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To identify the key determinants of successful vendor managed inventory (VMI) and strategic supply chain relationships for industries characterised by oligopolistic competition.

The study used action research in the New Zealand (NZ) food industry supported by a literature review, triangulation and case studies from other industries and countries.

Seven key industry‐level factors impacting the success of VMI and strategic supply chain relationships were identified. These were integrated into a step‐wise framework that provides a path for practitioners to follow when establishing VMI and strategic supply chain relationships in the NZ food industry.

This research was conducted using action research in the NZ food industry; hence, the research findings may need to be modified and further adapted before applying to other, less concentrated, industries.

A step‐wise framework provides a path for practitioners to follow when establishing VMI and strategic supply chain relationships in the NZ food industry. Detailed practical guidelines are provided for practitioners who wish to improve the profitability of their supply chain.

The key outcome was a working model that identifies the key determinants of successful VMI and strategic supply chain relationships in the NZ food industry, at an industry‐level. A secondary outcome was the contribution to knowledge from an action research perspective.

While the essential role of brand trust toward consumer decision to purchase food products has been well addressed, there has been still little research on its influential factors. The primary purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting consumer trust in brands of safe vegetables.

Structural equation modeling technique was applied to test the hypothetical relationships based on a sample of 361 consumers from a face-to-face interview in the urban areas of Hanoi city, Vietnam, in March and April 2018.

The authors' findings show that both brand credibility and brand reputation positively affected brand trust. The trustworthiness of a safe vegetable system had a more important role than the competence in building brand trust. While the effects of system trustworthiness on brand trust were found directly and indirectly (through brand credibility), system competence only had an indirect influence on brand trust via brand reputation. Notably, while risk recall directly reduced brand trust, risk information caused a directly positive effect on brand trust. In addition, the impact of food hazards on brand trust was indirect through brand credibility.

Based on our results, the Vietnamese government and stakeholders in the safe vegetable chain should improve brand trust based on fulfilling comprehensive traceability, expanding the brand reputation and providing an appropriate risk communication strategy to the public.

This study is one of the first attempts to model and evaluate factors affecting brand trust in the food sector directly and indirectly.

This article conducts a thorough review and synthesis of the empirical research on the antecedents of stock price crash risk to ascertain the macro-, meso- and micro-level determinants contributing to stock price crashes.

The authors systematically reviewed 85 empirical papers published in ABS-ranked journals to assess the macro-, meso- and micro-level determinants causing stock price crashes.

The findings indicate that macroeconomic factors such as corporate governance, political and legal factors, socioeconomic indicators and religious beliefs have an effect on firm-level corporate behavior contributing to stock price crash risk. At a meso-level customer concentration, industry-level characteristics, media coverage, structural features of ownership and behavioral factors have a substantial effect on stock price crash risk. Finally, micro-level variables influencing stock market crash risk include CEO qualities and compensation, business policies, earnings management, financial transparency, managerial characteristics and firm-specific variables.

Based on our analysis we identify priority areas for future research.

This is a seminal work using a multilevel framework to categorize the determinants of stock price crashes into micro-, meso- and macro-level factors.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a multi-level approach to investigate what factors shape the content of emerging market firms’ foreign market entry decisions, particularly the ownership participation in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). In addition, the author would like to know if companies from emerging markets that possess higher (or lower) ownership in cross-border M&As receive higher valuation in the market.

Using panel data of cross-border M&As by emerging market firms from 2000 to 2012, the author tests the hypothesized effects of the independent variables on the level of ownership participation; and uses a standard event study methodology to assess the market reaction of a particular cross-border M&A deal.

The author finds that a country-level factor (institutional distance), an industry-level factor (industry unrelatedness) and a firm-level factor (board concentration) have significant impact on ownership participation in cross-border M&As. The author also finds that investors do give high valuation to those emerging market firms that chose high ownership participation in cross-border M&As. However, the author did not finds the support for the relationship between ownership participation and cultural distance. Neither did the author finds the support for the relationship between ownership participation and board independence.

This study enhances the understanding of conditions under which the level of ownership participation in cross-border M&As would increase (decrease) and how the market reacts to high (low) ownership participation of cross-border M&As by emerging market firms.

Research on high-growth firms (HGFs) or gazelles is expanding due to their significant contribution to job growth and economic development. However, the knowledge about the conditions and factors that set these firms on their rapid growth trajectory remains fragmented. Therefore, this chapter provides an abreast inventory of the surging gazelle studies by systematically reviewing the international gazelle growth literature and consolidating firm-level, industry-level, and macroeconomic-level growth factors and their interactions as elaborated in the studies. Based on the review of 62 international empirical studies, this chapter finds that the gazelle growth is complex and multidimensional in its scope and nature. The firm’s growth intention and entrepreneurial nature emerge as necessary but not sufficient conditions to guarantee rapid growth as it results from the impact of and interaction between various firm-level and external factors. The different growth-influencing factors are summarized using a theoretical gazelle growth model, which supports the rare and temporal nature of the gazelle growth.

The theory of managerial discretion and the direct insights it provides in the understanding of the varying impact strategic and operational actions have on organizational change and business fortunes is an area of research potential underexplored in the UK. This study aims to establish whether the measurement of managerial discretion is constant between the two similar societal corporate frameworks of the UK and the USA listed markets.

The extant managerial discretion ranking model, established in the USA, is empirically assessed for its validity and effectiveness across a sample of high- and low-discretion companies from the FTSE 350.

Using accounting measures, a clear and significant difference is established between UK high and low managerial discretion entities. The results prove to be significant in enabling the differential comparative analysis of the institutional characteristics of corporates.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study of this nature has been conducted previously in the UK context. While the original model developed in the USA is now several decades old, the UK results reflect similar industry rankings as found originally in the USA, subject to some differences considered to be a result of the changing nature of global business since the 1990s. This study opens a new seam of novel research, which has the potential to uncover, at a granular level, the differential mores and character of management ethics, styles and practices in such issues as organizational change, corporate culture, governance and social responsibility.

Factors influencing management of construction and demolition (C&D) waste within the Iranian context have yet to be investigated. The purpose of this paper is to define and address this knowledge gap, through development of a model to map the associations among the primary factors affecting C&D waste at project, industry and national levels.

A conceptual model is developed based on synthesising the findings of available studies on factors affecting C&D waste with a focus on developing countries. For collecting data, the study drew upon a questionnaire survey of 103 Iranian construction practitioners. The strength and significance of associations among these factors to modify and validate the model were assessed using the structural equation modelling-partial least squares approach.

Major factors affecting C&D waste management and their level of importance were identified at project, industry and national levels. Results clearly showed that the government should review regulations pertaining to C&D waste management and make sure they are implemented properly. The “polluter pays principle” is a useful guide in devising effective policies and regulations for the Iranian context.

This study contributes to the field through presenting the first major study on C&D waste management in Iran. The study provides a picture of C&D waste management status quo in Iran and encapsulates the factors affecting C&D waste management in the Iranian context at different levels within an integrated model. The findings have practical implications for policy makers and construction practitioners in Iran, similar developing economies and foreign firms planning to operate in Iran.

This study aims to examine whether the industry characteristics of homogeneity, product competition, high auditor competition and accounting standards complexity are associated with auditor changes.

Logistic regressions test for significance of the industry characteristics on resignations, dismissals and directional changes to and from Big 4 and nonBig 4 auditors after controlling for client, auditor and engagement factors.

The authors report a lower likelihood of auditor resignations with greater accounting standards complexity. The authors also report a greater likelihood of auditor dismissals with greater industry homogeneity, greater product competition and greater auditor competition. Results also show that accounting standards complexity is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig auditors, and industry homogeneity is associated with a greater likelihood of changes from Big to nonBig. Also, greater auditor competition is associated with a lower likelihood of changes from nonBig to Big auditors.

Prior research has established the importance of industry characteristics to the market for audit services (Cairney and Stewart, 2015; Wang and Chui, 2015; Cahan et al., 2011; Bills et al., 2015). The authors report that industry characteristics also impact auditor changes. Second, previous research has used various methods that indicate general industry effects on changes. The paper contributes to this research by specifying industry characteristics. Limitations include the reliance on the self-reporting in 8-Ks to identify auditors resigning and firms dismissing auditors. Also, the paper relies on proxies for industry characteristics that were developed in prior research.

Regulators have expressed concern over the relatively low rates of auditor changes and the problem of lack of auditor choice. By demonstrating a significant effect of industry characteristics on changes, the authors indicate some levers that may be available to influence rates of auditor changes, especially realignments to nonBig.

This is one of the first studies to examine how specific industry characteristics impact auditor changes. The study may be of interest to academics who are interested in how industry factors influence auditor changes. It may also interest policymakers who could lever the characteristics of industries to address concerns about the low rates of auditor changes.

Current gazelle and high growth firm (HGF) research provides relatively little systematic knowledge if, how, why firm internationalization facilitates accelerated growth. This chapter aims at providing such an insight by addressing the following three questions: (1) What is the evidence of internationalization as an determinant of HGF; (2) How does internationalization facilitates fast growth?; (3) What do we know about the circumstance under which internationalization contributes to HGF? The chapter concludes that while there is clear evidence that internationalization and its different modes can be important determinants of accelerated firm growth, our knowledge remains limited on how different circumstances of the firm at the micro-, meso- and macro-level interact to condition growth opportunities through internationalization.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the key determinants of innovation performance of a firm in a cluster. This paper probes the role of absorptive capacity in furthering the cluster linkages and thereby enhancing the innovation performance of a firm.

This study adopts stratified random sampling technique to choose sample firms from the identified population of firms in a cluster. Further, it employs primary data collection method to collect data from sample firms through a semi-structured questionnaire based in-depth interviews with the top level management of sample firms. It uses multiple linear regression (MLR) techniques to ascertain the influence of absorptive capacity on degree of cluster linkages (both intra-cluster and extra-cluster linkages), and degree of cluster linkages (both intra-cluster and extra-cluster linkages) on innovation performance of a firm.

On the one hand, internal factors of absorptive capacity of a firm have a significant positive influence on the degrees of both intra-cluster linkages and extra-cluster linkages. On the other hand, external factors of absorptive capacity of a firm significantly impact the degree of intra-cluster linkages (DICL). But, they have no significant influence on the degree of extra-cluster linkages (DECL). Further, both the DICL and the DECL drive innovation performance of a firm in a cluster. Notably, subsidiaries of externally based firms exhibit superior innovation performance compared to those firms based in a cluster.

This paper contributes to the extant literature in two ways. First, it empirically validates the effect of absorptive capacity of a firm on its degree of cluster linkages (both intra-cluster and extra-cluster linkages) taking into account both internal and external factors of absorptive capacity. Second, it ascertains the influence of degree of cluster linkages (both intra-cluster and extra-cluster linkages) on the innovation performance of a firm in a cluster.