Of all the measures that corporations use to gauge their performance, none is more accurate or use‐ful than economic value added, or EVA. Used to its fullest, EVA can help…
Abstract
Of all the measures that corporations use to gauge their performance, none is more accurate or use‐ful than economic value added, or EVA. Used to its fullest, EVA can help corporations achieve remarkable success. In fact, most of the companies using EVA as their framework for financial management and incentive compensation have substantially outperformed their competitors.
Ben Charters and Troy Heffernan
This paper addresses the current lack of solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption by Australian apartment dwellers by proposing a conceptual model that identifies and integrates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses the current lack of solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption by Australian apartment dwellers by proposing a conceptual model that identifies and integrates the factors influencing owners' attitudes towards PV adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual model, which this paper terms the apartment-based solar adoption (ASA) model, is developed by applying motivation–opportunity–ability (MOA) theory to relevant findings in property development, green energy and strata governance literature.
Findings
The ASA model demonstrates the process by which an apartment-owning consumer may progress from considering solar PV adoption to recommending the action to their strata property's Owners' Committee (OC). It incorporates three motivational drivers (pragmatic considerations, perceived values and perceived social norms), three conditional mediators (location accessibility, resource availability and decision-making conditions) and three requirements from the consumer (actual and perceived knowledge, the ability to participate in decision-making and social connections and status).
Research limitations/implications
This article contributes originality to research on two counts. Firstly, it provides a conceptual framework of specific relevance to issues concerning solar PV adoption, and secondly, it offers a systematic means for research into strata governance decision-making. Further research is required to develop the means with which to utilise the model prescriptively and measure longitudinal effects, such as ongoing trends in apartment owners' motivations. Further research is also recommended into how the ASA model may be utilised to identify generalisable consumer typologies among apartment owners.
Practical implications
The ASA model may assist building maintenance providers in developing and marketing solar PV services tailored to apartment residents' requirements and enhance strata managers' ability to inform and guide apartment owners. In turn, property developers would be able to review apartment-based solar projects, measure their increased value and decreased energy costs and incorporate this information when planning future developments.
Social implications
The ASA model may provide a template for apartment owners and owners' corporations considering solar PV for their property. Public policymakers could also refer to the model to incentivise apartment-based solar PV adoption, whether through designing local information campaigns, developing financial incentives or mitigating identified regulatory barriers. By facilitating solar PV adoption in Australian apartment housing, the model may ensure sustainable post-carbon energy consumption for Australia's housing stock and act as an example for high-density housing development internationally.
Originality/value
The ASA model addresses the many drivers and barriers known to affect solar PV adoption by apartment owners, presenting a framework on which to arrange these factors and outline their causal relationships. This framework may inform strata properties' future solar PV adoption initiatives by incorporating their specific physical characteristics, stakeholder dynamics and institutional structure. It also consolidates and provides generalisability to the concepts established in current literature.
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The current search for operational criteria and tests of firm performance is largely focused on the Economic Value Added (EVA) framework. While reasserting the essential soundness…
Abstract
The current search for operational criteria and tests of firm performance is largely focused on the Economic Value Added (EVA) framework. While reasserting the essential soundness of this approach the paper seeks to improve its application by proposing a version of EVA which anchors the opportunity cost of equity capital on market rather than book values. The case for this is argued on general grounds and the resulting model is convenient for examining the possible effects of the gearing factor. The practicability of the model is illustrated by applying the proposed ‘EVA’ formula to a mixed set of accounting and stock market data from a sample of UK companies.
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Elham Mahmoudi, Marcel Stepien and Markus König
A principle prerequisite for designing and constructing an underground structure is to estimate the subsurface's properties and obtain a realistic picture of stratigraphy…
Abstract
Purpose
A principle prerequisite for designing and constructing an underground structure is to estimate the subsurface's properties and obtain a realistic picture of stratigraphy. Obtaining direct measure of these values in any location of the built environment is not affordable. Therefore, any evaluation is afflicted with uncertainty, and we need to combine all available measurements, observations and previous knowledge to achieve an informed estimate and quantify the involved uncertainties. This study aims to enhance the geotechnical surveys based on a spatial estimation of subsoil to customised data structures and integrating the ground models into digital design environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study's objective is to enhance the geotechnical surveys based on a spatial estimation of subsoil to customised data structures and integrating the ground models into digital design environments. A ground model consisting of voxels is developed via Revit-Dynamo to represent spatial uncertainties employing the kriging interpolation method. The local arrangement of new surveys are evaluated to be optimised.
Findings
The visualisation model's computational performance is modified by using an octree structure. The results show that it adapts the structure to be modelled more efficiently. The proposed concept can identify the geological models' risky locations for further geological investigations and reveal an optimised experimental design. The modifications criteria are defined in global and local considerations.
Originality/value
It provides a transparent and repeatable approach to construct a spatial ground model for subsequent experimental or numerical analysis. In the first attempt, the ground model was discretised by a grid of voxels. In general, the required computing time primarily depends on the size of the voxels. This issue is addressed by implementing octree voxels to reduce the computational efforts. This applies especially to the cases that a higher resolution is required. The investigations using a synthetic soil model showed that the developed methodology fulfilled the kriging method's requirements. The effects of variogram parameters, such as the range and the covariance function, were investigated based on some parameter studies. Moreover, a synthetic model is used to demonstrate the optimal experimental design concept. Through the implementation, alternative locations for new boreholes are generated, and their uncertainties are quantified. The impact of the new borehole on the uncertainty measures are quantified based on local and global approaches. For further research to identify the geological models' risky spots, the development of this approach with additional criteria regarding the search neighbourhood and consideration of barriers and trends in real cases (by employing different interpolation methodologies) should be considered.
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This article aims to hypothesize a model of trust in both senses of the word – a model, as in something to emulate, and a model as in a structural framework that describes its…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to hypothesize a model of trust in both senses of the word – a model, as in something to emulate, and a model as in a structural framework that describes its components. Almost all business people agree that winning and keeping the trust of customers, investors, employees and other stakeholders is critical to business success. There is also broad agreement that trust in business and government has been in serious decline over the past few decades, as documented in a number of studies. Ironically, however, there is little agreement on the nature of trust. Researchers and strategists use the word loosely, without a common definition of its components and with no clear understanding of the process by which it is built, nurtured – and lost.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on syndicated research and the more than three-decades experience in public relations, the author suggests that trust has both rational and emotional components that arise from stakeholders’ perception of their own affinity with a brand, company or individual, as well as their judgments of its competencies and purpose. Stakeholder perceptions along these dimensions can be displayed within a three-dimensional matrix, which can explain a range of rational/emotional reactions ranging from simple disappointment and begrudging respect to complete distrust and unquestioned trust.
Findings
The model of trust is useful for analyzing a brand, company or individual’s present trust position. It will also enable strategists to design a thoughtful, balanced approach to maintaining or improving stakeholder trust. The model allows strategists to articulate a set of actions and behaviors that will build on strengths, fill voids and correct past errors.
Research limitations/implications
This is a theoretical hypothesis that still needs to be tested, but it appears to present a useful approach to considering issues of trust.
Originality/value
The new model builds on existing research to address an issue that has become even more critical to organizations and individuals in a world of instant communication and everyman publishing. Applying the model to business decision-making will protect firms from inadvertently losing stakeholder trust and enhance their ability to build even stronger stakeholder relationships.
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Abuzar M.A. Eljelly and Khalid S. Alghurair
This study examines the association between stock returns and wealth creation (as measured by Market Value Added, MVA) on the one hand, and various performance measures of joint…
Abstract
This study examines the association between stock returns and wealth creation (as measured by Market Value Added, MVA) on the one hand, and various performance measures of joint stock companies in Saudi Arabia. These measures include traditional accounting measures; Earning Per Share (EPS), Return on Equity (ROE), and Cash Flow (CF), as well as a relatively recent measure; the Economic Value Added (EVA). The study reveals strong links between various traditional accounting measures and show that those measures give similar indication of a company's overall performance. The results indicate that MVA and stock returns are associated with traditional accounting measures, but not with EVA. However, EPS is found to dominate other measures of performance with respect to its association with stock returns and MVA. The implications of this study are that investors in the Saudi market are most likely using simple traditional accounting performance measures in their valuing of companies, and hence more efforts should be directed to enforcing disclosure requirements for these measures.
Ben Charters, Matthew Daly and Troy Heffernan
This article discusses research addressing apartment owners’ reluctance to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) technology by focusing on factors directly relevant to strata property…
Abstract
Purpose
This article discusses research addressing apartment owners’ reluctance to adopt solar photovoltaic (PV) technology by focusing on factors directly relevant to strata property owners. The research utilised a motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA)-based conceptual model and market segmentation, identifying discrete segments within this population with regards to their attitudes to solar PV adoption and informing solar PV adoption interventions tailored to each.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilised a tailored survey distributed to strata property owners. To identify segments within the resulting 547-respondent sample, latent class analysis and k-means cluster analysis were performed.
Findings
Data analysis revealed three discrete segments within this sample: “Frustrated Advocates”, who are highly supportive of strata solar but are less likely to consider it feasible for their particular strata scheme and who might respond to an ongoing collaborative intervention; “Passive Supporters”, who are more confident that strata solar would be feasible for their scheme but less enthusiastic in their personal support; and “Older Avoiders”, who are indifferent to strata solar in principle, unwilling to support it in practice, and who might require a carrot-and-stick approach that recognises their actual motivations.
Research limitations/implications
The research does not test interventions targeting the identified segments. However, its findings can inform tailored interventions and subsequent case studies, and influence broader research into multi-stakeholder decision-making.
Practical implications
This article proposes intervention strategies based on the segments' identified characteristics, to encourage and support adoption of solar PV in existing strata properties.
Social implications
This article could help strata property owners and their tenants to access an important form of renewable energy.
Originality/value
Through the application of an MOA-based model, this article enhances extant literature by enabling the conceptualisation of the directly relevant factors facing strata property owners seeking to adopt solar PV, particularly the need for collective approval from diverse stakeholders, and demonstrates how a segmentation-based methodology can provide robust findings with regards to their resulting attitudes.
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Francesco Campanella, Armand Derhy and Francesco Gangi
This paper aims to demonstrate the existence of a relationship between the knowledge creation process and competitive advantage in the banking system. The framework of knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to demonstrate the existence of a relationship between the knowledge creation process and competitive advantage in the banking system. The framework of knowledge creation processes adopted in this research is the spiral of knowledge proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995). The concept of competitive advantage is limited to the measurement of economic value by adopting methods that compare the financial performance of the banks with related markets. The objective of this research is to answer the following research question: Which factors of the spiral of knowledge are relevant for increasing a bank’s economic value?
Design/methodology/approach
The sample used for this empirical research is composed of 960 banks operating in 24 countries. The sample was analyzed from 2012 to 2015 and includes 3,840 observations. Regarding the methodology, hypothesis demonstration was carried out using a panel analysis (generalized least squares regression) on a set of variables.
Findings
The results show that Nonaka and Takeushi’s spiral of knowledge has a positive influence on value creation in the banking system. However, not all factors of the four modalities of converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and vice versa have a positive influence on the economic value of banks. Therefore, by excluding factors that have a negative influence or are not significant, it is possible to formulate an empirical model that illustrates the relationship between the spiral of knowledge and the economic value of banks.
Originality/value
There is a lack of studies on the knowledge creation process in the banking system because most of the research is geographically limited, and empirical tests are performed on small samples. Second, generally, these studies are limited to the relationship between intellectual capital and bank performance measured by accounting ratios. However, intellectual capital is only one component of the broader concept of knowledge. This research uses a large and geographically diverse sample and studies the relationship between the spiral of knowledge and economic value, which is measured by various financial techniques.
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Franco Fiordelisi and Stefano Monferrà
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the creation of shareholder value (SHV) created by non‐depository financial institutions and, especially, by leasing and factoring (L&F…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the creation of shareholder value (SHV) created by non‐depository financial institutions and, especially, by leasing and factoring (L&F) companies.
Design/methodology/approach
The cost of capital of both L&F companies is estimated using an accounting procedure and, next, the economic value added (EVA) created by Italian L&F companies over the period 2002‐2004 is estimated.
Findings
L&F companies display high profitability and EVA levels over the period analysed: a very large part of leasing and factoring companies achieved a positive EVA and the lowest median level of EVA created is at least 11 per cent of capital invested in the company, while at least 50 per cent of leasing companies achieved a positive EVA and the lowest median level of EVA created is almost 2 per cent of capital invested in the company.
Research limitations/implications
Future research may try to investigate other markets. The paper's focus on Italy for data collection for L&F is problematic and data are collected from a unique data base.
Practical implications
SHV creation is the main strategic objective of L&F companies so the paper is of interest to both academics and practitioners.
Originality/value
This is the first study focusing on SHV creation by non‐depository financial institutions and, especially, L&F companies.