Flexibility has become a coveted attribute of organizations, who have been urged to deal with recent fluctuating demands in labor by hiring more "non-standard" workers such as those on temporary contracts. But what happens when standard and non-standard workers work together? Does this have negative or positive implications for the workers and the ... Read More

The mandatory application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) may help to level the playing field as far as accounting practices are concerned, but the transition to them also offers managers an opportunity to time equity issuance. This was the conclusion of research by Shiheng Wang and Michael Welker that looked at firms in 15 countries ... Read More

Information and communication technology (ICT) is advancing at a rapid pace and the lifecycle of ICT products has shrunk considerably. These products often come in a succession of generations with each new generation surpassing the previous ones in terms of technology dimensions. The Windows OS and iPhone series are good examples. But to consumers, the ... Read More

Growth opportunities constitute an important part of firm value as investors would recognize, but how does investment growth figure in accounting-based valuation? What impact does such growth have on the relationships between equity value, earnings and equity book value? Shengquan Hao, Qinglu Jin (former PhD students from HKUST) and Guochang Zhang examine ... Read More

Team creativity is increasingly seen by companies as a competitive advantage in response to a rapidly-changing marketplace. It is also something that companies can enhance with the right understanding and conditions. Research by Jiing-Lih Farh, Cynthia Lee and Crystal I.C. Farh finds that team creativity can be improved through task conflict so long as the ... Read More

Media publicity can offer firms a seemingly cheap and impactful way to communicate about their goods and services. It has a broad reach, is regarded by consumers with less skepticism than advertisements and, in a sense, is "free" (although U.S. industry spent $19.4 billion on public relations staff in 2008). But to what extent does such publicity affect ... Read More

Is price a good indicator of quality? That's a question managers and consumers are keen to understand yet research to date has offered mixed views. In some cases consumers have been found to persistently rely on price as a quality cue, but in others the price impact was reduced or even nullified when presented alongside other product features. A new study ... Read More

Is past success a predictor of more success to come? That's a question managers should be thinking more deeply on following a study that found those managers who issued a series of accurate short-term forecasts for their firms were more likely to then issue a less accurate forecast. That counterintuitive finding emerged in a study by Gilles Hilary and ... Read More

Financial models have shown time and again that it is beneficial for all households to invest in stocks, yet relatively few choose to do so. Until now the assumption has been that pecuniary participation costs turn people off investing. But recent research suggests there may be other deterrents at play. Steffen Andersen and Kasper Meisner Nielsen looked at ... Read More

The subtle signals contained in managers' forecasts can tell the market not only about the forecasters' uncertainty, but also their motivations. That is the message in a study that looks at manager forecasts of earnings per share (EPS) which finds those ending in nickel estimates are less accurate and overly optimistic. The study by Linda Smith Bamber, Kai ... Read More