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In light of the recent changes in the internal audit (IA) landscape, the role of auditors has undergone a significant transformation. This paper aims to investigate the effects of applying Lean Six Sigma (LSS) techniques on the effectiveness and efficiency of IA.

The study used a quantitative approach, surveying Iranian internal auditors with a sample size of 384 participants. Data analysis involved confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The analyses demonstrate a significant association between LSS application and IA effectiveness and efficiency. In addition, an exploratory analysis indicates that the application of LSS techniques by less experienced internal auditors had a reverse effect on IA function quality as a component of IA competency. However, IA motivation factors, including education and position, did not mediate the impact of LSS on IA effectiveness and efficiency.

This study was conducted with Iranian internal auditors, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other countries. However, the primary academic implication of this research lies in its novel perspective on emphasizing the concept of continuous improvement in IA through the use of LSS techniques. By focusing on the need for internal auditors to add value to the business in new ways, this research contributes to the literature on IA quality.

This study has significant implications for the effective management of IA departments. By promoting the application of LSS techniques in IA, lean auditing is enhanced, and IA can create value by improving the quality of its functions. Moreover, IA regulators can benefit from this study as it emphasizes providing guidance and training on LSS techniques to enhance IA skills.

This research is pioneering in applying LSS methodology to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of internal auditing. It also considers the integration of lean thinking into current audit practices, making it unique and valuable in internal auditing research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer relationship management (CRM) implementation affects internal capital allocation efficiency, the efficiency with which a firm allocates its capital across its business segments.

The authors use a statistical regression method to analyze a sample of 801 unique firms in the USA from COMPUSTAT and the Computer Intelligence database. This analysis examines the relation between CRM implementation and internal capital allocation efficiency and identifies the conditions under which firms benefit more from CRM implementation. They also use instrumental variables (IVs) to address endogenous concerns with a two-stage least squares (2SLS) model.

The authors find that CRM implementation is positively related to internal capital allocation efficiency. The results are robust to the 2SLS analysis with IVs. This positive relation is more pronounced for firms with effective internal control and for those operating in highly competitive markets.

The research implies that that CRM can have a significant cross-functional effect on corporate financing and budgeting. This also suggests that when chief marketing officers plan marketing initiatives and implement CRM, they should communicate to chief financial officers not only the direct effect but also the indirect strategic benefits of such initiatives to a firm.

The authors reveal a previously overlooked aspect of marketing accountability by suggesting marketing’s impact on internal capital markets. They also enrich the body of literature on CRM benefits by showing a cross-functional benefit from marketing to finance (or capital allocation).

Internal capital markets of diversified firms have been associated with inefficient allocation of investment funds across divisions, leading to value losses. Utilizing a sample of diversified firms that adopted or eliminated Residual Income (RI) plans between 1990 and 2009, we show that adoptions of these plans mitigate investment distortions and lead to value gains. Following the adoption of RI plans, diversified firms start allocating investment funds based on growth opportunities of their divisions. RI plan adopters lower their divisional investment levels, especially in segments with below-average growth opportunities. The overall investment allocation efficiency improves, and the diversification discount diminishes after the adoption of RI plans. However, RI plans appear to be used only as temporary tools for assessing corporate performance. The plans are adopted primarily by firms expected to immediately generate plan bonuses for management, and they are frequently eliminated by firms with bad accounting performance and low managerial bonuses. The study contributes to the literature on organizational efficiency, internal capital markets, and on the importance of measures based on economic profits or RI.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the system of factors influencing the efficiency of internal evaluation in Polish secondary schools.

Data collected in interviews with evaluation experts and teachers on the barriers to the efficiency of internal evaluation and their causes were subjected to a qualitative cause-and-effect analysis.

Five barriers to the evaluation efficiency (6B model) and five actions of the school head stopping their impact (6A model) were identified. The latter include selecting the key evaluation function (3KEF model) and ensuring the conditions for efficiency in the improvement loop.

Although the research was carried out in Polish schools, the conclusions indicate regularities affecting organizations throughout the world.

Students’ educational needs may exceed the schools’ ability to meet them at class time mostly due to resource constraints. The implementation of the principle of equal opportunities in education requires continuous improvement of the efficiency of schools’ processes. Evaluation can help qualify tasks for improvement.

The level of engagement (reactive/active) of the school principal and teachers in evaluation and improvement is a crucial factor in overcoming the barriers to the efficiency of the school processes.

The ability to respond to the efficiency gaps of the school processes depends on the choice and efficiency of the KEF. The rationale for selecting the function and the schemes for its implementation have paradigmatic grounds.

The paper's aim is to analyze excess returns generated by Canadian sell‐offs and their links to changes in firms' internal capital allocation efficiency to test the efficiency of internal capital markets after assets divestitures.

This study investigates the relationship between the level of the excess returns subsequent to sell‐offs and changes in the capital allocated through internal capital markets. The authors measure excess returns by calculating buy‐and‐hold abnormal (BHAR) returns up to three years after divestitures and test whether changes in value are related to changes in investment efficiency. The paper uses the relative value added by allocation (RVA) as developed by Rajan et al. to measure the variation in allocational efficiency of the internal capital market.

The study reveals that on average assets divestitures enable Canadian firms to keep up with the performance of their peers of the same industrial sector during the long‐run post divestiture period. A closer look at the results shows that the variation of long‐run post divestitures performance among Canadian firms is significantly and positively linked to changes in the allocational efficiency of the internal capital markets. These results suggest that dismantling some parts of the internal capital market does lead to improvements in firm value in the long run.

The sample is limited to a group of firms that sell off a portion of their assets. Further research could be conducted to determine whether other divestiture methods (spin‐off, sell‐off or equity carve‐out) have any impact on internal capital allocation efficiency and long run financial performance.

The paper adds to other studies examining the source of gains from divestitures by documenting the effects of changes in internal capital allocation efficiency on the creation of long‐term shareholder wealth.

This paper aims to investigate the antecedents of supply chain information integration (SCII) and their consequences on company performance from the perspective of resource-based view (RBV).

Based on empirical survey data collected from 202 Australian manufacturers, this study examines the effects of strategic supply chain relationship (SCR) and supply chain technology (SCT) internalization on external and internal information integration (II) and the effects of external and internal II on operational (operational efficiency and service quality) and financial performance. Structural equation modeling and the maximum-likelihood estimation methods are used to test the proposed relationships.

The results indicate that both strategic SCR and SCT internalization are positively related to external and internal II. Moreover, strategic SCR has a stronger positive relationship with external II than with internal II, and SCT internalization has a stronger positive relationship with internal II than with external II. Internal II is positively related only to service quality, and external II is positively related only to operational efficiency. Both operational efficiency and service quality are positively related to financial performance.

This study contributes to the SCII literature and provides significant managerial implications for manufacturers to leverage their supply chain resources and capabilities by establishing a resources-capabilities-performance framework for the antecedents and consequences of SCII.

This study aims to focus on the factors triggering the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in a developing country context. The authors examine whether the adoption of CSR practices is triggered more by internal efficiency forces or external legitimation forces. As early adoptions of new systems are more likely driven by efficiency motives, the authors argue that CSR practices in developing countries at nascent stages are more likely adopted for efficiency rather than legitimation reasons.

A cross-sectional sampling design was used to collect data on the CSR practices of top listed Egyptian firms and multinationals operating in Egypt. The sample size is selected based on a purposive criterion sampling method. The final sample size consists of 110 companies operating in Egypt, which includes 54 local and 56 multinational companies. To examine the relationship between the explanatory variables of the study and CSR, multiple regression analysis was used.

Using data from 110 top listed local companies and multinational firms operating in Egypt, the results show a significant influence of internal corporate governance on CSR. Yet, the effects of external factors, specifically legal regulations and stakeholder pressures, on CSR are perceived to be insignificant. This finding contrasts studies from industrialized countries in the Western world where firms are often motivated to invest in CSR by external forces.

The results indicate that the adoption of CSR practices in large firms in Egypt is driven more by internal efficiency gains rather than external legitimacy pressures. The study thus presses the need for the effective enforcement of governmental laws and regulations to strengthen external institutional pressures and demands for socially responsible behavior.

The results of the study indicate a perceived absence of stakeholder pressure for CSR practices. As such, raising awareness for corporate accountability amongst Egyptian consumers, employees and the general public would increase corporate incentives to improve their social and environmental performance. In addition, the concept of CSR must be cultivated in the organizational culture where high value is placed on corporate ethics and managerial values.

This study provides insights about the predominant drivers of CSR in Egypt on two different levels; the organizational and the business environment. Salient links between CSR, internal corporate governance mechanisms and external drivers such as external stakeholder and legal pressures are explored. The results of the study also emphasize the importance of internal corporate governance mechanisms and how it is perceived to be the main driver of CSR in Egypt as opposed to external influences.

Many service organizations′ corporate mission is “to be number one in delivering service to customers”. The use of traditional financial accounting measures as performance indicators has led to an inappropriate reliance on internal information resulting in an unbalanced information system and, therefore, by definition a dysfunctional strategy. A balanced information system must provide information on both internal operations and external customer satisfaction. In order to optimize overall performance in service organizations, a balanced information system is critical. The long run survival of a service business depends on the appropriate balance between internal information (efficiency) and external information (effectiveness). Both internal information (efficiency) and external information (effectiveness) must be used as complements to each other in order to fulfill long‐term corporate goals. Reliance on internal information or the substitution of internal information for needed external information will not result in the long‐term fulfillment of the corporate mission. Obviously any organizational system that is closed to the environment will develop entropy.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the semiconductor industry in Taiwan, which is the main economic life‐line in Taiwan. Operational performance is normally deemed as a key factor in industry. The importance of this issue can be measured through performance indices to observe the operational performance of Taiwan's semiconductor industry.

A combination of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the balanced scorecard (BSC) was employed

This study finds that the efficiency of every domestic semiconductor manufacturer is generally good, and concerning the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard, the most important for the domestic firm is the financial perspective, second is the internal process perspective, third the learning and innovation perspective, and most unimportantly customer perspective.

Owing to the difficulties in data collection and the widespread ranges of the four major aspects, the application of the indices is limited in this paper. Therefore, the main suggestion of this study regarding future research directions is to expand the indices of the four aspects, in the hope of measuring the operating efficiency of enterprises in each aspect using more and improved indices.

This application can be extended by the usage of the ratio analysis and the BSC method to enhance the validity of the DEA.

When implementing DEA, traditional financial indices cannot obtain an in‐depth understanding of an enterprise, hence this study considers the four major constructs of the balanced scorecard in index selection, and employed these four major contracts to expand the indices that can be available for selection and gain a deeper understanding not only of the financial aspects, but also of customers, the internal process, learning, and innovation. It should be noted that the balanced scorecard can develop the performance goal from the perspective of job fulfillment, and uses this view to assess management performance. These indicators can reflect different focuses regarding job fulfillment, and produce pluralism in the performance indices.

Describes the ingredients for internal audit success in a large state‐integrated petroleum company. With 1,600 auditors and 25,000 audits performed, a varied contribution has been made across all areas of the business. Significant factors have been the interrelationships of independence, authoritativeness and efficiency and this theme pervades. The outworkings of this formula has actually led to demand from the top to establish an additional audit division branch.