Does location in a science park really matter for firms’ intellectual capital performance?

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Schiavone ◽  
Antonio Meles ◽  
Vincenzo Verdoliva ◽  
Manlio Del Giudice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of being located in a science park (SP) on the level of a firm's intellectual capital (IC) performance. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 183 Italian firms (i.e. 61 tenant and 122 non-tenant firms), and through the GLS technique, the authors regress the firms’ IC performance across various explicative variables including a dummy that discriminates tenant and non-tenant firms. Findings – Consistently with expectations, the results show that the location of a firm in a SP leads to improved IC performance. Moreover, the authors find that some other firm characteristics, such as size, age, and leverage, are important predictors of its IC-based performance. Research limitations/implications – The sample is small and the impact on performance might be biased by factors related to the regional context (e.g. level of industrialization, quality of education, and science system). Practical implications – Implications for policy makers: support the growth of firms in SPs especially in those industries full of firms with scarce performance in IC. Implications for SP managers: they could “sell” (in terms of marketing) to both entrepreneurs to attract and policy makers this result. Implications for institutional investors: they should look at SPs with greater interest to find high-quality firms and improve their screening activity. Originality/value – This paper aims to extend literature about factors explaining the level of a firm's IC performance and the current understanding of the impact of SPs at firm level.

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 494-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardjo Koerniadi ◽  
Chandrasekhar Krishnamurti ◽  
Alireza Tourani-Rad

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of firm-level corporate governance practices on the riskiness of a firm's stock returns. Design/methodology/approach – The authors constructed an index of governance quality incorporating best practices stipulated by regulators. The authors employed regression analysis. Findings – The empirical evidence, using an index of corporate governance, shows that well-governed New Zealand firms experience lower levels of risk, ceteris paribus. In particular, the results indicate that corporate governance aspects such as board composition, shareholder rights, and disclosure practices are associated with lower levels of risk. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of the study is that the corporate governance index constructed is somewhat arbitrary and due to limitation of data availability the authors may have excluded some factors such as share trading policy of directors and policies regarding provision of non-auditing services by auditors. The research supports the view that institutional context could have an impact on governance outcomes. The work has three implications for managers, investors, and policy makers. First, the results imply that well-governed firms have lower idiosyncratic risk and that this reduction is most likely due to the reduction in agency costs and information risk. Second, in the absence of features like an active corporate control market and stock option based managerial compensation, managers have little incentives to take on risky projects that increase firm value. Third, the results suggest that the managers of well-governed firms are not more risk averse with respect to investment decisions compared to poorly governed firms. Practical implications – The work has practical implications for managers, investors, and policy makers. Well-governed firms face lower variability in stock returns compared to poorly governed firms. Firms that have independent boards that protect its shareholders’ rights and disclose its governance-related policies experience lower firm-level risk, other things being equal. Originality/value – This study is the first one to examine the impact of a composite measure of corporate governance quality on stock return variability in a non-US setting. The results suggest that firms can use specific corporate governance provisions to mitigate firm-level risk. The findings of the paper are therefore relevant and useful to corporate managers, investors, and policy makers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Fatouh ◽  
Ayowande A. McCunn

Purpose This paper aims to present a model of shareholders’ willingness to exert effort to reduce the likelihood of bank distress and the implications of the presence of contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds in the liabilities structure of a bank. Design/methodology/approach This study presents a basic model about the moral hazard surrounding shareholders willingness to exert effort that increases the likelihood of a bank’s success. This study uses a one-shot game and so do not capture the effects of repeated interactions. Findings Consistent with the existing literature, this study shows that the direction of the wealth transfer at the conversion of CoCo bonds determines their impact on shareholder risk-taking incentives. This study also finds that “anytime” CoCos (CoCo bonds trigger-able anytime at the discretion of managers) have a minor advantage over regular CoCo bonds, and that quality of capital requirements can reduce the risk-taking incentives of shareholders. Practical implications This study argues that shareholders can also use manager-specific CoCo bonds to reduce the riskiness of the bank activities. The issuance of such bonds can increase the resilience of individual banks and the whole banking system. Regulators can use restrictions on conversion rates and/or requirements on the quality of capital to address the impact of CoCo bonds issuance on risk-taking incentives. Originality/value To model the risk-taking incentives, authors generally modify the asset processes to introduce components that reflect asymmetric information between CoCo holders and shareholders and/or managers. This paper follows a simpler method similar to that of Holmström and Tirole (1998).


2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dragan Tešanovic ◽  
Milovan Krasavcic ◽  
Bojana Miro Kalenjuk ◽  
Milijanko Portic ◽  
Snježana Gagic

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to determine the sensory quality of food in restaurants by professional food evaluators and to research the impact of education, age and number of employees on the quality of food. Design/methodology/approach – In the first phase five trained food tasters evaluated the sensory quality of food. In the second phase, the analysis of the structure of employees was done by establishing their level of education, age and number of employees. In the third phase the regression and correlation analysis was done with the aim to establish the impact of the level of education, age and number of employees on the sensory quality of food. Findings – The sensory evaluation has shown that the evaluated food is of moderate quality. Correlation matrix has shown that the education level of employees has a high impact on the sensory quality of food. There is a correlation between the number of employees, their age and their education. Practical implications – Obtained results are the indicators of the quality of food in restaurants in the region and they can serve for the improvement of quality. They have shown that education and staff training can contribute to a better quality of food. Established methodology can also contribute to the practical evaluation of quality. Originality/value – This paper is reflected on the specific application of methodology of the sensory analysis of food in restaurants. The paper pointed to the impact of employees on the sensory quality of food by statistical methods. Statistical results which point to the great impact of the level of education of employees on the sensory quality of food in restaurants are particularly valuable.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Ginesti ◽  
Rosanna Spanò ◽  
Luca Ferri ◽  
Adele Caldarelli

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether the characteristics of the chief financial officer (CFO) have an impact on the intensity of the corporate research and development (R&D) investment.Design/methodology/approachBased on hand-collected data for the CFOs of a sample of the largest European listed companies for the period 2013–2016, this study uses regression analyses to test empirically the association of CFO education, CFO gender and CFO age with R&D investment intensity.FindingsThe presence of female CFOs, CFOs with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree and older CFOs is positively associated with the intensity of R&D investment.Research limitations/implicationsThis study relies on some observable characteristics of CFOs and focuses on large listed companies.Practical implicationsThe results of this study may help investors, stakeholders and practitioners to understand better which type of CFO characteristics are more likely to result in higher firm-level R&D investment intensity.Originality/valueThis study offers the first insights into the impact of CFOs, as the most prominent C-suite executives, on the level of corporate investments in R&D activity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Atsu ◽  
Charles Agyei ◽  
William Phanuel Darbi ◽  
Sussana Adjei-Mensah

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the long-run impact of telecommunications revenue and telecommunications investment on economic growth of Ghana for the time horizon 1976-2007. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the Augmented Dickey Fuller and Phillips Perron unit root test to explore the stationarity property of the variables and the Engle-Granger residual-based test of cointegration to model an appropriate restricted error correction model. Findings – The outcome of the analysis produced mixed results. Telecommunications revenue does not contribute significantly whilst telecommunications investment does. Practical implications – Policy makers will have to deal with a conundrum; while designing targeted policies that will attract more telecommunication investment in order to maximize the corresponding revenues and the economic growth it brings in its wake, they must at the same time find ways and resources to grow the economy to a point or threshold where revenue from telecommunications can have the much needed impact on their economies. Originality/value – The study is one of the first that has investigated the line of causality between telecommunication revenue and economic growth unlike previous research that mainly focused on the impact of telecommunication infrastructure on economic development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 1521-1547
Author(s):  
John S. Howe ◽  
Thibaut G. Morillon

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the consequences of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on information asymmetry in the banking sector. Specifically, the authors look at whether specific firm or deal characteristic influence information asymmetry levels between insiders and investors, as well as the impact of recent regulation such as the Dodd–Frank Act.Design/methodology/approachThe authors decompose the M&A process into three periods (pre-announcement, negotiation and post-completion period) and document changes in the information asymmetry levels between insiders and investors through the M&A process. The authors capture changes in information asymmetry using six different spread-based information asymmetry measures.FindingsThe authors find evidence that information asymmetry increases following M&A announcement and decreases following deal completion. These findings are more pronounced for acquisitions involving a private target, all-cash deals and for mergers, as opposed to acquisition of assets. We find that overall, successful mergers improve the quality of the information environment, while failed deals degrade it. Additionally, the enactment of Dodd–Frank reduced the magnitude of the changes in information asymmetry during the M&A process. The results are important to regulators, policy makers and investors.Originality/valueTo authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that looks at the effect of bank M&As on information asymmetry as well as the effect of regulations on information asymmetry.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisca Castilla-Polo ◽  
María Del Consuelo Ruiz-Rodríguez

PurposeThe purpose of this research objective was to analyse social reporting within MERCO Business companies both from the point of view of the quantity of information disclosed and the references about their quality. This approach constitutes a novelty with respect to previous literature on the subject.Design/methodology/approachThis paper assesses how social reporting is being carried out by the companies included in the MERCO Corporate Reputation Business Monitor, MERCO Business, during the period 2014–2016. The methodological design include the construction of a weighted index based on two unweighted indexes related to the quantity revealed and the quality detected. In addition, this study integrates intellectual capital and social responsibility approaches in order to deep into these voluntary disclosures.FindingsWhile social reporting is considerable from a quantitative point of view within MERCO Business companies, they do not reach very high levels of quality, which is good to counteract the final value of the quantity–quality index that the authors' propose.Research limitations/implicationsIn MERCO Business companies, quantity is not a proxy for quality within social reporting. In this sense, only considering both dimensions it will be possible to assess these disclosures in a more complete way.Practical implicationsThis study allows a more accurate and comparable view of social reporting than those studies that only focus on how much information is disclosed. Besides, it involves an important advance in the identification of the relative quality of social reporting, opening a new line of research that will be key to comparing this type of disclosures in a more homogeneous way. Likewise, the results can be applied in future studies in the intellectual capital field given the complementarity between both types of disclosures.Social implicationsLikewise, these results will be of interest for future actions aimed at regulating the improvement of the quality of social reporting in the hands of managers, investors and regulators.Originality/valueThe authors have tested the value of quality in social reporting using a weighted index amongst the most reputable companies in the Spanish scenario. These disclosures have been compared with and without the use of it in order to deduce its value to obtain valid conclusions about social reporting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-364
Author(s):  
Mahfoudh Hussein Mgammal

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of corporate tax planning (TP) on tax disclosure (TD). Using tax expenses data set, with the detailed effective tax rate (ETR) by reconciling individual items of income and expenses. Design/methodology/approach A firm-level panel data set is used to analyse 286 non-financial listed companies on Bursa Malaysia that spans the period 2010-2012. Multivariate statistical analyses were run on the sample data. The empirical understanding of TD depends on public sources of data in the financial statement, characterized in the aggregated note of tax expenses. Fitting with Malaysian environment, the authors measured TD using modified ETR reconciling items. Findings Results show that TP, exhibit a robust positive influence on TD. This suggests that TP is related to lower corporate TD. In addition, companies with high TP attempt to mitigate the disclosure problem by increasing various TD. The authors further find significant positive impact between each of firm size and industry dummy, on TD. This means that company-specific characteristics are significant factors affecting corporate TD. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the literature on the effect of TP on TD. It depends on both the signalling theory and the Scholes–Wolfson framework, which are the main theories concerned with TP and TD. Therefore, from a theoretical side, the authors add to the current theories by verifying that users are the party influenced whether positively or negatively, by the extent of TD or the extent of TP activities through Malaysian organizations. Practical implications The evidence found in this paper has important policy and practical implications for the authorities, researchers, decision makers and company managers. The findings can provide them some relevant insights on the importance of TP actions from companies’ perspective and contribute to the discussion of who verifies and deduces from TD directed by companies. Originality/value This paper originality is regarded as the first attempt to examine the impact of TP on TD in a developing country such as Malaysia. Malaysian setting is an interesting one to examine because Malaysia could be similar to other countries in Southeast Asia. Results contribute significant insights to the discussion about TD regarding, which parties are responsible for the verification of TD by firms, and which parties benefit from this disclosure. Findings suggest that companies face a trade-off between tax benefits and TD when selecting the type of their TP.


2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Hanley ◽  
David Marsland

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance and nature of relationships of trust in care settings. The paper addresses the central question of what is it about these kinds of relationships that is associated with harm and abuse? Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a discursive approach, based, implicitly, on an ecological framework of analysis. Findings – The conclusion is that the relationships between staff and service users in residential care settings are characterised by non-mutual dependency, isolation and unequal decision-making powers. Therefore such relationships deserve special focus and attention in order to safeguard and protect the people concerned. Practical implications – The paper implies that practitioners and policy makers should find ways to ensure that they listen more closely to people living in residential settings. Practitioners should ask more about the quality of relationships that people enjoy with the staff that support them. Originality/value – The paper suggests that in order to safeguard people more effectively, practitioners and policy makers should reconsider the central focus of their energies and revisit issues such as isolation, in the lives of disabled and older people living in residential care.


2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqian Han ◽  
Dayuan Li

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relationship between intellectual capital and innovative performance, and to specify the boundary conditions and mechanisms of the relationship from a knowledge-based dynamic capability perspective. Design/methodology/approach – This study empirically analyzes the impact of intellectual capital on innovative performance and the role knowledge-based dynamic capability plays with a sample of 217 firms in China. To test the research hypotheses, regression analysis is applied. Findings – The results show that intellectual capital positively affects innovative performance, and knowledge-based dynamic capability is a mediator rather than a moderator which partly mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and innovative performance. Practical implications – The findings suggest that realizing superior innovative performance is dependent on a firm’s intellectual capital and its ability to sense opportunities and threats, to make timely and correct decisions, and to facilitate necessary changes efficiently. Originality/value – This study is the first to clarify whether knowledge-based dynamic capability plays a moderating role or a mediating role between intellectual capital and innovative performance. The present study thus helps move forward the understanding on the conditions and mechanisms of the effects of intellectual capital.


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