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The main objective of this paper is to analyze the influence of multiple directorships, as a critical component of board social capital, on CSR reporting. This study also explores the moderating effect of certain board attributes on multiple directorships.

The authors’ sample is composed of Spanish listed firms in the Madrid Stock Exchange for the period 2011–2017. A dynamic panel data model based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMMs) is employed.

Relying on a resource dependence view, the authors’ results highlight an ambiguously positive association between multiple directorships and the level of CSR reporting. In particular, this relationship is positively moderated by both board size and gender diversity.

These findings contribute to academic debates concerning the value of board members intellectual capital. In particular, the authors emphasize the importance of board social capital, as well as the need to consider the context in which directors make decisions.

This evidence may prove helpful to firms when configuring the board of directors, and for regulators and professionals when refining their legislations and recommendations.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that empirically analyzes the impact of an important element of board social capital, such as multiple directorships, on CSR reporting, which has become crucial in financial markets.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the accounting expertise of audit committee members is associated with the disclosure of forward-looking information.

Manual content analysis is used to analyze forward-looking information disclosed in annual reports as well as gather data about the accounting expertise of directors. Regression analysis is performed to study the association between the disclosure variables and the accounting expertise of audit committee members.

The results show that the accounting expertise of audit committee members is associated with forward-looking disclosure practices, particularly with information of a financial and strategic nature.

The evidence has direct implications for companies in the selection of directors, as stakeholders may demand nomination committees to appoint audit committees with the accounting experts. They may also request regulatory actions regarding the structure of the audit committee, as these add to the evidence on the benefits of selecting such experts.

The evidence on the role of accounting expertise could also help the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to narrow the definition of financial expertise to specifically consider accounting expertise, as is already happening in the EU context.

This paper extends prior research on corporate governance and voluntary disclosure by showing the association between the company having at least one accounting expert in the audit committee and the level of disclosure of value-relevant information.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the characteristics and the determinants of board structure in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the process of going public within the continental European corporate system.

These issues are explored through the study of all the initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Spanish equity market for growing SMEs, and the statistical methodologies of ordinary least squares regression and stepwise regression are applied.

The results show that board size is larger than the minimum level established in law and that boards are composed of a majority of non-executive directors. In addition, the determinants of firm characteristics of board structure are firm age, level of financial leverage, and ownership structure.

This research is significant since its findings should help entrepreneurs reflect on which board structure is most appropriate for this new stage of the life cycle of their company as a listed firm. This evidence is also of interest for regulators and investors, who can, therefore, better understand board structures of SMEs at the moment of IPO.

This paper is the first to study characteristics and determinants of the board of directors of growing SMEs at the moment of going public. This study implies a step forward in research into the governance of small business and IPO literature, since the results differ from the evidence found for large company IPOs and contribute towards the debate regarding the need to consider the context and the type of firm in corporate governance studies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the financial expertise (accounting and non-accounting) of female directors in the audit committee and the voluntary disclosure of financial forward-looking information.

The sample is composed of companies belonging to the Standard and Poor`s 100 Index in 2016. Content analysis techniques are used to analyze both information disclosed in annual reports and the financial expertise of female directors.

The results fail to find an association between the presence of women in the audit committee and the disclosure of financial forward-looking information. However, the disclosure of this information is associated with the presence of female audit committee members with financial expertise, especially accounting expertise.

The academic implications are related with the need for a consideration of the personal attributes of female directors to understand their role in the boardroom or on subcommittees.

Given the importance of financial forward-looking information in the capital markets, these findings will also help policymakers and managers to implement effective corporate governance structures and will have significant implications for the selection of female audit committee members.

This paper is the first to examine whether the specific expertise of female directors, beyond mere gender, makes a difference in financial forward-looking disclosure strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the theoretical relationship between the board composition and the cost of capital (CC) is mediated by risk disclosure (RD) practices.

Partial least squares techniques are used, and a sample of all the companies belonging to manufacturing industry listed on Standard and Poor’s 500 for the year 2009 is studied. In relation to board composition, several recommendations issued by US governance codes are considered: board independence, board size, CEO duality, gender diversity, ethnic diversity, and financial expertise. Content analysis techniques are employed to measure RDs.

The results show that boards that follow governance codes recommendations lead to a reduction in the CC through the disclosure of information on risks.

These results provide encouraging opportunities for future research about the real role of the board of directors and suggest the need for the analysis of the participation of directors in firm strategy to better understand the effect of boards on the corporate outcome.

This evidence must help regulators and owners to set up adequate corporate governance mechanisms regarding the composition of boards. This evidence also presents direct implications for managers, who can better understand the value-relevance of RDs.

This paper provides new insight into the literature, which highlights that the effect of boards of directors on firm outcomes must be mediated by the involvement of boards in specific strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how board diversity affects firm financial outcomes through the way in which this diversity helps to improve voluntary disclosures.

The partial least squares (PLS) technique is used, and a sample of the manufacturing firms listed in Standard and Poor’s 500 for 2009 is studied. In relation to board diversity, two specific characteristics are considered, namely, gender diversity and ethnic diversity. Content analysis techniques are used to measure risk disclosures.

The results show that there is a positive association between board diversity and firms’ financial outcomes, which is explained by disclosing risk information.

The results indicate that the effect of boards of directors on firm outcoumes is influenced by the board involvement in specific strategies, thereby providing encouraging opportunities for future research.

These findings have implications both for companies, when selecting board members, and for policymakers, when establishing requirements concerning board composition. Moreover, the evidence highlights the role of disseminating risk information, which has direct implications for managers and regulators, who may better understand the value-relevance of risk disclosures.

The use of PLS technique is one of the novelties of this paper. The novelty of this approach provides fresh insights into the literature, highlighting that the effect of boards on firm outcomes may be mediated by director involvement in specific disclosure strategies.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the return associated with a Canadian dollar (C$) investment in the USA under passive, random walk, value at risk, and Sharpe ratio strategies.

To comply with the purpose, this paper used a GARCH model, and used, as basic data, daily C$ exchange rates and weekly US and Canadian interest rates on 90‐day CDs, from January 2 to November 26, 2004.

The empirical results suggest that currency returns are positively correlated to risk; and that the return provided by the random walk strategy beats the other strategies considered in this paper.

The findings suggest that currency investment is similar to other forms of investment, since it shows a positive relationship between risk and return. It also supports the long‐standing belief that sophisticated strategies do not beat simple‐minded approaches such as a random walk strategy.

This paper uses a utility function to investigate the response of investors to risk and return under different aversion scenarios.

The purpose of this paper is to test the association between board of director characteristics and corporate reputation.

Logistic and multivariate regressions are performed to analyse whether the board of director characteristics are associated with the level of corporate reputation. The sample is composed of listed companies in the Madrid Stock Exchange (Índice General de la Bolsa de Madrid) at least once during the period 2004-2010. Corporate governance data were manually extracted from governance reports released by Spanish companies. The data for the design of a corporate reputation measure were obtained from the Monitor Español de Reputación Corporativa (MERCO) institute web site.

Results from the empirical analysis show that Spanish companies that appear high up in terms of ranking in the reputation index provided by MERCO tend to have a higher percentage of independent directors as well as more female directors on their board. Firm size and the image of the president of a firm are also linked to corporate reputation.

The results have direct implications for the management of corporate governance mechanisms by shareholders who should take into account their role in the creation and maintenance of corporate reputation.

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la asociación entre las características de los consejos de administración y la reputación corporativa.

La metodología empleada se basa en el uso de regresiones logísticas y multivariantes. Nuestra muestra se compone de las empresas que cotizaron en el Índice General de la Bolsa de Madrid (IGBM) durante el período 2004-2010. Los datos sobre gobierno corporativo se obtuvieron manualmente a partir de los informes de gobierno corporativo publicados por las empresas españolas. La información para diseñar la medida de la reputación corporativa se obtuvo de la página web de MERCO (Monitor Español de Reputación Corporativa).

Los resultados del análisis empírico muestran que las empresas españolas que aparecen en las posiciones más altas del ranking de reputación corporativa proporcionado por MERCO tienden a tener un mayor porcentaje de directores independientes y de mujeres en sus consejos de administración. El tamaño de la empresa y la reputación del presidente también están relacionados con la reputación corporativa.

Los resultados tienen implicaciones directas para la gestión de los mecanismos de gobierno corporativo por parte de los accionistas, que deberían considerar el papel de los consejos de administración en la creación y mantenimiento de la reputación corporativa.

Since the early modern age, the debt of the State was a constant source for concern to the Spanish governments. Episodes of defaults caused by enormous expenditure to keep the Empire slowly faded out until a certain reorganization of public finance was attained in the central decades of the nineteenth century. The core idea that finance ministers and economists, in general, had at that time was to balance the public budget controlling expenses, in order to handle the problem of public debt. However, alternative views on government finance existed. Focusing on a crucial period for the consolidation of Spanish liberal regime and its public finance, this chapter shows that, among a predominant concern for reducing public expenditure as the best way to stabilize the economy and promote economic growth, the character of Luis María Pastor emerges to support government expansionary policies financed with credit. Far from fearing deficit, Pastor, one of the leaders of the Spanish liberal school of economic thought, believed that investment in infrastructures financed through debt was the key to economic growth. Through a multiplicative effect, a program of public investment would enhance economic growth, eventually solving the long-term insufficiency of Spanish finance. This gives evidence that ideas on public finance of classical liberal economists were far from uniform, contributing to a more precise view on the body of doctrines of this school.

Worldwide, companies are interested in improving processes and reaching high levels of quality through the adoption of various systems. For example, they implement quality management methodologies, such as Lean, with the aim of reducing waste and cost. In the food sector, however, companies also adopt food safety management systems, such as BRC (British Retail Consortium), destined to comply with the standards of hygiene, food safety and quality systems. Interestingly, both Lean and BRC seek to boost quality. Thus, both should be able to work as a single system and cooperate to add value to a company without duplicating efforts. By solving the problems in the bag sealing process of an Ecuadorian company through the implementation of Lean tools incorporated in the steps of the DMAIC methodology (define-measure-analyze-improve-control), and then framing a cooperation matrix of Lean tools and BRC clauses, this paper seeks to demonstrate their feasible cooperation.

One of the most well-known methodologies for process improvement is the DMAIC methodology. Through the sequence of the DMAIC steps, the main problem of an Ecuadorian company that produces flexible packaging for food was identified. With the voice of the customer (VOC) from historical customer surveys of the company, the common issues were found. Similarly, historical data of non-conformities required by ISO-9001: 2015 provided insightful information for this phase. In order to measure the current quantitative state of the processes, a VSM (value stream map) was jointly employed with an operator balance chart. Data was collected during the whole operational month. Having this quantitative data, and with the ideas generated from the Kaizen events, improvement initiatives were analyzed and proposed. The proposed solutions involve production and maintenance teams. After some tests, it was verified that all these improvements had had a positive impact on the company. Finally, it was analyzed that Lean tools can collaborate and also be used as proof for BRC requirements. Thus, a correlation matrix between them was built, which demonstrates cooperation between both systems.

The results of this study indicate that Lean can cooperate in the pursuit of the BRC Standard for food packaging companies. This is shown through the case study of the Ecuadorian company, which implemented Lean tools and reduced its costs by shortening lost time and reducing set up time in the machines employed to cut and seal bags. Additionally, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) from machines 1 and 2 rose their values considerably. Since BRC is a certifiable standard, it contains clauses that must be achieved in order to get the certification. By using Lean tools, it was possible to comply with some of the clauses of the BRC standard. A matrix was built so that it could be identified that Lean tools can work together with BRC, and thus, reduce costs and waste, while simultaneously complying with the safety and quality standards that the standard guarantees.

This research had two limitations. The first limitation is related to time. The data was collected in a month due to the project's deadline. For further research, it is recommended to increase this period of time to at least three months of production. The second limitation is related to the processes studied, which are associated with the time period. This study encompasses two major processes, which present major problems. For further investigations, longer periods of time can allow to include more processes from the company.

The implications of this project rely on the fact that the company achieved a better level of efficiency. The application of Lean tools reduces waste in the company. Basically, the waste was associated with lost time in machines 1 and 2 from the cutting and sealing processes, which was mainly produced by mechanical malfunction and inefficient maintenance. These problems had a direct relationship with the bad quality of the bags since the machines operate almost fully automatically. Additionally, mechanical problems caused by inefficient maintenance have a direct impact on quality aspects of the bag, like correct dimensions or a proper seal. Moreover, these problems generate a loss of time since the operator must stop the machine during production time in order to fix it. Machines 1 and 2 reduced their lost time drastically. Furthermore, by using Lean tools alongside the BRC methodology, the company can now reduce the resources that are destined for Lean projects and the BRC certification. Specifically, as a result, Lean tools and their documents can serve as proof of compliance with certain BRC clauses.

These improvements impact the company's profits, and therefore the workers. Since there is a significant reduction in the company's costs, and also an increment in the company's production, the company will probably require hiring new employees. In this way, more job opportunities will be generated.

The originality of this work relies on the nature of the research and the type of production facility. Previous studies have examined Lean tool applications in many settings. There are a few studies regarding the adoption of BRC standards. However, and definitely, the merge between Lean tools and a food safety management system is novel, since there are few to almost no articles that have been published using such a merge. The positive outcomes that were obtained not only prove that both methodologies are compatible, but they can also encourage further research on the applicability and functionality of merging two methodologies similar to the ones used during this research. Regarding the production facility, very few articles have been published about flexible packaging companies, and this article will help further research in this field.