Firm-level Disclosures and the Relative Roles of Culture and Legal Origin

In this paper, I investigate the relative roles of legal origin and national culture in explaining firm‐level disclosure levels internationally. Using a significantly larger and more representative sample than prior research, I document, using univariate and multivariate analyses, that both legal origin and culture (as operationalized by Hofstede and Schwartz) are important in explaining firm disclosure. Neither legal origin nor culture dominates with respect to overall explanatory power for variations in disclosure levels. Consequently, it is premature to write off culture as an important factor in the financial reporting environment. Furthermore, I find that legal origin is an important conditioning variable for the role of culture. Finally, although legal origin is a key determinant of disclosure levels, I hypothesize and find that its importance decreases with the richness of a firm's information environment.     

Corporate Cultural Change – Is It Relevant For the Organisations of the 1990s?

Partly as a consequence of the popularity of the ‘excellence’ literature of the early 1980s, there was a widespread acceptance that ‘corporate cultural change’ was one of the effective mechanisms within a strategic HRM approach to people management. However, recent research into imposed cultural change programmes in the late 1980s raises doubts about their effectiveness as change mechanisms, as management control devices and as contributors to business performance. This article engages in the current debate concerning the aims, design and implementation of cultural change but goes on to question the relevance of such an idea for organisations in the context of the 1990s. the article extends the many debates within the HRM and corporate culture literature by contextualising them within the emerging features of organisations in the 1990s.     

Basic Needs and Technology Transfer Issues in the 'New International Economic Order'

A bstract . Developing countries have called for the establishment of a new International Economic Order. New perceptions of development are examined as they relate to haste needs and the transfer of technology within such a framework. The approach seeks to reduce and eventually to eliminate dependence on developed country enterprises, thus allowing developing countries to control their natural resources. It seeks to accelerate self-reliance and to introduce some measure of global management of resources. Technology transferred must be appropriate technology, adapted to local conditions and aimed at meeting specific local needs.     

Internet impacts on supply chain management

The traditional way of managing supply chains has changed dramatically over the last 5 years. Face-to-face management, manual tracking systems, paper-dominated order processing systems, and wired communication links were the primary management tools available to logistics managers. Today, they are obsolete. The article provides an overview of some of the new tools and trends discussed in this issue, including website structure, e-purchasing, electronic marketplaces, building vendor relationships, and the use of the Internet in managing supply chains in China.     

Intraorganizational influences on business-to-business pricing strategies: A political economy perspective

Historically, researchers have addressed pricing issues from many different perspectives, including the firm's business model (cost structure, experience curve), stakeholders (customers and channel partners), competition (market structure and intensity), and macroeconomic issues (interest rates, economic growth). An important dimension of organizational price setting that has been neglected is the impact that the firm's internal political system, reflected in interdepartmental coordination and rivalry, has upon price setting. A study of managers who are influential in shaping the firm's pricing strategy was conducted to identify intraorganizational issues and their relative impact on the firm's pricing strategy. The results of the study provide important implications for the development and execution of a firm's pricing strategy.     

The effects of MiFID II on sell-side analysts,buy-side analysts,and firms

Review of Accounting Studies - This paper provides early but broad empirical evidence on MiFID II, which requires investment firms to unbundle investment research from other costs they charge to...     

Individual Large Shareholders,Earnings Management,and Capital‐Market Consequences

Using a large hand‐collected sample of all blockholders (ownership ≥ 5%) of S&P 1500 firms for the years 2002–2009, we first document significant individual blockholder effects on earnings management (accrual‐based earnings management, real earnings management, and restatements). This association is driven primarily by these large shareholders influencing rather than selecting firms’ financial reporting practices. Second, the market's reaction to earnings announcements suggests that investors recognize the heterogeneity in blockholders’ influence on earnings management. The results highlight the highly individualized effects of blockholders and a mechanism through which shareholders impact reported earnings.     

Breaking the mould? Innovation as a strategy for corporate renewal

In contrast to studies of HRM and innovation within hi-tech industries or greenfield sites, this paper uses longitudinal data to analyse the attempts of two mature corporations to shift from business strategies of 'cost reduction' and 'growth by acquisition' towards organizations that compete through innovation. The case studies describe how human resource management interventions and the structure of the HR function itself are used as change levers to support the shift in business strategies. By analysing the different organizational contexts, the paper identifies the complex microprocesses that either facilitate or constrain such organizational change. Its contribution lies in considering strategies concerned with innovation in both product and sales and marketing; in tracking these change processes over time using in depth case studies; and in considering innovation as a strategic trigger for corporate renewal.     

Voluntary disclosure practices by foreign firms cross-listed in the United States

This is one of the first large-scale studies to examine the voluntary disclosure practices of foreign firms cross-listed in the United States. We proxy for voluntary disclosure using three attributes of firms’ management earnings guidance: (1) the likelihood of issuance; (2) the frequency of earnings guidance; and (3) a guidance quality measure. After first establishing that market participants view these firms’ disclosures as credible and economically important (i.e., the disclosures are negatively related to analyst forecast errors and the implied cost of equity capital), we compare cross-listed firms’ disclosure practices with comparable US firms and explore variations in disclosure practices among cross-listed firms. We find that cross-listed firms issue less frequent and lower quality management earnings guidance than comparable US firms. We further show that the gap between US and cross-listed firms widened after passage of Regulation FD, a regulation which induced greater public disclosure of firm-specific information. Focusing on the sample of cross-listing firms, we show that firms from common-law countries disclose more than firms from code-law countries. Finally, our results indicate that cross-listed firms that do not list on an organized US exchange provide more frequent and higher quality disclosure than those that do list on organized exchanges.     

Self-reliance and participation of the poor in the development process in the Third World

A self-reliant approach to Third World economic development provides a new orientation in development strategy. Its central emphasis is on meeting the basic needs of the poor and in encouraging them to participate in the development process. The author argues that this participative process is not only the answer to Third World problems but also a global necessity.