The impact of ADR activity on stock market liquidity: Evidence from Latin America

This paper examines the impact of ADR activity on liquidity of four major Latin American stock markets. We construct a measure of ADR activity in U.S. markets for a sample of ADRs trading during January 2003–December 2010, which is subsequent to the financial liberalization episodes and currency crises that shocked emerging markets in the 1990s. The sample lists 164 depositary receipt programs (Levels I, II, and III): 16 from Argentina, 81 from Brazil, 19 from Chile, and 48 from Mexico. Using System GMM methods to handle the potential effects from stock market development on economic growth and ADR issuance, we find that higher ADR turnover in U.S. markets has positive effects on domestic market turnover, particularly for issuance of exchange-listed (Levels II and III) ADRs. This positive relationship is not a statistical artifact created by the global financial crisis of 2008.     

Home alone and often unprepared – intercultural communication training for expatriated partners in German MNCs

This article reports the results of a study of partners who accompany the expatriated representatives of multinational corporations (MNCs) on overseas missions and identifies that they are mostly home alone and often unprepared. Following a review of the literature on issues related to expatriated partners, in particular intercultural communication training (ICT), the article presents the findings of empirical research conducted in Germany on current ICT trends for expatriated partners. The study identifies the ICT methods German MNCs use to support these partners before and during international assignments. The authors surveyed 141 German expatriated partners who went on overseas missions to 36 countries. The results of this research project indicate that traditional ICT is only provided to the minority of partners in German MNCs, follows no predictable time pattern, and is mostly perceived as rather useless by participants. Particular attention is paid, however, to the target culture in the ICT design. Non-traditional ICT methods, such as Look-&-See Trips, are rather generously taken advantage of.     

The ‘recession-push’ hypothesis reconsidered

The relationship between unemployment and self-employment has been studied extensively. Due to its complex, multifaceted nature, various scholars have found a large array of different results, so that the exact nature of the relation is still not clear. An important element of the relation is captured by the recession-push hypothesis which states that in times of high unemployment individuals are pushed into self-employment for lack of alternative sources of income such as paid employment. We make two contributions to this literature. First, we argue that official unemployment rates may not capture the ??true?? rate of unemployment as it does not include ??hidden?? unemployed who are out of the labour force. Therefore, we propose a new method where the ??recession-push?? effect relates not only to the (official) unemployed but also to the inactive population. Second, we argue that the magnitude of the recession-push effect is non-linear in the business cycle, i.e. the effect is disproportionally stronger when economic circumstances are worse. We provide empirical support for our hypotheses by estimating an econometric model on Spanish data.     

Disentangling the link between stock and accounting performance in acquisitions

We study the accounting and stock performance of 4547 US acquisitions during 1989 and 2008. We categorise acquisitions into four types based on the four possible combinations of positive or negative abnormal stock performance and abnormal accounting performance. First, we compare the bidder, bid and target characteristics across the four types of acquisitions. We find significant differences. Second, with the help of existing theories we explain these differences in bidder, bid and target characteristics by differences in the acquisition motives.     

Determining the environmental effects of indirect subsidies: integrated method and application to the Netherlands

The term ‘environmentally damaging subsidies’ covers all sorts of direct and indirect subsidies with negative consequences for the environment. This article presents a method to determine the environmental impact of these subsidies. It combines a microeconomic framework with an environmental impact module. The method is particularly useful for analysing indirect subsidies. These are often hidden, and therefore, not recognized as subsidies. Use of the method will provide a basis for formulating corrective policy. The method is applied to several important subsidies in the Netherlands, in agriculture, energy and transport sectors. The results reveal large environmental effects, which deserve serious attention from policy makers. To illustrate the specific features of the method, its application to a particular subsidy, namely the exemption of excise taxes on aviation fuels, is presented in full detail.     

Human resource management and cultural diversity: a case study in Mozambique

A limited number of studies in Africa have reconciled human resource management (HRM) programs with cultural diversity as represented by Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The objective of this study is to examine how Western-based HRM can be modified to embrace cultural diversity in an African context. A mixed methodology employed a survey, as well as a case study in Mozambique. The results indicate high levels of power distance, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and feminism that are very similar to Kenya. These dimensions differed across a spectrum of employee levels illustrating cultural hybridization at firm level in a multinational operating in Africa. The results also illustrate the importance of a range of health, family, and societal beliefs in the workplace. Finally, a series of HRM recommendations were developed in an African context with respect to the selection, training, performance measurement, and management programs of the company.     

Linking Purchasing to Ethical Decision-Making: An Empirical Investigation

The aim of this study is to examine the decision-making processes at work among French buyers—whether beginners or more experienced individuals, when confronted with a dilemma involving an ethical or non-ethical choice to be made. We go on to illustrate these dilemmas through the use of five original scenarios that reproduce typical situations that arise in a purchasing context in relation to the environment, physical integrity, conflict of interest, or paternalism. Based on 172 participants, the results of our study show that, ethical decision-making depends very clearly on two main factors: expertise and gender. The study also reveals that there is not always a coherent link between ethical choices made and the reasons and justifications given for those choices. Ethical options chosen are not exclusively justified on the grounds of purely ethical reasons but also on the grounds of commercial or economic reasons, or else reasons of avoidance.     

Insight into the impact of energy caps on the costs of cellular networks with different layouts and technologies

We investigate the options of a network operator who needs to reduce its carbon footprint, expressed in terms of a global energy cap. First, we propose two ways to meet the energy limitations: by efficiently managing the energy consumed by the legacy networks or by installing additional capacity to the initial topology. We show the power savings that can be obtained in both cases as well as the incurred costs. Then we identify the initial composition of the network and the available technology in the upgrade phase as the factors that have the most influence on the ability of a network to meet the energy caps. Finally, we show the intrinsic unfairness of the energy caps, which are imposed to all the networks without taking into account the differences among them. In conclusion, we highlight the fundamental role of carbon markets and emission trading systems to guarantee a measure of fairness between the operators.     

New evidence on wages and employment in worker cooperatives compared with capitalist firms

This article presents new econometric evidence on the comparative behavior of worker cooperatives and capitalist firms, highlighting the differences in wages and employment responses. We use a comprehensive panel data set that covers the entire population of cooperatives and their capitalist counterparts registered in the social security records in Uruguay from April 1996 to December 2005. We analyze the data to study the employment and wage decisions in both types of enterprises, the results of which suggests that their adjustment mechanisms to idiosyncratic price changes and macroeconomic shocks may differ greatly. The data set also allows us to estimate wage and employment variations for members and non-members of cooperatives separately, and provides an empirical test for the so-called degeneration hypothesis. Our findings are broadly consistent with previous studies for Italian cooperatives and plywood cooperatives in the United States. As studies of this kind are so few, our research provides a significant contribution to the empirical literature on labor managed firms. Moreover, comparing worker cooperatives and capitalist firms offers an exceptional opportunity to determine how control by workers may lead to different organizational behavior.