Reactive or proactive? Investor sentiment as a driver of corporate social responsibility

Investors and financial markets have been a neglected stakeholder group in studies on a firm’s motivations to be socially and environmentally responsible. Despite being a strong driving force behind firm value, no study has investigated the influence of market and investor sentiments on CSR behaviour. Using a global sample, we investigate the effects of market and investor sentiments on firm CSR performance. We find negative market and investor sentiments in the prior year motivate firms to improve their CSR performance in the next year. We also find the magnitude of improvement in CSR performance differs not only by country, but by CSR sub-category as well. These findings imply that a firm’s motivation to improve its CSR performance is reactionary, rather than being driven by altruism. Regulators and proponents of CSR should thus seek to persuade investors and financial markets to put pressure on firms to further advance the CSR agenda.     

Cultural embeddedness in supply networks

Recent studies on structural and relational embeddedness suggest that favorable position and connections in supply networks benefit a firm. While fruitful, this focus misses the motivations that prompt firms to take economic action in the first place. Understanding cultural embeddedness provides insight into why individuals and firms behave as they do and how their behavior can influence network structure. Contrary to the belief that firms act solely for profit and growth, we note that cultural contents such as values, social issues and political ideologies explain firms’ motives and guide their economic activities. We explore the role of cultural embeddedness through a grounded study of Country Natural Beef, a sustainability-oriented agricultural cooperative in the western United States. This supply network demonstrates strongly competing cultural claims among its members as well as a unique institutionalized culture. Cultural interactions at the node and network levels explain the functioning of and changes to the network. Through interviews, analysis of archival information and direct observation of pivotal events over a period of 5 years, we unpack cultural embeddedness and take an incremental step toward a theory of cultural embeddedness in cooperative supply networks.     

The long-run reversal in the long run: Insights from two centuries of international equity returns

We perform the most comprehensive test of long-term reversal in national equity indices ever done. Having examined data from 71 countries for the years 1830 through 2019, we demonstrate a strong reversal pattern: the past long-term return negatively predicts future performance. The phenomenon is not subsumed by other established cross-sectional return patterns, including the value effect. The long-term reversal is robust to many considerations but highly unstable through time. Finally, our findings support the overreaction explanation of this anomaly.     

Institutional quality and corporate financing decisions around the world

We investigate the influence of the recent comprehensive institutional quality dimensions of Karolyi (2015), such as market capacity, operational efficiency, foreign accessibility, corporate transparency, legal protection, and political stability, on financing decisions of firms across 56 countries between 2000 and 2015. We find that stronger institutional quality or lower fundamental risks in a country ease firms' access to long-term debt, and equity financing. We attribute our results to institutional environments influencing financing decisions by shaping the severity of market frictions, such as agency conflicts and information asymmetry, and transaction costs. As a result, we conclude that any improvement in a country's institutional environment will boost firms' access to long-term financing, and thus longer-term investments that promote countries' economic growth will be more feasible. Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity issues.     

The determinants of commercial banking profitability in low-, middle-, and high-income countries

Using a broad bank-level dataset and the GMM estimator technique described by Arellano and Bover (1995), this paper analyses how bank-specific characteristics, macroeconomic variables, and industry-specific factors affect the profitability of 10,165 commercial banks across 118 countries over the period from 1998 to 2012. Grouping the countries according to three income levels, we show that the determinants of bank profitability included in our model can explain existing profitability differences among commercial banks in low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The profitability determinants vary quite widely across the different levels of income in terms of significance, sign and size of the effect. The level of income has thus an important impact on the determinants of bank profitability.     

Reciprocal effect of tourist destinations on the strength of national tourism brands

The assignment of a brand to a product affects consumer's perceptions not only about the product, but also about the brand itself. The reciprocal effect of the product on its brand can be either positive or negative. Extending the concept of reciprocal effect to a new context, this study analyzed how consumer's perceptions about tourist destinations can affect the national tourism brand. An experiment showed that destinations leading to attitudes that are more positive than the average can strengthen the national tourism brand, while destinations leading to attitudes below the average can weaken it. Brand dilution can happen even when the outcome is effective from the destination's perspective. Because of the reciprocal effect, the determination of public policies in the destination level is usually inefficient from the country's perspective. These results reinforce the need for national brand governance.     

ROSA,ROSAE, ROSIS: modelling a regional open sectoral innovation system

The literature on territorial innovation modes has identified the development of a diverse set of innovation systems at multiple levels of analysis. However, there are certain gaps that do not allow their adaptation to the particularities of certain territories. Despite the multiple concepts related to innovation systems approach, the state of the art does not yet provide a useful analytical approach for a deep and comprehensive characterization of territories with a high sectoral and technological specialization. This paper introduces an analytical framework based on a regional open and sectoral innovation system, which is qualitatively tested in the Durango County (Spain). The aim of this paper is to introduce a subtype of innovation system that meets the requirements and needs of a located micro-territory with a high level of sectoral specialization.     

情感乡村模式与璧山县乡村旅游实践研究

＂快乐经济＂、＂幸福经济＂等可统称为＂情感经济＂,它为我们提供了＂可触摸＂情感的思维。在对情感经济回顾和＂情感乡村＂概念界定基础上,认为情感经济可用于乡村旅游实践。在璧山县＂情感乡村＂旅游发展实践中,通过挖掘＂情感乡村＂旅游元素、分析＂情感乡村＂旅游市场,提出快乐乡村、幸福乡村、浪漫乡村以及和谐乡村的乡村旅游项目设计理念,得出＂情感旅游＂是乡村旅游发展重要方向的结论。     

美国是“负责任”的实力下降霸权吗?——兼论中国必须掌握国际关系理论研究的话语权

随着美国的可持续发展能力和经济总量的相对下降,巨大的军费开支、难以缩小的财政赤字、自我变革能力的弱化阻碍着其重新振兴,其政府的国内治理能力下降。相应地,美国的软实力不断下降和所主张的发展模式对其他国家的吸引力也在减弱。从中长期来看,美国实力的相对下降已是一个客观趋势。作为世界唯一霸权,处在实力下行过程中的美国是否是一个负责任的国家,这是一个关系到全局的问题。更重要的是,在西方国际关系理论的主导下,理论框架和议题设置完全由西方决定,这类问题往往被遮蔽掉了。处在国力上升中的中国,在国际关系理论中如不能设置自己的议题,而只顺着西方设置的议题研究,将无法有效维护自己的国家利益,也难以争取国际秩序变革中的主动权。     

中心国金融危机与国际货币体系更替之间的联系

中心国金融危机与国际货币体系更替之间存在密切联系,当国际货币体系的中心国霸权地位开始逐步下降后,会带来外围国家对其货币作为储备货币的信心下降并诱发中心国储备货币信心危机的发生。从历史来看,中心国出现储备货币信心危机通常还不是货币体系更替的标志性事件,只有当中心国出现主权债务危机时,旧的国际货币体系才会到达终点。当前中国作为外围国家,应重点关注中心国美国的国债市场变化趋势,从而选择正确的应对措施。