Currency hedging and corporate governance: A cross-country analysis

This paper examines the impact of the strength of governance on firms' use of currency derivatives. Using a sample of firms from 30 countries over the period 1990 to 1999, we find that strongly governed firms tend to use derivatives to hedge currency exposure and overcome costly external financing. On the other hand, weakly governed firms appear to use derivatives mostly for managerial reasons. These results are robust to alternative measures of corporate governance, various subsamples, the use of foreign denominated debt as an alternative strategy to hedge currency exposure, and a potential selection bias. Overall, the results serve as the first comprehensive evidence of the impact of firm- and country-level corporate governance on firms' use of derivatives.     

Advertising and the Professions

Regulatory restrictions on advertising by professional groups have changed dramatically in recent years. Despite the waning of restrictions, tradition has prevented practitioners from embracing the use of advertising. This article reports results of a survey of 200 medical professionals' attitudes towards advertising. After discussing the implications of the findings, the authors suggest some future research directions.     

Immiserizing Growth in a Closed Economy

We develop a model with three key features: a factor market distortion, monopoly power in the product market and indivisibilities in consumption. In this setting, multiple equilibria arise, one with high and the other with low equilibrium wages, incomes and output. It is also shown that even in a closed economy, growth may be immiserizing and, finally, that redistribution could be a “rich man's game”.     

Heavy,medium, light shoppers and nonshoppers of a used merchandise outlet

An unsettling economic future coupled with changes in social values indicate that preowned merchandise buying will become increasingly evident. Consumers face the prospects of inflation, unemployment, and shortages, while social values are shifting away from disregard of resource usage by the disposable society. Buying preowned merchandise is a solution to coping with the environmental changes. Although institutions selling used merchandise, like other retailers, require factual information to design effective marketing strategies, this remains a neglected retailing phenomenon.The purpose of this study was to gain insights concerning several aspects of preowned merchandise buying using Goodwill Industries as a case in point. Data were collected to provide demographic profiles of heavy, medium, and light shoppers and nonshoppers, the information sources effective in inculcating awareness, basic patronage motives of heavy, medium, and light shoppers, and various buying behavior patterns of the four groups. The latter included shopping at Goodwill versus other institutions selling used merchandise, future shopping plans at Goodwill, overall attitude toward used merchandise, and the types of preowned merchandise they would be willing to purchase.Telephone interviews were made with a randomly selected sample of household representatives living in a midwestern standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) with a population of 85,000. The 336 respondents (97.5% of the sample) who were aware of Goodwill formed the initial data base from which 320 usable questionnaires were obtained. A composite shopping volume index was used to differentiate light, medium, and heavy shoppers as well as nonshoppers.Results from the study show that some differences exist between the groups in terms of demographics, information sources, and patronage motives as well as part and anticipated shopping behavior. Several implications are suggested for Goodwill in particular and similar organizations in general.     

The Strategic Role of Listing Price in Marketing Real Estate: Theory and Evidence

The seller of a real estate property and his broker have two primary goals: to sell the properly for as high a price as possible and as quickly as possible. While these are separate objectives, they are closely related through the listing price of the seller. The listing price affects how long it takes to find a buyer (i.e., Time On the Market = TOM), and TOM influences the price that results from the bargaining between the seller and the buyer. This leaves the seller and his agent with an important question: What is the optimal price to be asked for the property? The objective of this research is to provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of the impact of listing price on TOM and the transaction price.     

Personality,organization-specific attitude,and socioeconomic correlates of charity giving behavior

It should be noted that due to the composition of the sample, the specific findings of this study are not intended to be generalized to the population. The results of the discriminant analysis, nevertheless, provide some evidence that socioeconomic variables are more efficient than both organization-specific attitudes and personality variables in discriminating donors and nondonors. The analyses also show that personality variables used in this study do not contribute to a separation of nondonor/donor groups. Ford Motor Company The authors gratefully acknowledge the research support of University Research Committee, Ball State University in this study.     

Transfer of management knowhow to developing countries: An empirical investigation

This article examines the transfer of management knowhow to developing countries through managers who undertake a graduate program in business at an advanced country. Based upon a study of 67 Turkish managers, all of whom received a master's degree in business in the United States, the article addresses three issues: What are the differences in the local applicability of various management skills (including marketing) which were acquired in an advanced country? What company and individual manager characteristics are associated with the local application of these management skills? What principal factors impede the transfer of management knowhow to an indigeneous organization?     

Reconciling culturalist and rationalist approaches: leadership in the United States and Turkey

This article empirically investigated the invariance and discriminant validity of a six-factor leadership model across two very divergent cultures: the United States and Turkey. In conjunction with the rationalist approach to international management, it was hypothesized that the same range of six leadership styles would appear in both cultures. However, coinciding with the culturalist approach to international management, it was also hypothesized that managers would emphasize different styles in each culture. Turkish and US managers each completed the Leadership Effectiveness Questionnaire measuring degree of emphasis placed on six leadership styles. Results of the test of model invariance indicated that the six styles existed in both cultures; however, discriminant analysis demonstrated that the Autocratic and Consensus styles differentiated managers best. Turkish managers emphasized the Autocratic style to a greater extent and the Consensus style to a lesser extent than did US managers. Implications for international management are discussed. ©1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Escape from New York: The market impact of loosening disclosure requirements

We examine the first significant deregulation of U.S. disclosure requirements since the passage of the 1933/1934 Exchange and Securities Acts: the 2007 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 12h-6. Rule 12h-6 has made it easier for foreign firms to deregister with the SEC and thereby terminate their U.S. disclosure obligations. We show that the market reacted negatively to the announcement by the SEC that firms from countries with weak disclosure and governance regimes could more easily opt out of the stringent U.S. reporting and legal environment. We also find that since the rule's passage, an unprecedented number of firms have deregistered, and these firms often had been previous targets of U.S. class action securities lawsuits or SEC enforcement actions. Our findings suggest that shareholders of non-U.S firms place significant value on U.S. securities regulations, especially when the home country investor protections are weak.