应的防治措施.     

Relational configurations with information intermediaries: The effect of firm‐investment bank ties on expected acquisition performance

Recognizing information‐related problems in acquisition transactions, we study how the characteristics of acquiring firms' relationships with information brokers or intermediaries like investment banks affect firms' access to acquisition‐related information, thus influencing expected acquisition performance. We propose that relational configurations that enhance the intermediaries' ability and willingness provide the most beneficial and appropriate information to acquiring firms. We find that acquirers' expected acquisition performance increases with the number of prior transactions with investment banks but decreases when relationships with banks become exclusive. Further, the positive effect of number of prior transactions becomes even stronger for less related acquisitions. Our study provides insights on the beneficial performance implications of competition in multiple but nonexclusive relationships with information intermediaries such as investment banks. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.