Earnings Management through Specific Accruals and Discretionary Expenses: Evidence from U.S. Agribusiness Firms

This study examines both accruals based earnings management (AEM) and real earnings management (REM) in U.S. agribusinesses. In particular, the focus is on agribusinesses that report low earnings quality, defined as firms with extreme level of accruals compared to their peers. The cross‐sectional modified Jones model (Jones 1991; Dechow et al 1995) is used to test for AEM. To capture REM practices, we implement the discretionary expenses model by Roychowdhury (2006). We find evidence of AEM and find no evidence of REM in agribusinesses. In addition, our results show that managers might be managing earnings through specific accruals doubtful accounts receivable provisions and special items.     

Learning-by-importing in emerging innovation systems: evidence from Ecuador

Using data from the population of Ecuadorian importers, we examine the extent to which the characteristics of their imports relate to their labor productivity. Results indicate that the technological intensity of imports does not explain differences in labor productivity, although the region of origin of imports explains differences in the manufacturing sector, as imported technologies from advanced regions are associated with superior labor productivity. Nevertheless, as technology intensive imports are not associated with superior performance, we argue that importers from developing countries may use foreign technology inexpertly due to the lack of absorptive capacity and the emerging nature of their national innovation system.     

Import elasticities and the external constraint in Mexico

The paper estimates and analyzes an equation for intermediate imports in Mexico during the 1988–2006 post-liberalization period. While some results are obtained from Johansen's VECM model, most of the analysis is carried out within an Error-Correction ARDL framework, following the bounds testing approach of Pesaran et al. (2001). Besides showing that an aggregate equation for intermediate imports can be satisfactorily estimated, the paper focuses on two specific results. First, exports have a very significant effect on imports, and failure to control for this effect (as in most previous studies) can yield misleading results, like an over-estimation of the output elasticity of imports. Second, the response of imports to variations in the real exchange rate has fallen over time, presumably because of the rising share of maquila in Mexico's export basket and the increasing “vertical specialization” of non-maquila export production. Some implications of the estimation results are briefly discussed, making reference to the possible external constraint on Mexico's economic growth.     

Why do firms seek to share human resource management knowledge? The importance of inter-firm networks

This study untangles the social processes and inter-firm mechanisms underlying human resource management (HRM) knowledge networks. The research questions serve to advance understanding of why HRM knowledge flows between firms under contractual relationships and in the absence of formal relationships. The study analyzes data from a complete network of 51 high-technology firms located in a science and technology park to report the structural properties and relational dimensions of inter-firm flow of HRM knowledge. The results from this social network analysis show that the firms in the study actively engage in the sharing of HRM knowledge. Specifically, the results not only indicate the preeminence of formal ties but also of relational factors relating to firm legitimacy, prestige, and collaborative interaction. Participation in inter-firm knowledge networks appears to be an effective tool for obtaining HRM knowledge as well as for enhancing legitimacy and prestige between firms and developing trust and reciprocity within collaborative relationships.     

Effects of Family Socialization in the Organizational Commitment of the Family Firms from the Moral Economy Perspective

South Korean industrial conglomerates (chaebols) are discussed in the context of value-based management (VBM). Recent economics and finance literature on the diversion of corporate resources from the firm to the controlling shareholders (tunneling), for which chaebols are notoriously known, is discussed. Chaebols have engaged in empire building and expropriation of minority shareholders, distorting the process of efficient resource allocation in South Korea, and became the root cause of the 1997 financial crisis. We argue that the 1997 crisis should be viewed as a consequence of chaebols’ systematic deviation from the guiding principles of VBM. We use tunneling within chaebols as an example of the need to directly address prohibition of the expropriation of minority shareholders as a primary postulate of VBM. We argue that VBM should require that the value generated by the firm not be expropriated from minorities, or any stakeholders, by dominant shareholders. We also examine moral and ethical considerations and present explanations as to why the unethical practice of tunneling has been tolerated by the South Korean public. We show that public opinion on tunneling is changing and that the treatment of minority shareholders by chaebols’ controlling families is becoming increasingly unacceptable to South Koreans.     

Job Classification for the Purpose of Making Optimal Decisions Concerning Management Control

The job classification literature has been dominated by a micro‐level orientation reflective of the needs of specialists in human resources. In contrast, we take a multidisciplinary approach involving both micro‐ and macro‐level variables to propose a relatively simple system comprised of four job classes. Our model isintended to inform management as to the type and mix of controls (e.g., centralization, formalization, and various human resources policies) that could be applied to different job types to optimally promote the overall goals of the organization. Fuzzy numbers analysis is employed to illustrate the application of the system using four jobs in a car dealership in Spain. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Firms’ performance under different bankruptcy systems: a Europe–USA empirical analysis

This study empirically analyses the effect that the bankruptcy law has on firms’ performance based on its financial situation. To do this, we considered the different types of efficiency and their influence on firms’ value. The study was carried out for Germany, Spain, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. We applied System‐GMM estimation to dynamic panel data. The main results show that under creditor‐oriented systems, there is a decrease in the value of both financially distressed firms and those filing for bankruptcy.     

First steps towards cross-national transfer in integrating mobility management and land use planning in the EU and Switzerland

This paper is based on research carried out in an EU Framework project, concerning the better integration of mobility management (MM) with land use planning. The objective of the paper is to analyse how, and how far, policies in this field of action can transfer from one member state to another, and to compare this to the theory of policy transfer put forward by Dolowitz and Marsh (2000), using their theory as an analytical framework, but also informing that theory. After providing a definition of this form of integration, the paper explains how far MM and land use planning are currently integrated in the EU member and other states covered in the research (Sweden, Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland, the UK, as well as Ireland and the Netherlands). It then presents the results of planning simulation workshops in five of these countries, where a group of planning professionals from each state considered real development sites and how MM could be integrated with the development. It shows that there is scope for transfer but concludes that barriers such as language, differing planning traditions, and the problem of transferring a new policy idea within a country will limit the scope of policy transfer significantly. Nonetheless, it sees a role for EU projects of this nature in encouraging initial consideration of new policy ideas.     

Fractional Integration of Nominal Exchange Rates: Evidence from CEECs in the Light of EMU Enlargement

This paper uses fractional integration models to describe the long‐run dependence of nominal exchange rates in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). The analysis is validated using nonparametric, semiparametric and parametric techniques. From comparing the results across the three approaches, it was clear that mean reversion takes places only for the euro exchange rates in Bulgaria, Estonia, and Slovenia. Other exchange rates based on the euro also display mean reversion with the parametric methods. For the US dollar rates, the unit‐root null hypothesis cannot be rejected in any single country, indicating that shocks affecting the exchange rates against the US dollar are of a permanent nature, while those directed against the euro are less persistent, and tend sometimes to disappear in the long run. Policy implications are derived.     

Early Smithian economics in the Spanish empire: J. H. Vieytes and colonial policy *

Juan Hipolito Vieytes (1762–1815)was a hero of the May 1810 Revolution in Buenos Aires and one of the early economists in the River Plate area. Although Robert Sidney Smith dismissed Vieytes as a very minor figure in Spanish economic thought, this article attempts to show that Vieytes, an entrepreneur and journalist and only self-taught in political economy, was an early and able follower and divulgator of Smithian economics. He advocated free trade and liberal economic reforms, pointing at the competitiveness of the domestic workshops or ‘popular industry’ in a country with scanty population and extensive and cheap land.