Katherine Taken Smith, Lawrence Murphy Smith, Marcus Burger and Erik S. Boyle
Cyber terrorism poses a serious technology risk to businesses and the economies they operate in. Cyber terrorism is a digital attack on computers, networks or digital information…
Abstract
Purpose
Cyber terrorism poses a serious technology risk to businesses and the economies they operate in. Cyber terrorism is a digital attack on computers, networks or digital information systems, carried out to coerce people or governments to further the social or political objectives of the attacker. Cyber terrorism is costly in terms of impaired operations and damaged assets. Cyber terrorism harms a firm’s reputation, thereby negatively affecting a firm’s stock market valuation. This poses grave worries to company management, financial analysts, creditors and investors. This study aims to evaluate the effect of cyber terrorism on the market value of publicly traded firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Financial information was obtained on business firms that were featured in news stories as targets of cyber terrorism. The firm’s stock price was recorded for 1, 3 and 7 days before and after the news article. Percentage changes in the firm’s stock price were compared to percentage changes in the Dow Jones Index to ascertain whether the firm’s stock price went up or down matching the market overall.
Findings
Results indicate that stock prices are significantly negatively affected by news of cyber terrorist attacks on companies. In all three time periods after the cyber terrorist attack, there was a significant negative decline in the stock value relative to the Dow Jones Index. Thus, the market valuation of the firm is damaged. As a result, the shareholders and institutions are financially damaged. Furthermore, exposed system vulnerability may lead to loss of business from consumers who have reduced confidence in the firm’s operations.
Practical implications
This paper examines the risks posed by cyber terrorism, including its impact on individual business firms, which in turn affect entire national economic systems. This makes clear the high value of cybersecurity in safeguarding computer systems. Taking steps to avoid being a victim of cyber terrorism is an important aspect of cybersecurity. Preventative steps are normally far less costly than rebuilding an information system after a cyber terrorist attack.
Originality/value
This study is original in examining the effect of cyber terrorism on the stock value of a company.
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Jun Guo, Jung Yeun Kim, Sungsoo Kim and Nan Zhou
The authors study whether CEO beauty influences management guidance.
Abstract
Purpose
The authors study whether CEO beauty influences management guidance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors calculate an attractiveness score based on facial symmetry and perform regression analyses to examine the relation between CEO beauty and management guidance.
Findings
The authors find that attractive CEOs are more likely to issue voluntary management earnings guidance. After controlling for this appearance-based self-selection, the authors document that management forecasts provided by attractive CEOs are more optimistic yet less precise. Consistent with this result, the authors find that analysts' consensus forecast error following management forecasts made by attractive CEOs is larger than such error following management forecasts made by unattractive CEOs. The authors further find that the perceived credibility of management forecasts by attractive CEOs is not different from that by unattractive CEOs.
Originality/value
These findings suggest that attractive CEOs are more active but less skillful in issuing management forecasts. This adds to the emerging accounting literature on the relation between facial appearance and information delivery.
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Olivia Vieira Marx Andrade, Renata Pautasso Barreto Amorim, Fabiana Cassilha Pires and Marcus Wilcox Hemais
The purpose of this paper is to show students the problems that a Brazilian franchise in the fast food sector faced while internationalizing its business to Mexico and Spain…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show students the problems that a Brazilian franchise in the fast food sector faced while internationalizing its business to Mexico and Spain. Specifically, discuss how the entry mode of master franchise used by Spoleto presented problems to the company's managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a teaching case, designed to make students reflect on issues related to international business and international marketing. The primary data were collected through interviews with Edwin Junior, International Expansions Manager of Spoleto. The information gathered in the interviews was complemented by secondary data from newspapers, business magazines, internet sites and the Spoleto sites in Brazil and Mexico.
Findings
The choice to make partnerships with companies that already have experience in managing big multinational franchises might not be the best move for a brand that is unknown outside of its country. This aspect of master franchise partnerships is scarcely discussed in the literature, which instead tends to focus on other negative aspects of this kind of arrangement. It is also important to point out that close control over the master franchisees actions, especially in the initial phases of international expansions, is important to guarantee that operations will be up to standards in all countries.
Originality/value
The value of this study is in the discussion it raises about the mistakes, rather than the successes, made by a Brazilian franchise in its first attempts to expand internationally.
Sonja Gallhofer, Kathy Gibson, Jim Haslam, Patty McNicholas and Bella Takiari
The view is taken that the study of diverse cultures can contribute to the development of environmental accounting and reporting. The focus is upon seeking to articulate insights…
Abstract
The view is taken that the study of diverse cultures can contribute to the development of environmental accounting and reporting. The focus is upon seeking to articulate insights from three indigenous cultures: the Australian Aboriginal, the Maori and the Native American. These cultures, alive today, provide relevant insights for those concerned with challenging mainstream and Western practices and seeking to develop alternatives. Attention is focused on these insights and it is hoped that further research will be stimulated.
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P.W. Turnbull and A. Meenaghan
Declares that diffusion (a term employed to describe the process whereby an innovation or a new idea or practice spreads through a social system over time) is a summary term used…
Abstract
Declares that diffusion (a term employed to describe the process whereby an innovation or a new idea or practice spreads through a social system over time) is a summary term used to embrace studies which trace the process of diffusion, the process of adoption and the patterns of influence involved. Acknowledges that even allowing for low involvement of marketing research in diffusion, marketing management's interest in this area can be guided and controlled. States that information is diffused through some form of communication channel – these may be one of two types: vertical channels, which exist if ‘there is a meaningful difference in the interests, social status, demographic or economic characteristics of the communication units’; and horizontal channels, which occur where communications flows among members of groups with similar interests and characteristics – these groups may be work groups, social groups, etc. Investigates sources of information and influence – in particular the two basic ones of: impersonal sources via the mass media; and personal sources involving the opinion leader in a two‐step flow of communication. Closes by discussing the implications of the two‐step flow for marketing in depth, with recommendations.
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Jeanine D. Guidry, Marcus Messner, Yan Jin and Vivian Medina-Messner
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the crisis information posted by publics on the social media platform Instagram about leading fast food companies as well as the responses…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the crisis information posted by publics on the social media platform Instagram about leading fast food companies as well as the responses by the companies and their general use of Instagram.
Design/methodology/approach
In two quantitative content analyses, 711 Instagram posts were identified in a two-week constructed time period that related to the ten largest fast food chains in the world.
Findings
It was found that negative content about these companies is posted by customers and employees alike and that the negative tonality primarily stems from issues with service and the work environment. The study also showed that the companies are just starting to discover Instagram and have very little engagement with users. None of the companies responded to the negative posts of customers and employees.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis only evaluated posts with negative hashtags about ten fast food companies. Future research should expand the analysis to all posts about a certain sector as well as expand the scope of the research beyond the fast food sector.
Practical implications
The results of the study are a call-to-action for public relations professionals to engage with their publics on Instagram and actively use the app as a pre-crisis monitoring and crisis response tool in their social media plans.
Originality/value
Instagram is a fast-growing social media channel, yet research into this platform is lacking. The findings of this study should be a challenge to public relations practitioners to put Instagram next to Facebook and Twitter at the center of their social media strategy.
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Malcolm Pattinson, Marcus Butavicius, Meredith Lillie, Beau Ciccarello, Kathryn Parsons, Dragana Calic and Agata McCormac
This paper aims to introduce the concept of a framework of cyber-security controls that are adaptable to different types of organisations and different types of employees. One of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce the concept of a framework of cyber-security controls that are adaptable to different types of organisations and different types of employees. One of these adaptive controls, namely, the mode of training provided, is then empirically tested for its effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 1,048 working Australian adults completed the human aspects of the information security questionnaire (HAIS-Q) to determine their individual information security awareness (ISA). This included questions relating to the various modes of cyber-security training they had received and how often it was provided. Also, a set of questions called the cyber-security learning-styles inventory was used to identify their preferred learning styles for training.
Findings
The extent to which the training that an individual received matched their learning preferences was positively associated with their information security awareness (ISA) level. However, the frequency of such training did not directly predict ISA levels.
Research limitations/implications
Further research should examine the influence of matching cyber-security learning styles to training packages more directly by conducting a controlled trial where the training packages provided differ only in the mode of learning. Further research should also investigate how individual tailoring of aspects of an adaptive control framework (ACF), other than training, may improve ISA.
Practical implications
If cyber-security training is adapted to the preferred learning styles of individuals, their level of ISA will improve, and therefore, their non-malicious behaviour, whilst using a digital device to do their work, will be safer.
Originality/value
A review of the literature confirmed that ACFs for cyber-security does exist, but only in terms of hardware and software controls. There is no evidence of any literature on frameworks that include controls that are adaptable to human factors within the context of information security. In addition, this is the first study to show that ISA is improved when cyber-security training is provided in line with an individual’s preferred learning style. Similar improvement was not evident when the training frequency was increased suggesting real-world improvements in ISA may be possible without increasing training budgets but by simply matching individuals to their desired mode of training.