A longitudinal comparison of capital structure between young for-profit social and commercial enterprises

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this recordWe develop a new perspective on capital structure differences between for-profit social and commercial enterprises by combining imprinting and social entrepreneurship theory. Using a longitudinal matched sample, we find that for-profit social enterprises have 40% to 13% lower leverage and up to four times greater leverage stability over time than commercial enterprises. Our results suggest that these differences in capital structure derive from the process of prosocial organizing, which goes beyond the primary focus on financial preferences. Thus, for-profit social enterprises—and similar hybrid organizations, such as B corporations—may require theories adjusted to their context

The consequences of financial leverage: Certified B Corporations’ advantages compared to common commercial firms

This is the final version. Available on open access from Springer via the DOI in this recordFirms usually need to attract debt to form and grow, but increasing financial leverage also entails increased risks and costs for stakeholders, such as customers and employees. Accordingly, past research suggests that for common commercial firms (CCFs), which prioritize profits, higher leverage leads to lower sales growth and higher employment costs. However, Certified B Corporations (CBCs) distinguish themselves by having a credible prosocial mission and, therefore, might be better insulated against the adverse effects of higher leverage. Using a European multi-country matched sample of 136 CBCs and 136 CCFs, we find that the negative relationship between leverage and sales growth and the positive relationship between leverage and employment costs are weaker for CBCs than CCFs. Taken together, due to their certified pro-social mission, CBCs enjoy an advantage in debt financing compared to CCFs.Antwerp University Research Fund (BOF)Research Foundation Flanders (FWO

Business Registration and Firm Performance: Some Lessons From India

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impacts on future firm performance of a firm deciding to register from the outset of its operations. Until now, the assumption has been that starting up registered is linked to higher future firm performance. Reporting World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data collected in 2014 on 9,281 formal enterprises in India, and controlling for other determinants of firm performance as well as the endogeneity of the registration decision, the finding is that formal enterprises that start up unregistered and spend longer unregistered have significantly higher subsequent annual sales and employment growth rates compared with those registered from the outset. When the number of years spent unregistered is included, there are also productivity gains from delaying registration. The tentative explanation is that in this weak institutional environment, the advantages of registering from the outset are outweighed by the benefits of deferring registration. Evaluating the policy implications, the argument is that there is a need to shift away from the conventional eradication approach toward unregistered startups based on the assumption they are unproductive, and toward a more facilitating approach that improves the benefits of being registered and tackles the systemic formal institutional deficiencies that lead entrepreneurs to delay their decision to register

Queixas musculoesqueléticas em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde: implicações para o planejamento das ações em saúde e fisioterapia

OBJETIVO: O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a prevalência de queixas musculoesqueléticas em adultos em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde. MÉTODO: Foram avaliados os usuários atendidos na recepção espontânea no período de março de 2010 a maio de 2011. Ao todo, foram estudados 1.023 indivíduos. A caracterização das queixas foi realizada por meio de questionário com dados sociodemográficos e motivo da procura por atendimento. RESULTADOS: Os dados mostraram que a maioria dos usuários pertence ao sexo feminino (71,2%), está na faixa etária de 31 a 60 anos (50,0%), é solteira (31,6%), aposentada (14,2%) e apresenta queixas em vários sistemas (77,1%). O sistema musculoesquelético é o mais acometido (14,4%), representando o segundo motivo de procura por atendimento (31,0%). Analisando as razões de chance de ocorrência de queixas musculoesqueléticas com relação às variáveis estudadas, verificou-se que pessoas com idade entre 40 e 59 anos apresentaram 3,49 (IC95% 2,17-5,57) vezes mais chances de associação com essas dores do que as demais. Não houve associação entre outros sistemas e variáveis. CONCLUSÃO: A alta prevalência de queixas musculoesqueléticas requer um novo olhar de gestores em saúde para o atendimento destas demandas, pensando em incluir o fisioterapeuta na atenção básica para tratamento de dores de menor complexidade

Starting-up unregistered and firm performance in Turkey

© 2016 The Author(s) Recent years have seen a questioning of the negative representation of informal sector entrepreneurship and an emergent view that it may offer significant benefits. This paper advances this rethinking by evaluating the relationship between business registration and future firm performance. Until now, the assumption has been that starting-up unregistered is linked to weaker firm performance. Using World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 2494 formal enterprises in Turkey, and controlling for other determinants of firm performance as well as the endogeneity of the registration decision, the finding is that formal enterprises that started-up unregistered and spent longer unregistered have significantly higher subsequent annual sales and productivity growth rates compared with those registered from the outset. This is argued to be because in such weak institutional environments, the advantages of registering from the outset are outweighed by the benefits of deferring business registration and the low risks of detection and punishment. The resultant implication is that there is a need to shift away from the conventional eradication approach based on the negative depiction of informal entrepreneurship as poorly performing, and towards a more facilitating approach that improves the benefits of business registration and tackles the systemic formal institutional deficiencies that lead entrepreneurs to decide to delay the registration of their ventures

Explaining cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal sector competitors: lessons from the World Bank Enterprise Survey

To advance understanding of informal sector entrepreneurship, the aim of this paper is to evaluate and explain the cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal sector competitors. To do so, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is reported from 142 countries. This reveals that 27% of formal enterprises view competition from the informal sector as a major constraint on their operations, although this varies from 72% of formal enterprises in Chad to no formal enterprises in El Salvador. To explain these cross-country variations, four competing theories are evaluated which variously view informal sector entrepreneurship and enterprise to be more prevalent when there is either: economic under-development (modernisation theory); high taxes and state over-interference (neo-liberal theory); too little state intervention (political economy theory), or an asymmetry between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten socially shared rules of informal institutions (institutional theory). A multilevel probit regression analysis confirms the modernisation and institutional theories, but not the neo-liberal and political theories. Beyond economic under-development, therefore, it is not too much or too little state intervention that is associated with the prevalence of informal sector competition but rather, whether the laws and regulations developed by governments are in symmetry with the norms, values and beliefs of entrepreneurs. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of these findings