Director Characteristics and Firm Performance

The traditional methodology examining optimal boards relates a simple board variable (e.g. independence or board demography) to firm performance, however, ig- noring other board characteristics. This paper investigates how the education and business experience of directors affect firm performance. The sample consists of 1,574 directorships from 224 listed firms in Switzerland. Using OLS and including control variables, the results show that graduates of minor Swiss universities are negatively related to Tobin’s Q, and industrial knowledge and Tobin’s Q are nega- tively correlated if the firm has more divisions. In addition, director fixed effects (or unobserved characteristics) are significant, but improve the explanatory power of the models only by 5 percent

Un diaconus Sancti Stephani de provincia Anconiatana a Scampis (Epirus Nova)

Si presenta una nuova iscrizione latina rinvenuta presso la basilica paleocristiana extra muros di Scampis (od. Elbasan, Albania). Il testo, che ricorda la sepoltura di un diaconus Iustus de provincia Anconitana, germanus del vescovo anconetano Marcellinus, documenta forse la partecipazione del personaggio a una delle ambascerie papali inviate a Costantinopoli negli anni 519-520 o 535 d.C

Drivers of R&D greenfield investment projects in the communications, software and IT service industries in developing countries

Globalization has led to the decentralization of research and development (R&D) activities by multinational enterprises (MNEs). Investment in these activities is affected by both the host-country environment and the investment strategies of the entrant MNEs. Using data on greenfield R&D investment projects for a sample of digital MNEs in the communications, software and IT service industries during the period 2003–2019, we investigate the importance of host-country characteristics on MNEs’ R&D investment and examine the moderating role of the host country’s innovation capabilities as well as two strategies – exploitation versus exploration – on the part of MNEs. We find that the size of investment projects is larger in developing countries than in developed ones, especially when host countries have stronger innovation capabilities and when MNEs pursue strategies of exploitation rather than exploration. Our findings contribute to the extant research in this area and furnish related policy implications for developing countries

The determinants of global integration strategies of Chinese Multinationals - some empirical evidence

The main purpose of this research is to understand the determinants of global integration strategies of Chinese Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). In this article, we identify four expansion strategies for Chinese MNEs, that is, horizontal, vertical, lateral and risk diversification and we investigate a series of location and firm-level factors that determine the adoption of each strategy. We present empirical evidence based on data from the 2008 Spring edition of the Lexis Nexis Corporate Affiliates Directory. Our results indicate that Chinese MNEs expand internationally through a grid of strategic choices which is diversified geographically and industrially

Strategic complexity and global expansion: an empirical study of newcomer multinational corporations from small economies

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of global expansion strategies of newcomer Multinational Corporations (MNCs) by focusing on Iceland, Israel and Ireland. We argue that newcomer MNCs from small open economies pursue complex global expansion strategies (CGES). We distinguish four different types of global expansion strategies, namely, horizontal, vertical, lateral integration, and risk diversification. Building upon the traditions of Caves and Dunning and applying a multinomial logistic approach, we model CGES as a function of firm and country specific factors. The empirical evidence suggests that newcomer MNCs move away from simplistic dualities in the formulation of their strategic choices towards more complex options as a means of maintaining and enhancing their global competitiveness

The home country of the MNE: The case of emerging economy firms

Research on multinational enterprises that originate from emerging economies has highlighted the importance of the home country for firms' strategies of internationalization. In this paper, we outline a simple analytical framework linking institutions and resource munificence in the home country to the domestic business eco-system in an emerging economy, and thereby to strategies of outward investments. Specifically, we argue that businesses interact with each other in their home economy, and these patterns of interactions influence strategies of internationalization as companies not only compete with each other, but share resources, coordinate actions and serve as each other's role model. Strategies of outward investment thus reflect the competition and collaboration in their home country business eco-system

Ekspedita kerkimore ne Bylis 2014

Nell'articolo sono descritti i risultati della prima campagna di studi e ricerche nell'area della città ellenistica di Byllis (Albania) della missione del Politecnico di Bari (DICAR Facoltà di Architettura