Financial reporting quality and investment decisions for family firms

This study investigates the association between investment decisions and financial reporting quality in the context of family firms versus non-family firms. Building on the classic agency theory and the behavioral agency theory, we argue that financial reporting quality may play a different role on investment decisions for family and non-family firms. We address our research question by using a sample of listed firms in Taiwan from 1996 to 2011. Consistent with the behavioral agency theory, our findings suggest that family firms are more likely to under-invest than non-family firms in order to protect their socioemotional wealth, and financial reporting quality is more negatively associated with family firms’ under-investment behavior. The existence of internal financing channels attenuates this negative association. However, this study does not find a significant role on such association when a family member serves as the chief executive officer. These results are robust after controlling for the potential endogeneity issue of financial reporting quality, alternate measures of inefficient investment as well as internal financing channels, family firm subsample, and different industry groups. This study contributes to the literature on the relation between financial reporting quality and investment decisions by highlighting the unique characteristics of family firms.     

Telecommunications and investment decisions in the Philippines

This article is a rejoinder to the article written by R.J. Saunders published in the December 1983 issue of Telecommunications Policy on investment decisions in telecommunications. The author, in this brief paper, attemps to discuss the decision-making process in telecommunications investments described by Saunders and as it relates to the practical experience of the Philippines and other developing countries in a similar situation. Attention is given to how the national telephone programme in the Philippines is being developed. Efforts have been exerted to identify the similarities and basic differences of the Philippines to other developing countries.     

Two-step multi-criteria model for selecting optimal portfolio

In spite of a large number of multi-criteria models applied to solve the problem of optimal portfolio selection and a large number of market criteria and accounting criteria proposed for these models, the problem of portfolio containing securities from different industries has not yet been adequately solved. Namely, neither can stocks of companies from different industries be compared using the same criteria nor can the weight of a particular criteria be equal for them all. Therefore this paper develops a new two-step model that will overcome the shortcomings of the previously used models. The model is divided into two different but related pillars: the choice of different industries to form the overall portfolio and the choice of portfolio for each industry. The multi-criteria model used in this paper is a modified multi-criteria programming model based on the PROMETHEE II approach. The selected model has been applied at the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) as a real case.     

Fuzzy multi-criteria decision model for evaluating reconfigurable machines

The design and configuration of manufacturing equipment require crucial decision considering optimum capacity and functionality. The equipment selection problem might be involved with choosing between large-capacity machines versus a greater number of machines with smaller capacities, and/or dedicated facilities versus multi-product facilities. This paper investigates reconfigurable machining system characteristics in order to identify the crucial factors influencing the machine selection and the machine (re)configuration. Furthermore, changeover cost and changeover time while switching from one product to the other are taken into account. In particular, a fuzzy analytical hierarchical process (FAHP) model is proposed to integrate the decisive factors for the equipment selection process under uncertainty. The expected values of the normalised fuzzy sets are determined to identify the preference values of the alternative machines. The fuzzy multi-criteria model is analysed within the fuzzy domains of the operational characteristics along with economic, quality and performance criteria. The proposed model is examined using monitoring sensitivity analysis through a case study. As a result, the alternative machines are prioritised with consideration of the inconsistency ratios. The relative performances of the alternative equipment in view of interactions of process reconfigurability and cost, and capacity and functionality are graphically illustrated.     

ICT investment and GDP growth: Causality analysis for the case of Korea

This study investigated how investment in the industry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) has been interlocked with the GDP growth of South Korea. Based on seasonally-adjusted quarterly time-series data for the period between 1999 and 2016 available from the Korea Statistical Information Service, a Vector Error Correction model was applied for the analysis. The results revealed that ICT investment and GDP growth affected bi-directionally except for the short-run case in which only ICT investment affected GDP growth. The results explain that ICT investment plays an important role in the economic growth of South Korea in the long term; at the same time, investment size in the ICT industry increases as the economy grows. Without controlling any other factors, we found GDP increases by 0.4% when ICT investment increases by 1%. However, in the short term, only ICT leads to GDP growth. Therefore, the recent stagnation in ICT investment experienced in South Korea could negatively affect the economic growth of Korea in the short run, and hence, in the long-run, if it should become prolonged. The ICT investment strategy revealed from this study is especially useful to policy-makers who plan the economic growth in South Korea and other ICT-advanced countries because promoting ICT utilization across all sectors requires putting legal and policy mechanisms in place.     

第二价格密封拍卖理论框架下政府投资项目招投标模式改进研究

在政府投资项目招投标过程中,招标人所面临的最大问题便是与投标人间的信息不对称.招标人发布招标信息,但却难以了解投标人的相关信息,而且由于投标人会利用招标人的信息缺陷寻求更多的利润,有意的陈蔽其真实心理价格几乎成为一种必然选择,在这种情况下,业主怎样突破困境寻找到对自身最有利的报价呢?可以将政府投资项目的招投标过程看作是第二价格密封拍卖的逆向形式,在这种情况下,本着趋利避损的动机,投标人拄往会按照其真实心理价格来报价,使得业主可以较好地克服其信息缺陷,在招标过程中占据主动,从而选择到最适合的承包商,更有效地优化资源配置.     

How to build a strategic network: A practitioner-oriented process model for the ICT sector

One critical success factor for the future will be the ability to build and develop strategic networks. This ability is especially vital in the dynamic information and communication technology (ICT) sector, where the development of competitive offerings often requires a coalition of platform and service providers. However, the academic literature has yet to propose a systematic managerial tool for the strategic network building process. Our distinctive contribution is the development of a practitioner-oriented process model for building a strategic network, which is linked to the resource-based view and the value creation system approach. Moreover, we suggest that instead of being a sequential stage-wise process, the construction of a strategic network can be divided into parallel, although not necessarily simultaneous, sub-processes based on the required value activities in the entire business concept. The resulting network-building model is used to provide managerial suggestions for the efficient construction of strategic business networks.     

ICT technologies in Europe: A study of technological diffusion and economic growth under network theory

The sector of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is one of the key instruments for the development of an economy. The literature emphasizes its capacity for both increasing productivity and generating new sources of income and wealth (5 and 20 among others). Traditionally studies on the ICT sector have focused on the analysis of its economic impact, but not on its capacity as a “bridge” for information and knowledge flows across the economic network. Following Burt's approach (1992) on structural holes, the organization of the economic network defines where and for whom new opportunities lie. The structural hole methodology allows to analyze the capacity of the ICT sector as an enabler of technological diffusion and innovation. The results show that the European ICT sector not only is important for its intermediary role in the flow of information across the economic network, but also for its low level of dependency on other sectors.     

Expropriation and control rights: A dynamic model of foreign direct investment

This paper studies the strategic interaction between a foreign direct investor and a host country. We analyze how the investor can use his control rights to protect his investment if he faces the risk of “creeping expropriation” once his investment is sunk. It is shown that this hold-up problem may cause underinvestment if the outside option of the investor is too weak, and overinvestment if it is too strong. We also analyze the impact of spillover effects, we give a rationale for “tax holidays” and we examine how stochastic returns affect the strategic interaction of investor and host country.     

The psychological context of strategic decisions: A model and convergent experimental findings

Strategic decision-makers typically are involved in a series of incremental decisions, each affected by a variety of contextual factors. This papers develops a model of the psychological context of strategic decisions and reports two experiments. First, students made reinvestment decisions faced with success or failure feedback on a past decision, high or low perceived organizational slack, and decisions framed to depict a positive or negative future outlook. All three variables had main and interactive effects. Second, managers made similar decisions in a related experimental design. Results confirmed and extended the initial findings. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The interaction of the financing and investment decisions: Preliminary results in the Australian context

This paper investigates the presence of the interaction of investment and financing decisions in Australian firms. Using simultaneous equations incorporating the variables of investment, dividend, and new debt issue, interactive effects are found for two sub-periods.     

A basic model for evaluating R&D performance: theory and application in Italy

Nowadays the public R&D laboratories have a fundamental role in countries' development, supporting businesses as they face the technological challenges in the turbulent world scenarios. Measuring the performance of R&D organisations is crucially important to decisions about the level and direction of public funding for research and development. This research considers the public laboratories like systems and develops a mathematical model based on the measurement of R&D activities with k‐indices. The score obtained from the research laboratories evaluation (relev) methodology synthesises in single value financial, scientific and technological aspects. It is an indicator, for R&D manager and policy maker, of performance in relation to other research organisations or in a time series. The method is an instrument of strategic planning and can be used for the improvement of individual activities and the overall performance of public R&D bodies.     

Effects of governance on investment decisions and perceptions of reporting credibility: Investment experience of Taiwanese individual investors

This paper examines the effects of governance strength on individual investors’ investment decisions and their perceptions of the credibility of financial reporting by Taiwanese companies. It also examines whether the investment experience of individual investors influences their perceptions and decisions. Our experimental results show that governance strength enhances the price that individual investors are willing to pay for stocks, along with the perceived credibility of firm reporting. Furthermore, the associations are moderated by the investment experience of individual investors, suggesting that more-experienced individual investors are better able to incorporate governance strength into their judgment than less-experienced individual investors. Additionally, investment experience is positively related to the emphasis that individual investors give to corporate governance information in making investment decisions.     

A customer-driven model of job design: towards a general theory

The considerable debate about the level of discretion that should be accorded workers in performing production tasks has often lacked effective conceptual support. The authors develop a job discretion model based on customer preferences. The model is empirically tested and used to resolve the discretion question and clarify relevant job design and human resource issues.     

Broadband investment and regulation: A literature review

Investment in broadband communications and its infrastructures (the so-called Next Generation Networks) is receiving extraordinary attention from policy makers all over the world, due to the significant impact of high-speed Internet access on the whole economy and society. However, even before the recent financial crises, a dramatic downward trend in telecommunications investment has occurred, mainly due – at least according to incumbent operators – to excessively intrusive regulatory intervention. The typical conflict between regulation, competition and investment emerges. It is therefore important, for both future research and regulatory and practitioners’ references, to review the specialized but growing branch of the literature on this interesting and policy-relevant issue. The purpose of this paper is therefore to survey the relevant theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between regulation, at both retail and wholesale level, and investment in telecoms infrastructures. The picture that emerges is not conclusive, and further research is still needed, both theoretically and empirically, to better understand the real impact of regulatory incentives on investments.     

资本投资公司投融资决策支持体系研究

为提高资本效益,中国油气公司需要加强战略规划和资产管理,推进投资体制改革与投资管理平台建设,建立以资本投资多维评价及优化资产组合管理为核心的规划平台,以实现对投资项目全生命周期的绩效管理,并逐步建立在国有资本投资公司战略规划引领下的投资、融资及资本混合决策支持体系.提出投融资决策支持体系的建设目标和基本框架,进而提出建立投融资决策支持平台的设计思路,即在组织架构上,要在总部建立配套的投融资评估组织体系,在平台上实现各专业部门和职能部门信息和智力资源的共享,逐步形成企业战略和投融资智库;在管理流程上,要根据新的资产组合和综合评价决策门径管理流程,优化信息传递和评价决策流程;在信息系统上,建立基础信息采集与统一多维评价层、全生命周期的资产数据库和项目储备库层以及资产组合集中优选和情景规划工具层的三层结构.在平台应用方面,着重讨论了投融资运作框架、在不同门径前的选择、资源池管理、投融资的资本选择等问题.     

ICT capital and labour productivity growth: A non-parametric analysis of 14 OECD countries

This paper uses a new set of country data for 14 countries, members of the OECD, and a non-parametric approach to provide new evidence on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on labour productivity growth between 1995 and 2005. For the first time, in the present paper a bootstrap approach for the decomposition of labour productivity change, proposed by Kumar and Russell (2002), is employed. This approach permits to conduct statistical inference on the parameters of interest, and to analyse the effects of ICT technologies on capital accumulation. The results confirm the role of ICT as a general purpose technology that needs organisational and business process changes to fully exploit its growth opportunities. The paper also finds out, by applying a non-parametric test, that ICT technologies positively contribute to the generation of convergence clubs in the evolution of labour productivity. Finally, the empirical evidence offers some basic guidance for future policy intervention in supporting ICT capital investments.     

对改进投资项目后评价方法体系的探讨

国内各行业对投资项目后评价工作日益重视,不断加强项目后评价理论方法研究与实践总结。作者结合多年从事项目后评价的工作实际,概述了中国石油在项目后评价方法体系建立与完善方面取得的成果,分析了当前后评价工作中存在的问题,并针对存在的主要问题,在报告编制、指标体系、调研方法、评价方法和数据库建设等方面,对如何进一步改进项目后评价方法体系进行了探讨。