Public service announcements: A literature review and way forward

This paper presents a literature review of public service announcements (PSAs). Using the SPAR-4-SLR protocol, we uncover 119 articles on PSAs in the domains of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the environment, health, finance, safety, and security. The literature review reveals that PSA makers may elicit empathy during their appeal and also juxtapose PSAs with narratives. Further, they may consider using fear, humour, and nurturance appeals. We cull the key takeaways from each domain and identify commonalities and differences across the domains. In addition, we offer strategies to make PSAs effective. PSA makers may run more PSAs, use targeted appeals, and use fewer celebrity appeals. The paper also identifies gaps in the literature and outlines future research directions.     

Does ownership concentration improve M&A outcomes in emerging markets?: Evidence from India

Using firm level data from India, we examine the impact of ownership concentration on post-M&A performance of firms. Our analysis has implications for both the M&A literature, which emphasises the role of agency conflict between managers and owners of widely held companies as a key reason for M&A failures, and the corporate governance literature, especially in the context of emerging market economies. A cautious interpretation of our results suggests that while ownership concentration may reduce the manager–owner agency conflict, it may nevertheless precipitate other forms of agency conflict such that ownership concentration may not necessarily improve post-M&A performance. In particular, our results have implications for the literature on the agency conflict between large (or majority) shareholders and small (or minority) shareholders of a company, especially in contexts such as emerging market economies where corporate governance quality is weak.