Some issues affecting the macroeconomic environment for the agricultural and resource sectors: the case of fiscal policy

The impact of structural changes in fiscal policy on macroeconomic stability in Australia and other developed economies since the mid-1970s is assessed. The evidence points to a destabilising influence from fiscal policy from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, with a more stabilising influence since then. Within Australia, there is some evidence that structural changes to fiscal policy may have helped to stabilise interest rates and the real exchange rate over the period since the mid-1980s. However, this stabilising influence on the real exchange rate may have reduced the extent to which real exchange rate movements have countervailed world commodity price changes in Australian dollar terms.     

Strategy,core competence,and HR involvement as determinants of HR effectiveness and refinery performance

This study examines the impact of strategy, core competence, and involvement of HR executives in strategic decision making on the refinery managers' evaluation of the effectiveness of HR and on refinery performance among 86 U.S. petrochemical refineries. Survey results indicated that higher involvement of HR in organizational strategy was strongly related to perceptions of HR effectiveness, and that the relationship was strongest to the extent that refineries pursued a product innovation strategy and viewed skilled employees as their core competence. HR involvement was unrelated to refinery performance but was actually negatively related when refineries emphasized efficient production as their core competence. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Assessment and redirection of longitudinal analysis demonstration with a study of the diversification and divestiture relationship

The authors review the application of longitudinal analysis in strategic management research and show that how such analysis is conducted has implications for empirical results and theory development. A content analysis of 203 longitudinal strategic management studies reveals that most researchers have not (1) tested and controlled for violations in the data assumptions underlying longitudinal analysis or (2) tested the stability and form of the empirical relationships over time. Implications of these findings are demonstrated with analyses of the diversification and divestiture relationships of 180 Fortune 500 companies over the period 1985–88. The results show that empirical results, theoretical development, and practical applications can vary on the basis of how longitudinal analysis is performed. Suggestions for the use of longitudinal analysis in strategic management research are offered. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic trends,deterministic trends,and business cycle turning points

This study examines the relationship between specifications for long-run output patterns and specifications for business cycle dynamics. In an application to US GDP, it is found that inferences about the nature of the trend in output are not robust to changes in the specification for short-run fluctuations. Similarly, the choice of which model best describes the transitory movements in output depends on the way in which the trend is specified. The empirical analysis makes use of Bayesian methods to compare time series models for US GDP. Inspection of the predictive densities for the individual data points suggests that the information contained in the data is largely limited to the observations associated with business cycle turning points. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Governance,ownership structure,and performance of IPO firms: the impact of different types of private equity investors and institutional environments

This paper examines performance effects of ownership concentration and two types of private equity investors (venture capitalists and business angels) in firms that have recently undergone an initial public offering (IPO) in the United Kingdom and France. We expand and contextualize nascent understanding of multiple agency theory by examining heterogeneity of private equity investors and by suggesting that multiple agency relationships are affected by different institutional contexts. We employ a unique, hand‐collected dataset of 224 matched IPOs (112 in each country). Controlling for the endogeneity of private equity investors' retained share ownership, we find support for the agency theory argument that concentrated ownership improves IPOs' performance. The research also shows that the two types of private equity investors have a differential impact on performance, and the legal institutions in a given country moderate this impact. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of credit risk spreads for high yield bonds

The overall growth and volatility in the high yield (HY) bond market has provided a viable source of capital and an interesting investment asset class. The result has been strong interest in the HY bond credit risk spread (CRS) because this series is very volatile and has a significant impact on the availability of capital to issuers and the rates of return and risk results for investors. Given these trends in the HY bond market, our study has two purposes. The first is to examine statistical properties of the CRS series for the aggregate HY bond market and the three rated components. The second purpose is to interpret the influence that a set of variables are expected to have on future CRSs and, therefore, HY bond performance. In summary, the statistical analysis indicates a significant business cycle effect, but does not show a monetary policy impact. Additionally, the study finds significant differences in characteristics among bonds with alternative ratings. The analysis of specific variables highlights the strong influence of direct and indirect measures of default risk, capital market risk factors, a specific measure of monetary policy, and an impact from liquidity within the HY bond market. There was also evidence of segmentation within the HY bond market because the empirical results indicate that we should consider separate models across rating classes that employed different variables as well as coefficients that were significantly different for the same variables.     

Corporate venture capital and the balance of risks and rewards for portfolio companies

This paper contributes to the literature on corporate venture capital (CVC) by examining the management of CVC investments from the perspective of the investee firm. We focus on the trade-off between social interactions and relationship safeguards and examine their effects on the twin relationship outcomes of learning benefits and risks. The model is tested using data collected from CEOs of U.S. technology-based new firms receiving CVC funding. Complementarities between the investee firm and its CVC investor are positively related to the level of social interaction and negatively related to the use of different types of relationship safeguards by the investee firm. The use of safeguards is further negatively related to both realized relationship risks and social interaction. Social interaction is positively related to realized learning benefits. These findings highlight the fine balance that the investee firm has to strike between openness and self protection in a CVC relationship. Implications for future research and current practice are discussed.     

CHILD POVERTY, INVESTMENT IN CHILDREN AND GENERATIONAL MOBILITY: THE SHORT AND LONG TERM WELLBEING OF CHILDREN IN URBAN CHINA AFTER THE ONE CHILD POLICY

China's One Child Policy (OCP), introduced in 1979, changed fundamentally the nature of both existing and anticipated marriage arrangements and influenced family formation decisions in many dimensions, especially with respect to the number of and investment in children. The policy coincided with the Economic Reforms of 1979 and the trend toward greater urbanization, all of which may have influenced the wellbeing of children. This paper examines the mobility status consequence of children in urban China since the introduction of the OCP and the economic reforms using data drawn from urban household surveys in China. The analysis first makes the comparison between child poverty in Canada, the United Kingdom and urban India, where it was found that both status and trends of child poverty are very different among the countries, with children not being over-represented in the poverty group in urban China. The extent to which the policies influenced investment in children is next examined by studying the way in which the relationship between the educational attainment of children and family characteristics changed within families formed prior to and after 1979. We found that the impact of household income and parental educational attainment increased significantly over time, with a positive gender effect where girls advanced more than boys. Applying new techniques for measuring mobility, we observe the reduction in intergenerational mobility. This phenomenon is found to be particularly prevalent in the lower income quantiles, reinforcing a dynastic notion of poverty.     

HR flexibility: Precursors and the contingent impact on firm financial performance

Using data from 170 for‐profit U.S. firms with 100 or more employees from 27 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry subsectors, we investigated firm‐level precursors of HR flexibility and industry‐level boundary conditions of the HR flexibility—firm financial performance relationship. The findings denote that a contingency illumination is warranted in which consideration should be given to firm‐level factors such as flexibility business strategy and high‐performance work systems, which may play a key role in engendering HR flexibility, and external factors such as industry dynamism and growth, which may serve as boundary conditions that influence the relevance and impact of HR flexibility. This study is an important extension of extant HR flexibility research and adds clarity regarding the roles and relevance of HR flexibility and the circumstances in which HR flexibility and/or its focal factors may augment (or diminish) firm competitiveness and performance.