Search results for "agency."
showing 10 items of 562 documents
Revamping Research on Unrelated Diversification Strategy: Perspectives, Opportunities and Challenges for Future Inquiry
2015
With the aim of achieving an advanced understanding of current research on unrelated diversification and providing fruitful groundwork to foster active interchange between disciplinary traditions, this paper detects articles from two relevant research streams; i.e., strategic management and financial economics. We first provide a brief overview of management thinking on unrelated diversification strategy. Then, we present a conceptual map that offers a comprehensive appreciation of unrelated diversification strategy antecedents (i.e., environmental and institutional, organizational value-enhancing, and managerial drivers), implementation process (i.e., managerial complexity, misallocation o…
New Approaches to Regulating the Activities of Rating Agencies: A Comparative Analysis
2016
Abstract Rating agencies have become an important part of the global financial landscape. Formation of credit ratings is specified by the inherent asymmetry of financial market information and general interest in the transformation of a large amount of diverse and segmented financial information in a simple and clear assessment of the credit surveillance of borrowers that is credit rating. The world financial crisis started in 2008 has again put on the agenda the question of rating assessment accuracy and the factors influencing the rating migration. The activity of rating agencies, until recently, has had little regulation, allowing rating agencies to avoid responsibility for inaccuracies …
Mobility Fee—Creating Better Cities, Creating a Better Future!
2021
The following paper explores an alternative to financing public transportation in densely populated urban areas through ticket sales as a possible incentive to increase the usage of public transportation with the intent of reducing car traffic and pollution in urban spaces. It addresses the option of collecting a “mobility fee” from residents of an area to replace the revenue generated by ticket sales. Since the fee as it is envisioned in this paper would be collected from residents regardless of whether they actually use public transportation, this method would result in the usage of public transportation itself not being associated with any additional monetary cost. The text elaborates on…
Trajectories of life satisfaction and the financial situation in the transition to adulthood
2013
The aims of this study were (1) to investigate young adults’ life satisfaction changes during the transition to adulthood, (2) to identify possible life satisfaction developmental trajectories during the transition, and (3) to examine how individuals’ agency and personal financial situations are related to the identified life satisfaction trajectories in the contexts of life-span and life course theories of development. The present study is part of the longitudinal Finnish Educational Transitions (FinEdu) study, in which a total of 372 (278 female and 94 male) young adults filled in questionnaires at four measurement points, that is, twice before (at 18 and 19 years of age) and twice after…
Franchising in Spain: Agency and capital scarcity perspectives
2005
Franchising is currently perhaps the most interesting formula, financially speaking, for generating self-employment, as the capital risk on the investment needed to set up a business is kept to a minimum. Since the aim of this research is to combine the agency and scarcity theories, we conducted a study throughout the total number of observations existing in Spain to determine the importance of the sector. Factors under examination included the number of distribution units that are franchised units as a proportion of the total number of units, the number of years since the firm was set up, yearly growth rate, geographical scope of operation, average start-up costs and average royalty rates.
Public-Private Partnerships: Agency Costs in the Privatization of Social Infrastructure Financing
2019
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been subjected to considerable public debate. In particular, this debate has concerned PPP financing and its implications. Using insights from agency theory, this study aims to develop a theoretical understanding of PPP financing. The following research question is investigated: How does the privatization of financing decrease or increase agency costs in social infrastructure PPPs? A comparative case study consisting of four Norwegian PPP projects with different financial configurations is undertaken. The findings suggest that the private sector is risk averse, increasing the cost of capital. In addition, private financing does not seem to have the i…
On the Relevance of Agency Conflicts in SME Debt Maturity Structure
2015
Previous theoretical research asserts that an optimal policy of debt maturity structure mitigates the various agency conflicts that arise through debt contracts. We test this hypothesis on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), which are very sensitive to agency problems. Such problems mainly arise between owners and debt providers, due to SMEs recording high growth and having few fixed assets and informational asymmetry. We provide evidence on the relevant effect of underinvestment, asset substitution, and overinvestment problems on SME debt structure. Results appear to be robust to both the endogeneity problem of explanatory variables and the censored dependent variable.
How Does the Romanian State Support the Increase of Energy Efficiency of Buildings by Using Public Funds?
2020
Abstract The issue of improving the energy efficiency of buildings in Romania is one of interest, both for the state authorities and for the population. The general purpose is to encourage the production of thermal energy and domestic hot water through the use of renewable energy sources. This is part of the EU's long-term objective of decarbonising the existing and inefficient European real estate park. In order to start renovating the existing buildings on the national territory, considerable financial resources are needed which the owners should have. The Romanian state, through the Agency for Environmental Protection, comes to the support the interested persons by granting financial sup…
Conservatism and Accounting Earnings
2015
The article refers to accounting conservatism and its relation with accounting earnings. After providing the conceptual background of the prudence concept, which is the basis of accounting conservatism, the paper introduces some more empirically testable concepts, known as conditional and unconditional conservatism. It also explains the economics behind this accounting practice, mainly associated to contracting due to the asymmetric information between managers and external stakeholders, but also linked to litigation risks, taxation, political and regulatory processes. After providing a brief explanation of the empirical measures of conservatism, it gives a summary of the vast empirical res…
Insights into the agency, positioning and development of professional Finnish language skills of international nursing students
2016
This article focuses on international students studying in an English-mediated nursing degree program in Finland. From sociocognitive and ecological perspectives, this study examines the development of the students’ professional Finnish language skills and agency during their practical training. In addition, this article explores how students are positioned as capable workers. To shed light on the students’ professional language skills, agency, and positionings, interviews with vocational teachers, head nurses, and two international nursing students are examined using narrative analysis. The findings suggest that due to their lack of Finnish language skills, international students are posit…