Market Risk Disclosures and Investment Efficiency: International Evidence from the Gulf Cooperation Council Financial Firms

This study examines the association between market risk disclosures (MRDs) and the investment efficiency of financial firms from six emerging markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Based on a sample of 553 firm‐year observations over the 2007–2011 period, we find that MRDs are significantly and negatively associated with both under‐investment and over‐investment and that this association is more pronounced for larger firms. We also find that the association between MRDs and under‐investment is moderated during periods of economic distress such as the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and that the association between MRDs and over‐investment is magnified during periods of reduced financial distress. Our results are consistent with the idea that MRDs reduce information asymmetry, which ultimately improves investment efficiency. We contribute to the literature in an emerging market context by providing empirical evidence on the association between MRDs and investment efficiency across six emerging GCC capital markets. This study also fills a gap in the literature by providing evidence on the factors affecting the investment efficiency of financial firms.     

Faddists,Enthusiasts and Canadian Divas: Broadcasting Quotas and the Supply Response

This paper constructs a model of the recorded music market to investigate the consequences of local content requirements in broadcasting for the “internationalization” of domestic music. It models the entry decisions of bands, the contracting decisions of record companies, the airplay decisions of radio stations and the radio listening and recording purchasing decisions of consumers. The paper shows that a local content quota leads, perversely, to the increased internationalization of domestic music. A quota that also requires increased broadcasting of “new” music yields an additional welfare loss but does nothing to a record company's incentives to sign up new bands.     

Modern Slavery and the Discursive Construction of a Propertied Freedom: Evidence from Australian Business

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper examines the ethics of the Australian business community’s responses to the phenomenon of modern slavery. Engaging a critical discourse approach, we...     

Stochastic efficiency analysis with risk aversion bounds: a correction

A recent paper by Hardaker et al. (The Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 48, 2004a, 253) and book by Hardaker et al. (Coping with Risk in Agriculture, 2004b) describe a procedure for determining an efficient set from among a set of random alternatives. This procedure, called stochastic efficiency with respect to a function (SERF), is claimed to make the same assumption concerning the risk aversion measures as does stochastic dominance with respect to a function (SDRF). This is claim is incorrect. SERF imposes an additional requirement on the risk aversion measures of the decision makers. Both procedures assume a lower and an upper bound on risk aversion, but SERF also assumes that all risk aversion measures are of the same functional form as these lower and upper bound functions. This additional strong requirement on risk preferences implies that the efficient set identified under SERF is usually smaller than that identified using SDRF.     

Marketing Organic Pasta from Big Sandy to Rome: It's a Long Kamut ®

Bob Quinn spent 20 years propagating an ancient Egyptian wheat variety that is generally known as Khorasan wheat. Bob trademarked his wheat variety using the brand name "Kamut^®." Kamut^® brand wheat contains some nutritional, health, and taste advantages over modern wheat varieties, but lacks some of modern wheat's agronomic advantages. Kamut^® brand wheat is organically produced, and is used to make cereals, breads, cookies, snacks, pancakes, bread mixes, bulgur, pasta, and baked goods. Whole wheat products produced from Kamut^® brand wheat are less bitter than those produced from modern wheat varieties. Europe represents approximately two-thirds of the market for this product.     

The Production of Institutional Behaviour: A Constructive Comment on the Use of Institutionalization Theory in Organizational Analysis

I argue that the development of institutional theories of the formal structure of organizations have assumed that the implementation of institutional behaviours is a routine activity. This has resulted in a neglect of the problems facing organizations attempting to meet institutional demands. Data from a study of the adoption of professional institutions by accounting associations is used to identify four sources of problems in implementing institutional behaviours: (1) pragmatic difficulties; (2) conflicts with organizational “identities”; (3) inter-organizational conflicts; and, (4) intra-organizational conflicts. Résumé Cette étude soutient que les théories institutionnelles concernant les structures organisationnelles ont présumé que l'adoption de comportements institutionnels s'effectue de routine. Ceci a donc donnée lieu à un oubli des problèmes auxques doivent faire face les entreprises qui tentent de respecter les exigences institutionnelles. Les données d'une étude relative à l'adoption d'institutions professionnelles au sein d'associations comptables est utilisée pour identifier quatre sources de problèmes dans l'adoption de comportements institutionnels: (1) difficultés d'ordre pratique (2) conflits avec les diverses identités institutionnelles (3) conflits intra-organisationnels (4) conflits inter-organisationnels.     

Towards an understanding of social networks among organizational self-initiated expatriates: a qualitative case study of a professional services firm

Drawing on a qualitative case study of 51 organizational self-initiated expatriates (OSIEs) in a professional services firm, this article investigates the role of networks during expatriation and, specifically, in the development of learning that is beneficial to both the individual expatriate and the global operations of the firm. First, we investigate the extent to which individual motivations to engage in OSIE impact on the development of networks. Second, we investigate individual's experiences of network development. Third, we investigate individual perceptions of the benefits of networks for both organizations and individual actors. The paper will report that professionals initiating their own expatriation develop continually expanding and composite networks such that mobility and networks evolve in a seemingly symbiotic relationship. In doing so, it contributes to our understanding of the role of agency in network development and extends our understanding of organizational self-initiated expatriation as a relatively under-researched phenomenon.     

The emergence of next generation internet users

The Internet is central to the new media, but the Internet is itself a dynamic technology that is constantly evolving as users adopt and reject new features, devices and applications and use them in ways that are often unanticipated. This article is anchored in longitudinal survey data on how Britons use the Internet, which illuminates the emergence of new patterns of accessing the Internet over multiple devices—some of which are portable—in everyday life and work. We call those who adopt this new approach ‘next generation users’. In contrast, first generation users remain anchored to one or more personal computers in the household or workplace for accessing the Internet. The analysis shows how this emerging pattern of access is reshaping the use and impact of the Internet, such as in supporting the production of user generated content. The analysis also shows how next generation access is socially distributed; creating a new digital divide that reinforces socioeconomic inequalities. Future research needs to move beyond the study of access to the Internet to track the diffusion of next generation access and its implications across a wider array of nations.