Shareholder Activism and Voluntary Disclosure Initiation: The Case of Political Spending

Demand for disclosures on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues has increased dramatically. Using corporate political spending disclosures as our setting, we conduct a detailed inquiry of 541 political spending‐related shareholder proposals from 2004 to 2012 to highlight the role of shareholder activism as a mechanism to motivate ESG disclosure. Unlike earlier studies, we examine both proposals that went to a vote and proposals that were withdrawn by the activist, allowing us to assess more comprehensively the success of shareholder activism. We find that 20 percent of firms targeted by disclosure proposals begin disclosing in the subsequent year, although implementation rates vary by proposal type—8 percent for proposals subject to a vote versus 56 percent for proposals withdrawn. The sponsor is also important: unions and public pension funds are less likely than other activists to target firms with agency problems and are less successful in having proposals withdrawn, and the implementations they obtain are viewed more negatively by the broader investor base. Our findings highlight shareholder proposals as one mechanism through which investors can successfully express their preferences for corporate disclosure policies. Given activists' long‐standing interest in environmental and social disclosure policies, we believe our findings generalize to a broader set of ESG disclosures.     

Cost-effectiveness of dedicated dietitians for hyperphosphatemia management among hemodialysis patients in Lebanon: results from the Nutrition Education for Management of Osteodystrophy trial

Aim: To assess the cost-effectiveness of nutrition education by dedicated dietitians (DD) for hyperphosphatemia management among hemodialysis patients.

Materials and methods: This was a trial-based economic evaluation in 12 Lebanese hospital-based units. In total, 545 prevalent patients were cluster randomized to DD, trained hospital dietitian (THD), and existing practice (EP) groups. During Phase I (6 months), DD (n?=?116) received intensive education by DD trained on renal nutrition, THD (n?=?299) received care from trained hospital dietitians, and EP (n?=?130) received usual care from untrained hospital dietitians. Patients were followed-up during Phase II (6 months).

Results: At baseline, EP had the lowest weekly hemodialysis time, and DD had the highest serum phosphorus and malnutrition-inflammation score. The additional costs of the intervention were low compared with the societal costs (DD: $76.7, $21,007.7; EP: $4.6, $18,675.4; THD: $17.4, $20,078.6, respectively). Between Phases I and II, DD showed the greatest decline in services use and societal costs (DD: –$2,364.0; EP: –$1,727.7; THD: –$1,105.7). At endline, DD experienced the highest decrease in adjusted serum phosphorus (DD: –0.32; EP: +0.16; THD: +0.04?mg/dL), no difference in quality-adjusted life-years (QALY), and the highest societal costs. DD had a cost-effectiveness ratio of $7,853.6 per 1?mg decrease in phosphorus, compared with EP; and was dominated by THD. Regarding QALY, DD was dominated by EP and THD. The results were sensitive to changes in key parameters.

Limitations: The analysis depended on numerous assumptions. Interpreting the results is limited by the significant baseline differences in key parameters, suggestive of higher baseline societal costs in DD.

Conclusions: DD yielded the greatest effectiveness and decrease in societal costs, but did not affect QALY. Regarding serum phosphorus, DD was likely to be cost-effective compared with EP, but had a low cost-effectiveness probability compared with THD. Regarding QALY, DD was not likely to be cost-effective. Assessing the long-term cost-effectiveness of DD, on similar groups, is recommended.     

Consumer adoption of Internet banking in Jordan: Examining the role of hedonic motivation,habit, self-efficacy and trust

Despite the rapid growth of Internet banking (IB), customers in developing countries still hesitate to adopt this technology and its use in the Middle East remains low. This study aims to identify and examine the factors that predict behavioural intention and adoption of IB in Jordan. Four factors – hedonic motivation, habit, self-efficacy and trust – are proposed in a conceptual model. Data was collected by means of a survey with bank customers in Jordan. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. The results strongly supported the conceptual model. Further, hedonic motivation, habit, self-efficacy and trust were all confirmed to have a significant influence on behavioural intention. Trust was found to be strongly predicted by both hedonic motivation and self-efficacy. This study provides both academics and practitioners with an insight into the factors that can be used to encourage customer adoption of IB specifically in a Middle East context.     

The role of destination personality fit in destination branding: Antecedents and outcomes

Drawing from fit research in strategic management, this study develops and investigates a model predicting destination attitude and (re)visit intention. The study introduces the concept of destination personality fit on the basis of how well consumer perceptions of a tourist destination's brand personality fits that of what the destination brand manager wishes to convey. A model incorporating destination advertising awareness as an antecedent of destination personality and consumer‐manager destination personality fit is tested on international consumers with the destination personality of Switzerland as the study setting. Structural equation modeling results reveal that destination advertising awareness does indeed relate positively to both stronger perceived destination personality and destination personality fit in consumers’ minds. Interestingly, the subsequent destination personality–destination attitude relationship is moderated by consumer–manager destination personality fit in such a way that the link grows stronger in cases where fit is high. The results have important implications for destination brand managers in that they reinforce the importance of strong and distinct destination personalities. The findings also show the importance of actively communicating the destination brand to consumers since the positive outcomes of a strong destination personality increase in magnitude when successfully communicated, and the vision of the destination brand manager has been adopted by the consumer.     

Local competition, entry, and agglomeration

This paper analyzes competition between two spatially differentiated multi-product retailers who encounter entry from a low-cost discounter. We assess how entry affects the pricing of the incumbent stores and the role played by the location of the entrant. Our primary objective is to identify how traditional retailers respond to new forms of low-cost retailing. Results show that post entry, the prices for some products are higher than the pre entry. However, which product prices increase depends on the incumbent’s location. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find that the store closer to the entrant is better off compared to the incumbent located further away. We empirically demonstrate the main workings of our theory using sales data from several grocery stores that saw entry by discount stores in their trading areas.     

Mobile banking in a developing economy: A customer-centric model for policy formulation

India needs inclusive growth to pull millions out of poverty. Despite the best efforts of mainstream financial institutions, financial exclusion is depriving millions of poor any chance to attain adequate standard of living. Telecommunication infrastructure growth especially mobile phone penetration has created an opportunity for providing financial inclusion. The current state of mobile banking is characterized by a top-down approach. This paper presents a bottom-up approach of designing mobile banking service which would be acceptable and accessible to the poor customers. The results point to clear preference of the urban poor for a joint bank–telecom led mobile banking model. Conjoint analysis of the data points to preference for attributes related to security/safety of a bank along with the coverage, accessibility and nimbleness of a telecom service provider with minimal documentation. The paper in its conclusion exhorts the regulators, telecom service providers and financial institutions to involve end-users in order to create a sustainable mobile banking service for financial inclusion.     

On a class of correlated queueing problems

This paper deals with a steady state behaviour of a discrete time, single channel, first come first served, finite space queueing problem. It is assumed that the departure probabilities depend on the queue length and that the departure at two consecutive time marks are correlated. The arrivals at two consecutive time marks are statistically independendent. However, the arrival probabilities are assumed to depend on the queue length. A few particular cases have also been discussed.     

Geographic Concentration in Indian Manufacturing and Service Industries: Evidence from 1998 to 2013

This paper uses a comprehensive new data source to document basic facts about geographic concentration among industries in India from 1998 to 2013. Unlike previous studies, our data allow us to accurately measure industrial concentration at the district level and cover manufacturing and services, as well as the formal and informal sectors. Our most striking finding is that average levels of industrial concentration fell dramatically between 1998 and 2013, driven by steep reductions in capital‐intensive manufacturing industries. We provide suggestive evidence that this increasing dispersion may be due to improvements in interregional transportation coupled with inefficient land management policies and limited labor mobility.     

Twenty-five years of business systems research and lessons for international business studies

Since 1992, the national business systems (NBS) approach has been increasingly used to analyse not only firm characteristics, structures and strategies within NBS, but also the nature of international business and its interactions with both national and transnational institutions. In reviewing 25 years of NBS literature, we heed calls in IB journals urging researchers to use NBS notions and findings in IB research. Our systematic review of 96 articles analyses the patterns and contributions of NBS literature, revealing four thematic junctures: (1) comparative business systems, (2) firm internationalisation and the management/organisation inside MNCs, (3) the role of internationalisation in the development of organisational capabilities and innovation and (4) the emergence of transnational communities in and across firms and societies. Themes are described in terms of (a) the research questions (RQ) they focus on, (b) how NBS approach investigates the RQ and what are the major findings, (c) how IB frames and approaches the same RQ, (d) how does the NBS approach extend the perspectives of IB and (e) what are the problems faced by NBS in terms of developing further insights into the RQ. Our review contributes to the recent endeavour of IB research to institutionalism, encouraging a productive dialogue between IB and NBS research.