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The H-1B visa program allows companies to hire skilled foreign workers. Before 2014, the vast majority of these visas were allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Since then, the program has been severely oversubscribed and all cap-subject visas have been allocated through lotteries. The authors merged Compustat data with administrative firm-level data on the universe of approved petitions for H-1B visas. Using difference-in-differences and matching estimators, this article finds that the switch in the visa allocation system negatively affected the growth of companies that used the H-1B program. Results indicate that these effects are quantitatively large and that their magnitudes grow over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the link between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and manager sentiment. Analysing a comprehensive dataset of Chinese non-financial listed firms spanning from 2007 to 2021, the findings indicate a negative relationship between EPU and manager sentiment expressed in annual reports. Additionally, we observed a significant reduction in manager sentiment bias in the presence of high EPU. The impact of EPU on manager sentiment is moderated by firms benefiting from government industrial policy and those exhibiting stronger risk-taking capability, as the negative effect is less pronounced in these cases. Our channel analysis reveals that EPU diminishes manager sentiment by impairing operating performance and capital market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractHow do labor and environmental provisions (also known as non-trade issues) that are increasingly part of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) affect investment patterns within global value chains (GVCs)? In this article, we explore how the design of these provisions and the local regulatory environments of trading partners influence the geography of production. By employing a difference-in-difference analysis of quantitative data on the design of non-trade issues in 478 PTAs and mergers and acquisitions between 1948 and 2018, we assess the influence of labor and environmental provisions in PTAs on GVCs. Building on the legal and business studies literatures, we expect and empirically find that when countries join PTAs, enforceable non-trade clauses interact with domestic regulatory environments and induce changes in GVCs, especially in Global North hosts. Our findings provide nuance to our current understanding of the interconnections across trade agreement design, domestic regulations, and vertically integrated multinational production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the moderating role of the business environment in the relationship between top manager gender and firm performance, using firm‐level data from 29 African countries. Controlling for endogeneity and country fixed effects, we find that female‐managed firms generally underperform male‐managed firms, except among large firms where female managers excel. The performance gap is exacerbated by a weak business environment, highlighting the need for reforms to close the managerial gender gap in Africa. Strengthening the business environment is essential for improving female‐led firm performance and by extension promoting gender equality in African business leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International organizations' lives often extend far beyond the moment of their initial contracting. How IOs do adapt to shifting circumstances in their member states global geopolitical changes, and even internal dynamics within the IO itself? This special issue on the life cycle of international cooperation explores the ebbs and flows of the IOs that underpin the international system. Firm theory, organizational sociology, and agency theory all have incorporated life cycles perspectives into the study of organizations, but IR has yet to fully harness these frameworks. A life cycles approach centers on, first, incorporating the IO itself as the core unit of analysis and, second, the dynamic processes within IOs — including life stages such as false starts, consolidation, inertia, growth, revitalization, death, and succession. Incorporating these dynamic processes into our understanding of IOs reminds us that historically, IOs have always experienced periods of both flourishing and faltering. Grasping the mechanisms that drive these changes is indispensable for a thorough understanding of the international system's vitality and resilience. Articles in this issue explore the durability of IOs in the face of crises; the measures that IOs deploy to legitimize their existence; the role of individual leaders' rhetoric in IO vitality; the tradeoffs that member states face between pulling the plug on an IO versus creating a new institution; the effect of member-state IO withdrawal on the international system overall; and the mass public's perceptions of such withdrawals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on sex segregation in the labor market has repeatedly found that women and men are more likely to exit from occupations and firms in which they are the numerical minority and subsequently seek positions that are more represented by their gender. However, this research looked at mobility either across occupations or across firms, leaving unclear how the simultaneous exposure to gender compositions of occupations and firms shapes attrition from gender-atypical positions. We draw on linked employer-employee register data from the German social security insurance system (SIEED, 2012-2018) to highlight that some occupations can be found in firms with various gender compositions, indicating that gender compositions of occupations and firms do not always align and thereby may independently affect mobility. Conditional relative risk ratios for mobility between gender-typed occupations and firms reveal substantial switches from gender-atypical towards more gender-typical positions. This gendered labor market mobility is most pronounced for men across occupations. For women, gender compositions of firms drive not only mobility across firms but also switches out of gender-atypical occupations. Our findings underscore that gender compositions of occupations and firms jointly shape attrition from gender-atypical positions, which ultimately perpetuates labor market segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how cooperation influences firm performance, utilizing pooled regression and instrumental variables on LAIS data covering firms from 2007 to 2017 across 10 Latin American countries. The findings indicate that cooperating firms outperform non-cooperating counterparts, especially when collaborating within their economic group. Furthermore, I find that cooperation is particularly advantageous for small firms, and access to public or private finance enhances returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to deepen the theoretical and methodological foundations and improve the practical recommendations regarding the financial management of companies in modern economic conditions. Results. Thus, it can be argued that modern crisis management of enterprises should be preventive in nature and be carried out in anticipation of negative crisis phenomena that lead to a loss of financial stability and solvency. According to the authors, the changing market environment creates an objective need to consider crisis management not as a one-time problem-oriented action, but as a continuous process, since it is known that it is easier to prevent a problem than to eliminate its consequences. It is evident that the practical implementation of management decisions necessitates the availability of appropriate sources of funding. These can be mobilised through the effective functioning of the financial mechanism, which comprises financial methods, financial levers, regulatory and information support. The efficacy of crisis management in enterprises hinges on the sufficiency of financial resources, which in turn depends on the selection of an appropriate method and instrument. Hence, the issue of optimal choice and feasibility of using financial methods in the context of crisis management of enterprise is a promising area for further research. The economic performance of the private company (PС) for the period 2021-2023 is positive, with an acceptable level of profitability. There is a threat of financial risk for the PС due to an increase in the amount of funds raised. At the same time, equity's manoeuvrability is increasing, indicating effective management of financial flows. Despite certain downward trends in the financial condition, the company has a significant margin of safety due to the fact that fixed costs are 21% or more. It follows that the main objective of financial management is to ensure growth in net income and profit, which can be achieved by increasing the production of veterinary drugs, growing sales of feed additives and providing services. Consequently, the most pressing objective of financial management at PC "O.L.KAR.-AgroZooVet-Service" is to enhance revenue generation and align financial flows. Methodology. The article develops methods of financial management of an enterprise, which envisage identification, analysis and development of models of anti-crisis management. Value / Originality. The management of the enterprise of wholesale trade in intermediate products is currently considered one of the most important and complex areas of activity and requires detailed consideration from the point of view of financial activity. The results of financial activity of PC "О.L.KAR.-AgroZooVet-Service" prove its efficiency. However, there is a clear tendency towards a certain complication of the efficiency of work, which is mainly connected with the influence of military events, the crisis state of the economy in general, the divergence of the trends in the price of the company's products and its costs, and fluctuations in the exchange rate. At the same time, the management of the PC conducts a financial policy aimed at development, accumulating profits in its capital and providing the necessary funds for the development of the company's fixed assets. Therefore, measures of anti-crisis management of the enterprise are proposed after calculating the bankruptcy model of the enterprise. Prospects for further research are related to the development of optimal solutions for managing the finances of business entities in Ukraine. Summing up the above, it can be noted that during the analysed period, the financial condition of a private enterprise did not deteriorate significantly: the company makes profits, but the indicators of financial stability and solvency attract special attention. Guided by these instructions and instructions for increasing the level of financial stability and improving financial management, PC "О.L.KAR.-AgroZooVet-Service" will maintain a stable and competitive level of financial and social activity on the market under proper financial management under the management, even in difficult times of martial law in Ukraine.

Corporate governance has become a significant policy issue in Nigeria, especially with many developments such as the volatility of corporations on the Nigerian Exchange and the rise in the population of stockholders, which have increased the relevance of corporate governance measures. This study examined the nexus between corporate governance and Nigerian Deposit Money Banks’ (NDMBs) financial performances using a period from 2012 to 2019. Using a judgmental sampling technique, out of 25 NDMRs, 15 NDMRs were selected as a sample size. Secondary data were extracted from the annual reports of the selected banks. Descriptive research design and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The findings offer empirical evidence to refute the five null hypotheses and found that the financial performance of NDMBs as measured by Tobin Q and corporate governance proxies (i.e. board meetings, the board size, CEO duality, audit committee independence, and board independence) is statistically related. This study found that the nexus between Nigerian deposit money banks’ financial performance and CEO duality is negative and significant. The nexus between Nigerian deposit money banks’ financial performance and board independence is negative and significant. Nigerian deposit money banks’ financial performance and audit committee independence have a positive and significant nexus. The nexus between Nigerian deposit money banks’ financial performance and board size is positive and significant. The nexus between Nigerian deposit money banks’ performance and board meetings is positive and significant. This study concluded that corporate governance and financial performance of NDMBs are related. AcknowledgmentWhichever contributors to this publication, both non-researchers and scholars, are much acknowledged.

• This paper empirically examines the effects of two distinct innovation strategies. • Independent innovation sands firm performance; spillover innovation greases it. • Greasing effect of spillover innovation is amplified by bribing. • Greasing effect of spillover innovation is amplified under poor institution. • Sanding effect of independent innovation is reduced under good institution. While a large body of literature has explored the impacts of bribery on firm performance, particularly in terms of innovation outcomes, a significant gap exists in understanding the effects of innovation strategies on firms' performance as well as the influence of institutional quality on the interaction between innovation strategies and bribery. This paper empirically addresses this gap by investigating the complex effects of bribing and two distinct innovation strategies—independent innovation and spillover innovation. Using global firm-level evidence from the latest Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey, we employ three semiparametric methods to estimate productivity as proxy of firms' performance. Our results show that independent innovation exerts sanding influences on productivity, while spillover innovation and bribery grease the wheels of firm performance. Moreover, bribery and spillover innovation mutually amplify each other's positive effects on firm performance. Further examinations indicate that the impacts of innovation strategies and bribing are significantly moderated by institutional quality. Under poor institutional quality with excessive government control or corruption, the positive influence of spillover innovation and bribing tends to be strengthened. Conversely, good institutional quality mitigates the greasing effects of spillover innovation and bribery. Through multiple robustness tests employing alternative methodologies, firm performance metrics, and institutional quality measures, these findings are consistently confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the environmental performance of firms impacts their participation in global value chains (GVC). The analysis is based on a dataset of 15,922 firms located in 32 European, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African countries, with information on firm-level environmental practices provided by the recent Green Economy module of the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. We propose the Firm Environmental Performance Index (FEPI), a new index measuring firms' adoption of environmental actions. The index is used in a two-part instrumental variable approach to estimate the impact of FEPI on both the probability and the intensity of GVC participation, while addressing reverse causality concerns. The results indicate that a one-standard deviation increase in the FEPI increases the probability of participation by 6.4 percentage points, a result consistently observed in all regions and sectors. The effects on the intensity of participation are mostly non-significant. However, a negative effect is observed in exceptional cases, namely for firms that are importers only, have low-technology practices, and are located in less developed regions. The results are robust to alternative definitions of GVC participation, inclusion of alternative instruments, and to partial violations of the exclusion restriction. All in all, they suggest that complying with environmental regulations could lead to higher integration in global markets, albeit with adverse effects in some particular cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I estimate the effect of financial constraints on the response of firms that import inputs to a large exchange rate depreciation. Using data from a census on Indonesian firms, I find that while domestic importers face lower value added due to a rise in their costs of production, foreign‐owned importers fare better: they are more likely to sustain higher value added, hire more labor and use more materials than domestic owned firms. These effects are driven by firms in industries with high demand for external finance, emphasizing the importance of access to finance in mitigating the impact of trade and credit shocks. This suggests another channel through which FDI can add value to a firm in a developing country, particularly with the increasing importance of trade in intermediate goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formalizing firms can potentially increase the tax base, expand safety and social protections for workers, create good jobs, and promote firm growth. However, the costs and processes of formality may be too challenging for some firms to bear. Thus, informal firms may not be able to survive the transition to formality, and attempts to expand formality through more intensive enforcement may be harmful and counterproductive to job creation and growth. This paper investigates the potential for currently informal firms to formalize in Egypt. The paper compares the characteristics of formal and informal micro and small nonagricultural firms and identifies the extent of similarities and potential for formalization. The analysis finds that, beyond firm size and whether the firm operates in a fixed establishment, the basic and easily observable characteristics of firms are not closely linked to formality. Firm age, productivity, and owner characteristics, such as education, are strongly predictive of formality. The predicted probability of being formal is greater than 50% for only about 26% of informal firms, suggesting most firms are not good candidates for formalization. The paper develops profiles (groups and clusters) of similar firms to identify those with a higher potential for formalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines a database on non-tariff measures (NTMs) with Morocco's firm-level census to explore the effect of regulatory harmonization with the E.U. on firms' outcomes. Exploiting cross-sectoral variation in the timing and extent of regulatory harmonization, we find that harmonization waves correlate with rises in productivity, with higher markups and with greater numbers of exporting firms. These effects were reinforced by an induced market-structure change: harmonization temporarily protected the Moroccan market from competition from low-end producers in other developing countries, who took time to adapt. We identify these effects through changes in both trade patterns and firm-level outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chief Executive Officer's (CEO) are integral leaders of health care organisation. Over the last two decades in United States (US) hospitals, it has been noted that CEO turnover rates are increasing, and it was reported that the CEO turnover rates have augmented from 14% in 2008 to 18% in 2017 in the private sector. In Australia, it was discovered that during two years, 41 executives had 18 distinct positions. It has been highlighted that the increasing CEO turnover is a major issue for Australian and international health care organisations. Some of the negative consequences of CEO turnover include organisational instability, high financial costs, loss of human capital and adverse effects on staff morale and patient care. Objective: Our scoping review aimed to map and summarise the evidence associated with CEO turnovers in both health and non-health setting, and answer the following questions: 1. What are the reasons for CEO departure?, 2. What are the strategies to minimise CEO turnover? Results: A protocol explaining the objectives, inclusion criteria and methods for this scoping review were specified in advance and published. This scoping review included 17 studies (13 health and 4 non-health setting) published over a 31-year period that investigated and described the increasing CEO turnover rates. All 17 studies identified causes of CEO turnover along with certain studies identifying facilitators of CEO retention. We classified CEO's departure reasons into three major themes: organizational, performance, and personal. Organisational factors include CEO departures due to issues within the organisation, performance factors include issues with CEO's work and personal factors captures personal reasons for CEO's leaving their job. Conclusion: CEOs are under immense pressure to deliver good results and drive growth while satisfying the interests of internal and external stakeholders. There are various reasons for CEO's departure however the most common factor identified is organisational. Contribution of paper statement: What is already known Causes and consequences of CEO turnover in both health and non-health settings. What this paper adds Three main factors associated with CEO turnover such as organisational, performance and personal factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world is currently witnessing the military operations of Russia invading Ukraine, leading to missile bombing and shelling on various parts. Although the economic ill effects are more conspicuous and much talked about, the environmental impacts are grimmer and more devastating but ironically are less in the news. Hence, in this work, we focused on the environmental impact of the Russia-Ukraine war by quantifying the long-term (2001 to 2023) and short-term temperature changes using land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature (AT) as proxies and monitoring changes in air quality, mainly methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), between 2021 and 2022. We used NASA MODIS FIRMS fire points from 24th February 2022 to 08th September 2023 to prepare the heat map for identifying the regions heavily devastated by bombing. Thus, parts of Kiev, Lviv, Luhansk, Odesa, Donetsk, Kherson, etc., in Ukraine were chosen for assessing the LST, AT variations during the peak season of war along with analysis of long-term and short-term changes. We used MODIS Terra LST and Emissivity, ERA 5 AT, CH4, CO2 from AIRS and CO from Sentinel 5P. The results of the LST showed an average increase of around 2.32 °C (2022–2023), 3.44 °C (2021 and 2022) in parts of Ukraine and an increase of about 2 °C from COVID time, whilst a decrease of about 1 °C during COVID. This increase in LST will cause enhanced warming, thus changing the regional climate in a shorter time frame. A consistent upward trend in CH4, CO and CO2 is seen from 2019 to 2023. These heat waves and pollution will grip Ukraine and cause menace due to the cumulative effect of heat waves, changing climate and the aftermaths of war. This would be catastrophic as it might lead to a widespread impact on human health, agricultural yield and infrastructure, to name a few. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effect of formal and informal institutional settings and of the governance of inter-organizational relationships on innovation at the cluster level. The research primarily relies on quantitative methods, utilizing data obtained from a survey involving 115 firms and 12 in-depth interviews. Supplementary qualitative information from the interviews has also been incorporated into the analysis. The results support the hypothesis that innovative firms should consider not only the impact of different governance modes but also how these modes align with the existing local contexts. Failure to do so may result in firms becoming entrenched in the prevailing practices and products of a specific location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of market power on income disparities when firm‐specific parameters are considered to test how they shape the gap between capital and labor earnings through their pricing decisions. The dataset consists of 2895 UK manufacturing and services firms over 2010–2019. The results provide the following insights: (a) There is a strong positive association between market power and income disparities across the market, (b) liquidity constraints exert a positive effect on the asset‐based disparities ratio, but a negative effect on the profit‐based ratio. The robustness of the results is also checked when market‐specific characteristics are included in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how financialization has progressed in the German nonfinancial corporate sector since the 2000s. Using a sample of firms historically listed in the largest German stock market indices, DAX and MDAX, we not only confirm the rise of international passive asset managers but also find a growing prevalence of controlling business families. Although executive pay increasingly consists of equity grants, indicating growing shareholder value orientation, we do not identify corporate financialization in terms of rising share buybacks and payout rates. Instead, ever larger shares of corporate funds are kept inside firms as retained earnings. While firms in the USA 'downsize-and-distribute' under the pressure of institutional investors, we hold that German firms 'save-and-sit-on-it'. Although shaped by the liberalization of corporate governance regulations, this regime still relies on blockholdings and codetermination, while integrating asset managers as new providers of patient capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing the geographical polarization of American politics, we examine how state politics shape the implementation of downsizing. Combining power resources theory and the political-embeddedness approach in organizational studies, we propose that labor power resources at the state level, namely Democratic control of state government and state-level union membership, limit firms' ability to implement drastic job cuts within the state. Based on data on the 697 largest, publicly traded US firms between 1981 and 2005, combined with their establishment-level employment data from EEO-1 reports, our analysis shows that post-downsizing reductions in employment were less severe in states with a worker-friendly political environment. But the limited effectiveness of labor's power resources in right-to-work states and the American South suggests that there is considerable regional variation. Our findings provide strong evidence of the political embeddedness of firms, by demonstrating the growing salience of political considerations in corporate decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, intangibles assets have become an important source of productivity and economic growth in developed countries. Despite the transforming properties of intangibles across economies and the large and dynamic literature on the impact of intangible investments on productivity growth in frontier countries, there is not much evidence for the Latin America context. This paper contributes to the empirical literature on intangible investments along various dimensions. First, we make use of a large firm-level longitudinal data set from Peru, a Latin America middle income country, which contains separated information on intangible assets, which allow us to measure the impact of them on both wages and productivity at the firm level. Second, the analysis at the firm level and the panel structure of the data allows us to control for the endogeneity of variable inputs applying different control function approaches. In addition, the production function estimates provide us with a measure of unobservables, which we include in the wage equation to retrieve consistent estimates for the impact of intangible assets on wages. Third, our data allow us to explore how the impact of intangibles on wages and productivity is affected by the differences in the composition of the bundle of intangibles, changes in the product mix at the firm level and for the presence of imperfect competition in the labor market. We find that an increase in the share of intangible assets by one standard deviation is associated with 6.8% to 7.2% higher total factor productivity, depending on the model's specification. We also find that the capital productivity premium of intangible assets over tangible ones is substantial with estimates suggesting that intangibles are up to 2 times more productive than tangible assets. We also find that this capital productivity premium is not entirely offset by an increase in wages. Finally, we conclude that the main channels for appropriability are the specificity of the ideas generated by intangible investments at the firm level and the wage compression due to imperfect competition in the labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese manufacturing firms have seen an intriguing rise in domestic value‐added content in exports (DVAR) despite their deepening engagement in global value chains (GVCs) since 2001. This article investigates whether the rise of DVAR in China can be attributed to changes in labour market flexibility by using the staggered relaxation of Chinese hukou policies across cities and time as a quasi‐natural experiment. Using combined firm‐level data and transaction‐level trade data from 2000 to 2013, this article finds that the relaxation of labour market flexibility through hukou reform has significantly increased the domestic value‐added exports of Chinese firms. Firms exposed to hukou reform tend to allow for more employment adjustment and substitute domestic materials for imported intermediates, which raises the DVAR of Chinese manufacturing firms. This effect is more prominent for non‐SOE firms, foreign‐invested firms, processing firms, coastal firms and firms in the upstream sectors of GVCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article analysis how official development aid (ODA) flows impact the international growth opportunities and processes of private firms in donor and recipient countries. It explores the differentiated impact of bilateral and multilateral aid flows, as well as flows coming from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and non‐DAC donors. The study relies on a systematic literature review of the empirical articles published between 2005 and 2021 in internationally recognised academic journals. The review provides a comprehensive overview of the topic and identifies conclusive findings, existing gaps, avenues for future research and policy implications. Overall, the literature shows a positive impact of ODA flows on the international growth opportunities for firms in donor countries, whether derived from their direct engagement in aid‐financed projects or from non‐direct effects like the reputational capital and positive image accrued by donor countries in recipient ones. Conversely, empirical evidence relative to the impact on firms in recipient nations is mixed and points to the existence of factors that condition the impact of ODA flows, among them, the institutional strength in recipient countries and the formulas through which ODA flows are channelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains the strategies firms adopt in response to economic sanctions? Our study argues that different types of external pressure, such as public shaming, the nature of companies' business relationships, and national-level legal-regulatory environments affects how firms respond to the sanctions imposed against Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. We develop a suite of hypotheses about how external pressure affects firms' compliance behaviors and whether firms adopt reactive and/or proactive strategic responses. We test our hypotheses by analyzing results from a survey of 610 medium-sized companies operating in Germany, Poland, and the United States. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we find that external pressure is associated with higher levels of compliance and overcompliance with sanctions but is also associated with undercompliant behavior. We also find that compliance with sanctions is associated with a high degree of proactive response, which suggests compliant firms may often seek out legal means of circumventing sanctions. We further observed variation in the effects of external pressure, compliance behavior, and strategic responses on US firms compared to those in European Union members Germany and Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social and biological collectives exchange information through internal networks to function. Less studied is the quantity and variety of information transmitted. We characterize the information flow into organizations, primarily business firms. We measure online reading using a large dataset of articles accessed by employees across millions of firms. We measure and relate quantitatively three aspects: reading volume, variety and firm size. We compare volume with size, showing that firm sizes grow sublinearly with reading volume. This is like an economy of scale in information consumption that exaggerates the classic Zipf’s law inequality for firm economics. We connect variety and volume to show that reading variety is limited. Firms above a threshold size read repetitively, consistent with the onset of a coordination problem between teams of employees in a simple model. Finally, we relate reading variety to size. The relationship is consistent with large firms that accumulate interests as they grow. We argue that this reflects structural constraints. Taking the scaling relations as a baseline, we show that excess reading is strongly correlated with returns and valuations. The results indicate how information consumption reflects internal structure, beyond individual employees, as is likewise important for collective information processing in other systems.

The purpose of the study is to identify the impact of the tax system on investment in equity capital by analyzing the six types of taxes that affect the activities of firms. The data for the independent variables (tax classes in Nigeria) are obtained from the Federal Internal Revenue Service, while the data for the dependent variable (equity investment) are obtained from the Statistical Bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The necessary statistical methodologies are used to examine the impact of various tax classes on equity investment from 2011 to 2020. According to the research, capital gains tax and gas income tax have little effect on equity investment. The petroleum profit tax and corporate income tax have a considerable detrimental impact on equity investment. On the plus side, value added tax and education tax have a significant favorable impact on equity investment. These results are one-of-akind and precisely depict the genuine nature of the country’s tax system and its impact on investment. As a result, the research proposes a tax shift to lessen the tax burden on enterprises in order to stimulate equity investment, which will increase firms’ capital base for the purpose of business expansion and growth of the nation’s economic structure.

AbstractThis research aims to examine the influence of stakeholders and the COVID-19 pandemic on the transition towards a circular economy of firms, as well as the consequences of this transition on sustainable development. Using the SEM-PLS model to analyze survey data from 358 international firms, the research indicated that pressure from the COVID-19 outbreak, and the involvement of stakeholders affected the shift to a circular economy. The COVID-19 epidemic has caused huge issues for the whole planet, but it is also seen as a crucial motivator for expediting the move to a circular economy. The transition to the circular economy in companies has been demonstrated to be negatively impacted by obstacles and barriers resulting from stakeholder pressure, while the transition is positively impacted by opportunities and advantages supplied by stakeholders. In addition, the study reveals that the shift to a circular economy will aid multinational firms in achieving sustainable development. A range of recommendations are made in light of the study’s results for assisting businesses undertake a transition to a circular economy.

AbstractThis study examines the empirical relationship between the different leverage levels as a proxy of financing mix on the financial performance of the non-financial firms listed on capital markets in GCC economies. The study uses the pooled ordinary least squares regression (OLS), fixed and random effects regression, and feasible generalised least square (FGLS) regression to explore the relationship among variables on the data of GCC firms listed from 2011 to 2021. The results suggest that the capital structure considerably affects firms’ performance. Findings refute the theoretical assumptions of Modigliani and Miller’s debt irrelevance and debt-supporting theorem. The findings also contradict the debt-supporting benefits the agency and trade-off theory suggest. Empirically, short-term, long-term, and total debt adversely affect the return on assets, equity, and earnings per share. Control variables, growth opportunities, and size of the firm positively and asset tangibility negatively contribute to the performance. The results will support the managers in making performance-improving financing decisions. Lenders should improve ex-ante screening and ex-post monitoring to avoid possible defaults. Local and foreign investors should carefully examine the firms’ debt levels before making investment decisions. Policymakers should focus on the flourishing of the bond markets to support privatisation and economic diversification. Our study is the first to use the recent data of GCC-listed firms to examine the impact of capital structure on firms’ performance. Contributing to the literature gap will also lay a foundation for a more comparative study on corporate financing with alternative financial instruments.

AbstractThis study aims to review recent writing on the dynamic capabilities view practices of business firms to examine the concepts and create a more thorough theoretical description from a conceptual standpoint. A thorough review of the literature on dynamic capabilities view practice was conducted. The study demonstrates that there are scattered studies across countries about the conceptual practices of dynamic capabilities practices recently within the scope of the review (2019–2023). Many methodological (exclusive search) constraints exist in this review, which may limit how well it can be used with additional case studies in a relaxed period. The dynamic capabilities view is an essential part of developing transformative and advanced institutions relevant to strategic management orientations in many aspects of the institutions. It is the first of its type to use a methodical analysis of dynamic capabilities and the practices of businesses across many nationalities to demonstrate how the perspectives relate to one another by carefully reviewing a large body of research in strategic management and management disciplines. Both ideas have not been investigated or addressed in tandem before. A full understanding of the current state of dynamic capabilities view concerning businesses was handled on a single platform through developing an in-depth knowledge of dynamic capabilities oriented to business model conceptualization.

Barren Island volcano is the only active stratovolcano within Indian territory. Following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which had a magnitude of 9.3 Mw, the volcano gained global attention due to its sudden unrest and violent behaviour. It has been intermittently active since then, between 2005 and 2022. Due to the remote location and inaccessibility of the volcano, Earth Observation technology is the only feasible approach for regular monitoring. The present study utilizes satellite images and their derived products, such as volcanic radiative power, fire information for resource management system, and SO2 data, to understand various volcanic features and assess the volcanic characteristics and patterns during the active phases over the last two decades. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of the multi-source satellite datasets in monitoring India's lone active volcano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores how restrictions of credit affect the turning point of the non‐linear relationship between financial performance and the environmental sustainability of manufacturing firms in India. Our results are in support of the inverted U‐shaped relationship between financial performance and environmental sustainability. The study builds upon an alternative long‐run specification, which avoids the non‐linear transformations of potentially non‐stationary regressors in panel estimation and finds evidence that the higher the firm's degree of credit constraints, the lower is its financial performance at the turning point, indicating the different finance‐sustainability paths across firms due to credit frictions. We also investigate the aforementioned relationship by considering the exporting potential of the firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of the role of firms in the making of European Union (EU) trade policy remains partial. This article contributes to expanding this literature by investigating under what conditions we observe more firm‐centric lobbying, compared to business associational lobbying, in EU trade policy. We advance the arguments that firm‐centric political lobbying in EU trade policy‐making is a function of both industry and country‐level characteristics. Relying on an original dataset of lobbying contacts with the EU Trade Commissioner, his or her cabinet members and the Director‐General between 2014 and 2018, we find that the likelihood of firm‐centric lobbying increases in (1) EU industries displaying high levels of multinational corporations' activity, global sourcing of intermediates and product differentiation and (2) countries characterized as liberal market economies. Besides showing that firm‐centric models of trade travel well in the EU context, we contribute to advancing the understanding of how domestic political institutions affect the politics of trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting the needs of stakeholders, as an element of CSR, requires a delicate balance of meeting these needs and ensuring profitability. Guided by the legitimacy theory and the stakeholder theory, this paper assesses the significance of meeting stakeholder needs and examines the types of stakeholders that managers pay close attention to. Using a fixed-effects model on 859 Chinese manufacturing firms and a regression analysis, the results show a positive link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and organisational financial performance via both accounting and market measures in the Chinese manufacturing market. Furthermore, the primary objective of companies is to maximise shareholder returns while also meeting societal needs. The results also indicate that responsibility to shareholders and employees and growth potential have significant positive impacts on a company's market value. This research demonstrates the need for companies to engage in CSR activities, as this can establish an elevated level of financial performance. Furthermore, attention needs to be paid to other stakeholders in corporate CSR activities to engage them and sustain their commitments towards an organisation's productivity, growth, and sustainability. This is the first study to examine the power of influence from different stakeholders using legitimacy theory. Secondly, it is the first study to evaluate this influence using the Chinese manufacturing industry, which is, arguably, one of the largest in its field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and probes the plausibility of a framework to explain how business associations position themselves politically as trade-related sustainability obligations get stronger. An analysis of the submissions of EU business associations during a consultation on trade and sustainability indicates that firm-level and organisational characteristics explain well trade associations' political cleavages. The paper can provide new insights to help understand a major development in the EU and beyond. The EU is passing through an unprecedented shift in its approach to trade and sustainability as it is likely to rely on legal sanctions to enforce sustainability commitments in trade agreements. Understanding the position of EU business interests in that process is relevant to project the consequences of such shift. Besides, as sustainability provisions in trade agreements get stronger, associations may play an ever-important role in promoting their members collectively or in shielding them from reputational costs. Understanding their political positioning is thus key to understanding the very politics of trade and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study is to elucidate the impact of a vigorous board on the performance of firms. The contributive concept of vigorous board has been formulated through data employment analysis while contemplating the seven attributes such as board meetings, non-duality, number of external directors, number of supervisors, audit committee member, the presence of female among board members, and incumbent CEO education. Significantly, the data of Romanian manufacturing firms have been accumulated for the years 2009–2019. To contemplate with deep insight, the moderating impact of environmental disclosure, environmental performance, green innovation, and innovation output has been accentuated for firm performance. Empirical underpinnings signify that environmental performance and green innovation are the catalytic moderators for escalating the firms' performance under the aegis of vigorous board. Furthermore, environmental disclosure also increases the growth of Romanian companies, while innovation output remains stagnant. Under the aegis of upper echelon theory, theoretical contribution has been signified while emphasizing on environmental situation of Romanian firms. Remarkably, the moment quantile regression method demonstrates the long-term and short-term influence of the vigorous board, the size of the firms and the total sales, while the leverage and age of the CEO mitigate the firm performance in the short term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an interdisciplinary debate on the social and political role of business corporations has evolved. With this special issue, we would like to facilitate a comprehensive discussion of three questions that are especially pertinent in that debate: (1) How is the social and political agency of corporations to be understood? (2) How should the power of corporations be analyzed? (3) Under which conditions would the social and political roles of corporations be legitimate? In this introduction to the special issue, we start with a short outline of the debate. In the next step, we provide an overview of the five contributions. We conclude by summarizing what can be learned from those contributions with respect to the three research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporations wield power in today's economies, and political theories of the corporation argue about the legitimacy conditions of corporate power. This paper argues in favour of a double-fiduciary theory for corporations. Based on a concession theory of markets, it sees all markets as authorized by states (in the name of society), for the purpose of creating economic value, or wealth. Hence corporations, as much as non-incorporated firms, have a fiduciary duty to the state/society to create wealth, in the competitive structure of the market. However, their pursuit of wealth often creates unbalanced relations of power between corporations and their stakeholders, which can at some point be classified as instances of domination. Therefore, corporations need to be subjected to a second fiduciary duty, i.e. not to dominate others in the economy. This duty is also, in the final instance, owed to the state/society. In an era when everyone can incorporate their business, states/societies can be interpreted as having, through corporate law, mandated shareholders as 'proximate beneficiaries', to incentivize corporations to create wealth. Now states/societies need to think about how to prevent corporations from dominating others. New mechanisms of accountability towards stakeholders and/or citizens as proximate beneficiaries are needed. Only in this way can corporations be effectively held to account for both of the fiduciary duties which characterize their normative status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Part 2, Subjective Agency, I delve into the evolving power and agency of workers as structural conditions undergo transformation. Part 1 described how the law of competition propels firms towards centralisation, gradually diminishing the monopsony power wielded by global buyers in labour-intensive sectors. While manufacturers gain more power and significance, capable of undermining workers' power, they also become susceptible to disruption. This section introduces the concept of Degree of Spatial Inflexibility (DSI). It posits that as a manufacturer's monopoly power increases, the monopsony power in the supply chain decreases. However, this elevated monopoly power simultaneously establishes a higher DSI, amplifying the potential for worker disruption. It is essential to recognise that structural power shifts do not guarantee automatic benefits for workers; instead, they necessitate workers to capitalise on these vulnerabilities. This establishes a dialectical relationship between the evolving conditions of capital outlined in Part 1 and the subjective agency of workers, as detailed in Part 2 below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]