Md. Reaz, Dorothea Bowyer, Connie Vitale, Masnun Mahi and Ahmed Mohamed Dahir
The paper examines the nexus between agricultural exports and the performance of agricultural firms in Malaysia.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper examines the nexus between agricultural exports and the performance of agricultural firms in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
The dynamic linkage is tested by using system GMM models and the period ranges from 2002 to 2016.
Findings
The results indicate that agricultural exports affect performance positively. However, agricultural raw materials have no significant impact on performance.
Research limitations/implications
The agricultural exports in relation to sectoral performance needs to be considered in the future.
Practical implications
The findings are important for policymakers to formulate policies that promote the agricultural sector. To put it differently, the policies may encourage investments in this sector. Also, the findings have substantial academic implications, bridging the gap between theory and empirical literature in the agricultural sector.
Originality/value
This work highlights the agricultural exports and their impacts on a firm's performance.
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Md Jahangir Alam and Reaz Akter Mullick
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on urban flood from rapidly growing land and housing development projects in flood zones and water bodies in and around Dhaka…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects on urban flood from rapidly growing land and housing development projects in flood zones and water bodies in and around Dhaka. The paper further extends the analysis to generate an insight into Dhaka’s urban flood due to possible climate change effects on top of land and housing development projects effects.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method was applied for this research comprising qualitative techniques for analyzing the date gathered from reviewing the policies including the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan reports, interviews, discussions and maps, whereas quantitative analysis was used to interpret the data gathered from the global positioning system (GPS) survey and questionnaire survey among the resident of the selected housing projects.
Findings
Findings show that a large number of the projects have encroached flood-flow zones and ditches and drainage channels through massive land filling, which resulted in quick changes of land use with wide range of impacts on environment and habitat quality. This study highlighted that the potential climate change impact involves increasing rainfall and subsequent increase flooding. Besides, vast area will be submerged under water and increased warming in the city from high speed built-up area by unauthorized land development.
Originality/value
The results of the research can be taken into consideration when making political decisions concerning adaptation to climate change.
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The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry…
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.
This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.
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Md Sadaqul Bari and Byoungho Ellie Jin
The purpose of this study is to identify the emergence of apparel brands in Bangladesh: their timing, order and the reasons behind the patterns. This study also examined whether…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the emergence of apparel brands in Bangladesh: their timing, order and the reasons behind the patterns. This study also examined whether these evolution patterns followed the same path in Korea and India.
Design/methodology/approach
By employing secondary research method, this study gathered and analyzed data from companies, trade organizations, news media and academic articles to determine the socioeconomic backgrounds and underlying dynamics that propelled the evolution patterns. Following Jin et al.'s (2013) approach, we analyzed three types of apparel brands (international, national and private) in Bangladesh.
Findings
The findings indicated that in contrast with Korea and India, in Bangladesh (a) the emergence of international brands occurred after the national brands' appearance in the More Advanced Production of Fabric and Apparel stage, (b) national brands also emerged at the same stage and earlier than the international brands developed, and (c) internationalization of national brands and emergence of private brands were not observed. The differences in the emergent timing and order were explained by socioeconomic and cultural aspects, along with industry life cycle perspectives.
Practical implications
Findings indicate that the Bangladeshi market is dominated by national apparel brands. Therefore, international brands are advised to consider the business strategies of local competitors and develop their own pricing and merchandising strategies to maintain their supremacy as premium brands.
Originality/value
This study addressed apparel brand evolution patterns in a lower middle-income country. The results revealed some unique aspects. Unlike in other developing countries, national brand development in Bangladesh was initiated by entrepreneurs.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, this study analyzes the extent to which banks report online their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices; second, it…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, this study analyzes the extent to which banks report online their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices; second, it determines the impact of size, ownership structure, multiple exchange listing, and the internationalization of banks on the level of their online CSR reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the Turkish banking industry’s online CSR communications by performing a content analysis of banks’ online reporting of their CSR practices in four sub-dimensions, namely, environment and energy, human resources, products and customers, and community involvement. A sample of 25 banks in Turkey was grouped according to the criteria of size, ownership structure (listed or unlisted on stock exchanges), multiple exchange listing (listing on home and foreign exchanges), and internationality (local or foreign). This study employs a nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test to determine the significance of the differences among these groups.
Findings
The results of the study demonstrate that the most disclosed dimension on the websites of the banks is products and customers. In particular, there is a lack of disclosure on items of environment and energy. Further, the findings of the research show that size, ownership structure, and multiple exchange listing are significant in explaining online CSR disclosure level.
Originality/value
Several previous studies have focussed less on the CSR disclosure practices of companies in industries with little direct environmental impact, such as banking and finance. This study extends the previous studies of CSR reporting by gathering data from the banks’ websites rather than their annual reports. This study contributes to the literature by examining the online CSR disclosure practices of banks from an emerging market context and, specifically, that of Turkey.
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Habib‐Uz‐Zaman Khan, Abdel K. Halabi and Kurt Sartorius
This paper aims to examine: the status and the use of financial and non‐financial measures, and the balanced scorecard (BSC) in Bangladeshi companies; the reasons for BSC…
Abstract
Aims
This paper aims to examine: the status and the use of financial and non‐financial measures, and the balanced scorecard (BSC) in Bangladeshi companies; the reasons for BSC adoption; and associated problems.
Design/methodology/approach
Data via a questionnaire were obtained from the chief accounting and finance officers of a cross section of 60 Bangladeshi companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. A combination of descriptive statistics, bi‐variate, and multi‐variate techniques of statistics were used to test three research questions.
Findings
The results indicate that financial measures are more widely used, but that 78.4 per cent of companies use some non‐financial indicators. Further, the exercise of a full BSC is limited to only 10 per cent of the sample. The results also show that companies adopt these frameworks to aid decision making, and the problems associated with the adoption of BSC include a cost‐benefit perspective and a lack of management support.
Practical implications
The findings suggest many companies are using a dashboard of financial and non‐financial performance measures that could possibly be a precursor to adopting more holistic performance measurement frameworks like the BSC.
Originality/value
There have been recent calls for more in‐depth analysis of the management accounting systems of emerging countries and these findings contribute further knowledge to an under researched area. In particular, the paper demonstrates how a performance measurement framework may evolve in an emerging country context.
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MV Shivaani, P.K. Jain and Surendra S. Yadav
This paper aims to gauge the quality of risk disclosure in 3,872 annual reports of Indian corporates, using a risk disclosure index (RDI) developed to capture both quality and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to gauge the quality of risk disclosure in 3,872 annual reports of Indian corporates, using a risk disclosure index (RDI) developed to capture both quality and quantity of risk disclosures.
Design/methodology/approach
Focussing on 69 risk items, the paper uses manual textual analysis and scores risk items using an ordinal scale, as opposed to the general practice of using a dichotomous scale.
Findings
The average risk index is low, but greater in the post-recession period than in the pre-recession period. Most disclosures are qualitative, both backward and forward-looking, and exhibit a negative tone. In addition, company age and industry sector have a significant impact on disclosure levels.
Research limitations/implications
The choice and weighting of semantic qualities used to construct RDIs used in disclosure studies are inherently subjective. This exploratory study uses univariate analysis and does not explore the reasons for poor disclosure.
Practical implications
In addition to its usefulness for investors and companies’ management, the findings of non-compliance with certain mandatory provisions and a low average RDI is particularly relevant for policymakers and regulatory bodies.
Originality/value
Development of a summary measure/RDI that is novel in its differential weighting of the semantic qualities pertaining to quantification, time-orientation and tone. Further, it serves as an exploratory study about risk disclosure practices in the Indian context that reveals notable differences from findings of previous risk disclosure research. Moreover, the study examines the relationship between firms’ age and risk disclosure levels, a largely ignored aspect in disclosure research.
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Merve Kiliç, Cemil Kuzey and Ali Uyar
The aim of this study is twofold. The first is to analyze the nature, extent and trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in the Turkish banking industry under…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is twofold. The first is to analyze the nature, extent and trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in the Turkish banking industry under five sub-themes, namely, environment, energy, human resources, products and customers and community involvement. The second is to investigate the impact of ownership and board structure on CSR reporting by the banks.
Design/methodology/approach
The annual reports of the banks were examined for the period between 2008 and 2012 to analyze the CSR reporting of the banks, using content analysis and panel data analysis.
Findings
The results show that CSR reporting of the banks improved during that period of time. The findings of the study also revealed that there is a significant positive effect of size, ownership diffusion, board composition and board diversity on the CSR disclosure of the banks.
Originality/value
This study contributes significantly to the existing literature because the banking industry is generally excluded from the CSR studies. Further, there are few studies analyzing the effect of the ownership and board structure on the CSR disclosure. Finally, this study was conducted in a developing country with different regulations and socio-economic aspects as compared to developed countries. This study outlines important implications for regulatory bodies, organizations, the banking industry and other stakeholders.
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Rupjyoti Saha and Kailash Chandra Kabra
This study aims to examine the influence of some prominent corporate governance (CG) mechanisms such as board size (BS), board independence (BI), role duality (RD), board’s gender…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the influence of some prominent corporate governance (CG) mechanisms such as board size (BS), board independence (BI), role duality (RD), board’s gender diversity (GD), ownership concentration (OC), audit committee independence (ACI), nomination and remuneration committee (NRC) and risk management committee (RMC) on voluntary disclosure (VD), as well as different types of VD after controlling the effect of some firm-specific factors for Indian firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study selects market capitalization-based top 100 non-financial and non-utility firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange as on 31st March 2014. Data are drawn from the Capitaline Plus database over the period of 2014–2018. Appropriate panel data regression model is applied to examine the influence of CG on VD.
Findings
The study reveals a significant negative influence of BI on VD while GD and RMC exhibit a significant positive influence on the same. The remaining CG mechanisms such as BS, RD, OC, ACI and NRC appear to have no significant influence on VD. Analysis into the relationship between CG mechanisms and different types of VD reveals that BI, in particular, has a strong negative influence on corporate strategic disclosure (CSD) and forward looking disclosure (FWLD) while GD and RMC both exhibit a significant positive influence on CSD, FWLD, CG disclosure and financial and capital market disclosure. Notably, none of the CG mechanisms under consideration influence human and intellectual capital disclosure.
Research limitations/implications
The study considers annual reports as the only medium of making VD and ignores all other sources such as websites and press releases. Besides, it mainly emphasizes on corporate board structure, board committees and OC while other ownership structure-related variables family ownership, managerial ownership are not covered, which can be analysed in future studies.
Practical implications
The study offers some important theoretical, as well as practical connotations for regulators and practitioners operating in India, as well as other emerging economies having similar institutional settings.
Originality/value
The study is the first of its kind in India that examines the influence of various CG mechanisms on different types of VD and thereby contributes novel findings in the context of an emerging economy.
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Łukasz Matuszak and Ewa Różańska
Based on a set of complementary theories, namely, the legitimacy, stakeholder and signaling theories, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the visibility of corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on a set of complementary theories, namely, the legitimacy, stakeholder and signaling theories, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the visibility of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures on bank websites. In particular, we explored the accessibility, placement, reporting format, extent and content of online CSR information. This paper also examined the effect of size, being listed, ownership structure and the internationalization of banks on online CSR reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample consisting of 20 banks was used where the data were manually collected from the websites of various banks during the fourth quarter of 2017. Three reporting formats were explored: information posted directly on the website, information contained in a separate CSR report and information within a management commentary or annual report or integrated report. Content analysis was used to measure the level of online CSR disclosures in four sub-dimensions: environment, human resources, products and customers and community involvement. The sample was grouped according to the criteria of size, being listed, ownership structure and internationality. Non-parametric statistics were used to analyze some factors that influence CSR disclosure, namely, size, public ownership, internationalization and foreign ownership.
Findings
The results indicate that accessibility to CSR information is relatively good. The placement of CSR information on websites varies among banks. Moreover, community involvement was the most disclosed dimension on the banks’ websites. There was a lack of disclosure on items regarding the environment. Furthermore, the findings of this paper showed that significant determinants for explaining online CSR disclosure level were size and being listed.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by examining the online CSR disclosure practices of banks from an emerging market with a different socio-economic context and regulations compared to the developed market.