A meta-regression analysis on the willingness-to-pay for country-of-origin labelling

Food quality and food safety issues arouse increasing interest and concern among consumers and policy-makers. Consequently, the importance of country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is increasing in business, policy and research. Numerous studies have reported a wide range of estimates for consumers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for COOL using stated preference methods and, in particular, discrete choice experiments. We apply meta-regression analyses to synthesise the heterogeneous results of 204 WTP for COOL estimates extracted from 59 studies which used discrete choice experiments and were published between 2009 and 2020. Meta-regression analysis allows an adjusted summary proxy to be derived for the WTP for COOL and the determinants of heterogeneity in reported WTP estimates are also investigated. Our results suggest that there is a significant positive WTP for COOL, and also reveal that the reported WTP estimates are unaffected by publication bias. In addition, they show systematic variation in WTP estimates across the context and methodological characteristics of the studies. More precisely, we find that the region and the product (animal- vs. plant-based) analysed, as well as certain characteristics of the choice design (e.g., the number of attributes used, or the inclusion of an opt-out option) can have a significant impact on the estimated WTP for COOL. Finally, our results reveal significant differences in price premiums between various types of COOL (e.g., domestic vs. foreign). This highlights that results from individual primary studies should not be generalised without further consideration of the underlying study design.     

The Agency Problems Embedded in Firm’s Equity Investment

We find that agency problems are embedded in firm’s excess and abnormal equity investments that are mainly dictated by controlling shareholder’s motives and ethical choices manifested in ownership and board structure. The excess equity investment is gauged with respect to industry average. The abnormal equity investment is specifically referred to the number of nominal investment companies that are fully controlled by the controlling owners while subject to little governance. Our empirical evidences of 345 Taiwanese non-financial listed firms show that firm’s excess and abnormal equity investments are negatively correlated with controlling shareholder’s cash flow rights while are positively correlated with the control–cash flow deviation, and board affiliation. The results are supportive of the positive incentive hypothesis and the negative entrenchment hypothesis put forth by La Porta et al. (2002, Journal of Finance 57, 1147–1171) and Claessen et al. (2002, Journal of Finance 57, 2741–2742). The negative relation between equity investment and firm’s value further supports the agency postulation that corporate excess and abnormal equity investments represent a leeway for controlling shareholder to exploit wealth of minority shareholders. This study potentially contributes to the literature of business ethics by portraying an empirically testable linkage from controlling owner’s ethical choices to his actions and therefore firm’s value. Yin-Hua Yeh, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Graduate Institute of Finance at Fu-Jen Catholic University (FJU) in Taiwan. He is also the Director of the Center for Corporate Governance and Business Ethics at FJU. His main research and teaching areas are corporate governance, corporate finance, and merger and acquisition. Tsun-Siou Lee, Ph.D., is Professor of Finance at National Taiwan University. His main research and teaching areas are corporate governance, futures and options, and financial innovation. Pei-Gi Shu, Ph.D., is Professor of Business Administration at Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. He is also the Vice Dean of Management College at FJU. His main research and teaching areas are mutual funds and behavioral finance.     

Managing the Exploitation/Exploration Paradox: The Role of a Learning Capability and Innovation Ambidexterity

Some researchers have proposed that practices facilitating learning and knowledge transfer are particularly important to innovation. Some of the practices that researchers have studied include how organizations collaborate with other organizations, how organizations promote learning, and how an organization's culture facilitates knowledge transfer and learning. And while some have proposed the importance of combining practices, there has been a distinct lack of empirical studies that have explored how these practices work together to facilitate learning and knowledge transfer that leads to the simultaneous achievement of incremental and radical innovation, what we refer to as innovation ambidexterity (IA). Yet, a firm's ability to combine these practices into a learning capability is an important means of enabling them to foster innovation ambidexterity. In this study, learning capability is defined as the combination of practices that promote intraorganizational learning among employees, partnerships with other organizations that enable the spread of learning, and an open culture within the organization that promotes and maintains sharing of knowledge. This paper examines the impact of this learning capability on innovation ambidexterity and innovation ambidexterity's effect on business performance. The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm is used to develop a conceptual foundation for combining these practices. This study empirically examines whether these practices constitute a learning capability by analyzing primary data gathered from 214 Taiwanese owned strategic business unit (SBUs) drawn from several industries where innovation is important. The results of this study make four important contributions. First, they demonstrate that the combination of these practices has a greater impact on innovation ambidexterity than any one practice individually or when only two practices are combined. Second, the results demonstrate a relationship between innovation ambidexterity and business performance in the form of revenues, profits, and productivity growth relative to competitors. Third, the results suggest that innovation ambidexterity plays a mediating role between learning capability and business performance. That is, learning capability has an indirect impact on business performance by facilitating innovation ambidexterity that in turn fosters business performance. This study also contributes to our understanding of ambidexterity literature in a non‐Western context, i.e., Taiwan.     

Adam Smith versus Sima Qian: Comment on the Tao of markets

In contrast with Professor Young's views ( Pacific Economic Review , 1, 137–45), this paper argues (1) that Adam Smith came to his conclusion about the "invisible hand" before 1766, and hence the intellectual debt, if any, of Smith to the great Chinese historian Sima Qian via the agency of Turgot and the two Chinese visitors is minimal; and (2) that the allocative function of the price mechanism is explicit not only in The Wealth of Nations but also in Adam Smith's lecture notes and other writings from his years at Glasgow University before he left for Europe in 1764.     

Analytical bounds for Treasury bond futures prices

The pricing of delivery options, particularly timing options, in Treasury bond futures is prohibitively expensive. Recursive use of the lattice model is unavoidable for valuing such options, as Boyle in J Finance 14(1):101?C113, (1989) demonstrates. As a result, the main purpose of this study is to derive upper bounds and lower bounds for Treasury bond futures prices. This study first shows that the popular preference-free, closed form cost of carry model is an upper bound for the Treasury bond futures price. Then, the next step is to derive analytical lower bounds for the futures price under one and two-factor Cox-Ingersoll-Ross models of the term structure. The bound under the two-factor Cox-Ingersoll-Ross model is then tested empirically using weekly futures prices from January 1987 to December 2000.     

Service climate, professional commitment and job performance of flight attendants in Taiwan

This study of airline managers and flight attendants uses survey information to look at relationships between service climate, professional commitment and job performance. It finds that service climate positively influences professional commitment, influences job performance while professional commitment positively influences job performance and smoothes the relationship between service climate and job performance.     

Ethical purchasing perceptions and practices of Oklahoma restaurant managers

This study examined ethical business perceptions and practices in purchasing dealings between junior and senior managers in the U.S. restaurants. This study investigated the managerial style in the context of business ethics relative to employees’ loyalty, ethical working behavior, attitude, and decision‐making process of restaurant's food purchasing personnel. Additionally, organizational business ethics training for employees is a crucial component to enhance adherence to an ethical code of conduct. The findings revealed that the managers’ ethical purchasing perceptions and practices of their employees’ behaviors were not different in terms of gender, age, and years of experiences as a manager. Corporate ethical standards and managerial ethical practices can guide managers and employees as to how to behave when confronted with a dilemma with regard to ethics and personal interest. Consequently, the prime principle of management or purchasing personnel in terms of ethical dealings has tremendous impact on a firm's operational performance and employees’ morale.