Quality of type I Portland cement from Ghana and UK

Type I Portland cement is general purpose cement found in many countries and it is manufactured by different companies. This study sought to compare the properties of Type I Portland cements from Ghana (less economically developed country) and United Kingdom (more economically developed country) to ascertain whether the quality of Ghana cement is a contributing factor for recent spate of building collapse in the country. The study adopted a laboratory-based experimental approach to determine the properties of three cement samples: one from Ghana and two from the United Kingdom (UK). It was identified that UK cements particles were the fineness, contained more Calcium oxide (CaO), recorded earlier setting times and achieved early strength. Ghana cement on the other hand, had more Alkali (Na2O + K2O) content, higher density, good resistance to water and achieved better late strength development than UK grey cement. The study has revealed that although there are some differences in the properties of Ghana and UK Type I Portland cements, they all meet international standard requirements and therefore, the quality of Ghana cement may not be one of the contributing factors of recent building collapse in the country

Board composition, monitoring and credit risk: evidence from the UK banking industry

This paper examines the effects of board composition and monitoring on the credit risk in the UK banking sector. The study finds CEO duality, pay and board independence to have a positive and significant effect on credit risk of the UK banks. However, board size and women on board have a negative and significant influence on credit risk. Further analysis using sub-samples divided into pre-financial crisis, during the financial crisis and post crisis reinforce the robustness of our findings. Overall, the paper sheds light on the effectiveness of the within-firm monitoring arrangement, particularly, the effects of CEO power and board independence on credit risk decisions thereby contributing to the agency theory

Impact of ownership structure and ownership concentration on credit risk of Chinese commercial banks

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose- The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of bank ownership structure and ownership concentration on credit risk. Design/methodology/approach- Using panel data on a sample of 88 Chinese commercial banks with 1194 observations over a period of 2003-2018, this study employs system generalised method of moments regression to examine the impact of bank ownership structure and ownership concentration on credit risk. Two measures of credit risk, namely, non-performing loan ratio and loan loss provision ratio are used to ensure the robustness of the results. Findings– The results show that ownership type (both government and private ownership) exert positive and significant impact on credit risk. However, our results indicate that concentration of ownership in the hands of government has negative and significant effect on credit risk while private ownership concentration positively impacts on credit risk. Overall our findings suggest that concentration of ownership in government hands reduces risk, whilst private ownership concentration exacerbates credit risks. Our results are invariant to alternative measures of credit risk and financial crisis. Practical implications – The findings provide useful insight to guide policy decisions in Chinese banks’ lending policies and bank ownership. Originality/value– Using hand collected data on ownership structure and governance from annual reports this study deepens our understanding on the effectiveness of Chinese banks’ corporate governance reforms on managing credit risks

An analysis of involuntary excess reserves, monetary policy and risk-taking behaviour of Chinese banks

In this paper, we examine the effects of monetary policy on the risk-taking behaviour of Chinese banks in the presence of involuntary excess reserves based on a sample of 95 banks. We find that involuntary excess reserves lead to more aggressive risk-taking suggesting that large involuntary excess reserves stimulate the rapid expansion of credit and the price bubble in the Chinese financial market. However, banks with larger involuntary excess reserves tend to reduce risk-taking more rapidly under the tightening monetary policy regime. The paper sheds light on the effectiveness of government monetary policy in reducing the risk-taking behaviour of banks in an emerging market where involuntary excess reserves are present

The impact of firm ownership, board monitoring on operating performance of Chinese mergers and acquisitions

In this paper, we employ board monitoring mechanisms and within-firm governance variables to investigate the operating performance of 340 mergers and acquisitions in China over the 2004–2011 period. Our results document a significant deterioration in post-acquisition operating performance of acquiring firms over 12–36 months. We find independent directors, managerial shareholding, ownership concentration have a positive and significant impact on operating performance of acquiring firms. However, the related party transactions exert a negative and significant effect on matched control adjusted ROA. Further analysis of our sub-sample indicates that privately owned enterprises are better monitors compared to the state owned enterprises

The entry mode strategy and performance of SMEs: evidence from Norway

The relationship between foreign entry mode choice and the performance of small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has been an overarching theme of research of the past decade. However, the research in this area has been hampered by the difficulty of defining and measuring performance. In this study, we used a multi-item measure of performance, which takes into account the relative importance of each measure and the perceived level of satisfaction, to analyse 146 SMEs in Norway. Our regression analysis shows that firm characteristics: size and sector of operation, significantly influence performance. However, prior international experience did not significantly influence performance. In terms of entry mode via international joint venture, trust and congruity of goals between partners have a positive and significant influence on performance