Economic and Internet Growth Effect on Electricity Consumption in the BRICS Countries

International Advances in Economic Research - This study investigated the impact of information communication technology and economic growth (measured as gross domestic product) on electricity...     

Potential responses by on-campus university students to a university emergency alert

University campuses across Canada and elsewhere are developing and implementing emergency alert systems to warn campus community members about a variety of threats. In this study, focus group discussions were used to examine how undergraduate students living on campus may respond to an emergency alert. A focus group activity used tornado, fire and threatening message alert messages to provide a context for the focus group discussions. After reading the warning message, most students understood the warning message but there was uncertainty about the non-specified threat and how and where to evacuate. Many would believe a message sent by the university as long as it was sent via a phone number that they associated with the university. Personalization of risk varied, and students reported that they would confirm a warning message with a variety of sources including student colleagues, faculty and teaching staff, television and internet sources. Taking protective action by sheltering in place was deemed to be feasible, however evacuation off campus was found to be problematic. We found that the nature of short message service text messages, the characteristics of universities, and the students’ home being in an on-campus residence influenced how the students may respond to an emergency alert message.     

The Effect of Market Orientation on Learning,Innovativeness, and Performance in Primary Agriculture

Market awareness and innovativeness are important resources in any business environment. As customer needs and competitor responses change, performance may depend on the ability for firms to recognize and react to market shifts. Using survey data from beef farmers in Illinois, we examine the role market orientation, organizational learning, and innovativeness play on satisfaction with performance. We use a structural equation model to find that market‐oriented and innovative firms are more satisfied with their performance while controlling for structural and demographic variables. Results also show that while market‐oriented firms are more innovative, human capital resources moderate the ability to exploit innovations. We also find that an increase in experience correlates with less organizational learning.     

Investment with weak contract enforcement: evidence from Hungary during transition

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence relating to theimportance of contract enforcement for development. Survey dataon Hungarian farms are used to estimate the impact of contracthold-ups on investment. We find that investment is affectedby a variety of factors. Contract breaches in the form of delayedpayments have a non-linear effect on investment: at high levels,they significantly deter the investment, but not at low levels.     

Open‐Market Stock Repurchases by Insurance Companies and Signaling

The signaling hypothesis of share repurchases implies that management uses repurchases to signal either that their firm's future operating performance will improve or that shares of their stock are simply underpriced by the market. This study examines which of the two interpretations can better explain open‐market share repurchase programs announced by insurance companies. We find no evidence that future‐operating performance of insurers improves following the repurchase announcement. In addition, changes in future operating performance cannot explain the announcement‐period abnormal return. Instead, the stock undervaluation prior to the repurchase announcement can significantly explain the announcement‐period abnormal return, particularly for life insurers. Overall, our results suggest that the positive market reaction to insurers’ open‐market share repurchase announcements is due to the stock undervaluation by the market, but not due to positive information content about future operating performance conveyed in the repurchase announcement.     

Managing the costs of HIV/AIDS: A case study of a South African contract cleaning company

This paper, based on a case study of a South African contract cleaning company in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, adds to the recent literature on the management of the financial impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. After situating the research alongside recent contributions that have examined large enterprises, and small, medium and micro enterprises, the paper provides a profile of the company and its predominantly female workforce. The company's management of costs incurred due to HIV/AIDS is critically assessed from the perspective of financial sustainability, using an AIDS Projection Model developed by Matthews (2007 Matthews, A. 2007. Computational modelling of the impact of AIDS on business. AIDS, 21(Supplement 3): S91–7. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). It was found that while continued employment of this workforce is economically sustainable, both from the perspective of the business and the associated provident fund, the costs to employees are far from equitable. The paper therefore recommends the implementation of a holistic HIV/AIDS management programme, including treatment and prevention activities.     

Does Ecological Footprint Impede Economic Growth? An Empirical Analysis Based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis

This paper examines the relationship between income and environmental quality using environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. The hypothesised link is tested using time‐series analysis of 22 countries over the period 1961–2011. The degree of environmental impacts of economic activity is measured using ecological footprint (EF) per capita as explanatory variable, while real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and its quadratic and cubic forms are used as predictor variables in these countries. First, the EKC hypothesis is tested through examining the relationship between EF and GDP using linear, quadratic and cubic functions. Further, the long‐run relationship between EF and GDP is investigated using a vector error correction model. It was found that there is a cointegrated relationship between the variables in almost all countries, which was statistically significant, and EKC supported in 10 countries. Additionally, almost all error correction terms are correct in sign and are significant, which implies that some percentage of disequilibria in EF in the previous year adjusts back to the long‐run equilibrium in the current year. Therefore, an efficient trade‐off between environmental protection and economic benefits should be taken, and EF should be reduced through changing consumption patterns, improving the efficiency of use of resources and cleaner technology choices.     

EVA IN THE E&P INDUSTRY: THE CASE OF NUEVO ENERGY

This article presents a case study illustrating some aspects of the new business model discussed in the roundtable above. Continuing a major theme in the roundtable, the authors begin by arguing that the long‐run failure of the E&P industry to create shareholder wealth stems to a large degree from weak or distorted incentives held out to the top executives and managers of most large, publicly traded companies. This article traces the incentive problem to the lack of an effective wealth creation metric to guide the financial management process. Although the industry employs a variety of accounting‐based performance measures, none is a reliable measure of wealth creation. In place of traditional financial metrics such as earnings, annual cash flow, and return on capital, this article recommends a performance evaluation and incentive compensation system that is tied to the use of a “reserve‐adjusted” EVA measure—one that exhibits a strong statistical correlation with changes in shareholder wealth in the E&P business. The greater explanatory power of this new measure reflects the reality that changes in the value of reserves in the ground can greatly outweigh changes in annual earnings or cash flows. As the focal point of a compensation plan, EVA has advantages over stock options in that it can be calculated at various levels in the organization, even at the level of a single well, whereas stock prices only exist for the company as a whole. For this reason, an EVA incentive system permits a clearer “line of sight” between pay packages and the performance of the part of the business for which managers are directly accountable. Perhaps even more important, EVA can be calculated (using an “internal hedging” mechanism) in a way that removes the impact of changes in oil prices on the incentive outcome. And, as demonstrated in the case study of Nuevo Energy, such internal hedging allows companies to give their employees a much greater share of wealth created with far less cost than by simply granting stock or stock options.     

Why do pro forma and Street earnings not reflect changes in GAAP? Evidence from SFAS 123R

This study examines how key market participants??managers and analysts??responded to SFAS 123R??s controversial requirement that firms recognize stock-based compensation expense. Despite mandated recognition of the expense, some firms?? managers exclude it from pro forma earnings and some firms?? analysts exclude it from Street earnings. We find evidence consistent with managers opportunistically excluding the expense to increase earnings, smooth earnings, and meet earnings benchmarks but no evidence that these exclusions result in an earnings measure that better predicts future firm performance. In contrast, we find that analysts exclude the expense from earnings forecasts when exclusion increases earnings?? predictive ability for future performance and that opportunism generally does not explain exclusion by analysts incremental to exclusion by managers. Thus our findings indicate that opportunism is the primary explanation for exclusion of the expense from pro forma earnings and predictive ability is the primary explanation for exclusion from Street earnings. Our findings suggest the controversy surrounding the recognition of stock-based compensation expense may be attributable to cross-sectional variation in the relevance of the expense for equity valuation, as well as to differing incentives of market participants.     

Evolution of Kenyan agricultural policy

The political and economic pressures which gave rise to the current agricultural policy environment in Kenya are reviewed. Colonial policies were favourable to agriculture and its mainly large (European) landholder focus. After independence policies at first antithetical to agriculture were followed once again by favourable policies reflecting the power of the African political élite, many of whom became large landholders after independence. Interventionist but favourable initiatives in agriculture have continued to the present.