Promoting sustainable financial behaviour: implications for education and research

The current financial crisis has clearly shown that national financial health is strongly tied to the household financial well‐being, and that most consumers were not well equipped with knowledge they needed to cope with this crisis. The failure of markets, institutions, businesses and households during the current financial crisis also revealed the serious economic risks posed by widespread unethical and irresponsible behaviour. The focus of this paper is to explore how, through financial education, we can improve the economic performance of individuals in the economy, both for their own well‐being and for the well‐being of society at large. However, for that to happen, the current approach to financial education will have to include the discussion of attitudes, values and beliefs that enable us to make financial decision that promote long‐term security for families and communities. After establishing the importance of financial education, the challenges and opportunities of the current status of financial education, with emphasis on the complexity of human and financial behaviour, are discussed. It, then, argues for the promotion of responsible behaviour by integrating fundamental values in financial education. Discussion of how selected learning theories can be used to develop effective teaching approaches and the implications for future research conclude the paper.     

Asian tax review: Tax in troubled times

The current financial crisis is global in scope and goes very deep. It will get worse before it gets better. Of the nine jurisdictions I cover, none will come out of this unscathed. China is the most likely to emerge as a consuming nation; the others are not yet strong enough to weather this crisis. This article gives brief summaries of the economic outlook for the Asian region and a tentative analysis of how each of the nine areas I report on is likely to navigate through this economic storm.     

金融危机下完善会计准则的措施

美国的次贷危机引发了全球的金融海啸,世界经济总体呈现了衰退的趋势,我国经济也陷入了缓慢增长的境地。我国是世界最大的出口国,经济增长下滑将令众多企业受到影响。在特殊的经济环境下,要不断改进和日趋完善现有的会计准则,为抗击来势汹涌的国际金融危机,实现企业的产业振兴,促进经济的进一步发展,发挥会计的积极作用。     

Socially Responsible Processes of Small Family Business Owners: Exploratory Evidence from the National Family Business Survey

The purpose of this exploratory study is to ascertain the impact of family, business, and community factors on the socially responsible processes of small family businesses, and investigate the influence of financial success and attitudes toward community on these processes. The research is grounded in the Sustainable Family Business Theory, which has been enhanced to include the interactive and collaborative action, both economically and socially, of family businesses and their communities. Data are from the National Family Business Survey, 2000 panel. The processes studied include interpersonal transactions in the form of community leadership and holding an elected or appointed office, and resource transactions in the form of providing financial or technical assistance in community development, and providing donations to local programs. Models assessed the probability and intensity of assistance provided by family businesses. The findings indicate that the social and economic climate of the community may contribute to the performance of responsible actions by businesses because human, social and financial capital resources from both the family and the business can be used to solve problems in the community. The most robust result was that individuals with very positive attitudes about their local communities were more likely to serve in leadership positions and make financial and technical contributions to the community. Business owners in economically vulnerable communities were willing to assume more responsibility to fill leadership positions in the community and make substantial contributions of financial and technical assistance than those in less vulnerable communities. Policymakers must recognize the many contributions of family businesses and forge rural developmentpolicies that not only help sustain existing businesses and fuel the engine of economic growth, but encourage human capital development, and, in turn, enhance the contributions of the family and the business to their community.     

Determinants of corporate social responsibility and business ethics education in Spanish universities

The current economic crisis, unsustainable growth, and financial scandals invite reflection on the role of universities in professional training, particularly those who have to manage businesses. This study analyzes the main factors that might determine the extent to which Spanish organizational management educators use corporate social responsibility (CSR) or business ethics stand‐alone subjects to equip students with alternative views on business. A web content analysis and non‐parametric mean comparison statistics of the curricula of undergraduate degrees in all universities in Spain were conducted. The main conclusion of this paper is related to the Bologna effect in Spanish universities. Comparing our results with prior research in this matter, it is demonstrated that the main reason that explains the increase of CSR and ethical education in Spain is the Bologna process and its adaptation to the European Higher Education Area. Also, private universities in Spain are more likely to require an ethics course than public universities. Other factors, such as size, political orientation, or related to CSR chairs are not statistically explanatory of CSR and ethical education.     

Re-insourcing as a manufacturing-strategic option during a crisis—Cases from the automobile industry

In response to the economic downturn following the recent financial crisis, the automobile industry switched to ‘re-insourcing’. The objective of this paper is to explore underlying motives and decision-making in manufacturing strategy, especially with regard to re-insourcing in the automobile industry. While there has been a lot of research on the topic of ‘outsourcing’, its opposite has not been researched widely. Even though there are some papers on the automobile manufacturing industry, a deeper industrial insight into re-insourcing is missing. Owing to the increased amount of re-insourcing implemented during the economic crisis, the latter lends itself well to gaining a deeper understanding of the phenomenon.     

The role of trade credit in the recent subprime financial crisis

This study tests firms’ financing behavior, especially the causal relation between trade credit and bank credit around the time of the recent subprime financial crises. I find bank credit and accounts payable/receivable are simultaneously determined and there is a substitute/complementary effect between bank credit and accounts payable/receivable. Moreover, I test a cross-sectional response to crisis and find that firms with a more vulnerable financial position (i.e., financially constrained firms) are more likely to be negatively affected by crisis and, in turn, are more likely to cut their supply of credit to customers and increase their use of credit from suppliers.     

The global financial crisis,financial linkages and correlations in returns and volatilities in emerging MENA stock markets

The 2007 United States financial crisis has developed into the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the 1927 Great Depression. In addition to its severe repercussion in North America and the European Union, the crisis has put pressure on emerging markets in general, and the Middle East and North Africa region in particular. For a better understanding of how the crisis affected the MENA region, we focus in this paper on the global and regional financial linkages between MENA stock markets and the more developed financial markets, and on the intra-regional financial linkages between MENA countries' financial markets.     

Firm Shutdown During the Financial and the Sovereign Debt Crises: Empirical Evidence from Portugal

This paper examines Portuguese firms’ survival over the business cycle and investigates whether the effect of firm size varies across the phases of the cycle and with the type of shock associated with periods of economic contraction. Our results show that smaller firms are more likely to shut down than larger firms. Within each size band, however, we found that during the two crises examined, micro firms experienced hazards of closing (relative to large firms) at least similar to those observed in the pre-crisis period, while medium-sized firms were found to have been more vulnerable during the financial crisis period but showed more resilience during the sovereign debt crisis. The results suggest that during the sovereign debt crisis, firms faced a higher probability of closing than they did during the financial crisis.     

Case Study of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the On-Line Affluent Financial Services Market

ABSTRACT

In the current period of constrained economic conditions, this study initiates an analysis of customer relationship management (CRM) on the Web sites of financial service businesses. Customer relationship management is a critical differential that enables competitive edge for businesses focused on the affluent customer market. Though investment in marketing, sales and service innovation is limited under existing conditions, the analysis of the study on large financial businesses indicates that the businesses enable higher commerce, content and context, but lower and generally inadequate communication, community, connection and customization design on their Web sites. The analysis, conducted as an assignment by adult graduate students in an information systems course, contributes important insight into the competitive dynamics of customer relationship management for Web empowered financial service businesses striving to service the demanding affluent market. This study furnishes an expanded framework to research customer relationship management of financial service businesses competing in the paradigm of the Web.     

Discount development in france: The introduction of the format and the competitive response

This article aims to set forth and clarify the factors that caused the rapid development of the hard discount business in France over the past 2 years and to highlight their key impacts. The hard discount business is supposed to have triggered an “intratype” competitive reaction by many French companies which diversified their businesses into this segment, as well as an “intertype” set of reactions by both supermarkets and hypermarkets which implemented the new strategies described in this article based on either cost‐cutting policies and/or trade names differentiation. Conclusions may be drawn following an analysis of the features of this formula as well as the consumers' and competitors' responses. One conclusion may be that the discounters are also bound to increase their market share further once the economic crisis is over. In fact, this business meets the on‐going purchasing and shopping needs by most of the consumers.     

Monetary Policy Accommodation at the Lower Bound

Monetary policy was too tight in many countries following the financial crisis, due to the lower bound on interest rates. This is likely to have prolonged the recession that followed. This point is illustrated with an assessment of monetary accommodation in the US since the financial crisis, and the accommodation achieved through negative interest rates in countries that have adopted these. The lower bound will likely give rise to considerable economic costs in the future, as it has in the recent past. There is an urgent need to consider how policy tools and frameworks should be adapted.     

新自由主义与西方社会信用体系危机

世界金融危机发生以来,各国都普遍采取了救市措施.但救市只是治标之策,并不能从根本上解决问题.本文对以美国为首的西方自由市场经济制度与发展模式进行深入分析,认为当前的金融危机首先是信用危机,是新自由主义经济制度与美国社会信用管理体系的危机,包括消费信用危机、金融创新与银行信用危机、金融监管与政府信用危机.而信息不对称是危机产生的认识根源,传统经济理论都是完全信息假设条件下的产物,现实中信息不对称则是一种常态.用完全信息假设条件下建立的经济理论指导现实中不完全信息的市场经济实践,其结果可想而知.社会信用管理体系不完善与监管机制的滞后性是危机产生的体制原因,只有加快建立完善的社会信用管理体系才是规避风险、化解危机的治本之策.     

Unconventional economic policies and sentiment: An international assessment

This paper estimates, using Bayesian and global VARs, the spillover effects of unconventional fiscal and monetary policies implemented in the United States and in the Eurozone during the last decade. Consumer confidence and investor sentiment indicators are introduced in the models in order to highlight the signalling channel in the responses to economic policy innovations in times of crisis. Our results reveal that consumer and investor perceptions of innovative economic measures are relevant to study the pass-through of economic policies to the real sector in times of crisis and zero lower bound interest rates. In particular, the signalling channel plays an important role in successful unconventional economic policies. Moreover, if unconventional economic policies have an impact abroad, the effects are similar to those measured in the domestic country/region. Consequently, coordination and transparency are a prerequisite for ensuring short-term growth after a global financial crisis.     

Diversity goals: Reframing the debate and enabling a fair evaluation

While diversity has enjoyed significant popularity in the corporate world for the last two decades, researchers continue to put forward conflicting results regarding the business benefits of workplace diversity. Some say workplace diversity is good for businesses; others argue it is an undertaking full of challenges; and yet others assert that it doesn’t really matter. With this in mind, we attempted to synthesize the research that evaluates the impact of workplace diversity on the organizational bottom line. We find an over-emphasis on demonstrating the business case of diversity in economic denominations, which—to some extent—has limited our understanding of the complex dynamics associated with diversity. We identify a lack of attention toward institutional forces as one of the reasons that has restricted our focus on mere economic gains. Overall, we recommend broadening our definition of goals that organizations have when adopting diversity initiatives by including ‘gain of legitimacy’ and ‘creation of goodwill’ as part of the essential consequences of diversity programs.     

金融危机背景下沿海地区人才回流与中西部中小企业人才战略

全球金融危机导致沿海地区的许多企业岗位需求减少、人才供求关系失衡。而中西部中小企业因受金融危机的影响较小,岗位需求和人才供求状况变化不大。这种人才需求和供给之间的对比差异导致沿海地区人才"回流"渐成趋势。中西部中小企业应充分利用人才回流的机会,优化企业的人才结构,低成本地引进企业所需人才,进一步赢得人才的竞争优势,促进企业人才战略的有效实施。     

Investment behavior of MSMEs during the downturn periods: Empirical evidence from Vietnam

This paper analyzes panel data of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Vietnam, covering five two-year periods from 2003 to 2012, in order to understand how MSMEs' investments in their own productive fixed assets and their financial investment changed during and after the global financial crisis of 2008. It finds that MSMEs decreased productive investment and increased financial investments substantially in these periods. This, along with other findings, suggests that the global financial crisis marked the beginning of reallocation of hitherto proliferating MSMEs' resources away from their own businesses to some rapidly growing listed firms in the Vietnamese economy.     

HRM in Singapore: change and continuity

This essay traces the development of human resource management (HRM) in Singapore from the mid 1990s until the present day, with particular reference to the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In particular, it explores the changes in employment relations since the publication of Yuen (1997). National HRM concerns and strategies to maximize human capital as Singapore transforms itself and the knowledge economy is highlighted. The issue of convergence versus divergence in the management of human resources (HRs) will be touched upon. Current and future HR challenges that are most likely to impact on the country's competitiveness and economic performance are also explored.     

Asymmetric changes in Australia’s small business loan rate

This paper examines the dynamic asymmetric relationship between changes in the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) cash rate and the interest rate for small business loans using monthly data (1990–2011). The results provide support for the rockets-and-feathers hypothesis with respect to both the amount and adjustment asymmetries. While the RBA’s rate rises exert a one-to-one and instantaneous impact on the loan rate, its rate cuts are only slowly and partially passed onto small businesses with a delay of 1–2 months. The results also suggest that the recent global financial crisis increased the cost of borrowing for small businesses in Australia by 2.21 %. These findings indicate that small businesses have limited time to respond to interest rate rises and not provided with the full benefit of interest rate decreases. Addressing this problem should ease the interest rate burden for small businesses and enhance their contribution to the economy.     

Co-ethnic markets: Financial penalty or opportunity?

This paper applies the view of resource based theory to minority entrepreneurship. It examines minority entrepreneurs’ reliance on co-ethnic markets in terms of the impact this has on the financial performance of their firms. This research focuses on three minority groups in particular: African Americans, Korean Americans and Mexican Americans. Findings indicate that owner's age and marital status, but not business age, shape the extent to which a business owner relies on co-ethnic clients. Furthermore, Korean American owned firms are less likely to have high proportions of co-ethnic clients compared to Mexican- and African American owned firms. Having a large co-ethnic clientele results in a financial penalty in terms of the revenue an owner draws from his or her business. This penalty occurs in businesses owned by all three groups of entrepreneurs. Findings lend support to the resource based theory view of the firm in terms of the need to dynamically apply resources in order to achieve a competitive advantage. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.