The influence of firm age and intangible resources on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth among Japanese SMEs

With the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance having broad scholarly acceptance, researchers are now delving with increased focus into the contextual factors that change the nature of the relationship between EO and various manifestations of organizational performance. In this vein, this study adopts the resource based view and investigates the moderating influence of firm age and intangible resources on the EO-firm growth relationship among small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan. Further, we propose a three-way interactive model between EO, firm age, and intangible resources to better identify entrepreneurial configurations that promote superior SME growth.     

Changing Perceptions of the Role of the Company Auditor, 1840–1940

One advantage of studying history is to explain present practice or at least to help place current phenomena in perspective. This paper seeks to explore two related themes which have proved problematic from the earliest times of company auditing in the UK: the nature of the auditor's responsibility; and the public's perception of his role. The conventional view is that auditors were initially concerned mainly with fraud detection, and that it was not until the 1930s that greater emphasis was devoted to the verification of financial statements. This study suggests that statement verification was the primary audit concern in relation to public companies as early as the 1830s, though we acknowledge that later in the century more emphasis was placed on fraud detection. We therefore see the current debate over the auditor's responsibility as merely the latest movement in a continuing and fluctuating theme. We also show that the profession has encountered great difficulty in reconciling public expectations with the practicalities of auditing. General confusion over the role of the auditor has existed to such an extent that it has been difficult even for the profession to reach agreement on the main purpose of company auditing, and the message to be sent to the investing public. In these endeavours, the accounting profession was at the same time both helped and hindered by legal developments.     

A NOTE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SYSTEMATIC RISK AND GROWTH IN EARNINGS

This paper provides a simple analytical derivation of the relationship between growth in earnings and systematic risk. Theoretically and empirically it concludes that this relationship is positive.     

IPO Listings: Where and Why?

According to most research, firms benefit from being listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Nevertheless, 224 of 640 firms that went public from 1993 through 2000 and were eligible for a NYSE listing chose to list their stock on Nasdaq. We hypothesize that this choice may be related to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 144. The rule regulates the sale of restricted stock by limiting the amount of unregistered stock that can be sold by an individual. We investigate the determinants of post-IPO sales of restricted stock, examine IPO firms' listing choices, and find evidence consistent with firms selecting Nasdaq to reduce the effect of the limits on selling restricted stock imposed by the SEC's Rule 144. Venture capitalists play an important role in this listing decision.     

The Extra‐Territoriality of the Statutory Stay in an English Administration – Revisited

This note is written by way of an addendum to the author's article on the extra‐territorial scope of the stay imposed in an English administration which was published in this journal last year. 1 In that article, it was argued that the stay imposed in an English administration should be treated by the English courts as applying without territorial limitation but that the courts should nonetheless grant leave to proceed in other jurisdictions in any case where there is no sufficient connection with England. The purpose of this note is to reconsider the issue in the light of the decision of the Privy Council in Stichting Shell Pensioenfonds v Krys 2 on anti‐suit injunctions, where judgement was given some months after publication of the original article. It is suggested that the decision in Shell as to the circumstances in which an anti‐suit injunction will be granted has significantly narrowed the issue but that extra‐territoriality would nonetheless still be a desirable development.     

The influence of firm financial position and industry characteristics on capital structure adjustment

We extend Byoun's (2008) modelling of the relationship between deficits and surpluses and adjustment speed, to demonstrate how industry characteristics identified by Kayo and Kimura (2011), including industry concentration, industry munificence and industry dynamism, impact on speed of adjustment. Using New Zealand firms as a case study, we find significant evidence that, as well as firm financial position, industry characteristics also impact on adjustment speed. The firm financial position results are the most robust, and we recommend further research to confirm the nature of the relationship between industry characteristics and the speed at which firms adjust towards target capital structures.     

Researcher rank stability across alternative output measurement schemes in the context of a time limited research evaluation: the New Zealand case

This article focuses on the stability of rankings of academics by research productivity in the context of short-term decision-making. In particular, the growing use of national research assessment exercises (NRAE) has increased interest in identifying the contributions of individual researchers to an assessment unit’s output and ranking. The article concentrates on the assessment of individuals using plausible journal ranking schemes. We find that despite statistical evidence of a high degree of stability across journal ranking schemes as indicated by rank correlation coefficients, the particular ranking scheme used is of great importance to individual researchers. This applies with particular force to academics working within a NRAE environment based on individual assessment such as New Zealand’s PBRF.     

Human genetic technology: exploring the links between science and innovation

This paper reports on a study of the extremely strong linkage between human genetic technology (HGT), as represented by patents in the field of human molecular and cell technology, and the underlying research science base, a represented by the references cited on these patents. The study procedures provide a useful demonstration for tracking how specific funding agencies' support for fundamental research wends its my into the intellectual property system, and leads to the development of economically and industrially important technologies. Specifically, a set of 1105 US patents in the field of human molecular and cell technology grantd batween 1988 and 1992 was identified, and the references cited on the front page of these patent traced through to the specific cited research papers and patents. The study used a novel scheave to classify the patents, and to capture the links between patents and papers, including the nationality If the, patent inventors, and the institutional origin and funding acknowledgement in the cited papers, HGT was shown to be the most heavily science-linked area of patented technology; HGT patents cited scientific papers as prior art six times as often as they cited US patents as prior art. Furthermore, the scienlific papers cited as prior art were of a fundamental nature (i.e, not applied science), providing , new evidence of the role of curiosity-driven research in feeding the innovation process. In addition, the local science base, particularly in the UK; was shown to be of significant importance in national patending activities, although the UK share of world HGT patents was not as high as would have been expected, given the intensity of scientific research on this topic in the UK.     

The content of manufacturing strategy: An empirical study

While there has been an extensive literature written on manufacturing strategy since the 1960s, little empirical research has been done. This article reports on a study of manufacturing strategy in thirty-nine companies based on questionnaire responses received from manufacturing managers.The study indicates that things are not as bleak as the literature might suggest. About one-third of the companies appear to have a well-developed manufacturing strategy. In those cases where the manufacturing strategy exists it is consistent with the business strategy and internally consistent among mission, objectives, policies, and distinctive competence.The term “manufacturing strategy” is not well understood by the managers surveyed. When asked to state their manufacturing strategy, they gave statements about what manufacturing should be, what it should do, how it should do it, and why it should do it. Apparently, the terminology itself is confusing. Frameworks for stating both business strategies and the elements of manufacturing strategy need to be strengthened and some specific suggestions are given in the article for doing so.Even though two-thirds of the companies did not have well-developed manufacturing strategies, 80% of the managers felt that manufacturing had lent competitive strength to the business. This was being done through the development of a distinctive competence in manufacturing that provided competitive advantage.Manufacturing strategies seemed to follow from business strategy. This is contrary to the literature, which indicates that manufacturing strategy is missing, or, at the very least inconsistent with business strategy and marketing strategy. Perhaps a stronger relationship exists than was previously thought. This article provides some evidence for establishing this premise and also provides data on the general status of strategy in manufacturing today.