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Advertising intensity is treated either as a resource that allows firms to create competitive advantages (intangible asset view) or as an investment to build advertising resource (investment expense view). This current research supports the investment expense view. The authors do so by examining the moderating role of firm age (a proxy for knowledge) in the relationship between advertising intensity and performance as well as the influence of cultural communication styles on this moderation.

Secondary data were collected from multiple sources. With a sample of 262 companies from 10 countries (149 firms from high-context cultures and 113 firms from low-context cultures), ordinary least squares was used to estimate the regression coefficients to test the hypotheses. An instrumental variable approach with two-stage least squares estimates was used to address an endogeneity bias. Average industry advertising intensity excluding the focal firm was used as an instrumental variable.

The findings demonstrate that firm age significantly moderates the advertising intensity/performance relationship, but this moderation is only significant in high-context cultures. These findings imply that firms within high-context cultures must continually invest in advertising expenditures, while firms in low-context cultures may not need to do so to increase performance.

The results of this study provide insight into the debate of whether advertising expenditures boost performance, as well as provide international marketing managers with a clearer picture on how to invest in advertising within their respective markets.

A majority of the studies that examine the advertising intensity/performance link rely solely on the resource-based view. The authors utilize a multi-theoretical perspective to provide a fine-grained understanding of this relationship. Moreover, the authors apply the investment expense view to examine advertising intensity as an investment to build advertising resources, rather than a resource. This investment must be incorporated with the knowledge to properly employ the investment to develop advertising resources. Further, the authors find that firms expanding into high-context cultures must devote more effort into developing advertising capabilities to properly employ advertising resources than firms in low-context cultures.

Using a meta-regression analysis, we quantitatively review the empirical literature on the relation between effective tax rate (ETR) and firm size. Accounting literature offers two competing theories on this relation: The political cost theory, suggesting a positive size-ETR relation, and the political power theory, suggesting a negative size-ETR relation. Using a unique data set of 56 studies that do not show a clear tendency towards either of the two theories, we contribute to the discussion on the size-ETR relation in three ways: First, applying meta-regression analysis on a US meta-data set, we provide evidence supporting the political cost theory. Second, our analysis reveals factors that are possible sources of variation and bias in previous empirical studies; these findings can improve future empirical and analytical models. Third, we extend our analysis to a cross-country meta-data set; this extension enables us to investigate explanations for the two competing theories in more detail. We find that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, a transparency index and a corruption index explain variation in the size-ETR relation. Independent of the two theories, we also find that tax planning aspects potentially affect the size-ETR relation. To our knowledge, these explanations have not yet been investigated in our research context.

Despite the relevance of financial information relating to logistics service providers (LSPs), recent research has paid little attention to the financial analysis of LSPs. The aim of this paper is to examine the balance sheet structure of LSPs in order to find out if there are differences between single providers or defined LSP groups (clusters), respectively. Furthermore, the dependency of asset, capital and liquidity structures on LSPs specific characteristics is pointed out. Finally, we show which financial indicators positively influence profitability.

A total of 150 quoted LSPs from all over the world, allocated to six different clusters depending on scope of service were examined. A detailed balance sheet analysis using contingency theory, complemented by a correlation analysis, provides information about the financial structure, similarities and differences within and in-between the LSP clusters.

It was found that there are many differences regarding the financial structures of LSPs. The asset and liquidity structure of LSPs show significant differences, while the capital structure is mostly homogeneous. Profitability is achieved in various ways: Focusing on high net profit margin or asset turnover rates.

Only quoted LSPs are analyzed. With this broad research approach the authors point out the range of possibilities for financial statement analysis of LSPs and demonstrate the potential for future research.

Financial analysis yields information for making strategic decisions including organic growth, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions or cooperation between LSPs.

This paper contributes to further performance examinations of LSPs by providing a profound financial statement analysis with potential benefits for logistics executives, analysts and researchers.

Cost behaviour literature is expanding its reach beyond developed economies; however, there is limited knowledge about its causes in emerging economies. This is an exploratory study of sticky costs behaviour determinants in Argentina, a country with periodic political and economic turbulence. The purpose of this paper is to test the effect of GDP, asset intensity, industry and cost type in an inflationary context.

Anderson et al. (2003) empirical regression (ABJ model) is replicated in Argentina with 667 observations from 96 firms between the years 2004 and 2012. It uses panel data and variables are defined as change rates between two periods. The sample excludes financial and insurance firms. It tests if sticky cost behaviour changes in periods of macroeconomic deceleration, or in firms belonging to industries with different asset intensity levels, or among different cost types.

The analysis shows that costs are sticky in Argentina, where a superb economic outlook is required to delay cutting resources or increasing costs. Cost behaviour is affected by social and cultural factors, such as labour inflexibility driven by powerful unions and not by protective employment laws, asset intensity (industry) and macroeconomic environment. Results suggest that costs are sticky for aggregate samples, but not for all subsamples.

Administrative costs are sticky when GDP grows; but when growth declines, managers or firms do not delay cost cutting actions. Some subsamples are extreme cases of stickiness while others are anti-sticky, casting some doubt on the usefulness of sticky costs empirical tests applied to country-wide samples. Careful selection of observations for sticky costs studies in emerging economies is critical.

Evidence from previous studies show that on average costs are remarkably sticky in Argentina; this study shows that cost reduction activities occur faster but are not persistent enough to change the aggregated long-term results of cost stickiness in the presence of moderate to high inflation. The study contributes to the literature by suggesting that observations used in sticky costs studies from emerging economies might be mainly from positive macroeconomic environments, might have skewed results due to extreme cases of stickiness or might be distorted by inflation.

This study empirically investigates the significance of the core competencies on various economic performance indices by utilizing accounting and market-based performance in Chinese and South Korean leading manufacturing companies.

This research employs a series of hierarchical regression models to test the hypotheses concerning the significance of R&D and export strategy on firms' performance.

This study finds that R&D intensity and foreign trade activities through export are most likely to be significantly associated with firm performance, particularly market-based performance, across the Chinese and South Korea manufacturing companies. The significance of other core strategic factors such as capital intensity, leverage, inventory turnover, labor productivity, administrative cost efficiency, and collection policy on performance was also contemplated.

The relationship between R&D and firm performance has been an interesting issue concerning the performance measures employed across different country settings. Research issues addressed in this paper relate to how R&D, and foreign trade by export influence firm performance across two diverse economic environments inherent of Chinese and South Korean leading manufacturing firms. Particularly, this study explores the directions and magnitudes of the operational and strategic relationships between key strategic factors, such as R&D intensity, export by foreign trade, and the firm's economic and market-based performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the incentives for fixed asset revaluation. The motives that are investigated include firm size, fixed asset intensity, firm foreign operations and acquisitions, firm indebtedness and earnings management inclination.

The study utilises logistic and linear regressions to test the hypothetical relations set up in the study. The categorisation of sample companies into those that perform asset revaluations and those that do not is based on the examination of firms’ annual reports.

The findings of the study provide evidence that firm size is positively related to fixed asset revaluation. Firms with foreign operations, with low fixed assets, and with high debt capital needs are more likely to perform fixed asset revaluations. This is also the case for firms that carry out acquisitions. The study also shows that fixed asset revaluation is negatively related to earnings management.

Firms that revalue their fixed assets should examine the signals that are likely to be conveyed to investors about their managerial ability and financial prospects. Firms would tend to revalue their fixed assets when it is likely to result in maximum favourable financial consequences. Future research should investigate the possible opportunism in firms’ behaviour, as well as the stock market reaction to fixed asset revaluations.

The paper is useful for investors and financial analysts, as it sheds light on the motives for fixed asset revaluations. The reporting of asset values based on fair values would assist them in making unbiased predictions about firms’ future performance. The paper gives insight about the financial attributes of firms that perform fixed asset revaluations. For example, firms with capital needs would be inclined to undertake a fixed asset revaluation in order to reinforce their financial position.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between organizational capital and the subsets of organizational capital (intellectual capital (IC)) cost and cost stickiness.

This study is causal correlational research. The data related to the company’s financial statements were collected using the Rahavard Novin Software and www.rdis.ir. In this study, panel data were run with the use of Eviews 8, in order to test the hypotheses. The ordinary least-squares method is used in this study to estimate the parameters of the model.

The results obtained from the study show that there is a significant relationship between organizational capital and cost stickiness. However, there is no significant difference between high and low rank in terms of organizational capital and cost stickiness. In addition, there is a significant difference between IC and cost stickiness. Moreover, there is no significant difference between the components of IC and cost stickiness. Also, IC has an effect on the intensity of the relationship between organizational capital and cost stickiness.

This study explores the relationship between organizational capital and the subsets of IC and cost stickiness. Independent variables used in this study include organizational capital, IC and its components in the Pulic model, i.e. the efficiency of capital employed, the efficiency of human capital and the efficiency of structural capital.

This study examines the influence of corporate real estate (CRE) on shareholder value using two value‐based measures: economic value added (EVA) and market value added (MVA). We find that CRE has impacted negatively on non‐real estate firms' EVA and MVA in the period 1997‐2001. This happens for the non‐real estate corporations from different industries. Further, the higher the real estate asset intensity, the greater the negative impact on the firms' EVA and MVA. Our results have important implications for the traditional notion that there is a competitive advantage in owning CRE by diversified conglomerates. Specifically, more studies are needed to explore and compare the main reasons and motivations as to why Asian non‐real estate firms are still more involved with real estate activities than their counterparts in Europe and USA even though ownership of CRE appears to destroy shareholders' wealth.

The proportion of real estate in a non‐property company’s asset portfolio has increased to an extent where it has become an asset capable of enhancing corporate wealth. This initial study hopes to establish the foundation and provide background information on corporate real estate holding profiles of listed Singapore business firms. Using financial statement data and firm market values from 1987 to 1996, this paper provides an analysis of real estate holdings in both absolute and relative terms. Real estate holdings by business segment and asset subtype, growth in corporate real estate holdings over time; and key financial characteristics of corporate real estate (eg real estate as a percentage of shareholders’ equity and real estate relative to market value of the firm) are included in the paper.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether innovation effort is lower for firms exhibiting signs of higher chief executive officer (CEO) dominance and whether such CEOs can be incentivized to pursue risky ventures such as innovation projects in line with shareholder's interests that are geared toward the long-term growth of the firm.

The paper utilizes panel data of US publicly listed companies (2007–2016) to address the influence of CEO dominance on firm innovation effort and the moderating effects of incentives in this relationship through ordinary least squares (OLS) estimations. A two-stage least squares (2SLS) technique is also employed to address possible endogeneity. As a robustness check, further analysis is conducted utilizing an alternative proxy for CEO incentive as well as Tobit analysis (with panel-level random effects).

Results from both OLS and Tobit estimations offer two key findings. First, there is a significantly negative relationship between CEO pay slice and firm research and development (R&D) intensity. Second, the interaction effect of CEO incentives and CEO dominance is significant and positive.

When provided with the right incentives, such as those that reward long-term performance, dominant CEOs can be incentivized to go after risky ventures like innovation projects that are crucial to promoting the long-term growth of the firm.

This paper utilizes R&D instead of patent outputs as proxies for innovation where the former enables studying R&D efforts for more recent periods compared to prior studies that utilize patent data.