Liability of Middleness Revisited: The Advantages for Mid-Sized Competitors in Renewable Natural Resource Industries

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Cruz ◽  
Tomas Reyes ◽  
Roberto Vassolo
Keyword(s):  
Product Differentiation ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Product Line ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Market Selection ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Line Scale ◽  
The Us ◽  
Renewable Natural Resource ◽  
Curvilinear Effect

ABSTRACTSize is an important antecedent of firm survival, and several studies theoretically sustain and empirically support a ‘liability of middleness’. Indeed, it is widely believed that companies should act strategically to either become large or remain small and occupy a niche position, because mid-sized firms face the strongest market selection pressures. This study challenges that logic in renewable natural resource industries. Measuring size as product-line scale and firm-level portfolio breadth, we argue that in industries characterized by cost competition, the lack of product differentiation, large capital investments, and sharp price oscillation, scale and breadth have a curvilinear effect on survival that favors mid-sized firms rather than penalizing them. An empirical analysis of the US pulp and paper (P&P) industry over the period 1970–2000 strongly supports our arguments. This study is particularly relevant for emerging economies, in which natural resource industries represent an important portion of the total economic activity.

The effect of engagement partner workload on audit quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 1068-1091
Author(s):  
Yun Cheng ◽  
Christine M. Haynes ◽  
Michael D. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
The Us ◽  
Performance Benchmarks ◽  
Partner Characteristics ◽  
Partner Firm ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Auditing studies have shifted the research focus from the audit firm level to the individual audit partner level in recent years. Motivated by the call from Lennox and Wu (2018) to explore the effect of audit partners’ characteristics on audit quality in the US, this study aims to develop a new measure of engagement partner workload (EPW), which includes both the size and number of clients audited to test the effect of EPW on audit quality. This study also examines the moderating effect of the partner firm size on audit quality. Design/methodology/approach To test the effect of the EPW on audit quality, this study runs multivariate regressions of EPW on each specific client’s discretionary accruals and audit report delays. This study also runs a logistic regression of EPW on clients’ probability of having small profit increases to meet performance benchmarks. Findings Results of the hypotheses show that partner workload is positively related to audit quality. The results indicate that partners with larger, but fewer, clients conduct higher quality audits. Further analysis indicates that the relationship between partner workload and audit quality only holds for partners from the non-Big 4 firms. Originality/value This study contributes to the literatures of both audit quality and audit partner characteristics, and the results complement initial research aimed at identifying US partner-related characteristics that influence audit quality.

Do generous trade credit terms provide a competitive edge?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmytro Osiichuk ◽  
Paweł Wnuczak
Keyword(s):  
Product Differentiation ◽  
Trade Credit ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Growth Enhancement ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Supplier Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Segmented Markets ◽  
Industry Competition ◽  
Dynamic Panel Regression

PurposeThe authors document a persistent negative link between contemporaneous trade credit provision and subsequent firm-level operating performance.Design/methodology/approachTextual analysis of firms' profile descriptions is used to study the role of market segmentation and product differentiation in intermediating the nexus between trade credit and corporate performance. The paper relies on dynamic panel regression modeling to investigate the postulated empirical relationships. This approach allows to address endogeneity issues and to test a number of different model specifications.FindingsDespite fueling short-term sales growth, the more generous trade credit terms are found to be associated with lower post hoc margins and declining overall business profitability. The market share is not affected by firms' proclivity to provide trade credit suggesting that the latter may not be effectively used as a long-term growth enhancement strategy. Firms' similarity to their competitors is found to play a salient role in altering the magnitude of the discovered negative relationship.Originality/valueThe authors find that the intensity of intra-industry competition measured by firms' similarity to their competitors magnifies the discovered negative trade credit-performance nexus. Therefore, generous trade credit may play a more important role in solidifying client–supplier relationships on the more segmented markets with a higher degree of product differentiation.

Effects of Soil Contamination on the Selection of Remediation Method

2015 ◽  
pp. 200-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivica Kisić
Keyword(s):  
Soil Contamination ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Contaminated Soil ◽  
Natural Activity ◽  
Harmful Substances ◽  
The Many ◽  
Renewable Natural Resource ◽  
Selection Of

Soil is a thin (up to 50cm) loose top layer of the Earth's surface, located between the lithosphere and atmosphere. Total available land area on Earth is limited, and the soil is extremely important, and in one generation it is a non-renewable natural resource. Unfortunately, nowadays the soil is, next to water, one of the most endangered natural resources. Among the many processes of soil damage, which is not being addressed at this point, is the growing importance placed on soil contamination. Contaminated soil is the soil in which human or natural activity has increased the content of harmful substances whose concentrations may be harmful to human activity, that is, for the production of plants or animals.

scholarly journals Subsidy Determination, Benchmarks, and Adverse Inferences: Assessing ‘Benefit' in US–Coated Paper (Indonesia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-231
Author(s):  
Eugene Beaulieu ◽  
Denise Prévost
Keyword(s):  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Government Ownership ◽  
Coated Paper ◽  
The Us ◽  
Countervailing Duties ◽  
Key Aspects

AbstractThis paper presents a legal-economic analysis of key aspects of the WTO Panel Report involving a challenge by Indonesia against the anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by the US on certain coated paper from Indonesia. We focus on the findings in this case relevant to the determination of a ‘benefit’ to the recipient, a core requirement to establish the existence and extent of a subsidy. We examine benchmarking for determining benefit in cases of predominant government ownership of a natural resource and the use of ‘adverse facts available’ against a non-cooperative respondent to infer the existence of a benefit. The benefit analysis in this case may have broader implications. First, it may limit the scope for governments to determine their own policies regarding the ownership and management of natural resources. Second, it may create a loophole allowing investigating authorities to fill gaps in the factual record by intentionally using the ‘facts available’ to the disadvantage of a respondent. In both cases, the panel's findings may open the door to potential misuse of these flexibilities to find a benefit where none exists, or to inflate the margin of benefit to allow for higher countervailing duties.

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