Ca Nguyen, Alejandro Pacheco and Randall Stone
This paper investigates the significant increase in S corporation banks converting to C corporations following the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the shift in motivations…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the significant increase in S corporation banks converting to C corporations following the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and the shift in motivations behind these conversions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses bank-level panel data from Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Call Reports to analyze the determinants of S bank conversions after the TCJA, comparing post-TCJA conversion trends with pre-TCJA trends utilizing an ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistics model.
Findings
The study finds that post-TCJA conversions are primarily driven by financially stable banks seeking improved tax conditions and relaxed shareholder restrictions as C corporations. This contrasts with pre-TCJA conversions, which were predominantly driven by financially distressed S corporation banks seeking new equity capital to maintain solvency.
Research limitations/implications
The findings necessitate a comprehensive reconsideration of the Subchapter S status' sustained relevance for smaller institutions, especially in light of the comparative benefits now offered by the C corporation status post-TCJA. The results underscore the importance of ongoing academic investigation to deepen the understanding of the evolving fiscal landscape's effects on community banks, thereby contributing to the knowledge of the resilience and health of the US economy.
Practical implications
This research nudges policymakers and regulators to contemplate the ongoing relevance and advantages of the S corporation status. Given the substantial benefits conferred by the C corporation status in the post-TCJA environment, this study suggests that retaining the S corporation status may not offer the same appeal for smaller community banks as it once did.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the broader understanding of the impact of tax policy on businesses' organizational choices, particularly in the banking industry and emphasizes the need for a comprehensive review of the S corporation status to assess its ongoing applicability in fostering small and community-focused financial institutions in light of the evolved corporate tax landscape.
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Ca Nguyen and Alejandro Pacheco
This study has two primary objectives. First, it analyzes the information content of confidentiality strictness in corporate loan credit agreements. Second, it examines how…
Abstract
Purpose
This study has two primary objectives. First, it analyzes the information content of confidentiality strictness in corporate loan credit agreements. Second, it examines how confidentiality strictness impacts covenant design, lending syndicate structure and loan pricing.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 6,327 loan credit agreements originated by US public firms in the period of 1996–2017, this study measures the confidentiality strictness in loan contracts using textual analyses that capture the appearance of confidentiality-related words and the length of confidentiality provision. All regressions include relevant loan characteristics, firm-specific accounting variables, industry and year fixed effects. To address the endogeneity concern, the paper uses borrowing firms' rival cash holdings and R&D expenditures to instrument for confidentiality strictness in two-staged least square regressions.
Findings
Borrowers which have higher R&D and operate in more competitive product markets have tighter confidentiality policies. Furthermore, this study reveals that confidentiality strictness is negatively associated with the imposition of financial covenants, especially performance covenants. Loan contracts for borrowers with stricter confidentiality on average have more relaxed covenant intensity, measured by the number of covenants. The study also shows that stricter confidentiality attracts finance companies, which have strong expertise in product markets of their parent firms, into the lending syndicate. However, confidentiality-conscious borrowers with higher degree of information asymmetry are subject to higher loan spreads.
Originality/value
This study provides the first examination of confidentiality policies in loan contracts and supports the idea that loan provisions are not simply made of “boilerplate” language. The results suggest that, for confidentiality-sensitive borrowers, the greater exposure to product market competition helps control managerial slack and substitute monitoring from financial markets.
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Phuc Canh Nguyen, Christophe Schinckus, Felicia Hui Ling Chong, Binh Quang Nguyen and Duyen Le Thuy Tran
This study examines how tourism contributes to employment.
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines how tourism contributes to employment.
Design/methodology/approach
Using various econometric techniques for panel data, the study estimates the contribution of tourism to employment in a sample of 148 economies from 2002 to 2017. The analysis is also carried out for three sub-samples according to income levels.
Findings
This study has three significant contributions: Firstly, it shows that investment and consumption in the tourism sector have positive benefits for employment. Furthermore, the improvement of institutional quality boosts these positive gains. Secondly, there is a U-inverted relationship between the income level and total contributions of tourism to employment. The development of the tourism industry would therefore follow the pattern suggested by the Kuznets curve hypothesis. Thirdly, the positive effects of tourism investment and consumption in tourism are evidenced in all three sub-samples. In contrast, the effects of institutions seem to be weaker in higher-income economies (implying that there is a larger space for low-income economies to use institutional reform to boost the development and contribution of tourism in their economies). Finally, institutional quality appears to enhance the contribution of tourism to employment.
Originality/value
The study highlights the importance of the tourism industry in enhancing employment.
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Hugo Paquin, Ilana Bank, Meredith Young, Lily H.P. Nguyen, Rachel Fisher and Peter Nugus
Complex clinical situations, involving multiple medical specialists, create potential for tension or lack of clarity over leadership roles and may result in miscommunication…
Abstract
Purpose
Complex clinical situations, involving multiple medical specialists, create potential for tension or lack of clarity over leadership roles and may result in miscommunication, errors and poor patient outcomes. Even though copresence has been shown to overcome some differences among team members, the coordination literature provides little guidance on the relationship between coordination and leadership in highly specialized health settings. The purpose of this paper is to determine how different specialties involved in critical medical situations perceive the role of a leader and its contribution to effective crisis management, to better define leadership and improve interdisciplinary leadership and education.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study was conducted featuring purposively sampled, semi-structured interviews with 27 physicians, from three different specialties involved in crisis resource management in pediatric centers across Canada: Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Otolaryngology and Anesthesia. A total of three researchers independently organized participant responses into categories. The categories were further refined into conceptual themes through iterative negotiation among the researchers.
Findings
Relatively “structured” (predictable) cases were amenable to concrete distributed leadership – the performance by micro-teams of specialized tasks with relative independence from each other. In contrast, relatively “unstructured” (unpredictable) cases required higher-level coordinative leadership – the overall management of the context and allocations of priorities by a designated individual.
Originality/value
Crisis medicine relies on designated leadership over highly differentiated personnel and unpredictable events. This challenges the notion of organic coordination and upholds the validity of a concept of leadership for crisis medicine that is not reducible to simple coordination. The intersection of predictability of cases with types of leadership can be incorporated into medical simulation training to develop non-technical skills crisis management and adaptive leaderships skills.
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Jeeshan Mirza, Yany Grégoire, Chatura Ranaweera and Chau Minh Nguyen
The service failure and recovery (SFR) research field has reached its maturity stage and is now at a critical juncture. There are growing calls for fresh perspectives and…
Abstract
Purpose
The service failure and recovery (SFR) research field has reached its maturity stage and is now at a critical juncture. There are growing calls for fresh perspectives and innovative approaches in SFR research to ensure its continued relevance and growth. The purpose of this paper is to identify boundary-breaking opportunities in SFR research by fundamentally challenging some of the central assumptions of the field.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs a unique “review of reviews” methodology to synthesise findings from 19 prior SFR reviews, complemented by an in-depth analysis of 116 primary articles published in the past five years.
Findings
This paper makes several contributions. First, it identifies and critically evaluates the central underlying assumptions of SFR, highlighting their inherent limitations in light of emerging conceptual and substantive developments. Second, it offers alternative perspectives that reframe these assumptions and open up new avenues for research. Third, within each alternative perspective, we propose specific research ideas that can benefit from further exploration. To develop the ideas, we build on recent conflicts and negative events in the marketplace. Our review of reviews approach also enables us to track how frequently such ideas have been proposed in prior reviews. Finally, the paper briefly discusses some methodological considerations for conducting more impactful research.
Originality/value
This paper leverages insights from prior SFR literature reviews and recent research and steeps into real-world marketing issues to challenge the central assumptions of the field and recommend future research avenues.
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Cesar Teló, Pavel Trofimovich, Mary Grantham O'Brien, Thao-Nguyen Nina Le and Anamaria Bodea
High-stakes decision-makers, including human resource (HR) professionals, often exhibit accent biases against second language speakers in professional evaluations. We extend this…
Abstract
Purpose
High-stakes decision-makers, including human resource (HR) professionals, often exhibit accent biases against second language speakers in professional evaluations. We extend this work by investigating how HR students evaluate simulated job interview performances in English by first and second language speakers of English.
Design/methodology/approach
Eighty HR students from Calgary and Montreal evaluated the employability of first language (L1) Arabic, English, and Tagalog candidates applying for two positions (nurse, teacher) at four points in the interview (after reading the applicant’s resume, hearing their self-introduction, and listening to each of two responses to interview questions). Candidates’ responses additionally varied in the extent to which they meaningfully answered the interview questions.
Findings
Students from both cities provided similar evaluations, employability ratings were similar for both advertised positions, and high-quality responses elicited consistently high ratings while evaluations for low-quality responses declined over time. All speakers were evaluated similarly based on their resumes and self-introductions, regardless of their language background. However, evaluations diverged for interview responses, where L1 Arabic and Tagalog speakers were considered more employable than L1 English speakers. Importantly, students’ preference for L1 Arabic and Tagalog candidates over L1 English candidates was magnified when those candidates provided low-quality interview responses.
Originality/value
Results suggest that even in the absence of dedicated equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training focusing on language and accent bias, HR students may be aware of second language speakers’ potential disadvantages in the workplace, rewarding them in the current evaluations. Findings also highlight the potential influence of contextual factors on HR students’ decision-making.
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Phuc Canh Nguyen, Christophe Schinckus, Binh Quang Nguyen and Duyen Le Thuy Tran
This study investigates the effect of global and domestic uncertainty on the dynamics of portfolio investment in 21 economies (mostly advanced and larger emerging economies) from…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the effect of global and domestic uncertainty on the dynamics of portfolio investment in 21 economies (mostly advanced and larger emerging economies) from 2001–2016.
Design/methodology/approach
Specifically, the evolution of the net portfolio equity investment inflows (FPI net inflows) and the evolution of net portfolio investment (FPI net) are investigated in a context in which the degree and the volatility of domestic economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and world uncertainty index (WUI) varied. The authors provide an empirical analysis through the sequential (two-stage) estimation of linear panel data models for unbalanced panel data.
Findings
An increase in the degree and volatility of domestic EPU has a significant negative influence on FPI net inflows, while an increase in WUI has a significant positive one. Notably, a simultaneous increase in the domestic EPU and WUI enhances the net inflows of FPI, whereas a simultaneous increase in the volatility of these indicators reduces the net inflows of FPI. An increase in the degree and volatility of both domestic EPU and WUI have a significant positive effect on the net portfolio investment, implying that a significant net portfolio investment is going out of the country.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study encourage international investors to consider uncertainty indicators (and, more specifically, their variations) in their portfolio strategy to optimize their position on the international markets. The findings of this study invite policy-makers from large countries to reduce the perceived domestic uncertainty since this parameter can influence international investors' sensitivity and willingness to diversify their position out of the country.
Originality/value
The authors' approach focuses on the variations of uncertainty (existing literature mainly works with the indicators). While the results confirm the role played by large markets in international portfolio investment management, it nuances the changes in the portfolio management behaviors toward other markets when facing a changing uncertainty.
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One of the most challenging issues businesses face today is seeking ways toward gaining competitive advantage (CA). Although previous research considered several aspects in this…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the most challenging issues businesses face today is seeking ways toward gaining competitive advantage (CA). Although previous research considered several aspects in this regard, the literature has largely overlooked the process of gaining CA via knowledge-based marketing (KBM) capabilities. This paper aims to conceptualize KBM, to develop a new scale for KBM and to examine how to gain CA through KBM.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the related literature and building on the concept of KBM, this paper conducted a mixed-method approach. After reaching a pool of items using qualitative methods, this paper developed new scales and validated them. This paper developed the model by highlighting the antecedent role of KBM toward CA. In the quantitative phase, using data collected from both public/private and manufacturing/service firms, this paper classified the extracted items into five critical factors. Moreover, the relationship between KBM and CA was tested.
Findings
The results indicate that KBM construct consists of five critical capabilities, including market research, competitive intelligence, supply chain management, customer relationship management and new product development. Moreover, there is a positive and significant relationship between KBM and CA.
Originality/value
The traditional ways to achieve CA no longer work. Instead, success in the existing business context necessitates firms to seek CA through their knowledge capabilities. Previous research did not fully address KBM antecedents toward CA in a comprehensive model. By developing a new scale for KBM, this paper tested its relationship with CA, which has hitherto received scant attention in the field of knowledge and competition.
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Drawing on ethnographic field research on female sex workers and male clients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s global sex industry, this paper complicates our understanding of human…
Abstract
Drawing on ethnographic field research on female sex workers and male clients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s global sex industry, this paper complicates our understanding of human trafficking in two ways. First, introducing the term perverse humanitarianism, the paper extends work on carceral feminism by offering concrete examples of interagency commitments between NGOs and the police. Second, my ethnography reveals that women framed their relationships with male clients as mutually beneficial because the men provided them with alternate pathways to economic mobility outside of sex work. Drawing on the same tropes of victimhood employed by the NGOs, sex workers elicited sympathy from male clients that they leveraged into gifts of money. Using men’s charitable gifts, many women became small entrepreneurs who opened local businesses and empowered other sex workers far beyond what NGOs were able to provide.
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Phuong Anh Nguyen and Wenting Pan
To develop the case, the authors used secondary sources including company annual reports, industry reports, news articles, social media sites, academic journal articles and…
Abstract
Research methodology
To develop the case, the authors used secondary sources including company annual reports, industry reports, news articles, social media sites, academic journal articles and company websites. This case has been classroom tested with students in the MBA Program and Master of Science in Management and Technology Program, and with undergraduates in an operations management course.
Case overview/synopsis
Movado Group, which has been a fierce competitor in the luxury watch market, has been facing unprecedented challenges posed by consumers’ enthusiasm for smartwatches and by their love of shopping online. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified these problems and brought new setbacks. This case examines these challenges to the company’s current business model. It then explores opportunities that could transform Movado into an innovative, digitally oriented organization capable of reaching consumers in a dynamic market while combating intense competition from the smart wearable devices that threaten traditional watch companies. The case also discusses the importance of building a robust supply chain through the lens of Industry 4.0 to guard against future supply chain disruptions.
Complexity academic level
Instructors can use this case in operations and supply chain management classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The focus of the case aligns with discussions of supply chain management and Industry 4.0. In particular, the case uses supply chain innovation theory to investigate the implications of Industry 4.0 in the watch industry and dovetails into discussions of omni-channel experience and virtual reality in retail that integrate multiple points of contact to reach consumers efficiently.