Concentration of Banking Relationships in Switzerland: The Result of Firm Structure or Banking Market Structure?

Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest concentration of bank–customer relationships. The present paper seeks to find out whether this can be explained by the structure of Swiss firms or by the organization of the Swiss banking market. Using survey data from small and medium-sized enterprises in 1996 and 2002, we examine the influence of firm-, loan-, and bank-specific variables on the number of banking relationships. We find that firm and industry structure have the largest explanatory power, while banking market structure and conduct play a minor role. Relationship lending by state-owned cantonal banks and small regional banks tends to enhance the concentration of banking relationships.

The Value of Chinese Online game industry

The online games didn＇t enter China for a long time, but its development speed surprised a lot of people. The data in the IDC＇s report shows that the market size of online game will reach 8.34 million RMB in 2006. Alone with the increase of market competition and the growth of original creation, the Chinese online game industry will suffer an intensive shock. At present, the online game operation is facing the problem of product life circle＇s reduction and revenue＇s drop. To solve these problems, online game companies has to find out the new game＇s increasing point of profit.     

Which Factors Affect Bond Underwriting Fees? The Role of Banking Relationships

The question of which factors are relevant in determining bond underwriting fees is empirically investigated by analysing 2,202 bond issues completed by European firms during the 1993 – 2003 period. Four major results emerge from the analysis. First, the introduction of the single currency in 1999 has generated an increase in competition among banks, and, as a result, a reduction in underwriting fees. Second, a strong relationship with the issuer's main bank reduces the level of underwriting fees. Third, new issuers are charged with lower underwriter fees relative to firms that have completed issues without building any strong relationship with a bank. Fourth, higher reputation banks charge lower underwriting fees. The implications of these findings are also discussed.     

Is Timing Everything? The Value of Mutual Fund Manager Trades

I develop new measures of the value of active mutual fund management using portfolio holdings. These measures simultaneously test for trading and selection skill within stocks, industries, and characteristics. I demonstrate that most of the skill documented in prior studies comes from correctly trading stocks within industries, though funds also have some skill in timing industries. However, prior research focuses on the period 1980‐1994. I also test the hold out sample 1995‐2007. Contrary to prior results, the latter period (and the full sample) demonstrates that mutual funds generate no excess returns from any category of skill.     

Discussion of “The Predictive Value of Expenses Excluded from Pro Forma Earnings”

Doyle et al. (2003, this issue) provide evidence that IBES exclusions have incremental explanatory power (over GAAP earnings) for future cash flows, for market-adjusted returns at the earnings announcement date, and for future market-adjusted returns. They argue that this evidence supports the viewpoint that the current regulatory concern about the use of pro forma earnings may be warranted. My contention in this discussion is that one can readily posit alternative explanations for each of the empirical results, in turn suggesting that the results do not provide a basis for regulatory concern. Further, since there is considerable evidence that IBES earnings differ from pro forma earnings, it is not clear that the empirical analyzes in this paper may be used to draw any conclusions about pro forma earnings.     

The Value Relevance and Timeliness of Write-downs During the Financial Crisis of 2007–2009

This study examines the value relevance and timeliness of write-downs reported by North American and European banks during the financial crisis of 2007–2009. Our study extends Vyas (2011), considering the association between write-downs and stock returns to evaluate the performance of fair value standards during the crisis. Specifically, we investigate claims that strict enforcements of standards resulted in write-downs that were excessive or unnecessary due to temporary market price distortions, or conversely, that standards were flexible enough to allow managers to engage in earnings or capital management. Our empirical results show that both fair-value and aggregate write-downs are associated dollar-for-dollar with contemporaneous security returns, suggesting that, on average, write-downs were timely throughout the financial crisis.     

The Real Effects of Universal Banking: Does Access to the Public Debt Market Matter?

Journal of Financial Services Research - I analyze the impact of the formation of universal banks on corporate investment by looking at the gradual dismantling of the Glass-Steagall Act’s...     

Migration—The influence of economic change

Migration within England and Wales (and into and out of the UK) declined during the 1970s, reversing the 1960s trend towards increased mobility. The decline can be seen in up-to-date migration figures from the National Health Service Central Register, and is confirmed by other data sources. Associated changes in three economic factors (unemployment, personal income, and housing costs) suggest that the decrease in mobility was caused by the economic recession. The monitoring of these three factors may permit more accurate projection of further shifts in migration rates. Now that births roughly equal deaths, planning authorities require accurate migration estimates to help them to match population, services, and infrastructure.     

The effect of the 150-hour requirement on new accountants’ professional commitment,Ethical orientation,and Professionalism

This study examines the professional commitment, ethical orientation, and professionalism of 414 accountants beginning their careers at two Big 5 public accounting firms. After comparing the accountants possessing 5-year degrees with those possessing four-year degrees, we find insufficient evidence to conclude that the 150-hour requirement affects new accountants’ professional commitment, ethical orientation, or professionalism.     

Smart Growth—Creating Real Long-term Value

Most U.S. business leaders appear to believe that all businesses either “grow or die”—and many act as if they believed that all growth is good, and that public companies should grow in a linear, continuous manner as reflected in ever-increasing quarterly earnings. But if these tenets of “the U.S. Growth Model” inform the short-term business view that prevails in many C-suites and boardrooms, there has been surprisingly little analysis of the extent to which the pursuit of continuous growth translates into longer-run success. In this article, the author reports finding no theoretical or empirical support in the fields of economics, finance, strategy, organizational design (or biology) for the idea that continuous growth is either a realistic possibility or a useful corporate objective. In business organizations, the pursuit of continuous growth can drive bad corporate behavior and inhibit real growth and innovation. Based on extensive research, the author suggests a new model of “smart growth”—one in which companies grow successfully by building internal comprehensive systems designed to encourage growth through specific kinds of culture, leadership, and processes. Smart-growth companies use experimental learning processes designed to test growth ideas and build diversified “growth portfolios” while also attempting to limit the risks associated with the pursuit of growth.     

Banking relationship and research spin-offs’ life cycle: The Italian experience

Research Spin-Offs (RSOs) are special firms created within universities or research institutes that require significant financial resources to transfer their innovative technologies to the market. This work studies an important driver of RSOs’ success, i.e. the local banking environment in which such firms operate. Empirical results highlight that the local development of the banking sector does not affect RSO performance at the time of incubation, when the main source of funding comes from public contributions. Conversely, there is a significant positive and growing influence of local banking relationships when the RSO enters the market and becomes independent of public resources. The findings suggest that governments and banking institutions should develop new financial instruments to support RSOs, especially during the early stages of their life cycle. RSOs should consider bank debt as a complementary source of funding that allows them to encounter the vital growth opportunities emerging during the incubation phase.     

Legal Analysis on ＂Soft Law＂ of Banking Supervision

银行业监管机构颁布的＂软法＂,具有较高的权威性,对银行业领域影响较大。本文在对银行业监管＂软法＂进行实证分析的基础上,研究了＂软法＂背后的理论基础和实践因素,分析了违反软法可能出现的不利后果,并对银行业监管＂软法＂的进一步规范化提出了建议。     

Analysis of the Leadership and Organizational Culture——The Fall of Arthur Andersen

Arthur Andersen LLP is formerly one of the Big Five accounting firms in the world. However, in 2002, it voluntarily surrendered its licenses to practice as Certified Public Accountants in the United States, and was out of the 89 years career in the audit profession. Meanwhile the global branches of the firm is revoked and acquisition. This thesis analyses this event from a leadership and organizational culture perspective. It will elaborate from three aspects, including the organizational culture, internal integration, external environment and changing.     

Extensions and intensions of management control—The inclusion of health

Interest in management control of intangibles has grown remarkably during the last decades and now includes managing employee health. Research in this field is so far in the early stages: few empirical studies have been undertaken and fewer studies take into consideration the implications of such systems. In this paper we wish to contribute to the field with a qualitative study of instances of management control of health in ten Swedish organizations.Many good intentions lie behind the idea of making health and ill-health a subject for management control and the expected results are very positive—lower sick-leave rates, reduction of costs and human suffering. Such intentions stand for an intension, i.e. the ideas, properties or state of affairs that are connoted by a word or symbol, in this case what can be connoted by the concept of management control of health, its conceptual position. An intension, however, is not given insofar as a word or concept may be associated to more than one. Thus we set out to interpret management control of health in terms of two conceptual positions, modernism and postmodernism, in order to bring forth two very different intensions of management control of health: one where the practice is seen as an investment with a purpose to visualize ill-health and increase efficiency by putting in place measures to increase employee health; the other where the practice is seen as a means to make the individual accountable in order to be able to intensify control and colonize leisure.