Nonprofit boards: Size,performance and managerial incentives

We examine relations between board size, managerial incentives and enterprise performance in nonprofit organizations. We posit that a nonprofit's demand for directors increases in the number of programs it pursues, resulting in a positive association between program diversity and board size. Consequently, we predict that board size is inversely related to managerial pay-performance incentives and positively with overall organization performance. We find empirical evidence consistent with our hypotheses. The number of programs is positively related to board size. Board size is associated negatively with managerial incentives, positively with program spending and fundraising performance, and negatively with commercial revenue, in levels and changes.     

Relating Environmental,Social, and Governance scores and sustainability performances of firms: An empirical analysis

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores can act as an indicator for sustainability performance of organizations. This paper explores an empirical evidence for the relationship binding ESG scores and sustainability performances of firms. We observe and evaluate the ESG performance scores of 1,820 firms globally for 5 years, from 2014 to 2018 on 10 major themes and over 400 different indicators, as listed by Thomson Reuters and is captured from the Bloomberg terminal data. We posit five hypotheses to check the relations binding ESG scores and the total sustainability performances of firms. A Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis and standard bootstrapping using Smart PLS 3.0 software is used to observe the results and to evidence the direct and moderating effects among latent variables contributing to sustainability performances. We observe a significant and negative moderating effect of ESG performances, independently over the all direct relations, considering their relationship to ESG performances. One of the major implications of this research is in the direction of assigning priorities while considering environmental‐, social‐, and governance‐related themes in the implementation of any strategies or policies into practice.     

Mindfulness: Nurturing Global Mind‐set and Leadership

In this article, we attempt to explore global leadership and global mind‐set from the perspective of mindfulness. Through a synthesis of the literature on mindfulness and scholarship on global mind‐set and global leadership, this article explicates the importance of mindfulness in developing a global mind‐set and, thereby, acquiring global leadership competencies. Taking a task‐analytic approach to global leadership, we attempt to elaborate on how mindfulness can act as an important antecedent for global mind‐set and hence for global leadership. Implications for future research and managerial practice are highlighted. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

CDS and the Resolution of Financial Distress

The dramatic growth of Credit Default Swaps (CDS)—contracts that allow creditors to hedge their default exposure or take leveraged credit positions—threatens to complicate the resolution of financial distress in ways that existing reorganization methods and institutions have yet to adapt to. CDS contracts undermine a major premise that underlies current reorganization methods—namely, that the holder of legal rights has, and is motivated by, corresponding economic interests. Because hedging in the CDS markets immunizes creditors from the debtor's financial condition, they effectively separate their legal rights and economic interests. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges this separation poses for the resolution of distress both in and out of bankruptcy, and consider ways in which “on‐ground” realities may be reconciled with the legal structure that underlies the resolution of distress. At a minimum, disclosure of CDS positions in times of financial distress—along the lines of the disclosures presently required of equity investors under the Williams Act—are an essential first step toward a solution.     

The performance of emerging hedge funds and managers

This paper provides the first systematic analysis of performance patterns for emerging funds and managers in the hedge fund industry. Emerging funds and managers have particularly strong financial incentives to create investment performance and, because of their size, may be more nimble than established ones. Performance measurement, however, needs to control for the usual biases afflicting hedge fund databases. After adjusting for such biases and using a novel event time approach, we find strong evidence of outperformance during the first two to three years of existence. Each additional year of age decreases performance by 42 basis points, on average. Cross-sectionally, early performance by individual funds is quite persistent, with early strong performance lasting for up to five years.     

Purpose and object of anti-consumption

A counter movement of anti-consumption runs from the very beginning of mass-consumption societies. Four distinct types of anti-consumers, simplifiers, global impact consumers, market activists, and anti-loyal consumers, have emerged in recent years. The primary focus of anti-consumption research has been on market activists and anti-loyal consumers. This article focuses on the other two groups (i.e., the simplifiers and global impact consumers). The authors address the need for scale development to measure the general anti-consumption attitudes of these two groups. The goal is to improve the ability to identify anti-consumption attitudes and to gain a better understanding of how anti-consumption relates to other key constructs such as self-consciousness, self-actualization, and assertiveness.     

For brand alliance social or cause related marketing which one is better? A study in emerging markets

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships and the effectiveness of cause‐ related or social marketing on consumer perceptions, perceived brand motivations, and the direct and indirect effects that these factors have on brand alliance, attitude, and purchase intentions. A total of 425 participated who are users of soap and oil in the fast‐moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Advertisements of three per brands are taken up for study. Dove soap, Parachute hair oil, and Dettol Soap (social marketing) and Fiama Di Wells beauty soap, Vatika hair oil, and Nihar hair oil (cause marketing) are selected for study. Both social and cause‐related marketing motivate the consumer to purchase products from the same company and likewise recommend to others. The present study findings clearly suggest that compared with social cause‐related marketing, social marketing is more preferred. People like watching advertisements incorporating social marketing more compared with cause‐related marketing. Both social and cause‐related marketing motivate the consumer to purchase products from the same company and also recommend to others. The takeaway from this study is how social and cause‐related marketing differ on brand alliance and subsequent effect on brand image, brand recommendation, brand loyalty, consumer perceptions, and purchase behaviour.     

Environmental,social and governance initiatives and wealth creation for firms: An empirical examination

This study examines the effect of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities on firm performance of 4,887 global companies. Mean difference test shows that firms with a high level of ESG activities are different from their low-ESG counterparts. The two-stage least square results suggest that ESG activities on (a) the welfare for internal stakeholders and best corporate governance practices are beneficial for firm performance and (b) antitakeover mechanisms (pollution control) adopted by firms are negatively (positively) valued by market players. Overall, this is the first study to examine the effects of ESG on the market-based and accounting-based performance of global firms.     

Finance Constraints and Firm Transition in the Informal Sector: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing

This paper focuses on the role of finance constraints in determining the lack of transition of firms in India from very small family firms, which are the predominant type of firms in the informal sector, into larger informal firms that employ non-family labour. Using a rich firm-level data-set drawn from nationally representative surveys of the Indian informal manufacturing sector, this paper tests for the role played by finance constraints in firm transition in the informal sector at the firm and district level. There is evidence that the difficulty that firms face in accessing external finance acts as a significant constraint to small firm growth in the informal sector. Looking at data from India's districts, it is found that the financial development in a given district increases the likelihood that firms in the district will make the transition from household enterprises into non-household enterprises.     

Constructing and Testing Alternative Versions of the Fama–French and Carhart Models in the UK

This paper constructs and tests alternative versions of the Fama–French and Carhart models for the UK market with the purpose of providing guidance for researchers interested in asset pricing and event studies. We conduct a comprehensive analysis of such models, forming risk factors using approaches advanced in the recent literature including value‐weighted factor components and various decompositions of the risk factors. We also test whether such factor models can at least explain the returns of large firms. We find that versions of the four‐factor model using decomposed and value‐weighted factor components are able to explain the cross‐section of returns in large firms or in portfolios without extreme momentum exposures. However, we do not find that risk factors are consistently and reliably priced.