SME credit constraints in Asia’s rising economic star: fresh empirical evidence from Vietnam

This study provides a fresh look at the SME sector’s economic backbone vis-à-vis credit constraint dichotomy in Vietnam—Asia’s rising economic star. The study uses data from the Survey of Manufacturing SMEs in Vietnam from 2005 to 2013 and adopts a two-step Heckman modelling strategy to single out firms with formal financing needs that are credit constrained. Results show that several characteristics—including firm size, investment, financial assets, leverage, equity, registration, gender of owner, age, and education—significantly affect the likelihood of either credit constraints or demand. The main results do not change even when the issue of endogeneity is dealt with. Particularly, we provide evidence that unobserved factors that increase the probability of debt demand also increase the probability of being constrained. Policy implications are discussed.     

Mediating Role of Company Information in the Relationships among Perceived Risks and Purchase Intentions in an Online Retailing Context

The exponential growth of the online retail sector has attracted the attention of researchers across the globe. Understanding the consumer decision-making process in an online retail context is of vital importance to all online retailers. The objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect impacts of perceived risks on consumers’ purchase intentions in an online shopping context. This study applied structural equation modeling to test the study model with data from 234 samples. We found a significant negative full mediating impact of performance risk, financial risk, physical risk, and psychological risk on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, we found a partial mediating impact of social risk on purchase intentions. However, we did not find a mediating impact of time risk on purchase intentions. These empirical results may help online retailers to better understand their consumers, their intentions to purchase, and their level of risk perceptions. Accordingly, online marketers can frame contemporary strategies to attract retail customers, leading to greater profitability of the organization.     

The impact of business group affiliation on stock price informativeness: Evidence from an emerging market

This paper examines the relationship between business group affiliation and stock price informativeness in an emerging market setting. We use stock price synchronicity as a measure, and study the impact of group affiliation ‐specifically the extent of affiliation, ownership structure and existence of group bank‐ on firm specific information content. Results reveal that the amount of firm‐specific information capitalized into stock prices tends to be lower (higher) when the firm is group‐affiliated (unaffiliated), indirectly (directly) owned, and affiliated group has (does not have) a group bank. Additionally, the extent of group affiliation maintains a non‐linear relationship with synchronicity, suggesting that the perception of higher versus lower levels of group ownership differs.     

Supply chain agility: review,classification and synthesis

Supply chain agility (SCA) has emerged as an important capability to remain competitive in this era of business uncertainty and turbulence. This study aims to gain knowledge of the current state of research on SCA, specifically to have conceptual clarity and synthesise future research avenues. To achieve these goals, we have carried out a systematic review of 118 research papers on SCA published from 1999 to 2016. The findings suggest that the domain has witnessed steady growth since its inception, but little consensus has been observed around its definition and boundaries. To counter these definitional ambiguities, we have presented a comprehensive definition of SCA. The paper further discusses SCA along three thematic categories: the first considers SCA from the strategic perspective, the second considers SCA as a capability and focuses on its enablers and the third explores the impact of SCA on performance. Finally, towards the conclusion, a holistic framework summarising the findings is presented.     

Do Banks Value Innovation? Evidence from US Firms

This study evaluates how innovation within companies alleviates the information asymmetry problems in relationship lending. We hypothesize that patenting activities could reveal favorable private information and, hence, reduce the information asymmetry between innovative borrowers and banks. Using a sample of US patenting firms from 1987 to 2004, we show that borrowers with higher innovation capability (revealed by having more patent applications, higher research & development (R&D) productivity, or higher‐quality patents) enjoy lower bank‐loan spreads and better nonprice‐related loan terms. Our evidence further suggests that the information benefits of patenting activities on loan spreads is more pronounced for small or less R&D‐intensive firms.     

Exploring Residents' Perceptions of the Social Impacts of Tourism on the Sunshine Coast,Australia

ABSTRACT

This study identified residents' perceptions of major social impacts from tourism and their social concerns. A survey of households on the Sunshine Coast region covering the hinterland residential, hinterland high tourist activity, coastal residential and coastal high tourist activity areas of the three shires (Caloundra City Council, Maroochy Shire and Noosa Shire) was carried out to assess residents' perceptions of social impacts. Altogether 732 responses were received. Based on the perceptions of the respondents, the survey results suggest that if rates of resident perceptions are aligned with actual impact, tourism has the highest impact on traffic congestion. Residents perceived that the opportunity to meet people from other regions of the world provides a valuable experience for respondents to better understand their culture and society. The study also found a number of significant correlations between residents' concerns and tourism impact variables. It revealed that the principal area of concern was the lack of capacity of roads and transportation followed by perceived negative impacts on the surrounding environment and crime related incidents.     

The impact of transactional and relational strategies in business markets: An agenda for inquiry

The impetus for the special issue of Industrial Marketing Management is the importance of understanding the implications of transactional and relational strategies in business-to-business contexts. The objective of the special issue is to integrate conceptual and empirical research in this area. We highlight research that extends current thinking in the area to ensure that this special issue serves an impetus for future research on this important topic.     

Innovation and new product introductions in emerging markets: Strategic recommendations for the Indian market

While radical innovations and growth strategies supporting such innovations may provide the firm with very high returns, there are also considerable risks in devising and implementing such innovations. Apart from the business risks of venturing into new territories and new markets, radical innovations also carry with them the burden of accounting for market and environmental factors that are often not under the control of the firm. The opportunities presented by the emergence of several Asian markets, such as India and China, are particularly appealing for Western countries willing to expand into these markets. However, market characteristics, institutional development, and customer behaviors bring into sharp focus the choice of a specific innovation and new product development strategy for such markets. This paper examines these various strategic issues in the context of India. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for managers and some propositions for future academic research.     

A simple algebraic estimation procedure for innovation diffusion models of new product acceptance

A simple algebraic estimation procedure is developed to estimate the parameters of diffusion models of new product acceptance. The procedure required knowledge of the occurrence of the point of inflection (based on actual data, analogous products, or management judgments). It is conceptually easy to use and can be implemented by using a hand calculator. Since the procedure does not employ period-by-period time-series diffusion data, it is not expected to provide the best fit to the data as compared to the maximum likelihood and nonlinear least squares estimation procedures. However, the procedure can provide very reasonable estimates about the relative magnitudes of the parameter estimates. In that respect, the procedure can be used to generate good starting values for the maximum likelihood and nonlinear least squares estimation procedures. In the absence of data, using management judgments about the point of inflection, the procedure can be implemented in a decision-support system to develop conditional diffusion curves for a new product. Data from four diverse innovations are used to illustrate the procedure.