Performance of moving average trading strategies over varying stock market conditions: the Finnish evidence

This article examines the profitability of dual moving average crossover (DMAC) trading strategies in the Finnish stock market over the period 1996 to 2012. It contributes to the existing technical analysis literature by comparing for the first time the performance of DMAC trading portfolios of individual stocks to the performance of index trading strategies based on trading on an index that consists of the same stocks. The results show that their relative performance varies over time, whereas previous studies have documented outperformance of index trading strategies over trading strategies of stock portfolios. Moreover, the great majority of 3020 DMAC strategies examined in this article outperform the corresponding buy-and-hold (B and H) strategy for both trading targets (i.e., OMX Helsinki 25 index and individual stocks included in the index) in out-of-sample tests. In addition, the decomposition of the full-sample-period performance into separate bull- and bear-period performance shows clearly that the outperformance of DMAC strategies over B and H strategy is mostly attributable to their better performance during bearish periods.     

Interest Rate Risk Management in Major Finnish Firms

The interest rate policies of Finnish firms appear risk aversive, but hedging decisions are influenced by market view. Managers find they can forecast trends in interest rate development, and employ the forecasts in the choice of debt and hedging instruments. The use of risk assessment methods and hedging instruments are related to firm size but not to leverage. Most frequently employed hedging instruments are interest rate swaps and forward rate agreements. The respondents find their firms' interest rate risk management is successful, but performance is seldom measured against an explicitly defined benchmark.     

Causation,counterfactuals, and competitive advantage

Causation is still poorly understood in strategy research, and confusion prevails around key concepts such as competitive advantage. In this paper, we define epistemological conditions that help dispel some of this confusion and provide a basis for more developed approaches. In particular, we argue that a counterfactual approach—one that builds on a systematic analysis of ‘what‐if’ questions—can advance our understanding of key causal mechanisms in strategy research. We offer two concrete methodologies—counterfactual history and causal modeling—as useful solutions. We also show that these methodologies open up new avenues in research on competitive advantage. Counterfactual history can add to our understanding of the context‐specific construction of resource‐based competitive advantage and path dependence, and causal modeling can help to reconceptualize the relationships between resources and performance. In particular, resource properties can be regarded as mediating mechanisms in these causal relationships. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A CLOSER LOOK AT VALUE PREMIUM: LITERATURE REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS

This paper provides a systematic review of value premium literature that examines the performance difference between value and growth stocks and the possible reasons for it. We compare and synthesize the results from the different regional stock markets and different sample periods. The literature is categorized according to stock selection criteria that are based on either individual valuation ratios, such as E/P, B/P, D/P, S/P, CF/P, and enterprise value-based multiples, or composite value criteria that aim to capture more than one dimension of relative value simultaneously or combine them with other classification criteria. We also compare the efficacy of various selection criteria to each other and synthesize the literature on the explanations for the value anomalies. The overall evidence shows that the best criterion varies over time and across the markets. The relative efficacy of different valuation criteria also seems to depend on numerous methodological choices. Recent studies have given mild evidence that combining traditional valuation ratios either with each other or with some financial statement variables could at least in some cases enhance the value premium, although very few studies have provided transparent comparisons between the results based on individual valuation ratios and those based on composite value criteria.     

Becoming an acquirer and becoming acquired

This paper considers mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Finland. We explain the likelihood that a firm acquires or is acquired by another firm. We try to find out whether the incidences of M&A are influenced by the firms' R&D activity, measured by the calculated R&D stock. We obtained a very robust result, which says that R&D stock increases the probability that a firm acquires in all industries. In the nonprocessing industries, R&D stock similarly increases the probability that a firm is acquired by another. In the processing industries, the firm's own R&D stock has, however, zero impact on the likelihood that another firm buys a firm concerned. We interpret these results indicating that M&A are used as instruments to transmit knowledge from one firm to another. In the nonprocessing industries, it is evident that knowledge capital cumulated in the target is the main motivation for the purchase. Then a buyer's own R&D—which also increases the probability of the trade—signals that a buyer is efficient in absorbing the purchased new technology. In the processing industries, the motive for acquisition is different. We discovered that in the processing industries, technology is rather transmitted from the buyer's firm than to the purchased firm. It looks like that, in these industries, the firms have decreased their unit costs by means of their R&D activity, and so through M&A, the appeared unit cost differences have been levelled.     

Institutions and Actorhood as Co-Constitutive and Co-Constructed: The Argument and Areas for Future Research

We argue that in order to overcome the reductionism and essentialism in institutional theory there is a need to acknowledge that institutions and social actors are co-constitutive and co-constructed in processes of communication. We elaborate this argument by drawing on the phenomenological foundation of institutional theory and point to promising areas of future research: the multimodal nature of institutions, the mediated and mediatized character of modern communication, and the contestedness of all social orders and their legitimation.     

Communication and attention dynamics: An attention‐based view of strategic change

Research Summary : The attention‐based view (ABV) has highlighted the role of organizational attention in strategic decision making and adaptation. The tendency to view communication channels as “pipes and prisms” for information processing has, however, limited its ability to address strategic change. We propose a broader role for communication as a process by which actors can attend to and engage with organizational and environmental issues and initiatives and argue that such a view can significantly advance understanding of strategic change. On this basis, we offer suggestions for future research on communication practices, vocabularies, rhetorical tactics, and talk and text in shaping organizational attention in strategic change. We also maintain that this enhanced view of the ABV can help advance research on dynamic capabilities, strategy processes, strategy‐as‐practice, and behavioral strategy. Managerial Summary : To further enhance our capabilities to manage strategic change and renewal processes in organizations, we need a better understanding of how to manage organizational attention. In this article, we highlight the importance of understanding the role of communication and discuss the use of different communication practices, vocabularies, rhetorical tactics, and talk and text as possible levers that can be used to dynamically shape organizational attention. We call for further research to advance the understanding of how these levers can be used to influence the ways in which different sets of strategic issues, initiatives, and action alternatives are handled. We believe that such an enhanced view of organizational attention can enable the development of new, improved strategy practices to manage strategic change and renewal processes.