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The United States (US) sugar program protects domestic sugar farmers from unrestricted imports of heavily-subsidized global sugar. Sugar-using firms (SUFs) criticize that program for causing US sugar prices to be higher than world sugar prices. This study examines the financial performance of publicly traded SUFs to determine if they are performing at an economic disadvantage in terms of accounting profitability, risk and economic profitability compared to other industries.

Firm-level financial accounting and market data from 2010 to 2019 were utilized to construct financial metrics for publicly traded SUFs, agribusinesses and general US firms. These financial metrics were analyzed to determine how SUFs compare to their agribusiness peer group and general US companies. The comprehensive financial analysis in this study covers: (1) accounting profit rates, (2) drivers of profitability, (3) economic profit rates, (4) trend analysis and (5) peer comparisons. Quantile regression analysis and Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney statistics are employed for statistical comparisons.

Regarding various profitability and risk measures, SUFs outperform their agribusiness peers and the general benchmark of all US firms in terms of accounting profit rates, risk levels and economic profit rates. Furthermore, compared to other US industries using the 17 French and Fama classifications, SUFs have the highest return on investment and economic profit rate―measured by the Economic Value Added® margin―and the second-lowest opportunity cost of capital, measured by the weighted average cost of capital.

This study finds nothing to suggest that the US sugar program hinders the financial success of SUFs, contrary to recent claims by sugar-using firms. Notably in this analysis is the evaluation of economic profit rates and a series of robustness techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financial factors across multiple levels of analysis that influence the performance effects of the unrelated diversification strategy, including institutional-, industry- and firm-levels.

Using a unique panel dataset of Italian firms from 1980 to 2010, the paper tests hypotheses on how industry external financial dependence and the firm's financial constraints both separately and jointly alter the performance benefits of unrelated diversification in contexts with financial market inefficiencies.

Unrelated diversification increases performance in weak financial contexts and such positive effect is enhanced by greater industry external financial dependence and greater firm financial constraints. However, as financial markets develop, the moderating effects of firm financial constraints shrink.

The study highlights the importance of recognizing the multiple financial contingencies that may alter the benefits of the unrelated diversification strategy, suggesting caution in its pursuit to boost firm performance.

The authors develop a theoretical framework that explains the performance outcomes of unrelated diversification, linking the benefits of an internal capital market (ICM) with the financial context of the firm and offering a fine-grained analysis that moves beyond the advanced/emerging economy dichotomy. Furthermore, leveraging on the unprecedented time frame of the empirical analysis, the paper highlights the crucial role of industry- and firm-level financial contingencies and demonstrates that their effects change at varying levels of development of the financial context.

Surprisingly little is known of the various methods of security analysis used by financial analysts with industry-specific knowledge. Financial analysts’ industry knowledge is a favored and appreciated attribute by fund managers and institutional investors. Understanding analysts’ use of industry-specific valuation models, which are the main value drivers within different industries, will enhance our understanding of important aspects of value creation in these industries. This paper contributes to the broader understanding of how financial analysts in various industries approach valuation, offering insights that can be beneficial to a wide range of stakeholders in the financial market.

This paper systematically reviews existing research to consolidate the current understanding of analysts’ use of valuation models and factors. It aims to demystify what can often be seen as a “black box”, shedding light on the valuation tools employed by financial analysts across diverse industries.

The use of industry-specific valuation models and factors by analysts is a subject of considerable interest to both academics and investors. The predominant model in several industries is P/E, with some exceptions. Notably, EV/EBITDA is favored in the telecom, energy and materials sectors, while the capital goods industry primarily relies on P/CF. In the REITs sector, P/AFFO is the most commonly employed model. In specific sectors like pharmaceuticals, energy and telecom, DCF is utilized. However, theoretical models like RIM and AEG find limited use among analysts.

This is the first paper systematically reviewing the research on analyst’s use of industry-specific stock valuation methods. It serves as a foundation for future research in this field and is likely to be of interest to academics, analysts, fund managers and investors.

The purpose of this study is to address a significant gap in the understanding of entrepreneurship at the microfoundation level. It focuses on how individual entrepreneurs, specifically Hongbang entrepreneurs in China from 1896 to 1949, shape and transform their contexts. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that facilitate entrepreneurial success.

The study adopts a microhistorical approach, investigating the case of Hongbang entrepreneurs in China during 1896-1949. It involves an in-depth examination of historical records to explore the strategic interactions between these entrepreneurs and core stakeholders such as consumers, financial intermediaries, government regulators, and human resources. The research methodology emphasizes a process-oriented view, examining the evolution of personalized networks into extensive connections.

The research reveals that Hongbang entrepreneurs successfully reshaped their unfavorable embedded contexts by strategically collaborating with key stakeholders. They influenced consumer tastes, allied with financial intermediaries, negotiated with governments on regulation policies, and developed human resource stocks. The transformation was facilitated by the evolution of their networks from personalized to extensive connections. These findings highlight the localized strategies such as cronyism in resource acquisition within China’s private property development industry.

This study contributes to the field by offering insights into entrepreneurial contextualization and networking. It sheds light on the complex interplay between entrepreneurs and their contexts, providing a nuanced understanding of localized strategies in the Chinese context. The findings add value to the discourse on entrepreneurship by elucidating the strategic and processual acts through which entrepreneurs engage with stakeholders and reshape their environments.

This study aims to explore how the absorptive capacity of emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) facilitates increased acquirer performance in industry exploration and technology exploration cross-border acquisitions (CBAs).

The research context for this study is Brazilian EMNEs and their CBAs. The final database contains 101 CBAs.

The authors find that industry exploration strategies negatively affect financial performance, but technology exploration strategies have a positive effect. The acquirer’s absorptive capacity can exacerbate the negative effects, except in instances of technology exploration strategies, where there is a demonstrable benefit from the acquirer’s absorptive capacity.

The study contributes first by providing a more nuanced understanding of the effects of absorptive capacity on postacquisition performance, depending on the type of knowledge explored. Second, by drawing on EMNE learning perspectives, the authors demonstrate the versatility of absorptive capacity in emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of cyberfraud in the South African banks with the aim to provide recommendations to effectively mitigate it.

The study uses a qualitative approach involving the use of structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were made available to the staff of 17 licensed banks in South Africa who deal with management, operation, administration and banking services. Two hypotheses were formulated and non-parametric statistical analyses involving the use of Chi-square test, Fischer’s Exact test and Spearman’s correlation were carried out. The two hypotheses formulated were tested to draw a conclusion.

The results obtained indicate that the impact of cyberfraud in the South African banking industry is highly significant and has affected the reputation of some of the banks. This calls for the need to review the diverse ways of curbing cyberfraud to lessen their impact and that of associated fraud risks on the banking operation.

This study provides an analysis on the relationship cyberfraud occurrences and the reputation of South African banks. The implementation of the recommendations may reinforce the existing security measures in the fight against cyberfraud.

The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the assessment of the impact of cyberfraud on the banking industry in South Africa has not been sufficiently highlighted by the existing literature.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of some internal features that influence the efficiency of non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Bangladesh.

The study selected the top 15 Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)-listed NBFIs according to purposive sampling. The study period was from 2016 to 2020. Secondary data were collected from annual reports. The cost-to-income ratio was a dependent variable that was used as a proxy of operational efficiency. The ordinary least square regression technique was applied to measure the impact of firm-specific factors on efficiency.

Results showed that number of employees, branch number, firm size and deposit ratio have a significant effect on efficiency at 5% level. The number of branches and employees showed a negative impact, whereas firm size and deposit ratio showed a positive effect on the firms' efficiency. The deposit ratio is negatively related because deposit interest expenses were more than offset by interest income generation through the conversion of deposits into loans.

The study has practical and policy implications on NBFIs' managers, employees, shareholders, depositors, clients, regulatory authorities and government as efficiency enhancement would bring financial soundness.

This study shed light on some firm-specific factors that can be changed to increase operational efficiency or reduce the cost-to-income ratio. The novelty of the study is that it identified some significant associations between firm-specific factors and the operational efficiency of NBFIs.

Literature on entrepreneurial finance has long overcome the view of an investor as a sole provider of financial capital. Entrepreneurs need to consider more aspects when deciding on an investor. Especially the depiction of corporate venture capital (CVC) investors has long highlighted advantages and disadvantages compared to independent VC (IVC) investors. The authors investigate what drives entrepreneurs' preferences for CVC relative to IVC and thereby focus on two key issues in the entrepreneur's consideration – the role of resource requirements and exit strategies.

The data were collected in an online survey that gathered information on several characteristics of entrepreneurs and their ventures. The resulting data set of 105 German entrepreneurs was analyzed using logistic regression and revealed important drivers for entrepreneurs' investor preferences.

The study’s findings confirm that the venture's resource needs, specifically the need for marketing resources and access to the corporate network, which play a significant role in the decision on whether a CVC or IVC investor is preferred. Moreover, the analysis debunks the hypothesis that entrepreneurs view a CVC investment as the first step toward acquisition. However, those entrepreneurs striving for an IPO are less likely to prefer CVC.

The study expands the literature on CVC attractiveness and specifically considers the entrepreneurs' intentions and needs. The results confirm but also debunk some widespread perceptions about why entrepreneurs choose to pursue financing from a CVC investor.

This paper aims to investigate the pricing of discretionary earnings in South Africa. This is a unique setting, as South African listed firms also report mandatory non-GAAP earnings (“headline earnings”).

Results are based on multivariate regression analyses for South African firms that report from 2010 to 2019.

Findings show that the value-relevance of discretionary earnings exceeds that of both GAAP earnings and headline earnings. In addition, placement of discretionary earnings reconciliations communicates information about the decision-usefulness of earnings.

Discretionary earnings remain the most value-relevant earnings measure, despite the divergent decision-useful characteristics offered by headline earnings and GAAP earnings. Therefore, the most decision-useful earnings reflect unique industry or firm characteristics rather than the assurance arising from regulation.

This article describes financial professionals' perceptions of their clients' financial behaviors and the explanatory factors underlying these behaviors.

In this qualitative research, the authors seek to understand financial professionals' experiences in relation to how their clients manage their own finances. The authors conduct and analyze 26 semi-structured interviews with financial professionals from several industries within the financial sector in Canada.

The professionals in this study noted that despite their clients' financial knowledge, several other factors can explain these individuals' financial behaviors. They include psychological factors (such as financial bias, the need for instant gratification, and the lack of awareness regarding the long-term effects of certain types of financial behaviors), financial habits (such as lifestyle, financial planning and lack of discipline) and the financial system's flexibility with respect to debt financing and repayment. These perceptions are categorized according to whether they are related to debt financing or repayment, savings or investments.

By using a qualitative methodology that relies on the perceptions of financial professionals, this study aims to better understand the financial behaviors of individuals and households, and these behaviors' underlying factors. This study's findings could be useful to various stakeholders interested, in one way or another, in financial literacy, such as organizations aiming to strengthen and promote financial literacy, educators, researchers, regulatory bodies of financial institutions and financial advisers.