Martin Brühl and Colin Lizieri
As property investment increasingly takes place on an internationalstage, investors are turning to portfolio theory to help structure theirinvestment strategies. Portfolio theory…
Abstract
As property investment increasingly takes place on an international stage, investors are turning to portfolio theory to help structure their investment strategies. Portfolio theory is an expectations‐led theory. It is insufficient to rely on historic property returns alone. Rather, the fundamental factors that drive market performance should be considered. Argues that any European diversification strategy should consider the political and administrative structures in place in the Community. Specifically, contrasts the federal structure of Germany with the centralized structure of France and considers the implications for institutional investment and real‐estate performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the configurations of shared service center (SSC) characteristics, their performance implications and the dynamics of SSC configurations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the configurations of shared service center (SSC) characteristics, their performance implications and the dynamics of SSC configurations during their implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the capability-based view and configurational approach to suggest a model that explains performance outcomes of shared service configurations. Survey data are analyzed with a cluster analysis to examine shared service configurations in distinct stages of implementation. Moreover, a lifecycle framework of shared service configurations is conceptualized.
Findings
This study considers shared service configurations as operational capabilities to run corporate support activities. The purpose is to examine the configurations of those capabilities, their performance implications and their dynamics during the shared service implementation.
Practical implications
The findings help senior executives to effectively implement and transform shared services when deciding to renew corporates' support activities.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first that conceptually and empirically explores shared service configurations, performance and configurational dynamics.
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Sameh Ammar and Mostafa Kamal Hassan
This study explores the configurations of management control systems (MCSs) while taking into account entrepreneurial cognition styles (ECSs) in small and medium enterprises…
Abstract
This study explores the configurations of management control systems (MCSs) while taking into account entrepreneurial cognition styles (ECSs) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to understand the impact of ECS on deployment and identify the various modes of MCS configurations employed by SMEs. The authors draw on and synthesise two theoretical perspectives relating to cognition and management control packages to understand the associations between ECS and MCS employed by SMEs in managing their business. This study was conducted using a quantitative approach that utilises a questionnaire survey to collect cross-sectional data from 150 SMEs. The authors uncovered three cognitive styles: knowing (e.g. preciseness), planning (e.g. organising), and creativity (e.g. innovativeness). Furthermore, five configurations of MCS utilised by SMEs were identified: customer focus, performance monitoring, administrative focus, strategic focus, and development focus. By combining both analyses, the authors discovered three constellations of significant association between ECS and MCS characterised by Cluster 1’s cohesive integration approach, Cluster 2’s revealing strategic approach, and Cluster 3’s multifaceted exploration. The study is significant because it uncovers the complex relationship between ECS and MCS configurations, highlighting their interdependence within the institutional context. Using a cognitive view, the authors explore how the cognitive styles of entrepreneurs facilitated imprinting institutional context into MCS configurations. These insights enable us to envisage that ECS is not mutually exclusive but forms a continuum that provides more plausible explanations that relax the direct universal relationship between MCS configurations and contextual factors.
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Michelle Palharini, Matthias Fertig and Peter Wehnert
Published in June 2020, the European Union (EU) Taxonomy Regulation is an important tool for the reorientation of capital flows toward sustainability, establishing a…
Abstract
Published in June 2020, the European Union (EU) Taxonomy Regulation is an important tool for the reorientation of capital flows toward sustainability, establishing a classification system that enables investors to identify green economic activities. Confronted by the reporting demands of this regulation, companies are caught in a sustainability economic revolution. This study seeks primarily to understand firms’ responses to the EU taxonomy, and whether they recognize value creation opportunities by aligning market and nonmarket strategies with the taxonomy goals. For that, we conducted expert interviews and adopted a conceptual framework based on institutional theory, dynamic capabilities view and nonmarket strategy research. Our findings indicate that most firms respond reactively, while firms with sustainability-driven business models tend to respond in an anticipatory way, and firms with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and low taxonomy eligibility in a defensive way. We also find evidence for mimetic isomorphism related to the influence of consulting and auditing services. Further, high levels of uncertainty, ambiguity and lack of clarity has a great impact on firms’ responses and motives. Finally, this study highlights the EU taxonomy considering a paradigmatic shift toward sustainability, which is not recognized by most firms. To this end, we find that most companies have not identified opportunities arising from nonmarket integration and, rather, see the taxonomy only as an extra regulation to be compliant with. Hence, we argue that it is crucial that firms contextualize the taxonomy within its larger institutional paradigmatic shift to capture the importance of going beyond mere compliance.
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I am indebted to Anthony Waterman for identifying the largely illegible phrase cuius regio, eius religio, found near the end of Ostrander’s notes. Waterman writes, in explanation…
Abstract
I am indebted to Anthony Waterman for identifying the largely illegible phrase cuius regio, eius religio, found near the end of Ostrander’s notes. Waterman writes, in explanation, apropos of Martin Luther: Lit. ‘whatever of the king, so of the religion’: it means that L. thought (being the Erastian he was), that the religion of a country should be that of its sovereign prince. Note: (a), the assumption, almost universal at that time, that there can be only ONE church in any Christian nation; and (b) the assumption, standard until the Scottish Enlightenment I should think (though people like Locke begin to chip away at it) that – as Louis XIV put it with admirable economy, ‘l’etat c’est moi’ (Waterman to Samuels, December 12, 2002).
Ricky Y.K. Chan, Jianfu Shen, Louis T.W. Cheng and Jennifer W.M. Lai
This study aims at proposing and testing a model delineating how and when the quality of a special B2B professional service, investment relations (IR), would drive corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims at proposing and testing a model delineating how and when the quality of a special B2B professional service, investment relations (IR), would drive corporate intangible value.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs a proprietary dataset on voting records of an annual investment relations (IR) awards event and the corresponding company-level archival data for analysis. Regression analysis is used to test hypotheses.
Findings
IR service quality not only directly enhances corporate intangible value, but also indirectly boosts it via information transparency. While competitive intensity does not moderate the relationship between IR service quality and corporate intangible value, its moderating effect on the relationship between information transparency and this value is negative.
Research limitations/implications
The findings advance academic understanding of the mechanism and boundary conditions underlying the complex and dynamic relationships among IR service quality, information transparency, corporate intangible value and competitive intensity. Future research endeavors to verify the present findings in other service and/or geographic settings would help establish their external validity.
Practical implications
The findings advise companies to expand the traditional role of IR by taking it as a powerful communication and relationship marketing tool to improve their visibility and attract investors.
Social implications
The findings suggest that superior IR service would strengthen the company’s social bonding with institutional investors and effectively signal to them its commitment to good corporate governance practices.
Originality/value
Matching a proprietary dataset on IR voting records with the corresponding company-level archival data over a five-year period to investigate the performance implications of IR service quality within the Hong Kong context rectifies methodological limitation and geographic confinement of prior IR research.
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Naomy Palamanga Thiombiano and Ifeoma Udeh
This paper aims to propose and examine a pragmatic approach to minimizing auditors’ underreporting of time. Specifically, the study examines the effects of time budget pressure…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose and examine a pragmatic approach to minimizing auditors’ underreporting of time. Specifically, the study examines the effects of time budget pressure (TBP) and reported time use policy (RTUP) on time underreporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a 2 × 2 between experimental design. The participants are 130 undergraduate accounting students and they completed a ratio-based task. The online experiment manipulated TBP and a RTUP.
Findings
This study shows a RTUP reduces time underreporting, especially when TBP is high.
Practical implications
This study is useful to audit firms because it provides a feasible solution to minimizing time underreporting.
Social implications
Studies show that firm culture affects the dysfunctional behavior of time underreporting. Consequently, this study recommends that firms influence the culture around time reporting through an upfront communication of a use policy.
Originality/value
Studies on time underreporting exist, but formal studies on solutions to the issue are sparse. The authors propose a solution to the issue of time underreporting, which is a RTUP.