Does Slack Buffer? Market Performance after Environmental Shock

Slack is a resource held by a firm but exceeds its needs. It is crucial for a firm to raise more attention on slack when facing environmental shocks, which are one of the causes of unsustainability. Based on agency theory and behavioral theory, this paper analyzes the buffer effect of slack on market performance under different periods and degrees of environmental shocks. Taking two major earthquakes that occurred in China as the natural experimental background and the listed firms in hit areas as the sample, we find that environmental shock is exposed to acts as a positive contingency for the impact of unabsorbed slack on market performance, and as a negative contingency for absorbed slack’s effect. The severity of environmental shock promotes the unabsorbed slack to act as a buffer in the immediate post-shock period and absorbed slack in the during-shock period. These findings contribute to answering the question of how to configure slack to protect firms and even achieve sustainable development when facing environmental shock.

Board Composition, Insider Ownership and Firm Performance: Evidence from Post-Shock Period of Stock Prices in Bangladesh

Purpose: This study attempts to analyze the influence of board structure (board size, board independence, CEO duality, insider ownership) on performance of Bangladeshi listed nonfinancial firms during the post-shock period of stock prices. Methodology: Putting stress on the issue of controlling for any possible endogeneity problems prevails in the effects of structure of board on corporate performance this study employed the Durbin-Wu-Hausman test as the presence of endogeneity severely makes the OLS estimates biased. Therefore, satisfying endogeneity and overidentification tests the observed data have been analyzed by 2SLS as well as OLS regression models. In an attempt to choose the consistent coefficients between OLS and 2SLS a Hausman test was applied. Findings: Results of the study suggest that a board featuring more directors improve accounting measures of performance and a board having more independent directors also significantly assist firms to enhance their market measure of performance. CEO duality is found detrimental to the accounting measures of performance. Apart from, findings support that holding more ownership by insiders leads to enhance firm performance. Thus, it provides empirical evidence to support a view of agency theory that large board, board independence, and insider ownership are good incentives to the firm to monitor and supervise managerial activities and minimize agency problems. Practical Implication: Overall, findings of the study are posing some implications for academics, practitioners, and policy makers in advancing the existing knowledge domain and formulating governance policies in the context of emerging countries like Bangladesh. Originality: The driving force of this work was to investigate how effective the corporate governance directives/notifications in regard to board independence and insider ownership was in protecting the shareholders’ interest during the post-shock period of stock prices in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study provides a robust result with regard to the impacts of reformed corporate governance notification (CGN 2012) on firm performance in Bangladesh.

Granger Predictability of Oil Prices After the Great Recession

Real oil prices surged from 2009 through 2014, comparable to the 1970’s oil shock period. Standard explanations based on monopoly markup fall short since inflation remained low after 2009. This paper contributes strong evidence of Granger (1969) predictability of nominal factors to oil prices, using one adjustment to monetary aggregates. This adjustment is the subtraction from the monetary aggregates of the 2008-2009 Federal Reserve borrowing of reserves from other Central Banks (Swaps), made after US reserves turned negative. This adjustment is key in that Granger predictability from standard monetary aggregates is found only with the Swaps subtracted.

Procedure for specialized anesthesium-renamatological assistance in case of massive obstetric bleeding

The clinical protocol outlines the procedure for the provision of specialized anesthesia-resuscitation assistance in the case of massive obstetric hemorrhages, adopted in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation of the Ott. Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology. The protocol emphasizes that the provision of full-fledged assistance with massive obstetric hemorrhages and hemorrhagic shock (GSH) is possible only in conditions of deployed operating room. The recommendations on the implementation of infusion-transfusion therapy (ITT), including venous access and the composition of ITT, on the use of vasoactive therapy, the choice of the method of anesthesia and drugs for its conduct. Other pharmacotherapy with GSH is indicated, including the features of the application of uterotonic drugs. The tactics of respiratory support, as well as the volume of hardware and laboratory monitoring, are presented. Recommendations for the management of patients in the post-shock period are given. The effectiveness of this clinical protocol is confirmed by many years of practice of the department.

Are Dividend Yield and ROE Smart Portfolio Fundamentals? The Recent Case of Japan

This paper attempts to test whether dividend yield and ROE are important fundamentals for obtaining positive alpha by using a four factor asset pricing model. As a result, our investigations derive several interesting findings as follows. First, (1) we clarify that for the period from January 2009 to March 2013, our second highest and third highest dividend-yield portfolios deliver statistically significant positive alphas. Second, (2) we also reveal that for the period from January 2009 to March 2013, our second highest and third highest ROE portfolios yield statistically significant positive alphas. Overall, our empirical examinations demonstrate that after the Lehman shock period, dividend yield and ROE are the important fundamentals for constructing smart portfolios in Japan.