Aid,trade and migration: How do bilateral flows interact?

This paper takes as its point of departure the European Commission's position, set out in 2005, which laid clear emphasis on aid and trade as tools for controlling immigration. We attempt to subject this position to empirical investigation. We exploit data on bilateral aid, trade and migration flows between developed and developing countries, for the period 2000–10, adopting an instrumental variable approach to address the endogeneity issue due to potential simultaneity bias. Our results establish that increasing aid and trade with developing countries is likely to fail to contain immigration, at least in the short run. The pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that promoting development in migrant‐sending countries, or cooperating with such countries to control migration outflows, is not sufficient to lessen immigration. Increasing visa restrictions and controls at borders is generally controversial; still, the results imply that policymakers cannot attain their short‐term immigration goals with the so‐called smart solutions of aid and trade.     

Marketing capabilities and innovation. How do they affect the financial results of hotels?

From the point of view of firms’ managers, the knowledge of the factors which explain their firms’ financial results is considered of great usefulness to propose the most appropriate and profitable marketing strategies and actions. This research sets out from this central idea and proposes a model of relationships that considers the marketing results, the marketing capabilities, and the innovation capability as key factors for achieving good financial results. This model is verified via an empirical investigation carried out among 200 directors of hotel establishments in Andalusia, a region in the south of Spain which is one of the country's main tourist destinations. The results indicate that innovation capability is strongly conditioned by marketing capabilities and resources and that this innovation capability affects the financial results of the firms analyzed. Likewise, it is deduced that a market-oriented management philosophy contributes to the development of these marketing capabilities. The implications for management are considered very relevant as they must lead these firms to invest in the development of marketing resources and capabilities, and apply a market-oriented management philosophy if they wish to improve their financial results.     

How do country regulations and business environment impact foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows?

How do multinationals choose which countries to invest in? This study addresses the essential question of the impact of regulatory variables in attracting or deterring foreign direct investment (FDI). We separate regulatory variables based on different stages of a firm’s life-cycle. Using World Bank data for 189 economies, we examine which host country regulatory factors influence inward FDI. We find that countries with stronger contract enforcement and more efficient international trade regulations attract more FDI. The interaction terms suggest that multinational companies are willing to trade-off a country's poorer institutional variable in return for another where the institutional variable is stronger. For example, multinationals are willing to invest in countries with less efficient entry and exit regulations in exchange for stronger contract enforcement. These results also have important implications for government policy reform.     

How do institutional transitions impact the efficacy of related and unrelated diversification strategies used by business groups?

Drawing from institutional theory and organizational theory, this paper reports findings from a longitudinal study of Indian business groups as they were responding to pro-market institutional reforms. It explores their diversification choices at the group level, and the group performance consequences of these choices during a period of institutional change (1988–2012). Results show that although overall group diversification had a positive impact on performance, as institutions developed and market reforms took root, unrelated diversification resulted in poorer performance. However, related diversification strategies resulted in positive group performance outcomes after pro-market reforms had taken root. This suggests that the performance consequences of alternative diversification strategies adopted by business groups change as institutional development occurs, an important facet of business group evolution that has received limited attention in the extant literature.     

How market oriented are business studies degrees?

When business courses are being reviewed and validated, academics will often claim that the course prepares students for their future careers in business and management. However, contacting graduates of long standing (who are well established in their profession and who would arguably be the best judges of the course's value) does not always happen.

The objective of the research was to make contact with ex‐students, who graduated some time ago, with the aim of obtaining useful information on the following inter‐related topics:

1. Their post‐university career pathway;

2. The vocational relevance of their course;

3. Their attitudes to and take‐up of postgraduate and professional qualifications;

4. Their opinions of course structure and content; and

5. An assessment of market needs in the development/ modification of courses.

Graduates of the BA (HONS) Business Studies degree were contacted and the above objectives were achieved. The methodology used should be transferable to other institutions and disciplines.     

International acquisitions: do financial analysts take note?

Recent research has determined that managers are increasingly concerned with how institutional investors and securities analysts view their companies’ long term strategies. This article examines characteristics of international acquisitions that influence professional stock analysts’ estimates of the acquirer’s earnings per share. Previous international acquisition experience and target country operating experience positively affect analysts’ estimates of stock earnings, and relatedness between the parent and target business lines also affects analyst estimates when viewed in light of operating experience in the acquisition target’s home country.     

How should managers treat ethics in international business?

Business ethics concern the consideration of moral in corporate decision making. International managers may be confronted with a variety of ethical dilemmas, usually due to differences among national markets in what constitutes legal or acceptable practice. Beliefs about what constitutes ethical business behavior commonly stem from one of four moral philosophies: teleology, deontology, the theory of justice, and cultural relativism. A framework incorporating all four is presented here which should provide a useful decision tool for international managers. An application of the framework and the complexities associated with it are presented next. We conclude that an effective integration of the company's perspective on ethics and the business behavior of the employees is critical and that it depends on top management, and the entire organization, demonstrating that they are serious about ethical business behavior on an ongoing basis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Jobs. How do you rate?

Only 47% of respondents to R&I's 23rd annual Job$ Survey reported satisfaction with their last raise--that's down 10% from last year. Leading reasons for the drop: According to survey verbatims, belt-tightening companies froze salaries and delayed promotions, but increased responsibilities. To get at the prevailing attitudes of foodservice professionals about their jobs, our special report employs demographic profiles and personal interviews.     

Entrepreneurship and survival over the business cycle: how do new technology-based firms differ?

We investigate the survival performance of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) over the business cycle and compare them against other entrepreneurial firms. Our data comprise the entire population of entrepreneurial firms entering the Swedish economy from 1991 to 2002, which we follow until 2007. Discrete-time duration models are employed to investigate whether the business cycle impacts differently on the survival likelihood of NTBFs vis-à-vis other entrepreneurial firms. Our main findings are three. First, NTBFs generally experience a lower hazard rate compared to other entrepreneurial firms, which is interpreted as a sign of their high ‘quality.’ Second, all entrepreneurial firms are sensitive to and follow a pro-cyclical pattern of survival likelihood over the business cycle. Three, when comparing NTBFs with the broader group of other entrepreneurial firms, we find that NTBFs are more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations. The above results come with a qualification, though. The sensitivity during the business cycle mainly pertains to self-employed NTBFs. Also, NTBFs’ higher survivability is only linked to not being characterized as self-employed.     

How do standard setters define materiality and why does it matter?

Material information is a core aspect of a firm's governance and reporting activities. If corporate information is material, then the firm has a responsibility to disclose it. Currently, firms must judge information as material largely based on a confusing set of standard setters’ definitions. I analyze the particular conditions laid out by each standard setter and explain the ethical implications that result from materiality judgments made by firms using these varied standards. Importantly, this analysis underscores that regulators, firms, and researchers alike must consider the impact of these implications on the fiduciary duty and promise-keeping that firms make as well as the potential for unfairness and financial harm to others’ welfare that could result.     

Selling a business after the pandemic? How crisis and information asymmetry affect deal terms

Prepandemic, small business exits were expected to increase dramatically owing to pent-up supply and the aging business owner population. COVID-19 may have dampened those expectations because of increasing information asymmetries that limited selling options for the small business owner (SBO). SBOs exit for many reasons (e.g., illness, family, retirement), so postponing a sale may not be a viable option. Alternately, SBOs can absorb crisis uncertainty by accepting different deal terms. We propose that one such strategy is to include seller financing as part of the deal terms, thereby signaling to the acquirer the SBOs’ confidence that the purchase is sound. We examine the results of 1,909 exit transactions from both before and after the financial crisis of 2007–2009 and over a 10-year postcrisis horizon. We find that sellers accept a lower price and less favorable terms with increased seller financing in the 24 months postcrisis, and that waiting longer to sell after the crisis improves deal terms for sellers, as this affords SBOs time to exit. Additionally, reduced information asymmetry improves deal terms. Finally, we provide strategies for SBOs to lower information asymmetry in small business exits.     

How do online bidders differ from non-bidders?

This study compares online bidders and non-bidders based on their demographic and psychographic characteristics. An online survey was developed to collect data using Zoomerang's online consumer panel. Findings show that online bidders have a lower level of risk aversion and a higher level of need for uniqueness and propensity to trust than nonbidders. Online bidders are also more likely to engage in variety-seeking and impulsive-buying behavior than non-bidders. Results indicate that online bidders are younger, more educated, and have a higher income level than non-bidders. This study also finds that gender and prior online shopping experience moderate the differences between online bidders and non-bidders. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

How do exporters respond to antidumping investigations?

Using monthly transaction data covering all Chinese exporters over the 2000–2006 period, we investigate how Chinese exporters respond to U.S. antidumping investigations. We find that antidumping investigations cause a substantial decrease in the total export volume at the HS-6 digit product level, and that this trade-dampening effect is due to a significant decrease in the number of exporters, yet a modest decrease in the export volume per surviving exporter. We also find that the bulk of the decrease in the number of exporters is exerted by less productive exporters, by direct exporters as opposed to trade intermediaries, and by single-product direct exporters as opposed to their multi-product counterparts. Combined with the existing studies on the effects that antidumping investigations have on protected firms, our study helps piece together a complete picture of the effects of antidumping investigations.     

How does ownership influence business growth? A competitive dynamics perspective

Firms engage in competitive actions to gain market share and hence to grow their revenues. However, not all firms are equally able to use competitive actions to drive growth. We argue that the ability to translate competitive actions to revenue growth depends on the ownership of the firm. Drawing on principal-agent and principal-principal perspectives, we argue that: (1) private owners (both foreign and local) are better able to employ aggressive actions to grow their business than state owners; (2) firms with multiple owners (especially international joint ventures) are less able to implement actions that drive business growth than full ownership. We find support for these arguments in empirical tests on survey-based data of 106 firms in China. Results show that in an emerging market the principal-principal perspective can better explain governance and competition than the principal-agent perspective.     

How do consumers categorize new hybrid products?

This article investigates how consumers categorize new hybrid products (NHPs). Given the limitations of the classical theories of categorization in the specific case of NHP, affordance, mobilized infrequently in marketing, turned out to be a useful categorization concept. Five types of NHP categorizations by consumers, based on the degree of affordance (low vs. high) and type of innovation (incremental vs. radical), have been detected and filled a gap in the literature on the subject.     

What and how do SMEs gain by going international? A longitudinal investigation of financial and intellectual resource growth

This study examines the accumulation of financial and intellectual resources of U.S.-based biopharmaceutical SMEs. We find that internationalized SMEs experience better financial resource growth than domestic market-focused SMEs only in the long run. While international expansion per se does not enable SMEs to accumulate more intellectual resources than via domestic expansion, it exerts a positive impact over time for SMEs with strong alliance capabilities. Moreover, we show that alliance capabilities are more important than in-house technological capabilities for key resource accumulation of internationalized SMEs over time. Our results infer that SMEs gain the benefits of resource exploration via international expansion.     

The common sources of business cycles in Trans‐Pacific countries and the US? A comparison with NAFTA

This paper uses both a non‐structural and a structural approach to investigate the drivers of the business cycles in the US and 15 Trans‐Pacific (TP) countries. Our non‐structural analysis, based on a principal component methodology, reveals the shares of variation in macroeconomic variables that are due to factors common to both the US and the TP region, and factors that are region‐specific. We obtain similar measures by using a structural model (an estimated two‐country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model) that allows for common and correlated shocks across the two regions. The clear and common finding from our analyses is that common shocks explain a substantial amount of macroeconomic variation. Comparison with the NAFTA region, along this dimension, reveals that the US economy is more similar to the TP region (a wider region that also includes Mexico and Canada) than its two neighbours.