The effect of corporate governance on CEO luck: Evidence from the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)

CEOs are “lucky” when they receive stock option grants on days when the stock price is the lowest in the month of the grant, implying opportunistic timing. Extending the work of Bebchuk et al. (2010), we explore the effect of overall corporate governance quality on CEO luck. Provided by the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), our comprehensive governance metrics are much broader than those used in prior studies, encompassing more diverse aspects of corporate governance, such as audit, state laws, boards, ownership, and director education. We show that an improvement in governance quality by one standard deviation diminishes CEO luck by 14.77–21.06%. The governance standards recommended by ISS appear to be effective in deterring the opportunistic timing of option grants.     

Impact of exchange rate movements on exports: An analysis of Indian non-financial sector firms

We explore the real effective exchange rate (REER) effects on the share of exports of Indian non-financial sector firms for the period 2000–2010. Our empirical analysis reveals that, on average, there has been a strong and significant negative impact from currency appreciation and currency volatility on Indian firms' export shares. Labor costs are found to intensify the exchange rate effects on trade. Further, there is evidence that the Indian firms considered here respond asymmetrically to exchange rates. For instance, the REER change effect is more likely to be driven by a negative appreciation effect than a depreciation effect. Also, Indian firms that have smaller export shares tend to have a stronger response to both REER change and volatility. Compared with those exporting goods, firms that export services are more affected by exchange rate fluctuations. The findings, especially those on asymmetric responses, have important policy implications.     

The Logic of Membership of Sectoral Business Associations

This paper assesses the logic of membership of sectoral business associations in Britain using evidence from a proportionate stratified random sample of associations. The British system gives no statuatory status to business associations. As a result the size and fragmentation of associations is similar to the US, membership of associations is interpreted in terms of the logic of specific business service demand and the logic of collective activities. Expectations from models of collective action, associability and involvement are used to interpret association membership. The paper argues that the normal distinction between associations as trade, professional or "peak" bodies is too simplistic in not properly differentiating the types of member. The paper employs instead a set of six categories dependent on the type of members: companies, owner-managers, the self-employed, and individuals, as well as bodies with mixed membership, and federations (which are associations of associations). Survey evidence demonstrates that member motives for joining, lapsing and constraining service development differ significantly between association types and tend most strongly to emphasise the logic of individual services as complements to the logic collective activity. Analysis of the rates of joining and lapsing membership show evidence of reluctance to join and high rates of lapsing.     

Economic reforms of agriculture and rural growth

Successful rural growth episodes in India indicate a process of growth and diversification that is based on the development of producer services. A simple theoretical model of this process is sketched to suggest impediments to such a process of growth and thus to offer a possible explanation of rural stagnation in many areas in India. Agricultural policies in India of the present and the recent past are analysed in the light of such a framework.     

Retail Store Loyalty Management via an Analysis of Heterogeneity of the Service Elements

This paper follows a line of research opened up by a series of authors who use a marketing approach for the study of retail service productivity. Without departing from the line of reasoning established by these authors, the main purpose of this paper is to detect possible differences in marketing productivity within and between different types of retailing services, using a research model that includes both the firm's effort and that of the customer. The two services selected for this purpose are grocery outlets and petrol stations.     

The mitigating effects of uncertainty on ‘e’ innovation propensity: some service sector evidence

This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to explore a range of technical, financial and social issues that the literature suggests influences e-innovation propensity. The research was conducted on a sample of knowledge-intensive business service SMEs in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and New Zealand within a business-to-consumer context. Qualitative methodologies (in-depth interviews and projective techniques) were employed to investigate the research problem. The findings highlight a number of specific issues that call into question the value of an e-business strategy, such as uncertainties surrounding knowledge acquisition, disintermediation effects and sustainability of an e-business. These issues continue to negate e-innovation propensity. The paper proposes practical suggestions to alleviate the mitigating effects of uncertainty that are impacting on e-innovation propensity. The conclusions derived from this research, along with the modelling of the uncertainty factors extend existing knowledge and also set the precedent for further empirical research in other country and industry settings.     

Standardization,Customization and Revenue from Foreign Markets

Abstract

This study develops theory and empirically tests the influence of heterogeneity (the degree of standardization or customization) of firm outputs on the globalization entry mode decisions, and receipt of revenues from foreign markets. To insure sufficient variance in the sample while also controlling for extraneous sectoral and national variables, this study obtained and analyzed cross-sectional data from 190 U.S. based firms in the environmental control industry. The findings indicate that the outputs of global firms are significantly less heterogeneous than the outputs of domestic firms, but that heterogeneity is not significantly related to the receipt of foreign revenues, or to the use of a higher control entry mode. These findings suggest that firms with more standardized outputs are more likely to globalize, but that standardization fails to help firms create any additional value in international markets compared to firms with more heterogeneous outputs.     

The future of farming: The value of ecosystem services in conventional and organic arable land. An experimental approach

In the current work, a novel, experimental ‘bottom-up’ approach is used to quantify the economic value of ecosystem services (ES) associated with highly modified arable landscapes in Canterbury, New Zealand. First, the role of land management practices in the maintenance and enhancement of ES in agricultural land was investigated by quantifying the economic value of ES at the field level under organic and conventional arable systems. This quantification was based on an experimental approach in contrast with earlier value transfer methods. Total economic value of ES in organic fields ranged from US $1610 to US $19,420 ha^− 1 yr^− 1 and that of conventional fields from US $1270 to US $14,570 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. The non-market value of ES in organic fields ranged from US $460 to US $5240 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. The range of non-market values of ES in conventional fields was US $50 — 1240 ha^− 1 yr^− 1. There were significant differences between organic and conventional fields for the economic values of some ES. Next, this economic information was used to extrapolate and to calculate the total and non-market value of ES in Canterbury arable land. The total annual economic and non-market values of ES for the conventional arable area in Canterbury (125,000 ha) were US $332 million and US $71 million, respectively. If half the arable area under conventional farming shifted to organic practices, the total economic value of ES would be US $192 million and US $166 million annually for organic and conventional arable area, respectively. In this case, the non-market value of ES for the organic area was US $65 million and that of conventional area was US $35 million annually. This study demonstrated that arable farming provides a range of ES which can be measured using field experiments based on ecological principles by incorporating a ‘bottom-up’ approach. The work also showed that conventional New Zealand arable farming practices can severely reduce the financial contribution of some of these services in agriculture whereas organic agricultural practices enhance their economic value.     

Taking stock: A comparative analysis of payments for environmental services programs in developed and developing countries

Payments for environmental services (PES) are an innovative approach to conservation that has been applied increasingly often in both developed and developing countries. To date, however, few efforts have been made to systematically compare PES experiences. Drawing on the wealth of case studies in this Special Issue, we synthesize the information presented, according to case characteristics with respect to design, costs, environmental effectiveness, and other outcomes. PES programs often differ substantially one from the other. Some of the differences reflect adaptation of the basic concept to very different ecological, socioeconomic, or institutional conditions; others reflect poor design, due either to mistakes or to the need to accommodate political pressures. We find significant differences between user-financed PES programs, in which funding comes from the users of the ES being provided, and government-financed programs, in which funding comes from a third party. The user-financed programs in our sample were better targeted, more closely tailored to local conditions and needs, had better monitoring and a greater willingness to enforce conditionality, and had far fewer confounding side objectives than government-financed programs. We finish by outlining some perspectives on how both user- and government-financed PES programs could be made more effective and cost-efficient.     

区域人口复合生态系统生态位评价

人类社会是一类社会-经济-自然复合生态系统,它所提供给人们的或可被人们利用的各种生态因子和各种生态关系的总体集合可以定义为区域人口复合生态系统生态位.研究在借鉴可持续发展和宜居城市等评价方法的基础之上建立了一套区域人口复合生态系统生态位评价的指标体系及评价方法.并对全国31个省、自治区、直辖市的区域人口复合生态系统生态位做出了定量评价.