Determinants of commonality in liquidity: Evidence from an order-driven emerging market

Using an extensive, time-series, cross-sectional data-set of actively traded Indian stocks with up to 1.75 million firm-day observations, we discern the key determinants of commonality in liquidity among emerging markets. The paper shows evidence for both supply-side and demand-side factors contributing to liquidity commonality. However, the results are more supportive towards supply-side rationale for liquidity commonality among the firms where regulators and banks play an important source of commonality in liquidity, especially during market turmoil. Results are partially driven by the fact that the Indian stick exchange is an order-driven market. Economic activities like cheap exports and undervalued currency, rather than correlated trading by the institutional investors determine the demand for liquidity. These findings endorse the effect of high firm value, market return, liquidity, volatility, turnover, and alternate proxies of commonality in liquidity estimation.     

Global Engagement and Returns Volatility

This paper finds that a greater reliance on foreign market sales increases the volatility of firms’ stock returns, using high‐frequency data for publicly listed Japanese manufacturing firms over the period 2000–10. The two margins of global engagement we consider, namely, exports and sales via foreign affiliates (horizontal foreign direct investment), have both a positive and economically significant effect on firm‐level volatility. We find, however, that increasing the intensity of sales through foreign affiliates has a stronger effect on volatility than a similar change in export intensity. We also uncover evidence consistent with the notion that firms’ need to use external finance to cover the substantial costs involved in reaching foreign consumers can be an important channel through which firms’ participation in international markets increases their exposure to economic uncertainty.     

Spillover effects on the sectoral returns for australian and New Zealand equity markets

In this paper, we examine the return and volatility spillovers, together with the trend spillovers on the sectoral equity returns for Australian and New Zealand markets. We find that the return spillovers of industrial, local and global shocks have a limited effect on Australian and New Zealand sector returns, whereas the volatility spillovers play a significant role on explaining the volatility of sector equity indices. Furthermore, we discover that the volatility spillover effects of the global and industrial shocks are greater in magnitude for explaining the volatility of the Australian sectors than those of New Zealand, particularly basic materials, oil and gas, technology and telecom sectors. By employing the trend spillover model, we find that the volatility spillover effects of global sector indices have been increasing over the volatility of the Australian sectoral returns until now. This finding proposes that Australian sector equity market is more integrated with the world than the New Zealand counterpart.     

News and noise: do investors react to stock split announcements differently during periods of high and low market volatility?

In this paper, we find evidence that stock split announcements have a greater wealth effect when market volatility, as measured by the VIX index, is low. This effect is driven primarily by small firms. These results support the hypothesis that when market volatility is high, signals sent by small firms are more likely to be obscured by noise than when market volatility is low.     

Firms in financial distress: evidence from inter-firm payment networks with volatility driven by ‘animal spirits’

This paper elaborates an agent-based model of a pure market economy to provide theoretical evidence on how volatility-induced changes in inter-firm payment networks affect the financial distress of firms. This volatility is driven by ‘animal spirits’ in that it arises from the feelings of optimism/pessimism independently of rational decision-making, and influences the liquidity available to each firm through the inter-firm payment network; consequently, some firms may enter financial distress. The model first determines the inter-firm payment network. Then, a mean-reverting square-root process introduces volatility into the inter-firm payment network through firms’ propensity to pay suppliers according to the payments that firms expect to receive from customers. The model is calibrated for compatibility with relevant macro- and microeconomic stylized facts. According to computational experiments, financial distress in the business sector is minimized when feelings of optimism/pessimism generate the lowest volatility in firms’ propensity to pay suppliers. In addition, this volatility must materialize around an intermediate value of firms’ propensity to pay suppliers, and firms must keep this intermediate value over time.

     

The effectiveness of price-stabilizing share buybacks: Evidence from listed firms in Vietnam

The majority of share buybacks in Vietnam involve the sole stated purpose of price stabilization. Using a sample of repurchases announced in 2008–2016 and control firms based on propensity score matching, we find the Vietnamese repurchases to be effective in stabilizing prices and enhancing liquidity. Utilizing the special disclosure features in Vietnam that allow clearly-defined sub-windows of pre-trading, trading, and post-trading, we further examine the different mechanisms of market reactions and actual firm buyback transactions in the buyback process. We document significantly higher abnormal returns over the pre-trading window driven by market reactions, and improved liquidity and reduced volatility over the firm’s actual transaction window for the buyback firms. We also report a significant moderating effect of target shares announced and actual shares repurchased depending on the sub-window under examination. We do not find any evidence of effectiveness in the post-trading window or over a longer-term beyond the buyback period.     

Is market learning the missing link between family involvement – firm performance relationship? A resource-based perspective

Drawing on previous literature on proposing that there exists a positive relationship between family involvement and firm performance, this study refines the explanatory role of market learning in explaining the relationship between family involvement and firm performance to be conditional to firm age and environmental turbulence. The data from 344 small-medium enterprises show that family involvement is positively related to market exploitation while family involvement is negatively related to market exploration as family firms age. Also, we provide empirical evidence that family involvement is positively related to firm performance in turbulent environments through market exploration irrespective of the firm’s age. Conversely, family involvement is positively related to firm performance through market exploitation in less turbulent environments irrespective of firm age. This study provides empirical evidence of the market exploration and exploitation capabilities may be the capabilities that glue family involvement to firm performance.     

The impact of option listing on the price volatility and trading volume of underlying OTC stocks

This paper examines the impact of an initial option listing on the price volatility and trading volume of underlying OTC stocks. The sample is divided by market value to determine whether larger firms are impacted differently by option listing than smaller firms. We find relative trading volume increases significantly, with the small and medium market value firms showing the largest gain. However, the tests show no evidence of changes in price volatility following option listing. No significant changes were found in either the firms' betas or variance following option initiation. The results provide further evidence that option listing does not destabilize the market for the underlying stock.     

Simultaneous search with heterogeneous firms and ex post competition

In this paper we study the allocation of workers over high and low productivity firms in a labor market with coordination frictions. Specifically, we consider a search model where workers can apply to high and or low productivity firms. Firms that compete for the same candidate can increase their wage offers as often as they like. We show that if workers apply to two jobs, there is a unique symmetric equilibrium where workers mix between sending both applications to the high and sending both to the low productivity sector. But, efficiency requires that they apply to both sectors because a higher matching rate in the high-productivity sector can then be realized with fewer applications (and consequently fewer coordination frictions) if workers always accept the offer of the most productive firm. However, in the market the worker's payoff is determined by how much the firm with the second highest productivity is willing to bid. This is what prevents them from applying to both sectors. For many configurations, the equilibrium outcomes are the same under directed and random search so our results are not driven by random search. We discuss the effects of increasing the number of applications and show that our results can easily be generalized to N-firms.     

What drives the liquidity premium in the Chinese stock market?

This paper examines the dynamics of the liquidity premium in the Chinese stock market by adopting a multivariate decomposition approach to measure the individual contributions of various driving forces of the premium (such as firm size, idiosyncratic volatility, and market liquidity betas). By employing a wide range of liquidity measures, we show that liquidity premium is generally significant in the Chinese stock market. Furthermore, this premium is increasing in recent years starting from 2011; this observation is different from the United States market, in which the premium has declined over the years. Moreover, the multivariate decomposition approach highlights several asset pricing factors as the main driving forces of the premium. Based on the Amihud liquidity measure, the decomposition approach indicates that the size factor contributes 45–65% to the liquidity premium. However, the measure based on turnover suggests that idiosyncratic volatility accounts for at least 60% of the liquidity premium. In contrast, the global market liquidity beta does not significantly contribute to the premium. However, there is some evidence that the local market liquidity beta has become more significant in its impact on the premium during the period from 2011 to 2015. Our results imply that the findings on the liquidity premium in the Chinese stock market could be sensitive to the liquidity measure used and period of analysis.     

Managing People and Technology for Enhancing Competitiveness

Abstract

Technology underpins business. This is evident in service sectors like the software industry, which is global in nature. The management of technology is well known in the software industry, where software professionals are the key enabler and knowledge carriers. The performance of the firm depends on the effective management of the technology by its workforce. Indian software industry is well known for its skilled software professionals and their technological knowledge to handle the domestic market and global projects as well. However, the global market share of Indian software industry is less than two percent. With such a dismal market share, can the Indian software industry call itself a global player? In view of this, there is a need to re-look into the strategies for sustainable and healthy industry. This paper discusses two key issues, people and technology, for enhancing the competitiveness of the software industry of India. The article also presents two case studies dealing with the issues related to the people and technology and examines how software firms explore the technology advantages in software development Operations.     

R&D and Tobin's q in an emerging financial market: the case of the Athens Stock Exchange

This paper aims at providing further evidence on the consequences of R&D investment on Tobin's q for firms publicly traded in an emerging financial market. Panel data methodology is applied using data for the manufacturing and computer firms listed in the Athens Stock Exchange, a market classified as emerging by the major securities analysts, for the period 1996–2004. The empirical findings show first, that the Greek firms' R&D investment effect on the market value of a firm is consistent with other US and European studies. Second, the impact of the R&D investment on the market value is higher for small firms. The findings of this paper may have significant industrial and technological policy implications for other emerging markets sharing similar characteristics to Greece. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Option introduction and insider trading in the NASDAQ/NMS equity market

This paper investigates and supports the hypothesis that insiders have an incentive to shift their informed trading activities when options initially are listed for a firm. Firm size is found to be related to the level of insider trading activity. There is a significant decrease in insider equity-market volume for the smallest third of firms, a significant increase in insider-equity market volume for the middle third of firms, and a significant decrease in insider equity-market volume for the largest third of firms. This supports the hypothesis of a difference in the degree of impact on equity volume upon option introduction based upon firm size. This research provides additional evidence of informed trading activities when option introduction, insider trading, and firm size are considered simultaneously.     

Using CARRX models to study factors affecting the volatilities of Asian equity markets

The range of daily asset prices is often used as a measure of volatility. Using a CARRX (conditional autoregressive range with exogenous variables) model, and the parsimony principle, the paper investigates the factors affecting the volatilities of Asian equity markets. Since the beginning of the new Century, emerging Asian markets such as Taiwan and Shanghai have been undergoing various stages of financial globalization. The volatility of the equity market may not be explained solely by its own dynamics. In this paper, we examine volatility using the following factors: (i) lagged returns; (ii) lagged absolute returns; (iii) own trading volume; (iv) U.S. factors; (v) European factors; and (vi) regional (Asian) factors. Points (i) and (iii) are by and large significant, while (ii) is not. Controlling for (i), (ii) and (iii), we find evidence that the volatility of European markets has spillovers on to both the Taiwan and Tokyo markets, mild evidence that the volatility of the U.S. market has spillovers on to the Hong Kong market, but there are no spillovers from the European or U.S. markets on to the Shanghai market.     

Positive IVOL-MAX effect: A study on the Singapore Stock Market

This paper demonstrates a positive and significant IVOL effect in the Singapore Stock Market meaning that the highly volatile stocks are showing better returns in the subsequent month. More explicitly, there is a strong positive relationship between stock’s idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) and its subsequent month’s return in the Singapore equity market. This positive IVOL effect is stronger only for small market-statistic firms. But for the Large capital firms, the positive IVOL effect is insignificant. In addition, this paper shows that the relationship between maximum daily return over a month (MAX) and the subsequent month’s return is positive and significant in this market. However, IVOL is the true effect of this market rather than MAX.     

The block metric and the law of markets

The “Law of Markets” as originally stated by Fetter and amended by Hyson and Hyson is based on the assumption that the transportation of goods is along a line segment from firm to customer. In many situations the assumption that transportation is along a block-like network of roads is a better approximation of reality. In this paper we establish the “law of markets” appropriate to the block metric. We discover that with such a metric there exist significant discontinuities in a firm's demand functions and we argue that these discontinuities have important implications for the types of competitive strategies open to firms.     

An empirical analysis of the Carbon Financial Instrument

This study provides an empirical investigation of the price volatility—trading volume relationship for the Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI). A CFI is a financial contract that is traded on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and represents the right to emit 100 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent. CFI contracts differ from one another on the basis of their allocation year to CCX member firms, referred to as their respective Vintage year. We provide evidence indicating a positive contemporaneous relationship between price changes and trading volume for the different CFI Vintage contracts. Employing bivariate VAR models that adjust for trade duration, we find that CFI price volatility and trading volume are persistent across time. Furthermore, we provide evidence indicating that lagged volume increases price volatility, in addition to lagged price volatility increasing trading volume levels in the CCX market. Our results are in agreement with prior research documenting significant positive price volatility—volume relationships in traditional equity markets.     

Who Creates Stable Jobs? Evidence from Brazil

Recent research shows that start‐ups are important for job creation, but these firms are also inherently volatile. We use linked employer–employee data to examine the relative importance of firm age and firm size for job creation and destruction in Brazil. Firm age is a more important determinant of job creation in Brazil than firm size; young firms and start‐ups create a relatively high number of jobs. However, young firms are also more likely to exit the market and have higher levels of employment volatility. We, therefore, condition the job creation analysis on job stability. Young firms and large firms create relatively more stable jobs in Brazil.     

Environmental sustainability orientation and performance of family and nonfamily firms

Despite the growing research evidence on the effect of environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) on firm outcomes, contingent factors that may influence the strength of this relationship have received little scholarly attention. In this study, we use insights from the literature on ESO and family business to introduce family status and firm age as moderators in the ESO‐performance linkage. Using time‐lagged data from 253 small and medium‐sized enterprises in Ghana, we found the impact of ESO on firm performance is amplified for nonfamily firms but not significant for family firms. Our evidence suggests it is stronger among older firms than younger ones. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.