Asset pricing for inefficient markets: Evidence from China and India

Over last four decades, evidence of market inefficiencies has been widely documented by several scholars for all major stock markets in the globe. Chinese and Indian markets are not exempt. Inefficiencies in these markets are described by many authors as roots of all mispricing. Mispricing might be the outcome of application of familiar asset pricing models which may mislead an investor into adopting inappropriate policies for his new investments or for reallocating his old investments. In an alternative approach, we propose a transformation on original market returns in the objective of relaxing the strong assumption of market efficiency behind application of an asset pricing model. This modification will widen the scope of rational models on asset pricing ranging from an efficient to an inefficient market.     

Worker Appropriation as Responsibility and Right

Discussion of worker rights often focuses on the right to associate freely and bargain collectively. Such rights may not be achievable in globalized labor markets when workers do not appropriate the value they add. Relationships in which workers either participate in the management of the enterprise or directly appropriate their own surplus are more common than is generally understood. Recent work in economic philosophy provides an inalienable right for workers to collectively appropriate the fruits of their labor. Given the general failure of existing corporate governance systems, the case for worker appropriation as both responsibility and right is both practical and strong.     

Asymmetric information and inside management trading in the Chinese market

Insider trading incentives have been widely examined in stock markets, but mainly in developed countries. Given the fact that the volatility of stock exchange markets in emerging economies is typically even higher, there is a need for research to explore the extent to which information asymmetry plays a role in management trading incentives in emerging economies. To address this research need, this study examines management trading incentives in relation to investment efficiency in Chinese listed firms on the main board and on the small- to medium-enterprises (SME) board in the period 2006 to 2017. We find that executives buy shares when firms’ investments are more efficient. The frequency of management buying also increases with investment efficiency. However, managers do not sell their shares according to firms’ investment efficiency. Moreover, executives of firms listed on the main board trade more on the asymmetric information of investment efficiency than those on the SME board.     

WHAT DO ECONOMISTS TELL US ABOUT VENTURE CAPITAL CONTRACTS?

Abstract.  Venture capital markets are characterized by multiple incentive problems and asymmetric information. Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists enter into contracts that influence their behaviour and mitigate the agency costs. In particular, they select an appropriate kind and structure of financing and specify the rights as well as the duties of both parties. The typical features of venture capital investments are an intensive screening and evaluation process, active involvement of venture capitalists in their portfolio companies, staging of capital infusions, use of special financing instruments such as convertible debt or convertible preferred stock, syndication among venture capitalists or limited investment horizon.     

International Tax Issues Surrounding Cross-Border Security Investments, Including Implications of Recent Revisions of the U.S. Tax Code

This article demonstrates how international tax considerations can affect international security investments. The investor who ignores international tax factors puts himself at a disadvantage relative to those who are atuned to international tax developments. Similarly, financial managers interested in successfully raising funds in foreign capital markets would do well to examine the tax implications of their international security offerings from the target investor's viewpoint.     

Barriers to investment in the informal venture capital sector

Much of the government intervention into the market ‘gap’ for start-up and early-stage equity finance in the UK is based on the belief that the problem is on the supply side. Based on an analysis of the informal venture capital market this paper argues that there is no shortage of finance available. A survey of business angels reveals that many are willing to allocate a higher proportion of their investment portfolio to investments in unquoted companies, with recent tax incentives having a positive effect on their willingness to invest. Over 90% are currently looking to make more investments. However, there are constraints on their ability to invest: they do not see enough deals that meet their investment criteria, the majority of the investment proposals that they receive are of poor quality, and they are often unable to negotiate acceptable investment terms and conditions with entrepreneurs. The implication is that there is a need for further interventions by policy-makers to remove these barriers so that more small firms can take advantage of the substantial pool of angel finance that is available.     

Islamic equity market integration and volatility spillover between emerging and US stock markets

The purpose of this paper is to study the conditional correlations across the US market and a sample of five Islamic emerging markets, namely Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, and Malaysia. The empirical design uses MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) Islamic equity index since it applies stringent restrictions to include companies. Indeed, two main restrictions must be met: (i) the business activity must be compliant with Shari’ah (i.e., Islamic law) guidelines and (ii) interest-bearing investments and leverage ratios should not exceed upper limits. Three models are used: multivariate GARCH BEKK, CCC, and DCC. The estimation results of the three models show that the US and Islamic emerging equity markets are weakly correlated over time. No sheer evidence supports that the US market spills over into the Islamic emerging equity markets. Besides interpreting the results in terms of weak market integration, the peculiar specificities of the Islamic finance industry and the admittance conditions to the MSCI Islamic equity index contribute to explaining them. Indeed, Islamic finance bans interest-bearing investments and imposes some rules, such as asset-backing, which has sizeable impacts on volatility spillover and shocks transmissions, alongside with the close linkage between real and financial sectors. These findings suggest that investors should take caution when investing in the Islamic emerging equity markets and diversifying their portfolios in order to minimize risk.     

Foreign Direct Investment from Emerging Markets to Africa: The HRM Context

In this article, we explore what determines the decisions of emerging‐market multinational corporations (MNCs) to invest in Africa and whether this is any different from their counterparts in mature markets, focusing on the HRM context. More specifically, we explore the effect of potential host‐country wages, local capabilities, and the relative rights of owners versus workers on foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions, as well as other relevant factors such as mineral resources and corruption. We found that emerging‐market MNCs were not deterred by relatively weak property owner rights (as indeed, was also the case for their counterparts from mature markets); hence, any weakening of countervailing worker rights is unlikely to unlock significant new FDI. However, emerging‐market MNCs were more likely to invest in low‐wage economies and did not appear to be concerned by local skills gaps; the latter would reflect the relative de facto ease with which even partially skilled expatriate labor can be imported into many African countries. At the same time, a reliance on low‐wage, unskilled labor, coupled with the extensive usage of expatriates, brings with it a wide range of challenges for the HR manager, which a firm committed to cost‐cutting may lack the capabilities to resolve. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Are entrepreneurial foreign activities of Peruvian SMNEs influenced by international certifications, corporate social responsibility and green management?

Given the crucial role of entrepreneurial foreign activity as a source of corporate profits and competitive advantage, it is of interest to investigate which factors may help promote it. This paper evaluates whether entrepreneurial foreign activities of small and medium-sized multinational enterprises (SMNEs) of Latin American developing countries are affected by international certifications, corporate social responsibility and green management. To that aim, we use a sample of 100 Peruvian exporting firms from several sectors and a methodology consisting of partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results reveal that, while acquiring and holding international certifications as well as the investments carried out in actions related to corporate social responsibility do not have positive effects on the performance of entrepreneurial foreign activities of Peruvian SMNEs, green management exerts a positive influence. Therefore, environmental management is revealed as an effective tool to help firms from developing countries compete successfully in the markets and, in turn, improve the economic situation in those regions.     

Tit for tat in small steps: the internationalization of Swedish banks

Earlier studies of the internationalization of manufacturing firms have shown that they tend to start their foreign operations in countries that are culturally close to their own and then gradually move to more alien ground. If banks follow their customers abroad, we would expect their internationalization to assume a similar pattern. Their penetration of foreign markets could also be expected to be related to direct foreign investments and exports. An empirical test in the case of major Swedish banks did not support this hypothesis. Instead these banks tended to concentrate their internationalization efforts to important financial centres. Thus they have not only chosen to establish themselves in places where many international banks are already working, but they have also tended to follow each other in a pattern of tit for tat. The nature of this process supports the idea suggested in earlier studies that internationalization is generally a gradual process, starting with minor commitments which are developed over time.     

期待伟大的会计师专业

近年来一连串之企业舞弊及财务报表签证不实事件,使得审计质量遭遇到不断的质疑,而会计师专业也受到严重的指责,投资者因此对资本市场失去信心。面临这种重大的挑战,会计师界应该认清自己的角色、坚持诚信原则、遵守职业道德规范、加强与相关团体的沟通、吸引优秀人才、充实自己的专业技能、确保审计质量、关怀公共利益、积极带动变革,以符合社会的期待。     

Fishing for Privilege

The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community has for year attracted widespread criticism from economists, politicians and many other commentators. The Common Fisheries Policy is less widely known but it. too, neglects the truths of economic analysis. Antony Dnes, Lecturer in Business Economics at the University of Edinburgh, demonstrates how the neglect by the EEC of private property rights in fisheries encourages inefficiency, damages fish stocks, and encourages fishermen to adopt practices against their long-term interests.     

The Foundations of International Business: Cross‐Border Investment Activity and the Balance between Market‐Power and Efficiency Effects

The foundational international business (IB) scholarship grappled with whether multinational enterprises (MNEs) are largely efficiency‐enhancing or market‐power inducing institutions. Contemporary scholarship, however, often associates foreign direct investment (FDI) with efficiency‐enhancing properties and thus neglects the market‐power interpretation of the MNE. Such an imbalance is problematic given that the theoretical and empirical justifications behind the field's embrace of the efficiency interpretation are not fully evident. Instead, both efficiency and market‐power effects are seemingly present in cross‐border investment activity. Based on a comprehensive sample of up to 4,361 cross‐border investments materializing between 1986 and 2010, we present theoretically‐grounded hypotheses with regard to when market‐power effects will tend to dominate efficiency effects. We find that cross‐border investments undertaken by emerging‐market MNEs in both developed and emerging markets tend to involve substantial efficiency effects and minimal market‐power effects when compared with the cross‐border investments undertaken by developed‐country MNEs in both developed and emerging markets.     

Wealth effect and investor sentiment

This paper investigated the relationship between the U.S. stock and housing markets as well as their influence on the wealth effect of consumption and found that the stock market sentiment index can explain changes in the wealth effect. The empirical results indicate that these two markets exert a wealth effect on consumption. The estimation results of the Markov-switching model indicate two states: a state in which the stock market influences its coexistence with the housing market and a state in which the housing and stock markets are unrelated. Public optimism regarding stock market investments affects the probability of transitioning between these states.     

Resource Dependence and Network Relations: A Test of Venture Capital Investment Termination in China

This study examines how venture capital (VC) firms terminate investments in an emerging economy context. We contend that due to the weak institutional environment, it is appropriate to draw on insights from power and social relation perspectives for a better understanding of the phenomenon. Specifically, we argue that a termination decision hinges on not only the dependence relationship between a VC firm and its portfolio companies, but also the social relationships among VC firms. Event history analyses of approximately 12,000 VC deals made in China between 2001 and 2012 reveal that when a VC firm has a greater number of investments in an industry, it is more likely to terminate investments on a portfolio company in that industry. Moreover, such effect on termination is moderated by the focal VC's embeddedness with its syndicate partners and collaboration opportunities with other VC firms outside the immediate access of the syndicate partners. Our study sheds light on research on VC decision making in emerging markets by integrating insights from resource dependence relationships and interorganizational network characteristics.     

Community-engaged philanthropy: The role of the fundraiser in building equitable communities

In recent years, fundraisers have become increasingly focused on major gift solicitation while donors have been making larger gifts to fewer organizations. As this trend continues, some have begun to question whether major organizations and/or wealthy individuals now have too much control over the work of nonprofits and the communities they serve. While it is true that major gifts are important and can made a noticeable, positive impact, in some cases community members might see their impact as intrusive. In situations such as this, what is the “best” course of action? How should fundraisers consider, balance, and address the perspectives and rights of their organization, donors, and community members? This paper creates a framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and constituents, but also their responsibilities for promoting equity within their community as a whole. This paper draws on the social-ecological model, as well as concepts from intersectionality, to explore how fundraisers can increase involvement from all community members in a nonprofit's work to create a participatory and community-engaged process, with a special focus on including those who are typically marginalized, rather than maintaining a hierarchical system of power. It also draws on the theories of rights-balanced fundraising ethics, community-centric fundraising, and other ethical frameworks of fundraising and public administration to compare what is being done by fundraisers to what should be done to encourage ethical practices in fundraising. The paper is supplemented by examples of the impact of implementing (or not implementing) community engagement in fundraising practices. This paper aims to create a community-engaged philanthropy framework for fundraisers as they consider not only their responsibilities to their organization and donors, but also their responsibilities for promoting equitable distributions of power within their community. This framework provides specific guidance for fundraisers as to how they can balance these multiple (and sometimes competing) responsibilities while also keeping ethics at the forefront of their actions. It demonstrates how, by taking a community-engaged approach to their work, fundraisers are able to bring about better long-term outcomes for their organization. Specifically, the framework considers: (1) To whom are fundraisers most responsible, and to whom should fundraisers be most responsible—their nonprofit, their donors, or those being served? (2) For what rights of community members must the fundraiser account when soliciting funds, and to what extent is the fundraiser responsible for upholding these rights? (3) In what ways can an invitation from a fundraiser to make a gift also invite some level of power or control over the organization's work? (4) To what extent do fundraisers have the responsibility to maintain an equitable power balance among their constituents, including donors and those served? (5) How can fundraisers help ensure that all community members are able to participate in the organization's work to extent that they are willing and able?     

A transaction cost approach to a paradox in international marketing

Why do firms that make specific downstream investments as they start international operations, sometimes turn to more market-like arrangements as they gain international experience and their international sales increase? This paradox in international marketing is the key question to be addressed in this article. We use the concept of dynamic or temporary governance costs to examine the paradox. The pattern of internationalization in the Norwegian farmed salmon industry provides an example whereby Norwegian exporters established their own sales offices in several international markets in the early stages of internationalization, but subsequently disintegrated vertically and came to rely on more market-like arrangements. An analysis of the internationalization of this industry suggests that, over time, the market provided better capabilities than vertical integration. This reduced the transaction costs, thus making vertical disintegration an efficient strategy.     

Training hold up and social labour markets

This paper seeks to analyse the impact on training outcomes of labour markets with a social dimension which enhances workers rights and benefits, including the right to unionise. The ILO in particular champions the cause of such social labour markets both on the grounds that they represent fundamental rights as well as on the grounds that they generate helpful economic outcomes. In the context of on the job training, this paper demonstrates that the benefits of such social labour markets are mixed. In particular, it demonstrates that whilst unionisation can increase productivity and mitigate training hold up, there are also risks to increasing union power.     

Internal vs External Financing of Acquisitions: Do Managers Squander Retained Profits?

It is often argued that managers who have control over investment finance are more likely to pursue their own goals while those who have to raise funds externally are effectively monitored by the financial markets. One implication is that externally finances investment should be more profitable than internally financed investment. We focus on investment in acquisitions and show that its negative net impact on profitability (as seen in previous studies) derives from externally, rather than internally, financed acquisitions. Our results therefore do not support the hypothesis that managers squander internal funds on poor investment projects. Indeed, the evidence suggests that capital markets and financial institutions do not appear to generate the anticipated beneficial effects.     

Market Expansion and Productivity Growth: Do New Domestic Markets Matter as Much as New International Markets?

This paper asks how market expansion contributes to productivity growth. It investigates whether entry to both new international markets and new domestic markets is associated with greater productivity growth. It also examines whether exit from export markets is necessarily associated with deteriorating performance or whether it too can lead to success if associated with movements to new markets. Finally, the paper drills down into the strategic stance of firms that move to new markets to examine the strategic differences that set them apart from their compatriots that do not find themselves able to adapt.