Published: March 11, 2015

The authors study the effect on performance of family endowment on the business from the perspective of socioemotional wealth (SEW), i.e. the stock of affect-related value which the family attaches to the business. The researchers analyze the impact of ownership and board characteristics on profitability, taking into account the possible moderating factors of the family generational stage, firm size, qualified presence of non-family shareholders and firm risk. The authors analyze 2,884 medium-large Italian private firms comparing 1,944 family and 940 non-family firms using correlation and pooling GLS regressions during 2001-2010. It is shown that in the first generational stage family …

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Published: March 11, 2015

Business failure may be the result of either voluntaristic (internal) firm actions/decisions, deterministic environmental (external) events or both given causes (integrative approach). This study examines the prevalence of these causes of business failure. Results indicate that the largest proportion of firm failures is explained by the integrative approach, although two other perspectives hold a prominent role also. Moreover, internal causes of failure are more frequent than external. The findings based on multinomial logistic regression revealed that the causes of failure also vary with the size and age of firms. The implications of the results for research and practice are discussed

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Published: April 10, 2015

This paper investigates how action-based entrepreneurship training influences entrepreneurial knowledge and personal attitudes, which in turn reportedly develop individuals’ entrepreneurship intentions. A cohort of students who had undergone social entrepreneurship training under the auspices of Enactus South Africa was studied to determine the relationship between these three key variables associated with entrepreneurship tendencies. The study, in particular, addresses the question of whether practical entrepreneurship training bears any consequences on developing students’ personal attitudes, entrepreneurship knowledge, and entrepreneurship intentions. Stratified sampling techniques were utilized to collect data from 355 Enactus South Africa students from the constituent 27 colleges and universities that …

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Published: Feb. 14, 2011

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement has attracted significant attention from academics and has quickly moved up the corporate agenda over the past number of years. However, the literature tends to focus disproportionately on large organizations. As SMEs (small and medium enterprises) play a crucial role in the European economy and their unique characteristics make it far from applicable for them to employ CSR theories and practices of large corporations, considerable research is needed to enhance SME CSR field. The purpose of this article is to contribute to this endeavor by conducting a thorough review of the literature on the …

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Published: Feb. 14, 2011

This study examines the predictive power of comprehensive income and its individual components within the homogenous institutional setting of German IFRS firms. First of all, the predictive power of income numbers is an attribute of high relevance for analysts as it reduces their forecast risks. Second, the standard setters are prominently referring to the importance of financial statements to assist their users in predicting the entity’s future cash flows and, in particular, their timing and certainty. Third, the examination of predictive power provides direct evidence on the relation between accounting information and future firm operating performance. The authors find no …

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Published: Oct. 8, 2011

This paper presents the most recent evolutionary lines in operational research, through a review of the basic principles that guide this field of research. In broad terms, some emphasis is given to the fact that Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (or Aid) (MCDA) takes into account that decision-making processes are complex and composed of several actors with different perceptions and value systems, stressing that this approach highlights the limits of objectivity, and considers the possibility that some problems may not have an optimal solution. In this vein, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the modeling of particular …

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Published: April 1, 2013

Open innovation has become a key strategic element to increase the generation and commercialization of innovations among big companies. Small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), that exhibit particular characteristics regarding organization, culture and strategy, have been more reluctant to adopt this approach. Thus little research exists on the adoption of open innovation among SMEs, and small and micro companies in particular. The paper presents the results of an explorative research design based upon semi-structured and narrative interviews that investigates particularities of small and micro firms regarding the sources of innovation, the strengths and weaknesses of their innovation process, and the potential …

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Published: April 18, 2012

These analyses explore the differences in locus of control and subjective well-being in China and Southern Africa, including how these variables relate to each other in each region and how demographic variables relate to both subjective well-being and locus of control. One hundred and eleven professionals were studied across Southern Africa and China and the hypothesis that the different regions would yield different locus of control and subjective well-being profiles was supported, with different demographic variables affecting each region differently. Furthermore, locus of control and subjective well-being were differently correlated to one another, with China showing significant negative correlation between …

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Published: Feb. 14, 2011

This paper presents the findings from a study, based on the annual reports’ analysis of German corporations listed in the DAX30, TecDAX, MDAX and SDAX, that investigates whether the implementation of audit committees and independent members with financial expertise leads to higher accounting quality (lower earnings management and accounting errors). The analysis of regressions conducted states a significant negative link between the independence and financial expertise of its members, earnings management and accounting errors. Significant results cannot be achieved if less than 50% of the audit committee members are independent financial experts

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Published: March 22, 2011

With Facebook reaching half a billion users in mid-2010 and two thirds of consumers worldwide using the Internet before purchasing goods (Erbenich, Freundt, 2008) the social web represents an increasingly important point of interaction or touchpoint between businesses and consumers. This paper asks marketing professionals and experts from academia about the impact of social media marketing on the decision-making process and evaluates which social web platforms are most suitable for influencing high involvement purchase decisions. The results indicate that in the early phases of the purchase decision process, social networks, wikis and blogs are the platforms to use. In the …

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