bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The impact of EU accession on the marketing strategies of Polish food companies
Authors: Bryla Pawel
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine major marketing developments in the Polish food‐processing sector following the EU accession. The aim is to discern the impact of EU integration on several variables characterising the marketing and business strategies; to determine the sources of competitive advantage on the domestic market and abroad; and to distinguish the most popular development directions.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on the author's research study. A postal questionnaire survey was conducted among 780 food‐processing companies located in Poland and 30 interviews were conducted with representatives of the industry participating in the International Trade Fair Polagra in Poznan.

Findings

There was a systematic growth of export orientation in the study sample after joining the EU. The representatives of the industry usually pointed out either a positive or neutral country‐of‐origin effect. The crucial sources of competitive advantage differed according to the target market. The importance of quality guarantees and successful branding was much higher in exports, whereas taste and price played a relatively greater role on the domestic market. A growing prevalence of the strategy of backward contractual market channel integration was observed. The findings confirmed the growing attractiveness of internationalisation strategies among Polish food processors after EU accession.

Originality/value

The paper provides original insights on the evolution of marketing and business development strategies in Poland after joining the EU. The topic has not been widely discussed at the level of food‐processing industry. The results may be useful to managers from Central and Eastern European food companies.
Entrepreneurship and open innovation in an emerging economy
Authors: Chaston Ian , Scott Gregory J.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to examine the performance of firms in Peru in relation to entrepreneurial orientation and involvement in open innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were acquired through a survey of middle and senior managers employed in Peruvian companies.

Findings

Firms achieving higher sales growth did not exhibit more of an entrepreneurial orientation or utilize a double loop learning style. More entrepreneurial firms appear to have adopted a double loop learning approach to knowledge acquisition. Peruvian firms involved in open innovation reported higher sales growth and indicated greater reliance on the use of double loop learning.

Practical implications

The practical implications of the study are that firms in emerging economies do not have to be reliant on entrepreneurial behaviour to sustain business growth. Nevertheless involvement in open innovation can be beneficial.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper is that although the results are only for companies in Peru, the findings may suggest that firms operating in emerging economies need not necessarily rely on entrepreneurial behaviour to sustain business growth, although involvement in open innovation may enhance business performance.
Constituents and outcomes of absorptive capacity – appropriability regime changing the game
Authors: Hurmelinna‐Laukkanen Pia
Published: July 2012

Purpose

Recent research and practice have put a great deal of effort into finding efficient ways of managing and organizing to promote innovation within organizations. This study aims to continue this trend in addressing issues related to knowledge transfer and protection through examining roles of absorptive capacity and appropriability regimes and the interplay between them. An appropriability regime can play a dual role when external knowledge and the knowledge‐base of the firm form the basis for absorptive capacity, which then contributes to innovation performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study provides an empirical examination of the direct and moderating roles of appropriability regime regarding the above‐mentioned dual role. Data collected from 335 firms was utilized to perform regression analyses.

Findings

The empirical evidence suggests, first, that the strength of the appropriability regime has a positive effect on absorptive capacity (especially the acquisition of knowledge) together with good connectedness to external knowledge sources and high levels of internal R&D. In addition, support can be found for the idea of absorptive capacity and the appropriability regime being positively related to innovation performance. Both direct and moderating effects can be found, but they are slightly different for knowledge acquisition and application.

Originality/value

This study contributes to prior studies by producing empirical evidence on the relationships described above. An important issue is also that it departs from prior works by viewing an appropriability regime as a factor that can be affected by the firm (i.e. as a strategic tool), and not as a purely environmental or external factor.
Testing the Schumpeterian hypotheses on an open innovation framework
Authors: Sandulli Francesco D. , Fernandez‐Menendez Jose , Rodriguez‐Duarte Antonio , Lopez‐Sanchez José Ignacio
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the unclear relationship between industry structure and open innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The focus of the study is on firms that received external help to develop their products or that helped third parties in developing their products. The hypotheses were tested on a large panel of more than 7,000 firms using generalized estimating equations.

Findings

The results show that open innovation adoption is positively related to technology complexity and market uncertainty while it is negatively related to market concentration. Larger firms are more likely to adopt open innovation strategies.

Originality/value

The research makes an important contribution to the literature by examining on a large sample of firms the moderating effects of industry concentration, industry research and development intensity and the technology life cycle stage on the adoption of open innovation.
Knowledge brokering for transference to the pilot's safety behavior
Authors: Lin Yi‐Hsin
Published: July 2012

Purpose

This study aims to use organizational identification, organizational culture and safety culture as the intervening variables between safety mission statements and safety behavior to survey and model the process of brokering knowledge from the top strategy makers to the workers on assignments. A pilot empirical research initiative was launched to determine the linkage between safety missions and safety behavior in the airline industry.

Design/methodology/approach

First, descriptive statistics and independent‐sample t‐tests were used to evaluate the mean, standard deviation (SD) and the relationship between the safety mission statement, organizational identification, organizational culture, safety culture and safety behavior and the respondent's years of working for the sampled airline. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the relationships between the five factors. Finally, path analysis was used to examine the direct effects and indirect effects between individual factors.

Findings

The findings show that organizational identification and organizational culture are two important intervening variables between the safety mission statement (knowledge brokering) and safety behavior. The results of Pearson correlation analysis indicate that five factors are highly correlated with each other, especially the safety mission statement and organizational identification; organizational culture and safety culture; organizational identification and organizational culture; and safety culture and safety behavior. Besides, the safety mission statement has a negative direct effect on the pilot's safety behavior.

Originality/value

To understand the process of using the safety mission statement to change safety behavior can significantly increase the benefits of brokering knowledge. Furthermore, this study has provided an overview of the flight crews' perceptions on how safety is managed in the aviation industry. Based on the findings, it is concluded that organizations in the various sectors of the airline could do better in managing safety, and in brokering the safety knowledge in the industry. At another level, this study provides an opportunity to explore the validity of causal relationships among different areas.
Are social media replacing traditional media in terms of brand equity creation?
Authors: Bruhn Manfred , Schoenmueller Verena , Schäfer Daniela B.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative impact of brand communication on brand equity through social media as compared to traditional media. In a juxtaposition of different industries it aims at: investigating whether both communication instruments have an impact on consumer‐based brand equity; comparing the effect sizes of these two communication instruments; and separating the effects of firm‐created and user‐generated social media communication.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 393 data sets from three different industries, namely tourism, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals, were generated using a standardized online‐survey. Structural equation modeling was used in the analysis of the data obtained to investigate the interplay of social media and traditional media in general, as well as in an examination of industry‐specific differences.

Findings

The results of the empirical study show that both traditional communications and social media communications have a significant impact on brand equity. While traditional media has a stronger impact on brand awareness, social media communications strongly influence brand image. Firm‐created social media communication is shown to have an important impact on functional brand image, while user‐generated social media communication exerts a major influence on hedonic brand image. Furthermore, the present study highlights significant differences between the industries under investigation.

Originality/value

The research described in this paper is pioneering in that it juxtaposes the impacts of social media and traditional media on brand equity – a topic of increasing interest to firms in the era of Facebook and Twitter but so far largely uninvestigated. Moreover, the differentiation between firm‐created and user‐generated social media communication, which is gaining increasingly in importance, as companies see their brand marketing power devolve to the consumer through social media platforms, offers valuable insights to marketing practitioners and academics.
Trust intentions in readers of blogs
Authors: Doyle James D. , Heslop Louise A. , Ramirez Alex , Cray David
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The blogosphere is an active arena for the communication of topic‐area claims by marketer and non‐marketer sources. Determinants of influence in the blogosphere have not been well documented. The purpose of this paper is to investigate trust in bloggers, in a framework involving characteristics of bloggers and blogs and blog reading outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Blog‐reader perceptions of bloggers and blogs are derived and tested on a sample of blog readers for their effects on trust formation. Tests of mediation examine the role of perceived personal outcomes of blog reading in trust‐formation processes.

Findings

Trust formation is predicted by engagement knowledge of the blogger, unique reading experiences, and belief that the blog improved the marketspace. Blogger authoritative knowledge negatively impacted trust intentions. Positive experiences from blog reading mediate relationships between blog and blogger characteristics and intentions to trust.

Research limitations/implications

Blog readers examined in this initial investigation may not be totally representative of the general population of blog readers. Replications with other populations are needed.

Practical implications

The paper's findings suggest knowledge is an essential characteristic of a trustworthy blogger, but knowledge unrelated to everyday information needs holds little perceived value for readers. Firms operating blogs may wish to de‐emphasize their topic‐area authoritative knowledge and project a voice of topic‐area engagement.

Originality/value

The paper identifies salient trust‐related blogger and blog characteristics and provides an indication of a domain‐specific trust‐development process that is applicable to marketer and non‐marketer information sources.
The effect of web communities on consumers' initial trust in B2C e‐commerce websites
Authors: Brengman Malaika , Karimov Farhod P.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of the mere integration of social network applications to provide a signal concerning the “trustworthiness” of an unfamiliar e‐vendor in order to enhance subsequent purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

To investigate the impact of web communities on consumers' initial trust beliefs (i.e. ability, benevolence and integrity), a 2×3 between‐subjects full factorial online experiment was carried out, using a fictitious web site for a gift gadgets selling company, manipulating it for inclusion or exclusion of a “social networking site”, and for inclusion or exclusion of “a corporate blog (text only blog, photo and text blog, or no blog)”. Data were obtained from 226 online shoppers.

Findings

Although the authors could not reveal any effects of the integration of social network applications on “ability” beliefs, it was possible to demonstrate their capacity to “signal” “benevolence” and “integrity”, which in turn have a significant impact on purchase intentions. Unfamiliar e‐retailers may foster perceptions of “integrity” by utilizing text‐blogs into their web sites, but they should avoid embedding facial photos of shop representatives in the blog. If e‐retailers want to make use of “a corporate blog with facial photo”, it is recommended to combine it with the integration of a social networking site such as Facebook in order to boost perceptions of “benevolence”.

Research limitations/implications

The simple integration of “social network applications” can affect “initial trust beliefs” towards unfamiliar e‐tailers and subsequent “purchase intentions”, but it appears essential to utilize just the right cue combination in order to obtain the desired effect. The effectiveness of integrating a social network application may vary according to the type and may affect different trust beliefs (benevolence, integrity).

Originality/value

An important issue in e‐commerce remains how trust is developed between consumers and e‐retailers. This paper investigates the use of different web communities and the influence of their integration in the commercial web site on consumers' initial trust beliefs in the online environment. The findings will help business managers to understand how social media should be used to lead to optimal results.
Customer engagement in a Facebook brand community
Authors: Gummerus Johanna , Liljander Veronica , Weman Emil , Pihlström Minna
Published: July 2012

Purpose

Customer engagement is a concept that has emerged recently to capture customers' total set of behavioral activities toward a firm. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of customer engagement behaviors on perceived relationship benefits and relationship outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey of members of a gaming Facebook brand community, resulting in 276 usable responses from gaming customers.

Findings

Customer engagement was divided into “Community Engagement Behaviors” (CEB) and “Transactional Engagement Behaviors” (TEB). In addition, three relationship benefits were identified: social benefits, entertainment benefits and economic benefits. The engagement behaviors largely influenced the benefits received. Furthermore, the mediation analysis results show that the influence of CEB on satisfaction is partially mediated by social benefits and entertainment benefits, while the effect of TEB on satisfaction is fully mediated through the same benefits. The effect of CEB on loyalty is mediated through entertainment benefits.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are limited to one brand community. The findings have implications for further research on customer engagement.

Practical implications

The paper's findings give ideas about how firms can utilize Facebook communities to enhance satisfaction and loyalty by offering the right kinds of relationship benefits. Managers are encouraged to study customer engagement behaviors on, and perceptions of, all channels and to utilize this information for the development of their social media strategies.

Originality/value

Customer engagement is a newly introduced concept on which scarce empirical research exists, and there is very little evidence of its effect on customer relationships. This is the first paper to study customer engagement empirically on a Facebook brand community, and to relate customer engagement to relationship constructs.
“Like it or not”
Authors: Coulter Keith S. , Roggeveen Anne
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source, network, relationship, and message/content factors affect how consumers respond to a word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online social network.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses were addressed using two online surveys. The first of these examined persuasive WOM communications on Facebook, the second investigated WOM communication on Twitter.

Findings

It was found that closeness to the source of a persuasive communication may have less of an impact on message acceptance in online social networks compared to traditional WOM. The number of persons in a product network, as well as whether those members of a product network are also members of one's friend network, are important factors that determine message acceptance.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates differences between online versus traditional WOM, and has important implications for marketing practitioners.
Social withdrawal as invisible youth disengagement
Authors: Wong Victor
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically discuss state inaction on and NGO responses to the hidden problem of youth disengagement in the form of social withdrawal.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on data drawn from six focus groups of social workers working with youths experiencing the problem of social withdrawal and another 30 individual interviews with service users having had this vulnerable background.

Findings

Substantiated with empirical findings, the paper argues that young people in social withdrawal characterized by their socially avoidant behavior and deprivation of an engagement status as a worker, student or trainee are largely invisible to the state because of the latter's insensitivity to the heterogeneity and diversity of disengaged youth and reproduction of the anti‐social notion of at‐risk youth. A flexible and tailor‐made strategy initiated by an NGO is argued to be more effective in meeting the needs of silently‐disengaged young people.

Originality/value

This paper critically examines state inaction on the problem of youth disengagement in the form of social withdrawal and argues the importance of adopting a flexible and tailor‐made strategy with regard to both outreaching and service provision efforts.
Activation and the Austrian social assistance: permanent entry
Authors: Leibetseder Bettina , Kranewitter Helga
Published: July 2012

Purpose

Social policy tries to foster (re)integration into the labour market and social inclusion via specific programmes. The purpose of this article is to expand knowledge about the common experiences of people in such schemes.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of four group discussions were conducted in four different Austrian cities. The added collective dimension is at least as important to the understanding of the felt experience of labour activation recipients as their individualised views.

Findings

Collectively, activation is not something that is experienced as promoting lasting inclusion; rather, participants express a common line of argument towards a situation of “permanent entry”. Activation programmes allow for a certain form of support but do that in a specific and restricted way.

Research limitations/implications

The authors could only obtain an explorative analysis by contrasting four discussions which rely only on the opinion of participants and not of caseworkers.

Practical implications

One has to define how to implement activation policies in reality so that they do not foster “permanent entry” which becomes a societal norm for specific groups.

Social implications

Social policy needs to be discussed including the perspective of participants in reforms.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the debate on inclusion and exclusion. Instead of the dominant logic of achieving social inclusion via activation, it treats the issue of “permanent entry” to programmes.
Modern day slavery: sex trafficking in Albania
Authors: Bekteshi Venera , Gjermeni Eglantina , Van Hook Mary
Published: July 2012

Purpose

Human trafficking for sexual purposes is a significant human rights violation, as well as a crime of international proportions. Albania has been identified as an important source of individuals who are trafficked as well as an entry point from Eastern Europe and Russia into Western Europe. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nature of this problem and governmental and societal responses.

Design/methodology/approach

An examination of data sources regarding sex trafficking in Albania seen through the lens of the Albanian context and feminist legal perspective helps provide an understanding of the complexity of the issue and the nature of appropriate approaches.

Findings

Recommendations are given for a more effective anti‐sex trafficking campaign, incorporating socio‐economic factors that might be linked to sex trafficking.

Research limitations/implications

The lack of available data from victims of sex‐trafficking and Albanian government limits the ability of researchers to evaluate the effectiveness of anti‐sex trafficking response by Albanian government.

Originality/value

This is the first theoretically based attempt at analyzing governmental and societal responses to sex trafficking in Albania.
The impact of fraud prevention on bank‐customer relationships
Authors: Hoffmann Arvid O.I. , Birnbrich Cornelia
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual as well as an empirical link between retail banks’ activities to protect their customers from third‐party fraud, the quality of customer relationships, and customer loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual framework is developed linking customer familiarity with and knowledge about fraud prevention measures, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. To empirically test the conceptual framework, data were collected in collaboration with a large German retail bank.

Findings

A positive association was found between customer familiarity with and knowledge about fraud prevention measures and the quality of customer relationships as measured by satisfaction, trust, and commitment. The quality of customer relationships, in turn, is positively associated with customer loyalty as measured by intentions to continue their relationship with and cross‐buy other products from their bank.

Research limitations/implications

The paper focuses on the German retail banking market and uses data from only one bank. Future research may investigate the generalizability of the findings across other banks, as well as other countries. Moreover, future research could address how specific anti‐fraud instruments and their communication differentially affect customer satisfaction, trust, and commitment.

Practical implications

The results stress the importance of fraud prevention for retail banks and show that besides the financial objective of reducing operating costs, fraud prevention and its effective communication is a meaningful way to improve customer relationship quality and, ultimately, customer loyalty.

Originality/value

This is the first academic study to empirically examine the relationship between a retail bank's (communication about) fraud prevention mechanisms and the quality of their customer relationships.
Corporate governance and accounting enforcement actions in Italy
Authors: Romano Giulia , Guerrini Andrea
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relation between corporate governance and the publication of corporate accounts that fail to comply with legal and regulatory provisions governing their preparation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyses all the Italian listed companies that from 2002 to 2010 were subject to accounting enforcement actions. From the literature review, 11 hypotheses were developed in relation to six issues: CEO Chairman duality, board size, board independence, the presence of an audit committee and its composition, the presence of nomination and remuneration committees and, finally, the presence of a big audit firm. Using non parametric tests, the paper compares the governance characteristics of fraudulent firms with those of a control sample of comparable firms.

Findings

It is found that board independence is the sole effective mechanism in detecting financial reporting fraud. The results show that firms committing accounting fraud have a lower percentage of independent directors on the board and fewer non‐executive and independent directors on the audit committee than the matched control sample.

Research limitations/implications

The main limit of this research is the small number of companies observed, even if this limit reflects the size of the Italian Stock Exchange. Another caveat is the endogeneity problem that impacts much of the board literature.

Originality/value

This paper extends the accounting literature related to financial reporting fraud since it analyses the issue for the first time with reference to Italy, one of the most relevant European Union countries.
Past control risk and current audit fees
Authors: Calderon Thomas G. , Wang Li , Klenotic Thomas
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The authors posit that audit fees are driven by historical risk factors and risk encountered in the current period. The purpose of this paper is to focus on historical risk by examining the incremental effect of material weakness in internal control (MW) identified in prior periods on current audit fees, after current risk factors are controlled for.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses multiple regression as the main research method, where the authors regress current audit fees on MW in prior periods, current MW, and a vector of other contemporaneous variables as proxies for current risk factors.

Findings

The authors find that past MW incrementally affects current audit fees beyond MW and other risk factors identified in the current period. The effect of past MW on audit fees generally last at least for three years. In addition, companies with persistent past MW incurred substantially higher audit fees. The paper also finds that past MW continues to be positively and significantly associated with current audit fees even after the MW is remediated and there are no subsequent reports of MW. Moreover, the number of MW dominates existence of MW in explaining audit fees in the current and the previous year.

Research limitations/implications

This study does not attempt to distinguish between fee adjustments that are attributable to audit effort and adjustments that are attributable to risk premiums. Nonetheless, it is clear that organizations can expect to incur significant incremental costs over multiple years whenever they fail to maintain effective internal control systems.

Originality/value

The findings of this study contribute to the audit fees literature by explicitly incorporating risks from multiple prior periods into the audit fee model. The results suggest that it is important to consider historical risk factors in examining current period audit fees.
Gender differences in determinants of occupational choice in Russia
Authors: Klimova Anastasia
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse determinants of occupational allocation by gender, in Russia, between 1994 and 2001, using the only available nationally representative longitudinal survey (RLMS).

Design/methodology/approach

Multinomial logit was chosen as the estimation technique for this analysis.

Findings

It was found that gender significantly affects occupational distribution after controlling for human capital and other characteristics during all years. Educational attainment was significant for professionals and technicians/associate professionals, while work experience was significant for craft and plant workers. Marital status did not affect females' occupational allocation while married males were less likely to be unskilled and craft workers. It appears that women performed primarily non‐geographically dependent jobs and the significance of regional variation for females' employment diminished over time. A comparison of the actual and predicted females' occupation distribution revealed a large over‐representation of females in unskilled occupations.

Originality/value

The paper makes an original contribution to our understanding of occupational distribution by demonstrating that occupational segregation by gender is a large and economically significant factor in the Russian labour market, even after controlling for individuals' human capital and personal characteristics and for regional variations. The paper illustrates the extent of this segregation by comparing the actual occupational distribution of females to that which would occur if they faced the same structure of occupational determination as males, i.e. in the absence of discrimination and differences in tastes.
Social development in market society by intrinsic value account: a case of China
Authors: Wang Bing
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reargue the great controversies surrounding marketization, by the concept of intrinsic value and to give a panorama of China's marketization and social development during last 30 years.

Design/methodology/approach

The concept of intrinsic value is elaborated, and marketization and closely linked concepts such as price, wealth, happiness, freedom, etc. are reargued. An intrinsic value account (IVA) is constructed and the enhancement and weakening of some intrinsic values could be clearly shown. A panorama of China's marketization and social development is exhibited by IVA.

Findings

The basic point of this paper is that social development is a concept with strong but implicit ethical assumption and should be explicitly based upon intrinsic value. Without concrete definition and consensus on intrinsic value, it will face great disputes on judging human history as social development or social degradation. Market is not only an objective value‐neural system, but a subjective moral entity. China's maketization has enhanced economic value greatly, but suffered great loss by other intrinsic values.

Practical implications

IVA could be a practical instrument to evaluate social development and clarify the possible academic controversies on market. The arguments of China's marketization experience could be of benefit to other developing countries.

Social implications

This paper could encourage people, particularly policy makers, to consider their value assumptions, value priority, some basic concepts in market, and what human kind is really pursuing.

Originality/value

The paper shows that IVA could be a new instrument to better evaluate social development, similar to the National Income Account or National Happiness Account.
Culture‐based development: empirical evidence for Germany
Authors: Tubadji Annie
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive concept for the role of culture in economic growth.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper overviews the culture based development (CBD) concept and its precise definition of culture as an encompassing socio‐economic factor. The outlined CBD mechanism of impact is expressed in a testable empirical model. Alternative approaches for operationalizing the CBD definition of cultural capital are suggested and a real data application on intra‐regional level (for GermanKreise) is presented.

Findings

The findings illustrate the ability of the CBD model to capture the statistical significance of culture.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the two innovative elements of the CBD approach to culture: first, measuring culture with a factor variable as a better alternative to the mono‐dimensional variables inferred by the state of the art; and second, thus capturing the overall economic meaning of the cultural factor (not just one aspect of it) for local socio‐economic development.
On the dynamics of tracking indices by exchange traded funds in the presence of high volatility
Authors: Qadan Mahmod , Yagil Joseph
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose is of this paper is to investigate whether the tracking ability of exchange traded funds (ETFs) is lower in highly volatile periods, and to shed more light on the factors behind the tracking error.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply the Error Correction Model that incorporates a short‐run adjustment mechanism on domestic US ETFs that follow industrial indices.

Findings

It was found that tracking errors attained pronounced levels during 2008 compared to 2006 and 2007, mainly in ETFs from the real estate and banking and finance sectors. In addition, tracking error is positively correlated with the daily volatility of the ETF, while trading volume has a limited effect on reducing tracking errors.

Practical implications

The paper sheds more light on the relationship between securities and their fundamentals, and contributes to the literature on the information transmission mechanism for dually‐listed securities.

Originality/value

The paper uses the co‐integration tests and the error correction model (ECM) to test the long‐run relationship between returns on domestic exchange trade funds (ETFs) and the returns on the underlying indices. In particular, the ECM is used for ETFs for the first time.
Earnings smoothing and the underpricing of seasoned equity offerings
Authors: Duc Ngo Anh , Varela Oscar
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of earnings smoothing on the underpricing of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). It aims to investigate whether earnings smoothing can add value to firms by reducing the degree of SEO underpricing.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample of US common stock seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) by non‐regulated firms during 1989‐2009 was used to conduct various cross‐section, univariate, and multivariate tests, using several proxies for earnings smoothing, in order to confirm the impact of earnings smoothing on the degree of SEO underpricing. Three‐stage least square estimation was used to address the possible endogeneity of pricing and earnings smoothing.

Findings

Smooth earnings performance resulting from discretionary accruals is negatively related to SEO underpricing and improves earnings informativeness. Consistent with risk management and signaling theories, managers' efforts to produce smooth earning reports may add value to their firms. Based on the mean values for SEOs, such smoothing reduces underpricing by $0.33 per share offered and increases the value of the average offering by $1.65 million. Smoothed earnings also conveys information about the firms' future performance, as firms with a long historical pattern of smooth earnings prior to SEOs significantly outperform, for at least three years after the SEO, those with more volatile earnings, with respect to stock returns and operating performance.

Originality/value

The paper contributes specifically to the current literature on earnings smoothing by demonstrating that high quality firms that expect larger quantity of cash flows in the near future are more likely to actively smooth earnings via discretionary accruals before SEOs to reduce underpricing. The paper contributes generally by showing that firms can signal their quality to outside investors by showing smooth earnings over a long period of time and such firms are more likely to experience a lower degree of underpricing through SEO episodes.
Integrating the top‐down approach in a simulated trading program
Authors: Huffman Stephen P. , Beyer Scott B. , Schellenger Michael H.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the effectiveness of integrating a portfolio simulation‐based trading program with the top‐down approach to fundamental analysis in a security analysis course. The simulation allows for the application of class material using a combination of group and individual projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Students enrolled in the class completed a survey about the integrated approach and the required simulated trading.

Findings

Over 87 per cent of students agreed that the economic analysis provided more educational value as a group project than as an individual project, while over two‐thirds of the students disagreed that the trading simulation had more education value as a group project.

Research limitations/implications

Although the authors focus on the top‐down approach, the concepts of technical analysis, hedging, and income generation could be more formally incorporated into the trading simulation.

Practical implications

The outline of how to integrate a trading simulation into the top‐down approach, using a combination of group projects and a cumulating project completed by each student, can be used as a guide for how to make the top‐down approach a more meaningful task.

Social implications

The integration of the portfolio simulated trading program with the top‐down approach makes the course more applied and more enjoyable for both the students and the faculty.

Originality/value

The paper outlines how to integrate a trading simulation and the top‐down approach and reports the finding that students preferred the group approach to economic analysis and individual projects for the simulation and the company analysis.
Contracting out municipal accounting: the role of institutional entrepreneurship
Authors: Hyvönen Timo , Järvinen Janne , Oulasvirta Lasse , Pellinen Jukka
Published: July 2012

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the emergence of accounting shared service centers (SSCs) in the municipal sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical framework of this interpretative study draws on institutional entrepreneurship that highlights the importance of actors and agency for institutions and institutional change.

Findings

The paper finds that institutional entrepreneurs operate on many institutional levels simultaneously. On the organizational field level they must find groups of actors with whom they share interests. At the organizational level the institutional entrepreneurs must find and recognize critical audiences that are receptive to their agenda.

Research limitations/implications

The authors' data comprise interviews and archival data; they were not present to observe the institutional entrepreneurs in action.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the accounting literature by investigating institutional entrepreneurship at the organizational field level, which has not been much empirically researched.
Can triple bottom line reporting become a cycle for “double loop” learning and radical change?
Authors: Mitchell Michael , Curtis Allan , Davidson Penny
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate critically the outcomes of a research project involving collaboration with an irrigation company seeking to improve outcomes from its triple bottom line (TBL) reporting process. Given the imminent basin‐wide crisis within which the organisation operates due to unsustainable over‐allocation of water for irrigation, the paper aims to offer insights from this context as a microcosm of the global sustainability crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on action research with a case study organisation. Organisational learning theory is used to assess the quality and depth of learning that occurred in terms of the prospects for the radical changes needed to retreat from ongoing unsustainable water resource management practices.

Findings

The organisation's failure to link past learnings with future strategising undermined the potential for TBL reporting to develop into an iterative learning cycle that can effect change. While “small wins” were achieved, these need to be seen as part of a broader paradigmatic change movement if they are to result in enhanced sustainability.

Originality/value

The paper is based on a case study that builds from the authors' review of the literature that identifies ways to improve the process of reporting rather than focusing on report content alone. The case study benefited from substantial access and interaction with the organisation's internal stakeholders and offers new insights about how to improve the process of TBL reporting that builds on theoretical and experiential perspectives of other critical researchers undertaking field‐based engagement research.
Causality between stock and foreign exchange markets in Bangladesh
Authors: Noman Abdullah M. , Humayun Kabir Sarkar , Bashar Omar K.M.R.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to uncover the direction of causality between foreign exchange market and stock market in Bangladesh, where financial markets are yet in their early development stage.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs the Granger causality tests using monthly data spanning over two decades. In order to study possible existence of causality in the data, sub‐samples are constructed in addition to the full sample.

Findings

The overall results indicate absence of any causality running between foreign exchange market and stock market in the full sample and in the sub‐sample created around the stock market crash.

Originality/value

This study would be the first of its kind using Granger causality approach to test whether change in exchange rates lead to changes in the stock market in Bangladesh, and vice‐versa. The paper also offers some implications of the findings which could be of significant value to policy makers.
Stock market volatility and bank performance in China
Authors: Tan Yong , Floros Christos
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the determinants of bank performance in China. In particular, the paper examines the effects of stock market volatility, competition and ownership on bank performance in China.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample comprises a total of 11 banks (four state‐owned and seven joint‐stock commercial banks) listed in the Chinese Stock Exchanges. The period under consideration extends from 2003‐2009. The generalized methods of moments (GMM) difference and system estimators are applied.

Findings

Empirical results show that high level of stock market volatility can translate into higher return on equity (ROE) and excess return on equity (EROE). Rather than leading to improved profitability, the labour productivity has a negative impact on economic value added (EVA). Ownership does not have any effect on the profitability of Chinese banking industry. The bank profitability in terms of ROE and EROE is lower in the banking industry with higher competition. When using the GMM with ROE‐COC and ROE, the paper finds that high taxation has a negative impact on both state‐owned and joint‐stock banks, while the capital level is negatively related to joint‐stock commercial banks. With regards to the other two performance indicators (EVA and NIM), the result suggests that higher cost efficiency and labour productivity improve the performance of both state‐owned and joint‐stock commercial banks. Large volume of non‐traditional activity is the explanation of poor performance of state‐owned commercial banks, while higher credit risk, lower taxation and the mature banking industry are helpful in improving the performance of joint‐stock commercial banks.

Research limitations/implications

Further research should examine other methods (e.g. the Rosse‐Panzar H statistic) to calculate the bank competition in China, and other determinants of bank performance in Asian countries and compare them with these results.

Social implications

The current study has relevant policy implications. First, in order to increase the profit earned from the traditional loan‐deposit services, the Chinese banks should make loans to the high risk projects or companies, and control the expenses including both the operating and personnel expenses. Furthermore, the government and bank regulatory authority should make policy such as inject capital to SOCBs and write‐off NPLs for them to reduce the degree of competition in order to make banks have better performance.

Originality/value

Particular emphasis is given on the investigation into the effects of stock market volatility, competition and ownership on bank performance in China while controlling for the most comprehensive bank‐specific, industry specific and macroeconomic variables.
The lattice structure configuration design for stereolithography investment casting pattern using topology optimization
Authors: Gu X.J. , Zhu J.H. , Zhang W.H.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, for the first time, the topology optimization method into the lattice structure configuration design for rapid casting patterns.

Design/methodology/approach

A structural topology optimization procedure in combination with thermo‐mechanical finite element analysis for the lattice structure configuration design has been developed.

Findings

A new mixed stress‐compliance optimization model is proposed for the strength and rigidity design. Numerical modeling about the mathematical formulation of the objective function and design constraints is established and an optimal material layout inside a given domain of the stereolithography (SL) resin pattern is found.

Originality/value

Various optimal results of lattice structure configurations are obtained numerically. By comparing the optimal designs with the existing lattice structure configurations, the newly obtained designs have shown better performances both in reducing the stress in the ceramic shell and in maintaining the stiffness of the SL pattern.
Rapid prototyping of porcelain products by layer‐wise slurry deposition (LSD) and direct laser sintering
Authors: Tian Xiaoyong , Li Dichen , Heinrich Juergen G.
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the rapid prototyping of porcelain products by using layer‐wise slurry deposition (LSD), in order to reduce the time to market of new or customized porcelain products or artworks.

Design/methodology/approach

The properties such as phase composition, microstructure, shrinkage, density, and mechanical strength, of laser sintered (LS) and biscuit fired (BF) samples, before and after post sintering in a furnace, were studied and compared with each other.

Findings

The laser sintered sample was comparable with the biscuit fired sample in porosity, but had just half the mechanical strength of the latter due to the layer‐wise fabrication process. The feasibility of rapid prototyping of porcelain products was validated by the successful fabrication of some porcelain samples, which showed that the relatively low mechanical strength of the laser sintered sample was still high enough for the following handling processes, such as surface glazing and glost firing.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the possibility of rapid prototyping of porcelain components and the models produced by using LSD process.