When bad news is sugarcoated: Information distortion,organizational search and the behavioral theory of the firm

Most work in strategy and organization theory assumes that performance feedback is straightforward to interpret and truthfully reported. We raise the following question: How might the systematic distortion of negative performance information affect organizational learning and future performance? We formulate a model where (1) members do not always report the truth about what they know about their performance level, especially when performance is below aspiration and (2) their propensity to distort information is subject to social influence. We find that organizations that are characterized by a high level of information distortion tend to perform more poorly but that the effect of a low rate of sugarcoating may, in some conditions, be more benign than the literatures seem to suggest. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of acquirers of divested assets: Evidence from the U.S. software industry

We provide a comparative analysis of acquirer returns in acquisitions of public firms, private firms, and divested assets. On the basis of a sample of 5,079 acquisitions by U.S. software industry companies during 1988–2008, we find that acquisitions of divested assets outperform acquisitions of privately held firms, which in turn outperform acquisitions of publicly held firms. While the higher returns for acquisitions of divested assets relative to stand‐alone acquisition targets can be explained by market efficiency arguments, seller distress and improved asset fit further enhance the positive returns of acquirers of divested assets consistent with the relative bargaining power explanation. Finally, we find that the effects of these buyer bargaining advantages are mutually strengthening and that they also hold for longer‐term acquirer performance Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Difference in degrees: CEO characteristics and firm environmental disclosure

We contribute to the literature on firms' responses to institutional pressures and environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that CEO characteristics such as education and tenure will influence firms' likelihood to voluntarily disclose environmental information. We test our hypotheses by examining firms' responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and find that firms led by newly appointed CEOs and CEOs with MBA degrees are more likely to respond to the CDP, while those led by lawyers are less likely to respond. Our results have implications for research on strategic responses to institutional pressures and corporate environmental performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

银行体制市场化、营运资本与企业绩效

在一个自然实验的框架下,本文考察了银行体制市场化以后,企业营运资本使用变化对企业绩效的影响。本文发现,银行体制市场化使得银行部门信贷资源配置具有市场化特征,对所有企业的外源融资都进行约束。受到外源融资约束的企业会更多使用企业的内部资金进行经营和生产活动,一方面,企业会更多使用营运资本提高企业的生产和财务绩效,而另一方面,企业会减少营运资本来维持生产规模的扩张。这些结果表明,银行体制市场化能够有效提高企业内部资金使用效率,在当前工业部门普遍面临融资难的困境下,对进一步探讨银行体制改革和提高企业绩效有重要意义。     

区域文化价值观对国家审计结果生产和运用的影响——基于区域文化价值观和地方审计数据

区域文化价值观作为一项重要的非正式制度,通过影响社会成员的思维心理和行为,对国家审计产生影响。围绕区域文化价值观影响国家审计结果生产和运用提出理论框架,选取2008—2017年各省区市文化价值观数据和审计数据进行实证检验。结果表明：区域文化价值观中的权力距离、人际关怀导向、绩效导向和恃强性特征对国家审计结果生产和运用均存在显著影响,权力距离与国家审计结果运用之间存在“倒U”型关系;人际关怀导向对国家审计结果生产有负向抑制作用;绩效导向与国家审计结果生产之间存在“U”型关系,对国家审计结果运用则有正向促进作用;恃强性对国家审计结果生产有正向促进作用,与国家审计结果运用之间则存在“倒U”型关系。研究结论对完善国家审计结果生产和运用制度具有参考价值。     

ESG表现对企业财务绩效的影响研究

ESG已成为衡量企业表现的重要指标。研究企业ESG评级对企业绩效的影响,有利于激发企业的ESG意识,使企业积极承担ESG披露责任,弥合投资者与企业的信息不对称。构建固定效应模型,以2010—2020年A股上市公司为研究样本,对企业污染程度的异质性、企业性质、区域发展程度等进行进一步测试,考察企业ESG评级与企业财务业绩的关系及信息透明的机制效应。实证表明：(1)良好的ESG性能对企业业绩有直接的促进作用;(2)企业信息透明度为其机制;(3)ESG表现与企业绩效的关系受企业污染程度、企业性质、区域经济发展水平的影响,低污染、非国有、东部地区及非省会城市企业ESG评级更能显著提升企业绩效。根据以上结论,本文同时提供决策可借鉴的经验。     

基于BSC的企业内部审计绩效评价体系研究

随着经济全球化进程的加快,企业所面临的环境也在不断变化,这给内部审计提出了更高的要求。在分析国内外内部审计绩效评价体系现状的基础上,借鉴国外成熟经验,引进平衡计分卡（简称BSC）体系,利用其应用优势来构建符合我国企业经营管理需要的内部审计绩效评价体系。     

FDI and the Export Performance of Chinese Indigenous Firms: a Regional Approach

The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the export performance of Chinese indigenous firms. A panel data analysis is employed using data across 29 provinces over the 1985–99 period. Owing to the exceptionally uneven distribution of FDI, the analysis compares the impact of FDI on all provincial exports and exports of indigenous firms over the three macro-regions of China. While the findings of the empirical analysis should be viewed with caution, they do show that FDI has less influence on the export performance of indigenous firms than on all firms (foreign and indigenous). The findings imply that linkages between the foreign and domestic sectors need to be improved if FDI is to be a vehicle for improving the competitiveness of domestic firms. Alternatively, policies may have to be directed towards the indigenous firms themselves to enhance their export performance.     

Bad Measures Don’t Make Good Medicine: The Ethical Implications of Unreliable and Invalid Physician Performance Measures

Drawing on the performance appraisal and medical literatures, we examine representative ethical issues involved in current appraisal practices of individual physicians: the use of invalid and unreliable measures; organizational goals conflicting with patient health goals; using individual measures for what are group performance results; making individual attributions for what are systemic causes (and results); and using clinical feedback for organizational purposes. Suggestions for developing more ethical performance appraisals include reflecting upon the multiple purposes and means of appraisals, and the limitations of current practices. Greater understanding of the effects of current appraisal practices on physicians can help minimize its potentially adverse consequences on the delivery of quality healthcare.     

Risk-type density diagrams by crash type on two-lane rural roads

The research presented here aims to plot density diagrams per road crash risk type to identify all possible scenarios where driving is less than safe. The starting point was the prediction of injury crash rate on horizontal homogeneous segments of two-lane rural roads for three main injurious crash types (head-on/side collisions, rear-end crashes, and single-vehicle run-off-road crashes) as observed on the network. A careful analysis of the database shows that a wide variety of factors appear to be influenced or associated with the crash dynamic, as follows: the road scenario (combination of infrastructure and environmental conditions found at the site at the time of the crash), mean lane width, the horizontal curvature indicator (measurement of the curvature change rate), and mean speed. Crashes recorded from 2003 to 2010, of which 1597 were injurious, and 645 resulted only in damage to property, were analyzed on more than 3700?km of road network in Southern Italy. Generalized estimating equations with a negative binomial distribution were implemented. Risk-type density charts were plotted to thoroughly identify all possible combinations of existing explicative variables producing hazardous conditions on the road. The different shades in the diagrams represent different ranges of injurious crash rates: the white band shows low levels, while a black band shows high values. It is not possible to consider working on an explanatory variable to reduce hazardous conditions on the road network without also considering how this variation might affect the influence of the remaining explanatory variables on crash phenomena and, consequently, on the predictive model. The risk maps make it possible to keep under control in a simple and immediate approach the way each variable as a result of variations of a part or of all.