Asset-light strategy,managerial ability,and corporate performance of the Asian telecommunications industry

This paper examines the effects of asset-light strategy on the corporate performance of listed Asian telecommunications corporations and the moderating effect of managerial ability on the association between asset-light strategy and corporate performance. The study applies the dynamic slacks-based measure (DSBM) model and Tobit regression to measure managerial ability. The empirical results show that asset-light strategy positively affects corporate performance and that managerial ability has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the degree of asset-lightness (DAL) and corporate performance. The findings further show that the greater the managerial ability, the stronger the relationship between DAL and corporate performance.     

DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM v - v AND AS WHAT ELSE?

To what extent can Amartya Sen's ideas on freedom, especially his conceptualization of development as freedom, enrich feminist economics? Sen's notion of freedom (as the capability to achieve valued ends) has many attractions and provides important opportunities to analyze gender inequalities. At the same time, Sen's recent emphasis on freedom as the dominant value in judging individual well-being and societal development also contains risks, not least for feminist analysis. We characterize the risks as an underelaboration and overextension of the concept of freedom. Drawing on Sen's earlier work and various feminist theorists, we suggest instead a more emphatically pluralist characterization of capability, well-being, and value, highlighting the distinct and substantive aspects of freedom, as well as of values besides freedom, in the lives of women and men. We illustrate this with reference to women's economic role as caregivers.     

Securitization of mortgage debt,domestic lending,and international risk sharing

Abstract Securitization makes mortgage‐related risks internationally tradeable and thus contributes considerably to the international diversification of macroeconomic risk: in the years 2003–2008, the increase in international cross‐holdings of securitized mortgage debt has lowered industrialized countries’ conditional consumption volatility (relative to the United States) by about 10–15 percentage points. We turn to the role of domestic credit in explaining this result. Domestic credit leads to better international risk sharing only if debt is securitized and traded internationally. Conversely, the risk‐sharing benefits from securitization seem to evaporate if credit dries up – as it did in the recent financial crisis.     

Board interlocks and greenhouse gas emissions

Using resource dependence theory, we analyze board interlocks, their industry origin, and their relationship to firms' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Interlocks create connections by having board members from one firm sit on other firms' boards, providing an avenue for sharing information and resources to aid in knowledge transfer and capability development. As firms face challenges for improved GHG emissions performance, they may look to their board members' connections to other firms to acquire needed resources. Using a sample of US Standard & Poor's (S&P) 1500 firms for years 2009 to 2018, we find that firms with a greater number of board interlocks achieve lower GHG emissions intensity. We also find that boards for the best performing companies have interlocks in the same industry, in other industries, and with firms leading in GHG emissions intensity, especially for firms in higher environmentally impacting industries, as they face greater emissions challenges.     

Index of Perceived Inflation or EU Consumer Surveys?

After the euro changeover at the beginning of 2002, a marked discrepancy emerged between perceived inflation and inflation as measured by the consumer price index. To what extent are consumers still overestimating price developments even now? How reliably is this phenomenon measured by the “Index of perceived inflation” developed by Professor Brachinger? What are the findings of the consumer surveys conducted on behalf of the European Commission?

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This article represents the personal opinions of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Deutsche Bundesbank.     

Isolating Cultural and National Influence on Value and Ethics: A Test of Competing Hypotheses

We live in an increasingly globalizing world, in which countries are closely linked by international trade and investment ties. Cross-cultural comparative studies of national values and ethics have attracted growing research interest in recent years, because shared practices, values and ethical standards depend on shared beliefs. However, the findings of such studies have been unable to reach a consensus on the impact of culture on ethics-related attitudes and behavior. Empirically, many “cross-cultural” differences reported by previous studies might actually stem from cross-national differences. In order to partially fill this gap, this study advocates an analytical framework that isolates the role of cultural and national differences in order to test their relationship to individual level variables. Within this framework, we test␣competing hypotheses based on both cultural and national contexts by comparing groups of Chinese and American respondents together with a “bridging group” of Chinese Chinese-Americans. Theoretically, this contextual approach helps resolve the debate on the role of␣culture, by showing that culture plays a far more important role in shaping value orientations than the national background. Specifically, the two ethnic Chinese groups had many cultural values in common, and differed significantly from the Caucasian group. Implications are discussed.     

Interaction effects of globalization and institutional forces on international HRM practice: Illuminating the convergence‐divergence debate

In the face of globalization, scholars continue to debate about whether a convergence in human resources practices will prevail, or a trend of divergence perspective will persist. Building on institution theory, this article helps to explicate this debate by examining how globalization may interact with different dimensions of local institutional forces to lead to convergence, divergence, or crossvergence in international HRM practices for enhanced performance. We also present useful propositions for guiding future empirical research and theory development on the interaction between globalization and different forms of local institutional forces, which in turn influence the formation of successful international HRM practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Online privacy as a corporate social responsibility: an empirical study

Information technology and the Internet have added a new stakeholder concern to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda: online privacy. While theory suggests that online privacy is a CSR, only very few studies in the business ethics literature have connected these two. Based on a study of CSR disclosures, this article contributes to the existing literature by exploring whether and how the largest IT companies embrace online privacy as a CSR. The findings indicate that only a small proportion of the companies have comprehensive privacy programs, although more than half of them voice moral or relational motives for addressing online privacy. The privacy measures they have taken are primarily compliance measures, while measures that stimulate a stakeholder dialogue are rare. Overall, a wide variety of approaches to addressing privacy was found, which suggests that no institutionalization of privacy practices has taken place as yet. The study therefore indicates that online privacy is rather new on the CSR agenda, currently playing only a minor role.     

Institutional factors and farmers’ adoption of conventional,organic and genetically modified cotton in Burkina Faso

Organic farming and genetically modified (GM) crops technologies are currently being promoted as alternatives to conventional farming that is seen as unsustainable. However, institutional constraints can impede the adoption of even the most sustainable technology. This paper analysed the effect of institutional factors on farmers’ adoption of conventional, organic and GM cotton in Burkina Faso. Building on the expected utility model and institutional theory, a multinomial logistic regression was performed using farmers’ survey data from the 2014–2015 production season. The results showed that subsidies on fertiliser and credit for cereals production, the power of farmers’ association and that of the cotton company favoured the adoption of conventional and GM cotton at the expense of organic cotton. In order to succeed, organic cotton projects need to include components that help farmers to access organic fertilisers for cereals production. They also need to involve the cotton companies that are the most powerful stakeholders of the cotton sector. Extension services are necessary for both organic and GM cotton adoption. Other important factors to consider include farmers’ education, the potentials of the technologies, the good agro-ecological conditions, the continued involvement of women, the availability of virgin lands and the closeness of farmers to their farms.