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Scaling is common in empirical accounting research. It is often done to mitigate heteroscedasticity or the influence of firm size on parameter estimates. However, Barth and Clinch conclude that common diagnostic tools are ineffective in detecting various scale effects. Using analytic results and Monte Carlo simulations, we show that common forms of scaling, when misapplied, induce substantial spurious correlation via biased parameter estimates. Researchers, when uncertain about the exact functional form of scale effect, are typically better off dealing with both heteroscedasticity and the influence of larger firms using techniques other than scaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our meta-analysis investigates the environmental sustainability performance of family firms (FFs) distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint and accounting for FF heterogeneity. Based on a sample of 87 primary studies comprising 118,538 firms, we find no significant difference between FFs and non-FFs regarding their overall environmental sustainability performance. Yet, distinguishing between environmental hand- and footprint, we show that FFs have a lower footprint than non-FFs but do not differ regarding their handprint. Firm size, being a public firm, and type of family involvement moderate the effects of FF status on environmental sustainability performance. Our research note extends prior meta-analytical evidence and contributes to a more fine-grained and nuanced understanding of the environmental sustainability performance of FFs. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study explores how managerial compensations are associated with both R&D investment and operating efficiency, which are pillars of competitive advantage for Taiwanese listed companies. Additionally, it investigates how firm size and corporate risk moderate this relationship. Our study's findings validate these two hypotheses, revealing a positive correlation between managerial compensation and both R&D investment and operating efficiency. Moreover, we observe that firm size enhances this connection, while corporate risk acts as a weakening factor. These results indicate that managerial compensation in Taiwanese companies is crafted with consideration for both immediate financial performance and enduring contributions to company development. The study contributes contemporary evidence on the interplay between factors fostering long-term competitive advantages and the structures of managerial compensation. JEL Codes: G32, M12 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to ascertain the key determinants of firm value and to analyze the contribution of each determinant at different percentiles of the probability distribution of firm value for 1,592 firms across eight major Indian manufacturing firms. The sample consists of data from 2009 to 2020 and studies the variables such as enterprise value, effective tax rate, firm size, profitability, firms' growth rate, financial leverage, asset tangibility, and non-debt tax shield. The study employed, linear, non-linear, and non-parametric panel regression models. Quantile regression models are further used to decompose the determinants at various quantiles of firm value. Several diagnostic tests such as Breusch–Pagan, White's Test, and Sargan Test are used to ensure robust estimates. The results obtained from this study show the presence of a concave relationship between firm value with firm size, financial leverage, and non-debt tax shield. Effective tax rates and inflation rates substantially and positively affect the value of firms in higher percentiles. The capital structure is found to significantly and positively affect the value of firms in the lower percentile. The profitability is also found to contribute to the value of firms across all the quantiles, whereas sales growth fails to strongly drive the value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and practitioners have trumpeted business intelligence (BI) capability as a game-changer due to its significant impact on firm performance. Despite these claims, the amplifying and underlying mechanisms governing the relationship between BI capability and organizational performance are still in their infancy. This research examines the nexus between BI capability, decision-making speed, comprehensiveness, and organizational performance. This study, drawing on knowledge-based theory, proposes a conceptual model to explain how BI capability influences organizational performance through decision-making speed and comprehensiveness and the moderating role of firm size. The proposed moderated-mediated model was tested using survey data from 236 respondents occupying leadership positions in various Jordanian industries. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to diagnose the proposed model. BI capability indirectly affects firm performance through decision-making speed and comprehensiveness. These mediating effects do not vary by company size. This paper contributed theoretically and practically to the BI framework considering decision-making, firm performance, and firm size. Implications for theory-building and practice are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We know that, through lobbying and contributions, organizations systematically seek to influence political outcomes in liberal democracies. But what role do organizations play in an authoritarian regime's strategy for remaining in power? We argue that in order to maintain stability and consolidate control, an authoritarian regime must actively work to preempt dissent and the emergence of oppositional challengers. When potential challengers are unknown ex ante, the best guess is that they may rise from the ranks of those who run economically powerful organizations. Ability to control these organizations then minimizes the risk of instability. One way in which the regime accomplishes this control is through pro-forma cooptation—the process by which organizational leaders are assigned to positions with nominal authority in the government, thus ensuring their allegiance. We develop a theory predicting which organizations will be targeted for cooptation and posit that absolute and relative size and industry context are the key determinants. Empirical analyses of reappointment to congress of senior business executives in China offer support for the theory. The findings also offer a way to think of cooptation that is different from the conventional view that it drives adaptation (because power sharing widens representation and vested interests). By contrast, pro-forma cooptation of prominent organizations under authoritarian rule reifies the regime's dominance and solidifies its control, thus promoting inertia through the reproducibility of hierarchy in the social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a framework that intersects strategic management and institutional economics, we show how differences in institutional environments and firm resources influence different types of strategic change (i.e., internationalization, innovation, and diversification) in family firms. We review 193 quantitative and qualitative articles to identify differences in strategic change and their performance consequences among family firms and between family and nonfamily firms. We conclude that institutional environments and firm resources impact not only the extent family firms engage in different types of strategic change but also their performance and long-term survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inability of labor markets to function effectively to satisfy the needs of employers and workers suggests that there is a growing need for policy interventions to promote workplace cultures of learning and innovation. Past research suggests that publicly funded incumbent worker training programs are a promising antidote against market failures. With only a handful of studies published in the last two decades, however, this is one of the least-researched types of business support programs. This paper examines the impact of a state program in California that uses a pay-for-performance approach to reimburse employers that train their employees: the California Employment Training Panel (ETP). Based on a mixed-methods study of ETP, the authors found that, overall, ETP had positive and significant impacts on company sales and firm size. The study suggests the need to abandon ideological debates and engage in more evidence-based policy discussions about incumbent worker training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government-mandated closure of U.S. restaurants for in-restaurant dining during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis cast a spotlight on operators' ability to effectively innovate, and re-imagine their product offerings. In this context, this research draws on the resource-advantage theory of competitive advantage, proposing that (1) an adhocracy culture is a key internal resource that operators can leverage to drive rapid incremental product innovation under forced change, and (2) firm size is a contextual factor that moderates the degree of incremental product innovation-firm performance relationship. Findings from two empirical studies indicate that adhocracy culture positively and indirectly effects firm performance through degree of incremental product innovation, and that this effect is moderated by firm size. Larger firms yield superior performance effects due to access to a network of interconnected resources for rapid innovation diffusion in a crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While global supply chains provide firms with a buffer against local shocks, they expose firms to multiregional risks. The COVID‐19 pandemic and its differential impact on different regions in the world offer an opportunity to explore these effects. We investigate the multiregional supply chain risk by focusing on credit risk measured by abnormal credit default swaps (CDS) spreads and US–China supply chain networks. Our evidence shows that local risks propagate through global supply chains to other regions. Using a matched sample, we find that abnormal CDS spreads for firms with Chinese supply chain partners increase by 12% to 13% relative to the average raw CDS spreads due to supply chain disruptions during the economic shutdown in China, and the abnormal CDS spreads decrease by 9% to 13% relative to the average raw CDS spreads when the supply chain activities resume in China. We also find that having a more global customer base can mitigate the effects of local household demand shocks. Lastly, we discover that firm size, supply chain network centrality, cash holdings, inventory, strong credit ratings, capital redeployability, and the number of segments increase resilience to global supply chain shocks, while financial leverage, operational leverage, and market competition weaken supply chain resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working time reduction (WTR) refers to an increasingly popular group of eco-social policies, with various potential implications for social security and sustainable welfare depending on the details of implementation. Despite the growing number of international examples, WTRs constitute a countertrend in Hungary where the government aims to create a 'work-based society'. In this context, we investigate whether and how companies launch WTRs, and study their effects. Our approach is comparative and explorative. We draw on interviews with managers of 10 companies to understand the motivations behind WTRs. In addition, we use 34 interviews and two focus groups conducted at four companies, considering impacts on employees' workload and working conditions. We show that the drivers, mechanisms and impacts of WTRs differ by company size. There is far more diversity among smaller companies, where the attitudes of managers and personal relationships are decisive. Larger companies either choose low-risk WTRs that offer low gains, or target further growth and potentially cause a reduction of sectoral output while maximising profit. The latter may be the first example of profit-driven degrowth in the literature. Insights generated here can be useful to understand the potential reasons for, and barriers to, a more widespread adoption of WTRs, as well as the role of positive and negative impacts on workers in this process. We argue that this is important not only for social and economic outcomes, but also for the environment, since WTRs are necessary for a precautionary approach to sustainability. We highlight the limitations of current WTRs, in order to catalyse thinking about more radical variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper exploits a quasi-natural experiment in China, the environmental protection tax reform, to examine the effect of environmental regulation on corporate green investment. Based on Chinese listed company data and the multi-period DID method, we find the enhancement of environmental regulation harms corporate green investment in a short time, and green investments in the treatment group were reduced by 19.57 million (RMB) on average. Further exploring and examining the potential mechanisms of the above effect, we find the above effect is caused by the suppression effect of financing constraints and the crowding-out effect of research and development (R&D) expenditures. We also analyze the heterogeneity of enterprise ownership, enterprise size, and enterprise location, and find that non-state-owned enterprises, small-sized enterprises, and enterprises in the eastern region will experience a greater reduction in green investment when environmental regulation is enhanced. Based on the above findings, we put forward corresponding policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the trade-off theory of capital structure and the information asymmetry theory of business financing, we evaluated the association of informal financing with the financial performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the restaurant industry. This study collected survey responses directly from small- and medium-sized restaurant owners (n = 178) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study suggested that reliance on "family, friends, relatives, and third-party lenders" for financing was associated with lower financial performance during a crisis for restaurants. Results were robust when controlled for the owner's gender, business affiliation, firm age, and relative firm size. Furthermore, we also found that the relative firm size of SMEs moderated this relationship such that, for mid-sized firms ($2–5 million annual revenues), the negative association with financial performance was lower than that for smaller firms (<$2 million annual revenue) and larger firms (>$5 million annual revenues). This article theoretically contributes to the literature by investigating the influence of informal financing on a firm's performance, and the role of relative firm size within the category of SMEs in this relationship. Findings from the study provide practical guidance for SMEs and informal lenders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is intended to make analysis easier and faster by enhancing the exchange of financial information. Such benefits from this global reporting standard would stem from more timely, accurate, and transparent financial reporting. This article investigates whether internal control weaknesses (ICWs) in firms have an impact on the timeliness of financial reporting in XBRL format. The results of our analyses show that the filing lags of firms with ICWs are longer than those of firms without ICWs for their first detail tagged XBRL disclosure. The results also reveal that firms with ICWs are more likely to use the grace period in their initial XBRL disclosures. The length of the grace period used by firms with ICWs is longer than that of firms without ICWs. Furthermore, our additional analyses reveal that the XBRL mandate has affected firms' filing behaviors differently depending on firm characteristics such as firm size. Overall, our findings indicate that the impact of ICWs on the timeliness of financial reporting is greater under the mandated XBRL disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though audit committee (AC) characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) relationship has long been well investigated, scarce research on committee leadership is observed in the literature. Considering the growing emphasis on the potential role of the audit committee chair (ACC) on financial and non-financial reporting, the current study aims to fill this literature gap by analyzing the influence of ACC characteristics on the level of CSR. Using a Jordanian sample of 475 firm-year observations over the period 2014 to 2018, this study employs content analysis to quantify CSR disclosure and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to test the proposed hypotheses. The study findings show that ACC independence, legal expertise, and education level are positively and significantly associated with CSR reporting. However, ACC age has a significant inverse relationship with CSR reporting, suggesting that older ACC perform more poorly in a committee function. Importantly, ACC tenure and financial expertise have an insignificant relationship with CSR reporting. These findings are robust under a battery of sensitive tests such as employing OLS with robust standard errors and using alternative measurements of ACC features. The sub-sample analysis results also show that ACC characteristics predominantly enhance CSR reporting in large firms but not in small firms, implying that firm size strengthens the relationship between ACC characteristics and CSR reporting. The current study provides new evidence of the significant role of ACC on non-financial reporting in an emerging economy, Jordan. Policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders may benefit from these results in recognizing the potential role of ACC in advancing CSR reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies how prior professional connections among founding employees predict a new firm's short- and medium-term success. The authors apply three employment network measures to a large employer–employee matched Brazilian panel data set to find that network structures are strongly predictive of both firm survival and growth. All else equal, new firms with previously connected founding employees experience higher survival odds but slower early growth. Results suggest that working with former co-workers confers benefits such as resolved informational asymmetries, increased resource sharing, and nonpecuniary gains—qualities that are vital to new firm survival. High growth, however, likely benefits from a more varied resource set, facilitated by drawing on individuals from a multiplicity of employment backgrounds. In addition, the absence of prior ties may itself render the profit motive dominant, thereby increasing growth. Results are consistent across most sectors, initial firm sizes, and other sample selection criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have examined gender differences in environmental disclosure and corporate environmental responsibility, which are elements used to measure greenwashing. However, little attention has been given to the impact of firm leaders' gender on greenwashing. This study applies a logit econometric model to estimate the probability of being greenwashers for female-led firms compared to male-led firms, using a sample of 7,870 private firms from 28 countries. Our main results suggest that female-managed firms are not less likely to conduct greenwashing. This study also evaluates the impact on greenwashing of other determinants, such as access to finance, firm size, pollution degree, and region, and whether the gender gap in greenwashing is attributed to the primary drivers of greenwashing. Finally, we draw implications from this study on how to enhance the credibility of environmental initiatives for both female-led and male-led firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing technology has proved to be an important technological solution, especially for small and medium- sized businesses (SMEs), by providing many opportunities for companies to enhance their operations, reduce cost, improve scalability and flexibility, and make more efficient use of technology. Despite its benefits, most SMEs are still hesitant about adopting cloud computing. The purpose of this study is to assess the factors that influence cloud computing adoption among SMEs in Jordan. This study does so by developing a research model based on the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI).These theories overlap in terms of the characteristics that strengthen the explanation of adoption. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 244 SMEs registered in Jordan. A multiple regression test was implemented to examine the proposed model. The results indicate that seven factors significantly affect cloud computing adoption among SMEs. Among these factors, cost reduction was found to be the strongest predictor, while the weakest predictor was firm size. However, the firm's scope insignificantly influenced cloud computing adoption among SMEs in Jordan. This finding could provide insights for SMEs decision- makers when it comes to adopting cloud computing. In addition, it provides insights for practitioners in terms of recognizing the important factors that encourage or prevent SMEs from adopting cloud computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we clarified the effect of training by enterprise size for the training service (TOSA Marugoto Business Academy Project [Tosa MBA]) provided by Kochi Prefecture in Japan by applying structural equation modeling to online survey data. In large enterprises, expert knowledge that can be used at work had a positive effect on job satisfaction rather than career status such as annual income and job title. This may have been the case as while promotion involves higher wages and greater privileges, in large enterprises, the extent of responsibility and working hours increase even more. Conversely, in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), career status has a more positive effect on job satisfaction than does expert knowledge. For SMEs with a simple organizational structure, job position has a greater influence on work attitudes. The results present meaningful suggestions to enhance the design of local government training services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an attempt to measure the degree of mechanisation in the coir industry of Kerala for eliciting the firm-specific determinants of mechanisation. The study uses primary data collected from 115 coir manufacturers of Alappuzha district by using simple random sampling. It starts with measuring the degree of mechanisation of the selected coir firms in Kerala using two indices: extent of mechanisation (EM) and mechanisation index (MI). After that, the coir industry of Kerala is categorised into four levels of mechanisation, namely, traditional firms, low mechanised firms, medium mechanised firms and high mechanised firms using MI. The study found that, majority of the coir producing firms of Kerala belongs to traditional and low mechanised levels. The firm-specific determinants of the mechanisation are identified using a Tobit regression analysis and the results reveal that, firm size, participation in promotional programmes and the average education of the labour positively influences the MI whereas, the presence of labour union inversely affects it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

"Nitaqat," the labor market nationalization policy of Saudi Arabia, aims to increase the employment of Saudi nationals by restricting the entry of foreign workers in the country. Data from a sample survey of Indian professionals working in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) Wilks' lambda and Tukey Honestly Significant Difference tests. The findings from the exploratory study suggest that the Indian professionals who were laid off due to the policy are statistically significant between the sectors but not between the "Nitaqat" zones and the size of enterprises. The policy impact on new recruitments of Indian professionals is statistically significant between Nitaqat zones but not between sectors and the size of enterprises. The findings indicate that the opportunities for Indian high-skilled migration to Saudi Arabia are constrained in the construction sector and in yellow zone companies, while employment prospects remain in the banking and finance, education and IT and telecom sectors and in blue zone firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent field experiments have documented that discrimination constitutes a barrier to employment for people with disabilities. Less is known about how disability discrimination varies across contexts in the labor market. This study explores whether hiring discrimination based on a history of mental health problems and against wheelchair users varies with company size using data from two field experiments. The study provides mixed evidence suggesting that the negative effect of disclosing a history of mental health problems on employers' hiring decisions does not vary with company size, whereas discrimination against wheelchair users occurs less often in large companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss fleet size decisions of an equipment rental firm. The availability of the rental equipment depends on the fleet size of the firm and has a direct impact on its profitability. In our setting, we allow for partial backordering, reneging, and finite commitment capacity. Moreover, we explicitly consider the breakdown possibility of the available equipment fleet. We develop an efficient recursive algorithm to solve the underlying two‐dimensional stochastic single‐player model. Our algorithm determines the global optimal fleet size of the firm for the same reneging and equipment return rates. Our extensive managerial insights quantify the behavior of various performance measures in the single‐player model with regard to repair performance of the firm, customer impatience level, traffic intensity, and equipment rental revenue. We demonstrate that by applying our model to a real case, there is a potential of more than a 4% (400,000 USD) increase in total daily profits. Extending our model to a two‐player game, we propose an approximation heuristic to derive closed‐form solutions to estimate equilibrium fleet sizes under complete information. Using our heuristic as the initial solution, we develop a simulation model to determine the exact equilibrium fleet sizes and draw a detailed comparison between the two‐player and single‐player models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aims to present a systematic review of empirical research on leadership and firm performance (FP) in order to synthesize the fragmented knowledge and propose a unifying framework for future research. To achieve this purpose, this research adopts systematic literature review methodology. A total of 60 empirical papers published during the period 2002 to 2021 was retrieved through exhaustive manual searches of online databases. A matrix table was developed to extract and organize information from the retrieved articles. The findings revealed four main key themes. First, the topic of leadership and FP has been mostly quantitatively examined in many countries and industries. Second, different leadership approaches have been found to ameliorate FP and transformational leadership remains the most commonly used approach. Third, innovation, learning, and culture were the most common mediators of the leadership-FP relationship. Fourth, support for innovation, competitive intensity, firm size, leaders' trust, and justice orientation have been found to moderate the effect of leadership on FP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the impacts of the most recent global economic crisis in 2008/2009, this paper explores how firm size, type of business activity and approach to internationalisation influence SMEs' survival. Based on the literature in the field, we developed three hypotheses regarding determinants of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) survival. We tested these hypotheses in a 7-year quantitative study and a survey of 344 SMEs in Poland – the seventh largest market in the European Union. Our findings reveal that, in the context of crisis, internationalisation acts as a stimulus for SMEs and influences their long-term sustainability, with businesses operating in foreign markets being more likely to survive after a global crisis. However, neither business size nor the type of business activity appears to have an impact on SMEs' survival in a post-global economic crisis environment. Our paper extends knowledge about factors influencing a firm's post-crisis survival and proposes a new framework for understanding characteristics of SMEs and their propensity to survive in a post-crisis context. In our conclusions, we discuss implications for SME entrepreneurs showing that, in order to enhance chances of survival, even small and medium enterprises should consider expanding business activities beyond their national markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadband access may have important implications for establishment births in rural areas, which feature thinner markets. Broadband may be especially important for rural nonemployer businesses, particularly those without a storefront, for access to nontraditional market channels. As women are more likely to run these types of small businesses, we further expect that broadband may have important implications for women-led businesses. With an effective instrumental variable approach, we find evidence that broadband access is a key factor leading to a higher establishment birth rate across business size and gender in rural areas. This paper identifies the largest effects on nonemployer, women-led and remote rural establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article advances knowledge on the diversity and heterogeneity of women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom by analysing how gender intersects with ethnicity and place to influence their engagement in innovation. We adopt an intersectional perspective, and base our analyses on the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) data of 29,257 SMEs over the period 2015–2018. Our findings suggest that despite their limited number, as well as firm size and industry sector constraints, women-led SMEs are actively engaged in innovation activities. In addition, our results on the effects of intersecting categories of gender, ethnicity and place on innovation, further emphasise the heterogeneity of women-led SMEs, both with regard to their likelihood to engage in innovation, as well as the place where innovation is most likely to occur. Implications for policy and practice are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how family and non-family small-and-medium size enterprises (SMEs) differ in their preference for patenting over secrecy as a means to protect value of intellectual property, and how proactive orientation moderates this relationship. Because secrecy carries more risks for spillover than patenting, we propose and provide evidence to suggest that family SMEs are more likely to use patents than secrecy relative to non-family SMEs as a mechanism to protect value. However, proactive orientation can weaken this relationship, since SMEs with a proactive orientation will avoid the disclosure of information required for patenting. Using a sample of 300 SMEs from four countries in the wine industry, we find support for our hypotheses and contribute to both the intellectual property (IP) and SME literatures by explaining how family SMEs relative to non-family SMEs protect the value of IP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With malls, franchise strips, and big-box retailers increasingly dotting the landscape, many are concerned that U.S. middle-class jobs in manufacturing are being replaced by minimum-wage jobs in retail. Retail jobs have spread, whereas manufacturing jobs have shrunk in number. The authors show that wage rates in the retail sector rise markedly with firm size and with establishment size. These increases are halved when they control for worker fixed effects, suggesting that better workers are sorted into larger firms. Also, higher-ability workers are promoted to the position of manager, which is associated with higher pay. The authors conclude that the growth in modern retail, characterized by larger chains of larger establishments with more levels of hierarchy, is raising wage rates relative to traditional mom-and-pop retail stores. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors investigate the causal effect on firm productivity of a switch from fixed wages to collective performance-related pay, exploiting a reform in the structure of collective bargaining triggered by a social pact. They find that an increase in the adoption of collective performance-related pay leads to a 3 to 5% productivity gain but that such effect declines over time. They show that the effect on productivity varies substantially by firm size, industry affiliation, and union density. Both the size of the bonus and the design of the scheme—in terms of number and types of parameters used—are also important features for a firm’s productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We use linked employer–employee data to examine the relationship between non-pecuniary job quality and workplace characteristics in Britain and France: countries with very different employment regimes. Job quality is measured through eight dimensions which are summarized in a synthetic index. We show that firm size is negatively associated with non-pecuniary job quality in both countries, but in France, the association is confined to only the largest firms. Internal labour markets are associated with higher job quality in France along numerous dimensions but do not improve job quality in Britain except on one dimension: they reduce the adverse effects of work on one's private life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the impact of an entrepreneur's financial literacy upon innovation within small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and, in so doing, extends human capital theory to consider the effect of financial literacy on risky investment decisions. Using a large survey dataset of Chinese SMEs in 2015 and 2017, our findings suggest that financial literacy is positively associated with innovation; positive relationships are robust to different innovation metrics. In addition, we find that gender matters, as male owners appear to promote more innovations, while firm size is positively associated with innovation. Additional analysis suggests that risk tolerance is a transmission mechanism for the impact of financial literacy on innovation. Our results corroborate previous studies showing that individuals with greater financial literacy make sound personal financial decisions and so have important public policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As employees are among firms' most important resources and labor markets are facing serious labor shortages, firm-level collective turnover is one of the most important challenges facing organizations. Context-emergent turnover theory provides a theoretical framework for the performance implications of collective turnover and argues that context, and in particular, firm size, plays a crucial role in the collective turnover-performance relationship. Yet, the moderating role of firm size remains undertheorized, empirically understudied, and thus, unclear. Based on the resource-based view of the firm, we develop a theoretical framework for two competing perspectives (a negative and a positive one) on the role of firm size and put forward the firm's knowledge intensity as a crucial additional moderator. The main premise is that whereas firm size determines what resources firms have to successfully cope with turnover, knowledge intensity determines the resources firms need to do so. We propose a three-way interaction, suggesting that firm size reinforces the harmful effect of turnover in highly knowledge-intensive firms and buffers it in firms with low levels of knowledge intensity. Using a unique multi-industry and longitudinal administrative data set of 6,913 Belgian firms (2012-2016), we find support for these assumptions. This study highlights the importance of the context in which firms have to deal with turnover, and it spurs researchers to go beyond studying turnover in narrow study contexts, to take into account the interplay among different but intertwined organizational contingencies, and to acknowledge both the quantitative (how many employees leave) and qualitative components (who leaves) of turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Cleaner Production (CP) consists in taking preventive actions of one or more Cleaner Production practices; the most common are the reduction of emissions, efficient use of water, energy, and reuse of waste. This research identified in the literature 31 Cleaner Production practices and, through a survey in multinational textile industries and verified by specialists, was identified and evaluated the level of implementation of each Cleaner Production practices and link them to small, medium and large companies, so, this was the aim of this research. This study used statistical test analysis of variance. The main results were that small companies are motivated to implement Cleaner Production practices solely to reduce costs, and some small companies do not even know the concept of Cleaner Production. Medium-sized companies receive pressures to implement Cleaner Production practices to develop an environmental management system and participate in the competitive exportation market. In addition, ultimately, large companies have levels of implementation of the Cleaner Production practices significantly higher than small- and medium-sized enterprises due to the need to continually invest in their brand to increase market share. Efficient use of water is a Cleaner Production practice adopted by large- and medium-sized companies. These results enable business executives to perform benchmarking using levels of implementation of Cleaner Production practices according to the company size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of working in a large company are better infrastructure, well-defined policies, training and learning opportunities, job security and gradual growth. Slow decision-making due to the bureaucratic structure is a major drawback. The unique character of small firms offers agile structure, quick response, family-like atmosphere, opportunity to wear many hats as advantages, and lower compensation and restricted growth as disincentives to joining. However, if employees get their human relationships to energize, the size of the firm will be inconsequential for their success. That is, small firms can only offer a congenial atmosphere as a big firm never. Therefore, understanding what gives us energy and how we utilize it is critical for the leaders in small firms. This case study focuses on the CEO of a small family-owned firm (Nishio Glass and Mirror) whose decision to usher in positive organizational scholarship with the help of consultants set the firm on a successful journey. Even though statistics show that most change efforts fail irrespective of the size of the firm, in this case, it succeeded. This case study informs us that workplaces can be a community for people to amplify positive energy unleashing virtuous circles of growth. Research Questions: What is positive organizational scholarship? How can it be implemented in a small firm? Theory: Positive organizational scholarship and agents of change. Type of the Case: Study of a phenomenon. Basis of the Case: Phenomenon. Protagonist: Present, the CEO of the firm. Findings for Phenomenon-based Research Case: An organization is not a machine to transform resources into material properties. It is a community where people share the agentic roles with one another to let them transform. In a trustful community, people can examine the experience of 'pregnant void' to open a virtuous mindset; moreover, people can give suffering for others as an agent to embody the meaning of virtues. Discussions for Phenomenon-based Research Case: To manage a chaotic situation, which approach should be applied: crisis management or a proper management system? In this case, even a management system failed and dumped the CEO in psychological chaos. Which is that process that an external OD consultant can adopt to transform an organization by setting its employees on the path of self-transformation? If we apply hedonic happiness to the case, it seems to be fit for the past situation where people in the case wanted to have materialistic and short-term success. Discuss the alternative that can be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the discretionary accruals quality of single- and multiple-segment firms. The authors hypothesize and find that the discretionary accruals quality is lower for multiple-segment firms than single-segment firms, and for the same level of discretionary accruals quality, the cost of capital is higher for multiple-segment firms than single-segment firms. These findings suggest that more severe agency problems in multiple-segment firms compared with single-segment firms may lead to poor discretionary accruals quality and agency risk is priced-in as a higher cost of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Same‐day delivery of online orders is becoming an indispensable service for large retailers. We explore an environment in which in‐store customers supplement company drivers and deliver online orders on their way home. We consider a highly dynamic and stochastic same‐day delivery environment in which online orders as well as in‐store customers willing to make deliveries arrive throughout the day. Studying settings in which delivery capacity is uncertain is novel and practically relevant. Our proposed approaches are simple, yet produce high‐quality solutions in a short amount of time that can be employed in practice. We develop two rolling horizon dispatching approaches: a myopic one that considers only the state of the system when making decisions, and one that also incorporates probabilistic information about future online order and in‐store customer arrivals. We quantify the potential benefits of a novel form of crowdshipping for same‐day delivery and demonstrate the value of exploiting probabilistic information about the future. We explore the advantages and disadvantages of this form of crowdshipping and show the impact of changes in environment characteristics, for example, online order arrival pattern, company fleet size, and in‐store customer compensation on its performance, that is, service quality and operational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon 106,181 patent applications by the world's largest defense firms and 241,571 patent citations (2002–2011), this article has two main objectives. The first is to explore the factors affecting the production of mixed patents (those with potential dual applications in both military and civilian spheres). The second is to identify the causes of the use of military knowledge for civilian inventions (spin-off) and the use of civilian knowledge in military patented technologies (spin-in). Our calculations show highly significant coefficients for the variables capturing the "military technological capability" and the size of the company in explaining the production of mixed technologies. The spin-off process is affected by the military technological capability, the size of the firm, and the location. The spin-in mechanism is explained by the military technological capability and the location of the firm, while the size of the company is not relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Cleaner Production (CP) consists in taking preventive actions of one or more Cleaner Production practices; the most common are the reduction of emissions, efficient use of water, energy, and reuse of waste. This research identified in the literature 31 Cleaner Production practices and, through a survey in multinational textile industries and verified by specialists, was identified and evaluated the level of implementation of each Cleaner Production practices and link them to small, medium and large companies, so, this was the aim of this research. This study used statistical test analysis of variance. The main results were that small companies are motivated to implement Cleaner Production practices solely to reduce costs, and some small companies do not even know the concept of Cleaner Production. Medium-sized companies receive pressures to implement Cleaner Production practices to develop an environmental management system and participate in the competitive exportation market. In addition, ultimately, large companies have levels of implementation of the Cleaner Production practices significantly higher than small- and medium-sized enterprises due to the need to continually invest in their brand to increase market share. Efficient use of water is a Cleaner Production practice adopted by large- and medium-sized companies. These results enable business executives to perform benchmarking using levels of implementation of Cleaner Production practices according to the company size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors analyze explanations for firm- or establishment-size effects on wages. One theory is that each firm faces an upward sloping supply curve for labor, implying that the number of any particular type of worker should matter for his or her level of pay, rather than the total number of workers in the firm. To test this hypothesis, the authors add the log of skill group size to the standard log wage equation. Results indicate that the traditional employer-size effect on wages dwindles away once control for the number of workers of the same skill group (educational type) as the observed individual within the establishment is added to the equation. The skill group size effect on wages is substantial. After controlling for both individual- and establishment-specific heterogeneity, a dwindling employer-size effect and a significant group size effect remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors analyze how firms of different sizes reward measured skills and unmeasured ability. The empirical methodology, based on nonlinear instrumental variable estimation, permits direct estimation of the returns to unmeasured ability by firm size. An analysis of panel data from the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics for two periods, 1993--1998 and 1996--2001, reveals statistically significant differences between firms of different sizes. In particular, returns to unmeasured ability are higher in medium-sized firms than in either small firms or large firms. The authors find that the firm-size wage gap and the differential in returns to unmeasured ability between small and medium-sized firms is mainly explained by ability sorting. The fact that larger firms reward ability less than medium-sized firms is consistent with an explanation based on monitoring costs. When firms become "too large," monitoring costs may prevent them from rewarding ability directly through wages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the empirical relationship between institutional percentage shareholding and accounting discretion exercised by firms to manage accruals over a period of time. It also evaluates the effects of firm size and information environment on such relationship. By employing a firm-specific abnormal accrual estimation design to measure accounting flexibility/discretion used to adjust abnormal accruals in financial reporting, the study documents that institutional stock ownership is inversely related to such accounting discretion exercised to manage abnormal current accruals. This inverse relationship is, however, found to be dependent on firm size and richness of information environment. Specifically, the inverse relationship strongly holds for smaller firms that are deemed to have an impoverished information environment compared with larger firms having information-rich environment. Furthermore, by using a two-stage least-squares approach, the study addresses the endogeneity-driven ambiguity which is inherent in the simple identification of a negative relation between institutional stock ownership and accrual management. The analysis demonstrates that the overall negative relationship is partly attributed to institutional shareholder monitoring that constrains management's ability to opportunistically manage abnormal accruals. The evidence is consistent with the view that active monitoring of institutional shareholders mitigates opportunistic reporting behavior of corporate managers and improves the quality of governance in the financial reporting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retail inventories have been consistently dropping, relative to sales, since the 1990s. Whether these lean inventory developments translate to better retailer operational performance is still an open question. We empirically examine associations between inventory leanness and operational efficiency for a sample of public US retailers from 2000 to 2013. Via a stochastic frontier analysis that accounts for retailer heterogeneity and time parameters, we find support for the hypothesis that operational efficiency has an inverted U‐shape relationship with inventory leanness, suggesting an optimal inventory leanness level beyond which retailer operational efficiency degrades. This relationship, however, is heavily moderated by firm size and demand uncertainty. The former reflects a retailer's abilities to exploit economies of scale and scope, whereas the latter reflects the unpredictability in a firm's operating environment. Our evidence suggests that when increasing inventory leanness, small retailers exhibit efficiency degradation, whereas larger retailers are likely to exhibit efficiency improvement, with diminishing returns. We also find that under high demand uncertainty, being less lean is associated with higher operational efficiency, regardless of firm size. The findings show that depending on firm size and demand uncertainty, retail managers should take special care when pursuing inventory leanness. As part of post hoc robustness tests, we assess how different retail categories vary in their operational efficiency scores and conduct interviews with retail executives who further ground our econometric investigation and point to more nuanced moderators for future studies. We conclude by discussing the implications of our industry model estimation for managers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employ a mixed-methods approach to examine the state of mobile web publishing among U.S. local newspapers. Analysis of the mobile version of news websites (N = 100) across the 50 states yields an uneven picture, with innovation lagging in key areas. A survey with local owner-operators (N = 77) in a large U.S. state suggests that devoting attention to mobile audiences may be associated with revenue opportunities, and the ability to innovate is not necessarily associated with firm size. We explore implications for the viability of local news. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine two sources of bias for the Bank of Italy's panel business survey of Industrial and Services Firms: 1) the bias caused by panel attrition; and 2) the bias created by delays in the distributional data on the reference population, needed for computing the survey weights. As for the first source of bias, the estimates strongly dependent on big firms' values are less affected by panel attrition than those representing firms' average behavior, independent of their sizes. Positive economic results make it easier to enroll new firms in the survey, in order to replace firms dropping out because of bad economic performances. However, the economic results of new entrances become more aligned to those of the population, once they enter the sample. A very different result emerges for the second source of bias, since, when the population size is highly variable, the information delays produce a bias for the estimates influenced by the contribution of great firms, but the effect is negligible for the estimates not dependent on firm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the firm size effect with two different approaches. First, the "messy" and "clean" methods of Fama and French are used; the firm size effect is found to remain but only after the regression residuals are analyzed. Then a security market plane and a proxy of it are defined and the proxy security market plane is used for testing. The results indicate that the firm size effect is reliably detected and statistically "explained" by a proxy security market plane for the sample period from July 1963 to June 1986. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study represents an initial attempt to examine some specific factors that might lead to large firms' economies of scale. Multiple regression analysis is used to test hypotheses concerning scale opportunities conferred on large CPA firms in dealing with regulatory complexity faced by the client. An analysis of interaction between audit firm size and variables measuring client regulatory complexity shows that audit fees are lower for all firms in regulated industries compared to nonregulated industries -- the difference being much greater, however, for Big Eight (now Big Six) firms, and audit fees charged by Big Eight firms are much lower when the auditor is involved with client security registrations. This relationship does not hold true for non-Big Eight firms involved with client registration statements. Based on these results, it appears that client regulatory complexity confers greater scale opportunities to larger audit firms compared to smaller ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has argued that given the well-documented inverse relationship between firm size and market returns, smaller utilities should be allowed to earn higher accounting rates of return than larger utilities. To test the validity of this argument, this study investigated the relationship between firm size and market returns in the electric utility industry for the period 1962 through 1985 and found no evidence of either a positive or negative size effect. Moreover, although market returns on utility stocks were found to be higher in January than in non-January months, this January effect was found to be unrelated to firm size. In short, this study found no evidence that allowable accounting rates of return should be adjusted by regulatory authorities to reflect a firm's size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]