Linkage Measures: a Revisit and a Suggested Alternative

This paper examines major linkage measures in the literature from different perspectives and attempts to clarify some of the controversies over them. The examination and clarification suggest more refined backward and forward linkage measures for linkage indices construction. The measures are then applied to analyse the linkages of Hawaii’s agriculture sectors.     

SEGMENTATION OF THE A‐ AND B‐SHARE CHINESE EQUITY MARKETS

In this study we use the latent variable asset pricing model to examine the pricing of A and B shares in the Chinese stock markets. The hypothesis tested is whether markets for the A and the B shares of the same companies are segmented. We document only one latent variable in both A‐ and B‐share markets. However, the latent risk premiums for the A and B shares are only weakly correlated, indicating the two‐tier markets are loosely related. The weak correlation implies the two markets reflect different fundamental forces. Additional analysis demonstrates that the Shanghai market responds to the Shenzhen market rather than the other way around.     

Daily volatility behavior in Chinese futures markets

This study examines the daily volatility of four futures contracts on Chinese futures exchanges (copper, mungbeans, soybeans and wheat). We find that returns have asymmetric effects on volatility, meaning that negative returns have a greater effect on volatility than positive returns do. Volume is positively related to volatility, open interest is negatively related to volatility, and the extent of large-volume traders’ participation is also positively related to volatility. We conjecture that the global patterns of volatility relationship, which have become more pronounced in Chinese markets in more recent years, are attributable to the results of ongoing government attempts to achieve transparency and better disclosure.     

Entrepreneurial intentions: The influence of organizational and individual factors

An individual's intent to pursue an entrepreneurial career can result from the work environment and from personal factors. Drawing on the entrepreneurial intentions and the person-environment (P-E) fit literatures, and applying a multilevel perspective, we examine why individuals intend to leave their jobs to start business ventures. Findings, using a sample of 4192 IT professionals in Singapore, suggest that work environments with an unfavorable innovation climate and/or lack of technical excellence incentives influence entrepreneurial intentions, through low job satisfaction. Moderating effects suggest that an individual's innovation orientation strengthens the work-environment to job-satisfaction relationship; self-efficacy strengthens the job-satisfaction to entrepreneurial intentions relationship.     

Monetary Policy, Term Structure and Asset Return: Comparing REIT, Housing and Stock

This paper confirms that a regime-switching model out-performs a linear VAR model in terms of understanding the system dynamics of asset returns. Impulse responses of REIT returns to either the federal funds rate or the interest rate spread are much larger initially but less persistent. Furthermore, the term structure acts as an amplifier of the impulse response for REIT return, a stabilizer for the housing counterpart under some regime, and, perhaps surprisingly, almost no role for the stock return. In contrast, GDP growth has very marginal effect in the impulse response for all assets.     

Director Ownership and Voluntary Segment Disclosure: Hong Kong Evidence

Weakness of corporate governance and lack of transparency are often considered causes of or contributors to the Asian Financial Crisis. Publicly listed companies in Hong Kong, like other Asian firms, have concentrated director ownership. The study uses voluntary segment disclosure above the benchmark minimum as a proxy for transparency and examines its relationship to the ownership structure and composition of corporate boards in Hong Kong. We find that: (1) high (concentrated) board ownership explains the extent of low voluntary segment disclosure and this negative relationship is stronger when firm performance is very poor; (2) the contribution of non‐executive directors to enhance voluntary segment disclosure is effective for firms with low director ownership but not for concentrated‐ownership firms. These results have implications for policy makers and regulators in the Asia‐Pacific region striving to improve governance and transparency.     

Are Corporate Career Development Activities Les Available to Female Than to Male Expatriates?

Despite the growing interest in female expatriates, few empirical studies have focussed on corporate career development activities available to women. Given the faltering corporate support for female business expatriates in general, one may presume that such organizational activities are less available to women than to men. To test this proposition, a large number of Western female and male business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong responded to a mail survey. Controlling for differences between the two gender groups, three significant gender differences were found, all indicating a lower availability of these corporate activities to women than to men, partially supporting expectations. These corporate career development activities were fast track programs, individual career counseling and career planning workshops. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms as well as for their female employees are discussed in detail.     

A Note on the Intraday Patterns of Initial Public Offerings: Evidence from Hong Kong

This paper examines the intraday patterns of IPOs in Hong Kong during the period 1995–1998. The results reveal that the well‐known under‐pricing phenomenon of IPOs occurs only at the opening trading of new issues and vanishes afterwards. The return volatility of IPOs is found to be high during the first trading session, and declines rapidly during the rest of the first trading day until the end of the trading day. The intraday return volatility of IPOs is found to follow a double U‐shape pattern, which is similar to that of the general market. A great deal of trading activity was recorded during the first five minutes of the trading day. Consistent results are obtained for IPOs registered during the pre‐crisis and post‐crisis periods. This paper has practical implications for investors. Investors can benefit from the under‐pricing only if they subscribe for new shares in the primary market. There is, however, no profit‐making opportunity for day traders who buy shares on the first trading day. This shows that the Hong Kong market is efficient in adjusting for the IPO under‐pricing. In addition, it is likely that, because of Hong Kong's share allotment method, only big investors who apply for large numbers of shares can benefit from this under‐pricing phenomenon.     

THE EFFECTS OF MANAGERIAL ROLES ON THE RELATION BETWEEN BUDGETARY PARTICIPATION AND JOB SATISFACTION

This study examines the extent to which managerial roles moderate the relation between budgetary participation and job satisfaction. Managerial roles, defined in terms of line versus staff, may serve as a situational variable that assists in explaining the equivocal results found in studies for the association between budgetary participation and job satisfaction. The findings of this study suggest that the link between budgetary participation and job satisfaction is dependent on the role a manager undertakes in an organization. The relation between budgetary participation and job satisfaction was found to be significantly more effective for line managers than for staff managers.     

Small firm effect: Evidence from Korean stock exchange

The objective of the paper is to examine the small firm and earnings' yield effects on the Korean stock returns during 1982–1988. We find that smaller (or high E/P ratio) firms obtain higher risk-adjusted returns, on average, than larger (or low E/P ratio) firms. We also document that the existence of January effect in Korean stock returns. Unlike the findings for the US market, stock returns of small and as well as large Korean firms are found to be 2 or 3 times higher in January than the other months. However, the well known tax-loss-selling hypothesis can not be used to explained these anomalies because there are no capital tax or loss offsets in Korea.