The cultural characteristic of individualism/collectivism: A comparative study of implications for investment in operations between emerging Asian and industrialized Western countries

This study provides insight into the importance of national culture, investment in operations, and performance in the context of emerging Asian economies with a collectivist orientation, which are compared to industrialized Western nations with an individualist orientation. Hypotheses are developed and tested based on the cultural concept of individualism/collectivism, the theory of performance frontiers, and the extent of economic development. More specifically, data collected from 639 manufacturing plants in nine countries are used to first assess the influence of the cultural trait of individualism/collectivism on the extent of investment in structural assets (specifically: physical and capital-based) and infrastructural assets (specifically: team-based methods and improvement programs). Second, the influence of the extent of economic development on these investment factors is measured. Third, evidence is provided supportive of the theory of performance frontiers, and the nature of resource investments in the context of the cultural construct of individualism/collectivism. And fourth, support is provided for the efficacy of this theory, as well as for its compatibility and association with the resource-based view of the firm. Overall, this study makes important contributions to both theory and practice, and provides evidence for the role played by the cultural characteristic of individualism/collectivism in determining plant level investment outcomes in emerging Asian economies.     

Legal Determinants of External Finance Revisited: The Inverse Relationship Between Investor Protection and Societal Well-Being

This article investigates relationships between countries?? legal traditions and their quality of life as measured by a number of widely reported social indicators; in so doing it also offers a critique of a highly influential body of work which is widely cited in the literatures of corporate governance, economics and finance. That body of work has shown, inter alia, statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for investor protection. We show statistically significant relationships between legal traditions and various proxies for societal health. Our comparative evidence suggests that the interests of investors are not congruent with the interests of wider society, and that the criteria for judging the effectiveness of approaches to corporate governance should be broadened.     

论6～10kV配电系统高压开关柜的结构设计

随着吉林油田公司产能水平不能提升,原变电所配电系统高压开关柜结构已逐步从电磁式机构发展为中置手车式。笔者通过长期工作实践发现,吉林油田公司许多变电所的中置手车式开关柜的运转车结构设计不太合理,操作性能不佳,容易导致断路器手车底盘车变形,使开关柜无法正常工作。文章对中置柜运转车结构特点及优缺点加以分析,并对改进方法进行初步探讨。     

Social and Environmental Disclosure and Corporate Characteristics: A Research Note and Extension

This paper is concerned with the attempts to explain the disclosure of social and environmental information in the annual reports of large companies by reference to observable characteristics of those companies. An extensive literature has sought to establish whether variables such as corporate size, profit and industry segments can explain corporations' disclosure practices. The results from that predominantly North American and Australasian literature are largely inconclusive. This paper provides an extension of that literature by considering a more disaggregated specification of social and environmental disclosure and by employing a detailed time-series data set. By so doing, the paper tests two possible explanations for the inconclusiveness of prior research: namely that any relationships between corporate characteristics and disclosure are dependent upon the type of disclosure and that any such relationships are not stable through time. The results provide support for these explanations as sufficient, if not necessary, conditions for explaining the inconsistency in prior results.     

The post–announcement performance of dividend–changing companies: The dividend–signalling hypothesis revisited

This study revisits the dividend–signalling hypothesis by examining the post–announcement performance of U.K. companies which disclose dividend and earnings news to the capital market on the same day. For this purpose, we first analyse market–adjusted excess returns for three periods around the announcement and then examine the financial performance in the year of the announcement and in the subsequent five–year period. The near announcement excess returns and the announcement–year financial profiles provide strong evidence in support of the dividend–signalling hypothesis. However, in contrast to the predictions of the hypothesis, the longer–term results suggest that the companies which announce a reduction in both dividends and earnings (bad news companies) outperform their dividend–increasing counterparts.     

Contents of Volume 5

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 5     

An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Financial Education on Graduating Business Students’ Perceptions of Their Retirement Planning Familiarity,Motivation, and Preparedness

Today's multifaceted and dynamic financial environment requires a high level of individual financial literacy to ensure that sound financial behaviors are the norm. Unfortunately, many individuals have limited knowledge regarding financial issues and are ill prepared to make sound financial choices. The purpose of this article was to benchmark and then determine if graduating business students’ perception of their retirement planning familiarity, motivation, and preparedness improved after taking a semester‐long course in Personal Risk Management and Insurance (PRMI). We discovered that business students were more financially literate than nonbusiness students and that business students’ familiarity with retirement plans and personal level of readiness to make retirement planning decisions improved significantly after taking the principles class. Specifically, we showed that only 15.8 percent and 42.3 percent of the nonbusiness and business control students, respectively, felt adequately prepared to make retirement decisions, while 82 percent of the business students who completed the PRMI class felt prepared. Ex post, graduating seniors who were exposed to coursework covering life‐cycle risks and options to treat those risks perceived that they are leaving college with a better ability to meet the financial challenges that await them. Last, we showed that significant differences existed in retirement plan and investment familiarity based on gender. Our findings provide support for including financial literacy as a general education requirement at colleges and universities.     

Insurance Company Employees' Financial Expertise and Practices: Implications on Benefit Participation and Satisfaction

Employers continue to shift financial decision-making responsibility for employee benefits to employees. This article examines employees' financial practices, financial expertise, and levels of benefit participation and overall satisfaction. We show that there are significant differences in employees' financial practices and financial expertise based on socio-demographic characteristics. While levels of benefit satisfaction and employer ranking are high, significant differences in how employees feel toward their employer exist. Employees more highly value traditional benefits than nontraditional benefits, but satisfaction with benefits was high regardless of take-up rate. We also find that respondents are more knowledgeable over experiential financial concepts than more specific financial concepts like qualifying conditions for a traditional individual retirement account. Employer-sponsored financial education programs, which increase employee understanding of employer-provided benefits and their importance to employees' financial well-being, should improve overall employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity.     

Environmental performance: Quality,measurement and improvement

Environmental management is becoming a key business management concern. Effective management requires appropriate and timely data on which decisions can be based. In addition, there is increasing pressure to provide reports on the environmental probity of companies. This requires objective, factual data. This paper considers this aspect from the perspective of the quality of environmental performance. Measurement techniques are outlined and their use in on-going performance appraisal and monitoring to show improvements is discussed. Potential pitfalls in taking reported environmental performance claims at their face value are also considered.