Strategic hedging: Evidence from Brazilian exporters

How and why do exporters adjust their portfolios of destination countries in response to exchange rate movements? How do such geographic export diversification choices affect firm performance? Drawing on the corporate strategy and international business literature, we argue that firms enjoying low exchange rate competitiveness can increase their performance by expanding their exports to different world regions and vice versa. Studying a panel of Brazilian exporters during the years 2001–2010 and using a system of moderated mediation models with firm, industry and period fixed effects, we find that unrelated geographic diversification of exports is more effective than related diversification in counteracting exchange rate pressures.     

EXPLORING THE SPECTRUM OF EXPORT DESTINATION: THE GEOGRAPHIC SPREAD OF KOREAN EXPORTS,ITS DETERMINANTS,AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Recent research in international trade has explored the stylized facts and causes and effects of export diversification. A simple model in this paper drawing on the work of Melitz suggests that there is an order in which a country spreads its goods to foreign countries. We estimate the order by using a methodology which takes account of the fact that most goods are not exported to several countries in our sample (unbalanced panel). We find that Korea exports its new goods first to the United States, followed by Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, and most recently to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Finally we find that the countries that Korea has exported to first are those with large GDP, low tariff rates, geographic proximity, language familiarity, in-country Korean export promotion offices, and high-quality institutions.     

Impacts of geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk: Domestic vs. international diversification

In the hospitality context, the diversification literature has evolved to mostly focus on the impact of diversification on firm performance. However, without accounting for risk, the effect of diversification on firm value likely provides an incomplete picture. Therefore, this study investigates the influence of domestic and international geographic diversification on restaurant firms’ risk. This study uses the Berry-Herfindahl Index to measure the degree of domestic and international geographic diversification. Findings show a non-linear relationship between geographic diversification and restaurant firms’ risk. However, different shapes of the non-linear relationship are revealed between domestic and international geographic diversification and between operational and market-based risk. The results of this study indicate that the risk-reduction effects argued from the modern portfolio theory may be partially applicable to the geographic diversification for restaurant firms, suggesting a different view toward financial diversification and corporate diversification.     

Global equity offerings,corporate valuation,and subsequent international diversification

Researchers have long wondered why U.S. firms offer their equity in multiple global capital markets even though they have access to a deep domestic capital market. Based on a propensity score‐matching sample of IPOs for U.S. firms from 1990 to 2003, this paper offers some potential answers. We find strong evidence that issuers who choose global equity offerings experience higher valuations at the IPO stage, as measured by Tobin's q. Our evidence also shows that global equity offerings serve as a deliberate strategic tool to increase issuers' international visibility and their propensity to diversify operationally to international markets. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

财政视角下的教育多元化研究

改革开放以来,中国财政对教育投入发展迅猛,学生规模、师资、设备等各类教育指标都有历史性的突破。但是,“上学难、上学贵“等问题仍然突出,广大民众对教育仍有较大意见。从财政学角度看,这些问题的实质在于:中国目前的教育供给体制与教育的混合产品性质不相适应。要解决这一矛盾,必须坚持教育的多元化发展道路,进一步深化教育体制改革,构建多元化的教育体系,办人民满意的教育。     

Diversification for general copula dependence

We generalize the extreme value analysis for Archimedean copulas (see Alink , Löwe and Wüthrich , 2003) to the non-Archimedean case: Assume we have d ≥2 exchangeable and continuously distributed risks X ₁,…, X _d . Under appropriate assumptions there is a constant q _d such that, for all large u , we have . The constant q _d describes the asymptotic dependence structure. Typically, q _d will depend on more aspects of this dependence structure than the well-known tail dependence coefficient.     

Agency problems as antecedents to unrelated mergers and diversification: Amihud and Lev reconsidered

Amihud and Lev (1981) are widely cited as providing evidence that managers, unless closely monitored by large block shareholders, will attempt to reduce their employment risk through unrelated mergers and diversification. These corporate strategies, however, may not be in shareholders' interests. Reconsidering the agency assumptions underlying Amihud and Lev's study and the methodology they used, we develop hypotheses regarding the association between ownership structure, board vigilance, corporate strategy, and corporate performance from management theory and test them using Amihud and Lev's data from the 1960s and new data from the 1980s. Neither study supports the conclusions of Amihud and Lev, nor the agency theory belief that monitoring efforts by principals affect the strategic behaviors of agents or the performance of firms that they manage. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Livelihood diversification,mobile phones and information diversity in Northern Tanzania

Throughout the developing world, households are diversifying their livelihood activities to manage risk and improve their lives. Many studies have focused on the material causes and consequences of this diversification. Few, however, have examined how diversifying groups establish new patterns of communication and information exchange with others. This paper examines the relationship between livelihood diversification and information diversity among agro-pastoralist Maasai in northern Tanzania, where new mobile phone use is common. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis are used to (1) describe how Maasai use phones to manage diverse livelihoods; and (2) assess the relationship between livelihood diversification and measures of information diversity, controlling for other factors. The findings indicate that households use phones in ways that support existing activities rather than transform them and that the relationship between livelihood diversification and information diversity is positive, non-linear, and significant.     

Identifying salient forest SES attributes for sustainability: A multi-country study

The question of under what settings locally managed forests will lead to successful conservation without frustrating the local people’s subsistence outcomes remains contested. This research investigates the relationship between attributes of locally managed forest SES and its forest and livelihood outcomes using data from 83 forest SESs across seven countries. The data were obtained from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) database. Thirteen predicators that were selected from the attributes of forest, user group and governance of the local forest SES were used to evaluate their influence on SES sustainability. Our results showed that sustainable forest SES was significantly associated with forest size, diversity of the NTFP that is extracted from the forest, networks among the forest users, rule making by external non-forest harvest organizations in dispute resolution, and benefits sharing. On the other hand, the distance of forest users’ settlements in the forest, rule making for forest protection and harvest quantity as well as sanctions by external non-forest harvest organizations were found to be significantly associated with unsustainable forest SESs. Our findings have important implications for the ongoing discourse on how to promote sustainable forest management at local level. The results on the success factors can assist decision makers to improve the chances for the success of forest governance that rely on local people who depend upon forests.     

Participatory mapping of environmental resources: A comparison of a Tanzanian pastoral community over time

Community geographic features change over time, and this change can be contentious. Understanding social responses to this change is important for policies related to adaptation to climate change. This paper examines the use of participatory mapping of resources, at two time points, in a Tanzanian community. The results of our mapping (May 2015) were compared to those by a report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (2009). Differences included boundaries, land use designations and accessibility. These discrepancies may reflect actual changes in resources and livelihoods over time, but also differences in researcher trust and the enabling of participants. Findings suggest that repeated participatory maps, conducted in a trusting environment, are required for long-term planning in places experiencing both climate and social change.