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This article examines the relationship between the cash conversion cycle (CCC) and profitability in countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The authors used dynamic panel methodology to analyze a dataset consisting of 395 firms from nonfinancial sectors in the MENA countries from 2013 to 2018. The authors developed several models consisting of different measures of profitability, CCC and the components of CCC. The control variables were used in the models at different levels.

The results bring out a significantly positive relationship between the CCC and profitability. However, mixed results have been obtained for industry and country details. The quadratic model revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship and the presence of an optimal point of CCC. The robustness checks have confirmed the results of the main models.

The results of the study imply that corporate managers and policymakers ought to pay equal attention to the components of CCC when developing working capital policies and be aware of the optimal level of CCC.

This paper handles the endogeneity problem that is inherent in the relationship. It investigates and confirms the nonlinear characteristics of the relationship. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to use dynamic panel models to examine the CCC and its relationship with profitability in the MENA context.

This article investigated whether the executives' compensation and corporate governance attributes are aligned with stakeholders' demands for higher corporate voluntary disclosures. Moreover, the study also examined the moderating role of the auditor's reputation in the direction of association among executive compensation, corporate governance attributes, and voluntary disclosures.

The study used a sample of S&P BSE index constituents' 90 Indian firms for 2017–2019. The voluntary disclosure scores were fetched from the India Disclosure Index Report published by FTI Consulting. This analysis was carried out in two parts by applying four panel-data regression models in the agency and signalling theories framework. First, the study examined the association between executive compensation, board strength, composition, gender diversity, and voluntary disclosures. Second, the article investigated the moderating role of the “Big 4” in the direction of association among executive compensation, corporate governance attributes, and voluntary disclosures.

The willingness of executives to share private information with stakeholders depends on the compensation they receive from their employer. The higher compensation paid to executives leads to a higher “tone from the top,” which is better aligned with stakeholder interests. Further, the research also found that bigger board sizes, a higher proportion of independent and woman directors (indicators of good governance), and an auditor's reputation are associated with increased voluntary disclosure.

The findings showed that the executives' compensation and corporate governance attributes are aligned with stakeholders' demand for higher voluntary information from firms. Moreover, the study also found that the “Big 4” play a moderating role in this direction. The choice of a reputed auditor indicates the firms' long-term positive future perspectives, which strengthens investor confidence in the financial market.

The study suggests that fair executive compensation can address the agency problem.

This research furnishes managers and different stakeholders with significant implications of executives' compensation, corporate governance, and auditor's reputation in the best interests of a firm through reducing potential risks of information asymmetry.

This study aims to explore the internationalization of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from China and aims to examine the relationship between Chinese MNEs’ duration of internationalization and export intensity, and the contingent roles of the home country government.

By extending the springboard theory with institutional and cost-benefit analyses, the authors elaborate a two-phase framework of internationalization to explain how Chinese MNEs develop their international business under the influences of the home country government. Furthermore, the authors apply the Heckman two-stage method based on a panel data set of 19,994 firm-year observations of Chinese listed firms in 2008–2018 to test the hypotheses.

The research findings demonstrate an inverted U-shape relationship between the duration of internationalization and the export intensity of MNEs from China. The export intensity of MNEs from China increases during the initial phase of internationalization, and decreases during the subsequent. A further study reveals that the inverted U-shape of Chinese non-SOEs is steeper than that of SOEs, and this moderating effect is more salient after the Belt and Road Initiative. These results highlight the influence of the home government through state ownership and policies on the inverted U-shaped relationship.

This study helps to refine the understanding of Chinese MNEs’ global expansion by addressing time as an explicit dimension and revealing the mechanism of state ownership and the home country governmental policy in the dynamic internationalization process.

This study aims to improve the automatic leveling performance of tractor body in hilly and mountainous areas by designing a kind of controllable and adaptive leveling mechanism of tractor body.

The mechanism is mainly composed of longitudinal slope leveling mechanism, transverse slope leveling mechanism and control components. According to the tractor body attitude in operation, the longitudinal slope leveling and lateral slope leveling can coordinate to realize the adaptive adjustment of tractor body. For this mechanism, the support mode of the linear three-point support and plane positioning combining is designed, and the leveling method of electromechanical combination is designed. The servo motor controls the longitudinal slope leveling mechanism through the reducer with self-locking function to realize the longitudinal leveling, and the servo driver controls the expansion and contraction of electric cylinder to realize lateral leveling. The designed mode can realize the relative independence and coordination of leveling in different directions.

The performance test results of the leveling mechanism are shown: the mechanism can work normally; the leveling accuracy can reach within 1°; and the leveling accuracy and stability can meet the design requirements. The leveling accuracy and stability of longitudinal slope are higher than that of lateral slope, and the coordination leveling effect of longitudinal slope and lateral slope is better than that of the independent leveling.

This study provides a technical reference for the design of leveling device of agricultural machines and tools in hilly and mountainous areas.

Studies on sustainable finance examine how it is interrelated with economic, social, governance and environmental issues. Using financial data on publicly traded firms in Indonesia, this study aims to explore the interplay between the cost of capital, firm performance and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study uses firm-level data sets of publicly listed firms from 2012 to 2021. The regression analysis reported in the study includes the Driscoll–Kraay estimator, propensity score matching model and fixed-effects regression.

The study revealed three significant findings. First, on average, non-environmental, social and governance (ESG) companies’ cost of capital is lower than that of ESG firms. Second, ROE in ESG enterprises is significantly impacted by capital costs. Third, the cost of capital has a negative impact on the market value (Tobin’s q) of non-ESG firms. The study specifically shows that after accounting for the pandemic, ESG firms did not benefit during the troubled COVID-19 crisis after controlling for the pandemic dummy years of 2020 and 2021. These results indicate that the adoption of green or sustainable finance is still in its infancy and that the sector requires more time to establish an enabling environment.

This study benefits from capital structure and ESG theories. It supports the argument that the debt utilization ratio is still relevant to a company’s value because it affects its financial performance. Moreover, adopting ESG principles helps businesses survive crises. Thus, the analysis confirms the superiority of ESG-based firms.

This study draws two conclusions. First, the results could be a reference for academics and practitioners to understand the effect of pandemic-related crises on a firm’s capital structure and performance. In terms of survival during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, this study demonstrates how firms with strong ESG may perform differently than those without ESG. Second, this study supports the need for an empirical study and examination of the development of sustainable finance in the country while considering setbacks.

The results should be of interest to policymakers who focus on the ESG market and academics conducting ESG-related research on emerging markets.

This study contributes to the literature by establishing empirical evidence on the relationship between the cost of capital and firm performance of ESG- and non-ESG-rated enterprises in the Indonesian setting while controlling for the impact of the pandemic.

Emerging market multinational companies have been vigorous in pursuing inorganic growth through cross-border acquisitions (CBAs). The fundamental studies till now have portrayed that rapid internationalization through CBAs tends to create value for these emerging market firms (EMFs) in the short term. However, there is an ambiguity about whether these firms endure better performance in the long term. The purpose of this study is to assess the long-term (ex-post) financial and operating performance of EMFs involved in overseas acquisitions before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world economy.

CBAs completed by Indian and Chinese companies constitute the sample of the study. The performance has been analysed during the pre-COVID period spanning 17 years from 2001 to 2017. A comprehensive set of 14 financial ratios has been used to represent change (improvement/decline) in enterprises’ post-acquisition operating performance; these ratios have been divided into four broad groups: profitability, efficiency, solvency and liquidity ratios.

The performance of Indian companies has deteriorated significantly after the acquisition. However, there has been no change (deterioration/improvement), subsequent to CBAs, in the profitability of Chinese firms.

The findings of the study support that firms from emerging economies exploit CBAs as a “springboard” to obtain strategic assets including intangible resources and brands rather than to achieve synergies through economies of scale and scope. Apparently, outbound acquisitions by emerging economy firms are not driven by cost-reduction or revenue-generation activities.

None of the studies, to the best knowledge of the authors, has carried out performance analysis using a comprehensive set of financial ratios. The comparative study of two emerging economies is another valuable addition to the existing literature. The study holds the potential to serve as the benchmark to assess the performance of CBAs executed after COVID-19.

This paper aims to investigate the influence of the regional business environment on local firm innovation, considering various dimensions such as administrative, financial and legal environments.

Multiple regression analysis is employed to analyze archival data for firms listed on Chinese stock markets.

We find that the optimizations of the administrative and financial environments positively affect firm innovation, whereas the legal environment does not exert a similar impact. Our analysis also reveals that the business environment’s optimization significantly influences innovation in firms that are small, non-state-owned and operating in high-tech industries. Furthermore, the business environment acts as a moderating variable in the relationship between firm innovation and firm value.

This study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of institutional-level determinants of firm innovation, highlighting the nuances of the legal environment and the importance of context-specific analysis, especially in emerging markets like China.

Developing countries can significantly enhance firm innovation by improving the business environment, including the optimization of administrative and financial systems, reducing transaction costs and ensuring capital supply. Tailored legal frameworks and alternative institutional strategies may also be explored.

This study explicitly emphasizes the governmental role in promoting firm innovation, shedding light on policy formulation and strategic alignment with local administrative policies.

To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the relationship between the business environment and firm innovation using World Bank indicators in an emerging market context, providing novel insights into the unique dynamics of legal, financial and administrative sub-environments.

This paper aims to examine the effect of volatility in prices of internationally traded commodities (the backbone of most economies) on the stability of the banking industry from three main perspectives; bank liquidity reserves, overall bank risk and bank capital adequacy.

Data were compiled from various sources for 30 emerging economies from 2002 to 2018 and were analyzed using the two-step system generalized method of moments estimation technique.

The study finds that all things being equal, the magnitude and direction of impact of commodity price volatility on bank stability among economies in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) depend on the type and nature of the commodity in question; and the bank stability proxy used. For instance, an increase in crude oil prices is found to foster stability in the banking industry (proxied by bank liquid reserves) but insignificant when stability in the banking industry is proxied using other banking sector parameters. Additionally, government effectiveness and corruption control have varying moderating influences on how volatility associated with prices of internationally traded commodities influence various proxies for banking industry stability.

This study highlights the effect of fluctuations in prices of key internationally traded commodities (adjusted for foreign exchange impact) that are important sources of revenue among economies in SSA on banking sector stability from liquidity, overall risk and capital adequacy perspectives. The influential role of governance in the relationship between volatility in the price of commodities and bank stability is also revealed by the study.

The primary objective of introducing nonstate ownership into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is to enhance corporate performance. This study explores how nonstate ownership affects corporate performance, emphasizing agency costs as the primary mechanism.

Using data from 2010 to 2019 for listed SOEs, the authors measure nonstate ownership based on shareholding ratios, control rights and shareholding–control matching. The authors also use fixed-effects and mediation-effects models, with agency costs as the primary mechanism.

Increased nonstate shareholding ratios, stronger control rights and improved shareholding–control matching promote SOE performance. Nonstate shareholding ratios boost performance through resource effects, while control rights and shareholding–control matching promote performance by mitigating agency costs. A heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger effects in local SOEs and highly marketized regions. Moreover, control rights and shareholding–control matching reinforce the positive impact of shareholding ratios on performance.

The mixed-ownership reform of Chinese SOEs aims to optimize shareholding and control structures between state and nonstate shareholders. Therefore, research on the impact of nonstate shareholding ratios, control rights and shareholding–control matching on corporate performance is highly pertinent. However, existing studies have focused on the effects of single factors on performance, without exploration of the economic implications of shareholding–control matching. This study not only prioritizes the optimization of shareholding and control structures but also underscores the importance of granting nonstate shareholders control rights proportionate to their shareholding, providing critical evidence of the value of improving SOEs' ownership structure.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of board characteristics on environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in the energy industry of emerging economies.

The authors adopt the Bloomberg ESG rating to measure the extent of ESG disclosure using a sample of 1,260 observations from BRICS emerging economies. Multiple regression techniques were used to estimate the effect of board characteristics on ESG disclosures of a sample Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) listed companies between 2010 and 2019.

The authors find a relatively low (at 37%) level of ESG disclosure among the sampled firms and a relatively high degree of variability. The authors also find that board gender diversity, board composition and board diligence are positively related to the level of ESG disclosure while the study documents no relationship between board size and ESG disclosure.

The study’s findings highlight the importance of corporate board attributes in influencing strategic decisions such as the level of ESG disclosure and the findings may be useful to regulators, policymakers and investors in making informed investment decisions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts at examining the impact of board characteristics on ESG disclosure in the energy industry in emerging economies. The paper provides new evidence on the relationship between board characteristics (BC) and ESG disclosure in the energy industry of emerging BRICS countries within a panel multi-country research setting.