J-curve in Turkish bilateral trade: A nonlinear approach

ABSTRACT

This study aims to bring further evidence on recent developments of the J-curve literature by employing linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approaches for Turkish bilateral trade data with respect to 18 European Union member countries over the period from 1990Q1 to 2017Q3. Findings obtained from the nonlinear ARDL model yield more support for the J-curve phenomenon compared to the linear model. This result provides evidence of an asymmetrical impact of appreciations and depreciations on the Turkish bilateral trade balances and suggests that allowing for nonlinearity in the adjustment process gives better results in terms of the J-curve effect.     

Assessing technology portfolios for contract competition: An analytic hierarchy process approach

Firms engaged in high-technology government and commercial contracts allocate discretionary funds to R&D projects to enhance the quality of prototype design. We propose a method for targeting enhancements which appeal to clients while also providing technological advantage vis-a-vis other firms competing for the same contracts. R&D projects can be scored on their contribution to contract selection criteria and compared in the context of a technology portfolio, a matrix that reveals the relative merits of the engineering proposals and potential technology niches.

Knowledge on clients, competitors and priorities regarding selection criteria is often judgmental and fragmented within the firm. Meaningful translation of various experts' comparisons into a hierarchical, internally consistent scoring scheme is achieved with Saaty's analytic hierarchy process. Carefully specified technical benchmarks, used to scale quality and cost data, are also instrumental for soliciting judgmental knowledge. Implementation of the technology portfolio assessment is illustrated with a practical example drawn from defense contracting.     

The Accounting Standards Setting Process in the U.S.: Examination of the SEC–FASB Relationship

In the U.S. there is a close relationship between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a governmental agency legally responsible for setting accounting standards, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), a private sector body to whom the SEC has delegated this responsibility. In this paper we examine the influence of the SEC on the FASB as evidenced by all major statements issued by the FASB. Minor statements, amendments, and strictly technical pronouncements were omitted because of their limited exposure to the political process. Our analysis reveals that the SEC applied substantial pressure on the FASB in the standard setting process and has not adopted a position of benign neglect.     

When Do Employees Leave Their Job for Entrepreneurship?*

Existing firms are argued to be an important source of new entrepreneurs. Yet, relatively little is known about the characteristics of firms that breed new entrepreneurs. We use a large linked employee–employer dataset to trace and characterize the types of firms which generate new entrepreneurs in Finland. We find that such transitions are rare and that smaller firms spawn new entrepreneurs more frequently than larger firms. We also find that firms' R&D intensity and, to a lesser extent, their productivity are negatively related to the probability that employees transit into entrepreneurship. These results are robust to controlling for a number of employee and employer attributes.     

Trade regimes and spillover effects of FDI: Evidence from Uruguay

Trade Regimes and Spillover Effects of FDI: Evidence from Uruguay. — This paper examines differences in the character and impact of FDI entering Uruguay during import substitution, pursued until 1973, and the subsequent more outwardoriented trade regime. Regression analysis shows that the labor productivity of local firms is positively related to the presence of older import-substituting MNCs in their industry. The presence of foreign affiliates established after 1973 has no apparent impact on local productivity, but seems to raise the likelihood that local firms engage in exporting. This may be a sign of export spillovers, indicating that local firms may pick up some exportrelated skills from the operations of outward-oriented foreign MNCs.     

Ethical Managerial Behaviour as an Antecedent of Organizational Social Capital

There is a need of further research to understand how social capital in the organization can be fostered. Existing literature focuses on the design of reciprocity norms, procedures and stability employment practices as the main levers of social capital in the workplace. Complementary to these mechanisms, this paper explores the impact of ethical managerial behaviour on the development of social capital. We argue that a managerial behaviour based on the true concern for the well-being of employees, as well as their motivational and ethical development, can be particularly important for the generation of social capital in the organization. It is suggested that manager’s behaviour should be based on three principles: following exemplary behaviour, helping the employees to value the consequences of their actions in other persons, and not betraying employee’s trust. When the manager conforms to those principles, he can ease the process through which employees develop associability and identification-based trust with the firm, the two main components of ?Organizational Social Capital’. Bringing ethics into the debate of social capital creation seems to us fundamental, as social capital in the firm is likely to be influenced by the ethical and motivational development of its members.     

Does Social Performance Really Lead to Financial Performance? Accounting for Endogeneity

The empirical relationship between a firm’s social performance and its financial performance is still not well established in the literature. Despite more than 30 years of research and more than 100 empirical studies on the issue, the results are still mixed. We argue that the heterogeneous results found in previous studies are not due exclusively to problems related with the measurement instruments or the samples used. Instead, we posit that a more fundamental problem related with the endogeneity of social strategic decisions could be driving most of the empirical findings. We show that, using a panel data of 658 firms from 1991 to 2005, how some of the results found in previous research change, and some are even reversed when endogeneity is properly taken into account.     

CONSTRUING THE BUSINESS PORTFOLIO: A COGNITIVE MODEL OF DIVERSIFICATION[1]

In investigating the concept of diversification and its link to performance, strategy researchers have tended to emphasize economic, technological, or market characteristics that distinguish or relate one business to another. However, by ignoring the mental maps corporate-level managers use to understand and manage strategic variety among their firm's businesses, strategy research has failed to produce an overall theory that links diversification to performance. Although the literature has begun to reaffirm the importance of developing a cognitive concept of diversification, researchers have been frustrated by the paucity of methods that are suitable for operationalizing the subjective characteristics of managerial mental maps into quantitative and reproducible measures. In addressing this deficit, this article proposes the use of the Repertory Grid, a set of procedures that facilitates elicitation and quantification of top managers' mindsets towards the firm's mix of businesses. After outlining the theoretical and methodological foundations of the Repertory Grid, the paper defines indices of grid structure and content and demonstrates the utility of grid data for assessing diversification.