The Walk‐down to Beatable Analyst Forecasts: The Role of Equity Issuance and Insider Trading Incentives*

It has been alleged that firms and analysts engage in an "earnings‐guidance game" where analysts first issue optimistic earnings forecasts and then "walk down" their estimates to a level that firms can beat at the official earnings announcement. We examine whether the walk‐down to beatable targets is associated with managerial incentives to sell stock after earnings announcements on the firm's behalf (through new equity issuance) or from their personal accounts (through option exercises and stock sales). Consistent with these hypotheses, we find that the walk‐down to beatable targets is most pronounced when firms or insiders are net sellers of stock after an earnings announcement. These findings provide new insights on the impact of capital‐market incentives on communications between managers and analysts.     

Cognitive Theory and Moral Behavior: The Contribution of F. A. Hayek to Business Ethics

This paper shows how business ethics as a concept may be approached from a cognitive viewpoint. Following F. A. Hayek's cognitive theory, I argue that moral behavior evolves and changes because of individual perception and action. Individual moral behavior becomes a moral rule when prominently displayed by members of a certain society in a specific situation. A set of moral rules eventually forms the ethical code of a society, of which business ethics codes are only a part. By focusing on the concept of "limited" or "dispersed knowledge" that underlies the cognitive approach, I show that universal ethical norms that should lead to defined outcomes cannot exist. This approach moreover shows the limits of deliberate rule-setting. Attempts to deliberately impose universal ethical rules on societies may turn out to be harmful for societal development and lead to an abuse of governmental power.     

Ethical Dilemmas in Performance Measurement

In this article we discuss the ethical dilemmas facing performance evaluators and the "evaluatees" whose performances are measured in a business context. The concepts of role morality and common morality are used to develop a framework of behaviors that are normally seen as the moral responsibilities of these actors. This framework is used to analyze, based on four empirical situations, why the implementation of a performance measurement system has not been as effective as expected. It was concluded that, in these four cases, unethical behavior (i.e. deviations from the ethical behaviors identified in the framework) provided, at least to some extent, an explanation for the lower than expected effectiveness of the performance measurement procedures. At the end of the paper we present an agenda for further research through which the framework could be further developed and systematically applied to a broader set of cases.     

Measuring the Implementation of Codes of Conduct. An Assessment Method Based on a Process Approach of the Responsible Organisation

More and more organisations formulate a code of conduct in order to stimulate responsible behaviour among their members. Much time and energy is usually spent fixing the content of the code but many organisations get stuck in the challenge of implementing and maintaining the code. The code then turns into nothing else than the notorious "paper in the drawer", without achieving its aims. The challenge of implementation is to utilize the dynamics which have emerged from the formulation of the code. This will support a continuous process of reflection on the central values and standards contained in the code. This paper presents an assessment method, based on the EFQM model, which intends to support this implementation process.     

日本名门企业改革及其背景分析——日本版“企业支配”的确立

自90年代后半期起,日本的名门企业为摆脱平成萧条的困境,适应新时代的要求,陆续开始了以确立日本版“企业支配”为主的大改革。它们引进外部董事,展开OB、技术出身经营者经营,实行经营与执行分离,构建能力人事制度,推行IT融合战略,关注股东利益最大化,提价企业伦理。这次改革被称为“宣告传统型制造业大国的终结,向软件化水平先进的新制造业过渡的号炮”,背景复杂,值得研究与借鉴。     

Reasons To Be Ethical: Self-Interest and Ethical Business

This paper examines the self-interested reasons that businesses can have for ethical behaviour. It distinguishes between economic and non-economic reasons and, among the latter, notes those connected with the self-esteem of managers. It offers a detailed typology of prudential reasons for ethical behaviour, laying particular stress on those to do with avoiding punishment by society for wrongdoing and, more particularly still, stresses the role of campaigning pressure groups within that particular category of reasons. It goes on to suggest that because of their occupation of the moral high ground, campaigning groups are well placed to damage the self-esteem of managers and that this is why those groups seem able to exert an influence that goes beyond their somewhat limited capacity to inflict economic damage upon businesses. The paper concludes with the suggestion that we may be witnessing a virtuous spiral whereby rising public expectations of morality in business lead to ever increasing moral commitments by business that then cause those expectations to rise still further.     

The Impact of Innovativeness and Development Time on New Product Performance for Small Firms

Timing is becoming a new source of competitive advantage. The business press extols the benefits of faster product development. This paper examines whether competitive advantage can be gained by reducing development time across all types of new products or whether this advantage is restricted to certain types of new products. It proposes that product innovativeness moderates the relationship between development time and initial market performance. A survey of 110 small manufacturing firms in computer related industries supports the hypothesis. The survey findings indicate that a firm must guard against over- or under-development of the new product since product innovativeness was found to influence the impact of development time on market performance. The implications for managers are: beware of bringing a new product that is too much, too early or too little, too late.     

发展政策性金融有待解决的三大难题

我国未来政策性金融的发展前景取决于三大难题的解决,即政策性金融的生存空间、业务领域、保障机制。本文认为,政策性金融是市场机制有益的和必要的补充,政策性金融的存在使一国的金融体系得以完善。市场的不足内生了政策性金融的生存空间和具体的业务领域,政策性金融作为一种特殊的金融制度安排,具有战略意义,但政策性金融的可持续发展有赖于专门法律制度的构建和完善。     

以创新带动传统信贷业务市场拓展

本文通过分析当前国内金融市场现状并借鉴国外金融市场发展经验，认为银行传统信贷业务仍然具有良好的发展前景，在未来一定时期内仍将是企业融资的主渠道，是银行开展其他金融服务的基础和平台，并且结构将适应经济结构变化不断优化。针对近年来银行传统信贷发展面临的资本约束、金融脱媒和利率市场化等冲击，提出了以创新手段带动银行传统信贷业务和市场拓展的观点，即以理念创新重新定位传统信贷业务市场，以价格创新应对资本约束和利率市场化，以科技创新优化传统信贷发展模式，以产品创新和流程创新解决传统信贷难点，以营销创新推动信贷市场拓展，以手段创新加强信贷风险管理。     

商业银行中间业务的合作与竞争研究

近年来，大力发展中间业务成为国内商业银行的共识。合作与竞争应该是商业银行中间业务共同发展、谋求内外部效率最优的发展模式。国内商业银行需要从排他性竞争走向合作竞争，建立全新的合作竞争的共赢关系。本文引入合作竞争的理论，运用厂商理论、资源依赖性观点、博弈论和交易成本学的观点来分析国内商业银行在中间业务上竞争合作的动因，提出通过竞争合作促进国内商业银行中间业务发展的具体策略，并对在构建共赢关系过程中应注意的问题进行了深入探讨，就WTO后国内银行如何实施更为有效的中间业务发展战略提出了方案建议。