Communicative Action and Corporate Annual Reports

Annual reports are an important element in the genre of corporate public discourse. The reporting practices mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for all publicly traded corporations are intended to render the annual reports a legitimate and trustworthy medium through which management communicates information related to the financial performance of the firm. The following discussion represents an inaugural attempt to investigate the ethical characteristics of the discourse found in corporate annual reports using Habermas' principles of communicative action. In preparing the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) portion of the report, managers are charged with providing narrative information for investors and other interested third parties relevant to assessing the firm's financial condition. Previous rhetorical studies of the narrative portions of annual reports argue that they serve as means for both legitimate and distorted communication. We investigate this communication medium through the lens of Habermas' norms for communicative action, which require communicators to be comprehensible, truthful, sincere, and legitimate. The study represents an initial attempt to operationalization Habermas' principles of communicative action and to employ a methodology that facilitates their application to research within a business context. From one perspective, consistent with agency theory as specified by neoclassical economics, it would seem that firms anticipating worse-than-expected financial performance would be less likely to exhibit the Habermasian principles necessary for undistorted communication because they would attempt to strategically influence the message being communicated about the firm's financial position. Instead, employing rhetorical analysis software, Diction 5.0, we found that firms expecting both good and bad earnings surprises exhibited a higher level of communicative action than a composite average firm. Although preliminary in nature, our findings suggest that firms anticipating large earnings surprises, either high or low, use the narrative portion of the annual report as a vehicle through which to communicate information about managements' veracity and trustworthiness as well as the firm's financial position.     

Nominal rigidity, desired markup variations, and real exchange rate persistence

This paper develops and estimates a dynamic general-equilibrium sticky-price model that accounts for real exchange rate persistence. The key feature of the model is the dependence of the firm's desired markup on its relative price. Desired markup variations exacerbate the nominal rigidity that results from the exogenously imposed frictions in the goods market. The model is estimated by the maximum-likelihood method using Canadian and U.S. data. The estimated model successfully replicates the properties of the Canada-U.S. bilateral real exchange rate. In particular, the model closely matches the persistence found in the real exchange rate series. More importantly, this is achieved with a plausible duration of price contracts and a moderate convexity of the demand function.     

Financial dollarization

We present a portfolio model of financial intermediation in which currency choice is determined by hedging decisions on both sides of a bank’s balance sheet. We show that minimum variance portfolio (MVP) allocations provide a natural benchmark to estimate the scope for dollarization of assets and liabilities (financial dollarization) as a function of macroeconomic uncertainty. Within this benchmark, we find that financial dollarization displays high persistence whenever the expected volatility of the inflation rate remains high in relation to that of the real exchange rate, even after price stabilization has been achieved. The empirical evidence confirms that MVP dollarization approximates financial dollarization closely for a broad sample of countries.     

When Bad Things Happen to the Endorsers of Good Products

We investigate how a firm's financial performance (as measured by stock returns) is influenced when celebrity endorsers become involved in undesirable events, i.e., events that have a deleterious effect on the spokespersons. We find that the stock market reaction to these events is negatively related to spokesperson blameworthiness. The lower (higher) the culpability, the higher (lower) the stock return. Interestingly, it is only those firms associated with spokespersons having high culpability that tend to experience losses in stock market value. In contrast, we find that events rated at or below the mean level of blameworthiness are associated with positive stock market returns.     

The role of planning in small firms: Empirical evidence from a service industry

The relation between planning behaviour and performance is analyzed for a large number of small real estate firms in the Netherlands. A firm's planning behaviour appears to be influenced by the way it perceives its environment (in terms of complexity and dynamics) as well as its own characteristics (size, age and activities). The explanation of performance is dominated by a firm's size and the nature of its activities. Hardly and effect of planning on a firm's performance is found, though it appears that in an environment perceived as highly dynamic, planning is merely counter-productive.The authors wish to thank Jan Eppink and Ingrid van Rijn, and are especially grateful to Roy Thurik and two anonymous referees for valuable comments on earlier drafts. It goes without saying that errors and omissions remain the full responsibility of the authors.     

Understanding a firm's openness decisions in innovation

The degree of openness in innovation, ranging from closed to multiple levels of openness, is a key strategic decision for managers. Therefore, this study aims to carefully investigate the underlying drivers of openness. A major result of this study is that the degree of openness underlies separate mechanisms for being closed in innovation and higher degrees of openness. The factors that prevent firms from being open are a lack of market and technological knowledge (knowledge gaps), ineffective intellectual property (IP) protection mechanisms, and competitor threats such as market entries and imitation. The most important factors that increase the degree of openness are a firm's need for financial funding in innovation and the effectiveness of a firm's IP protection mechanisms.     

外部环境与企业财务保守行为

基于代理理论和战略管理理论融合的观点,我们对企业外部环境与其财务保守行为之间的关系进行了理论分析和实证检验。实证研究结果表明,我国上市公司的财务政策与其外部环境存在明显不匹配的现象。表现为越是在动态环境、市场竞争激烈的行业,上市公司负债比率越高;越是环境稳定、市场竞争程度低的行业,上市公司的财务政策倾向保守。外部环境的变化和公司所处行业的竞争状况并不能合理解释我国上市公司的财务保守行为。企业的内源融资能力和我国的再融资政策也许是我国上市公司财务保守行为的重要原因。     

Market orientation, competitive advantage, and performance: A demand-based perspective

This study assesses how customer value affects a firm's market orientation and consequently, competitive advantage and organizational performance in a service industry — the global hotel industry. The findings show that if a firm perceives its customers as valuing service, the firm is more likely to adopt both a customer and a competitor orientation; if the firm thinks its customers are price sensitive, the firm tends to develop a competitor orientation. Moreover, the greater a firm's customer orientation, the more the firm is able to develop a competitive advantage based on innovation and market differentiation. In contrast, a competitor orientation has a negative effect on a firm's market differentiation advantage. Finally, innovation and market differentiation advantages lead to greater market performance (e.g., perceived quality, customer satisfaction) and in turn, higher financial performance (e.g., profit, market share).     

Are the dynamic linkages between the macroeconomy and asset prices time-varying?

We estimate a number of multivariate regime switching VAR models on a long monthly US data set for eight variables that include excess stock and bond returns, the real T-bill yield, predictors used in the finance literature (default spread and the dividend yield), and three macroeconomic variables (inflation, industrial production growth, and a measure of real money growth). Heteroskedasticity may be accounted for by making the covariance matrix a function of the regime. We find evidence of four regimes and of time-varying covariances. We show that the best in-sample fit is provided by a four state model in which the VAR(1) component fails to be regime-dependent. We interpret this as evidence that the dynamic linkages between financial markets and the macroeconomy have been stable over time. The four-state model can be helpful in forecasting applications and provides one-step ahead predicted Sharpe ratios.     

中国碳试点市场集中交易行为的理论研究

通过构建一个代表性控排企业跨期决策理论模型,分析碳配额交易企业在履约日与非履约日的最优交易量。均衡结果显示,企业在非履约日的最优交易量与其自身的风险规避系数、市场流动性提供者的风险规避系数、履约日随机碳需求的标准差成正比,而与企业的碳产出效率成反比。在此基础上,探讨了中国碳交易试点市场上履约日附近交易量巨大,而非履约日交易量稀少的原因,并提出相关政策建议,以帮助实现我国碳市场交易量的平滑及整体市场效率的提升。     

2004年～2008年我国中药上市企业财务风险的实证研究

控制财务风险对企业的稳定发展影响重大,本文利用Z值模型和上市公司年报数据对我国27家中药上市企业的财务状况进行分析,指出企业应当根据自身特点,采取针对性的策略,避免财务风险。2004年～2008年,27家中药上市企业Z值平均值为4.45,表明虽然整体财务状况情况良好,但企业间的差异较大。本文认为,从保持企业资产的流动性,增加企业的留存收益,加强企业资产的获利能力,扩大企业的主营业务收入,这四方面入手,可有效降低企业财务风险。     

Survival of high tech firms: The effects of diversity of product–market portfolios, patents, and trademarks

High tech firms can mitigate potential risks by diversifying their product–market portfolios. A key research question is how such diversification influences firm survival. A firm exits the market in two ways, specifically, dissolution and acquisition. Here, we model how the diversity of a new firm's product–market portfolio influences the times to both types of exits. Specifically, we allow for interaction effects of the competitive intensity of a firm's environment and the diversity of a firm's product–market portfolio with its patents and trademarks. Using a competing risk hazard model, we estimate the effects of various covariates on the time to exit for 1435 US high tech firms.We observed that a more diverse product–market portfolio, in conjunction with a larger number of patents, hastens the time to a firm's exit by dissolution (9% decrease in survival duration), while in conjunction with a larger number of trademarks, portfolio diversity delays the time to exit by dissolution (12% increase). A more competitive firm environment results in a greater effect on the portfolio's diversity in delaying its exit by dissolution (7% increase). On the other hand, a diverse product–market portfolio, combined with either a larger number of patents or trademarks, hastens the firm's exit by acquisition (19% and 11% decrease respectively).     

A down-and-out exchange option model with jumps to evaluate firms' default probabilities in Brazil

We develop a tractable structural model to estimate a firm's default probability by modeling its asset and debt behavior. The model incorporates jump factors. For a set of Brazilian large corporations, we compare the structural model results to the default probabilities predicted by a survival analysis applied to the Central Bank debt information database. Our model outperforms other structural models. In a last step, we use a firm's sector failure probabilities to calibrate the model. This process is executed by adjusting the model jump volatility and it helps to explain the differences between debt and equity market failure probabilities.     

Environmental reporting: Toward enhanced information quality

Managers and stakeholders are increasingly aware of the importance of the environmental impact of a firm's operations when assessing risk and attempting to determine future profitability. Unfortunately, financial accounting systems often fail to fully disclose these environmentally-related costs. The reasons underlying this incomplete disclosure are myriad, ranging from measurement issues to the structure of the firm's chart of accounts. In many ways, the issues facing managers and stakeholders who are attempting to assess environmental costs arising from business operations resemble the issues faced when attempting to determine the costs of producing poor quality products. The negative impact on the environment from business operations can be viewed as a failure in the same way that the negative impact of producing a defective product can be seen as a production control failure. Similarly, costs are incurred to prevent and detect environmental failures, and the cost of failure—particularly if not addressed within the firm—can be huge and unknowable. Drawing on the experiences of firms employing quality measures and reporting, this article presents an environmental cost reporting model to provide greater transparency on environmental impact of business operations to managers and firm stakeholders.     

Small Firm Behaviour in Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the behaviour of small firms in Sri Lanka using a countrywide cross-sectional survey. The 73 responding firms provide information on whether certain variables: the firm's utilisation of assets; labour; technology; family savings; and access to bank financing, vary with four firm-specific factors: industry; family ownership; size; and whether the firm's manager was also an owner of the firm. Sampled small firms are mostly family owned and owner managed although a significant number of family owned firms are managed by non-family managers. Most firm's under-utilise assets, use existing rather than the latest technology, and are reliant upon family savings. Statistical analysis provides evidence of significant cross-sectional variation in small firm practice. The results are explained in terms of the cost of acquiring new technology, asymmetries and opacity in financial information, and the non-value maximising behaviour of firm owners who are also firm managers.     

Emerging Asia: Decoupling or Recoupling

In this paper, we investigate the degree of real economic interdependence between emerging East Asian and major industrial countries to shed light on the heated debate over the ‘decoupling’ of emerging East Asia. We first document the evolution of macroeconomic interdependence for emerging East Asian economies through changing trade and financial linkages at both the regional and global levels. Then, by employing a panel vector autoregression (VAR) model, we estimate the degree of real economic interdependence before and after the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. Empirical findings show that real economic interdependence increased significantly in the post‐crisis period, suggesting ‘recoupling’, rather than decoupling, in recent years. Output shocks from major industrial countries have a significant positive effect on emerging East Asian economies. More interestingly, the reverse is also true. Output shocks from emerging East Asia (and China) have a significant positive effect on output in major industrial countries. The result suggests that macroeconomic interdependence between emerging East Asia and industrial countries have become ‘bi‐directional’, defying the traditional notion of the ‘North–South relationship’ as one of ‘uni‐directional’ dependence.     

房地产泡沫生成与演化--基于金融支持过度假说的一种解释

本文在房地产市场局部均衡的框架下,探讨了金融支持过度与房地产泡沫生成和演化的过程,提出了金融支持过度假说,认为如果房地产开发商和置业者都可以从银行取得贷款,当房地产市场存在群体投机行为时,房地产价格将高于基础价格,并且会随着金融支持力度的增加而不断上升,这一上升的部分我们称之为泡沫.此时,如果房地产借款者违约行为迅速蔓延,房地产泡沫将随之破灭,并有引发金融危机的危险.本文最后利用文中所确定的衡量金融支持过度的临界值,对我国房地产金融支持程度进行了实证分析.     

Linking market orientation to international market selection and international performance

One key strategic decision in a firm's internationalization process is the international market selection (IMS). IMS must match the firm's own-specific resources and capabilities for optimal performance. This research, drawing on the resource-based view, investigates how a firm's market orientation (MO) resources and capabilities influence the firm's IMS between culturally close and distant markets and how the matching of MO and IMS impacts on its international performance. We hypothesize that market-oriented firms tend to choose culturally distant markets that help them exploit their MO. Firms with a fit between MO and IMS tend to perform better internationally than those without such a fit. Both hypotheses are supported by our database of Chinese manufacturing firms expanding internationally.     

系统性金融风险的度量及其时变经济效应研究

基于TVP-SV-SVAR模型，分析六个不同金融子市场风险对实体经济的实时冲击效应，结合时变脉冲响应方法构建了动态权重系统性金融风险综合指数，并区分高低风险状态探讨其对实体经济的影响。结果表明，银行部门、股票市场和外部金融市场对系统性金融风险的贡献较大；基于对实体经济冲击视角的动态权重系统性金融风险综合指数与样本期内实际金融经济事件的发展趋势一致；不同状态下系统性金融风险对经济增长的冲击效应不同：短期来看，高风险点系统性金融风险抑制经济增长，低风险点系统性金融风险促进经济增长；长期来看，系统性金融风险在高低状态下对经济增长均有负向冲击效应。研究结论对于防范和化解系统性金融风险的宏观审慎政策制定具有重要的参考意义。