Asymmetric information and inside management trading in the Chinese market

Insider trading incentives have been widely examined in stock markets, but mainly in developed countries. Given the fact that the volatility of stock exchange markets in emerging economies is typically even higher, there is a need for research to explore the extent to which information asymmetry plays a role in management trading incentives in emerging economies. To address this research need, this study examines management trading incentives in relation to investment efficiency in Chinese listed firms on the main board and on the small- to medium-enterprises (SME) board in the period 2006 to 2017. We find that executives buy shares when firms’ investments are more efficient. The frequency of management buying also increases with investment efficiency. However, managers do not sell their shares according to firms’ investment efficiency. Moreover, executives of firms listed on the main board trade more on the asymmetric information of investment efficiency than those on the SME board.     

Environmental Policies for Sustainable Development: An Analysis of the Drivers of Proactive Environmental Strategies in the Service Sector

This article examines the drivers of environmental proactivity in the service sector. Hypotheses were tested using multiple hierarchical regression analysis with data from a sample of 41 managers in Spanish environmental consulting companies. Results show statistically significant relationships between (1) managers’ attitude towards sustainable development, (2) positive short‐term firm performance and (3) the strategic attitude of environmental consulting firms and the adoption of proactive environmental strategies by the studied companies. This article is pioneering in the analysis of drivers of corporate proactive environmental strategies in the consultancy sector. The findings have practical implications for policy‐makers, investors and other agents interested in a better management of the environment. Economic incentives such as subsidies to environmental training programmes for managers can induce changes in cognitive components of managers’ attitudes. Education policies could also affect managers’ attitudes towards the environment. Companies may also encourage attitude change by providing their managers with financial assistance to receive environmental training. External assistance to develop a strategic attitude could be an interesting policy to encourage voluntary environmental initiatives. Finally, fiscal deductions, tax breaks or subsidies to those companies interested in managing the environment can be effective incentives for those firms facing a weak short‐term financial situation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

An exploration of the HRM values of Chinese managers working in Western multinational enterprises in China: implications for HR practice

This paper qualitatively explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) values of local Chinese managers working in Western-based multinational enterprises in China and also considers how these values are associated with preferences for HR practices. The study involves the use of repertory grid interviews with 36 local Chinese managers. The study shows that interviewees reflected a high level of assimilation and internalization of many Western HRM values. Interviewees also retained many traditional Chinese values, thus highlighting the role of institutional and cultural forces on HRM. However, among these local managers, there was clear decline in some traditional Chinese values, such as ‘harmony’ and ‘virtue’. A further interesting finding was the co-existence of paradoxical values of collectivism and individualism among the managers. Analyses of repertory grid data and interview comments also highlight that preferences for HR practices is associated with these underlying HRM values.     

Preferred supplier programs for consulting services: An exploratory study of German client companies

Research has recently provided evidence that at least some companies have involved purchasing departments in buying professional services such as management consulting services. Some departments have established preferred supplier programs (PSPs) for consulting services, i.e., programs for consultancies with whom a company seeks to build up long-term relationships. While there are several studies that analyze such programs for suppliers of goods, research on business services is limited. Our aim is to present an exploratory analysis of PSPs for consulting services. Based on a survey of German client companies, we found that the most important reason for establishing PSPs is to reduce costs and transaction costs. Furthermore, our findings revealed that companies with and without PSPs for consulting services apply high significance to relational selection criteria. Moreover, in companies with PSPs, purchasing departments are more frequently involved in selecting consultancies compared to companies without PSPs. Finally, we found that companies with and without PSPs do not differ in their assessment of problems associated with the purchasing of consulting services. The study contributes to research on the purchasing of consulting services by indicating that the consultant–manager relationship should be extended to a service triad, involving purchasing professionals, managers, and consultants. Moreover, we contribute to research on PSPs by extending the focus to PSPs for knowledge-intensive service providers.     

Co-alignment of supplier quality management practices and cognitive maps – A neo-configurational perspective

Much of the previous research on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ rests on the notion of “net effects,” which assumes that specific practices independently of each other impact outcomes. This study challenges this core tenet by adopting a neo-configurational perspective, exploring how different combinations of factors (called “configurations”) affect outcomes. Another limitation of extant studies on the ‘purchasing practice–performance link’ is the narrow focus on practices; more recent behavioral supply management research finds the behavior of managers to be critically influenced by cognitive maps—the lenses through which managers perceive, simplify, and interpret the world. Focusing on supplier quality as a core aspect of the broader ‘purchasing practice–performance link’, this study explores how configurations of different supplier quality management (SQM) practices and SQM-related cognitive maps help firms to manage supplier quality. It uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to identify SQM configurations and a cognitive-linguistic approach for the computerized text analysis of purchasing managers’ cognitive maps in the context of Western companies sourcing from Chinese suppliers. The configurational fsQCA analysis identifies four different configurations associated with overcoming barriers to SQM in emerging markets. SQM-related cognitive maps prove to be a critical component in these four configurations.     

It's a small world:managing human resources in small businesses

It has become widely acknowledged that, during the past decade or so, large mainstream companies in the UK have adopted a new agenda for managing people. Relatively little is known about the impact of this new agenda on small businesses. The small business sector has been long regarded as the natural home for ‘bleak house’ employment relations practices typified by direct management control, poor terms and conditions, high staff turnover and little training. In March 1993, however, a large survey of 560 companies in Leicestershire revealed a surprisingly high take-up and awareness of new management ideas among small business managers. These findings are at odds with a crude ‘bleak house’ scenario. This large-scale telephone survey was then followed up with detailed case study research. This article presents and reflects upon the evidence and reformulates ideas about people management in small businesses.     

The influence of co-location in higher education institutions on small firms’ perspectives of knowledge transfer

Since 1980, the UK has experienced a dramatic growth in firms and employment in information–intensive business services, such as management consultancy and market research. Recent expansion of new and small firms operating in these sectors is the focus of a major ESRC–sponsored research project currently under way at Cambridge University Small Business Research Centre.

Small business service firms are able to compete successfully with large firms due to the imperfect nature of the market which characterizes business services demand and supply, together with specialization of expertise. The success of small business service firms depends on informal person–to–person networks, word–of–mouth recommendation and repeal business based on successful earlier assignments or personal contacts acquired, for example, while working in a large consultancy or market research company. This paper examines the types of networks utilized by small business service firms and argues that two distinct types exist: demand– and supply–related networks; the former involves links with clients, the latter links and co–operation between complementary small business service firms.     

What Are the Characteristics That Software Development Project Team Members Associate With a Good Project Manager?

In this study we investigate what software development project team members consider to be a good project manager. Previous research has been carried out using project manager self‐assessments, other project stakeholder views, or recruiters’ views. This qualitative study used the repertory grid technique to identify the characteristics that project team members associate with a good project manager. This technique has been adopted because of its strength in eliciting personal constructs. Among the 18 characteristics identified, the seven most relevant were classified and compared with previous findings, which reveals differences between the team members’ and project managers’ and other stakeholders’ perceptions. Those findings complement the existing skill set and could be considered when recruiting and training project managers and staffing projects.     

Purchasing's contribution to supply chain emission reduction

Does environmental purchasing and supplier management (EPSM) help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the supply chain and, thereby, mitigate climate change? And, if so, under which conditions? Taking these two questions as a starting point, we hypothesize that heightened environmental protection efforts targeting the upstream value chain should lead to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the buying companies' supply chain. We continue to delineate three contingency factors that might affect the relationship between EPSM and supply chain GHG emissions: The power of the buying firm over supply chain partners, prior experience in EPSM, and materiality of environmental supply chain management in a certain industry. We collect longitudinal data from 260 companies and analyze them using hybrid panel data analysis. We find that the increase of EPSM leads to a significant reduction of the GHG emission intensity of buying firms’ supply chains and that this reduction is stronger for companies operating in industries where emission management is more material.     

Commodifying the Commodifiers: The Impact of Procurement on Management Knowledge

Current conceptualizations of the commodification of management knowledge prioritize the agency of knowledge producers, such as consultancies, but downplay the role of other actors such as intermediaries. Using a qualitative multi‐method study of the role of procurement in sourcing consultancy knowledge, we demonstrate how intermediaries also commodify management knowledge, thereby limiting the exchange value of that knowledge. Through our analysis we develop a more sophisticated model of the processes and consequences of knowledge commodification. This model clarifies and extends prior research by highlighting the role of commensuration, comparison and valuation, as well as the related tactics that consultants and client managers use to resist procurement's attempts to commodify management knowledge.     

Overcoming the liability of smallness by recruiting through networks in China: a guanxi-based social capital perspective

We investigate the role of guanxi in Chinese entrepreneurial firms’ recruitment practices in attempting to overcome the liability of smallness. Combining insights from the social capital and guanxi literature, we theorize the guanxi-based social capital perspective and use it to analysis 96 in-depth interviews with multiple members (entrepreneurs, senior managers and factory workers) from 15 die-casting entrepreneurial firms in Guangdong province, China. We find that the use of guanxi in recruitment practice can overcome the liability of smallness because it makes the hiring process more convenient, improves firms’ attractiveness to jobseekers and enhances the person-organizational fit between new hires and firms. We discuss how Chinese entrepreneurs and their senior managers use guanxi strategically to achieve these advantages. On the other hand, our findings suggest that jobseekers can also use guanxi to increase their options, improve their bargaining power and distract firms’ attention away from hiring the most appropriate candidate for the job in order to undermine the effectiveness of Chinese entrepreneurial firms’ recruitment procedures. We explore the implications of these findings for academic research and managerial practice.     

Hiring Managers in the Manufacturing Industry of Malaysia

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the staffing practices of managerial positions among manufacturing companies in Malaysia. The results are based on responses from 68 hiring managers. A person needs to have at least three years of orking experience before the person can be selected for a middle-level managerial position. Sources for recruiting 60% of the managerial positions are determined by the human resource managers. The top management had the final say in hiring 69% of the managers. Media advertisement is the most highly utilized source to recruit managers. Testing is seldom used to choose managers.     

The coalescence between synergies and conflicts of interest in a top consultancy firm: an analysis of the implications for consultants' attitudes and behaviours

The management of human resources represents a critical strategic function for consultancies. For such organisations, the HRM literature aligned to the resource‐based view prescribes practices that centre on strengthening the relationship between a consultancy firm and its staff. However, this insular framework fails to take adequate account of consultants' engagement with external actors, particularly clients. This article explores the interplay between the synergies and conflicts of interest generated by the relational environment in which consultants operate and the implications of these tensions for consultants' attitudes and behaviours in a leading international consultancy firm. The findings from this study advance our understanding of the factors that affect the management of these key human resources and contribute to growing critiques calling for the refinement of the resource‐based view.     

Advice-seeking and advice-utilization for hiring decisions: An investigation of a partially outsourced recruitment process for rank-and-file managers

We study a large-scale, partially outsourced recruitment process. A specialized consultancy assesses applicants' soft-skills on behalf of a client firm, who retains agency over the hiring decision. We conceptualize this collaboration as an advice-seeking, advice-utilization process and analyze the effectiveness of hiring recommendations provided in influencing the client's hiring decisions. Two external HR specialists not only differ in their soft skill ratings, but also differ in their aggregation of these ratings into their hiring recommendations. The consultants' recommendations are particularly helpful in separating very suitable from clearly unsuitable candidates but are less effective in the mid-tier of the skill distribution.     

广东家族企业上市公司职业经理人的现状分析

本文以在深市上市的广东50家家族控制的上市公司为对象,根据他们当前的聘用经理人的现状,发现广东上市家族企业有超过一半的企业未聘用职业经理人,基于对广东上市家族企业中职业经理人的年龄、学历、资历、性别、年薪等现状分析,指出职业经理人制度在广东家族上市公司还不能得到很好的普及,这样不利于我们经济的发展,实际上对应了我国较弱的投资者保护水平,这方面工作需要我们以后加以改善。     

Foreign firms in China: modelling HRM in a toy manufacturing corporation

This article reports the study of a large, wholly foreign‐owned toy factory in China. It explores whether foreign direct investment (FDI) manufacturing firms in China inevitably operate in a Taylorist fashion, in contrast to the much praised HR model of blue chip multinational corporations (MNCs) in the country, or whether there is a ‘third way’ in which good HR practices may be adopted on the ground. The article concludes that a more nuanced approach is needed in our study of FDI companies in order to gain a fuller understanding of the institutional and cultural factors at play and of the consequent diversity in the HR and employment practices of FDI firms, instead of being trapped in a simplistic and polarising typological framework of analysis. This study is necessary in light of the growing diversity in the patterns of FDI companies operating in China in terms of their ownership structure, product market, management style and HR strategy, both for managers and for workers.     

The Value of CEO Mobility: Contextual Factors That Shape the Impact of Prior CEO Experience on Market Performance and CEO Compensation

This study examines the value that prior CEO experience has for the companies that hire such CEOs—as reflected in the firms’ subsequent market‐based performance—as well as its value for the CEO that possesses this experience—as reflected in his or her initial compensation. While we suggest that shareholders tend not to benefit from firms hiring experienced CEOs, we also argue that particular firm and industry contextual factors that shaped the prior CEO experience help ameliorate this detrimental effect. Regardless, we also suggest that prior CEO experience generally stands to benefit the CEOs, in that it brings them a compensation premium over those CEOs without such prior experience. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 654 US CEO succession events that occurred between 2001 and 2004 and found broad support for our hypotheses. We close with a discussion of the implications of our findings for future research as well as what they mean for firms hiring experienced CEOs and for CEO careers more generally. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The effect of NYSE listing on a firm’s media visibility

The most frequently cited reason by corporate managers for switching their firm’s trading location from Nasdaq to the NYSE is to improve visibility. This study examines whether these perceptions about listing are real or illusory and whether firm size affects media visibility. Based on a large sample of firms that listed on the NYSE compared with a matched sample of firms remaining on Nasdaq, the results show that NYSE listing does not lead to gains in media visibility during the period immediately after listing. Over a longer period, small- and medium-sized firms experience significant gains in media visibility compared with large firms. Additional tests show that increased media coverage is attributable much more to the rapid earnings growth before listing than to listing. Therefore, managers erroneously attribute the visibility gains to NYSE listing.     

Employment and wage practices of Japanese firms in the Philippines: convergence with Filipino-Chinese and Western-owned firms

In foreign-owned Philippine firms, human resource approaches and practices tend to converge. Japanese-owned firms localize their human resource practices by emphasizing local standards and practices in compensation, hiring, recruitment, job assignments and the like. On the other hand, Western-owned firms tend to adopt well-known Japanese style practices. Filipino-Chinese-owned firms tend to be traditional, emphasizing both informal and hierarchical control mechanisms which put a premium upon loyalty and trust, through familistic, informal but hierarchical control mechanisms. As the owners of these firms pass on control to the next generation, they tend to hire professional managers. These managers include younger generation Filipino-Chinese educated abroad. They are torn between the rational, and traditional norms and practices insisted upon by their Confucian-oriented elders, and the demands of a competitive and ever-changing technology and economy.

It is quite meaningless to attach adjectives like ‘Japanese’, ‘Filipino-Chinese’ or ‘Western’ to universal concepts like industrial relations and human resource approaches - the search for the best approach in work relations is beyond the issue of convergence or divergence.