Henri Hussinki, Tatiana King, John Dumay and Erik Steinhöfel
In 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also discuss the intervening developments in scholarly research, standard setting and practice over the past 20+ years to outline the future challenges for research into accounting for intangibles.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a literature review to identify past developments and link the findings to current accounting standard-setting developments to inform our view of the future.
Findings
Current intangibles accounting practices are conservative and unlikely to change. Accounting standard setters are more interested in how companies report and disclose the value of intangibles rather than changing how they are determined. Standard setters are also interested in accounting for new forms of digital assets and reporting economic, social, governance and sustainability issues and how these link to financial outcomes. The IFRS has released complementary sustainability accounting standards for disclosing value creation in response to the latter. Therefore, the topic of intangibles stretches beyond merely how intangibles create value but how they are also part of a firm’s overall risk and value creation profile.
Practical implications
There is much room academically, practically, and from a social perspective to influence the future of accounting for intangibles. Accounting standard setters and alternative standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Union non-financial and sustainability reporting directives, are competing complementary initiatives.
Originality/value
Our results reveal a window of opportunity for accounting scholars to research and influence how intangibles and other non-financial and sustainability accounting will progress based on current developments.
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Kalupahana Manula Sandaruwan Senevirathne, Annette Quayle and Andrew West
This paper aims to provide a historical perspective on the beginnings of racial inequality by analysing the changing citizenship identity of migrant Indian Tamils in post-colonial…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a historical perspective on the beginnings of racial inequality by analysing the changing citizenship identity of migrant Indian Tamils in post-colonial Sri Lanka (1948–2003), and the role accounting plays in constructing them as stateless non-citizens.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a genealogy of the biopolitical governing of migrant Indian Tamils, drawing on government archives, census data and interviews with retired government officials.
Findings
This study shows how accounting plays a supplementary role in providing the state with an account of its population through practices of naming, counting and valuing. These practices also create Indian Tamil migrants as new objects of knowledge using their non-citizenship and racial identity. Government accounting of the everyday life (bios) of these non-citizens (births, deaths, education and wage rates) provided yearly evidence of the social and economic disparities between Sri Lankan citizens and the stateless Indian Tamils who lived predominantly on plantation estates.
Originality/value
This paper enhances our understanding of how current racial dynamics are linked to historical economic, social and political forces and shows the long-term consequences of racial inequality related to statelessness.
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My aim is to advance competitive dynamics scholarship by presenting and developing the notion of locus inflection episodes. Such episodes refer to situations featuring changes…
Abstract
Purpose
My aim is to advance competitive dynamics scholarship by presenting and developing the notion of locus inflection episodes. Such episodes refer to situations featuring changes that specifically generate shifts in the levels at which various actors aggregate as competitors.
Design/methodology/approach
I ground my theorizing in reanalyzes of two published studies, selected from management literature located beyond competitive dynamics scholarship. These two studies were originally not centered on locus inflection episodes, but the studies feature illustrative instances of such episodes.
Findings
My reanalyzes highlight two salient situations when the strategic repertoires of actions and responses deployed by competing firms create or dissolve various organizational forms that produce shifts in aggregation levels, thus generating locus inflection episodes. These situations include the creation as well as the dissolution of meta-organizations. Throughout the two situations, organizers of competition play an important role as actors that do not compete, but that nonetheless affect how competition unfolds by sparking inflection episodes.
Originality/value
Competitive dynamics scholars have primarily examined what firms do throughout the process of competition (i.e. its “how”). But they have largely disregarded that what firms do when deploying strategic repertoires may include the creation or dissolution of various organizational forms, and that this creation or dissolution can shift the aggregation levels at which competition unfolds. Such shifts are captured by the notion of locus inflection episodes, and competitive dynamics scholars could utilize it to approach the locus of competition (i.e. its “who” and “where”) as a changeable aspect throughout the process of competition.
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Margaret Fitzsimons, Teresa Hogan and Michael Thomas Hayden
Bootstrapping is a practitioner-based term adopted in entrepreneurship to describe the techniques employed in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to minimise the…
Abstract
Purpose
Bootstrapping is a practitioner-based term adopted in entrepreneurship to describe the techniques employed in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to minimise the need for external funding by securing resources at little or no cost and applying strategies to effectively use resources. Working capital management (WCM) is a term used in financial management to define a set of practices used to manage business resources, including cash management. This paper explores the overlap and divergence between these two disciplinary distinct concepts.
Design/methodology/approach
A dual methodology is employed. First, the usage of the two terms in prior literature is analysed and synthesised. Second, the study uses factor analysis to explore how bootstrapping practices described by owners of 167 established MSMEs relate to the components of WCM in financial management.
Findings
The factor analysis identifies two main bootstrapping practices employed by MSMEs: (1) delaying payments and owner-related bootstrapping and (2) customer-related bootstrapping. Delaying payments is an integral practice in trade payables management and customer-related bootstrapping includes practices that are integral to trade receivables management. Therefore, links between bootstrapping practices and WCM practices are firmly established.
Research limitations/implications
The study is not without limitations. Based on cross-sectional evidence for established firms in Ireland only, future studies could explore cross-country longitudinal panel data to fully examine life cycle and sectoral effects, as well as other external shocks (for example, COVID-19) on bootstrapping and WCM practices. This study does not explain why some factors (for example, joint utilisation and inventory management) are present in some bootstrapping studies and not in others; further case study research might help explain this. Finally, changes in the business environment facing start-ups and established enterprise, including increased digitalisation, online trading, self-employment, remote hub working and sustainability, offer new avenues for bootstrapping research.
Originality/value
This is the first study to comprehensively explore the conceptual and empirical links between bootstrapping and WCM. This study will enable researchers and practitioners in these two distinct disciplines to learn from each other. Accounting researchers and practitioners can broaden their understanding of how WCM “works” in MSME settings. Similarly, entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners can deepen their understanding of how bootstrapping can be adopted by businesses to manage resources effectively.
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Neelam Rani, Muhammad Zafar Yaqub, Nidhi Singh and Pierpaolo Magliocca
The purpose of this paper is to review how knowledge transfer, including knowledge integration, absorptive capacity and reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) in cross-border…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review how knowledge transfer, including knowledge integration, absorptive capacity and reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) in cross-border acquisitions, is examined in existing research work. The authors also propose directions to advance research in cross-border acquisitions.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review is conducted, and related propositions are advanced based on scientometric and bibliometric analysis of 146 papers published over 10 years about tacit knowledge transfer, innovation activities, industrial policy effect on merger decisions, top management experience and value creation in cross-border acquisition. First, the authors searched major themes with the help of Scopus, and later, the authors analysed all received literature with the help of VOS Viewer.
Findings
This review facilitates us to identify six clusters and main author keywords. These six clusters are the underlying six research streams, including RKT, cultural distances, value creation, absorptive capacity, innovation and reference to India and China.
Originality/value
Despite knowledge transfer constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the success of cross-border acquisitions, knowledge management in the acquired company through proper knowledge transfer and knowledge integration is not given enough attention. Current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically manage knowledge post-acquisition. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyse the dynamics of knowledge transfer in cross-border acquisitions. The study is a novel attempt to relate current research themes to emerging areas of cross-border acquisitions.
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Thomas M. Hickman and Michael Stoica
The purpose of this study is to determine if regional proximity and fan club involvement could be used to predict success for brands that jointly sponsor a team and their key…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine if regional proximity and fan club involvement could be used to predict success for brands that jointly sponsor a team and their key rival.
Design/methodology/approach
A brand with regional proximity to the rival teams it sponsored was identified. Fan club members of a major college sports team served as respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model that predicted antecedents to purchase intentions and positive word-of-mouth based on individual fan characteristics.
Findings
Results suggest that the intrinsic and social components of fanship as well as regional proximity facilitate the success of brands jointly sponsoring rivals. The intrinsic dimension of fandom foreshadowed approval of the joint sponsorship investigated but did not directly enhance the sponsor’s brand equity. Instead, it was demonstrated that fans must first approve of the joint sponsorship arrangement before conferring elevated brand equity onto the sponsor. Increased social interaction with the fan club resulted in higher levels of purchase intentions and positive word-of-mouth of the joint sponsor.
Originality/value
This study differs from prior studies investigating joint sponsors in four ways. First, the intrinsic and social dimensions of fanship were measured within the context of a fan community. Second, the context of the study included a sponsor with regional proximity to both rival teams. Third, it was determined that the proclivity for social interaction within a fan community enhances the positive outcomes for joint sponsors. Fourth, unlike previous research studying joint sponsors, this study demonstrates a path to success for these brands.
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Zhenkuo Ding, Zhipeng Chen and Sheng Huang
This paper aims to examine the impact of top executives’ military experience on the internationalisation process of firms, as well as the boundary conditions of this impact.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of top executives’ military experience on the internationalisation process of firms, as well as the boundary conditions of this impact.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses are tested using 8,759 imbalanced panel samples in 1,718 China’s A-share listed firms.
Findings
The findings show that the military experience of top executives has a positive impact on the internationalisation process (scope, speed and rhythm) of firms. The managerial discretion strengthens the influence of top executives’ military experience on the internationalisation scope and speed but weakens its influence on the internationalisation rhythm.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by testing the relationships that among military experience of top executives, firm internationalisation process and managerial discretion. The authors also help practitioners to become aware of the importance that the military experience of top executives have on firm internationalisation process, and managerial discretion can exert contingent influence on this relationship.
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Edmundo Inacio Junior, Eduardo Avancci Dionisio and Fernando Antonio Padro Gimenez
This study aims to identify necessary conditions for innovative entrepreneurship in cities and determine similarities in entrepreneurial configurations among them.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify necessary conditions for innovative entrepreneurship in cities and determine similarities in entrepreneurial configurations among them.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors assessed the necessary conditions for various levels of entrepreneurial output and categorized cities based on similar patterns by applying necessary condition analysis (NCA) and cluster analysis in a sample comprised of 101 cities from the entrepreneurial cities index, representing a diverse range of urban environments in Brazil. A comprehensive data set, including both traditional indicators from official Bureau of statistics and nontraditional indicators from new platforms of science, technology and innovation intelligence, was compiled for analysis.
Findings
Bureaucratic complexity, urban conditions, transport infrastructure, economic development, access to financial capital, secondary education, entrepreneurial intention, support organizations and innovation inputs were identified as necessary for innovative entrepreneurship. Varying levels of these conditions were found to be required for different entrepreneurial outputs.
Research limitations/implications
The static nature of the data limits understanding of dynamic interactions among dimensions and their impact on entrepreneurial city performance.
Practical implications
Policymakers can use the findings to craft tailored support policies, leveraging the relationship between city-level taxonomy and direct outputs of innovative entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs).
Social implications
The taxonomy and nontraditional indicators sheds light on the broader societal benefits of vibrant EEs, emphasizing their role in driving socioeconomic development.
Originality/value
The cluster analysis combined with NCA’s bottleneck analysis is an original endeavor which made it possible to identify performance benchmarks for Brazilian cities, according to common characteristics, as well as the required levels of each condition by each city group to achieve innovative entrepreneurial outputs.
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Steffen Eriksen and Colin Moll
Prior research suggests that members of a gaming community might have a higher risk for depression. This paper aims to investigate the effect of self-stigma on self-reported…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research suggests that members of a gaming community might have a higher risk for depression. This paper aims to investigate the effect of self-stigma on self-reported depression and its link with rumination in the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) community. The purpose is to assess the mental health in this community, raising awareness about mental health issues in under-researched, sub-nerd cultures.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of N = 733 Pokémon TCG players took part in an online survey in September 2021. The survey collected socio-economic and game-related data, along with responses to the Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire. A list experiment was conducted to disentangle social desirability bias when self-reporting a depression diagnosis.
Findings
The results show that members of the Pokémon TCG community underreport if they have received a diagnosis of depression by 4.6% points (z = 2.018, p < 0.05). This underreporting further increases to 7.2% points (z = 2.559, p < 0.01) when considering the sub-sample of respondents who ruminate more. Intersecting those who ruminate more with the respondents residing in North America, more than quadruples the initial underreporting to 20.6% points (z = 5.345, p < 0.01).
Research limitations/implications
This study relies on self-reported depression, rather than using a standardized questionnaire. Further research should determine if rumination and depression in the Pokémon TCG community predate or result from participation.
Originality/value
This study offers a unique insight into a never before studied community. The findings raise awareness about depression, potentially reducing self-stigma that is preventing individuals from accessing mental health care.