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This paper reports an empirical study on the co-evolution of competitive conditions dominating firms and organizational forms in the paper industry. It has two main theoretical implications. First, with respect to research on national business systems and the societal effect, we suggest that the country of origin imprints firms especially by allowing them to develop distinctive organizational forms. Second, we show that the competitive conditions, dominant forms and dominant firms remain in constant flux even in mature industries. There is, therefore, a need for co-evolutionary research to continue to combine long-term perspectives and intensive research designs in the study of specific industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two points addressed by the author in his critique of the paper "Opportunities Knocking: Residual Income Valuation of an Adaptive Firm," by Kenton K. Yee which appeared in the Summer 2000 issue. The first issue concerns the development of an analytical framework to explain the empirical phenomenon as to why firms, such as the Internet companies, with low earnings carry inexplicably high market values. Furthermore, the second issue concerns the development of an extension of the Edwards-Bell-Ohlson equation that would become consistent with convexity and complementarily. The paper correctly points out that the option or adaptation value is often overlooked in valuation using the EBO model. However, the impression the paper conveys is that the EBO model is inadequately equipped to deal with adaptation value and conceptually incomplete.

As an important way to expand financing channels, the listing can significantly improve the enterprises' comprehensive competitiveness. However, few studies pay attention to the continuous impact of listing years on enterprise innovation. Based on the sample data of Chinese enterprises before and after listing from 2004 to 2017, this paper discusses the relationship between the listing years and dual innovation. And analyzes the moderating effect of slack. The research shows that the listing years are related to the quantity and quality of innovation in the inverted U-shaped, but the inflection point of the innovation quantity is later than the innovation quality. Before listing, the innovation quantity and quality increased; after listing, the innovation quantity first increased and then decreased, while the innovation quality declined. High slack makes the inverted U-shaped relationship between the listing years and innovation quality steeper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annapoornima M. Subramanian, Moren Lévesque, and Vareska Van De Vrande were recognized as a runner up for the 2020 Ralph Gomory Best Industry Studies Paper Award. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on effects of mandated versus voluntary auditing policy on the quality of auditing. The paper addresses the question whether the mandatory auditing policy set forth by the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 increased the quality of information on which investors in the securities market rely. The choice of the quality level in auditing is seen as the first step taken by the auditing firms. Quality is assumed to be fixed for the period and firms choose its level by perfectly anticipating what they can get in terms of higher price or fee in the competitive second stage. The main consideration this study makes is in is consideration of quality decision that affects the competitive position of the firm. The study predicts the economic consequences of the Securities Act. The effects of regulation on the quality of auditing are spelled out. One of the assumption is that a given auditor must charge all his clients the same fee. This means that the audit firms can discriminate on fees.

This paper contributes to the development of a practice-based understanding of ethics. Ethics is here conceived as a critical practice of questioning and problematizing moral orders and moral rules-in-use in which subjects (re)define their relations to self and others. Situating this conception of ethics in the context of practice theory, we draw upon ideas of responsible decision-making (Derrida) and truth-telling (Foucault) to examine Daniel Ellsberg’s leaking of the “Pentagon Papers” as illustrative of ethics as critical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the company-stakeholder relationship between a large pulp and paper company and a small monastery and nature retreat center. The literature on stakeholder management and organizational legitimacy provides a theoretical foundation. The analysis demonstrates how organizational power and legitimacy can influence stakeholder legitimacy. The authors illustrate the ways that a company can manage the legitimacy of stakeholders through the use of political language and symbolic activity. The results contribute to a better understanding of stakeholder identification, salience, and the different contexts of legitimacy in the company-stakeholder relationship. Implications for stakeholder research and practice are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this literature review-based paper is to share some insights into general methodological issues pertaining to the case study research strategy and how I applied it for purposes of my doctoral study on the design and delivery of rural enterprise business support programmes. I hope that the insights I share here will help novice researchers who have intentions of using the case study research strategy for their studies or those who just want to broaden their knowledge about the research strategy. The paper is largely an excerpt of my methodology chapter from my recently completed and unpublished doctoral thesis, derived mainly from the methodology literature. The paper starts by exploring the definition of case studies and goes on to look at case studies issues to do with the unit of analysis; research questions; types of case studies; sampling, data collection, triangulation and quality issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article invites research papers on the topic of organizational and institutional trust, failures and repair for the special issue of the journal, where the last date for paper submission is December 2012.

In this paper, we address recent calls to increase the societal relevance of entrepreneurship research. We explore how entrepreneurship researchers and practitioners work together in the formulation of a research problem for impact. Leveraging process-tracing, we analyzed six entrepreneurship research projects, from early conceptualization to publication, all part of the Journal of Business Venturing Insights ' Entrepreneurship Rapid Response Research Initiative. We made two discoveries, as it pertains to the formulation of problems in entrepreneurship research. First, we found four critical change dimensions, along which a problem evolves throughout the research process: worthiness, divisibility, centrality, and specificity. Second, we found two equifinal problem formulation pathways in impact-oriented entrepreneurship research: inward-looking iterative and outward-looking joint problem formulation. These are marked by drivers of the research project, timing of involvement of the practitioner, and interactions between researchers and practitioners, which influence the sequence of the four change dimensions in problem formulation. Our study contributes by theorizing problem formulation as a process, not a point in time, and hence intertwined with solutions, making the process consequential. We also offer concrete implications for entrepreneurship scholars wanting to engage in research that impacts practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shirking, the act of avoiding the demands of one's job, is generally seen as unethical. Drawing on empirical evidence from the sociology of work, I develop a normative conception of shirking as a form of worker resistance against illegitimate managerial power. In doing so, I present a new approach to the political theory of the firm, which is more adversarial and agent-centered than available alternatives. It is more adversarial as it recognizes the political value of counterproductive and disruptive behavior in capitalist firms. It is more agent-centered because it theorizes the firm from the perspective of workers, asking what pro tanto reasons they have to shirk. I show that shirking under the structural domination of capitalism has diagnostic, agential, and epistemic values. The paper contributes to the wider methodological ambition to tailor political theorizing to the positionality of social actors by shifting attention from the institutional design of the firm to the methods of worker resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mixed ownership reform of China is a kind of further partial privatization for the listed state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and an opportunity for non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) to expand their commerce boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of heterogeneous blockholders on corporate innovation. Spanning the analysis with listed companies in China from 2007 to 2017, we find that heterogeneous blockholders have a significant positive effect on enterprise innovation. Lowering agency costs and improving corporate innovation efficiency are the two plausible mechanisms. From further research, we find that compared with non-SOEs, the positive effect of heterogeneous blockholders on enterprise innovation is more pronounced for SOEs, and the effect is more positive with the improvement of relative power balance between heterogeneous blockholders. The paper sheds light on the innovation effects of mixed-ownership reform in emerging and transitioning countries. JEL Classification : G32, M13, D23, G34 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the retail business, rarely studied the impact of top transformation leaders on middle management personnel creativity. In this study, the middle management personnel of 258 retail enterprises were discussed, explored the impact of top transformation leaders on the double-dimensional creativity of middle management personnel, and analyzed individual psychological security. Results show that transformational leadership (morale modeling, visionary motivation, individualized consideration, and charisma) has a significant positive impact on the progressive creativity and breakthrough creativity of middle managers. Transformational leadership (Same as the above four dimensions) has a significant positive impact on the psychological security of middle managers. Psychological security has a significant positive impact on the progressive creativity and breakthrough creativity of middle managers. Psychological security plays a partially mediating role between transformational leadership and the creativity of middle managers. Among which, it plays a partially mediating role between morale modeling and progressive creativity, visionary motivation and progressive creativity, individualized consideration and progressive creativity, charisma and progressive creativity, morale modeling and breakthrough creativity, and charisma and breakthrough creativity, while it plays a fully mediating role between visionary motivation and breakthrough creativity, individualized consideration and breakthrough creativity. This study expanded the study of psychological security as an intermediary variable and deepened the study of dual-dimensional creativity. Based on the above conclusions, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions to promote the development of progressive creativity and breakthrough creativity of middle-level managers, to provide a reference for enterprises to maintain talent advantages and for managers to enhance development potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International new ventures (INVs) and born globals (BGs) play a significant role in the global economy. These firms have rapidly expanded into foreign markets offering unique products and services. Despite the role such ventures play in the global economy, we know relatively little about the role of corporate governance (CG) in INVs and BGs and the challenges these firms face in foreign markets. This introductory article and the papers included in this Special Issue provide important insights into the role of corporate governance and the rapid rise of INVs and BGs and their evolutionary process, and highlight the topics where more research is needed. We also contribute to the current literature by examining corporate governance in early internationalising firms and discussing what sets them apart from well-established multinational enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the context of low-carbon development and drawing on the resource-based and dynamic capability theories, this paper provides a conceptual model of the relationship between external knowledge acquisition, green dynamic capability and corporate green innovation. Then, using 416 samples of firms in China collected from January 2018 to September 2018, the model was tested using the hierarchical regression analyses. The empirical results show that external technical knowledge acquisition and market knowledge acquisition have a positive influence on corporate green innovation. Additionally, the results show that green integration capability and green dynamic configuration capability positively moderate the relationship between technical knowledge acquisition and green innovation. The results also show that green learning capability, green integration capability and green dynamic configuration capability positively moderate the relationship between market knowledge acquisition and green innovation. This study supports the resource-based view, enriches the application of external knowledge acquisition in sustainable development, and extends the theory of green dynamic capability from causal prediction to situational factors. This paper provides theoretical support and practical guidance for firms seeking to effectively conduct open innovation, implement green innovation, and realize low-carbon development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This In Perspective paper reflects on the use by men and women of entrepreneurship support organisations (ESOs). It arose through an inquiry conducted in partnership by London South Bank University and Shared Enterprise, the latter being an ESO based in London. As part of the inquiry, a small number of other ESOs in London were interviewed, who revealed that the majority of their participants were women, although the gender imbalance is not as extreme as is the case with Shared Enterprise. On the other hand, far more enterprises in Britain are led by men than are led by women. According to the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS), only 20% of very small businesses (no employees) were led by women, and 60% were led solely by a man. A similar proportion – 19% – of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with employees was defined as led by women. A combination of interviews with Shared Enterprise participants and a desk review leads to a (tentative) solution to this seemingly puzzling paradox: women who aspire to entrepreneurship use ESOs more than men because they need them more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article underscores the call for papers for the special issue of "Marketing Theory." It is posed that contributions to be submitted to the periodical must deal with issues which include how the role of markets and boundaries can be considered as productive of identity, which theories of identity participate in market exchange, and in what ways are individuals and organizations can be excluded from participation in exchange. Other concerns include whether a multi-billion dollar corporation can be a member of brand community on the same terms as a consumer and how do corporations co-opt other identities through product placement, sponsorship, and celebrity endorsement.

This paper seeks to learn lessons about the role of the private sector in subnational governance by analysing the UK's Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The paper outlines the public justifications for LEPs using documentary analysis, and then considers these against findings from interviews and network analysis, concluding that the justifications are problematic. LEPs were established on the assumption that civic and business leaders needed to be brought together in business-led institutions. However, network analysis shows most civic leaders also hold private sector roles, undermining the assumed need for a 'bringing together'. Three further justifications of the LEP model are also challenged. Firstly, business leaders were supposed to enable knowledge flows, but analysis shows that this knowledge is skewed by unrepresentative LEP boards. Secondly, it was assumed that LEPs would catalyse networks, but the networks have been built around individual interests, without transparency. Finally, LEPs were meant to mirror business structures, but this has undermined democratic accountability. Taken together, these findings suggest that the creation of LEPs has attempted to solve the wrong problem in the wrong way. The paper concludes by proposing guiding principles for the role of the private sector in the Levelling Up agenda: representation, transparency and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angela Merkel has stood out as a global leader during her 16-years tenure as Chancellor of Germany. Her chancellorship included navigating dynamics of human rights issues (support for migrants - particularly Syrian refugees), environmental protections, citizens' wellbeing, and economic development. This paper examines the nature of her complex leadership journey, successes, and challenges through the lens of responsible leadership theory and serves three purposes. Firstly, it is an effort to provide a window into Merkel's leadership and the lessons it offers for leading in a world amidst crises, polarization, and complexity. Major insights in this regard include acting with courage, navigating crises with persistence, pursing multilateral collaborations, and building a nonconforming leadership profile. Secondly, it critically examines the relevance of responsible leadership theory as a framework for globally responsible leadership, especially outside the realm of business organizations. In doing so, the paper particularly explores the role of ethical grounding, relational competence, and adaptive and systems capability as key dimensions of responsible leadership. Finally, it identifies some gaps in and blind spots of responsible leadership conceptualizations and offers considerations to expand the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author critiques the paper "The Feltham-Ohlson (1995) Model: Empirical Implications," by Jing Liu and James Ohlson which appeared in the Summer 2000 issue. The suggestions made in the paper about practical solutions to measurement problems associated with the financial/operating asset dichotomy is evaluated. Furthermore, comparisons are made for using analysts' forecasts as a proxy for values one and two. Finally, the importance of the paper is commended for providing a framework for how researchers can rigorously incorporate the understanding of accrual accounting into the valuation research.

The author critiques the paper "The Ohlson Model: Contribution to Valuation Theory, Limitations, and Empirical Applications," by Kin Lo and Thomas Lys published in the Summer 2000 issue. The researchers are commended for doing a good job differentiating between the residual income valuation (RIV) and the Ohlson Model. Their analysis about the lack of potential interest in testing the RIV is also intuitive according to the authors. However, a potentially better approach econometrically is to estimate the equation with proper constraints on the coefficients.

Rural enterprise hubs are physical infrastructures designed to help rural businesses access tangible and intangible benefits. They generally operate within two main business models: 'Honey Pots' (i.e. targeting business-to-customer tenants) and 'Hives' (i.e. targeting business‐to‐business tenants). This paper focuses on the former type, Honey Pot hubs, which are best suited to tenants who sell their products/services directly to the general public, such as some creative sectors, retail and tourism. Honey Pot hubs are designed to cater to such needs by attracting footfall to the space, providing cafes and facilities for the general public and hosting events. This paper explores how these Honey Pot hubs contribute to rural and regional development, through the creative practices of their tenants. The paper draws on qualitative interviews with Honey Pot managers and tenants in remote rural locations of the North East of England. The findings are useful for Hub practitioners, policy makers and rural creative businesses who want to develop similar initiatives in their locales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resource-based view (RBV) provides a rich framework for analyzing the role of a firm's tangible and intangible resources in creating and sustaining competitive advantage. As a result, it has been widely used to explain entrepreneurial firms' strategic choices that generate such an advantage. While researchers have established the usefulness of the RBV, they have overlooked the fundamental question of how entrepreneurial firms manage their resources to gain competitive advantage. This paper examines this issue in the context of independently owned startups, which typically lack resources, are constrained in their access to key resource providers, and have limited experience in assembling and managing resources. Adopting a broader conceptualization of startups' resource management process, the paper identifies several questionable assumptions in related RBV-based research. Further, recognizing the limits of RBV to determine ex ante the nature and magnitude of entrepreneurs' resourcefulness when managing their resources, the paper suggests linkages between the RBV and several entrepreneurship frameworks and outlines promising research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City-regions have become a core unit of analysis for spatial economy, providing an explicit link between bounded administrative units and more networked spaces of production. Too often, however, such analysis is focused on the core of the city-region, applying presumptions of gravity-based agglomeration. This paper examines these networked spaces of production from the city-region periphery, using a firm-based approach as critical determinants of spatial economy via their key interactions. Focused on the Greater Birmingham city-region, UK, the paper explores the integration of city-regional geography with firm-based networked economy. In doing so, it applies a set of networks of practice, focused on firms' factored, transactional, and transitional dependencies. Using these networks of practice, it critically analyses the spaces of production formed through firm-based interactions, and their concomitance with city-regional designations. It makes two key contributions. First, it enhances the call for greater understanding of the relationship between core and periphery in the context of city-regions. Second, it argues that network-based approaches, which form spatial economy around firm interactions over administrative configurations, offer useful insight into understanding firm–place relationships which more conventional place-based approaches cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on the writing process in the workplace has given inadequate attention to the collaborative nature of work in an organization. Examination of the processes an engineer goes through as he writes a routine and a non-routine document shows that those processes are strongly affected by the degree to which his company has previously accepted the claims he makes as given or as knowledge. Claims are established as knowledge in an organization by being “inscribed,” that is, by having a series of increasingly general symbolic representations assigned to them by a series of writers at work. The inscribing process both resembles the writing process and affects it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge created outside the firm, but within the same region, is a key enabler of high-growth firms. This paper develops an entrepreneurial ecosystems conceptual framework focussing on knowledge spillovers and regional absorptive capacity, to account for interregional differences in high-growth firm rates. This is tested using panel data from 378 regions in Great Britain. Knowledge creation (SME-engaging and research-intensive universities, innovative firms) and knowledge spillovers (primarily through vertically related industries) reveal to be of key importance. Other key regional enablers of high growth firms pertain to entrepreneurship culture, talent, intermediate services, networks, finance and demand growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Necessity entrepreneurship (NE) describes the process of venturing a business out of need when alternative options are seemingly absent. Whereas prior research typically understands NE to be a homogenous construct, recent theorizing suggests the possibility of NE heterogeneity. In this paper we employ Sen's capability approach to elicit NE variety. Using data gathered from 820 households in rural Tanzania, our cluster analysis generates four distinct types of NE that vary significantly regarding their entrepreneurial activities, determinants and outcomes. Our findings demonstrate the relevance of life satisfaction and reveal the role of choice in NE. Our study thereby advances a nuanced perspective of NE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Netflix actively fueled what is known as the myth of big data, promoting their recommender system and data-driven production as cutting-edge, all-seeing, and all-knowing. Today, however, the company is increasingly acknowledging the role of human expertise and creativity. In this paper I explore the strategic repositioning of Netflix from technology company to entertainment company, enabling them to be understood as both "data" and "gut." This transformation is discussed as motivated by the increasing public criticism of data and algorithms and the company's foray into original programing. More specifically, I examine how Netflix, in public-facing materials, discusses big data and how those ideas are taken up in public discourse. These sources disclose an assumption of opposing characteristics between data and human expertise and creativity. As a point of a larger critique, I comment on the limitations of this data and human opposition for thinking about Netflix and technologies at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and practitioners have investigated high growth firms because a small number of high growth firms contribute disproportionately to economic development. However, we find that the standard perception and support programs of high growth firms are heavily geared toward to firms in the high-tech sector that seek venture capital investment and hyper growth. The authors in this paper conducted multiple research projects of high growth firms in Kansas City, St Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, and Montana, and came to conclude that many high growth firms are sector agonistic, locally rooted, grow organically based on market niche, and exist in every city. This alternative model of high growth firms leads to a completely different set of policy and support implications, which we synthesize in eight points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What did science make possible for colonial rule? How was science in turn marked by the knowledge and practices of those under colonial rule? Here I approach these questions via the social history of Madras Observatory. Constructed in 1791 by the East India Company, the observatory was to provide local time to mariners and served as a clearinghouse for the company's survey and revenue administration. The astronomical work of Madras' Brahmin assistants relied upon their knowledge of jyotiśāstra [Sanskrit astronomy/astrology], and can be seen as a specialized form of the kind of South Indian scribal labor and knowledge that also staffed the company's tax offices. If at Greenwich the division of labor meant observatory work bore resemblances to the factory and the accounts office, in Madras, astronomy and accounting drew on similar labor forms because they were part of the same enterprise. But the company did not just adapt preexisting forms of labor, it also attempted to produce its own at a school built near the observatory to train "half-caste" orphans as apprentice surveyors and assistant computers. The school, staffed by the Brahmins, drew upon knowledge and pedagogical practice associated with the tinnai, the schools in which upper-caste children learned to read, write, and calculate. For a time, the observatory's social order was literally "half-caste." The paper also considers how the relationship between caste, status, and instrument was reflected in the visual and material culture of the observatory, such as in Indian-language inscriptions on its central pillar. For company astronomers, the measurement of time meant reworking the relationships among the Indian past, the colonial present, and an imperial posterity. Science under colonial rule spanned multiple temporal and social registers because it was the result of negotiations between the demands of political economy and the knowledge and practices of colonized others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many economists and psychologists have studied the impact of nudges on households' pro-environmental behaviors. Interestingly, "private nudges" can be imagined for companies. Yet, studies focusing on nudging employees' energy use are rare. The objective of our paper is to explore this issue with the help of a field experiment conducted at 47 French companies' sites. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, the effects of three nudges on employees' energy conservation are tested. The first nudge, "moral appeal", stresses the responsible use of energy. The second one, "social comparison", informs employees on the energy consumption of other firms participating in the experiment. Finally, the third nudge, "stickers", alerts employees about good energy conservation practices. Our results stress the complementarity of these nudges. When implemented alone, the three nudges have no significant effects on energy consumption. However, when the moral appeal and social comparison nudges are combined with the stickers nudge, they become effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines one often overlooked aspect of Kenneth Waltz's Theory of International Politics : the analogy he makes between firms and states. Specifically, I contrast this 'states as firms' analogy adopted by Waltz with the state of nature analogy that has often been attributed to him. I make three separate but interrelated claims: (1) the state of nature analogy is not only different from the states as firms analogy, but may also be an inappropriate one for structural realism in the sense that it fails to account for some of the theory's key theses; (2) the states as firms analogy helps us to better understand, if not to fully embrace, how Waltz arrives at certain central premises of his theory; and (3) the states as firms analogy provides a more comprehensive account of dynamic effects of the international system, including the transformation of state attributes that would have been neglected by those who subscribe to the state of nature analogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst there are well-established bodies of knowledge about enterprise support and the role of entrepreneurial learning for SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) in general and a growing body of evidence relating to environmental capabilities, green/eco-innovation, sustainable supply chains and green skills for SMEs in particular, there is little empirical and peer reviewed literature that address approaches to enterprise support specifically focussed on the needs of the growing number of pro-environmental SMEs. This study undertakes a contextualised review of diverse knowledge domains to identify the key features of enterprise support for pro-environmental SMEs. In doing so, the paper plots the knowledge journey of experienced academic programme providers, from the initial design of an enterprise support programme for pro-environmental SMEs, through a thematic review of academic, grey and other related literature and finally presents a propositional and normative conceptual framework that proposes eight key features of enterprise support for pro-environmental SMEs. The resulting 'framework for action' aims to offer a practical tool for providers of pro-environmental enterprise support to review and improve their own provision, an analytical frame for other researchers in this field and a benchmark for SMEs seeking guidance on their pathway to net-zero business performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bradshaw and Miller (2007) study a sample of non-U.S. firms that voluntarily adopted U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) during the period from 1980 to 2001. They document that the voluntary U.S. GAAP adopters move significantly closer to U.S. firms in terms of compliance with U.S. GAAP and various accounting earnings properties, although they have not fully converged with U.S. firms. This paper is an interesting and comprehensive study of voluntary U.S. GAAP adopters. The paper's research setting, however, limits its ability to address the question raised in its title. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops empirical implications of the Feltham and Ohlson (1995) model, which relates a firm's market value to accounting data and their expected realizations. The key issue concerns how one conceptualizes/measures a firm's expected growth to explain its market value when the model also includes more basic accounting measures reflecting its current performance. It is shown that market value can be expressed in terms of (1) financial assets (liabilities) with a coefficient of 1, (2) the expected change in operating earnings with a nonnegative coefficient, (3) the expected operating earnings with a positive coefficient, (4) current (net) operating assets with a nonnegative coefficient, and (5) the expected change in (net) operating assets with a positive coefficient. One identifies the measure of a firm's expected growth by normalizing the last variable with current (net) operating assets. The variable will be relevant if and only if the accounting is conservative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is known that businesses report cybercrime to public authorities at a low rate, and this hinders prevention strategies, there is a lack of research on companies' decisions to report cyber victimisation. This paper analyses the UK Cyber Security Breaches Survey to explore factors associated with cybercrime reporting by businesses. Results indicate that the type of cybercrime is relevant to the reporting decision, and that the likelihood of reporting increases when cybersecurity incidents generate negative impacts and when the company places high priority on cybersecurity. However, we find no association between having cybersecurity insurance and reporting. Finally, while having outsourced cybersecurity management is associated with reporting to anyone outside the organisation but not to public authorities, in-house cybersecurity teams seem more inclined to report to public authorities. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of the private cybersecurity sector and the criminal justice system in combatting cybercrime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government subsidies are important to the improvement of innovation level and sustainable development of biopharmaceutical firms. This paper empirically analyses the impact of government R&D and non-R&D subsidies on the innovation output of biopharmaceutical firms. We establish static, and dynamic panel mediation effect models using 2013–2019 data from China's listed biopharmaceutical companies. Additionally, we further explore the mediating role of R&D investment between R&D subsidies and innovation output. The findings show that, first, R&D subsidies contribute to the innovation output of biopharmaceutical firms, while the effect of non-R&D subsidies is insignificant. Second, the study of the mechanism shows that R&D subsidies can significantly promote firms' innovation output through R&D investment in the static mediating model; but interestingly, the R&D subsidies fail to promote innovation output in the dynamic mediating model through R&D investment, perhaps due to the sustainable impact of innovation. Based on the above results, this paper provides suggestions and insights for the formulation of different types of subsidy policies and the improvement of the innovation level of biopharmaceutical firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study of a UK-based global fast fashion brand Boohoo encourages critical exploration of a complex, ethical and reputational crisis. Taking a macromarketing perspective, the reader is encouraged to consider all of the factors, actors and relationships in the industry, society and the supply chain to appreciate the resulting ethical considerations that arise. Boohoo has been described as a successful online company that provides a wide range of products, including clothing, footwear, beauty products and accessories. However, the company came under fire in July 2020 after an exposé published in the Sunday Times, the Sunday paper of The Times, named Britain's most trusted national newspaper. The exposé published a report from an undercover investigation that revealed some unacceptable practices in relation to working conditions. The poor working conditions were worsened by the COVID-19 outbreak. As the media criticised Boohoo, the company launched an independent review which eventually confirmed the allegations and stated that the investigation's findings were "substantially true". Written from the perspective of a PR consultancy that wants to help Boohoo restore its reputation, the case uses secondary information to thoroughly understand Boohoo's situation. The PR consultants therefore investigate the Sunday Times' allegations, Boohoo's practices and responses to those allegations, and the company's practices from an ethical point of view. The PR consultancy also investigates the fashion industry, with a focus on fast fashion, which creates an environment where suppliers and retailers in the system try to produce products as cheaply and profitably as possible. To fully understand those affected by this exposé, those influential to the industry and those stakeholders who govern or put pressure on the industry, they consider: the people and local government of Leicester (pronounced Lester), the supplier factories, national government websites and views of pressure groups and charities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research empirically examines the relationship between tax avoidance and the likelihood of incurring a tax-related restatement, as well as the effects tax restatements have on future tax avoidance behavior. We predict and find that the association between tax avoidance and the likelihood of a tax-related restatement is nonlinear. Specifically, both relatively high levels and relatively low levels of tax avoidance compared to peer firms increase the likelihood of incurring a tax-related restatement. We consider whether the increased likelihood for high avoiders is attributable to obfuscation necessary to escape detection of tax avoidance or weak corporate governance. For high avoiders, we find evidence that both obfuscation and weak corporate governance may contribute to the likelihood of a tax-related restatement. As low avoiders should not need to obfuscate, we focus on corporate governance and find an increased likelihood when governance is weak. In response to a tax-related restatement announcement, we document a decline in tax avoidance for firms that have relatively high tax avoidance prior to the restatement announcement. We attribute this to the increased level of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) monitoring and strengthening of corporate governance that we observe post-restatement announcement. In contrast, we do not find evidence that low avoidance firms alter their tax avoidance after a tax-related restatement announcement, consistent with our finding that corporate governance does not improve post-restatement for low avoiders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introduction, we first review the lessons learned in development economics about the ability of randomized control trials to analyse what Duflo refers to as the "plumbing problems" of policy implementation, as opposed to "engineering problems" of policy design. We then examine the papers published within this special issue from a plumbing-based perspective to highlight the benefits of the co-creation of knowledge in corporate sustainability through a field-based experimental agenda. We finally propose that field-based experiments can radically influence the future development of our (and related) fields of inquiry in three ways: (1) focusing on the implementation processes of sustainability strategies, (2) shifting attention from the analysis of past events to the design of future actions, and (3) yielding our role as sole owners of the knowledge development process and agreeing to shared ownership with the organizations we study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landes and Posner's highly cited economics of trademark law based on search cost reduction has influenced economists, legislators, and courts for decades. Their account, however, predates consumer use of the Internet for search and did not anticipate the rise of firms such as Google to economy-wide power in search. Consequently, trademark law intended to help consumers find a preferred brand now also protects the means they typically use. An outdated view of trademarks as a natural and equitable right––very scrutable to STS––has led to Internet search firms owning reflexive "marks for finding other marks," a structural advantage they have exploited through new dynamic and microtargeted forms of advertising into technoscientific rentiership. This paper revises Landes and Posner's model to fit the case of an economy containing dominant firms with significant economy-wide search cost reduction power, adding (1) differentiation of technological elements of the original formal model and (2) analysis of the distribution and function of marks such as GOOGLE in consumer decision-making. The updated theory shows that marks granted to search firms are equivalent to generic marks in economic effect and constitute a new but unrecognized class that are functionally "super-generic." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the innovation strategy of Siemens, a key player in Europe's digital economy, by performing network and lexical analyses using data derived from Siemens's patents and scientific publications since 1998. We observe that the company's innovation efforts evolved from a broader attempt to develop internal information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities – alongside its historical industrial priorities – to a strategy focused on developing artificial intelligence (AI) for sector-specific and niche applications (such as life and medical sciences). As a result, it became dependent on tech giants' clouds for accessing more general AI services and digital infrastructure. We build on the intellectual monopoly literature focusing on the effects of tech giants on other leading corporations, to analyse Siemens's experience. By abandoning the development of general ICT and given the emergence of tech giants as digital economy intellectual monopolies, we show that Siemens is risking its technological autonomy towards these big tech companies. Our results provide clues to understand the challenges faced by Europe and its firms in relation to US and Chinese tech giants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change has caused governments worldwide to take actions to improve their energy efficiency. This paper investigates how China's Top-1000 program, a command-and-control type of energy-saving mandate, has affected the operational choices of firms, and in turn, their profitability. We apply the propensity score matching method to find "identical twins" for the participants in the Top- 1000 program, then conduct a difference-in-differences analysis on the matched sample. Our findings suggest that the profitability of the enterprises targeted for energy savings decreased by one-third, mainly due to increased production costs. The targeted enterprises tended to increase their fixed assets per capita, which was associated with improvements in energy efficiency. Furthermore, compared to similar untargeted enterprises, there was a significant slowdown in the production growths of the targeted enterprises, raising concerns about carbon leakage due to increased production by less efficient producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how green product and process innovations affect firms' sustainable performance. It seems evident that green innovations should benefit not only society but also the firms, although it is not clearly stated how this relationship works, especially inside clusters. We theorise that green process and product innovations have a curvilinear relationship with firm sustainable performance and that the geographical concentration of clusters has a positive reinforcing role for green product innovations. To test these theoretical expectations, moderated regression and quantile regression were applied to a sample of 175 firms from the Spanish footwear industry. Results confirm that although green innovations do improve performance, they have an inverted "U" shape that makes investments in green innovation less profitable above a certain threshold. In addition, we observe that geographical concentration is stronger for green product innovations since green process innovations need more tacit-based knowledge and internal capabilities, making the cluster effect less significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author critiques the paper "The Association between Firms' Values and Accounting Numbers after Adoption of Fresh Start Reporting," by Reuven Lehavy published in the Summer 1999 issue. Arguments are presented that the research would have been enriched by jettisoning the "value relevance" way of thinking. The major economic event in the reorganization is not asset reevaluation but financial recontracting in the form of a substantial swap of debt for equity. Furthermore, the principal asset-related transaction on average is a reclassification of assetts, the main effect of which is on debt contracts. Finally, it is argued that one requires some type of "costly contracting" theory of accounting to predict the coefficients in the Ohlson model that is the basis of the research.

This paper offers an up-to-date review of Enterprise Zone programs across states in the U.S. An Enterprise Zone program often focuses on target locations, populations, and/or industries. Enterprise Zone program designs and implementations vary between states. The expected outcomes are likely to differ from the desired outcome, which is to revitalize Enterprise Zone areas. This paper also provides a review of the existing Enterprise Zone empirical literature on program effectiveness assessments. There are conflicting recommendations, even for the same Enterprise Zone program. To assess whether research design contributes to this situation, the paper explores several research design factors, including outcome measure, time span, spatial unit, data choice, and control of endogeneity. Information on these research factors in the existing literature is collected and coded. Descriptive and correlation analyses suggest that outcome measure, spatial unit, post-program time span, and the choice of an endogeneity control method have significant impacts on program effectiveness assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of analyst following on stock prices. The study begins with an interesting premise, the perception by management, that greater analyst following is positively associated with a rise in the equity price of firm's shares. There is sufficient anecdotal evidence supporting this conjecture to make it a worthwhile candidate for closer examination. An interpretation of the uncertain nature of firm value is that it represents the firm's idiosyncratic risk. Assuming that market participants are risk-averse and firm idiosyncratic risk cannot be diversified away, expected firm price increases with increased information gathering independent of whether the information is public or private. Therefore it is sufficient that traders be risk-averse and firm idiosyncratic risk be priced for markets to manifest a positive association between analyst following and a rise in firm stock price. The requirement that firm risk cannot be diversified away may explain why smaller firms are especially keen to have greater analyst.

In this paper, we provide a theory that links optimal contracting with structures of information, such as measures of profit and productivity, which in turn, are determined by the nature of the underlying technologies that a firm employs. The general thesis of this paper is that the nature of the business venture contemplated gives rise simultaneously to an optimal information structure and optimal financial contracts that are paired with the information structure chosen. An information structure refers here to a specification of who has what information and when. Thus, it specifies the kind of information available to that could be acquires or discovered, the locus of information, that is, whether it is private information to some agents or common knowledge, and the temporal sequence of information discovery and transmission. A brief discussion of related works is presented in the second section of this paper. Following that is an illustration of the arguments cited. Section three lays down the framework in which stylized cases are analyzed. Analysis of individual cases is presented in section 4 and section 5 generalizes the notation to integrate the cases analyzed within a more encompassing model.

We investigate Big 4 pricing over the period of 2000 to 2010. We classify the data into five periods: 2000-2001 as the pre-Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) period, 2002-2003 as the SOX period, 2004-2006 as the Auditing Standard 2 (AS2) period, 2007 as the AS5 period, and 2008-2010 as the Great Recession period. The shocks to the audit market associated with these changes in auditing regulations and the economic environment have differential impacts on large clients and small clients. The percentage of small clients using Big 4 auditors dropped significantly over these shocks, whereas the percentage of large clients using Big 4 auditors experienced a large drop only from the SOX period to the AS2 period. We find that Big 4 pricing increased significantly from the pre-SOX period to the SOX period and continued to increase significantly in the AS2 period. Big 4 pricing experienced a significant decline in the AS5 period and declined insignificantly in the Great Recession period. Big 4 small firm pricing decreased significantly in the AS2 period compared with the SOX period and in the Great Recession period compared with the AS5 period. We find that the Big 4 pricing for small clients is contingent on the nature of competition. The Big 4 charged small firms higher prices in the SOX period, AS5 period, and Great Recession period when competition was lower. Our paper provides a unique contribution as a comprehensive analysis of Big 4 pricing and Big 4 small firm pricing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]