EDITORIAL: COVID-19 and its effect on world economy

The editorial team is very happy to present the fourth issue of the journal “Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets & Institutions” in 2021. The journal “Risk Governance and Control: Financial Markets & Institutions” is publishing this issue in a time when our life and our economy are hanging in the balance because of the COVID-19 pandemic. From January 2020 till December 2021 people’s life and economy change dramatically because of COVID-19, people lost their lives and jobs, and some of the small economies collapsed and the GDP of some of the developed economy was slow down sharply (Hasan & Shahbaz, 2021). But it was very interesting that the first year of the pandemic had a less negative effect on the developing market compared to the developed economy (Hasan & Shahbaz, 2021)

Corporate social responsibility and agency cost: Evidence from the UK retail industry

This dissertation aims to evaluate corporate social responsibility (CSR) impacts on the UK listed retailers' agency costs in 2016-2020 and is broken down into three main objectives – (1) describe the UK listed retailers' CSR performance level, (2) test impacts of CSR on agency costs of these firms, and (3) test the moderating role of industry for the CSR-agency costs relationship. By the application of the regressions with fixed effects and robust standard error type, this study has revealed that in this period, the UK listed retailers' CSR performance is at the moderate level on average. However, there is a large dispersion in CSR performance among retailers. CSR of the UK listed retailers significantly reduced their asset turnover (RTA), but it insignificantly affected selling and general administrative expenses (SGAE) ratio. This study finds no moderating effects of firm size for UK-listed retailers' CSR - agency costs relationship. Finally, this study offers several implications associated with CSR investment and corporate governance mechanisms to shareholders and management of the UK-listed retailers and academicians

COVID-19 AND TWO DIFFERENT STOCK MARKETS: AN EVENT STUDY ANALYSIS

In this study, we examine two different stock markets’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic using event study methodology and a novel linear regression model. We use LSE (UK) as a proxy for the developed countries stock market and DSE (Bangladesh) as a proxy for the developing countries stock market. Using the daily COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths and stock market returns data from these two countries (UK and Bangladesh) over the period November 01, 2019 to August 07, 2020. Our main research question was, which stock market suffered more during the COVID-19 pandemic, whether developed countries stock market or developing countries stock market. We find that developed countries stock markets (LSE as proxy) responded negatively to the growth in COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths in COVID-19. We further find that developing countries stock markets (DSE as proxy) did not responded to the growth in COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths in COVID-1

Exploring the connections: dividend announcements, stock market returns, and major sporting events

This study conducts a detailed investigation into the interplay between major sporting events, specifically the ICC Cricket World Cups and FIFA Football World Cups, and their potential impact on the relationship between dividend announcements and stock market returns. Beyond the customary exploration of investor sentiment and its connection to stock market returns, our research thoroughly examines the effects of these significant sports events on the stock market's reaction to dividend announcements. Drawing on extensive FTSE 350 index data spanning January 1990 to December 2021, we employ event study methodology as the primary analytical framework. To bolster the reliability of our findings, we apply the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation method, addressing potential endogeneity concerns. Our results uncover a distinct pattern—the stock market exhibits a less favourable response to dividend increases announced following England's victories in major sporting events, such as the FIFA Football World Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup, compared to instances where they faced defeat. Additionally, we observe a more negative market response to dividend decreases announced following England's losses in these pivotal sporting events, as opposed to England emerging victorious in these key contests. This research contributes valuable insights into the intricate relationship between sports passion and market dynamics, offering implications for both scholarly discourse and investment strategy formulation

Isolation, screening and molecular identification of antagonistic bacteria against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in mango

The study was conducted at the Postharvest and plant Biotechnology laboratory, Department of Horticulture, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali, Bangladesh during the period from January to July 2017 to isolate, screening and molecular identification of antagonistic bacteria against anthracnose of mango. All treatments were arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with replications and repeated twice. Epiphytic bacteria, isolated from leaf and fruit surfaces of mango, were tested as biocontrol agent against anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides wherein 20 strains were confirmed as antagonistic. Molecular characterization of the three potential strains of bacteria were done by the amplification of 16S rDNA gene following the extraction of genomic DNA, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, gel electrophoresis and gel documentation. The PCR amplified products and the genomic DNA samples were sent to the Macrogen Company through Sunchon National University, Seoul, South Korea for molecular identification by sequence analysis. Among the 20 antagonistic bacteria screened in vitro by dual and concomitant tests, two isolates, namely GB6 (PSTU-Hort-8), and GB19 (PSTU-Hort-14) were recognized as antagonistics to the test fungus. Using the molecular identification systems, isolated bacterial strains PSTU-Hort-8 was identified as B. subtilis with National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) accession numbers MW659188; on the other hand, strain PSTU-Hort-14 was identified as Stenotrophomonas rhizophila with NCBI accession number MW659190

Size dependent magnetic and electrical properties of Ba-doped nanocrystalline BiFeO3_3

Improvement in magnetic and electrical properties of multiferroic BiFeO$_3$ in conjunction with their dependence on particle size is crucial due to its potential applications in multifunctional miniaturized devices. In this investigation, we report a study on particle size dependent structural, magnetic and electrical properties of sol-gel derived Bi$_{0.9}$Ba$_{0.1}$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles of different sizes ranging from $\sim$ 12 to 49 nm. The substitution of Bi by Ba significantly suppresses oxygen vacancies, reduces leakage current density and Fe$^{2+}$ state. An improvement in both magnetic and electrical properties is observed for 10 % Ba-doped BiFeO$_3$ nanoparticles compared to its undoped counterpart. The saturation magnetization of Bi$_{0.9}$Ba$_{0.1}$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles increase with reducing particle size in contrast with a decreasing trend of ferroelectric polarization. Moreover, a first order metamagnetic transition is noticed for $\sim$ 49 nm Bi$_{0.9}$Ba$_{0.1}$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles which disappeared with decreasing particle size. The observed strong size dependent multiferroic properties are attributed to the complex interaction between vacancy induced crystallographic defects, multiple valence states of Fe, uncompensated surface spins, crystallographic distortion and suppression of spiral spin cycloid of BiFeO$_3$.Comment:

Effect of Interest Rate Changes and Dividend Announcements on Stock Returns: Evidence from a Frontier Economy

This paper is motivated from previous work in the area of bank interest rate and dividend policy, and we went further to figure out whether there is any association between interest rate changes and the stock market's reaction to dividend announcements. To conduct this research paper, we used 61 Bangladeshi banks out of 66 banks (excluding central bank) from the period from 2010-2021. After using three different types of estimations (OLS, two stage least squared and GMM) we found that when savings interest rate and dividend increase stock market react positively and our result show that stock market react negatively when savings interest rate and dividend decrease. On the other hand, our results show that when loan interest rate and dividend increase stock market react more negatively and if loan interest rate and dividend decrease stock market react more positively

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on the Supply Chains of UK-Based Multinational Manufacturing Companies

This study sought to evaluate the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply chain structures and arrangements of UK-based multinational manufacturing companies. The posed objectives were realised via the mixed methods research strategy involving the use of a quantitative survey and its triangulation with the results of qualitative interviews conducted with managers of such organisations. The findings strongly suggest that the seven identified risk dimensions were influencing the supply chains integrity of these companies both prior to and after the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of these dimensions were severely affected by the pandemic, which was demonstrated by both the performed Friedman tests and the statements voiced by the interviewees. While some mitigation strategies were cited as relatively effective for addressing the emerging risks, most of the respondents noted that the systemic nature of encountered problems and their magnitude made it difficult for individual companies to avoid, mitigate, or transfer these risks