Board governance and corporate performance

We examine the link between the monitoring capacity of the board and corporate performance of UK listed firms. We also investigate how firms use the flexibility offered by the voluntary governance regime to make governance choices. We find a strong positive association between the board governance index we construct and firm operating performance. Our results imply that adherence to the board‐related recommendations of the UK Corporate Governance Code strengthens the board's monitoring capacity, potentially helping mitigate agency problems, but that investors do not value it correspondingly. Moreover, in contrast to prior UK findings suggesting efficient adoption of Code recommendations, we find that firms at times use the Code flexibility opportunistically, aiming to decrease the monitoring capacity of the board, which is followed by subsequent underperformance. This finding questions the effectiveness of the voluntary approach to governance regulation followed in the UK and in many countries around the world.     

Assessing performance in services: the travel agency industry

The aim of this article is to compare different approaches to the evaluation of economic performance in tourism. For the first time in tourism, this article simultaneously applies traditional productivity measures as well as parametric and non-parametric techniques to estimate efficiency and compares the results obtained. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 567 travel agencies operating in Spain in 2004. The results reveal important differences depending on the methodology employed. Overall, none of the methodologies can be said to be better than the rest. These results highlight the importance of considering different approaches when evaluating performance in tourism.     

Auditor Experiences,Accounting Firm Size,and Client Ownership

This study investigates whether accounting firms match the experience level of individual auditors with the risk level of clients in order to control audit risk. We find that accounting firms tend to assign more experienced auditors to non-state-owned clients that typically have higher tendency to engage in earnings management. Such an assignment pattern is more pronounced for non-Big 4 accounting firms. Further analysis suggests that auditors＇ experience helps reduce clients＇ earnings management level, proxied by abnormal accruals, and thus improves the audit quality. This study enriches the literature on the allocation of human resources and the risk control mechanism in the audit services industry, which has been seldom explored in prior studies.     

The role of imports for exporter performance in Peru

Using highly disaggregated firm‐level customs data for imports and exports in Peru over the 2000–12 period, we explore the relationship between imports of intermediate inputs and firm export performance. The evidence shows that greater use, variety and quality of imported intermediate inputs are significantly correlated with higher export levels and growth, greater market diversification and higher export quality at the firm level, even after controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity. Exporter–importers exposed to higher tariffs, and non‐tariff measures import less in total and exhibit lower import variety, whereas those using an advance customs clearance procedure designed to facilitate imports exhibit higher imports and a more diversified bundle of inputs.     

企业边界人员的私人关系与企业绩效——基于中国市场数据的元分析检验

企业边界人员与外部利益相关者发展私人关系是新兴市场中的普遍现象,但是"私人关系"是否真的会提升企业绩效?当前文献对此问题并未给出一致结论。文章基于105篇使用中国市场数据的中英文文献,运用元分析技术(Meta-Analysis)考察了私人关系对企业绩效的影响,并分析了企业所处的制度环境和市场环境,企业的生命周期、规模、所有制形式等内部特征对上述影响的调节作用。通过对392个效应值的集成分析,文章发现,尽管私人关系确实能提升企业绩效■,但是不同层面的私人关系(政治联系和商业联系)对不同类型的企业绩效(财务绩效、运营绩效和战略绩效)所产生的影响存在差异。同时制度环境、市场环境、企业特征均会显著地调节私人关系对企业绩效的影响。上述结论为新兴市场中的企业如何将私人关系转化为企业绩效提供了指导。     

The Relationship between the Firm Size and the Quantity of Accountants Employed by the Firm： An Analysis of the 436 Listed Firms in the Chinese Shenzhen Stock Exchange

There are 9.56 million accountants in China, who are working in different size firms and nonprofit organizations. The objective of this article is to examine the quantitative relationship between the firm size and the quantity of accountants working for the firm. In this paper, the employees, sales revenues, and total assets in a firm are employed to measure firm size. The authors collect and analyze the data of 436 listed firms from the Chinese Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The result of this study indicates there is a positive relationship between the firm size and the quantity of accountants employed by the firm. The study also establishes the multiple regression equation, which can be used to predict the quantity of accountants of listed firms. And it provides a way to predict the quantity of accountants of legal organizations.     

审计任期与审计独立性——持续经营审计意见的经验研究

以注册会计师是否因财务方面存在可能导致公司持续经营能力问题的事项或情况对上市公司出具持续经营审计意见作为审计独立性的衡量指标,分别从签字注册会计师任期与会计师事务所任期两个角度具体考察了审计任期与审计独立性之间的关系。结果发现,无论是注册会计师任期,还是事务所任期,审计任期越长,审计独立性就越低。这为我国已实施的签字注册会计师强制轮换政策的合理性提供了经验支持。     

Leveraging learning forces in asymmetric alliances: Small firms’ perceived power imbalance in driving exploration and exploitation

Prior studies on power and interfirm learning in alliances have devoted limited attention to multiplicate influences of diverse power sources on exploration and exploitation and whether such influences on these two strategies are similar or different. This study investigates the joint effects of two types of perceived power—capability-driven power and position-driven power—on exploration versus exploitation in asymmetric alliances. Using a sample of 205 high-technology firms in China, the analyses suggest that each of the two types of perceived power separately has no direct effects on either exploration or exploitation. However, they complement (multiplicative effects) each other in promoting exploitation and exploration. Interestingly, the balanced effect of perceived position-driven power and perceived capability-driven power is positively related to exploration, while no such an impact is found in terms of exploitation. This study provides alternative insights about inter-organizational learning in asymmetric alliances and points out a direction for future research.     

基于生命周期的虚拟企业知识活动分析及其伙伴选择过程研究

随着新经济的到来,知识越来越成为企业快速响应市场机遇和获取竞争优势的最短缺资源.而企业自身知识资源的有限性使企业越来越多地采用虚拟企业的高级形态--知识联盟型虚拟企业来弥补企业知识资源的不足以快速响应变化的市场需求.本文首先对知识联盟型虚拟企业的知识缺口类型进行研究和划分,然后分析并描述虚拟企业生命周期各阶段的知识活动;在此基础之上,探讨虚拟企业组建阶段考虑知识要素的伙伴选择过程;最后,针对不同的知识缺口,提出伙伴选择过程的评价指标体系设计中应考虑的知识性因素.     

Leveraging green HRM for firm performance: The joint effects of CEO environmental belief and external pollution severity and the mediating role of employee environmental commitment

The topic of green human resource management (HRM) has drawn increasing attention of HRM scholars in the past decade. Recent research has called for more studies to identify the antecedents of green HRM used in organizations and explore the mediating mechanisms through which green HRM is related to performance outcomes. This study represents an effort to address these research needs by examining the joint effects of chief executive officer (CEO) environmental belief and external pollution severity on the use of green HRM and testing the mediating role of employee environmental commitment in the relationship between green HRM and firm performance. Drawing upon data collected from multiple sources (i.e., survey data from chief executive officer (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs), HR managers and employees, and archival data from government statistics), we found that CEO's environmental belief is significantly related to the use of green HRM, especially for companies operating in locations with severer pollution. Green HRM in turn has a positive relationship with the firm's environmental and financial performances via employee commitment to the environment. The findings highlight the often-overlooked role of in the strategic HRM literature pertinent to environmental management and clarify the antecedents and influential mechanisms of green HRM at the firm level of analysis. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications in this study.