Religiosity,Spirituality and Work: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions

Journal of Business Ethics - This article presents the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) on religiosity and spirituality, particularly in the work context. We aimed to verify the...     

Optimal Investment Decisions for Two Positioned Firms Competing in a Duopoly Market with Hidden Competitors

This paper extends the literature dealing with the option to invest in a duopoly market for a leader‐follower setting. A restrictive assumption embodied in the models in the current literature is that investment opportunities are semi‐proprietary in that the two identified or positioned firms are guaranteed to hold at least the follower's position. More competition is realistically captured in our model by introducing the concept of hidden rivals so that the places in the market can be taken not only by positioned firm but also by these hidden competitors. The value functions and the optimal triggers for the positioned firms differ materially in settings with(out) the presence of hidden rivals. Unlike existing models, our model allows for (a)symmetric market shares and investment costs for the leader and the follower. Cooperative entrance by the two positioned firms is also modelled.     

Capital Structure and Regulation: Do Ownership and Regulatory Independence Matter?

We study the effect of ownership structure and regulatory independence on the interaction between capital structure and regulated prices using a comprehensive panel data of publicly traded European utilities. We find that firms in our sample tend to have a higher leverage if they are privately controlled and regulated by an independent regulatory agency. Moreover, the leverage of these firms has a positive and significant effect on their regulated prices, but not vice versa. Our results are consistent with the theory that privately controlled regulated firms use leverage strategically to obtain better regulatory outcomes.     

Must Sell

Why are moving sales a successful and widespread phenomenon? How can it be optimal for a seller to disclose her low valuation for the item to be sold? We propose an explanation based on the “lemons problem” in bargaining with asymmetric information about quality. Disclosing a low valuation signals that there are significant gains from trade, so that trade takes place when it wouldn't otherwise, and all agents are made better off.     

An Empirical Analysis of the Relative Efficiency of Policy Instruments to Reduce Nitrate Water Pollution in the U.S. Southern High Plains

This paper develops a modeling framework for evaluating alternative water quality protection policies. The framework integrates the EPIC-PST crop growth/chemical transport model and a mathematical programming model. The framework is applied to the evaluation of four water quality policies in the southern high plains of the United States:
• restrictions on per-acre nitrogen use,
• taxes on nitrogen use,
• taxes on irrigation water use, and
• incentives to convert conventional irrigation systems to modem irrigation technology. The results indicate that producers would make a variety of adjustments in responding to these policies. Important responses might include reductions in nitrogen and water use, crop substitution, removal of land from crop production and conversion from irrigated to dryland production. These four policies are evaluated based on changes in farm income and social welfare. The irrigation system conversion incentive clearly outperforms other policies from both society's and producers points of view. Producers would prefer nitrogen use restrictions to nitrogen or water use taxes because farm income would be reduced less under the restrictions than under the taxes. Nitrogen use taxes, however, are more desirable than nitrogen use restrictions from society's point of view.     

Exploring the Attitudes of Bottled Wine Distributors Toward Wine Producers in the Portuguese Wine Sector

The wine sector has unique features that have not been deeply studied. This study aims to explore the attitudes of bottled wine distributors toward wine producers in the Portuguese wine sector. Eleven interviews (about 60 min each) were carried out with all major wine distributor managers. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative software. Content analysis shows that distributors develop six main attitudes toward producers: (a) Long-term Relationship, (b) Cooperation, (c) Interdependence, (d) Product Quality, (e) Trust, and (f) Brand Image. Findings may help managers of the wine sector and promote favorable relationships with the distributing customers.     

Food production and population growth

Governments have frequently ignored the issue of population consumption exceeding the rates of renewal of natural resources. At the UN Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the issue of population growth was ignored in the agenda and action plan. In 1974, the UN World Population Conference suggested population stability would be possible if standards of living were raised. Industrialized nations spent half a century of active interference with the stability of global populations and failed to slow growth. 27 countries, mainly in tropical and subtropical zones, have an average cereal yield of under 1 ton per hectare, when improved seed and basic minimum fertilizer could yield 2 tons per hectare. Efforts to increase yields by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural research in 13 international centers resulted in global annual increases of about 50 million tons of grain (wheat and rice). Rainfed agriculture did not benefit as much because of climatic conditions. Where varieties of triticale, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, chick peas, cowpeas, beans, and cassava have helped increase food production, population growth has outstripped the gains. Agricultural fertilizers have been unfairly blamed for soil nutrient losses. Because of the age structure of population, the expected population growth can only be addressed through development of higher yields, new strains resistant to disease, and fertilizers. Slow release phosphates for tropical soils are needed. Shortages of domestic fuel divert much needed farmyard manure and composted crop residues. About 400 million tons of dung are thus wasted annually; food grain harvests are thus reduced by 14 million tons. About 50% of the 1133 million poorest people will live in Asia and another 25% will live in Sub-Saharan Africa, living on a total degraded area of 1219 million hectares. Imbalance between food supply and population need to be addressed on an effective international scale.     

The Role of Firm-Specific Incentives and Country Factors in Explaining Voluntary IAS Adoptions: Evidence from Private Firms

Abstract

This paper investigates voluntary adoptions of International Accounting Standards (IAS) by private enterprises, and builds on prior research which posits that higher quality financial reports through IAS adoption can reduce information asymmetry and facilitate contracting with external parties. Specifically, we pursue the following questions. First, do firm-specific incentives matter in the IAS adoption decision after controlling for country-level institutional factors? Second, does the relative importance of firm vs. country factors vary across institutional settings? Using a sample of 3,722 small and medium-sized private enterprises from 56 countries, we report two primary findings. First, both firm and country factors matter in the voluntary IAS adoption decision. Second, when we focus on sub-samples of countries partitioned by the level of economic development, we find that firm factors dominate country factors in more developed countries, while in less developed countries, country factors dominate firm factors in explaining IAS adoptions. This result is consistent with the argument in Doidge et al. (Journal of Financial Economics, 86(1), pp. 1–39, 2007 Doidge, C., Karolyi, A. and Stulz, R. 2007. Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?. Journal of Financial Economics, 86(1): 1–39. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) that firm incentives are more important in explaining governance choices (including accounting) in more developed countries where the benefits from better governance are more likely to exceed the attendant costs. Collectively, our results suggest that less developed countries can enhance the benefits from IAS adoptions by developing institutions which facilitate private contracting.     

Analysis of the promotion of cigarettes at the point of sale and its attractiveness to children

Smoking habit seriously affects public health in a number of direct and indirect ways. The study reported here took place in Brazil and examined the promotional activities of the tobacco industry at the point of sale, with particular reference to their impact on children. Tobacco control policies are generally in place in developed countries, and smokers typically develop the habit while still young. Trained researchers visited a stratified sample of 429 retail outlets in the city of São Paulo, comprising the local equivalents of bars, snack bars, luncheonettes and pubs. Data for analysis were collected by direct observation at the point of sale and interviews with the person deemed to be in charge of the outlet visited. The results indicate that the tobacco industry is displaying its products within full view of children and making use of the sales' incentives offered to the retailer. The findings contribute significantly to the study of the effect of promotion at the point of sale on young smokers and can inform the policy debate on the increasing regulation of tobacco marketing promotional methods.