Gender Diversity in the Boardroom and Firm Financial Performance

The monitoring role performed by the board of directors is an important corporate governance control mechanism, especially in countries where external mechanisms are less well developed. The gender composition of the board can affect the quality of this monitoring role and thus the financial performance of the firm. This is part of the “business case” for female participation on boards, though arguments may also be framed in terms of ethical considerations. While the issue of board gender diversity has attracted growing research interest in recent years, most empirical results are based on U.S. data. This article adds to a growing number of non-U.S. studies by investigating the link between the gender diversity of the board and firm financial performance in Spain, a country which historically has had minimal female participation in the workforce, but which has now introduced legislation to improve equality of opportunities. We investigate the topic using panel data analysis and find that gender diversity – as measured by the percentage of women on the board and by the Blau and Shannon indices – has a positive effect on firm value and that the opposite causal relationship is not significant. Our study suggests that investors in Spain do not penalise firms which increase their female board membership and that greater gender diversity may generate economic gains.     

企业社会绩效对财务绩效的影响机制

随着全球经济的发展,企业规模不断扩大,企业在经济和社会中的影响力逐渐增强。伴随着企业地位的提升,企业所应承担的责任问题逐渐成为人们关注的热点。     

企业社会绩效对财务绩效的影响机制

随着全球经济的发展,企业规模不断扩大,企业在经济和社会中的影响力逐渐增强。伴随着企业地位的提升,企业所应承担的责任问题逐渐成为人们关注的热点。Friedman(1962)认为企业唯一的责任就是创造利润,任何违背企业利润最大化的行为都会侵犯股东、消费者或雇员的权益。     

Social Performance and Firm Risk: Impact of the Financial Crisis

This paper examines the impact of the recent financial crisis (2008–2009) on the relation between a firm’s risk and social performance (SP) using a sample of non-financial U.S. firms covering the period 1991–2012. We find that the relation between SP and risk is significantly different in the crisis period (post-crisis period) compared to the pre-crisis period. SP reduces volatility during the financial crisis. The risk reduction potential of SP is mainly due to the strengths component of SP. Since the relation of risk is stronger with SP strengths than SP concerns, this implies an asymmetric relation between these SP components and a firm’s risk. Specifically, strengths act as a risk reduction tool during an adverse economic environment.     

Board Committee Meetings and Firm Financial Performance: An Investigation of Australian Companies

This article examines how the frequency of board committee meetings impacts on Australian firms' financial performance. Data were collected from 118 Australian listed companies – including 26 financial firms and 92 nonfinancial firms – for the period 1999–2007. Analysis of that data shows that the frequencies of audit committee meetings and remuneration committee meetings are positively and significantly associated with return on equity and return on assets. The frequencies of risk committee meetings do not show any significant effects on the financial performance of Australian firms. Estimated results are found to be robust after controlling for internal as well as external governance mechanisms that might affect Australian firm performance.     

Linking Mission to Learning Activities for Assurance of Learning

Can accreditation-related requirements and mission statements measure learning outcomes? This study focuses on triangulating accreditation-related requirements with mission statements and learning activities to learning outcomes. This topic has not been comprehensively explored in the past. After looking into the requirements of AACSB, ISO, and the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (QF), “mission/objective/goal/outcome, improvement, learning, activities, review, and consistent” were identified as the key elements which can be applied to designing learning activities with a teaching log. From teachers' observations and studying the reflections of learners, it was found that “Ability, Affection, All-round Development and Appreciation” improved to align with the elements of the mission statement “Capable and Caring.” It was found that guest lectures by academics and industry practitioners can also help nurture learners' overall development. These findings are of great value as a mission statement is intended to lead to action and continuous improvement; and accreditation exercises involve mission verification and validation. Longitudinal studies of a similar nature are suggested to further test the findings of the present study.     

Corruption,Types of Corruption and Firm Financial Performance: New Evidence from a Transitional Economy

Using a nationwide survey of provincial institutional quality and a sample of private manufacturing small and medium scale enterprises (the SMEs), this paper contributes to the literature by considering for the first time the effects of corruption on the financial performance of Vietnamese private SMEs. Interestingly, contrary to previous findings, we find that corruption when measured by a dummy variable, does not affect firms’ financial performance after controlling for heterogeneity, simultaneity and dynamic endogeneity. However, the intensity of bribery and the majority of the forms of corruption were found to have negative impacts on firms’ financial performance. Hence, a typical approach using only a dummy variable for bribery might not adequately evaluate the impact of bribe intensity or even ignores the negative impacts of some types of bribes on firms’ financial performance. The findings suggest that anti-corruption measures are vital for the development of the Vietnamese private SMEs.     

Supply Chain Management Competency and Firm Financial Success

Supply chain management (SCM) plays a major role in creating (or destroying) shareholder value by influencing the three major drivers of firm financial performance: revenue, operating costs, and working capital. Yet, the relationship between SCM competency and firm financial performance is not well‐established. Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm, this study assesses this relationship using Delphi‐style opinion data from AMR Research’s Supply Chain Top 25 rankings to assess SCM competency and Altman’s (1968) Z‐score statistic as the measure of financial success. The study findings show that firms recognized by industry experts for SCM competency have significantly higher Z‐scores than their close competitors and industry averages.     

Financial Access and Firm Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa

The paper investigates the effect of access to finance on the productivity of manufacturing firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. With the aid of the Semi-parametric approach by Levinsohn and Petrin, findings reveal that access to a cost-effective line of credit/loan or an overdraft facility has a positive effect on firm productivity. The study, therefore, concludes that it is of outmost benefit for firms to acquire credit facilities for more productive projects and that the credit constraints firms in Africa face should be significantly relaxed.     

基于战略视角的农村金融区域供给考量

农村经济结构的调整、农业产业的升级引起金融供给结构的变化,农村金融必须从战略的高度考量区域金融供给的目标和重点,把握金融发展与改革的政策取向。在财政支农支出有限,城市带动农村的能力短期内不可能迅速提升的现实条件下,发展农业生产必须寻求国家财政金融政策的特殊支持,在用活各种金融政策与各种金融手段的合力上作文章。     

The Impact of Forest Certification on Firm Financial Performance in Canada and the U.S.

The purpose of this article is to examine empirically the impact of environmental certification on firm financial performance (FP). The main question is whether there is a “green premium” for certified firms, and, if so, for what kind of certification. We analyze the short-run and the long-run stock price performance using an event-study methodology on a sample of Canadian and U.S. firms. The results of short-run event abnormal returns indicate that forest certification does not have any significant impact on firm FP regardless of the certification system carried out by firms. Unlike the short-run results, the long-run post-event abnormal returns suggest that forest certification has, on average, a negative impact on firm FP. However, the impact of forest certification on firm FP depends on who grants the certification, since only industry-led certification (Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Canadian Standards Association and ISO14001) are penalized by financial markets, whereas non-governmental organizations–led Forest Stewardship Council certification is not.     

会计报表非环接观念问题的探讨

会计报表的编制分为环接观念与非环接观念。环接观念根据侧重点不同又可分为以利润表为中心的环接观念和以资产负债表为中心的环接观念。现行会计报表的编制为环接观念,存在不重视资产负债表项目的经济属性、不注重资产与负债的计量等问题。非环接观念可使资产负债表与利润表保持独立性,为报表使用者提供与决策相关的信息,应是会计报表的未来发展趋势     

从战略管理角度透视财务管理目标

运用战略管理的基本理论 ,在分析现行理论界关于财务管理目标的不足之处的基础上 ,提出了财务管理的新的目标———战略计划期利润最大化。     

公司治理机制与财务业绩:效率还是盈利

本文基于杜邦分析体系(DuPontAnalysis),以我国资本市场在2002-2004年期间的上市公司年度数据为研究样本,实证检验了公司治理水平的提高对促进企业绩效增长的实现路径。研究表明,上市公司的治理水平越高,高管人员也就越加重视通过公司内部资源整合、完善营销策略和客户管理等方式提高资产营运效率。而且公司治理水平对改善企业绩效的影响并没有突出体现在努力提高主营业务收入或降低生产成本环节,而主要是通过加强资产管理和提高营运效率来实现的。     

企业信息化、知识共享与企业绩效

本文通过问卷调查的方式收集企业信息化、知识共享和企业绩效的相关数据,检验了企业信息化对企业绩效的影响以及知识共享在二者关系中的作用。研究表明,企业信息化不仅与企业绩效的提升显著正相关,而且还可通过知识共享的中介作用间接影响企业绩效的提升。本文研究对理解企业信息化建设和应用过程中的知识管理行为提供了一个新的视角。     

Board of Director Quality and Firm Performance

This paper aims to shed light on the relationship between the quality of the individuals on a firm's board of directors and performance. It reports the results of an empirical study of a sample of Fortune 1000 firms. The findings suggest that quality boards, as measured by the average number of board seats held by each director, are associated with quality firms, as measured by both accounting and market performance.     

Brand Firm Performance and Tough Economic Times

Negative income shocks may cause lower consumption and a switch in consumption from brand to non‐brand products as consumers economize on price (Larkin 2013 ). This switch can also be the result of the vigorous promotion of private label products (Lamey et al. 2012 ). However, dedicated customers and conspicuous consumption (Veblen 1899 ; Berger and Ward 2010 ) can mitigate or even neutralize these effects on brand firms. Consistent with the notion that enduring consumption by brand customers has a stronger effect, we find that compared with non‐brand firms, brand firms performed better in and recovered quicker from the difficult economic times of the late 2000s.     

Alternative Marketing Strategies for Spillover Benefits:

In spite of world-wide movements towards market systems, public provision and subsidy still dominate those industries which produce goods and services whose consumption yields spillover or external benefits. After briefly critiquing some assumptions and outcomes of such non-market policies as direct subsidy, compulsory exchange, public provision, and access control, the paper discusses alternative marketing strategies for spillover benefits in two industries: business education and the theatrical arts. Horizontal cooperative promotion appears to be a viable Strategy for marketing the spillover benefits of business education. The use of matching agents and price bundling appear to be promising strategies for marketing the spillover benefits from the consumption of theatrical events. Although many such spillover benefits are uncertain and symbolic, the establishment of property rights in these benefits may help facilitate the use of marketing alternatives to non-market policies.     

在职消费、员工工资与企业绩效

利用2003-2008年上市公司数据,本文研究了管理者在职消费和员工工资之间的关系,并深入探讨了以员工工资为传导机制条件下在职消费对企业绩效的影响。本文发现,无论在国有企业还是民营企业,在职消费和企业员工工资都显著正相关,这说明管理者在职消费的同时也提高了员工工资,实证支持了高管吃肉,员工喝汤的社会现象。同时,本文还进一步证明,对于国有企业来说,在职消费具有激励作用,不过在职消费的激励作用随着员工工资的增加而显著降低,这说明高管给员工发放较多工资并不是以实现股东财富最大化为目标,而是建立在高管损害股东利益的基础之上,经理层为了自身利益拉拢员工会增加企业的成本。对于民营企业来说,在职消费不存在这种作用机制。