The impact of proximity within elite corporate networks on the Shariah governance-firm performance nexus: Evidence from the global Shariah elite

Research shows the importance of social networks in the generation of valuable firm resources through informational flows. We extend this conceptualization to Shariah governance and the global Shariah elite as embodied by the Shariah supervisory board. Utilizing a unique dataset of 140 Islamic financial institutions over 2011–2015, across 16 nations, we find that interlocking behavior amongst Shariah supervisory boards is time-invariant and network proximity has an inverted U-shaped curvilinear impact on the performance of Islamic financial institutions. Our findings extend the academic literature on SSB interlocking behavior by disentangling the impact of network proximity on the Shariah governance-firm performance nexus.     

The combination of contracts in Shariah: A possible mechanism for product development in Islamic banking and finance

The combination of contracts is a potential mechanism of product development in Islamic finance. However, this concept encounters legal issues due to ahadith that prohibit two contracts in one deal. The article argues for the validity of combining two or more contracts to structure Shariah‐compliant products. It discusses many aspects of combination of contracts, including terminologies and purposes of the con‐tracts, the degree of uncertainty and ambiguity, and the nature of the bargain in the contracts combined. If the contracts combined pass the tests established by legal prin‐ciples, there will be no legal objection to combine such contracts into one deal. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategies to offset performance failures: The role of brand equity

In this research, we examine the role of brand equity as a strategy to offset the negative effects of a performance failure. Two independent studies, spanning four industries and involving 669 respondents are employed to investigate this issue. Results suggest that high brand equity leads to more favorable satisfaction evaluations and behavioral intentions than low brand equity. The brand equity effect is identified as a prevailing advantage that spans the entire failure and recovery sequence. This is an important finding because it implies that the advantages of high brand equity theoretically can apply to all failures, not just those for which recovery is attempted. Further inspection, however, reveals that despite the prevailing advantage, high-equity brand failures lead to a more drastic decline in customer evaluations immediately after the failure episode. Managerial implications and future research are addressed.     

The influence of business groups on board composition in offshore financial multinational enterprises

Based on resource dependence theory we argue for an influence of business groups (BGs) on the board composition of constituent offshore financial multinational enterprises (FMNEs). Using a unique sample of 171 Caribbean FMNEs in an inter-island BG setting, we find BGs’ control in constituent firms to be indicative of the importance of the internal financing and intermediation within the group network. This control leads to a higher proportion of lawyers hired to the boards of directors in BG-constituent firms and supports the argument that lawyers provide skills in complex offshore regulatory frameworks that facilitate BGs’ optimal tax management. Furthermore, we observe that an increased adoption of shareholder rights governance by BG-constituent firms is associated with increased engagement with outside resource providers, increased potential conflicts of interest and hence a need for hiring more lawyers. Our interpretation is that offshore FMNEs have a need for more lawyers, whose legal skill is critical to the competitive advantage of FMNEs.     

Customer portfolio composition and customer equity feedback effects: Student diversity and acquisition in educational communities

Researchers in marketing have long recognized that current populations of customers can influence the behavior of prospective customers. This paper draws on existing marketing theories to empirically examine how changes in student body demographic segments influence future demand for MBA programs. Using a longitudinal analysis of data spanning 18 years, we find that higher proportion of female students leads to significant increases in future applications. This implies a marketing rationale for business schools in encouraging gender diversity. In contrast, we find evidence of prejudice towards minority and international students among business school applicants. We discuss the results of the analysis in the context of the current affirmative action debate and changes in demographic trends.     

The relationship of board member diversity to organizational performance

Wider diversity in board member characteristics has been advocated as a means of improving organizational performance by providing boards with new insights and perspectives. With data from 240 YMCA organizations, a board diversity index was constructed and compared to multiple measures of board member diversity. Results revealed higher levels of social performance and fundraising results when board members had greater occupational diversity. Gender diversity compared favorably to the organization's level of social performance but a negative association surfaced for level of funds raised. The diversity in board member age groupings was linked to higher levels of donations.     

The performance of socially responsible equity mutual funds: Evidence from Sweden

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of socially responsible (SR) funds in Sweden by assessing fund managers' abilities and performances across different market states. These issues are analyzed at the aggregate and individual fund levels. The paper also presents several new statistical tests that allow more precise inferences about differences in performance and the variability in fund returns arising from different benchmarks. In general, SR and conventional funds perform similarly to the market. At the aggregate level, SR funds investing in Sweden and Europe perform similarly to conventional funds, while those investing globally tend to underperform. This underperformance seems to be linked with poor selectivity abilities of global SR fund managers. For individual funds, the performance of both types of funds is more similar. Most funds perform similarly in crisis periods compared to non‐crisis periods. Overall, our results are consistent with a mature market for SR investing and support the view that the similar performance of SR and conventional funds is associated with the mainstreaming of SR investment in Sweden. These findings encourage SR investing both by socially conscious investors, who wish to align their social values with their investment decisions, as well as by conventional investors, who will not be penalized by investing in these funds. We also call attention to the difficulties investors face when trying to identify funds with high social standards, considering that there is scarce information on the extent to which each fund (SR or conventional) holds stocks that comply with ethical and social criteria.     

The pre‐eminence of gold and silver as Shariah money

Shariah money is gold and silver, supplied by the market on profit criterion. Everywhere, government inconvertible paper money arose from bankruptcy. A government with balanced budgets would never need it. Imposed by force, inconvertible paper is a taxation mean, highly inflationary, and causes impoverishment. Unjust and bankrupt governments will continue to force this despotic money. Islamic Monetary Economics refutes the idea of money as a policy tool. Fully convertible paper is Shariah compliant. Shariah requires a just government to balance its budgets and restore fully gold and silver as lawful money.     

组织信任氛围对任务绩效的作用途径

This paper explores the mechanism by which trust climate influences individual performance. From the perspective of psychological dynamics, we investigate the relationship among perceptions of organizational climate, motivation and individual behaviors to crystallize how a trustworthy organizational environment favors superior individual performance. 203 employees and their supervisors participated in this study, the results show that trust climate benefits individual performance through fostering psychological safety, which in turn influences individual performance via two mutually complementary pathways, namely ability to focus and organizational learning. Psychological safety is conducive to increasing individual ability to focus and improving job performance. Moreover, it is also instrumental in enhancing individual willingness to learn and experiment with new methods as an effort to achieve superior performance. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed. __________ Translated and revised from Xinli kexue xuebao 心理科学学报 (Acta Psychologica Sinica), 2007, 39(6): 1111–1121     

Country-of-origin effects and antecedents of industrial brand equity

Does the country-of-origin effect matter to industrial brand equity in international business-to-business (B2B) markets? The effect of a product's country-of-origin (COO) on both industrial buyers' and consumers' perceptions and evaluations has been one of the most widely studied phenomena in the fields of international business, marketing, and consumer behavior since the 1960s. Although many country-of-origin studies focus on consumer behavior in developed countries and acknowledge that the processes and stages of economic development by which consumers use COO information may differ in developing countries, the fact that there has been little research to investigate the effects of COO could explain the variations in international buyers' evaluations of industrial brand equity in the newly-industrialized economies, such as Taiwan. Taiwanese firms are now formidable global B2B market players by successfully transforming themselves from manufacturing mainly low-value and labor-intensive goods to producing many high value-added products that require advanced technology, equipment and significant business expertise. With the adoption of advanced technology and equipment, an important question is whether unique and innovative fastener products from Taiwan have generated the country-of-origin effects in international B2B buyers' minds. The main finding is that the country-of-origin of fasteners has not yet become an important antecedent of industrial brand equity in the case of the fastener industry in Taiwan.     

Market performance of options on the Chicago board options exchange

Unproven assertions about potential option returns have accompanied increased interest in option trading since formation of the CBOE. This paper presents an analysis of return distributions from buying and selling CBOE options. Generally, buying options resulted in returns that were negative and lower than returns from buying the underlying stocks. Average returns from writing covered options exceeded returns from buying both options and stocks. Commissions and taxes shifted location of return distributions for all three investments, particularly reducing returns from buying options.     

Evaluating the performance of global emerging markets equity exchange-traded funds

We examine the performance of passively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that provide exposure to global emerging markets equities. We find that the tracking errors of these funds are substantially higher than previously reported levels for developed markets ETFs. ETFs that use statistical index replication techniques turn out to be especially prone to high tracking errors, and particularly so during periods of high cross-sectional dispersion in stock returns. At the same time, we find no convincing evidence that these funds earn higher returns than ETFs that rely on full-replication techniques.     

润滑油基础油组成对其性能的影响

介绍了润滑油基础油的组成和目前研究结构组成所用的分析方法,通过分析基础油的结构组成对性能的影响,指出哪些烃类是基础油的理想组分,并从结构组成的角度分析了不同基础油性质的差异,提出未来基础油研究和生产的发展方向。     

Exchange-listing effects on a firm's cost of equity capital

Matched pairs (based on asset size and industry) of a sample of exchange-listed and over-the-counter (OTC) firms are utilized to test for the existence of a statistically significant difference between them with respect to their cost of equity capital. It is found that exchange-listed firm's cost of equity capital (alternatively measured by the systematic risk and the total risk associated with a firm's rate of return) is significantly less than that of comparable OTC firms.     

Sports sponsorship effects on customer equity: an Asian market application

The authors of this study investigate sponsorship effects on customers in Korea and China, specifically to determine whether current sponsorship research applies to Asian countries and whether the model is significantly different between Korea and China. For this purpose, 251 Koreans and 309 Chinese participated in a survey. The findings suggest that appropriate fit between the sponsor and the sports event enhances brand loyalty and customer equity by positively influencing attitude toward the sponsor and brand image. However, in China, the sponsor's fit did not directly impact brand image. As expected, sporting event experience search positively affects attitudes toward the sponsoring brand, which enhances brand image. Koreans' more favourable attitude toward the sponsoring brand positively influences their brand preference, but favourable attitude does not significantly affect Chinese consumers' perceived congruency with a product. Brand image positively impacted brand preference, and therefore confirms brand personality's congruence effect in both countries. Both brand image and brand preference directly and positively enabled brand loyalty to develop more favourable customer equity. Koreans, however, showed higher effects in the relationships between brand image and brand loyalty and between brand loyalty and customer equity.     

关于股权激励制度的理性思考

股权激励作为公司的一种创新激励机制,在改善公司治理结构,最大程度的调动人力资源积极性,引导公司健康运转方面具有重要意义.然而当前形势下,对于股权激励机制的基本理论及其功效,应有更清晰的认识.文章指出,应认真审视股权激励机制在我国发展的基本情况,完善相关法律、法规及配套制度,从而使股权激励制度的正效用得以充分发挥.     

The impact of brand health on customer equity

This paper aims at studying the interactions between brand and customer assets over the long-term. Through the application of a new behavioural measure called the brand health index (BHI) we examine the impact of brand health on customer equity, and its mediating impact on the advertising-customer equity relationship. Three services industries, department stores, airlines, and banking, were studied from 2001 to 2012. The results show that brand health has a positive impact on customer equity, although the magnitude of the BHI impact varies across different industries. Moreover it was demonstrated that brand health mediates the impact of advertising on customer equity.     

The effects of managerial attitudes to design on company performance

Central to current thinking on what makes companies competitive is the notion that “it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it”. The way a task is carried out in a company is itself very much related to the attitudes and opinions of the company's managers. This article focuses on top managers’ attitudes to product design and shows which ones are related to superior competitive performance. An examination of the attitudes shows that there are seven basic managerial orientations to design. The most successful orientation is called the “balanced orientation” and consists of attitudes that underpin a commitment to leading the field technically and making developments market‐relevant.     

The effects of industry cluster knowledge management on innovation performance

Research on industrial clusters mostly focuses on the effects of the competitive advantage they generate. This study takes a different approach, conducting empirical research on three types of Taiwanese parks (export processing zones, industrial zones, and science parks), in which economic development is particularly prominent, and which have industry cluster characteristics. The study explores the effects of special resources and relationships among cluster firms on innovation performance, and focuses on knowledge management as the mediator for investigation. A survey, regression analysis, and correlation analysis probe into the effects of the special resources and relationships among industrial clusters on corporate knowledge management and innovation performance. Knowledge management emerges as the mediator of industry clusters in terms of corporate innovation performance, thus providing support for the research hypotheses. The findings of this study are valuable for further research and strategic thinking on the sustainability of corporate operations.