Modelling the Link Between Management Practices and Financial Performance. Evidence from Small Construction Companies

This paper develops a structural model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of owner–manager and company characteristics and selected management practices on the financial performance of a sample of 218 small Belgian construction companies. The results show that the owner–manager and company characteristics (experience, education, financial knowledge, knowledge of cost accounting, company size and age) have no direct significant impact on financial performance. However, several significant paths have been found between the owner–manager and company characteristics and management practices. As far as the direct effects of the management practices are concerned we observe several significant paths from the management practices to financial performance. Our findings indicate that a model approach by including owner–manager and company characteristics and management practices in an intertwined way is necessary when exploring their effects on small business financial performance.     

探索中国式小微金融发展之路的尝试——关于温州金改中小微金融实践的调查

温州金融综合改革是全国首个国家级区域金融改革试点,经过五年多实践,最初预定的改革任务基本完成。该项改革可以总结的经验有很多,经过实地调研,文章从小微金融角度对温州金改进行了总结。调查发现,温州金改在解决“两多两难”、构建地方金融“四大体系”、规范民间金融、创新对小微企业的金融服务、构建小微金融背景下的信用环境、形成反映民间（小微）金融综合利率水平的“温州指数”等方面做出了许多创新探索,一些做法已经在浙江省乃至全国进行了推广。文章认为,温州金融改革为探索小微金融的中国方案提供了一个样本。     

The Long-Term Performance of Small Businesses: Are there Differences Between “Christian-Based” Companies and their Secular Counterparts?

Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of “Christian” companies in the U.S. These firms declare their belief in, and active pursuit of, the successful merging of biblical principles with business activities. Economic success, hard work, and biblical values are seen as capable of existing together in harmony. While the number of such businesses appears to be growing, there has been a dearth of any scientific study of these companies. No empirical research has been conducted to determine whether these religious values and behaviors have any significant impact on a company’s performance. The present study is designed to partially fill this gap. Specifically, it seeks to determine whether there are differences in long-term performance between self-proclaimed “Christian-based” businesses and their secular counterparts. Data were collected from 312 companies. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), followed by univariate ANOVAs, found significant differences between these two groups of firms on three of the four performance variables that were analyzed. Some explanations as well as limited generalizations and implications are developed.     

Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review

The impact of smaller firm size on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ambiguous. Some contend that small businesses are socially responsible by nature, while others argue that a smaller firm size imposes barriers on small firms that constrain their ability to take responsible action. This paper critically analyses recent theoretical and empirical contributions on the size–social responsibility relationship among small businesses. More specifically, it reviews the impact of firm size on four antecedents of business behaviour: issue characteristics, personal characteristics, organizational characteristics and context characteristics. It concludes that the small business context does impose barriers on social responsibility taking, but that the impact of the smaller firm size on social responsibility should be nuanced depending on a number of conditions. From a critical analysis of these conditions, opportunities for small businesses and their constituents to overcome the constraining barriers are suggested.Jan Lepoutre is a PhD candidate in Applied Economics at Ghent University, Belgium. His dissertation focuses on the competences associated with small business social responsibility.Aimé Heene is a professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University, Belgium. He teaches strategic management for private and for public organizations and currently focuses his research on (competence-based) management in public and social profit organizations.     

人力资源管理实践与小企业绩效关系的实证研究

以江苏省部分小企业为例,采用结构方程建模方法,对人力资源管理实践与小企业绩效之间的关系进行实证分析,研究结果表明:人力资源管理实践水平越高,小企业的劳动生产率越高,员工自愿离职率越低;人力资源管理实践对小企业的盈利能力有积极的正面作用,这种作用以生产率和员工自愿离职率为中介变量。     

Divorce and the Financial Performance of Small Family Businesses: An Exploratory Study

This study formally examines the relationship between marital dissolution and the short-term financial performance of small closely held family businesses. Fifty-two cases of divorce where a small family business was involved were examined. Organizational and situational variables, such as the involvement of other partners in the business, whether the business was a franchise, whether formal legal proceedings were necessary, and gender differences also were examined. The results indicate that marital dissolution does impact short-term financial performance and that several organizational and situational variables significantly influence this relationship.     

Business Strategy and Performance: An Assessment of Retailers in Guatemala

Although competitive strategy has attracted much attention in the literature, a limited number of studies have attempted to investigate the strategy-performance nexus within the context of local business units in emerging economies. This study investigates the relationship between competitive strategies and business performance among industry in Guatemala, Central America. Data from 364 retail firms in Guatemala suggest that in terms of both financial and operating performance retailers employing a combination of the cost leadership and differentiation strategies outperformed those adopting only one of the two pure strategies.     

论中小企业理财模式的创新

我国中小企业主普遍存在重经营而轻管理的现象,企业管理者对理财重视程度不高,企业内部理财状况不佳,外部理财环境较差。推进中小企业理财模式的创新,加强中小企业管理者理财风险意识是前提,科学配置资本结构是手段,设置专门的金融服务机构是关键。     

Ethical Commitment,Financial Performance,and Valuation: An Empirical Investigation of Korean Companies

A variety of stakeholders including investors, corporate managers, customers, suppliers, employees, researchers, and government policy makers have long been interested in the relationship between the financial performance of a corporation and its commitment to business ethics. As a subject of research, the relations between business ethics and corporate valuation has yet to be thoroughly quantified and investigated. This article is an effort to amend this inadequacy by demonstrating a statistically significant association between ethical commitment and corporate valuation measures. Consistent with anecdotal evidence, we have found a significant association between the ethical commitment of Korean companies and their valuation on the Korean stock market. However, the result reveals that the association between ethical commitment and financial performance is not significantly supported. Tae Hee Choi received Ph.D. from the Ohio State University, Ohio, USA. Presently working as Assistant Professor in accounting at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management. Research interests are business ethics, capital market, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and valuation. Jinchul Jung received Ph.D. from Kent State University, Ohio, USA. Presently working as Assistant Professor of Business Administration Department in the College of Business at Chosun University. Research interests are business ethics, family-supportive program, and organizational commitment.     

The Impact of Relational Supplier Exchange on Financial Performance: A Study of the Hospital Sector

In the hospital context, when responsiveness is high, relational exchange with suppliers associates with better financial performance. But when a hospital’s responsiveness is low, relational exchange has no effect on performance—the hospital’s inability to adopt “things that are new” and extirpate “things that are old” eclipses the potential financial benefits of long‐term, relational exchange with suppliers. Furthermore, the quality orientation of the hospital and supplier uncertainty associate with relational supplier exchange—these effects are not moderated by hospital responsiveness. The net effect is that a quality orientation in a hospital impacts financial performance only when hospital responsiveness is high.     

金融控股公司背景银行的经营绩效研究

金融控股公司是商业银行混业经营的一种有效组织模式。当前各种尚不规范的金融控股公司已成为我国金融业新的组成部分。利用随机边界生产模型比较分析我国金融控股公司背景银行与非金融控股公司背景银行的总要素生产力(TFP),并根据银行盈利能力的评价原则探讨其盈利能力差异的结果表明:近年来,我国银行业总要素生产力的增长率小幅下降,其中,金融控股公司背景银行的TFP增长率呈上升趋势,而非金融控股公司背景银行的TFP大多为负增长;金融控股公司背景银行的盈利能力也明显优于非金融控股公司背景的银行。     

加强高校财务预算与绩效管理的对策

从分析高校财务管理存在的问题入手,在阐明高校财务预算与绩效管理关系的基础上,提出了加强高校财务预算与绩效管理的对策：构建科学的预算体系,合理编制财务预算;强化监管力度,提高预算执行的效率;建立绩效考核评价制度,提高资金的使用效益;优化资金支出结构和科学合理地配置资源。     

外资并购的经营绩效分析

以2000—2004年间发生的外资并购和国内并购事件为样本,运用会计研究法对外资并购和国内并购的经营绩效进行了比较研究。研究结果表明,我国上市公司被外资并购后虽然短期绩效未能改善,但并购后2到3年绩效有一定的提高。被国内公司并购的上市公司其绩效却有一定程度的恶化。研究还发现,外资并购方式及并购后外资是否控股对外资并购的经营绩效都有一定的影响。     

进入模式、区域产业环境以及经营特性对中小企业跨区域经营绩效影响——基于浙商的实证研究

文章以238家总部设在浙江赴异地投资的中小企业为实证对象,通过多变量变异数分析、以及GLM回归分析等方法进行实证研究,探讨进入模式、区域产业环境以及经营特性对浙商在国内异地市场经营绩效的影响。研究结果显示：中小企业进入异地市场时,在综合绩效上以多数股权表现最好、独资次之、等额股权第三、少数股权最差;区域产业环境对异地经营绩效存在显著性影响。在具有供应链优势、成本优势或营销密集度优势的产业环境中,企业容易获得更佳的绩效表现,而在高研发密集度的区域,则呈现无差异表现;企业经营特性对其异地经营绩效存在显著性影响。具有良好控制能力和营销能力的企业容易获得更好的绩效。     

我国企业年金制度对财务管理与财务会计的影响

企业年金制度的建立将对我国养老保障、金融市场、人力资源管理、财务管理、会计、审计等领域产生全面的影响.文章分析了我国企业年金制度建设及其对企业经营成本、所得税、净利润、现金流通以及各种专业机构财务管理、财务会计等方面的影响.     

基于内、外部环境分析的小微企业竞争力研究

目前,我国约有6000万中小微企业,占全国企业总数的99%。影响小微企业竞争力的因素主要来自内部与外部环境方面。提升我国小微企业市场竞争力,在外部环境方面,我国应完善国家技术创新体系,优化技术创新投入机制;进一步改善小微企业融资机制;建立小微企业人力资源培训平台;降低小微企业税费负担。在内部环境方面:小微企业应转变企业发展观念,找准市场定位;建立小微企业组织变动机制;规范小微企业经营行为,增强小微企业信用强度;提高企业领导者的素质;重视人才建设,建立企业机动用人机制;提高企业技术创新能力;发展企业文化。     

上市公司内部控制对财务绩效的影响研究

以2012年深市主板61家房地产上市公司作为研究样本,实证分析内部控制指数对公司财务绩效的影响,研究结论表明:内部控制指数与公司财务绩效显著正相关。研究结论进一步证实:加强内部控制信息的披露有利于提高公司财务绩效;但内部控制的各要素与公司财务绩效的关系并不显著,说明公司内部控制的具体方面还不够完善,或还没有完全落实内部控制的基本规范,公司治理有待加强。     

Adaptation and Performance in New Businesses: Understanding the Moderating Effects of Independence and Industry

New ventures as well as new business units experience significant difficulties in finding a viable business model. They often need to adapt their initial business model due to the presence of uncertainty and ambiguity. Technology-based companies are confronted with particularly high degrees of uncertainty and ambiguity. We hypothesize that adaptation is crucial for the performance (measured as survival) of these businesses, but that this effect is moderated by the (in)dependence of the new technology-based business and by the industry in which it is active. We test the adaptation-performance hypothesis through a survival analysis of a sample of 117 independent new ventures and business units. Our findings suggest that adaptation is beneficial in less mature, capital-intensive and high-velocity industries but not so in more mature, stable industries. Also, adaptation reduces failure rates in dependent business units as compared to independent ventures.     

高管团队内情感冲突、企业家精神与公司成长性绩效关系的实证研究

根据对企业高层管理者访谈和163份有效问卷,重点分析高管团队内情感冲突、高管团队企业家精神和公司成长性绩效间的关系。实证研究发现:高管团队内情感冲突和公司成长性绩效显著负相关,高管团队内情感冲突与高管团队企业家精神显著负相关,高管团队企业家精神与公司成长性绩效显著正相关。并且,高管团队企业家精神在高管团队情感冲突对公司成长性绩效的影响过程中起着中介作用。     

Assessing the Effects of Employee Turnover on the Performance of Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises in Nigeria

The significant role small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) plays in growth and development is acknowledged universally. As a group, they generate more new jobs and introduce innovative ideas, products, and business methods. However, this important group is incapacitated by numerous factors militating against their growth, particularly in Third World countries such as Nigeria. In this study the authors identified major factors that affect the productivity of SMEs thereby hindering their growth. Their findings relate factors such as the dearth of skills, absence of managerial talents, and employee turnover to enterprise performance, productivity, and growth ability. Employee turnover is found to have a significant and negative correlation with SME performance. This indicates that the lower the employee turnover, the higher the performance of SMEs, and vice versa.