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Issues of diversity and inclusion increasingly influence the purchasing process and brand loyalty of new generations of customers. Additionally, scholars and policymakers are calling for a more inclusive society and advocating for the integration of people with disabilities. However, there is a lack of research investigating these issues from a marketing perspective. Using a strategy of inquiry regarding in-depth multiple case studies from different players of the toy industry, this paper highlights how to set marketing strategies that develop and communicate new offerings by promoting both Marketing and Social Value and fostering the social inclusion of children with a disability. The proposed model contributes to the emerging literature of Inclusive Marketing and will help marketers implement a socially inclusive approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the interplay between cyber failures and information technology (IT) capability reputation (ITCAPR). Cyber failures often reveal vulnerable information systems (IS) processes and IT assets at their root that point to firm IT capability weakness. For external stakeholders, firm IT capability is unobservable and therefore a matter of perception or reputation. We theorize about cyber failures' adverse impacts on firm market value and firm ITCAPR based on how external stakeholders reconcile their ex ante perception of firm IT capability strength, or established ITCAPR, and their perception of an ex post revelation of IT capability weakness by cyber failures. Our analysis of 264 cyber failures finds empirical support for our theory-based predictions. We find that ex post revelation of IT capability weakness leads external stakeholders to adjust downward their ex ante perceptions of firm IT capability proportional to the severity of IT capability weakness. Two ex post consequences are commensurate loss of firm market value and decline in firm ITCAPR. Based on our main finding, that external stakeholders perceive IT capability weakness as an endogenous contributory factor to cyber failures that leads to erosion of firm ITCAPR, we contribute to theory in significant ways. First, we theoretically complement a predominant research focus on IT capability strength as a value-relevant intangible asset by confirming that IT capability weakness is a value-relevant intangible liability as well as adding "vulnerability" or "weakness" as a distinctive process aspect absent from prior literature linking IS processes and IT capabilities. Second, we theoretically add to an almost exclusive focus of research on cyber failures' short-term adverse effect on firm market value by documenting for the first time a time-lagged eroding effect on firm ITCAPR. Last, we theoretically show IT controls and particularly ones embedded in IS processes as an essential aspect of IT capability strength as well as cybersecurity protection and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a loglinear present-value identity in which investment ("scale"), profitability ("yield"), and discount rates determine a firm's market-to-book ratio. Our identity reconciles existing influential market-to-book decompositions and facilitates novel insights from three empirical applications: (1) Both investment and profitability are important contributors to the value spread and stock return news variance. (2) Any cross-sectional return predictability has a mirror image in cash-flow fundamentals, providing asset pricing theories with additional moments to match. (3) The investment spread significantly improves the predictability of time-series variation in the value premium and justifies the poor performance of value in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large divergence in the returns of top-performing star firms and the rest of the economy is substantially reduced when we account for the mismeasurement of intangible capital. Star firms produce and invest more per dollar in invested capital, have more valuable innovations as measured by the market value of patents, and are as exposed to competitive shocks as nonstars. Star firms have higher markups that are predicted early in their life cycle at a time when they are small. Overall, after we correct for the mismeasurement of intangibles, the evidence points to the superior ability of star firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how a manager decides to disclose or withhold segment information in a capital market setting. In particular, we develop a multi-period model in which a manager in each period decides how to allocate her effort between two businesses. The profit earned in each segment is determined by the manager's effort and ability as well as each segment's market profitability and inherent uncertainty. In this setting, in contrast to the expectation of segment disclosure being withheld due to conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders, we identify the conditions under which the manager rationally withholds segment information and achieves higher social welfare. In a setting where the manager is concerned about the current stock price, disclosing more disaggregated information to the stock market does not necessarily lead to more efficient monitoring. The capital market values various segment earnings differently, and in response to this valuation, a rational manager may greatly alter her behavior, leading to inefficient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines equity market perceptions of fair value reporting for tangible assets. We identify six events—four designated as increasing, two as decreasing—affecting the likelihood of U.S. adoption of fair value reporting for investment property (i.e., real estate) assets, one of the largest asset classes in the world. Fair value adoption in the United States would facilitate convergence of one of the widest remaining disparities between U.S. reporting and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS): accounting for tangible investment property assets, where the United States (IFRS) requires depreciated historical cost (recognized or disclosed fair values). Using a sample of U.S. investment property firms, we document an average positive market reaction for movement toward fair value reporting. We further find predictable cross-sectional variation, with the market reaction increasing for firms with greater commitment to high-quality reporting, greater investor demand for fair values, higher financial risk, and staler asset values. Overall, the results are consistent with U.S. equity markets perceiving net benefits to movement toward a fair value reporting approach for this asset class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are disruptive innovations at the vanguard of a new wave of the digital revolution. The far-reaching appeal, global reach, unprecedented mobility of capital, and multitude of trading venues have created a marketplace like no other. The economic fundamentals underlying this market are yet to be fully comprehended, as evidenced by the often-contradicting guidelines recommended by accounting firms, government agencies, and standard setters. Many of the definitions and models used for classical markets cannot be applied directly to cryptocurrency. Basic concepts must be reinterpreted, and models must be modified to fit the mechanics of these markets. In this article, we focus on one such concept: that of fair value. We argue that in light of the fragmentation of cryptocurrency markets and the global dispersion of trading venues, a principal market may be difficult to identify. The primary objective of this article is to present a methodology to dynamically designate principal markets and derive fair value prices for financial reporting using this designation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Estate of Blount, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that life insurance proceeds used to redeem a shareholder's shares are not counted in the fair market value of the company when valuing those shares. Given the very different conclusions reached by the 11th Circuit in the Blount case and the 8th Circuit in the case of Connelly v. United States, if it is not feasible for shareholders to have a cross-purchase agreement, having an insurance-funded stock-redemption agreement may present a valuation challenge. The larger exemptions now applicable under the estate tax law may insulate many owners of closely held businesses from valuation concerns. However, those owners of corporations who are concerned about estate tax planning should seek the advice of qualified appraisers and attorneys to structure a buy-sell agreement and a business appraisal that takes into account insurance funding if a stock-redemption format is the owners' preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

D-glucaric acid is an important organic acid with numerous applications in therapy, food, and materials, contributing significantly to its substantial market value. The biosynthesis of D-glucaric acid (GA) from renewable sources such as glucose has garnered significant attention due to its potential for sustainable and cost-effective production. This review summarizes the current understanding of the cell factories for GA production in different chassis strains, from static to dynamic control strategies for regulating their metabolic networks. We highlight recent advances in the optimization of D-glucaric acid biosynthesis, including metabolic dynamic control, alternative feedstocks, metabolic compartments, and so on. Additionally, we compare the differences between different chassis strains and discuss the challenges that each chassis strain must overcome to achieve highly efficient GA productions. In this review, the processes of engineering a desirable cell factory for highly efficient GA production are just like an epitome of metabolic engineering of strains for chemical biosynthesis, inferring general trends for industrial chassis strain developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large multinational IT companies are always trying to produce competitive innovation at a faster pace. Even giant IT corporations, however, are unable to produce sustainable technological innovation alone. Literature offers many alternatives to obtain external technologies, but there are few studies about acquisition strategy to obtain technology innovation. A case study was carried out in a multinational IT company, EMC, which has applied mainly the acquisition strategy to develop innovations and increase its competitive position. The company has acquired many technology-based IT companies in the U.S. and abroad, and this strategy showed effectiveness in value creation, leading them to increase their income, value and market capitalisation during this period. An important finding here is that, by combining acquisitions with increasing investments in R&D, EMC was able to leverage innovations and strengthen its competitiveness and global market presence. The EMC experience has also allowed proposing a graphical tool, showing which are the key management processes that might be considered to get successful in using the acquisition strategy to create values for the business through innovation. Associated with this tool, this study also presents a step-by-step procedure to guide practitioners on how to manage the strategy of acquisition to access innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Finance Letters / Maliye Finans Yazıları Dergisi is the property of Maliye Finans Yazilari Yayimcilik Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the influence of risk disclosure (RD) in the annual reports on Firm Value (FV) in the UK context. Furthermore, it addresses the moderating role of the analyst information environment in shaping this relation. Our study distinguishes between favourable and unfavourable information and examines whether the different nature of risk information could affect the FV differently. Our study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the value relevance of the narrative risk information. In particular, using a sample of UK listed firms, we find a positive relation between risk information and FV. We also contribute to the dilemma of risk disclosure measurement by using four different RD proxies. Our study has important implications for academics, standard setters, investors and managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the short-term market impact of the beginning of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine (24 February 2022) on the world's largest insurance firms. Using an event study for the 100 largest listed insurers globally, we observe that the unexpected loss effect seems to prevail over the long-term growth effect, leading to a decrease of insurance firm's equity market values. Furthermore, our results show a higher negative stock market reaction for foreign insurers with a high exposure to Russian/Ukrainian markets. These results also confirm the existence of a 'proximity penalty' for firms in the vicinity of the war zone. Finally, our results provide insight into which insurer-specific characteristics emerge as value drivers. Larger, well-capitalised, profitable and life or diversified insurance firms with less institutional ownership have superior stock market returns and are more able to handle the losses resulting from the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Press reports have indicated that firms frequently underprice restricted stock and employee stock options. I test for underpricing of stock and options. Design/methodology/approach: I examined a sample of 5,333 private firm stock and option issuances between 1985 and 2017. I tested for underpricing using two approaches: assuming investors have no special market-timing ability and assuming instead they have perfect market-timing ability. Findings: I find evidence of widespread stock and option underpricing by private firms before they go public reflecting large discounts that exceed reasonable compensation for lack of marketability. Unreported underpricing is more frequent in the last pre-IPO private equity transactions that offer the last opportunity to give such discounts before the stock is publicly traded, but the discounts are greater in the earlier pre-IPO transactions where unreported discounts are presumably tougher for the SEC to detect. Underpricing is still detected even when the actual DLOMs are tested against a benchmark that assumes investors have perfect market-timing ability. Research limitations/implications: Firms frequently underprice restricted stock and employee stock options. Firms tend to underprice stock options more frequently than restricted stock, but restricted stock tends to be priced at deeper discounts when recipients are assumed not to have any special market-timing ability. Practical implications: Private firms issue restricted stock and options as incentive compensation. Lowballing the valuation transfers wealth from outside stockholders to employees/insiders. Wealth transfers take place through the issuance of equity claims to employees/insiders before firms go public. I found that more than a quarter of the DLOMs exceed the theoretical maximum by, on average, between 16% (median) and 20% (mean). This finding raises two questions worthy of investigation. First, to what extent do the frequency and magnitude of DLOMs above the theoretical maximum depend on whether a board of directors obtains an independent appraisal of a stock's fair market value? Second, if DLOMs above the theoretical maximum are observed even when the stock is independently appraised, how do appraisers justify such large DLOMs? Social implications: The wealth transfers that take place through the issuance of equity claims to employees/insiders before firms go public benefit employees/insiders at the expense of outside shareholders. Originality/value: My paper is the first to furnish evidence of widespread stock and option underpricing by private firms before they go public; demonstrate that the unreported underpricing is more frequent in the last pre-IPO private equity transactions that offer the last opportunity to give such discounts before the stock is publicly traded and show that the discounts are greater in the earlier pre-IPO transactions where unreported discounts are presumably tougher for the SEC to detect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional asset management strategy has emphasized building barriers to entry or closely guarding unique assets to maintain a firm's comparative advantage. A new "inverted firm" paradigm, however, has emerged. Under this strategy, firms share data seeking to become platforms by opening digital services to third parties and capturing part of their external surplus. This contrasts with a "pipeline" strategy where the firm itself creates value. This paper quantitatively estimates the effect of adopting an inverted firm strategy through the lens of application programming interfaces (APIs), a key enabling technology. Using both public data and those of a private API development firm, we document rapid growth of the API network and connecting apps since 2005. We then perform difference-in-difference and synthetic control analyses and find that public firms adopting public APIs grew an additional 38.7% over 16 years relative to similar nonadopters. We find no significant effect from the use of APIs purely for internal productivity: the pipeline strategy. Within the subset of firms that adopt public APIs, those that attract more third-party complementors and those that become more central to the network see faster growth. Using variation in network centrality caused by API degradation, an instrumental variables analysis confirms a causal role for APIs in firm market value. Finally, we document an important downside of public APIs: increased risk of data breach. Overall, these facts lead us to conclude that APIs have a large and positive impact on economic growth and do so primarily by enabling an inverted firm strategy. This paper was accepted by D. J. Wu, information systems. Funding: This work was partially supported by Mulesoft and Apigee Corporation. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4968. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following provincial quality awards announcements, this study explores whether winners' financial performance is significantly impacted by the quality award, using OLS and PSM-DID techniques. A placebo parallel trend model is adopted to re-estimate dynamic firms financial performance and test the robustness of the findings. The results show that the quality award significantly impacts manufacturing firms' financial performance. The regional quality award has significant positive benefits for first-time winners and winning firms located in the Delta region of China. There is a significant positive relationship between the firms' financial performance and the achievement of quality awards in the long run. The findings expand the research to the relationship between quality awards and firm market value in various institutional contexts. The positive association between a quality award and financial performance confirms the implication for policymakers and the government that a reasonable quality award reduces the quality problem, increases firm value, and supports the awards mechanism in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article seeks to investigate the impact of ESG disclosure in its three dimensions, both collectively and individually, on the market value of Jordanian-listed companies from 2012 to 2019. Using a sample of 173 companies listed in ASE, 1,384 observations were collected. The findings indicate that environmental and social disclosure maximize companies' market value, and the ESG disclosure collectively has positively affected the market value. At the same time, the results do not show any important role in governance. This indicates that companies pay close attention to various stakeholders, particularly external stakeholders, and wish to increase trust and transparency by disclosing their ESG performance. As a result, companies' confidence in the capital markets is reinforced, and improved disclosure practices positively affect market value. This study adds an empirical contribution to the literature by investigating the influence of sustainability reporting on companies' market value in the context of emerging economic countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how the misvaluation of banks affects their loan supply by considering proprietary data on 83 banks from 11 euro-area countries from 2010Q1 to 2019Q4. We measure bank market value by the Tobin's Q and identify the impact of nonfundamental changes in bank market value by saturating our specifications with observable bank fundamentals and analyst forecasts on future bank performance as well as several fixed effects. We show that nonfundamental rises in market value lead a bank to increase its loan supply to firms and households, even when the bank's capital structure constraint is not binding. Our findings are consistent with a mechanism in which bank managers cater to the misperceptions of stock market investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feed index is a weighted sum of the number of reactions (i.e. reading, comments, retweets, likes and dislikes, and so on.) that the content engine actively recommends and distributes to the users. It provides valuable information from big data on the Internet and high marketing value to Destination Marketing Organization as the content can be customized. A large-scale empirical study on the impact of the feed index on tourist arrival forecasting accuracy has been conducted, with a new approach proposed to incorporate the feed index into the tourist arrival forecasting model with higher forecasting accuracy. Firstly, the empirical results suggest that the feed index for different keywords reflects varying tourist preferences and has different impacts on tourist arrival movements, with variant lead-lag relationships. Secondly, the study shows that keywords need to be carefully selected based on theoretical analysis plus new methods such as entropy analysis. Therefore, it is proposed that entropy is employed to select the keywords and time lags, thus helping improve forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States encourage listed companies to use stock repurchase to elevate the market value of listed firms. After China's promulgation of the new Company Law in 2018, the number of listed companies that issued stock repurchase notices has increased, and the frequency is also increasing. But whether market value management is the real incentive for the action remains debatable. To reduce the risk of pledges, controlling shareholders may use stock repurchases to maintain the security of control rights, and stock repurchase notice may become a tool for controlling shareholders to manage pledge risks. From the perspective of pledge risk management, this paper selects the listed companies from 2012 to 2019 and finds that the share pledge of the controlling shareholder affects the stock repurchase behavior of listed companies by affecting the current pledge risk and the quality of information disclosure plays the interactive role between the two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of digital technology, digital technology innovation has become a core driver of China's economic development. Thus, this study uses A-share listed companies from 2003 to 2021 as the research sample. The digital patents of firms are identified to portray the level of digital technology innovation by matching the digital economy industry classification code, national economy industry classification code, and IPC number. Considers the economic effect of digital technology innovation from the perspective of firm market value. It is found that digital technology innovation significantly contributes to the increase in firm market value, and this finding still holds when robustness tests are performed. Mechanistic tests have shown that digital technology innovation affects firm market value by driving digital transformation, promoting productivity, and enhancing market profitability. Further analysis reveals that digital technology innovation has a more significant effect on increasing firm market value for large, non-state, capital-intensive, technology-intensive and low internal control costs firms. This study verifies the enabling effect of digital technology innovation on the development of the real economy at the micro level, and provides insights for the optimization of China's digital technology innovation policies and the formulation of firms' digital development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research endeavors to dissect the semiotic aspects of visual advertisements produced by international companies on their X application accounts, targeting the Saudi society. The study employs a qualitative descriptive approach within a semiotic analytical framework to identify and expose visible and concealed signs (symbolic, indicative, iconic), assess the encapsulated value concepts, evaluate their harmony with Saudi societal values, and delineate distinctions in their utilization of value marketing strategies. The research objectives, inquiries, criteria, and methodologies use the scholarly foundation of value marketing, coordination theory, and the AIDA model. Utilizing the Similar Web website to discern the most widely used international shopping applications in Saudi Arabia, the study establishes a sample population comprising the highest-ranking companies: Temu, AliExpress, Amazon, SHEIN, and Chicpoint-Fashion, featuring ten advertisements each, amounting to a total of 50 ads within the X application. The study findings indicate that the prevalent marketing content predominantly comprises textual elements with embedded links and hashtags, accompanied by images and videos exhibiting straightforward and focused messaging, with values a pivotal source of influence. A meticulous analysis of 460,127 interactive engagements, encompassing behaviors such as viewing, favoring, retweeting, and commenting, reveals a predominance of negative comments. Semiotic analysis (symbolic, indicative, iconic) exposes inherent weaknesses in the international ad content, notably its failure to effectively reference the specificity of Saudi society and cater to its unique needs. Characters frequently showcase foreign fashion, cultural elements, and features, while the textual content demonstrates inadequacies in Arabic proficiency, including spelling, grammatical, stylistic, and colloquial errors. Furthermore, the exclusive use of Western music, omitting Saudi musical influences, is noted. Positive symbolic signs pertinent to values and culture are discerned through semiotic analysis but are applied inappropriately. The study systematically investigates the predominant methods employed to guide consumers through the AIDA model, utilizing both the persuasive and informative methods. The present- ed discourse exudes a vocal tone conveying confidence and pride, accompanied by the strategic use of signs (indicative and iconic) which deploy messages such as discounts, savings, or site transfers. Additionally, there is a moral linkage between semantic signs and visual elements, exhibiting variations between positive, neutral, and negative elements. Through the implementation of the Musk Values Index among Saudi youth, the study meticulously identifies prevalent value concepts in international advertisements. The discerned values, including determination and perseverance, positivity, patriotism and national belonging, responsibility, and tolerance, exhibit a noteworthy alignment with the values upheld by Saudi society. Specifically, the patriotism and national belonging values align precisely in the study sample and the adopted indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article applies the method of historical research, using a temporal perspective dating back to 1985, to trace the evolution of market valuation principles for real estate in Poland. These principles evolved similarly to those in many other post-socialist countries, influenced by political and socio-economic transformations and the resulting list of objectives for which these values became essential. The changing legal regulations allowing for the emergence and development of a free real estate market played a decisive role in this process. It was also a period of preparing real estate valuation professionals to meet these requirements. Today, the methodology of valuation, under increasing pressure from various real estate market entities and the rapid advancement of intelligent data collection and processing technologies, is undergoing further evolution. In many countries, including Poland, lively discussions and disputes are ongoing regarding the legal authorization of statistical tools and automated valuation models in valuation practice. These possibilities are being considered particularly in the context of mass property valuations for tax purposes. The methodology involves the analysis of Polish legal provisions, foreign literature, and documents proving the gradual marketization of valuation principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicinal plants of Fritillaria are widely distributed in numerous countries around the world and possess excellent antitussive and expectorant effects. In particular, Fritillariae Bulbus (FB) as a precious traditional medicine has thousands of years of medical history in China. Herbs of Fritillaria have a high market value and demand while limited by harsh growing circumstances and scarce wild resources. As a consequence, fraudulent behaviors are regularly engaged by the unscrupulous merchants in an attempt to reap greater profits. It is of an urgent need to evaluate the quality of Fritillaria herbs and their products using various analytical instruments and techniques. This review has scrutinized approximately 160 articles from 1995 to 2022 published on the investigation of Fritillaria herbs and related herbal products. The botanical classification of genus Fritillaria, types of counterfeits, technologies applied for differentiating Fritillaria species were comprehensively summarized and discussed in the current review. Molecular and chromatographic identification were the dominant technologies in the authentication of Fritillaria herbs. Additionally, we brought some potential and promising technologies and analytical strategies into attention, which are worthy attempting in the future researches. This review could conduce to excellent reference value for further investigations of the authenticity assessment of Fritillaria species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of stockholdings patterns on the corporate performance of a developing market like Bangladesh. The study investigated the top 50 listed firms on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) as market capitalization from 2015 to 2019, and data were analyzed using multiple regression. The findings showed that director and foreign stockholdings had a considerable positive effect on firm's performance in both accounting and market measures. In contrast, institutional stockholdings exhibit a negative and insignificant association with all measures except Market to Book Value (MBR), which reflect a significant negative association. The outcomes of this study may contribute to the market regulators, government, and policymakers to emphasize the close monitoring of the compliance of existing rules by companies and focus on restructuring stockholdings patterns in formulating regulations and codes for better firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyses the relationship between sovereignty and capitalist extraction using assemblage theory. It discusses dialectical variants of assemblage theory as tools to think about the entangled relations that make economic actors. The article proposes two concepts, calculative bordering and differential entanglement, to make sense of processes that responsibilised the Greek government for the 2010s Eurozone crisis and invoked its sovereignty as a tool for extraction value for financial markets. The article contributes to anthropological theorisations of sovereignty by showing how, as a political concept, sovereignty can serve to responsibilize governments to secure accumulation and ensure capitalist extraction. The article thus aims for a refined understanding of the changing relation between extraction and sovereignty and processes of fiscal responsibilization as a performance of sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Afyon Kocatepe University Journal of Social Sciences / Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Afyon Kocatepe University (AKU) Sosyal Bilimler Enstitusu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study compares the relationship between National Basketball Association player career performances and their market values as revealed by their rookie card prices and their career salaries. This permits a novel identification of the similarities and differences between card collectors and team owners in how they value the same sample of 185 players. The analysis includes all players who began their careers in 1993 or after and completed their careers by 2019, and who renegotiated their rookie contract so that their card price and salary values are based on their National Basketball Association performances. Offensive statistics largely determine a player's salary and card value. Team owners place greater value on team attributes such as tenure with the team and games started, while card collectors place greater relative value on individual performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the significant growth of e-commerce in Romania, which has surpassed the rates of expansion observed in other more developed countries of the European Union. Based on market analysis by sector-specific companies, the Romanian e-commerce market has reached over €6.5 billion. This rapid growth trajectory is expected to continue, driven by various factors, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the natural evolution of the market. The main purpose of this study is to assess the expansion of the e-commerce market in Romania, identify the key factors behind this growth, and project future market values. Data for this analysis has been collected from industry reports, market analysis, and relevant statistical databases. The study uses a quantitative approach, utilizing financial data and growth rates to forecast future market trends. The dataset includes financial figures from e-commerce sales, digital services such as bill payments, and airline and hotel bookings from 2018 to 2023. Projections for 2024 and beyond were derived from this historical data. In 2019, the e-commerce market in Romania was valued at €4.68 billion, representing a significant increase compared to previous years. By 2020, amid the pandemic, the market value increased to €5.5 billion, marking a 38.4% increase from the previous year. Forecasts for 2024 estimate that the market will exceed €8 billion. In addition, when related digital services are included, the total market value could exceed €10 billion, illustrating the substantial economic impact of the online sector and the growth potential. This study highlights the dynamic nature of the e-commerce landscape in Romania and underlines the significant economic opportunities it presents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show two important factors in the nonlinear behavior of cost and profit. The first factor is cost stickiness, which expresses economic asymmetry in the reaction of cost to increase and decrease in sales. The second factor is related to accounting conservatism, which indicates the asymmetry of financial reporting in identifying good news versus bad news. Although conservatism and cost stickiness are conceptually based on two different and separate phenomena, but they create two similar patterns in the temporal asymmetry of profits. This study examines the relationship between cost stickiness, levels of conservatism and firm life cycle. In this research, by using the combined data technique and by using three models of non-operating accrual items, Basu’s model and market value model, and with a sample consisting of 113 companies admitted in the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2010-2019, this goal has been investigated. The research results indicate that the stickiness of costs is related to conservatism in all three models. The findings of the research show that in the growth stage between cost stickiness and conservatism of companies, there is a significant negative relationship in all three models, of which Basu’s model has more explanatory power. In the maturity stage, there is a negative and significant relationship between the stickiness of costs and the conservatism of companies in the Basu’s model and non-operating accruals, but no significant relationship has been observed in the market value model. In the recession stage, the effect of cost stickiness on the reduction of conservatism is significant only based on the market value model. Finally, in the decline stage, no significant relationship was found in any of the three models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research provides conflicting results regarding how R&D expenditures impact market value. Given that financial analysts are the primary intermediaries between companies and investors, our study focused on the impact of R&D-related uncertainty, growth, and information asymmetry associated on analysts' earnings forecasts. Based on 19,834 firm-year observations in the European market between 2005 and 2020, our results show that R&D activities lead to higher absolute forecast error and negative forecast error, indicating higher forecast inaccuracy with an optimistic bias. Additionally, these investments contribute to higher forecast dispersion, indicating disagreement among financial analysts. The comparison between 17 industries revealed that these effects are more pronounced in R&D-intensive industries than in non-R&D industries, uncovering the varied relationship between R&D investments and analyst forecasts across sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of convergence between rating agencies in the assessment of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects of companies leads to the so‐called ESG rating disagreement. Although this phenomenon causes confusion and uncertainty among investors, it is still little investigated. Previous research has only focused on some determinants of the disagreement, mainly related to nonfinancial disclosure and corporate aspects, while broader determinants remain unexplored. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the effects of market value, industry sensitivity, and institutional context on disagreement between two different rating providers. To achieve this goal, a cross‐sectional analysis was conducted for 1809 companies from the S&P 1200 Global Index. The results show that companies with a better market rating, belonging to critical sectors and located in countries with a better institutional environment, have a lower level of ESG disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the short-term stock price reactions of Japanese gaming companies to events related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using the event study method, we first estimate stock price reactions to the outbreak of the pandemic and the declaration of a state of emergency. We then perform multivariate regressions to investigate the factors affecting market responses. Our results demonstrate that the stock prices of Japanese gaming companies reacted negatively to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the initial negative effects were greater for mobile gaming companies and for companies with small sizes or low Tobin's Q. By contrast, the market has reacted positively to the declaration of the state of emergency, which perhaps drove more people to play games at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realty management relies on data from previous successful and failed purchase and utilization outcomes. The cumulative data at different stages are used to improve utilization efficacy. The vital problem is selecting data for analyzing the value incremental sequence and profitable utilization. This article proposes a knowledge-dependent data processing scheme (KDPS) to augment precise data analysis. This scheme operates on two levels. Data selection based on previous stagnant outcomes is performed in the first level. Different data processing is performed in the second level to mend the first level's flaws. Data processing uses knowledge acquired from the sales process, amenities, and market value. Based on the knowledge determined from successful realty sales and incremental features, further processing for new improvements and existing stagnancy mitigation is recommended. The stagnancy and realty values are used as knowledge for training the data processing system. This ensures definite profitable features meeting the amenity requirements under reduced stagnancy time. The proposed scheme improves the processing rate, stagnancy detection, success rate, and training ratio by 8.2%, 10.25%, 10.28%, and 7%, respectively. It reduces the processing time by 8.56% compared to the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highland bamboo has been traditionally used in building construction, wall partitioning, ceiling, doors, windows, and roofs and has contributed in people's livelihoods. This paper focuses on pinpointing bamboo value chain, its opportunities, and challenges. Site selection and observation, review of existing knowledge, key informant interview and market assessment in the value chain, stakeholders' consultation workshop, processors workspace visit, and group discussion were performed. We found that highland bamboo is a raw material, semi-processed and processed product and sold at different locations passing through different routes based on the request and demand of the customers in the value chain. We identified different bamboo landraces in the studied areas. However, there are knowledge gaps by processors on the use of the different races for different purposes. Traders buy bamboo culms based on their sizes by giving different grades. The price of the product varied from product to product depending on the quality of bamboo raw material/culm used and the time (man-days) required to make the finished product. Local processors' capacity to produce well-finished products is affected due to lack of important machineries and tools. Therefore, introducing and promoting modern processing tools and machines through credit support systems are crucial to make processors more competitive in the value chain. Moreover, the study identified major challenges faced by bamboo growers, culm traders, and processors that have effects on bamboo value chain development. Therefore, it is important to work towards alleviating/minimizing the major challenges in the bamboo value chain considering all actors to strive towards improving the value chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is increasingly recognized as a linchpin for CSR transformation within organizations. Beyond mere compliance, businesses are embracing innovation as a strategic imperative to address societal challenges. Using panel-data analysis spanning from 2014 to 2023, this paper investigates the relationship between innovation strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance, with a special emphasis on the moderating effect of Green Innovation (GI). We examine how panel data analysis shows, green innovation is found to be an important moderator that lessens the possible harm that China's high-tech may cause to CSR. Results further shows that green innovations can positively moderate relationship between China's high-tech and CSR. Further, we found several other key variables (state equity, innovation level, market value) to improve firm's innovations and CSR performance. The findings of this study have important implications for practitioners to give sustainable innovation strategies top priority, and policymakers are advised to encourage ecologically friendly behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asphaltene, often regarded as an undesirable by‐product of petroleum processing, possesses abundant reserves but limited market value. In this study, a simple and environmentally friendly solvent extraction method is conducted under ambient conditions to convert low‐value asphaltene into high‐value asphaltene‐based fluorescent carbon nanosheets (a‐FCS). This approach yields dual‐switch a‐FCS capable of emitting orange‐red fluorescence in solid‐state or water environment and exhibiting blue‐to‐yellow fluorescence in organic solvents. Moreover, the redshift observed in the fluorescence emission wavelength in the solvent is attributed to its intrinsic self‐assembly behavior, which becomes more pronounced with increasing concentration. Upon introduction to water, hydrophobic interactions induce the aggregation of a‐FCS. This aggregation triggers the orange‐red fluorescence by restricting intramolecular rotation on the surface, a phenomenon facilitated by the entanglement of aliphatic chains from asphaltene molecules. This unique property makes them applicable in anti‐counterfeiting and determination of ethanol content in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In sub-Saharan Africa, pre-weaning young stock mortality (YSM) is in the order of 20 to 30% across most livestock species and production systems. High YSM has significant economic implications for livestock keepers, but few studies provide estimates of the “cost of YSM.” This study explores a bio-economic herd modeling approach to estimate the “cost of YSM” at farming/livestock system level. Methods: The static zero-growth version of DYNMOD was used to calculate the annual physical and monetary output of a sheep flock consisting of 100 breeding females at dierent levels of lamb mortality. Production parameter values and prices were taken from recently published research. Calculations were carried out for values of lamb mortality decreasing from 30% to 0% in 5% intervals, with 20% representing the “baseline” YSM. Calculations were repeated for a “high” fertility scenario (100% vs. 59% parturition rate) to gauge the sensitivity of the cost of YSM to another parameter determining flock productivity. Results: The relation of revenue per head and YSM is close to linear over the range of analyzed YSM with 1% decrease in YSM resulting in an increase in revenue per animal of approximately 1%. At the higher fertility rate, the absolute cost of YSM to sheep farmers is higher while the relative increase in revenue per animal resulting from YSM reduction is lower. The estimated dierence in revenue of the 100-ewe flock between the 20% and 0% lamb mortality scenarios (at baseline fertility) amounts to approximately USD 90 per additionally surviving lamb, which is far above its market value. Discussion: Reduced lamb mortality ultimately impacts flock revenue through increased sales of “mature” animals, which embody the value of a lamb plus the revenue/profit from raising it to marketable age/weight. The modeling results suggest that foregone profit is an important component of the systemic “cost of YSM.” Consequently, expected profit per animal, in addition to its current market value, is essential for estimating the absolute cost of YSM at farming system level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research delves into the dynamics between the market value of the product of paddy and the associated costs of its cultivation across prominent paddy producing regions in India. Drawing upon secondary data from the period 2004-05 to 2021-22, generously provided by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), this study employs growth models and profitability analyses to shed light on emerging patterns within these key states. A detailed examination reveals Punjab as leading in terms of value growth, closely followed by Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. In contrast, the escalation in cultivation costs is most pronounced in Andhra Pradesh, with Punjab, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh also showing significant figures. Through an insightful profitability assessment, the study demonstrates that paddy cultivation is most lucrative in Punjab, with Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal following in descending order of profit margins. This hierarchy of profitability signals an imperative for regions like West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh to elevate the quality and market value of their paddy crops to match the standards seen in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The comparative advantage enjoyed by farmers in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh in terms of profit margins underscores the critical importance of enhancing productivity, efficiency, and market connectivity in the lesser-performing states of West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Such improvements are essential for boosting profitability in paddy cultivation, thereby contributing to the overall growth and sustainability of the agricultural sector in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie's (b. 1969) three experimental "rewrites" of the canonical text Heart Sutra and their geopolitical connotations within and beyond China. Examining Qiu's copious writings as well as curatorial and artistic practices over a decade, the article shows how the artist's evolving views of Buddhism have triggered, justified, and added nuances to his shifting positions in art and politics, including assertions of "native" identity and aesthetics, pursuits of non-elitist art and "folk" wisdom, and ambivalent takes on cultural colonialism. To contextualize Qiu's Buddhist-affiliated art, the article also traces how the modernized versions of Buddhism entangled with avant-garde art and politics in the postwar era, and how concepts like authenticity and cultural influence claimed not only aesthetic and thus market value, but also territorial ambitions. The citation of Buddhist doctrines and practices, the article argues, enabled Qiu to present his aesthetic maneuvers as ostensibly apolitical and hence more powerful as embodied ideologies. The artworks create "fragile" yet potent symbols of geopolitical connections that serve the discourse of a Sinocentric world, where China shares roots with "peripheries" such as Taiwan and Tibet and draws its soft power from a collectively created yet mystical and singular identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomatoes are a critical economic crop. The realization of tomato harvesting automation is of great significance in solving the labor shortage and improving the efficiency of the current harvesting operation. Accurate recognition of fruits is the key to realizing automated harvesting. Harvesting fruit at optimum ripeness ensures the highest nutrient content, flavor and market value levels, thus maximizing economic benefits. Owing to foliage and non-target fruits obstructing target fruits, as well as the alteration in color due to light, there is currently a low recognition rate and missed detection. We take the greenhouse tomato as the object of research. This paper proposes a tomato recognition model based on the improved YOLOv8 architecture to adapt to detecting tomato fruits in complex situations. First, to improve the model's sensitivity to local features, we introduced an LSKA (Large Separable Kernel Attention) attention mechanism to aggregate feature information from different locations for better feature extraction. Secondly, to provide a higher quality upsampling effect, the ultra-lightweight and efficient dynamic upsampler Dysample (an ultra-lightweight and efficient dynamic upsampler) replaced the traditional nearest neighbor interpolation methods, which improves the overall performance of YOLOv8. Subsequently, the Inner-IoU function replaced the original CIoU loss function to hasten bounding box regression and raise model detection performance. Finally, the model test comparison was conducted on the self-built dataset, and the test results show that the mAP0.5 of the YOLOv8-Tomato model reached 99.4% and the recall rate reached 99.0%, which exceeds the original YOLOv8 model detection effect. Compared with faster R-CNN, SSD, YOLOv3-tiny, YOLOv5, and YOLOv8 models, the average accuracy is 7.5%, 11.6%, 8.6%, 3.3%, and 0.6% higher, respectively. This study demonstrates the model's capacity to efficiently and accurately recognize tomatoes in unstructured growing environments, providing a technical reference for automated tomato harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tackling the issue of healthy aging in society is complex. It requires an interdisciplinary perspective and different forms of innovation. This article provides a commentary on the role of innovation policy in addressing healthy aging, particularly in the UK context. We argue that the wide range of economic activities related to healthy aging is part of a hybrid domain rather than a single sector. This represents a new generation of innovation policy for healthy aging which prioritizes understanding how different actors can be connected to support a spectrum of types of innovation which will contribute to providing better goods, services, and practices for older people. We explore social innovation as it relates to hybrid domains such as healthy aging and discuss the role of place in creating policy which generates both societal and market value. We recommend that policymakers use these concepts to build a better understanding of the economies that are evolving around healthy aging and where opportunities exist to better conceptualize, connect, and support actors, initiatives, and places to optimize economic potential and social outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the increasing importance of social innovation, research seeking to illuminate how firms engage in social innovation in emerging markets is limited. Utilizing survey data from 143 Pakistani micro-multinational firms operating in other emerging markets, this study examined how these firms undertook social innovation practices in host emerging markets. The findings indicate that the social innovation practices of these firms in host emerging markets are influenced by dynamic marketing capabilities. Furthermore, this influence is mediated by social embeddedness in the host market. Moreover, this mediated influence is positively moderated by a socially supportive culture of the host market. The impact of marketing capabilities on value creation in host emerging markets involves the serial mediation of social embeddedness and social innovation practices. The study demonstrates how resource-constrained emerging-market micro-multinational firms can generate value in host emerging markets, thereby validating the efficacy of dynamic marketing capabilities in the context of social innovation in emerging markets. The study also discusses practical and policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]