IN MARCH 1972 THREE ENGINEERING COURSES WERE launched at The Technical College of Monmouthshire, Crosskeys. They were designed to offer a limited amount of skills training to…
Abstract
IN MARCH 1972 THREE ENGINEERING COURSES WERE launched at The Technical College of Monmouthshire, Crosskeys. They were designed to offer a limited amount of skills training to suitable persons who were either unemployed or were willing to retrain for a new job. The idea to introduce these courses came about during a visit to the college by the manager of the local Department of Employment office when he met the head of the college's department of engineering.
E. Hachemi Aliouche, Fred Kaen and Udo Schlentrich
This paper's aim is to examine the risk‐adjusted market performance of an overall franchise and three sub‐sector franchise common stock portfolios from 1990 through 2008.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper's aim is to examine the risk‐adjusted market performance of an overall franchise and three sub‐sector franchise common stock portfolios from 1990 through 2008.
Design/methodology/approach
Four sets of franchise sector portfolios are constructed, their returns are calculated, and their performances relative to three market benchmarks are evaluated using the Sharpe ratio and Jensen's α.
Findings
The all franchise portfolio significantly outperformed the three market benchmarks. Among the sector portfolios, the services and restaurant portfolios also outperformed the market benchmarks, but not the lodging portfolio. Results support the theoretical hypothesis that franchising may provide superior advantages to investors and point to a possible “franchising anomaly”. Investors consider franchise firms to be less risky than the average publicly traded firms and therefore require a lower rate of return.
Practical implications
The results of the study suggest that in the past, franchise managers may have paid a much higher cost of capital than warranted by their firms' risk characteristics. Study results also have positive implications for franchise firms' access to capital and for evaluating franchise managers' compensation arrangements. Investors should consider allocating a portion of their investible funds to franchise stocks. Many lodging firms may not have taken full advantage of the benefits of franchising to reduce their financial risks. Restaurant firms may further improve their financial performance by selling their riskier units.
Originality/value
This is the first comprehensive study of the risk‐adjusted market performance of franchise firms over an extended period of time covering a variety of economic conditions that also analyzes the risk‐adjusted performance of the main business subcategories in franchising.
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The purpose of the paper is to explore the use of “old” and “new” performance measurement (PM) techniques in a joint venture (JV) set up by two partners, a global hotel chain and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to explore the use of “old” and “new” performance measurement (PM) techniques in a joint venture (JV) set up by two partners, a global hotel chain and a Portuguese company.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical data upon which this paper is based was collected through a prolonged contact with the specific organizational context. Qualitative or semi‐structured interviewing is the main source of information.
Findings
The paper finds that budgeting and budgetary control practices have been the cornerstone of the PM activity at the JV, where few “new” management accounting techniques are used. Yet, changes were made to the way the “old” PM techniques are drawn on and they have been supplemented with rolling forecasts prepared at the hotel level. The objectives are to encourage local managers to become more forward‐looking and to broaden the knowledge of the global partner about the future operating activities of the JV. Simultaneously, local adaptations of PM practices introduced by this partner are occurring.
Research limitations/implications
The lack of interviews with people from headquarters and area management of the global hotel chain has to be seen as a limitation of the present study. To minimize the risk of bias, a triangulation of data was pursued by interviewing multiple people at the JV and at the Portuguese partner, and by discussing preliminary findings on several occasions.
Originality/value
The present study provides insights on how PM practices have evolved over time in a globalized organization, enriching our understanding of those practices in the context of hotel management.
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Nichapa Phraknoi, Jerry Busby and Mark Stevenson
This paper aims to investigate small and medium-sized upstream suppliers' and downstream distributors' understandings of supply chain finance (SCF) arrangements and their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate small and medium-sized upstream suppliers' and downstream distributors' understandings of supply chain finance (SCF) arrangements and their decisions to adopt such schemes.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper grounded theory-informed methods are employed, involving 56 in-depth interviews with informants from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), banks and subject experts in the United Kingdom (UK) and Thailand. A category structure for the data is developed. The findings are then examined systematically from both a transaction cost economics (TCE) and non-TCE perspective.
Findings
SME members made sense of SCF through a core distinction between dyadic and triadic SCF arrangements. The former maintains independence between physical and financial supply chains, whereas the latter causes them to be closely coupled or even entangled. The SCF adoption decisions of SMEs were based on a consideration of four related aspects: relationality, awareness, control and context. The authors demonstrate the limits of TCE in explaining the findings, leading to a proposed combined theory of the transactional and, importantly, non-transactional influences on how SMEs make decisions about SCF.
Practical implications
Focal firms wanting their SME suppliers and distributors to participate in triadic SCF (TSCF), i.e. reverse factoring and distributor finance, need to understand that transitioning to such schemes involves the unwinding of existing financing arrangements, which may be problematic for SMEs. Moreover, it is important to be aware of SMEs' concerns, such as about what accessing TSCF might signal to the focal firm about their financial health and about the potential loss of control that might result from entangling the physical and financial aspects of supply chains.
Originality/value
This paper unpack the perspectives of both SME suppliers and distributors of large focal firms in supply chains. These firms appear less concerned with the economic advantages (transaction costs) of SCF and more concerned with the relational consequences or non-transactional costs of participation in a TSCF arrangement. The dyadic-triadic distinction provides a new and meaningful way of categorising SCF mechanisms, which also broadens the service triads’ literature from a focus on outsourcing services for a focal firm's customers to outsourcing financing for its suppliers or distributors. The paper also addresses gaps identified by Gelsomino et al. (2016) regarding the need for a general theory of SCF, for empirically-based holistic studies of SCF applications, and a tool for selecting SCF mechanisms.
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The purpose of this paper is to test for the presence of bubbles in the US lodging/hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) subsector from 1994 to 2016. It also compares the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test for the presence of bubbles in the US lodging/hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) subsector from 1994 to 2016. It also compares the profitability of a buy-and-hold strategy with several technical trading rules when applied to lodging REITs.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate speculative bubbles, the sequential right-sided unit root tests of Phillips, Shi and Yu (2015a, b) are used.
Findings
The results confirm the possibility of the existence of multiple bubbles and explosive behavior in prices and the price-dividend ratio. One of the detected bubbles coincides with the financial economic crisis of 2008 using both measures. In addition, several technical rules are found to be superior to a naïve buy-and-hold strategy even after adjusting for risk.
Practical implications
These findings will be of interest to policy makers, who can use such models as an early alert to take anticipative action to avoid bursting of bubbles and consequent negative effects on the economy. The findings also provide important information to investors attempting to devise trading rules that utilize the signals from bubble detection, as well as to hotel executives devising policies aimed at reducing risk and creating more firm value to maximize shareholder wealth. Moreover, valuation and bubbles are important to lenders and creditors who use assets as collaterals for financing hotel REITs.
Originality/value
Hotels are a unique hybrid of retail and housing that combine operating business with real estate. This paper is the first to investigate speculative bubbles in lodging REITs.
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Murat Kizildag, Jeffrey Thomas Weinland and Ilhan Demirer
The main stance of this paper is to draw an authentic and rigorous outlook in terms of the financial and operational performance of small lodging establishments (SLEs) and put…
Abstract
Purpose
The main stance of this paper is to draw an authentic and rigorous outlook in terms of the financial and operational performance of small lodging establishments (SLEs) and put forth achievable and practical economic solutions that demonstrate the relative effectiveness of the adopted measures. This paper also suggests practical solutions to help minimize SLEs' financial vulnerability to long-term crisis and to boost their resilience with relative measures by applying recovery revival strategies for this particular segment of the lodging industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have picked a locally owned resort hotel in Central Florida area and structured a real-life, case study-based inductive approach that is purposeful and offers rich economic outlook and analysis for the entire lodging industry, especially for the resort-hotel type of accommodation facilities. The main reason for why they only focus on one company is that they can fully understand the financial effects of COVID-19 on resort type of hotels and layout countering strategies. To achieve paper objectives, they have implemented cost–benefit (C–B), break-even (B-E) analyses along with a sensitivity testing approach.
Findings
The most striking result was that during the state-mandated shutdown period in 2020, overhead and overall operational costs associated with room sales and revenues were very high during this period that shrank the contribution margin ratio for rooms CMRw (room) and eventually yielded high sales volumes to be achieved at the B-E points vs lower sales volumes with almost the same average daily rate (ADR) levels needed for the B-E levels.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should specifically delve further into a portfolio of SLEs in the region or state or nation wise because the units comprising the SLEs might be too small to muster the changes required to bounce forward for the entire lodging industry in the world.
Practical implications
The resort's revenue re-optimization focus should center on financial re-benchmarking and business re-viability stress under different levels of shock scenarios. According to the different scenarios and calibrations for the ADRs, room nights, net present values (NPVs) of cash flows and profit margins derived from our main analyses, minimizing expenses and preserving cash would be the best key strategy for financial recovery during an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Originality/value
It is obvious that the lodging, hospitality and tourism industry are the hardest-hit industries by the harsh and adverse effects of COVID-19. The effects of pandemic are differently shaped on operations in different industries and subsectors. Therefore, the operational and financial evaluation for the SLEs as the core and a catalyst in the entire lodging industry can shed a light on the strategic financial recovery procedures with broadly applicable real-life and endogenous capabilities and reasoning.
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Lewis D. Johnson and Edwin H. Neave
This paper uses a transactions economics theory of financial governance to reconcile and integrate the evidence on inter‐ and intra‐country differences in corporate finance and…
Abstract
This paper uses a transactions economics theory of financial governance to reconcile and integrate the evidence on inter‐ and intra‐country differences in corporate finance and corporate governance. We argue that one reason for the competitive advantage demonstrated by Japan in recent years is Japan's greater use of high capability financial governance and its consequent reduction of risks that would otherwise be borne.
The trajectory of François Perroux across the Vichy regime poses about all possible range of methodological issues to the historian of ideas: individual versus collective…
Abstract
The trajectory of François Perroux across the Vichy regime poses about all possible range of methodological issues to the historian of ideas: individual versus collective biography, ideational versus ideological reading, internal versus external analysis, etc. The chapter outlines key elements about Perroux’s trajectory showing the entanglements and boundaries of science and politics in the transition from democratic to authoritarian rule and vice versa. A particular emphasis on uncertainties and adjustments shows, against the tendency to a teleological explanation induced by a linear interpretation of his career, that different paths were considered by Perroux, but that his choices were nevertheless constrained by the forces of both the scientific and political fields.
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Bernard Paranque and Elias Erragragui
The objective of this chapter is twofold. It first explores the complementarities of Islamic investment with Socially Responsible Investment. Secondly, it examines the financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this chapter is twofold. It first explores the complementarities of Islamic investment with Socially Responsible Investment. Secondly, it examines the financial price, for investors, of being both shariah-compliant and socially responsible.
Methodology/approach
Using a value-weighted approach, we experiment the construction of a set of sharia-compliant stock portfolios with different Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. We use the KLD ratings of 238 companies listed in U.S. stock market from 2007 to 2011. We measure and compare their performance using the model developed by Fama and French (1993) and extended by Carhart (1997).
Findings
The results indicate no adverse effect on returns due to the application of a double screening, Islamic and SRI, and show a substantially higher performance for positive governance screen during 2008–2011 periods. This outperformance cannot be explained by differences in investment style. Though, we observe significant outperformance for some ‘irresponsible’ portfolios involved in community and human rights controversies.
Research limitations/implications
The study only focuses on U.S. market. Future works should extend the experimentation to other markets.
Practical implications
This study provides a venue for Islamic funds managers to consider SRI screening as fully in line with shariah-compliance requirements, while preserving the performance of their portfolios.
Social implications
Potentially, the reconciliation of Islamic investment with positive SRI practices may foster the implementation of CSR policies by firms’ manager willing to attract Islamic investors.
Originality/value
With reference to the many studies emphasising the compatibility between CSR criteria and Islamic principles, this experimental study is the first to investigate the integration of a positive screening process designed to select companies based on their ESG performance in addition to a traditional shariah-compliant screening.
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In a previous article we have called attention to the danger of eating tinned and bottled vegetables which have been coloured by the addition of salts of copper and we have urged…
Abstract
In a previous article we have called attention to the danger of eating tinned and bottled vegetables which have been coloured by the addition of salts of copper and we have urged upon the public that no such preparations should be purchased without an adequate guarantee that they are free from copper compounds. Copper poisoning, however, is not the only danger to which consumers of preserved foods are liable. Judging from the reports of cases of irritant poisoning which appear with somewhat alarming frequency in the daily press, and from the information which we have been at pains to obtain, there can be no question that the occurrence of a large number of these cases is to be attributed to the ingestion of tinned foods which has been improperly prepared or kept. It is not to be supposed that the numerous cases of illness which have been ascribed to the use of tinned foods were all cases of metallic poisoning brought about by the action of the contents of the tins upon the metal and solder of the latter. The evidence available does not show that a majority of the cases could be put down to this cause alone; but it must be admitted that the evidence is in most instances of an unsatisfactory and inconclusive character. It has become a somewhat too common custom to put forward the view that so‐called “ptomaine” poisoning is the cause of the mischief; and this upon very insufficient evidence. While there is no doubt that the presence in tinned goods of some poisonous products of decomposition or organic change very frequently gives rise to dangerous illness, so little is known of the chemical nature and of the physiological effects of “ptomaines” that to obtain conclusive evidence is in all cases most difficult, and in many, if not in most, quite impossible. A study of the subject leads to the conclusion that both ptomaine poisoning and metallic poisoning—also of an obscure kind—have, either separately or in conjunction, produced the effects from time to time reported. In view of the many outbreaks of illness, and especially, of course, of the deaths which have been attributed to the eating of bad tinned foods it is of the utmost importance that some more stringent control than that which can be said to exist at present should be exercised over the preparation and sale of tinned goods. In Holland some two or three years ago, in consequence partly of the fact that, after eating tinned food, about seventy soldiers were attacked by severe illness at the Dutch manœuvres, the attention of the Government was drawn to the matter by Drs. VAN HAMEL ROOS and HARMENS, who advocated the use of enamel for coating tins. It appears that an enamel of special manufacture is now extensively used in Holland by the manfacturers of the better qualities of tinned food, and that the use of such enamelled tins is insisted upon for naval and military stores. This is a course which might with great advantage be followed in this country. While absolute safety may not be attainable, adequate steps should be taken to prevent the use of damaged, inferior or improper materials, to enforce cleanliness, and to ensure the adoption of some better system of canning.