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The understanding of leaders’ network centrality in social networks has been acknowledged as a major topic that can advance the social network field; most studies in this area have either taken firms as the subject by which the network centrality of firms was measured or/and have been conducted for the functional project context. Very little research has been done in the pure project context. This paper aims to revisit the centrality–performance link in the singular specialized project context.

The proposed relationships using panel data on 48 movie directors who lead pure projects has been studied. Freeman’s (1979) and Wasserman and Faust’s (1994) procedures have been adopted to compute our three centrality measures and their effects have been examined on box-office and artistic performance. A random effect and a mixed-effects Poisson model have been fit to examine the significance of the centrality–performance relationship.

The findings provide empirical evidence to support three out of the six hypotheses. The findings suggested that degree and closeness centrality are positively related to commercial performance and betweenness centrality is negatively related to commercial performance. However, it was found that only the degree centrality is related to artistic performance.

This study has two features that distinguish it from prior studies that link centrality to performance. First, the focus is on centrality attached to the leaders instead of the centrality attached to functional project teams or firms, as previously investigated. Second, this study is the first attempt of its kind to analyse the proposed relationship for an Asian market.

This paper aims to examine the effect of short-term performance fluctuations on long-term performance of football clubs.

This study did not develop any hypothesis for statistical testing. Instead, a database composing of 24 seasons of English Premier Club clubs’ performance was used to analyse for temporal fluctuations of club performance and examined whether such fluctuations would be substantiated in the long run.

Findings showed that club performance exhibited a non-unit root nature, which in turn suggested that clubs’ long-term performance was only temporally affected by short-term performance fluctuations, leading to the evidence that club performance tended to return to the club’s long-run equilibrium after experiencing temporary high or low positions.

Findings of this paper provide important information regarding the cost-benefit implications of the reactions of the club management to boost or rectify short-term performance fluctuations by, for example, replacing the club manager or head coach.

Growth, both in terms of size and choice, in the mutual fund industry among emerging markets has been impressive. However, mutual fund research in emerging markets hardly exists. This paper intends to fill this gap. In particular, the paper surveys the relative importance of factors considered important in the selection of mutual funds by financial advisors in emerging markets. Our survey focuses on Malaysia where the mutual industry started in the 1950s but only gained importance in the 1980s with the establishment of a government initiated programme. The results of our survey point to three important factors which dominate the choice of mutual funds. These are consistent past performance, size of funds and costs of transaction. Factors which relate to fund managers and investment style are not considered to be relatively important. With the impending liberalization of the financial markets in the developing world, our findings would assist those international funds that are considering expanding their operations into these emerging markets.

Since China initiated its “go global” policy that promotes its overseas investment, China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) has increased almost twenty times during the last 10 years, reaching $55.9 billion in 2008. The issue of internationalization of Chinese OFDI has attracted increasing attention of researchers from a business perspective. This article systematically reviews the previous studies on overseas investments by Chinese MNEs and discusses the characteristics of Chinese internationalization behavior at both firm level and country level. The internationalization of Chinese companies cannot be understood as a simple game of “catch up” with established MNEs, and more firm‐level empirical studies should be carried out on how these characteristics influence firms’ strategic decisions.

Maximum residual limits (MRLs) for pesticides are based on science. This is true both for MRLs devised by national governments and multilaterally through the Codex. Science-based Codex MRLs are internationally harmonized to facilitate trade. Since the 1990s, an increasing number of countries have devised national MRLs and eschewed those of the Codex. These differing national standards are becoming important barriers to trade. The purpose of this paper is to explore the ramifications of these diverging MRLs for food security, investigate the reasons for the rise of national standards, and explore the role of science in regulatory processes.

The approach is an examination of the scientific basis for MRLs in the context of food safety outcomes.

It finds that there is no improvement in food safety from the move to national MRLs, only a loss of the benefits of trade. As all countries, along with the Codex, claim that their MRLs are based on science, suggesting that there is a need for an examination of the role of science in the making of public policy.

This study identifies a potential risk to food security for food policy makers. Given future food security challenges and that pesticides are used almost universally in conventional agriculture, trade barriers based on divergent interpretations of science need to be addressed by food policy makers.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

Research readings groups represent a recent innovation in accounting doctoral education that appears to be spreading at research-oriented universities. In this chapter, the authors describe how accounting research readings groups can serve as a mechanism to engage doctoral students in the consumption and discussion of research throughout all phases of the doctoral program. An accounting research readings group supplements the breadth of knowledge gained in doctoral seminars by adding depth of knowledge in a focal research area. The authors offer insights from the educational psychology literature to justify research readings groups as a form of team-based learning and then offer suggestions on the formation and operation of these groups. The authors enumerate the many benefits that these groups afford to both doctoral students and faculty members. The authors also distribute a survey to faculty organizers of the existing accounting research readings groups and share the results of this survey to supplement their advice with firsthand experiences, the authors also share the results of a survey distributed to faculty organizers of existing accounting research readings groups. The authors’ goal is to encourage the use of accounting research readings groups to inspire, foster, and enhance the research culture within accounting departments and doctoral programs.