Politico-administrative relationships in small states

This paper analyses the nature, intensiveness and closeness of the relationship between the politicians and career civil servants with respect to the execution of their respective functions. The paper pays particular attention to different perceptions of the "State" and "Government" in comparative perspective. and tries to establish a link between those different perceptions and the nature of the civil service system in small jurisdictions. The paper also analyses the applicability of Leemans "methodology" of local government to small states,. The paper argues that this methodology can sometimes help in understanding the problems of small communities, but cannot be directly applied to small states. Finally, the paper looks at the different existing models or politico administrative relation,, and assesses whether they can be applied to small states.peer-reviewe

A review of the rationales for corporate risk management: fashion or the need?

This paper presents the extensive literature survey based both on theoretical rationales for hedging as well as the empirical evidence that support the implications of the theory regarding the arguments for the corporate risk management relevance and its influence on the company’s value. The survey of literature presented in this paper has revealed that there are two chief classes of rationales for corporate decision to hedge - maximisation of shareholder value or maximisation of managers’ private utility. The paper concludes that, the total benefit of hedging is the combination of all these motives and, if the costs of using corporate risk management instruments are less than the benefits provided via the avenues mentioned in this paper, or any other benefit perceived by the market, then risk management is a shareholder-value enhancing activity

Investigating bank efficiency in transition economies:A window-based weight assurance region approach

This paper examines the efficiency of 116 banks for nine new EU members in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries over the period 2004–2015. We employ the weight assurance region (WAR) and we treat deposits as an intermediate variable in a two-stage data-envelopment analysis model. We then expand the WAR model by including a window-based approach to take into account the patterns of efficiency over time. The results indicate a low level of efficiency over the entire period of analysis, especially for Eastern European and Balkan countries rather than Central European countries. Overall, we find that inefficiency in CEE countries is mainly driven by the profitability stage rather than the value added activity stage

Financially constrained firms : the impact of managerial optimism and diversification on firms’ excess value : the case of Greece

Diversification as an underlying factor of financial constraints can create several costs. Diversified firms have the tendency to over-invest in lines of business which display poor investment opportunities. Diversification indeed reduces value. This loss in value is found mainly for firms of all sizes having managers with a higher level of optimism. The link between optimism and corporate investment is more pronounced in financially constraint firms. When the wedge between the internal and external cost of funds increases, a firm is more financially constrained. Analysing a sample of listed companies in Greece it is found that the higher the managerial optimism, the lower the excess value of a firm.peer-reviewe

Bank productivity growth and convergence in the European Union during the financial crisis

This paper examines the bank productivity growth and integration process for the 28 EU countries during three main phases of the financial crisis: the U.S. subprime crisis (2007–2008), the global financial crisis (2009–2010) and the sovereign debt crisis (2010–2012). We extend the Malmquist Productivity Index by applying an additive two-stage DEA model. This allows us to explore the sources of growth in different stages of production. Furthermore, we assess the integration of European banks by analyzing the β-convergence and σ-convergence of the two-stage Productivity Index. Our results show a productivity growth during the U.S. subprime crisis, but a consistent decline during the global financial crisis. The loss of competitiveness of the European banking system is due to the drop in growth of the performance stage and technical change. Finally, we find a strong convergence pattern during the financial crisis, mainly driven by the catch up process of some Eastern countries and the drop in performance of Western countries

Bank efficiency and financial centres: Does geographical location matter?

This paper examines the relationship between bank performance and geographical location with respect to the two major global financial centres, New York and London. It provides new insights on the spatial effects of the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on the technical efficiency of the top-1000, world-leading banks in terms of total assets. The results reveal that the distance of banks’ headquarters to these financial centres matters. In particular, banks that are located at a bigger distance from New York and London present a lower technical efficiency than banks that are closer to these financial centres. In addition, the results show that the Global Financial Crisis has magnified the effect of distance and the need for banks to be closer to global financial centres during the ‘core’ of that period

Revitalisation of the Japanese economy: a coporate governance perspective

This study examines Japanese restructuring agendas from a corporate governance perspective. The initial analysis of bank-based and market-based systems sets the cornerstone for system convergence, followed by the discussion on bad-debt problems, managerial group entrenchments, unclear monitoring relationships and recent mergers and acquisitions waves. Following La Porta et al. (1998) legal system comparison methodology we conclude that Japan has a good legal framework, but norms, deeply embedded in business practices, obstruct the enforcement. Finally, the comparison across markets, legal and accounting systems provides the general scheme for the functioning of any Japanese company, be it located in Japan or elsewhere

Revitalisation of the Japanese economy: a corporate governance perspective

This study examines Japanese restructuring agendas from a corporate governance perspective. The initial analysis of bank-based and market-based systems sets the cornerstone for system convergence, followed by the discussion on bad-debt problems, managerial group entrenchments, unclear monitoring relationships and recent mergers and acquisitions waves. Following La Porta et al. (1998) legal system comparison methodology we conclude that Japan has a good legal framework, but norms, deeply embedded in business practices, obstruct the enforcement. Finally, the comparison across markets, legal and accounting systems provides the general scheme for the functioning of any Japanese company, be it located in Japan or elsewhere.Japanese economy; corporate governance; bank-based systems; market-based systems; convergence; fiduciary capitalism; monitoring; minority shareholders; Japan; Japanese restructuring; legal framework.