Estimating additionality and leverage:between public and private sector equity finance in Ireland (2000 – 2002)

This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the role of the public sector in stimulating greater use of private sector equity for business start-up and growth in two ways. First, to examine the extent to which the provision of public sector equity finance enables individual firms to raise additional funds in the private sector market place. Second, to consider the methodological implications for an economic impact assessment of industrial policy interventions (especially those which include an equity component) at the level of the individual firm. We assess the extent to which there may be indirect positive effects (externalities) associated with public sector financial assistance to individual firms and if so how they distort standard evaluation methodologies designed to estimate the level of additionality of that support. The paper draws upon the results of a recent study of the impact of Enterprise Ireland (EI) financial assistance to indigenous Irish industry in the period 2000 to 2002. The paper demonstrates that a process of re-calibration is necessary in estimates of economic impact in order to account for these positive externalities and the result in this study was a ‘boost’ to additionality. In operational and conceptual terms, the study underlines the importance of the relationship between private and public sector sources of equity finance as an important dynamic in the attempt by industrial and regional policy to stimulate the number of firms with viable investment proposals accessing external equity finance.

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment:differences between public and private sector employees

Employees in the public and private sectors experience different working conditions and employment relationships. Therefore, it can be assumed that their attitudes toward their job and organizations, and relationships between them, are different. The existing literature has identified the relationship between organizational commitment and job satisfaction as interesting in this context. The present field study examines the satisfaction–commitment link with respect to differences between private and public sector employees. A sample of 617 Greek employees (257 from the private sector and 360 from the public sector) completed standardized questionnaires. Results confirmed the hypothesized relationship differences: Extrinsic satisfaction and intrinsic satisfaction are more strongly related to affective commitment and normative commitment for public sector employees than for private sector ones. The results are discussed, limitations are considered, and directions for future research are proposed.

Trade balance and real exchange rate:new evidence from Mauritius-UK trade

Two main questions are addressed here: is there a long-run relationship between trade balance and real exchange rate for the bilateral trade between Mauritius and UK? Does a J-curve exist for this bilateral trade? Our findings suggest that the real exchange rate is cointegrated with the trade balance and we find evidence of a J-curve effect. We also find bidirectional causality between the trade balance and the real exchange rate in the long-run. The real exchange rate also causes the trade balance in the short-run. In an out-of-sample forecasting experiment, we also find that real exchange rate contains useful information that can explain future movements in the trade balance.

External audit in the National Health Service in England and Wales:a study of an oversight body's control of auditor remuneration

In the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales an oversight body, the Audit Commission (AC), defines the scope of the external auditors’ work, appoints the auditors and has oversight of their fees and audit quality. This heavily regulated audit regime mitigates some of the deficiencies observed in high profile corporate failures. Independence, it has been argued, is influenced by the total auditor remuneration paid by the client. In this study we examine total auditor remuneration in a regulated market which seeks to ensure audit independence and audit quality. In particular we undertake rigorous analysis of auditor remuneration by the type of auditor: We place emphasis on the differentiation between private sector firms and the AC’s in-house auditors (District Audit). Individual private audit firms charge premiums (up to 16%) for particular audit work in identified locations, but no premiums were found when we examined total auditor remuneration. The regime appears to permit efficient operation of the audit market while safeguarding both audit independence and standards.

The impact of brand owner on consumers' brand perceptions : a development of Heider's Balance Theory

Studies have shown that the brand “owner” is very influential in positioning the brand and when the brand “owner” ceases his or her active role the brand will be perceived differently by the consumers. Balance Theory (HBT), a cognitive psychological theory, studies the triadic relationships between two persons and an entity and predicts that when a person’s original perception of the relationship is disturbed, the person restructures to a new balanced perception. Consequently, this research was undertaken to: conceptualize the brand owner’s impact on consumer’s brand perception; test the applicability of both the static and dynamic predictions of the Heider’s Balance Theory in brand owner-consumer-brand relation (OCB); construct and test a model of brand owner-consumer-brand relation; and examine if personality has an influence on OCB. A discovery-oriented approach was taken to understand the selected market segment, the ready-to-wear and diffusion lines of international designer labels. Chinese Brand Personality Scale, fashion proneness and hedonic and utilitarian shopping scales were developed, and validated. 51 customers were surveyed. Both traditional and extended methods used in the Balance Theory were employed in this study. Responses to liked brand have been used to test and develop the model, while those for disliked brand were used for test and confirmation. A “what if’ experimental approach was employed to test the applicability of dynamic HBT theory in OCB Model. The hypothesized OCB Model has been tested and validated. Consumers have been found to have separate views on the brand and the brand owner; and their responses to contrasting ethical and non-ethical news of the brand owner are different. Personality has been found to have an influence and two personality adapted models have been tested and validated. The actual results go beyond the prediction of the Balance Theory. Dominant triple positive balance mode, dominant negative balance mode, and mode of extreme antipathy have been found. It has been found that not all balanced modes are good for the brand. Contrary to Heider’s findings, simply liking may not necessarily lead to unit relation in the OCB Model.

Modelling trade offs between public and private conservation policies

To reduce global biodiversity loss, there is an urgent need to determine the most efficient allocation of conservation resources. Recently, there has been a growing trend for many governments to supplement public ownership and management of reserves with incentive programs for conservation on private land. This raises important questions, such as the extent to which private land conservation can improve conservation outcomes, and how it should be mixed with more traditional public land conservation. We address these questions, using a general framework for modelling environmental policies and a case study examining the conservation of endangered native grasslands to the west of Melbourne, Australia. Specifically, we examine three policies that involve i) spending all resources on creating public conservation areas; ii) spending all resources on an ongoing incentive program where private landholders are paid to manage vegetation on their property with 5-year contracts; and iii) splitting resources between these two approaches. The performance of each strategy is quantified with a vegetation condition change model that predicts future changes in grassland quality. Of the policies tested, no one policy was always best and policy performance depended on the objectives of those enacting the policy. Although policies to promote conservation on private land are proposed and implemented in many areas, they are rarely evaluated in terms of their ecological consequences. This work demonstrates a general method for evaluating environmental policies and highlights the utility of a model which combines ecological and socioeconomic processes.

Is there a trade-off between quality and productivity? The case of diagnostic technologies in Portugal

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, we compute quality-adjusted measures of productivity change for the three most important diagnostic technologies (i.e., the Computerised Tomography Scan, Electrocardiogram and Echocardiogram) in the major Portuguese hospitals. We use the Malmquist–Luenberger index, which allows to measure productivity growth while controlling for the quality of the production. Second, using non-parametric tests, we analyse whether the implementation of the Prospective Payment System may have had a positive impact on the movements of productivity over time. The results show that the PPS has helped hospitals to use these tools more efficiently and to improve their effectiveness.

Do foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade openness explain the disparity in ICT diffusion between Asia-Pacific and the Islamic Middle Eastern countries?

This study investigates the impact of FDI and trade openness on ICT diffusion in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions from 1996-2005. The results indicate that while dissimilarities exist between the economies included in this study in terms of their level of socio-economic and political development, education and the growth of GDP have had a positive impact on ICT diffusion in both regions. However, while FDI has generally had a positive and significant impact on ICT diffusion in Asia-Pacific economies, its impact on Middle Eastern economies has been detrimental. The results of this study also show that trade-openness has had, in general, a positive and significant impact on ICT diffusion. Copyright © 2010, IGI Global.