Agency Theory

During crises, such as Covid-19, managers may seek to manage earnings in order to present a favorable image of the firm's financial position. The literature review indicates that family-owned firms have different financial reporting behavior from the others. In family-owned firms, the preservation of socio-emotional wealth and the capability to exercise influence of family owners affect firm's reporting decisions. The research purpose is to study the effect of family ownership on earnings management, taking into account the moderating effect of Covid-19. In this regard, the data of 128 firms admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange during the period from 2015 to 2022 have been collected. In order to estimate the regression models, the generalized least squares method has been used. The research findings indicate that the family ownership has a negative and significant effect on actual and accrual earnings management. Therefore, in the entire research period, with the increase in family ownership, the actual and accrual earnings management significantly decrease. In addition, the findings showed that outbreak of Covid-19 have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family ownership and earnings management. Therefore, the behavior of firms in terms of earnings management show a significant difference in the period before and after the outbreak of Covid-19.

Agency banking is branchless banking in which some banking activities are performed by third parties, which ordinarily are performed within the physical bank branches by bank personnel. This study sought to determine the impact and challenges of adopting agency banking in Nigeria. The five administrative divisions in Lagos State were the focus of the exercise. Two structured questionnaires were designed to unravel the operating environment of agency banking in Lagos State, Nigeria. The agent-focused and customer-focused questionnaires were randomly administered within the sample area. The data collection period was from June through August 2022. The valid responses totalling 752 for customers and 250 for agents were analysed. The data analysis was based on descriptive statistics. The findings showed that the need to earn extra income was the major reason for being an agent, while proximity, convenience, responsiveness and liquidity were major factors for customers using agency banking. However, the major operating problems identified included transaction failures, delayed reversal, network failures and fraud. It was recommended that improved operational efficiency, network facility upgrade and agent training would go a long way to improve agency banking in Nigeria.

In many Codes of Conduct for lawyers around the globe, the duty of the lawyer to serve the interests of his client, and not his own interest, is incorporated. This paper analyzes this duty from various perspectives. Theoretical Law and Economics literature views the client-lawyer relationship as a principal-agent relationship and predicts that the lawyer may (try to) further his own interests, even at the expense of those of the client. This issue has especially been studied with respect to the remuneration scheme, which indeed is predicted to affect the behavior of the lawyer. Empirical research subsequently corroborates this view, so that one may conclude that lawyers are also influenced by their self-interest, which is contrary to the norm that they should always act in the best interest of their client. Hence, Law and economics and empirical research suggest that lawyers will not always act in the best interest of their clients. Psychological and behavioral economics literature in addition casts doubt on whether lawyers are able to act in their client's best interest, even if they would want to do so. Research concerning personality characteristics of lawyers vis-à-vis clients as well as literature discussing various biases and heuristics plaguing lawyers is discussed. The paper concludes, on the basis of Law and Economics, empirical, behavioral economic and psychological literature, that there are various reasons to believe that the principle that lawyers should only serve the interest of their client and not their own interests is naive.

Ordinary objects, like shopping carts, shopping bags, price tags, receipts, and flowers, are often overlooked in both scholarly and practical discourse. Yet, they are powerful artefacts embedded in dynamic systems of value, identity, and social meaning. Drawing from anthropological theory and marketing scholarship, this paper develops a three-lever conceptual model for analysing everyday objects through the intersecting lenses of Context, Agency, and Meaning. By situating objects within their socio-historical trajectories (Context), recognising their capacity to influence human behaviour (Agency), and unpacking the symbolic and affective resonances they hold (Meaning), this model offers both anthropologists and marketing scholars a structured approach to understanding the ‘social lives’ of commodities. We argue that the integration of anthropological insights into marketing practice enriches both fields, enabling deeper engagement with the lived realities of consumers and the cultural ecologies of products.

According to research, accounting information-especially earnings-has remained valuable and relevant over time. Rather, other accounting elements like growth prospects and intangible assets have become more relevant, particularly in light of the new economy.

This study aims to analyse revenue collection contracts in the municipality of Coimbra (Portugal), from 1557 to 1836. It will focus on examining the role of transaction costs and risk in contract selection. It is documented that from the sixteenth century to the early nineteenth century, the municipality of Coimbra used three types of contracts with private contractors, namely fixed-price, salary, and sharing contracts, although most were of the fixed-price type. The central question explored here is the influence of transaction costs and risk on the decision-making process for indirect collection contracts. The findings indicate that the municipality aimed to minimize both transaction costs and risk, leading mainly to the use of fixed-price contracts. In this arrangement, the agents (revenue contractors) bore responsibility for both the risk and the costs associated with the collection process. From 1739 onwards, the municipality shifted to direct rather than indirect collection methods, introducing additional constraints.

Although figure shows that US CEOs receive higher levels of pay than those in other OECD countries, comparisons along other dimensions are also useful. compares Japanese management practices to those in the US. He finds that the sensitivities of cash compensation and probability of turnover to market returns are not statistically different across the two countries. One difference is that financial institutions take a more active role in corporate governance in Japan, particularly following negative earnings. This may explain why turnover and compensation are more responsive to negative earnings in Japan. Rather than relying on monitoring from the board of directors, the interests of US CEOs and shareholders are aligned through higher stock ownership. Overall, however, Kaplan's conclusion is that the US and Japanese systems are quite similar. The system has doled out rich rewards-but it can and does impose hefty penalties on those who don't perform. More than ever, the boss is likely to lose his job and his perks when he doesn't deliver the profits shareholders expect. (Business Week, April 22, 1996, pp. 102.) comparative data for native executives (not foreign nationals) when one looks at very large companies because there are relatively few of them in most OECD countries. 2 Long-term compensation includes stock options (the right to purchase company stock at a given price), restricted stock (stock that cannot be sold for some specified period of time), performance share plans (formulabased stock compensation), and cash equivalents of all of the above. 3 A figure showing that US manufacturing operatives receive compensation levels similar to those in other OECD countries is included in this working paper and on the web site mentioned in the acknowledgements. Figures that use real exchange rates rather than purchasing power parity rates are also included in this working paper. Real exchange rates are useful to compare differences in employer costs across countries. See the supplementary figures in the Data Appendix to this working paper.

Using data from 1361 students we validate the Meta Evaluador Web where: a) the bank of Study and Self-Regulation Strategies used 50 items calibrated for confirmatory factor analysis. The results of their banks (Cognitive Strategies; Person and Self-Regulation Task and Materials) showed higher rates to 0.90 and RMSEA less than 0.07, with Cronbach alpha’s > 0.83. The fit between the theoretical and empirical models validated their constructs; b) the Personal Epistemology bank, used 12 item calibrated and its adjustment index confirms construct validity (0.90, RMSEA = 0.07) and c) Reading Comprehension bank used 18 calibrated items with convergent validity (CFI = 0.96; RMSEA = 0.03), all of them, with an acceptable homogeneity.

A pequena empresa apresenta singularidades, como limitação de recursos e informalidade na gestão, que contribuem para que altas taxas de insucesso no lançamento de novos produtos sejam observadas. Neste artigo, pretende-se, por meio de um estudo de caso, revelar como se dá o processo de desenvolvimento e de lançamentode um novo produto em uma pequena empresa, a partir do processo desenvolvido por Mattar e Santos (2003). Os resultados indicam que, de fato, algumas etapas do processo, que cabem muito bem à realidade da grande empresa, se submetem às particularidades do pequeno negócio e impelem a uma adaptação do processo. Entre os achados destaca-se, também, o fato de o processo, na pequena empresa, partir das necessidades dos clientes, da inexistência de formalização, da tendência de enfatizar a operação e a produção, até em detrimento do marketing, além de a falta de recursos ser o principal limitador do desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Essas características provavelmente estão ligadas às altas taxas de insucesso e, até, ao alto índice de mortalidade das pequenas empresas.

This paper uses an analytical frame comprised of agency theory and a resource based perspective to explore the influence of boards of directors on listed companies' voluntary disclosure of information concerning intellectual capital [IC]. The IC disclosures in 75 published company reports of 15 listed Portuguese companies in a five year period of financial crisis, 2007 to 2011, are investigated using content analysis and regression techniques. IC disclosures are found to increase with company size, dual corporate governance models, industry, listing on sustainability indexes, and increases in board size up to a maximum point (beyond which disclosures decrease). IC disclosures are reduced by CEO duality and by a higher proportion of independent directors on boards. The year of reporting is not significant, suggesting that the period of financial crisis did not influence the level of IC disclosures. The evidence adduced is consistent with a view that highly visible companies acknowledge the importance of IC disclosures in maintaining their reputation and competitive advantage, even during a period of financial crisis. This paper highlights the need for caution in believing that adding extra directors to an existing board will lead to improved disclosure outcomes. Additionally, given the token number of females appointed to boards currently, the Portuguese capital market regulator should consider enforcing measures to ensure compliance with EU objectives.

This paper proposes and tests a new conceptual framing for franchisee performance that draws on institutional complexity to explore the interaction of corporate, market, and relational logics of performance.
Extant research draws on corporate and market logics to explain performance; however, this does not explain individual franchisee performance in complex institutional environments such as Base-of-the-Pyramid (BoP) markets where relational logics may be more important, thereby limiting explanations of how franchisee outlets perform. Drawing on data from a network of 58 franchise outlets in the context of Kenya, we conduct a configurational analysis related to sales outcomes. We
leverage fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to map out the conditions under which franchisees exhibit higher sales performance. Results show that three distinct configurations can lead to increased sales performance. Our results paint a nuanced picture of combinations of factors that result in franchisee success with relevance to the BoP context and beyond.

Português:

Este artigo propõe a MIRA – Matriz de Identificação de Recomendações de Auditoria como um contributo metodológico inovador para reforçar a eficácia das recomendações emitidas em auditoria interna. A literatura mostra que muitas recomendações são vagas, genéricas ou pouco exequíveis, o que compromete a sua implementação e leva à reincidência de deficiências. A MIRA estrutura-se em cinco dimensões (causa-raiz, clareza, exequibilidade, impacto no risco e alinhamento normativo), avaliadas numa escala de 0–4, permitindo calcular um índice de robustez. São apresentadas versões simples e ponderada da matriz, acompanhadas de exemplos práticos de aplicação, incluindo técnicas como os 5 Porquês e o diagrama de Ishikawa. Os resultados evidenciam que a MIRA funciona como filtro de qualidade, instrumento pedagógico e mecanismo de padronização, reforçando a confiança na auditoria interna e aumentando a probabilidade de aceitação pela gestão.


English
This article proposes the MIRA – Audit Recommendation Identification Matrix as an innovative methodological contribution to strengthen the effectiveness of audit recommendations. The literature shows that many recommendations are vague, generic, or not very feasible, which compromises their implementation and leads to recurring deficiencies. MIRA is structured into five dimensions (root cause, clarity, feasibility, risk impact, and regulatory alignment), each assessed on a 0–4 scale, allowing the calculation of a robustness index. Both simple and weighted versions of the matrix are presented, supported by practical examples of application, including techniques such as the 5 Whys and the Ishikawa diagram. The results show that MIRA functions as a quality filter, a pedagogical tool, and a standardization mechanism, reinforcing trust in internal auditing and increasing the likelihood of management acceptance.

Auditoria interna; Recomendações de auditoria; Eficácia; Controlo interno; Governança; Angola; Internal Audit; Audit Recommendations; Effectiveness; Internal Control.

The separation of ownership and management functions in modern corporations and the presence of information asymmetric produce the possibility of principal-agent conflict. This study investigates the relationship between managerial ownership and company performance of public listed companies in Malaysia. Further, this study investigates the effect of audit quality on company performance. As multivariate regression is used to analyze the data in this study, assumptions of multicollinearity, hemoscedasticity and linearity are also tested. Furthermore, this study applied the F-test, Chow test and Hausman test to determine the best statistical method. The analysis utilizing GLS fix effects estimations technique is applied. The results showed that the managerial ownership had negative and significant relationship with ROA and Tobin's Q. Therefore, the managerial ownership does not influence corporate performance in Malaysia and the principal agent problems cannot be solved through an increase of managerial ownership.Further, audit quality showed positively effect to both of performance indicators. This provide that the external audit provides the monitoring device to reduce information asymmetry between the managers and the shareholders

Modern African literature has greatly been influenced by the continent’s long tradition of
orality. As a consequence, many contemporary African writers have continuously borrowed
techniques from the oral tradition in their written productions. Among those writers are Ngugi
wa Thiong’o and Ayi Kwei Armah whose selected works are the focus of our study. The
paper attempts through an analytical process to explore Ngugi’s and Armah’s use of oral
devices in Devil on the Cross and The Healers respectively. Our contention is that, by
resorting to devices that are typical of the oral storytelling techniques, the authors not only
want to advertise the greatness of their indigenous cultures, but also to ensure their survival in
a continent constantly under the weight of Western cultural domination. The study will be
carried out through the prism of post-colonialism. It will consist in a literary analysis relying
primarily on the two novels under study.
Key words: Culture – Indigenous – Oral devices – Orality – Tradition.

Imagine a vast, deep, dense, forbidding swamp of tea-colored water and mud and patches of dry ground, blisteringly hot, thick with populations of alligators and panthers and poisonous snakes and legions of biting insects and all manner of various other perils. Now imagine you are an enslaved person, compelled to long hours of punishing labor, routinely beaten, likely scarred, maybe branded, perhaps raped, subject to helplessly watch your loved ones sold away from you forever, with no hope for any future except more of the same. Then imagine that swamp as your salvation. You don't have to imagine any of it because at one time it was all very real.

Nash’s agencies method for coalition formation suffers from a critical computational flaw: negative
acceptance probabilities when coalition values are large relative to the rationality parameter. This
breakdown has prevented practical implementation for over fifteen years. We resolve this instability by replacing linear utility calculations with squared payoffs, ensuring mathematical positivity
while preserving the method’s core game-theoretic properties.

Our approach guarantees 0 < ai j < 1 for all parameter values, enables convergent iterative dynamics, and maintains computational complexity of O(n^3) per iteration. Empirical validation across multiple scenarios, player numbers, and coalition structures confirms stability where the original method fails in 23% of realistic parameter combinations. The squared transformation incurs modest welfare costs (0.6–3.2%) but provides complete algorithmic reliability. This represents a practical solution that completes Nash’s unfinished algorithmic framework for coalition formation.

Banks cut dividends with great reluctance, as if addicted. Their addiction is a major cause of concern for regulators because it may endanger the whole banking system. However, banks may be rational in maintaining elevated dividends if agency costs are high and dividends substitute for shareholder monitoring. Banks may rely on persistent dividend policies to uphold a reputation among investors, especially during crises, when issuing equity becomes likelier. In support of this hypothesis, we find that, during and after the financial crisis, dividend persistence increases with the severity of agency costs banks are subject to; it decreases in the presence of concentrated shareholders, except when stress is acute. By contrast, share repurchases also substitute for shareholder monitoring but trigger no addiction.

This study examined the economic and social status of Irtašduna, the daughter of Cyrus the Great and wife of
Darius I, within the administrative and bureaucratic framework of the Achaemenid Empire. It demonstrated that
Irtašduna wielded significant independent authority—extending beyond conventional bureaucratic boundaries—
in areas such as distribution of wine and beer, management of private estates (ulhi), allocation of rations to
female workers and postpartum mothers, and financial oversight.
The article aimed to reconstruct Irtašduna’s proactive role in resource allocation and the organizational
network under her command. The research methodology involved analyzing and interpreting administrative
documents, along with a comparative study of specialized concepts like tibba and the “king’s table” in Elamite
texts, as well as Greek accounts (e.g., those of Heraclides and Polyaenus).
Findings indicated that Irtašduna issued orders bearing her own seal, directly managed multiple estates, and
oversaw the distribution and redistribution of rations through a network of agents. The analysis of these documents
revealed a structured, goal-oriented, and economically planned system of social provision under her direction.
Irtašduna should not be viewed merely as the wife of Darius; she was a capable and empowered
administrator within the Achaemenid economic system. She directly supervised key aspects of the royal support
structure, particularly in rationing, estate management, labor organization, and logistical arrangements for travel.
Keywords: Irtašduna, Estates and Landed Properties, Rations and Remuneration, Personal Network of
Administrators, Persepolis Fortification Tablets.

This study investigates the influence of digital change on rural communities, determining if it protects their socio-cultural fabric while still promoting growth. The article is written based on the thesis "Transformational Resilience: Digital Transformation in Guyana while safeguarding rural communities and mental wellness-A Case Study," authored by Praem Narine Rambharak, one of the co-authors of this article. Through data and analysis, the researcher assesses the efficacy of digital interventions and makes practical recommendations to improve their benefits. The analysis was conducted using statistical tools such as Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Google Forms, and Microsoft Excel. The study's goal is to inform policy and decision-making, ensuring that future initiatives are also aligned with community needs. The researcher expects the findings to have an impact on behaviours, interventions, and policies, as well as serve as a foundation for future studies on sociocultural development through digital transformation. By engaging communities, the studies emphasise technology's dual capacity to disrupt and empower, while calling for inclusive, culturally sensitive implementation tactics.

This research examines the experiences, in terms of growth patterns and challenges Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in rural indigenous communities of Guyana, from the perspectives of owners of these businesses. Employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, the key factors that contribute to the growth of MSMEs were analyzed. These factors include market barriers, infrastructure, access to funding, entrepreneurial acumen, government policies and other related initiatives. A Likert Scale data collection instrument was employed to gather pertinent data related to the experiences and performance of MSMEs. The findings show that while market limitations, poor infrastructure, and restricted access to funding severely impair MSMEs ability to operate successfully, they also can benefit from government assistance, and business training. These findings underscore the need for targeted policy interventions, increased access to finance, and infrastructure development to improve the resilience and growth of MSMEs in indigenous communities. This study adds to the larger conversation about economic empowerment, rural development, and indigenous entrepreneurship within Sustainable Development Theory, Agency Theory, and Innovation Systems Theory.

Günümüz dünyasında en yoksul ile en zengin arasındaki uçurum her yıl daha fazla artıyor. Çalışma koşulları ağırlaşıyor, çalışma saatleri artıyor, mobbing ve iş cinayetleri sıradanlaşıyor ve güvencesizlik çalışma yaşamının genel karakteristiği haline geliyor. Toplumsal eşitsizlik sadece kaynakların bölüşümünde değil, insanlığın büyük bir kesiminin sistematik olarak dışlanmasını, belirli kaynakların ve konumların toplumsal kapama yoluyla istiflenmesiyle sonuçlanıyor. Ekonomik eşitsizlik ve servet transferleri yerleşik bir hal almaya başlıyor. Tüm bunlar sınıfla ilgilidir, sınıfsal çelişki ve çatışma yaratır ve bu da insanlarda belirli deneyimlere ve sınıfsal eşitsizliğin el yordamıyla kavranmasına yol açar. Bu konular bugün en belirgin sorunların başında gelmektedir ve örneğin eşitsizlik gibi bazı temalar Marksist sınıf analizine içkin de değildir. Ancak sınıfsallığın farklı deneyim ve sonuçlarının beklenmedik şekildeki yansımalarına farklı açıklamalar getiren teorik ve pratik analizler Marksizmin gündemine dahil edilebilir. Çünkü Marksizmin özgünlüğü, bu sonuçları üreten temel çelişki ve kuralların analizini, yani oyunun genel kurallarını sunmasıdır.

A generalidade dos autores que se dedica ao estudo da gestão do conhecimento sustenta a existência de uma relação entre esta e o desempenho organizacional, numa óptica de criação e manutenção de vantagens competitivas sustentáveis. Neste artigo apresentamos um modelo de equações estruturais, através do qual se procura testar, na globalidade e para a mostra estudada (50 organizações industriais do Distrito de Viseu), a validade do pressuposto teórico enunciado, avaliando relações de dependência ou interdependência simultâneas entre um conjunto de variáveis que evidenciou possuir relações de maior magnitude em estudos prévios e no âmbito dos quais utilizámos análises de regressão múltipla. Os resultados obtidos sugerem a existência de um impacto positivo da gestão do conhecimento na competitividade organizacional, reforçando as conclusões retiradas a partir das análises de regressão múltipla previamente realizadas, e sustentando empiricamente o modelo teórico de que partimos. Palavras-chave: Gestão do conhecimento, competitividade organizacional, modelo de equações estruturais, questionário de gestão do conhecimento, indicadores de desempenho organizacional. Até à década de 1980, pouca importância era atribuída ao conhecimento como um "activo", um "capital" ou um "bem" organizacional. Actualmente, este constitui um recurso valioso e insubstituível enquanto força motriz das empresas que actuam, cada vez mais, em contextos marcadamente incertos e imprevisíveis e onde a gestão estratégica da informação é recompensada, bem como a improvisação, a inovação e a apropriação do conhecimento. De facto, num mundo onde os mercados, os produtos, a tecnologia e a própria sociedade se transformam a um ritmo vertiginosamente acelerado, 191

Ratings of corporations' environmental activities and capabilities influence billions of dollars of "socially responsible" investments as well as some consumers, activists, and potential employees. In one of the first studies to assess these ratings, we examine how well the most widely used ratings-those of Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini Research & Analytics (KLD)-provide transparency about past and likely future environmental performance. We find KLD "concern" ratings to be fairly good summaries of past environmental performance. In addition, firms with more KLD concerns have slightly, but statistically significantly, more pollution and regulatory compliance violations in later years. KLD environmental strengths, in contrast, do not accurately predict pollution levels or compliance violations. Moreover, we find evidence that KLD's ratings are not optimally using publicly available data. We discuss the implications of our findings for advocates and opponents of corporate social responsibility as well as for studies that relate social responsibility ratings to financial performance. lenders," 2 social ratings aim to provide social investors accurate information that makes transparent the extent to which firms' behaviors are socially responsible. Poor social and environmental ratings can harm a company's performance and reputation. For example, Kinder, Lydenberg, Domini Research & Analytics (KLD) dropped Coca-Cola Co., from its Broad Market Social Index in July 2006 because of concerns about the company's labor and environmental practices in the developing world. As a result, TIAA-CREF, the largest U.S. retirement fund, subsequently sold more than 50 million shares of Coca-Cola Co. stock. 3 Critics of the company also seized on KLD's action as support for their longstanding complaints against Coca-Cola Co. 4 Despite their increasing popularity, social ratings are rarely evaluated and have been criticized for their own lack of transparency. Prominent environmentalist Paul Hawken, for example, recently harshly criticized socially responsible investing, noting that "the screening methodologies and exceptions employed by most SRI [socially responsible investment] mutual funds allow practically any publicly-held corporation to be considered as an SRI portfolio company." 5 It remains unclear whether social ratings are actually providing transparency that helps stakeholders identify environmentally responsible companies. KLD's social and environmental ratings are among the oldest and most influential and, by far, the most widely analyzed by

o k-review-hedge-fund-structure-regulatio n-and-perfo rmance/ Blo g Admin Book Review: Hedge Fund Structure, Regulation and Performance around the World Hedge funds and their managers have been vilified in recent times for their high-risk activities and relative lack of regulatory oversight. However, while it is frequently suggested that hedge funds are unregulated, they are in fact regulated to some degree in every country around the world. In this book, the authors consider data from a multitude of countries to understand how and why hedge fund markets differ around the world. Nicholas Thomason finds that the more technically minded may wish to supplement the book with other sources but there is certainly enough here to educate any interested general reader.

When the International Monetary Fund makes resources available to a member country to assist with adjustment of its balance of payments, it does so under an agreed arrangement (or program) specifying the conditions governing that support. These conditions, known as IMF conditionality, include both policies a member may need to carry out prior to approval of the arrangement (by the IMF's Executive Board) and disbursement of the initial tranche of support, as well as policy undertakings that must be met for disbursement of subsequent tranches over the life of the arrangement (usually one to three years). Of necessity, the IMF's approach to economic stabilization has vital quantitative features. Projections must be made for key macroeconomic variables (national output, the price level, the current account balance, and so on), under the policies to be adopted under the program. Particular attention must be paid to the likely availability of external financing to assure that viability is restored to the country's external payments position. As a central element of conditionality, IMF programs contain quantitative "performance criteria" for key variables related to macroeconomic policies, which typically include ceilings for the fiscal deficit and the central bank's net domestic credit, and floors for net international reserves. These performance criteria, which must be agreed by the na-The authors are, respectively, the Economic Counsellor

Shane and Venkataraman's Discovery, Evaluation and Exploitation entrepreneurship framework ignores issues central to comparative international entrepreneurship (IE) because of unnecessarily under-socialized assumptions regarding entrepreneurial opportunities and the individuals who discover them. To better promote comparative IE research, we develop a Comparative Discovery, Evaluation and Exploitation framework (CDEE), which takes as a starting point that individuals motivated by diverse goals enact market opportunities in a variety of social settings. Building on this characterization, the paper explores how and why processes of opportunity discovery, evaluation and exploitation vary across and within nations, as well as the implications of these differences.

O estudo  objetivou analisar a produção científica a respeito da Teoria da  Agência e  da Assimetria da Informação na Contabilidade em âmbito nacional e internacional. A metodologia apresenta uma abordagemdescritiva, caracterizando-se como uma pesquisa documental realizada por meio de um estudo bibliométrico.Para  a coleta de dados, optou-se pela busca de artigos científicos  publicados nos  periódicos classificadoscomo Nacionais  “A”, segundo a  lista Qualis/Capes do triênio 2007/2009,  e nos  principais periódicosinternacionais da área Contábil, no  período compreendido entre 2005  e 2009. Considera-se relevante oestudo ter sido bibliométrico, porque isso proporcionou uma visão panorâmica da produção científica sobreTeoria da Agência e Assimetria da Informação em âmbito nacional e internacional,  e permitiu umacomparação entre esses contextos.  Foram localizados 16 artigos científicos  nacionais e 40 artigosinternacionais. Dentre os resultados encontrados, constatou-se que: (i) o ...

Corporate control can be addressed as the power to shape corporate policies and strategies. We suggest that the social control of the business is affected by meso orders or social fields. This implies that corporate policies and strategies are shaped by relations between and within organized groups. From this perspective, the article explores how the corporate ownership structure and the executives' trajectories affect financial performance in the largest automobile companies. Panel regression discloses the effects of the forms of control over time. Results open an intriguing debate among economic sociology, agency, and corporate control literature.

Multinational military gatherings are important sites of international interaction. High level military officials meet on a regular basis in different configurations, and a carefully orchestrated global calendar coordinates these events. States build, maintain and strengthen diplomatic, organizational and interpersonal relations at these events. This article argues that understanding the logic and global political functions of such gatherings requires a study from the inside. Zooming in on naval symposiums, I present the results from participant observations obtained in attending fifteen such meetings. I show how these gatherings have a common structure and are driven by symbolic content and ritualized actions, such as gift exchanges, the celebration of food and culture, and the repetition of narratives. I conclude that gatherings have an important role in facilitating transnational (maritime) security communities.

Posthuman" has become an umbrella term to refer to a variety of different movements and schools of thought, including philosophical, cultural, and critical posthumanism; transhumanism (in its variations of extropianism, liberal and democratic transhumanism, among others); the feminist approach of new materialisms; the heterogeneous landscape of antihumanism, metahumanism, metahumanities, and posthumanities. Such a generic and all-inclusive use of the term has created methodological and theoretical confusion between experts and non-experts alike. This essay will explore the differences between these movements, focusing in particular on the areas of signification shared by posthumanism and transhumanism. In presenting these two independent, yet related philosophies, posthumanism may prove a more comprehensive standpoint to reflect upon possible futures.

Workplace sexual harassment has too readily been conceptualized as discrimination by employers with liability so directed. It should instead be conceptualized as tortious emotional assault by the harasser with liability so directed. Prominent points include:
!) the awkwardness of conceptualizing harassment as discrimination in typical cases; 2) suits directed at culprits properly channel sanctions and deterrence; 3) employer liability entails dubious attribution of wrongful behavior from perpetrator to firm; 4) employer anti-harrasment duty is burdensome and generates negative side effects.

En este artículo se discute la práctica de la guerra en los grupos sociales antiguos de Costa Rica a través del estudio de artefactos arqueológicos, fuentes etnohistóricas y relatos de tradición oral indígena. Primero, se reseñan algunas propuestas sobre el tema realizadas por profesionales en arqueología. Luego, se expone cómo se presenta la guerra tanto en fuentes históricas como en la tradición oral.  Finalmente, se interpreta la evidencia arqueológica con base en la estatuaria de las colecciones del Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, el Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina y el Museo del Oro Precolombino. El estudio resalta la importancia de la figura del guerrero dentro de la estratificación social de las sociedades pasadas, así como el hecho de que la guerra constituía una actividad constante y permanente entre los grupos.

A major societal concern, especially in developing nations, is the digital divide between urban and rural locations There are several barriers to rural India's access to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and its services, despite the fact that the world's overall penetration of the Internet Developing countries have both new opportunities and new constraints as a result of information and communication technology (ICT) Digitalization, automation, and the adoption of ICT open up a wealth of new opportunities in terms of greater efficiency and production, as well as the creation of new services, Social and economic implications of each wave of digitization are unique.

Notwithstanding its major contributions, the ‘Williamsonian’ branch of New Institutional Economics suffers from black holes that recent developments have pinpointed. Rather than taking stock, this paper capitalizes on some of these developments to look ahead. Section 2 provides a reminder of the hard core of transaction cost economics (TCE) with an emphasis on problems that TCE has allowed to identify, particularly the richness of organizational arrangements, an issue that needs further investigation. Section 3 discusses how to better understand the embedment of organizational arrangements in their institutional environment. The concept of ‘meso-institutions’ is introduced as a mean to capture mechanisms providing the needed interface. Section 4 considers another neglected dimension that requires renewed attention: the interactions of organizational arrangements with technologies that partially define their setting. This paper proposes a roadmap to explore this issue, based on an on...

This paper addresses a puzzling problem: why do parties often choose to combine alternative modes of organizations simultaneously while dealing with identical or almost identical transactions? I propose a model to capture these so‐called ‘plural forms’ and to explain the choice of such non‐standard arrangements. Three determinants are identified as playing the major role: ambiguity surrounding the fitness of a mode of organization to the transaction at stake; complexity of a transaction or a set of transactions; and strategic behavior. Propositions are derived that are confronted to empirical data coming out of the agro‐food industry. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the quiet stillness of the Kyudo dojo, a paradox echoes: "The bow is the teacher." This Japanese art of archery-not a sport, but a dō, a spiritual path-dismantles deeply rooted Western assumptions. It is not about a person mastering a lifeless object. Instead, it is a dialogue: between archer and bow, between student and teacher. The target calls, the bow teaches, the arrow flies on its own. To a mind shaped by Descartes, this may sound like animistic fantasy. Yet what reveals itself here is a fundamentally different understanding of the human relationship with matterone the West has forgotten, but may urgently need to remember in this age of ecological crisis. Kyudo: The Discipline of Emptiness At the heart of Kyudo lies a choreography of emptiness. In the ritual sequence known as shichi-dō (the seven ways), the ego is gradually stripped away. Each step reveals a subtle

We examine for the first time the association of different measures of ownership and control, and separation ratios with firm's value and performance for 108 non-financial firms that traded their stock during the period 1998 to 2002. We found that large blockholders exert a positive influence upon firm's valuation and performance, which validates the positive monitoring approach of large shareholders, but also found that this relation is not monotone implying that when separation of control and ownership tends to increase, a negative effect is exerted on firm's valuation. Furthermore, we report first estimates of a survey of corporate governance practices conducted in 2004 for 43 Colombian non-financial companies. The index's scores suggest that implementation of good governance in Colombian firms has been slow and poor as measured by the average of the Index that is below half the maximum attainable value. Regrettably, we did not find any support to recent theories that predict a positive association between good governance practices, measured by the CGI, and performance. At most there exists a positive relationship for sub-index but the results were not statistically significant in general.

This study examines the relationship between financial performance and family involvement for 523 listed and non-listed Colombian firms from 1996-2006. Using a detailed database and performing several panel data regression models, we have found that family firms exhibit better financial performance on average than non-family firms when the founder is still involved in operations, although this effect decreases with firm size. With heirs in charge, there is no statistical difference in financial performance. Both direct and indirect ownership (control through pyramidal ownership structures within family business groups) affect a firm' s financial performance positively. However, this positive effect decreases with firm size, and some kinds of family involvement appear to make firm growth expensive.

Economic theory suggests that managers' investment behavior differs from that of owners. On the one hand, managers might under-invest into R&D compared to owners for reasons of risk. R&D projects are typically risky, long-term investments with a high failure rate. Because project failure can have detrimental effects on a manager's career and eventually lead to job loss, managers might under-invest into R&D projects. On the other hand, managers might over-invest into R&D compared to owners for reasons of growth. Innovation fosters growth, which is found to go along with greater managerial remuneration, power and prestige. In reality, however, the concept of manager-led versus owner-led firms turns out to be fuzzy, as many managers frequently own shares of their firms. Therefore, the literature discusses incentive effects and entrenchment effects. With an increasing amount of company shares held by the manager, his behavior becomes more aligned to the owners interest (incentive effect). But at the same time ownership shares also result in higher job security for the manager and, hence, make him powerful enough to pursue own goals and disregard owners' interests (entrenchment effect). In this study, we investigate empirically whether managerial ownership affects a firm's R&D expenditure using a sample of 1,406 Belgian firms. First, we find that managers holding no company shares under-invest into innovation when compared to owners giving rise to the risk argument. These managers seem to have insufficient incentives to invest into R&D, as they fear that project failure could negatively affect their careers. Second, we find an inverse ushape relationship between the degree of managerial ownership and R&D expenditure. This indicates that managers become entrenched when holding a sufficient amount of company shares. Higher job security allows the managers to pursue their own interests, i.e. to overinvest into innovation for reasons of growth. Due to their ownership shares managers do not have to fear detrimental effects on their career in case of project failure. This reduces the risk tied to R&D investments while the positive aspects remain. Die Theorie managementgeleiteter Unternehmen geht davon aus, dass sich Investitionsentscheidungen von Managern, die zwar ein Unternehmen führen, aber nicht besitzen, von denen der Eigner unterscheiden können. Zum einen könnten Manager bei Entscheidungen hinsichtlich Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE) aufgrund des damit verbundenen hohen Risikos aus Sicht der Eigner zu wenig investieren. FuE-Projekte sind typische Beispiele für langfristige und riskante Projekte mit ungewissem Ausgang. Scheitern Projekte, so wird sich dies negativ auf die Bewertung des Managers seitens der Eigner auswirken und kann schlimmsten Falls sogar zum Arbeitsplatzverlust führen. Zum anderen könnten Manager aus Sicht der Eigner auch zu viel in FuE-Projekte investieren, um das Unternehmenswachstum zu fördern. Anreiz hierfür ist, dass Wachstum mit einer höheren Entlohnung des Managements, Macht und gesellschaftlichem Ansehen einhergeht. In der Realität ist die Unterscheidung zwischen Managern und Eignern jedoch nicht trivial, da Manager häufig am Unternehmenskapital beteiligt werden. Aus theoretischer Sicht führt Anteilseigentum des Managers zu zwei gegenläufigen Effekten. Mit steigendem Anteilseigentum nähert sich das Verhalten des Managers dem der Eigner an (Anreiz-Effekt). Gleichzeitig führt ein größerer Kapitalanteil des Managers auch zu einer erhöhten Arbeitsplatzsicherheit, welche den Manager mächtiger macht und ihm mehr Spielraum gibt im eigenen Interesse, nicht aber dem Interesse der anderen Anteilseigner, zu handeln (Entrenchment-Effekt). In dieser Studie wird auf Basis eines Datensatzes von 1406 belgischen Unternehmen untersucht, wie sich eine Kapitalbeteiligung des Managements auf die FuE-Ausgaben auswirkt. Manager, die keine Anteile halten, investieren weniger in FuE als Manager, die 100% der Anteile besitzen. Dies weist darauf hin, dass Manager versuchen das Risiko des Scheiterns eines FuE-Projekts mit den entsprechenden negativen Auswirkungen auf ihre Karriere zu reduzieren, d.h. sie haben unzureichende Anreize in FuE zu investieren. Weiterhin finden wir einen invers u-förmigen Verlauf zwischen Managereigentum und der Höhe der FuE-Ausgaben. Hält ein Manager einen hinreichend großen Anteil am Unternehmen, so nutzt er diese Möglichkeit, um aus Sicht der anderen Eigentümer zu viel für FuE aufzuwenden. Aufgrund des eigenen Unternehmensbesitzes müssen Manager bei Scheitern eines Projektes weniger um ihren Arbeitsplatz fürchten, was bedeutet, dass FuE-Investitionen für sie in geringerem Maße Risiken darstellen, wohingegen die positiven Aspekte bestehen bleiben.