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This paper is an attempt to empirically examine the influence of corporate governance on zombie theory. Recent data indicates that the problem affects more than 10% of all firms and is worth close to a billion Euros in the European Union. It is thus an important problem worth analysing in European countries, and Spain is one of the worst affected. The sample studied here thus consists of Spanish companies with negative equity over the five business years from 2013 to 2017. The analysis focuses on establishing how corporate government aspects-board size, dedication to board meetings, concentration of ownership, owners and gender of the CEO-, affect the severity of extreme zombie firms. It uses the amount and temporality dimensions of EZIndex. The results confirm that internal dimensions such as corporate governance are important aspects to be introduced into zombie analysis. To control zombiness our results suggest structuring boards of directors with more than one member, CEOs with non-exclusive dedication, non-concentrated ownership and female CEOs. We also find that all these factors affect both amount and temporality, so factors do not affect zombie companies partially but totally. The contributions of the paper are twofold: first it includes corporate governance factors as a relevant approach for understanding zombie theory; and second, it encourages companies to manage risk-taking decisions efficiently so as to avoid the proliferation of zombies. more...

PurposeProfessional basketball clubs generate value not only for shareholders, but also for other stakeholders. These organizations create a broader social value for a wide range of stakeholders, and thus, it is useful to consider these stakeholders' perceptions of social value creation. Therefore, under the generic framework of grounded theory, this paper aims to create a stakeholder map of professional basketball clubs, taking into account the common coopetition context in sporting competitions.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 49 qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted in collaboration with the representatives of two Spanish basketball clubs to establish the particularities of the stakeholders of these organizations compared with non-sport businesses (NsP) to confirm the stakeholder map. The Bryson process was used to develop the stakeholder map.FindingsThe map shows that there are three kinds of stakeholders of professional basketball clubs compared with non-sport organizations: similar, singular and entirely different. The perception of different social value dimensions confirm the findings of the stakeholder map, emphasizing that these organizations should take into account multidimensional stakeholder-value creation (functional, social, emotional and epistemic).Originality/valueThis study provides evidence from a holistic point of view that economic performance is not a unique indicator for measuring basketball clubs as efficient organizations, proving the usefulness of the stakeholder map. more...

With the aim of improving the quality and efficiency of corporate management, a number of standardised norms have been developed, such as TQM, but in parallel; for example; SCOR or ISO9000. Neverth... more...

In recent years, a renewed interest in value creation for stakeholders has been witnessed in different contexts. Different tools have been proposed to try to grasp and measure such value(s) but, in many cases, the main perspective remains that of the shareholders. To contribute to the field of research that aims to discuss novel ways of thinking about value creation measurement, this paper addresses the relationship between ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings and Value Added, as proxies of value creation and distribution for stakeholders. In particular, we consider whether ESG ratings are able to capture companies that are characterized by their capacity for generating higher Value Added for stakeholders. Our analysis uses the frontier methodology combined with means comparison. Data from 2018 were downloaded from EIKON, for all companies within the Euro zone and for all sectors (1932 companies, of which 399 held an ESG rating, compared with 1533 without ESG analysis). Our analysis reveals that, although ESG is theoretically considered a good social responsibility proxy, ESG indices cannot be used as an indicator of value creation for stakeholders but, rather, must be considered as only one of the components. This implies a need to review the limitations of ESG ratings and establish that the relevant indices are not suitable for use in universal or absolute decision-making. This research was funded by the University of Bergamo (Italy) Programma STaRs “Stars Supporting Talented Researchers”—Azione 2: “Grants for Visiting Professor and Scholar Incoming”—2018 and by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), grant number US20/11. more...

El objetivo de este documento es analizar el efecto de la transformación de cajas de ahorro en bancos comerciales. Las cajas de ahorro españolas durante el periodo de 2012 a 2014 se han utilizado como “cuasiexperimento” o como ejemplo para otros países en los que actualmente existe esta estructura. El objetivo es mostrar si hay diferencias de eficiencia entre los bancos y las antiguas cajas de ahorro. El resultado es que, al menos en los primeros años posteriores a su transformación, las cajas de ahorro siguen obteniendo resultados sociales positivos y, además, están mejorando sus resultados económicos. Estos hallazgos son útiles tanto para posibles transformaciones de cajas de ahorro de otros países europeos en los que existe este tipo de entidades financieras, como para futuras investigaciones con datos financieros en América Latina, Asia o África The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of the transformation from savings banks into commercial banks. The Spanish savings banks during the 2012-2014 period have been used as a “quasi-experiment” or as an example for other countries in which there are savings banks nowadays. The aim is to show if there are efficiency differences between banks and former savings banks. Then, at least in the first years after their transformation, savings banks are still achieving very positive results in social activities, and, besides, they are improving their economic results. These findings are useful for both potential transformations of savings banks in other European countries with this type of financial entities, and for future research with Latin America, Asia or Africa financial data Este trabajo es parte de la investigación del Grupo ecri Ethics in Finance and Social Value (www.ehu.eus/ecri), financiada por la Universidad del País Vasco (upv/ehu) y la Fundación Emilio Soldevilla para la Investigación y el Desarrollo en Economía de la Empresa (feside) (GIU19/30) more...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on Islamic banking by examining their ethical dimension using transparency, placement of assets, guarantees and participation from Radical Affinity Index. Design/methodology/approach To this end, a sample of 20 Islamic banks from 13 countries (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Tanzania, Great Britain, Oman, Iraq, Egypt, Bangladesh and Qatar) was used. Findings The results are robust to ethical effects. The evidence suggests that among Islamic banks, at least some of them could improve their ethical requirements of the Sharia; they obtained lower scores than ethical banks in terms of RAI variables (transparency, placement of assets, guarantees and participation). Research limitations/implications It is used a random sample rather than population with the limitations that entails. The variables in the index are based on ethical perspective; then, the index is applied in Islamic banking but with the ethical view limitation. Practical implications The Islamic banks have the option to increase their transparency including further information regarding the beneficiaries of the benevolent funds; moreover, it would offer a clearer view about their ethical and social commitment towards society. Originality/value Additionally, this paper broadens the scope of the literature by analysing the determinants of Islamic banking around ethical dimensions of financial entities. more...

This paper examines the flow of thoughts on ethics in finance both from academic experts and from published contributions that constitute an alternative view of the financial field from an ethical point of view. A Delphi method was used to achieve consensus about the perceptions and opinions academic experts hold about ethics in financial matters and in the research agenda. This approach permits the early detection of emerging lines, narrowing the research line and shortening subject selection time. An active research map of researchers, countries and lines of investigation was drawn up, and recommendations made of areas that could be highlighted or moderated. more...

Religious oriented organizations (ROOs) have frequently higher levels of motivation among their employees, because the aims of ROOs and those of collaborators and stakeholders are usually aligned. However, sometimes, when the management of ROOs becomes professionalized, tensions between aims and efficiency are more frequent, and productivity levels start to decline. The most widespread current management theories are focused on profit maximization and are not especially helpful to religious organizations which try to enhance their productivity levels and, at the same time, achive their mission and aims. In order to fill this gap, in this research, we will develop two main concepts: social accounting and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We will propose the use of social accounting to calculate the social value generated by ROOs and, from that point, build new indicators able to measure the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of collaborators working in ROOs. We will exemplify this theoretical development with the actual case of the diocese of Bilbao. In short, the main objectives of this work are two. The first objective is the development of a theoretical framework able to enhance the levels of social value creation inside religious (and socially oriented) organizations using social accounting. The second objective is the use of data from the 16 educative centers of the diocese of Bilbao to ilustrate that social accounting is a valid tool to measure social value. Additionally, we will show that social accounting can be a tool to assess management decisions in order to enhance organizational and individual OCB in ROOs and, in this way, generate moral satisfaction for employees and collaborators in their organizations. more...

This study aims to discuss the use of social accounting, supported by practice theory, and its contribution to social accounting theory. It is possible for stakeholder accounting to be carried out by various companies. It has been analyzed by multiple case studies, and the results will enable us to help the general public understand the social values that companies generate for society and the resulting impact on stakeholder, and therefore social well-being. The results of the analyses will provide companies with feedback on their social impact, which will help them to become more efficient. This study defines a framework that might guide the social value and nonfinancial information of organizations. Social accounting is seen as an accounting system based on accepted accounting principles, seeking to emphasize the notion of corporate accountability. From the analysis of more than 90 cases, we conclude that there is a possibility of systematically introducing stakeholder accounting or recalled socioemotional accounting (SĒA) into all organizations. more...

This article analyses the determinants for social and economic efficiency in microfinance institutions using a seemingly unrelated regression. We find two factors that improve their relative efficiency: legal status and target market; however, age and scale are not clear determinants. The main contribution of this paper is to engage microfinance institutions to achieve the desired social efficiency without giving up economic efficiency as the two can be complementary; moreover, it is possible to be efficient as a Non Banking Financial Institution/Non-Governmental Organization with small size and low-end target, at least. The paper is a new contribution in line with the so-called paradox of social cost. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. more...

Traditionally, corporate treasury management has been strategically based on the idea of advancing collections and delaying payments, which has been regulated through the intermediation of financial entities using, for example, credit accounts. New technologies applied to the financial field facilitate direct interaction between companies and reduce the transaction costs, because they allow adjustment of the flows of needs, but high confidence is required. The current ease of access to credit does not promote the incorporation of new financial relationship systems, but the operation of these systems should be studied, since a future credit restriction, like that known in Europe at the end of the 2000s, could change the situation. The aim of this paper was to identify the factors involved in this relationship among companies and establish the main conditions for cash sharing between companies to achieve a successful financial function. The investigation is based on a Delphi analysis used to analyze the successful experiences of shared cash (Mondragon Corporation, Trocobuy, and Arboribus), the needed variables, and their context. Then, our model was created from that exploratory knowledge. Our model is called mutual cash holding and its relevance and reliability were contrasted using structural equations based on a questionnaire administered to financial managers of large- and medium-sized Spanish companies. The result generates knowledge that articulates a new collaborative tool that expands the possibilities for treasury management among companies This research was funded by University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, (US17/24 grant number) and FESIDE foundation. more...

Purpose This paper examines the flow of thoughts on Business Ethics research lines from experts of European countries. Design/methodology/approach A Delphi method was used to achieve consensuses among the perceptions and opinions of experts about Business Ethics matters. Moreover, the research agenda is investigated using a Delphi process developed with the participation of 12 experts from eight countries (France, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Hungary) from March to September 2015. Findings The state of the art based on the expert panel’s consensuses on the emerging issues in Business Ethics permits the early detection of emerging lines, thus narrowing the research line and decreasing subject selection time. Additionally, an active research map has been constructed based on researchers, countries, and lines of investigation. Originality/value There is a gap in the representation of the research on certain management topics in Business Ethics, so this research will constitute a significant and valuable tool for novel researchers. It is useful for creating a research agenda. more...

This paper seeks to establish the relationship between economic efficiency and social efficiency to analyze the sustainability of banking in Europe. The type-effect has been analyzed, as stakeholder value banks&mdash, cooperatives and saving banks&mdash, should not be less socially and economically efficient than commercial banks. This European analysis was made using the Bankscope database, as it provides a unique insight into the stakeholder view that clarifies, by an analysis of two-stage boundaries, that there is no single model of social and economic efficiency according to the type of financial entity in Europe. These findings contribute to the social cost paradox and shared value perspective, and more broadly to stakeholder theory. It is established that a tradeoff between economic and social efficiency is not needed. There are different behaviors in different European countries. Moreover, our results could lead to the development of social indicators of the sustainability aspects of organizations without resorting to traditional accounting. more...

There is an increasing concern about the value contributed by firms to the society as a whole. Transnational companies are particularly being questioned; therefore, legitimation for this kind of corporations is demanded. This chapter analyses four delegitimizing factors: negative added value, negative equity, tax evasion and moral hazard associated to potential situations of bankruptcy. Three legitimizing factors will also be analysed: added value distributed to stakeholders, value distributed by “non-market” mechanisms and emotional value generated to different stakeholders of the entity. Since the lack of legitimation affects large companies to a greater degree, two hypotheses related to the size of the firms have been tested. The first has to do with a larger presence of delegitimizing factors in large firms. The second analyses a smaller distribution in this sort of firms of value generated to stakeholders that are not shareholders assessed by means of the social efficiency ratio (SER). The obtained results allow for identifying whether the criticism towards large firms is supported by objective factors (confirmed hypothesis) or subjective ones (rejected hypothesis) and consequently whether the transnational companies should base their action plans of social legitimation on strategy or on communication. more...

In spite of its commercial importance and signs of clear concern in public policy arenas, trade credit has not been subjected to systematic, extended analysis in the business ethics literature, even where suppliers as a stakeholder group have been considered. This paper makes the case for serious consideration of the ethics of trade credit and explores the issues surrounding slow payment of debts. It discusses trade debt as a kind of promise, but— noting that not all promises are good ones—goes on to develop an analysis of the ethics of trade credit grounded in an understanding of its fundamental purpose. Making a distinction between ‘‘operating’’ trade credit and ‘‘financial’’ trade credit, the paper provides an account of the maximum period for which it is appropriate for one company to delay payment to another from which it has purchased goods or services. The concern of commentators and policy makers that companies should not take too long to pay their debts is affirmed, but the understanding of what timely payment means is significantly finessed, with one conclusion being that, if debts have not already been settled according to acceptable standard terms of trade, cash should pass quickly back along the supply chain once the customer in the final product market has paid. The analysis has implications not only for companies that take credit but also for external parties that seek to rate companies or set regulations according to speed of payment—an approach that is shown to be misleadingly simplistic, albeit well intentioned. A corresponding important responsibility for \ud suppliers, not to extend excessive credit (and thus act as a quasi-bank), also follows from the analysis developed. Having provided a novel analysis of an important business problem, the paper then discusses some of the related practical issues and makes suggestions for further research. more...

European legislation has so far failed to alleviate late payment. We introduce the concept of organizational routine; this contributes to understanding late payment and its persistence and focuses on more effective ways of alleviating it. The case study between a large Spanish company and its Spanish SME suppliers gives an exemplary illustration of organizational (trade credit) routines and their dynamics in a two-sided business relationship. The large company’s imbalanced routine and the SMEs’ balanced routine explain late payment. Potential for change and the alleviation of late payment is to be found in routines’ internal dynamics and in participants’ understanding., La législation européenne n’a pas réduit significativement les retards de paiement. Nous introduisons le concept de routine organisationnelle pour comprendre les retards de paiement et leur persistance et nous focaliser sur leur réduction. L’étude de cas d’une grande entreprise et de ses fournisseurs espagnols illustre les routines organisationnelles (du crédit inter-entreprises) et leurs dynamiques dans la relation. Le déséquilibre de la routine de la grande entreprise et l’équilibre de celle des PME expliquent les retards de paiement. Le potentiel de réduction des retards de paiement est à rechercher dans la dynamique interne des routines et la compréhension des participants., La legislación europea no ha logrado disminuir los plazos atrasados. Introducimos el concepto de rutina organizacional para comprender los retrasos de pago y su persistencia, y nos focalizamos en su reducción. El estudio de caso entre una gran empresa española y sus proveedoras PYMES se ilustra con rutinas organizacionales (del crédito comercial) y su dinámica en relaciones comerciales bilaterales. La rutina desequilibrada de la gran empresa y la rutina equilibrada de las PYMEs explican el retraso en el pago. El potencial reductor del retraso de pagos está en la dinámica interna de las rutinas y la comprensión de los participantes. more...

This article has used the case of the Etxanobe restaurant in Bilbao (Spain) to illustrate value creation for stakeholders according to the principles of the new story of business: value creation, purpose, interconnection, simultaneous creation of value, cooperation, and human complexity. This work seeks to contribute to the analysis of value creation for stakeholders, and illustrate in a single case the effectiveness of these six principles, which can be validated in small businesses at least. Likewise, the results of this study have significant implications concerning value creation for stakeholders in business; cooperation, the power of relationships, and the interconnections among stakeholders are of greater importance, reinforcing stakeholder engagement. more...

Businesses in technical bankruptcy are part of the European context, many of them in such financial distress that they have lost all their equity and a very high percentage of them have even incurred negative equity. There is a very little literature analysing these companies; moreover, they are considered as out of the ordinary because they do not fit into conventional theories of business, and are removed from most samples. They are largely neglected. The research questions posed here are a step towards remedying this: "What are the scale and the economic impact of negative equity companies in terms of risk transference?", "Does this problem differ from one European country to another?", "Is it an effect of the crisis?". Using the Bureau Van Dijk's Amadeus database, we find that nearly 20% of companies have negative equity. Such companies handle more than one billion Euros, i.e. nearly 10% of European GDP. So the results suggest that negative equity companies have a high weight in Europe and, based on the country cluster studied, it seems that neither culture nor geographical area is determinant in explaining their distribution across countries. Nor is the crisis a determinant in explaining their existence, so the problem is not cyclical but structural. These findings have potentially important implications in encouraging European decision makers to factor such companies into their policies and to include them in economic models. Keywords moral hazard negative equity stakeholders Amadeus zombies crisis JEL Classification G33, M29 Introduction The world's leading economies are striving to become more competitive so that they can all get onto the path of sustainable growth and into a new economic cycle. A competitive economy needs a competitive fabric of business, and it is precisely in this aspect that the main weakness of many countries may lie. There are companies whose future viability is uncertain and whose ability to compete is highly limited. These companies may transfer risks, and thus losses should they go under, to others with which they maintain trading and other links. They have in fact been described as "zombie companies" (Ahearne and Shinada 2005; Caballero et al. 2008). The most extreme type of zombie company comprises negative equity companies which continue to trade in spite of having lost all their equity (see Mohrman and Stuerke 2014 for an example). The risk posed by these extremely leveraged companies lines not so much in the risk of their going bankrupt but rather in the potential economic impact of all their risks being transferred to other companies. Despite the fact that negative equity companies are part of the national context in European countries, scholars of international finance have paid scant attention to them (Luo et al. 2015; Retolaza et al. 2016). The research questions posed here are a step towards remedying this: "What are the scale and the economic impact of negative equity companies in terms of risk transference?" "Does this problem differ from one European country to another?" "Is it an effect of the crisis?". 1. Research question and structure To answer these questions our study uses the Bureau Van Dijk's Amadeus database to analyze the situation in the European Union in 2012 and the Amadeus Top 250,000 database to test for a country effect and a crisis effect and to analyse the trend over the 4-year period from 2009 to 2012. Earlier studies have also used these data and the quality of the information in Amadeus has been checked for accounting data (e.g. Faccio et al. 2011). We focus on European countries because reporting requirements and practices mean that rich data are available for a large fraction, in terms of euro value, of the universe of equity. The aim of this study is to add to the established literature by looking at extremely leveraged companies, with negative equity understood as the worst capital structure of companies in terms of guarantees of meeting the obligations acquired with their stakeholders. … more...

Purpose Crowdfunding is an emergent practice that is increasing exponentially as a means of financing to complement company capital. This chapter focuses on an innovative way of organizing peer-to-peer lending, known as crowdlending. The characteristics of crowdlending are social reward or interest and using the Internet as a medium for communication, prospection and raising funds. To fill the gap in the literature in this regard, this chapter addresses the following questions: Can crowdfunding be considered as a feasible conventional financial tool? What makes crowdlending work? Is it possible to apply the mutual cash holding (MCH) model to crowdlending as well as to previous examples such as the Mondragon Corporation and Trocobuy? Methodology/approach We use three cases (Mondragon Corporation, Trocobuy and Arboribus) to highlight financial tools that use the concept of stakeholder theory that is based on the collaborative management of cash surpluses. Using the Delphi technique combined with in-depth interviews we demonstrate the contribution of the MCH model to crowdlending. We show that the model could be applied to different organizations, thereby indicating its robustness and implying that it could be used in many other cases. Findings The present study suggests that crowdlending describes a new financing tool as a principal form of lending; it enables companies to implement a financial tool that allows for social development and stakeholder participation and that can ensure companies’ financial sustainability. Practical implications This model is based on six elements: expectations of mutual benefits, trust, management, guarantees, mutual profit and benefit. It suggests mutual benefit and positive social values for all stakeholders. However, cash surpluses will be efficiently used only when crowdlending is relevant to investors’ economic objective, because crowdlending as a social innovation does not in itself guarantee economic benefit. Originality/value The chapter provides evidence of crowdlending in practice. The research compares key cases in which the MCH model is applied. It also provides important insights into crowdlending as a social innovation. more...

En este trabajo, se presenta un modelo de gestión de tesorería innovador, denominado Mutual Cash Holding (MCH) que se define en base a seis variables (expectativas, confianza, transparencia, garantías, gestión y beneficio mutuo), que intervienen significativamente en la gestión colaborativa de la tesorería; y en el que el tamaño y el sector actúan como variables modeladoras. El trabajo se soporta sobre una muestra de empresas españolas profesionalizadas. El análisis factorial realizado permite concluir la existencia de un modelo unificado de MCH; en él las expectativas, la confianza y la gestión, obtienen una valoración significativamente superior al resto de variables., In this paper, an innovative model of cash management, called Mutual Cash Holding (MCH) which is defined based on six variables (expectations, trust, transparency, guarantees, management and mutual benefit), involved significantly in the collaborative cash management; and wherein the size and sector act as moderator variables. The work is supported on a sample of Spanish professionalized companies. The factorial analysis allows to conclude the existence of a unified MCH model; in this model, expectations, trust and management, obtained a significantly higher valuation than the other variables., Dans cet article, un modèle de gestion de la trésorerie innovante, appelée Mutual Cash Holding (MCH) qui est défini sur la base de six variables (attentes, la confiance, la transparence, les garanties, la gestion et les mutuelles), impliquées de façon significative dans la gestion colaborative de la trésorerie; et dans lequel la taille et le secteur agissent en tant que variables modelatrices. Le travail est pris en charge sur un échantillon d’entreprises espagnoles professionnalisés. L’analyse factorielle permet de conclure à l’existence d’un modèle MCH unifié; sur l’equel, les attentes, la confiance et la gestion, ont obtenu une évaluation significativement plus élevée que les autres variables. more...