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This paper aims to study the default risk of small and medium-sized enterprises in the construction sector.

An unbalanced sample of 2,754 Portuguese companies from the construction sector, from 2008 to 2020, is analysed. Companies are classified in default or compliant following an ex-ante criterion. Then, using the stepwise analysis, the most relevant variables are selected, which are later used in the logit model. To verify the robustness of the results, a sample of legally insolvent companies is added (mixed criterion) and the initial sample is split into two subperiods.

Financial variables are the most relevant to predict the pattern for this sample. The main conclusions show that smaller and older companies, more indebted, with more liquidity and with higher EBIT have a higher probability of default. These conclusions are confirmed using a mixed criterion to classify companies as default or compliant and including a macroeconomic dummy.

This work not only contributes to enlarging the literature review but also makes relevant contributions to practice. Companies from the construction sector can understand which indicators must control to avoid financial problems. The government also has relevant information that can help in adapting or creating regulations for recovering or revitalizing companies.

This study proposed an ex-ante criterion that can be used for all types of companies. Most works use a legal or a mixed criterion that does not allow for detecting signs of financial problems in advance. Moreover, the sample used is almost unexplored – SMEs from a sector with great mortality rate.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper insight on how education boosts economic progress in key emerging economies. This project is aimed at exploring the interactive dynamics between the tertiary education sector and economic development in BRICS countries. The author also aims to examine how the structure of higher education contributes to economic expansion.

The author uses the time series data of BRICS countries across approximately two decades to determine the statistical causality between the size of tertiary enrollment and economic development. The linear regression model is then used to figure out the different impact levels of academic and vocational training programs at the tertiary level to economic development.

Data from all BRICS countries exhibited a unidirectional statistical causality relationship, except the Brazilian data. The national economic expansion Granger Caused increased tertiary enrollment in Russia and India, while in China and South Africa, higher education enrollment Granger Caused economic progress. The impact from tertiary academic training is found to be positive for all BRICS nations, while tertiary vocation training is shown to have impaired the Russian and South African economy.

This project is based on a rather small sample size, and the stationary feature of the time series could be different should a larger pool of data spanning a longer period of time is used. In addition, the author also neglects other control variables in the regression model. Therefore, the impact level could be distorted due to possible omitted variable bias.

Tertiary academic study is found to have a larger impact level to all countries’ economic advancement, except for China, during the time frame studied. There is a statistical correlation between the education and economic progress. This is particularly true for BRICS countries, especially China. But the exception is Brazil.

The government should provide education up to the certain level, as there is a direct correlation to the job creation and economic progress. Furthermore, the government should also work closely with industry to ensure growth of industry and creation of new jobs.

The comparative analysis and evaluation of the dynamic interaction of tertiary enrollment and economic output across all five BRICS nations is unique, and it deepens the understanding of the socioeconomic development in these countries from a holistic management perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between diversity management (i.e. diversity-focused human resource (HR) practices related to recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and compensation) and perceived firm performance, and the mediating effect of procedural justice.

Primary data based on 400 respondents of 162 organizations operating in India were analysed using statistical tools such as factor analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis.

Multiple regression analysis indicated that diversity-focused HR practices had a positive association with perceived firm performance. Further, it was found that procedural justice played a partially mediating in the relationship between diversity-focused HR practices and perceived firm performance.

This paper relied on self-report surveys for data collection, and there laid a possibility of common method variance in the result findings. Hence, future studies should collect data from multiple sources by using multiple methods (e.g. interviews, surveys, peer reports, etc.).

The first implication highlights that senior management’s support is a prerequisite to execute justice-based diversity management processes, which in turn aid in harvesting the true potentials of diversity. Second, organizations should adopt an egalitarian approach while formulating and implementing diversity management initiatives to accentuate the fair and just perceptibility of procedures among employees.

This study sheds new light on the effects of diversity-focused HR practices on firm performance (perceived) in Indian context.

Research on self-regulation has tended to focus on goal-related performance, with limited attention paid to individuals’ affect and the role it plays during the goal-striving process. In this chapter we discuss three mechanisms to integrate affect within a control theory-based self-regulation framework, and how such integrations inform future research concerning employee stress and well-being. Specifically, affect can be viewed as a result of velocity made toward one’s desired states at work. Fast progress results in positive affect, which enhances employee well-being and reduces the detrimental effects associated with exposure to occupational stressors. On the other hand, slow or no progress elicits negative affect, which induces employee distress. Second, affect can also be considered an input of self-regulation, such that employees are required to regulate their emotional displays at work. Employees who perform emotional labor compare their actual emotional display against the desired display prescribed by display rules. Third, affect can function as a situational disturbance, altering employees’ perceptions or assessments of the input, comparator, and output for other self-regulatory processes.

Most people are probably aware of malware, but they may not be aware of malware in what may be its most dangerous form, i.e. causing physical harm, even death, to individuals. This paper aims to document how software can cause malicious harm to individuals by attacking modern systems that appear to be neglected and under-researched.

This paper will review some of the most significant areas of concern with respect to end of days malware, i.e. malware that has a dangerous intent. The areas included are automobiles, medical devices and air traffic control systems.

The potential harmful effects of malware are often not well known by consumers and businesses around the world. These issues are not limited to just financial harm. Lives can actually be in danger. Underestimating the importance of cybersecurity and understanding the dangers that are associated with advancing technology are global issues that will continue unless there is enough awareness to force businesses and governments to address these issues. It is critical that safeguards are established.

While many papers have been written about malware and the implications of having malicious software infect a computer or a network, little attention has been paid to “end of days” malware. With advancing technology, malware now has the ability to cause serious injury or death to individuals who have minimal or no knowledge of the potential consequences of, for example, driving in an automobile, wearing or having an internal medical device or flying on an airplane. It is up to businesses and governments to address these issues.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of suicide, a violent act against one’s self, as it relates to white- and red-collar crimes. White-collar crime can be described as nonviolent crime committed for financial gain. Red-collar crime describes a situation where a white-collar criminal commits an act of violence, often murder, to silence someone who is in a position to report a fraud they have perpetrated. Previous research has not addressed the issue of suicide, as it relates to white- and red-collar crime.

The analysis is conceptual, focusing on the historical underpinnings of white- and red-collar crime and reviewing the evolution of white-collar criminals. Sources of information consisted of published news media, scholarly articles and articles retrieved from the web.

A suicide may be linked, directly or indirectly, to a financial crime. Law enforcement must be careful not to jump to conclusions, as there is a possibility that a staged suicide has occurred.

Law enforcement individuals may want to consider an additional motive when investigating a suicide, especially when the victim has some type of connection to a known fraud. This type of connection may not be readily apparent and may require a new approach on the part of a law enforcement investigation.

Internationalization is of high relevance and has been discussed intensively. However, different internationalization paths have been proposed by theoretical models and have been observed in reality. In this study, we examine the internationalization path of 52 German firms over a period of ten years using comprehensive and rich data on all new ventures established by these companies within this period. We find four distinct patterns of internationalization and propose a stage model of internationalization based on these findings. Our results show different challenges for managers depending on the stage of internationalization and render interesting starting points for further research.

This study aims to gain insight on evaluation of cause-related marketing (CrM) campaigns by the millennial with focus on skepticism, brand identity and patronage intention.

To attain the above objective a conceptual model was developed and tested using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis.

The finding suggests that sub-segments exist among millennial segments. They can be classified into hedonic, utilitarian, individualistic and collectivists. Compared to utilitarian and individualistic customers hedonic and collectivists were found to evaluate CrM campaign more favorably. Utilitarian and individualistic depict skepticism toward CrM campaign.

The in-depth knowledge gained about millennials is expected to benefit academicians and marketers alike. Academicians will be enriched by the knowledge of the micro-segments that exists among the millennial and how that had differential impact on their skepticism while evaluating CrM campaign. The marketers involved in the designing and implementation of the CrM campaign will be benefited from the in-depth knowledge of segments with lower and higher levels of skepticism. Such knowledge gained will help them develop more effective CrM campaign.

One of the contributions of the present study is that it extends the existing knowledge about millennials, particularly in the context of CrM campaign evaluation integrating it with other important variables such as skepticism, brand identity and patronage intention.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.