Search results

As of May 2022, the National Pension Service of Korea is the world's third-largest pension fund, with assets worth KRW912tn (approximately $US800bn). Of the KRW152tn (approximately $US133bn) invested in domestic equities, 45% is outsourced to external asset managers. Given the absence of prior research on the National Pension Service's (NPS's) management method, this study analyzes its trading strategies and market impact according to the fund management method from 2005 to 2022. The results are as follows: First, the stock characteristics selected by internal management using passive strategies are different from those selected by external management, in which various strategies are combined. Second, the contrarian investment strategy, which acts as a market stabilizer, is a characteristic of the external management trading pattern, while internal management increases volatility and does not improve liquidity. Third, there has been a change in the internal management strategy since 2016, when the fund management headquarters was relocated. This study is practically significant and distinctive in that it confirms the differences between the NPS's two investment methods in terms of trading strategies and market impact.

This is a theoretical paper in the field of structuralist macroeconomics. The paper focuses on commodity price fluctuation which has emerged as one of the major macroeconomic factors with significant bearing on the relationship between the agricultural and nonagricultural sectors.

The paper develops a dual economy model consisting of an agricultural sector and an industrial sector. The commodity price is subject to the fluctuations due to the fact that stock of primary goods is an asset which is sensitive to speculations. The paper considers a standard methodology of dynamic adjustment process involving change in stock of agricultural goods and price of agricultural goods under perfect foresight. The saddle path properties of the equilibrium are also examined.

The paper shows that the balanced budget fiscal expansion, capital account liberalization and the agricultural expansion lead to expansion of the industrial sector as well as level of employment. The increase in world interest rate may lead to contraction of the industrial sector and depress employment.

We will consider the openness of the economy in explaining how different macroeconomic policies and capital account liberalization generate multiple cross effects on the inter-connectedness between agricultural and the non-agricultural sector. The paper will discuss the issue of employment generation in conjunction with commodity price fluctuation. We depart from the literature by using Taylor rule under which interest rate is fixed by the Central Bank such that money supply becomes endogenous.

This paper aims to identify under which circumstances company internal emission trading schemes (IETS) are applied and to examine their actual effects on corporate greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.

Using contingency theory, factors are identified that influence corporate decisions to introduce an IETS. To examine the effects of IETSs, emissions data for a sample of large German companies is used for linear regression modelling.

The paper finds that today, IETSs are mainly applied by companies with high levels of emissions that are subject to external trading schemes. The current use of IETSs seems to be primarily driven by the interest to reduce emissions cost-efficiently. Testing the effects of IETSs reveals that they are able to reduce corporate GHG emissions significantly.

The effects of IETSs are only tested for companies subject to an external emission trading scheme. Furthermore, the analysis does not distinguish between different types of IETSs. Future research should address the issue of whether the reductions observed also hold true for companies not subject to external trading schemes and should formulate recommendations on how IETSs should be designed.

The paper informs practitioners about the potential benefits of IETSs.

For the first time, the effects of IETSs are tested for companies subject to an external emission trading scheme. The analysis suggests that a new academic debate on IETSs is needed as the introduction of external emission trading schemes has not rendered IETSs redundant.

In the last monograph an attempt was made at giving a short historical background of the trade union movement; at defining a trade union; at discussing the closed shop and at looking towards its future.

This study aims to analyze the effect the liberalization of industrial relations in Germany has had on trade unions’ influence on companies’ decisions. Particular attention is given to European measures of flexibilizing company law and how they affect industrial relations in Germany.

After presenting a theoretical basis regarding industrial relations and corporate governance, the paper then demonstrates, via a case study, the effects of the flexible European company law. It examines the strategic avoidance of trade union activity at SAP, a case that ended up before the European Court of Justice.

The flexibility of European company law allows companies to limit the influence of trade unions on company decisions. Limiting trade unions' internal participation weakens their position overall. Precautionary measures to protect employees’ rights help to reduce the dangers of this process.

The influence of European law brings a new perspective to the transformation of the German industrial relations model. The analysis of the strategy of using the legal type of the European company (Societas Europaea) to limit the internal activity of trade unions demonstrates the connection between institutional settings and corporate governance.

The purpose of this paper is to reaffirm the suggestion that there are at least two distinct types of laws of trade-off that affect all firms and, in doing so, to contribute toward resolving the persistent trade-off debate in the literature.

Conceptual study using implicit deductive reasoning.

Two types of trade-offs are identified: “internal” can be understood following the dictates of the law of diminishing returns, while “external” can be modeled using the principle of energy conservation.

New insights are provided by discussing the impact of both laws of trade-off on the resource-based view of the firm, on new capabilities such as sustainability and innovativeness and on key strategic choices.

The study explains why trade-offs occur and outlines contextual factors that determine the “strength” of the trade-offs.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has attempted to investigate the topic of strategic trade-offs on the basis of the principle of energy conservation.

It will be recalled that the last monograph treated the significance of the collective agreement in society. If solely a function in society, (though having a legal basis), were to be attributed to the collective agreement, this would mean that no rights or obligations whatsoever would be created between the parties to it. This is not so in practice. It is of course a fact that no legally enforceable rights and obligations normally accrue, and as already indicated, those are moral ones and are only enforceable in honour, i.e. a gentleman's agreement. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the collective agreement has no juridical significance. Even agreements which are binding in honour only, as for example the kind of agreement found in Balfour v. Balfour, have a known juridical nature. Furthermore, though the collective agreement is only binding in honour, its incorporation into the individual contract of employment makes its terms legally enforceable even though recourse to the courts is seldom had. As a source of rights and obligations of considerable importance the collective agreement must therefore have some juridical significance and cannot remain entirely in the realms of society.

Recent failures and scandals in the banking and financial services industry have served as catalysts for anxiety about operational risk. In particular, the Basel II accord emphasises the need to develop methodologies for assessing and managing this category of risk. However, operational risk is said to be an elusive and problematic concept. This paper aims to examine how certain events in the banking and financial services industry become enframed and constructed as operational risk and how such risk is managed.

The paper draws on the sociology of risk literature to analyse how an “unauthorised trading” event (and associated losses) that occurred in the currency options trading desk of the National Australia Bank (NAB) was enframed and constructed as operational risk. Data are gathered through metadiscourse analysis of textual materials relating to this event.

The analysis reveals the social and institutional mechanisms underlying the construction of risk and the contested nature of risk knowledge. In particular, it highlights the significant role of media discourse in articulating risk claims and dominating public discourse about risk. It also highlights the moral character of the concept of risk and how the moralising of risk discourse leads to the creation of particular forms of subjectivities and the operationalisation of certain risk management rationalities in NAB.

The paper will be helpful in improving researchers' and practitioners' understanding of how, in a given field of possibilities, particular events become constructed as operational risk.

This study proposes spatial origin-destination threshold Tobit to address spatial interdependence among bilateral trade flows while accounting for zero trade volumes.

This model is designed to capture multiple forms of spatial autocorrelation embedded in “directional” trade flows. The authors apply this improved model to export flows among 32 Asian countries in 1990.

The empirical results indicate the presence of all three types of spatial dependence: exporter-based, importer-based and exporter-to-importer-based. After further considering multifaceted spatial correlation in bilateral trade flows, the authors find that the effect of conventional trade variables changes in a noticeable way.

This finding implies that the standard gravity model may produce biased estimates if it does not take spatial dependence into account.

This paper attempts to offer an improved model of the standard gravity model by taking spatial dependence into account.

“The Trade Union Act is a major advance for the cause of union democracy” said the Secretary of State for Employment. Indeed it is, and no one can question the validity of this statement. It must be pointed out at the outset however, that, in advancing the cause of union democracy, the Trade Union Act, 1984 which is the third stage of the government's industrial legislation, has a twofold effect upon trade unions. First, it interferes indirectly with the internal affairs of the union. Second, it provides the means by which the trade union movement as a whole could be both strengthened and weakened. Both these will become apparent as the various sections of the Act are discussed.