Does social capital affect the financing decisions of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises?

Using a panel of 65,551 firms over the period 2000-2006, this study examines the capital structure determinants of Chinese privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises. Investment in the building and maintenance of social capital, measured by entertainment expenditure, is found to be positively associated with short-term leverage, but negatively associated with long-term leverage, while the opposite is the case for asset structure. This suggests that social capital is important for firms who seek to establish initial relationships with their financiers, while asset structure is more important in the consolidation of these relationships.Capital structure, China, leverage, social capital

Same-Sex Parenting Among a Patchwork of Laws: An Analysis of New York Same-Sex Parents’ Options for Gaining Legal Parental Status

While national attention has focused on the recent Supreme Court decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage, less attention has been paid to the aftermath: how will those same-sex couples, now legally married, use laws drafted for different-sex couples? This Note will focus on one of these conflicts: the children born to and adopted by same-sex couples, and the legal relationship between the couples and their children within the state of New York. As nontraditional families have become more prevalent, the law has lagged behind and families have been forced to apply outdated laws to new arrangements. This is often seen in relation to same-sex couples, whether married or unmarried, and their children. This Note will address the issue of same-sex parents who are forced to utilize New York’s laws and procedures which were designed for different-sex couples. Because of obvious biological differences—a same-sex couple cannot reproduce without outside involvement—the application of laws designed with only a father and mother in mind to same-sex couples will have unintended results

Preliminary palynology of MoSU Ridge, a complete exposure of a coal and associated sediments in the Hooper Formation, Wilcox Group, Texas

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1193/thumbnail.jp

Scaling Limits for Minimal and Random Spanning Trees in Two Dimensions

A general formulation is presented for continuum scaling limits of stochastic spanning trees. A spanning tree is expressed in this limit through a consistent collection of subtrees, which includes a tree for every finite set of endpoints in $\R^d$. Tightness of the distribution, as $\delta \to 0$, is established for the following two-dimensional examples: the uniformly random spanning tree on $\delta \Z^2$, the minimal spanning tree on $\delta \Z^2$ (with random edge lengths), and the Euclidean minimal spanning tree on a Poisson process of points in $\R^2$ with density $\delta^{-2}$. In each case, sample trees are proven to have the following properties, with probability one with respect to any of the limiting measures: i) there is a single route to infinity (as was known for $\delta > 0$), ii) the tree branches are given by curves which are regular in the sense of H\"older continuity, iii) the branches are also rough, in the sense that their Hausdorff dimension exceeds one, iv) there is a random dense subset of $\R^2$, of dimension strictly between one and two, on the complement of which (and only there) the spanning subtrees are unique with continuous dependence on the endpoints, v) branching occurs at countably many points in $\R^2$, and vi) the branching numbers are uniformly bounded. The results include tightness for the loop erased random walk (LERW) in two dimensions. The proofs proceed through the derivation of scale-invariant power bounds on the probabilities of repeated crossings of annuli.Comment: Revised; 54 pages, 6 figures (LaTex

Determinants of best HR practices in Chinese SMEs

AbstractPurpose&ndash; The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors which determine the adoption of best HR practices in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Regression analysis was utilized to analyse survey data obtained from 345 enterprises operating across China in a wide range of industrial sectors.Findings &ndash; Enterprises with greater resources in terms of their size, their relationships with external organizations, their cooperation with foreign partners and the human capital of their CEO were found to be more likely to adopt best HR practices. Contrary to the findings of the existing literature no relationship was found of a relationship between family ownership and the use of best HR practices.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Other limitations relate to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken, and the use of convenience sampling.Practical implications &ndash; Enterprises should consider building strategic relationships with external organizations and developing cooperation with foreign partners as a way of leveraging human resource expertise at a limited cost.Originality/value &ndash; This is the first study to examine how differences in the resource endowments of Chinese SMEs influence their adoption of best HR practices.<br /

Organizational rewards and employee commitment: a Chinese study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess how the cultural value orientations of individual employees moderate their attitudinal responses to different categories of organizational rewards. Specifically, it seeks to examine how one dimension of traditionality, respect for authority, moderates the relationship between affective organizational commitment and three variables: pay satisfaction, autonomy and satisfaction with supervision. Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data obtained from a sample of 290 employees of a major Chinese airline company. Findings: Employees high in traditionality were found to exhibit higher levels of affective commitment when autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was low. When autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was high employees low in traditionality exhibited higher levels of emotional attachment to the organization. Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Another limitation relates to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken. Social implications: Organizations should consider taking the cultural orientations of their workforce into account when developing appropriate human resource policies aimed at heightening employee commitment. This should enhance employee well-being, which is especially important in a global economy characterized by uncertainty and rapid change. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine how employees with different cultural value orientations respond to different categories of organizational rewards, in a predominantly traditional society

I can see clearly now the moderating effects of role clarity on subordinate responses to ethical leadership

&copy; Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose &ndash; Although there is growing research on the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinate work behaviors, limited research has examined the boundary conditions under which ethical leadership is more or less effective. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether subordinate perceptions of role clarity in their job role influence the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinate work behaviors. Drawing on both social exchange and social learning theories, the authors predict that in contexts where subordinates perceive low levels of role clarity, the relationship between ethical leadership behavior and subordinate helping and deviant behaviors will be weaker. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; In total, 239 employees in the Chinese public sector completed surveys across three separate time points. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings &ndash; Analyses provided support for the hypothesized relationships. When subordinates perceived higher levels of role clarity the positive relationship between ethical leadership and helping behavior was stronger, and the negative relationship between ethical leadership and deviant behavior was stronger. Research limitations/implications &ndash; As with all research the findings of this study need to be viewed in light of its limitations. First, the use of data from a single set of respondents opens up the possibility of common method bias. Second, given the study used of a sample of public sector employees from one part of China, there would be value in future research examining whether the findings from the present study are generalizable to other industrial and cultural contexts. Practical implications &ndash; This research has a number of practical implications. Given that the authors found a significant positive relationship between ethical leadership and helping behavior, and a significant negative relationship between ethical leadership and deviant behavior, it is crucial for organizations to include ethical training as an essential part of leadership development programs. However, the findings also suggest at the same time as facilitating the development of ethical leadership behaviors amongst supervisory employees, it is important for organizations to also provide employees with clarity over what is expected of them in their jobs, and the means they should employ to facilitate goal achievement. Originality/value &ndash; This study responds to recent calls for more research to identify factors which may strengthen or mitigate the influence of ethical leadership in the workplace

The influence of market orientation on innovation strategies

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of market orientation on exploratory and exploitative innovation, and the moderating effects of family ownership on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; This study utilizes multi-group path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in LISREL on data from 228 firms in the Australian service sector. Findings &ndash; This study establishes that both customer and competitor innovation are positively related to exploitative and exploratory innovation. However, customer orientation does not lead to significantly stronger effects on exploitative innovation than on exploratory innovation, and competitor orientation does not lead to significantly stronger effects on exploratory innovation than on exploitative innovation. In addition, the study found that the relationship between customer orientation and exploratory innovation was stronger for family firms, while the relationships between competitor orientation and both exploratory and exploitative innovation were stronger for non-family firms. Research limitations/implications &ndash; The cross-sectional design is one weakness of this study. In addition, as firms in the present study came from the service sector the generalizability of the findings to other sectors of the economy need to be determined. Practical implications &ndash; These findings of this study highlight the need for managers to build a strong market orientation in order to promote innovation, and consider the effects of ownership structure on innovation strategies. Originality/value &ndash; This study is the first to measure the relative influence of customer and competitor orientation on a firm&rsquo;s use of exploitative and exploratory innovation strategies

Derivations of the Core Functions of the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology

The Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE), is a theoretical framework of macroecology that makes a variety of realistic ecological predictions about how species richness, abundance of species, metabolic rate distributions, and spatial aggregation of species interrelate in a given region. In the METE framework, "ecological state variables" (representing total area, total species richness, total abundance, and total metabolic energy) describe macroecological properties of an ecosystem. METE incorporates these state variables into constraints on underlying probability distributions. The method of Lagrange multipliers and maximization of information entropy (MaxEnt) lead to predicted functional forms of distributions of interest. We demonstrate how information entropy is maximized for the general case of a distribution, which has empirical information that provides constraints on the overall predictions. We then show how METE's two core functions are derived. These functions, called the "Spatial Structure Function" and the "Ecosystem Structure Function" are the core pieces of the theory, from which all the predictions of METE follow (including the Species Area Relationship, the Species Abundance Distribution, and various metabolic distributions). Primarily, we consider the discrete distributions predicted by METE. We also explore the parameter space defined by the METE's state variables and Lagrange multipliers. We aim to provide a comprehensive resource for ecologists who want to understand the derivations and assumptions of the basic mathematical structure of METE.USDA; Bridging Biodiversity and Conservation Science programOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]