The effect of CEO incentives on deviations from institutional norms in foreign market expansion decisions: Behavioral agency and cross-border acquisitions

CEO incentives have been the subject of great interest for human resource scholars. We explore the institutional context within which the CEO makes sense of their incentives. Our theory suggests that CEO equity incentives interact with institutional norms to influence foreign market entry choices. Specifically, we argue that CEOs will weigh the risk bearing created by equity incentives, along with the consequences of legitimacy loss, when deciding whether to deviate from institutional norms when internationalizing. In doing so, we advance human resource literature by demonstrating that CEO responses to incentives are influenced by institutional norms and that CEOs' decisions to deviate from institutional norms are shaped by their incentives. We find support for our framework in the analysis of the stake taken by acquirers in 4,184 cross-border acquisitions.     

Growth,profits and foreign ownership in the Brazilian banking industry

The deregulation of the financial markets and their progressive globalization has favoured the internationalization of banking. Moreover, during the international financial crisis, the presence of foreign banks has increased in countries experiencing faster economic growth, such as Brazil. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyze the growth and profitability of the financial institutions in Brazil, taking into account the possible non-linearity of the relationship, the differences between Brazilian and foreign institutions and the effect of the crisis. Our results indicate that the entry of foreign institutions has a direct effect on the Brazilian banking industry.     

Survival is for the fittest: Export survival patterns in Georgia

This paper analyzes the determinants of export flow survival in Georgia. The paper uses a unique Georgian firm-level dataset, in which firm characteristics and output dynamics are matched with their customs export transactions, for the period 2006–2012. We adopt a discrete survival model to explore the role of firm-level characteristics, diversification strategies and network effects on the survival rates of export flows. Low survival rates at the product level limit the ability of Georgian firms to consolidate new products in international markets. The analysis finds that it is production efficiency, rather than size, that boosts export survival chances, that firms’ diversification strategies matter for the prospects of survival, and that there is strong evidence of network effects in export survival. We also find that ratified foreign trade agreements contribute to increase the survival of export flows by reducing policy-induced trading costs and increasing information about destination markets.     

Influence of virtual communities in purchasing decisions: The participants' perspective

This study intended to fill some gaps in knowledge about virtual communities and their influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. A Brazilian Orkut community, whose central theme is preparing for wedding ceremonies, was investigated to reveal relationships among members and group influences on purchasing decisions. Twenty-one interviews were conducted by telephone. Results unveil a basic code of conduct, suggesting that the community can also act as a normative reference group, with strong identification among participants. Although the central interest – the wedding ceremony and party – could be considered as episodic, many members actively stay in the community after being married, just to help others. Group leaders seemed to be active participants, those with more experience with products related to the group's interests, or those perceived as having refined tastes. There was evidence that purchasing intentions and behavior can be altered as a result of interactions among members.     

Impact of Parental Resources on Student Outcomes Using Elementary School Data

This paper examines the use of parental volunteer hours in elementary schools in the state of Kentucky and assesses whether they improve student learning in math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. A unique annual school-level panel dataset was created of over 600 elementary schools from 2000 until 2017. This approach is novel because it permits investigation of the impact of parental involvement in schools through achievement distributions in each subject area. The findings suggest that use of parental volunteer hours tends to reduce the percentage of students at the low end of the achievement distribution and increases the percentage at the high end in many grades and across several subjects. No instances were identified of detrimental impacts. The research implications are that opportunities may exist for school districts to improve student outcomes through encouragement and increased use of parental involvement in schools.

     

Effects of interest rate caps on credit access

Journal of Regulatory Economics - We study the liberalization of the microcredit usury rate in Colombia and its effects on loan expansion. In February 2007 the interest rate ceiling for microcredit...     

Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach

The disconnection between productivity and workers’ compensation after 1980 is a fact not only for the U.S., Canada, Japan but also for Europe. The level of the decoupling between labor productivity and real hourly compensation is highest in the U.S. and Japan and lowest in Norway and Germany. This study investigates the great decoupling phenomena between 1950 and 2014 for eight economies with available time series data. The results should assist policy makers in developing efficient wage-setting mechanisms and help researchers in the field of wage moderation policy and the great decoupling. For this purpose we use fractional integration and cointegration techniques. Countries with stagnating minimum wages, rigid wage moderation policy and a high level of technological progress (strong total factor productivity growth) register higher wage stagnation in relation to labor productivity. Policy makers should be extremely careful when using wage moderation policy to improve a country’s competitiveness and should monitor the wage stagnation behind labor productivity (great decoupling) since workers have been producing more but receiving significantly less since 1980. The great decoupling is more prominent today and it is constantly increasing not just in the U.S. and Japan but worldwide.     

Label Style and Color Contribution to Explain Market Price Difference in Italian Red Wines Sold in the Chinese Wine Market

This study employs a hedonic price methodology to investigate the implicit price of individual labelling characteristics of Italian red wines sold in the Chinese market. Our results highlight the most important quality attributes (extrinsic and intrinsic) given in the label capable to explain price difference. In particular, reveal significant premium price for wine origin, identified in particular through the DOC/DOCG appellation given in the label, and for clean labels or labels with particular designs. On the contrary, a price discount has been revealed for Italian wines produced with local grape varieties and with a label characterised by warm colors. These results, partly in disagreement with other empirical evidence, contribute to enrich the existing literature in this field by providing useful suggestions both to the producers and other stakeholders operating in the wine industry.     

Economic crisis and determinants of solvency in the insurance sector: new evidence from Spain

This paper analyses the factors that determine the solvency of insurance companies operating in Spain. The selected time span, from 2008 to 2015, encompasses a period of economic instability characterised by record low interest rates and low or even negative economic growth. Using a dynamic panel data model, we conclude that actual solvency margins are positively related to profitability, underwriting risk and a mutual-type organisation but inversely related to size, reinsurance use, longer-tailed business and life insurance specialisation. We also find that less concentrated markets and the context of an economic crisis decrease solvency margins.     

Markets and relationships in a learning economy

It is generally agreed that within long-term relationships agents learn the characteristics of their market partners better than through spot transactions. In contrast, little is known on how relationship-based and transaction-based markets compare when agents learn about the aggregate economy from market exchanges. In this paper, we study the market structure that arises in an economy where agents learn the aggregate productivity from market exchanges. The model allows to relate the market structure to macroeconomic fundamentals such as the persistence and volatility of the aggregate productivity and the cross-sectional volatility of productivity.