The Interrelation between Audit Quality and Managerial Reporting Choices and Its Effects on Financial Reporting Quality

Two distinct lines of research have been dedicated to empirically testing how financial reporting quality (measured as the earnings response coefficient or ERC) is associated with management's choice of reporting bias and with audit quality. However, researchers have yet to consider how ERCs are affected by either the auditor's reaction to changes in the manager's reporting bias or the manager's reaction to changes in audit quality. Our study provides theoretical guidance on these interrelations and how changes in the manager's or the auditor's incentives affect both reporting bias and audit quality. Specifically, when the manager's cost (benefit) of reporting bias increases (decreases), we find that expected bias decreases, inducing the auditor to react by reducing audit quality. Because we also find that the association between expected audit quality and ERCs is always positive, changes in managerial incentives for biased reporting lead to a positive association between ERCs and expected reporting bias. When the cost of auditing decreases or the cost of auditor liability increases, we find that expected audit quality increases, inducing the manager to react by decreasing reporting bias. In this case, changes in the costs of audit quality lead to a negative association between ERCs and expected reporting bias. Finally, we demonstrate the impact of our theoretical findings by focusing on the empirical observations documented in the extant literature on managerial ownership and accounting expertise on the audit committee. In light of our framework, we provide new interpretations of these empirical observations and new predictions for future research.     

The Transitioning of Marketing Practices from Segment to Customer-Centric Marketing in the African Business Context: Toward a Theoretical Research Framework

ABSTRACT

Although marketing has long been posited to be shifting from segment marketing to customer-centric marketing, there is little theoretical insight into the status of such transformation, especially in emerging African economies. Therefore, this paper develops an integrated theoretical framework for assessing (a) the extent to which firms in African economies use the segment marketing mix (4Ps) versus the customer-centric marketing mix (4As) as well as (b) their antecedents and performance outcomes. Propositions drawn from qualitative data and theoretical tenets in strategic management and in institutional theory are offered to guide systematic empirical research.     

Gender Effects of Trade Openness in Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

More than thirty years into the modern era of globalization, scholars are now in a position to evaluate the distributive effects of the policy shifts that have led to greater economic integration. One region of the world for which little robust empirical evidence exists on gendered employment effects is Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To identify whether there is an impact of economic and trade structure on women's relative access to work, this contribution empirically explores these issues for thirty-eight SSA countries, and for two subgroups. Panel data for the period 1991–2010 is examined using fixed effects, random effects and two-stage least-squares estimation techniques. Findings suggest that trade liberalization has gendered employment effects, with the direction depending on the structure of the economy. However, the more robust finding is that a country's infrastructure has played a determining role in gendered labor market outcomes in SSA since the early 1990s.     

How Managers Handle Conflict in Supply Chain Collaborative Relationships in Ghana

To contribute to a broader understanding of how conflict impacts the emergence of collaborative relationships in the supply chain, the authors conduct a series of simulation games among supply chain collaborative teams in Ghana, West Africa. Results lend support to a theoretic proposition that managers' responses to conflict differ on the basis of their evaluative judgments about the favorability of processes and fairness of outcomes as predicted by the process and outcome discrepancy model (Kumar & Nti, 1998 Kumar , R. , & Nti , K. O. ( 1998 ). Differential learning and interaction in alliance dynamics: A process and outcome discrepancy model . Organizational Science , 9 , 356 – 367 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Further, results show that most collaborative relationships are prone to only a moderate level of conflict (contentious) as opposed to being highly conflict-prone (hostile) or conflict-free (harmonious), but the incidence of contentious and hostile relationships has a greater negative impact on collaboration decisions than the incidence of harmonious relationships. These findings demonstrate the importance of the process and outcome discrepancy model and the loss aversion tenet in prospect theory to supply chain collaboration research and strategy formulation.     

Advertising Evaluation and Measurement Error: The Case of Fluid Milk in Ontario

A key component of any attempt to assess the economic impacts of advertising is the ability to obtain accurate estimates of advertising elasticities or response coefficients. Accurate estimates of advertising response require accurate data. This study compares estimates of advertising elasticities based on two alternative data series. One data series represents actual expenditures on fluid milk advertising as measured by the entity conducting the advertising. The other data series represents estimated advertising expenditures as measured by a commercial tracking firm. Results based on a quarterly econometric model covering the period 1973-84 suggest data obtained from the tracking service produce severely downward-biased estimates of advertising response. The tracking data, moreover, tended to understate the actual level of advertising over the sample period and to misrepresent turning points. Un des facteurs déterminants permettant d'évaluer l'incidence économique de la publicité est la capacityé d'obtenir une estimation précise des élasticités de la publicité ou des coefficients de réaction. Pour estimer avec précision la réponse à la publicité, on a besoin de données précises également. La présente étude compare les estimations de l'élasticite de la publicité obtenues au moyen de deux séries de données. La premiére série portait sur les dépenses réelles de publicité pour le lait de consommation, telles que calculées par l'organisme chargé de la campagne. La seconde représentait les dépenses de publicité prévues par une entreprise d'étude de marché. Les résultats tirés de l'application du modéie économétrique trimestriel à la période de 1973 à 1984 indiquent que les données de l'en-treprise d'étude du marché entraînent une nette sous-estimation de la réaction a la publicité. EHes ont eu aussi tendance à sous-estimer le budget réel consacré à la publicité au cours de la période à l'étude et à mal signaler les points déterminants du cycle.     

Cost-utility analysis of alemtuzumab in comparison with interferon beta,fingolimod, and natalizumab treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in Austria

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic progressive, demyelinating, inflammatory disease, affects 2.5 million people worldwide. Approximately 63% of cases are classified as relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) at the time of diagnosis. The aim of this cost-utility analysis is to evaluate alemtuzumab vs interferon beta (intramuscular [IM] interferon beta-1a, subcutaneous [SC] interferon beta-1a, SC interferon beta-1b, and SC pegylated interferon beta-1a) in previously treated, and vs SC interferon beta-1a, fingolimod, and natalizumab in untreated RRMS patients to determine the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio among the treatment alternatives as prices, the route, and the frequency of administration of considered products vary significantly.

Methods: The primary outcome was the modeled incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER; €/quality-adjusted life-year [QALY] gained). Markov modeling with a 10-year time horizon was carried out. During each 3-month cycle, patients maintained the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score or experienced progression, developed secondary progressive MS (SPMS), or showed EDSS progression in SPMS; experienced relapses; suffered from an adverse event (AE); changed treatment; or died. A published network meta-analysis (NMA) was used for indirect comparison. The possibility of a therapy switch was considered. Clinical input data and resource utilization data were derived from the literature. Costs were extracted from price lists published in Austria and were calculated from the payer’s perspective.

Results: In treatment naïve patients, alemtuzumab is associated with costs of €132,663 and 5.25 QALYs in a 10-year time horizon. Costs for SC interferon beta amount to €164,159 and generate 4.85 QALYs. Also, in the pre-treated patients, alemtuzumab dominated comparators by accumulating higher total QALYs (4.88) and lower total costs (€137.409) compared to interferon beta-1a (€200.133), fingolimod (€240.903), and natalizumab (€247.758).

Conclusion: The analysis shows that alemtuzumab is a cost-saving alternative to treat RRMS in pre-treated and therapy naïve patients. From the patient perspective, alemtuzumab improves quality-of-life.     

TIC y crecimiento de la productividad del trabajo en el África Subsahariana

Se investigan los efectos de las TIC en la productividad del trabajo en 43 países subsaharianos. Se observa que el desarrollo de la telefonía fija y móvil celular estimula el crecimiento de la productividad en forma de retornos crecientes, lo cual confirma la presencia de efectos de red: cuando se duplica la tasa de penetración de la telefonía fija y de la móvil, el crecimiento de la productividad del trabajo aumenta en alrededor de 0,12–0,15 por ciento y 0,05 por ciento, respectivamente. La inclusión financiera aparece como uno de los posibles vectores de los efectos de la telefonía móvil en la productividad en los países estudiados.     

The undervaluation of corporate reputation as a supplier selection factor: An analysis of ingredient branding of complex products in the manufacturing industry

Prior research studies on supplier selection factors assess vendor reputation as a low ranked criterion. Reputation in these articles, however, only refers to the position in the industry, without considering the role of the final customer. Our results from a survey with 565 individuals suggest that the end user as a stakeholder should be also considered when analyzing a vendor’s prestige. We demonstrate that a supplier’s standing has negative as well as positive reputational effects on the buyer. Depending on the relevance of the purchased good as well as the reputation of the supplier and the buyer, low/high-ranked ingredients significantly decrease/increase the final customer’s perception of the buyer.     

Competing with Marketing Channels and Logistics in Africa's Booming Markets: An Investigation of Emerging Supply Chain Management Practices in Ghana

Using Ghana as the African context for testing the applicability of supply chain management, this study reveals that firms there place less emphasis on logistics and channels management practices relative to product and pricing marketing mix elements. However, this situation is changing in response to the perceived positive impact of the regulatory and technological environment on market-share competitive performance. Those firms that emphasize integration of both logistics and channels management practices exhibited the strongest competitive market-share and financial performance; firms whose practices placed moderate emphasis on both logistics and channels management integration reported moderate levels of market-share and financial performance. These results suggest that firms in Ghana compete along a continuum of supply chain integration primarily on the basis of the increasingly market-oriented business environment.     

THE IMPACT OF FEMALE WORK ON FAMILY INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES: BLACK-WHITE DIFFERENTIALS*

Using data from the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth, the present study analyzes, for blacks and whites separately, the impact of female market activity on the inequality of the income distribution among households. The family life cycle is divided into three stages, according to the presence and age of children: (1) the interval between marriage and the birth of the first child, (2) the child-rearing interval, and (3) a final period which begins when all the children have reached school age. Using the coefficient of variation as an indicator of inequality, the empirical results show that in period 1, the contribution of white working wives has a large equalizing impact, while that of their black counterparts results in a slight increase in dispersion. In the child-rearing and post child-rearing stages, the labor supply of mothers decreases family income inequality by a small amount for both black and white households. A decomposition of the squared coefficient of variation of family income is presented to aid in the interpretation of these findings.