The development of an evaluation model of e-commerce websites for the Taiwanese airline industry

The ‘SISP community’ is an evolving environment, which generally learns from the past. However, the lesson that top management commitment is a key determinant of SISP success has not been learnt. Regardless of the industry type or size, a lack of real commitment from senior management is still the main reason for the SISP formulation and implementation failure. The study introduces the SISP Stakeholders’ Designation construct to analyze commitment and participation of the available SISP resources in the light of maximising success of SISP. Also the association between organisational learning and management commitment to SISP is examined. A postal survey of top management from 260 Australian companies revealed that obtaining high-level stakeholder engagement is critical to SISP success. The study presents optimal roles and level of engagement for the SISP Stakeholders’ Designation. It was found that if every managerial stakeholder’s designation is committed to SISP in all its phases it may result in wasting of valuable time and resources. The findings point to SISP learning reviews as a significant antecedent for managerial commitment to SISP

Essays on Strategic Information Disclosure, Innovation, and Human Capital

I am interested in studying innovation management strategies by firms. Specifically, in the context of public firms, I investigate: (1) How do firms strategically use vague language in documents such as patents to protect their innovation efforts? and (2) How do agency conflicts shape these strategies? In my research, I use a combination of Python algorithms and empirical approaches such as instrumental variables and difference-in-differences. My research is necessary because the financial and strategic implications of language are becoming increasingly prominent in business settings such as (patent) lawsuits; however, until recently, this has been relatively under-theorized in management studies. In particular, firms scrutinize rivals’ documents for understanding rivals innovation and competitive efforts. By strategically manipulating language, firms can maintain competitive advantage over their rivals. In the first chapter, we investigate how firms capture value from CEOs’ human capital. We argue that mobility constraints of CEOs (e.g. founder status and proximity to retirement) shape this dynamic in firms. We test our predictions on public firms in the US. Our paper contributes to strategic human capital literature and to the discussion on how labor market imperfections can be a source of competitive advantage for firms. In the second chapter, we examine how conflicts between shareholders and CEOs determine vagueness in innovation-related documents (patents). On the one hand, institutional investors want patents to be less vague because they promote transparency and want to avoid future litigation risk; on the other hand, CEOs want patents to be vaguer because of competitive pressures. We focus on patents owned by US public firms and find that institutional ownership promotes transparency in patents. This relationship is stronger when misalignment between the long-termism of institutional investors and CEOs increases. Our results show that institutional investors are not only involved in innovation activities but also in how firms craft and disseminate information about these activities. Our assessment is central to understanding the drafting of patents from a strategic perspective. In the third chapter, we explore the role of firm status in negative interactions and their financial impact on firms. Status literature has typically explored the benefits of high-status. We argue that high-status also induces competitive pressure among firms and that firms strategically use their status to harm their high-status rivals. Our context is patent litigations in the US. Our findings contribute to status literature in particular on strategic use and negative implications of high-status

Accountability structures and management relationships of internal audit : an Australian study

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this study is to examine the accountability structures and the management relationships of internal audit. In particular, related issues such as the predominant internal audit objectives and the related functions, the extent to which internal audit addresses any financial reporting risks and the manner in which internal auditors in Australia perform their tasks, are identified. The study also looks at the extent of compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Based on a survey of the chief audit executives in Australia, the study identifies the reporting mechanisms, functions and relationships of internal audit, including the contributions made towards good corporate governance. There is, however, some misalignment between the aspirations of internal auditors and their relationships with management.Findings &ndash; While internal audit objectives have been established with a focus on controls, risks and governance, the study has highlighted the fact that there is a lack of correlation between the tasks performed by internal auditors and the important internal audit objectives, with the exception of internal control and risks. The results also suggest that internal auditors have been providing an internal consulting and advisory role in matters concerning IT systems, strategic risks and financial issues. If internal auditors are to proactively contribute to good corporate governance, they need to define how, and in what way, this can be done. In regard to corporate governance processes, the results of the research indicate that issues surrounding internal control, risk assessment and management processes are regarded as the key factors for internal audit to contribute to good corporate governance.Originality/value &ndash; This study complements and contributes to the existing literature in providing insights into the evolving role of the internal audit function in terms of accountabilities and relationships with management. It also provides a valuable insight into how the internal audit profession can build upon its inherent strengths and address any apparent areas of concern. This will assist both the profession and policy makers alike, in better understanding and improving the role of the internal audit process.<br /

Executive equity compensation and incentives: a survey

Stock and option compensation and the level of managerial equity incentives are aspects of corporate governance that are especially controversial to shareholders, institutional activists, and government regulators. Similar to much of the corporate finance and corporate governance literature, research on stock-based compensation and incentives has not only generated useful insights, but also produced many contradictory findings. Not surprisingly, many fundamental questions remain unanswered. In this study, the authors synthesize the broad literature on equity-based compensation and executive incentives and highlight topics that seem especially appropriate for future research.Executives ; Stockholders ; Corporate governance

Organisational IS Resilience: a pilot study using Q-methodology

Organisational resilience has gained increasing attention in recent years. This paper focuses on an aspect of organisational resilience, i.e., on IS resilience. Given the potentially devastating implications of disruptions to organisations, understanding the dynamics of the successful adaption of IS within organisations indicates an important avenue for future research. In this paper, we adopt Agency theory to develop a conceptual framework, focused on decision making and planning for IS resilience. Concourse theory and Q-methodology were used to develop a Q-sort questionnaire, which was refined through interviews with researchers and IS professionals. The resulting 38 statements were then sorted by eight managers. Q-sort methodology identified three types from the data, each representing distinct collective perspectives. These types are described and discussed, along with implications of findings as well as suggestions for future research

Social Network and Family Business Internationalization in South Eastern Nigeria

Social network relationships through social associations, clubs and social networking platforms are known to facilitate family business internationalization. However, this has not been empirically brought to the fore with respect to the family businesses in Nigeria. Owing to the commonplaceness of social networks and family businesses in South Eastern Nigeria and their involvement in cross border business, this study seeks to examine the effect of social network on the internationalization of family businesses in the zone. The study adopted survey design. Proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques were employed to determine the sample size. The generated data via questionnaire were analyzed using linear regression. The results show that the effect of social network on family business internationalization is significant and positive. The study therefore lends itself as a veritable empirical evidence and support to the Uppsala Internationalization Process Model. To promote cross border business, the researchers recommends the sensitization of family business founder/CEOs or descendant/CEOs on the need to belong to both national and international social associations. This social relationship has the potential of: fostering in founder/CEOs the use of social network platforms for communication; exposing the founder/CEOs to international business knowledge/experience; and linking founder/CEOs to foreign partners, investors, funds, facilities and markets

Is there a governance failure in corporatised Australian Government Business Enterprises? Evidence from their Chief Executive Officers’ compensation.

Over the last three decades, governments have commercialised and corporatised many of their government business enterprises (GBEs) without privatising them under New Public Management (NPM) policy, which requires them to act as a corporate sector entity. These GBEs have independent boards that are responsible for the corporate governance of these entities, including the hiring of chief executive officers (CEOs) and determining their compensation. We examine the association between pay and performance for CEOs of GBEs and find that the levels and changes in CEO compensation are not associated with GBE performance despite being the explicit intent of NPM and regulatory policy. We suggest that this corporate governance failure could be due to the composition of the GBE boards. Our evidence shows that only 11.29% of directors appointed have public listed company experience with the balance of director appointments, being either senior public servants or political appointments who may lack the motivation or have any incentive to closely monitor CEO compensation. Accordingly, we suggest some possible policy changes to both the determination of CEO compensation and the composition of GBE boards

Management of family firms: a systematic literature review on the CEO's issue

ope

A holistic model of corporate governance - a new research framework

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model of corporate governance that is holistic &ndash; incorporating internal and macro perspectives across legal, regulatory, sociological, ethical, human resource management, behavioural and corporate strategic frameworks. Researchers have signalled the need for &ldquo;new theoretical perspectives and new models of governance&rdquo; due to a dearth of research that is context-driven, empirical, and encapsulating the full spectrum of reasons and actions contributing to corporate crises.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; The approach consists of theory building by reviewing the literature and examining the gaps and limitations.Findings &ndash; The proposed model is a distinctive contribution to theory and practice in three ways. First, it integrates the firm-specific, micro factors with the country-specific, macro factors to illustrate the holistic nature of corporate governance. Second, shareholders and stakeholders are shown to be only one component of the model. Third, it veers away from singular approaches, to dealing with corporate governance using a multi-disciplinary perspective. The paper argues that such a holistic and integrated view is a necessity for understanding governance systems.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The challenge is to operationalize the model and test it empirically.Practical implications &ndash; The model is instructive and of use for practitioners in attempting to understand, explain and develop governance models that are appropriate to their national and industry settings.Originality/value &ndash; This paper argues that narrow-based models are limited in their approach and in a sound and integrative review of the up-to-date literature contributes to theory-building on corporate governance.<br /

Corporate governance and expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights: Evidence from Latin America

The dissertation empirically examines whether the internal corporate governance mechanisms of the firms represented in Latin American equity markets lead to the expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights; and whether such expropriation leads to economic underperformance. Specifically, the dissertation answers the following: Is there a relationship between the board of director\u27s characteristics and the expropriation of minority shareholders rights in Latin American firms? Is there a relationship between the ownership structure of Latin American firms and the expropriation of minority shareholders rights? Moreover, does the expropriation of minority shareholders rights lead to economic underperformance among Latin American firms? Several hypotheses were developed to empirically relate the internal corporate governance mechanisms with the expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights, and the latter with performance. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of 97 companies from Brazil, Chile, and Mexico, for a three-year period (2000–2002). Univariate analyses were employed to examine the differences in means between the three countries for several variables of interest. In addition, multivariate tests, including panel analysis, were utilized to test the specific hypotheses. The results suggest that there is a relationship between the characteristics of a firm\u27s board of directors and the expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights. In particular, there is a positive association between board size and CEO ownership and the expropriation. By contrast, there is a negative relationship between the number of interlocking directorates and grupo affiliation with the expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights. The findings also support a positive relation between family ownership and expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights. Finally, this dissertation provides evidence that expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights lead to under performance in emerging economies. The contribution of the dissertation is twofold: (a) it fills a gap in the current corporate governance literature investigating an unexplored geographic area: Latin America; and (b) it is the first attempt to empirically measure the degree of expropriation of minority shareholders\u27 rights, and its relationship with corporate governance mechanisms and performance