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1 – 10 of over 3000Mariarosaria Agostino and Francesco Trivieri
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between bank market power and firm creation, which represents a debated issue in the economic literature, still…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between bank market power and firm creation, which represents a debated issue in the economic literature, still lacking empirical evidence.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is carried out by taking an international perspective, using different measures of banking competition, and controlling for a large set of determinants suggested by the variegate literature on firms’ birth drivers.
Findings
The main finding suggests that credit market competition may benefit firms’ creation, as the relationship between the latter and bank market power – when statistically significant – appears to be negative. In addition, the detrimental impact of market power appears greater (in absolute terms) when departing from higher levels of banking competition.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical evidence seems supporting the competitive position in the debate on the role of banking competition. Furthermore, the authors reckon that the findings reinforce the belief of a crucial role played by the availability of funds for nascent firms, with evident implications for the policy strategies more appropriate to foster entrepreneurship. The “fashion” followed by several countries of lowering administrative entry barriers (van Stel et al., 2007) needs to be reappraised, pondering also means to enrich resources availability.
Originality/value
To the best of the knowledge, the paper is the first one addressing the issue of the role of bank market structure on firms’ creation in a multi-country setting.
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Daniel Prajogo, Carlos Mena, Brian Cooper and Pei-Lee Teh
This study investigates the role of national culture on the implementation and effectiveness of quality management practices. Specifically, the authors examine the dual roles of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the role of national culture on the implementation and effectiveness of quality management practices. Specifically, the authors examine the dual roles of two of Hofstede's national culture dimensions (individualism and indulgence) in driving the implementation of people management practices and in moderating the relationship between people management and product quality performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ dataset combines a survey of 976 firms from 22 countries with Hofstede's national culture index. A multi-level analysis, at firm and country levels, is used for investigating the interplay between two dimensions of national culture (individualism and indulgence) on people management practices and product quality performance.
Findings
The authors' findings show the negative relationship between indulgence (at country level) and people management practices (at firm level) while individualism (at country level) strengthens the relationship between people management and product quality performance (at firm level). Furthermore, the finding shows that the joint interaction between individualism and indulgence (at country level) moderates the relationship between people management and product quality performance (at firm level) where the relationship is strongest when individualism is high and indulgence is low.
Practical implications
Understanding the interplay between national culture and management practices is important for managers in making decisions on the practices managers should implement under different cultural contexts to gain the expected outcomes.
Originality/value
The authors' results challenge the universalist view that suggests that quality management practices (in this case people management practices) can be applied in any context effectively to achieve high product quality performance by showing that facets of national culture influence the implementation and effectiveness of people management practices and performance. The results also provide a fresh perspective on the role of indulgence, given that it is the newest dimension in Hofstede's framework. The authors also extend previous studies which commonly only examine the main and not interactive effects of different dimensions of national culture.
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C.P. Barros, Mike G. Tsionas, Peter Wanke and Md. Abul Kalam Azad
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the bank efficiency in three developing countries, namely Angola, Brazil and Mozambique, aiming to infer differences given that they belong…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the bank efficiency in three developing countries, namely Angola, Brazil and Mozambique, aiming to infer differences given that they belong to the same cultural tradition. The underlying idea is to control for the cultural background, thus allowing the discussion on how different socio-economic and historical variables maybe impacting different levels of banking efficiency and returns to scale results within the ambit of these three countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to the presence of latent inefficiency, the authors have to modify the technique to accommodate simulation by importance sampling; therefore, in effect, the authors use a local maximum simulated likelihood approach.
Findings
The results reveal that Brazil has the highest level of output-oriented efficiency, followed by Angola and then Mozambique. The same ranking is observed in returns to scale, except that vis-à-vis technical change, Brazil and Angola rank first. Finally, inefficiency derived from technical change is highest in Mozambique, followed by Angola and then Brazil. Therefore, these results reveal that the countries with the highest degree of development are higher in efficiency.
Originality/value
Previous studies have identified factors such as legal tradition, accounting conventions, regulatory structures, property rights, culture and religion as possible explanations for cross-border variations in financial development and economic growth. This is the first time banking efficiency is assessed in light of a common cultural background by selecting a group of countries that share the same language and colonial past. Since results are controlled for the same background, it is possible to affirm that the findings are purely related to scale size and economic/political background issues of each country.
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Nikolaos Grigorakis and Georgios Galyfianakis
The empirical analysis dealt in this paper emphasizes on the impact of military expenditures on out of pocket (OOP) healthcare payments. A sizeable body of defence economics…
Abstract
Purpose
The empirical analysis dealt in this paper emphasizes on the impact of military expenditures on out of pocket (OOP) healthcare payments. A sizeable body of defence economics literature has investigated the trade-off between military and public health expenditure, by testing the crowding-out or growth-stimulating hypothesis; does military expenditure scaling up crowd-out or promote governmental resources for social and welfare programs, including also state health financing?
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, panel data from 2000 to 2018 for 129 countries is used to examine the impact of military expenditure on OOP healthcare payments. The dataset of countries is categorized into four income-groups based on World Bank's income-group classification. Dynamic panel data methodology is applied to meet study objectives.
Findings
The findings of this study indicate that military expenditure positively affects OOP payments in all the selected groups of countries, strongly supporting in this way the crowding-out hypothesis whereby increased military expenditure reduces the public financing on health. Study econometric results are robust since different and alternative changes in specifications and samples are applied in our analysis.
Practical implications
Under the economic downturn backdrop for several economies in the previous decade and on the foreground of a potential limited governmental fiscal space related to the Covid-19 pandemic adverse economic effects, this study provides evidence that policy-makers have to adjust their government policy initiatives and prioritize Universal Health Coverage objectives. Consequently, the findings of this study reflect the necessity of governments as far as possible to moderate military expenditures and increase public financing on health in order to strengthen health care systems efficiency against households OOP spending for necessary healthcare utilization.
Originality/value
Despite the fact that a sizeable body of defence economics literature has extensively examined the impact of military spending on total and public health expenditures, nevertheless to the best of our knowledge there is no empirical evidence of any direct effect of national defence spending on the main private financing component of health systems globally; the OOP healthcare payments.
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Charles Chi Cui and Edward I. Adams
The national identity scale (NATID) was recently reported in the literature for identifying the core elements that define the uniqueness of a given culture or nation in so far as…
Abstract
The national identity scale (NATID) was recently reported in the literature for identifying the core elements that define the uniqueness of a given culture or nation in so far as their association with marketing is concerned. This study examined the conceptual strengths and empirical limitations of NATID, and assessed the relevance of the national identity construct in Yemen. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data from a sample of 208 Yemeni respondents revealed that the NATID scale did not fit the Yemeni data. Modification of the scale was made through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which resulted in four dimensions in two alternative models similar to NATID. Results from the second‐order confirmatory factor analysis of the two alternative models supported NATID’s multi‐dimensionality of the national identity construct in the Yemeni context. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.
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The delineation of the different international market‐entry decision models serves to inform international managers of the different alternative courses of action open to them…
Abstract
The delineation of the different international market‐entry decision models serves to inform international managers of the different alternative courses of action open to them. The entire spectrum of decisions emerging from short‐term to long‐term considerations, in addition to micro‐related decisions, are discussed. This paper evaluates the importance of these alternative courses of action and their decision criteria.
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Mohammad Hifz Ur Rahman and Ashish Singh
Disabled are often vulnerable to social exclusion due to the lack of social protection schemes. Therefore, in the absence of adequate social welfare systems, social cohesion is of…
Abstract
Purpose
Disabled are often vulnerable to social exclusion due to the lack of social protection schemes. Therefore, in the absence of adequate social welfare systems, social cohesion is of enormous importance for the disabled older adults. That said, the purpose of this paper is to explore the link between disability and social cohesion among the older adults in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa during 2007–2010 have been used for the analysis. Disability scores and social cohesion scores have been constructed using the Item Response Theory Partial Credit Model. Also, bivariate, multivariate and path analyses have been used for the examination.
Findings
Results show that disability substantially and significantly restricts social cohesion of the older adults in the selected countries. Moreover, path analysis indicates that, among others, disability affects physical activity which, in turn, leads to a lower socially active life. In addition, social cohesion is significantly lower among the older adults who are females, residing in urban areas, in poorer classes, widowed, not working and not having formal education.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ search, this study is perhaps the first attempt to look into the association between disability and social cohesion in a comprehensive and holistic manner in a multi-country context. A socially cohesive society provides a sense of belonging, participation, inclusion, and recognition to all. So, it is high time to create a socially as well as economically sensitive environment which can provide due recognition and inclusion to the disabled older adults.
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Stephen Oduro, Guglielmo Maccario and Alessandro De Nisco
This paper examines the status and evolution of green innovation research from 1948 to 2018.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the status and evolution of green innovation research from 1948 to 2018.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a systematic review of 293 peer-reviewed scholarly articles, the authors classify journal outlets, publication trends, research methods (research type, approach, design), themes/topics focus, country and regional distribution and theoretical perspectives, identifying main trends. They apply mixed methodologies, integrating both content and descriptive analyses.
Findings
Results reveal the following critical conclusions: (1) publication trends disclose a steady growth of interest in green innovation research in the last decade (2011–2018), with most of the articles appearing in top-ranked journal outlets; (2) empirical studies involving quantitative surveys dominate the field over other methods like experiments, case studies (qualitative) and conceptual models; (3) research themes/topics are multi-perspectives, covering management and strategic dimension of green innovation (e.g. green innovation integration and adoption strategy; collaboration and networking in green innovation; green innovation management systems, green supply chain management, etc.), performance (financial, non-financial and both), drivers/antecedents and consumer green behavior; however, the “management and strategy” papers are by far higher; (4) studies are preponderately multi-country focused, concentrated in Europe and Australasia, with a low concentration in emerging markets like Africa and South America; And (5) the field lacks the adoption and development of novel theories. So far, the research fields principally focus on the “Porter hypothesis” and resource-based view in terms of the theory-driven studies. Based on these findings, knowledge gaps are identified, as are limitations and actionable agenda for future research.
Originality/value
As the first systematic review to adopt a comprehensive, holistic approach in synthesizing and summarizing research vis-à-vis the phenomenon of green innovation, the study offers practitioners and researchers an insightful understanding of the relevant issues that have been investigated on green innovation, thereby anchoring the evolutions for further sustainable-oriented research and improvement in management practices.
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Daniel Vancin and Guilherme Kirch
This paper aims to empirically verify the impact of the mandatory dividend law on the investment of publicly traded companies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to empirically verify the impact of the mandatory dividend law on the investment of publicly traded companies.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample includes 212,595 observations from publicly traded companies from 47 different countries over the period from 2000 to 2016. The authors estimated a regression model by panel data methods to show the impact of the mandatory dividend on firm’s investment, more specifically in their sensitivities of investment to cash flow and to growth opportunities. In addition, the average treatment effect on the treated was estimated through sample matching.
Findings
The results indicate that the mandatory dividend have a direct and indirect impact on corporate investment.
Originality/value
Legislators and economic agents can use the results of the present research to evaluate the continuity or implementation of this legal mechanism (mandatory dividend) to evaluate economic moments favorable to its use or to create different legal rules to smooth the impact of this mechanism on the investment of companies.
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