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This study aims to analyze why listed Taiwanese firms uniquely rejected the early adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in 2012. It investigates the underlying decision-making processes behind this policy reluctance to further understand the continuous phenomenon of rare voluntary IFRS adoption.

It reports on fieldwork evidence obtained in situ by in-depth interviewing in Mandarin. It uses qualitative methods, complemented by quantitative cost-benefit metrics of IFRS adoption. It presents five diverse illustrative case-study vignettes, using a judgment sample based on expert opinion.

While the net-benefits of implementing IFRS varied across firms, this study’s unanimous finding was that no firms (in the sample or population) adopted IFRS early, despite stated intentions to the contrary. The key reasons for shunning early IFRS adoption were found to be frequent changes in regulations, insufficient benefits from adopting IFRS and the undermining of comparability across companies, compounded with scarce preparation time. Further, this study found that the Taiwanese accounting regulator’s reluctance toward IFRS adoption, partly caused by a long-standing US influence, contributed to this anomalous outcome.

This study recommends two critical policy changes: more realistic timelines and less frequent regulatory changes.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the reasons behind the anomaly of no early adoption of IFRS in Taiwan, using new primary data and illustrative case studies. Its novelty lies in extending understanding beyond the existing quantitative literature on accounting standards, using new “thick” qualitative evidence on motives for such choices and decision-making processes, which have been neglected in previous work.

There are many accepted ways in which the economist may look at the business enterprise, each of which involves a different blend of theory and empirical evidence. Unfortunately, one gets the impression that many microeconomists have had no direct contact with firms: their experience of the very object on which some lavish such intricate mathematical analysis is entirely second‐hand. Happily, such isolation from the proper object of analysis, the firm, is by no means typical of the history of economic analysis. Adam Smith, the founder of modern economics, was well acquainted with the business community of Glasgow. He was on good terms with the leading merchants of the day including, most notably, Provost Andrew Cochrane who assisted Smith in the acquisition of statistical and institutional information later to be used the The Wealth of Nations. Alfred Marshall too had a serious concern for the realities of business activity. In 1885 he made an extended visit to the United States which took him into many factories and provided the basis for his paper “Some Features of American Industry”. Even ten years later “his zeal for field work remained unimpaired”, and the months of August and September saw Marshall undertaking extensive tours of English mines and factories. One hundred years later, one notices scarcely any enthusiasm on the part of economists for fieldwork of the sort that would take them into the business enterprise. A welcome sign of the possibility that this parlous state may yet be modified is contained in an article by Lawson, where it is argued that “more resources should be allocated, and attention paid, to the results of forms of case‐study, to personal histories, and to the study of primary sources. At the very least a re‐evaluation of research priorities and methods may be in order”. Such an attitude is in sympathy with the line of argument pursued in this article.

This paper reports on the importance and use of information technology in a sample of 150 new small firms. It provides statistical evidence to show that the greater the use of IT, the higher the firm’s performance. By contrast, the owner manager’s belief in the importance of IT to the management of their business is not correlated with performance. Empirical evidence is then presented to confirm that IT use is increasing, in general, year on year, and is being implemented as a management information tool. Finally, a profile is presented of the typical components of a young management information system, within the context of a management accounting framework. It is suggested that, given the proven importance of IT to the new small firm, a management information system should be developed that takes advantage of the opportunities offered by new technology, and that this, in turn, should lead to enhanced performance.

This chapter aims to review evidence of the relationships between dog ownership, dog walking and overall walking and the factors associated with dog walking. It reviews the evidence using a social ecological framework. The chapter finds that dog ownership and dog walking are associated with higher levels of walking. A number of social ecological factors are associated with dog walking. Motivation and social support provided by the dog to walk and a sense of responsibility to walk the dog are associated with higher levels of dog walking. Positive social pressure from family, friends, dog owners and veterinarians is also associated with higher levels of dog walking. Built and policy environmental characteristics influence dog walking, including dog-specific factors such as access to local attractive public open space with dog-supportive features (off-leash, dog waste bags, trash cans, signage), pet-friendly destinations (cafes, transit, workplaces, accommodation) and local laws that support dog walking. Large-scale intervention studies are required to determine the effect of increased dog walking on overall walking levels. Experimental study designs, such as natural and quasi-experiments, are needed to provide stronger evidence for causal associations between the built and policy environments and dog walking. Given the potential of dog walking to increase population-levels of walking, urban, park and recreational planners need to design neighbourhood environments that are supportive of dog walking and other physical activity. Advocacy for dog walking policy-relevant initiatives are needed to support dog walking friendly environments. Health promotion practitioners should make dog walking a key strategy in social marketing campaigns.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the relationship between the uses of budgets with financial performance in start-ups’ business environment. For this reason, an empirical survey was carried out, using a questionnaire in 134 start-up companies, which are based in 10 different European countries. Results show that there is a positive association between the use of budgets for planning, resource allocation and performance evaluation with financial performance. The CEO’s business educational background, as well as CEO’s beliefs about planning, has a strong influence in the use of budgets in start-up firms. We also concluded that there is a positive association between perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) and the use of budgets for planning and resource allocation and a negative association between PEU and the use of budgets for performance evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the growth and viability of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 (L. rhamnosus GR-1) in carrot juice (CJ), carrot apple juice (CAJ), carrot orange juice (COJ) and carrot beet juice (CBJ) over 72 h of fermentation and 30 days of refrigerated storage at 4°C. The secondary objective is to evaluate sensory properties.

Four vegetable juice samples were inoculated with the probiotic strain L. rhamnosus GR-1 and fermented for 72 h. To observe the samples’ storage ability, the samples were refrigerated for 30 days. Microbial enumeration was conducted throughout the fermentation and storage periods to determine the viability of L. rhamnosus GR-1. Sensory evaluation with 106 participants was also conducted to assess the consumer acceptability of the vegetable juices.

All tested samples achieved mean microbial counts of at least 109 CFU/ml. During the 72-h fermentation period significant differences in microbial counts in juices CJ (p = 0.001), CAJ (p = 0.031), COJ (p = 0.047) and CBJ (p = 0.001) were observed. Over the 30-day storage period, significant differences in microbial counts were only found in juices CJ (p = 0.001) and COJ (p = 0.019). A significant decline in pH (p = 0.001) was also observed during 72 h of fermentation and 30-days of cold storage. Sensory evaluation of all juices showed significant differences in sensory attributes such as appearance (p = 0.001), flavour (p = 0.001), texture (p = 0.001) and overall acceptability (p = 0.001). Sensory results showed that the probiotic CBJ and CJ had the highest hedonic scores for flavour, texture and overall acceptability (p = 0.001) among participants. This study demonstrated that non-dairy vegetable juices could be an alternative to dairy-based probiotic products.

Commercially available probiotic dairy-based foods make up a large sector of the consumer market. However, the growing consumer interest in healthful eating has led to an increased demand for plant-based products. The probiotic L. rhamnosus GR-1 provides numerous therapeutic benefits, such as reducing the recurrence of bacterial vaginosis, yeast and urinary tract infections. The results of this study may have a significant influence on the health of individuals, especially in less economically developed countries.

Notwithstanding the relevance of managerial control systems (MCS) in any organization, as well the distinctive role they can play in family business, due to its specific features, the literature rarely dealt with the role and characteristics of MCS in family business. Taking into account previous contributions from different disciplines (organization, management accounting, and family business), the current work aims to better understand the state of the art about research in the field of MCS in family business in order to identify main research gaps and propose future research directions.

Forty-five articles have been analyzed, which were issued in 29 sources. Research findings show that the literature on MCS in family business is limited and not very conclusive. Some authors focused on the type of controls, other authors outlined the role of MCS in managerialization and the relation with professionalization. A few studies focused on some specific mechanisms, especially strategic planning and compensation. Some contributes dealt with MCS’ determinants and impacts. Differences between family and non-family firms were proposed. However, a clear and organized picture of the features of MCS in family firms, their determinants, and impacts has not yet been developed. Particularly, the impact of the distinctive features of family business on MCS represents an underdeveloped research field along with how MCS can be differently developed and used in different kinds of family firms. In the light of findings of the literature review, we propose a reference research framework on MCS in family business.

Purpose – Over the last 15 years, research provided insight into several firm- and country-level determinants of asymmetric cost behavior. Their implicit premise builds on rational trade-off decisions between holding costs of idle resources and adjustment costs. The authors build upon these findings and establish an irrational component – sunlight-induced managerial mood.

Methodology/approach – The authors rely on the established cross-sectional model of asymmetric cost behavior to investigate short-term resource adjustment decisions and extend it by an exogenous proxy for managerial mood (i.e., daily sunshine hours per US county-year).

Findings – Beyond rational trade-off and planning decisions, the authors provide large-sample evidence on the influence of irrational mood on cost decisions. In accordance with research in psychology showing that higher serotine levels, attributable to sunlight, contribute to happiness and optimism, the results suggest that sunlight-induced mood increases the level of asymmetric cost behavior. Managers from firms headquartered in counties with a higher level of sunlight less likely react to a decrease in sales by reducing idle resources. Instead, they seem to be more optimistic about future demand conditions and, thus, more inclined to “sit out” downturns in firm activity until sales recover.

Research limitations/implications – Although the mood proxy is truly exogenous in the setting, the authors are unable to establish causality as the actual cost management decisions could not be observed directly. Moreover, the analyses are limited to the county level, whereas weather undoubtedly oftentimes exhibits intra-county variation.

Originality/value – This study is the first to establish an irrational antecedent of managerial resource adjustment decisions, which adds to the cost stickiness literature by demonstrating the important role of deliberate managerial decisions for corporate cost behavior.