Market value, R&D and intellectual property:an empirical analysis of large Australian firms

This paper considers the value of innovation to large Australian firms. Specifically, we investigate how R&D and intellectual property activity influences the market value of firms, using a Tobin’s q approach. R&D data are available for the period 1994–96 and data on patent, trade mark and design applications for 1996. The findings suggest that R&D and patent activity are positively and significantly associated with market value. The results also suggest that private returns to R&D in Australia are low by international standards.

The market value implications of pension asset allocation

Pension funds have been part of the private sector since the 1850's. Defined Benefit pension plans [DB], where a company promises to make regular contributions to investment accounts held for participating employees in order to pay a promised lifelong annuity, are significant capital markets participants, amounting to 2.3 trillion dollars in 2010 (Federal Reserve Board, 2013). In 2006, Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No.158 (SFAS 158), Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postemployment Plans, shifted information concerning funding status and pension asset/liability composition from disclosure in the footnotes to recognition in the financial statements. I add to the literature by being the first to examine the effect of recent pension reform during the financial crisis of 2008-09. This dissertation is comprised of three related essays. In my first essay, I investigate whether investors assign different pricing multiples to the various classes of pension assets when valuing firms. The pricing multiples on all classes of assets are significantly different from each other, but only investments in bonds and equities were value-relevant during the recent financial crisis. Consistent with investors viewing pension liabilities as liabilities of the firm, the pricing multiples on pension liabilities are significantly larger than those on non-pension liabilities. The only pension costs significantly associated with firm value are actual rate of return and interest expense. In my second essay, I investigate the role of accruals in predicting future cash flows, extending the Barth et al. (2001a) model of the accrual process. Using market value of equity as a proxy for cash flows, the results of this study suggest that aggregate accounting amounts mask how the components of earnings affect investors' ability to predict future cash flows. Disaggregating pension earnings components and accruals results in an increase in predictive power. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, however, investors placed a greater (and negative) weight on the incremental information contained in the individual components of accruals. The inferences are robust to alternative specifications of accruals. Finally, in my third essay I investigate how investors view under-funded plans. On average, investors: view deficits arising from under-funded plans as belonging to the firm; reward firms with fully or over-funded pension plans; and encourage those funds with unfunded pension plans to become funded. Investors also encourage conservative pension asset allocations to mitigate firm risk, and smaller firms are perceived as being better able to handle the risk associated with underfunded plans. During the financial crisis of 2008-2009 underfunded status had a lower negative association with market value. In all three models, there are significant differences in pre- and post- SFAS 158 periods. These results are robust to various scenarios of the timing of the financial crisis and an alternative measure of funding.

Market Value

MARKET VALUE is a collection of stories about people in Southwest Florida struggling to make sense of their lives when faced with shifting economic realities. The characters in the collection reevaluate their relationships and uncover secrets, forced to navigate a new American landscape of stalled opportunities and uncertain futures. In “Call the Storage King,” Walt assumes that his girlfriend has total faith in their relationship, but accidentally discovers evidence to the contrary. In “Luxury Living,” a resident of a mostly-empty riverfront condo gives a guided tour to a prospective buyer, revealing the building’s short but sordid history along the way. Influenced by the suburban satire of Tom Perotta and A.M. Homes, MARKET VALUE presents a changing landscape where characters form unexpected alliances and sever old ties, in order to come closer to their downsized American Dreams.

How can strategic philanthropy contribute to innovation for companies

This investigation proposes to explore the existing link between a strategic conception of philanthropy and innovation. Indeed, the nature of the research question relies on an unexplored field in the CSR and Innovation management academic literature. It starts with the interest to know which the benefits are for a firm encouraged to invest strategically in philanthropy. In this regard, the analysis contributes in fitting this gap by following different objectives in an exploratory perspective. Throughout the research it will be analyzed the concept and the current and past contributions on the different branches of innovation (product innovation, managerial innovation, technological innovation), to accentuate the relation between an accurate strategic approach to philanthropy and the impact on the organizational value. Indeed, analyzing philanthropic innovation may provide insights about business opportunities and notions related to social investments and profit. That aspect includes the link between those strategic decisions that a firm can use to maximize those investments as it was part of their core business. It also proves the existing link between CSR and innovation, and the possibilities that the enterprises have towards this subject.

Environmental conflicts, environmental justice and valuation

In this article some historical and contemporary environmental conflicts are described. The international environmental liability of mining corporations is discussed. Comparisons are made with conflicts in the United States and in South Africa which fall under the rubric of the Environmental Justice movement. Such conflicts are fought out in many languages, and the economic valuation of damages is only one of such languages. Who has the power to impose particular languages of valuation? Who rules over the ways and means of simplifying complexity, deciding that some points of view are out of order? Who has power to determine which is the bottom-line in an environmental discussion?

IOWA Environmental Guide for Business,

Growing Iowa’s economy and sustaining vibrant healthy communities depends upon protecting the state’s environmental and natural resources. The Iowa Environmental Guide is designed to identify Iowa’s environmental compliance requirements and to provide expert resources to assist you with sustainable business solutions that protect the environment and enhance your bottom-line. The Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) Business and Regulatory Assistance Team is a non-regulatory, confidential point of contact to assist your company or organization in identifying permitting requirements, finding expert resources, communicating with the appropriate agencies, and in establishing a productive partnership with Iowa state government.

Business diplomacy: the compass rose of foreign markets

With transnational corporations (TNCs) around the world today numbering over 60,000 and more than 800,000 affiliates working abroad, it is easy to understand how modern day international business could have transformed into a major global player serving at the axis of politics, social and environmental responsibility. Additionally, with accountability to a large variety of both public and private stakeholders, all exerting significant power and influence, today’s global corporate structure is reinventing modern international relations, and in some cases, dominating it. (Muldoon 2005) This transformative nature of globalization today can also serve as a source of friction among this growing chorus of players and is bringing irreversible change to these relationships and how they impact and influence business around the world. (Muldoon 2005) From the largest to the smallest international corporation seeking to expand into new international markets, the challenges that come with corporate ambition can mean the difference between success and failure and they find a home at the intersection of international relations, diplomacy and economics. To successfully navigate these challenges, especially in emerging economies, a company must now factor in more than just the “bottom line” and address complex issues that include human rights differences, environmental regulations, labor rights and values of each country. (Henisz, 2014) Combined with modern-day mobility achieved through technology and the Internet, corporations today have a great capacity to reach targeted audiences and establish a presence, but it is this same technology that also allows for immediate response to any corporate action. This constant, 24-hour news cycle, where everyone is made to be a real-time reporter through social media, has created a situation that demonstrably necessitates the ability to not only 3 respond immediately, but also to have real-time understanding of the challenges faced by a corporation as it looks toward global expansion. International Business Diplomacy, or simply Business Diplomacy as it will be referred to in this paper, combines all of these nuanced factors into a relatively new discipline that offers companies looking to expand into new markets, guidelines and directives so that they can more strategically map corporate direction, limit risk and achieve their objectives. This paper will examine the history of diplomacy and how the concept of statecraft became intertwined with the increasing globalization of business. Following a scholarly examination of how modern Business Diplomacy came into being, and the unique challenges that come with its application, particularly the liabilities needed to be overcome, this paper will apply the concept to the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer, tracking its strategic emergence from a small, regionally focused aircraft producer to global leader in the regional and executive jet market platforms. It will then examine Embraer’s entrance into the Chinese market, where the company suffered from several missteps and eventually had to refocus its business model from commercial to executive jets. Finally, as globalization continues to “emancipate international business from its institutional and social constraints,” (Muldoon 2005) this paper will address how the relatively new and emerging discipline of Business Diplomacy is continuing to mature and grow in stature and influence through the proposition of a new challenge or “liability” that corporations must also overcome as they expand into new markets. Through the analysis of Embraer in China, this paper will introduce the Liability of Governance to the lexicon of Business Diplomacy and propose specific steps that a company can undertake to avoid it.

Marketing and compromising for sustainability : Competing orders of worth in the North Atlantic

Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/ or publication of this article: The research upon which this article reports was funded by the Leverhulme Trust, grant F/00 273/N.

The market valuation of environmental capital expenditures by pulp and paper companies

The objective of this study is to examine the market valuation of environmental capital expenditure investment related to pollution abatement in the pulp and paper industry. The total environmental capital expenditure of $8.7 billion by our sample firms during 1989-2000 supports the focus on this industry. In order to be capitalized, an asset should be associated with future economic benefits. The existing environmental literature suggests that investors condition their evaluation of the future economic benefits arising from environmental capital expenditure on an assessment of the firms' environmental performance. This literature predicts the emergence of two environmental stereotypes: low-polluting firms that overcomply with existing environmental regulations, and high-polluting firms that just meet minimal environmental requirements. Our valuation evidence indicates that there are incremental economic benefits associated with environmental capital expenditure investment by low-polluting firms but not high-polluting firms. We also find that investors use environmental performance information to assess unbooked environmental liabilities, which we interpret to represent the future abatement spending obligations of high-polluting firms in the pulp and paper industry. We estimate average unbooked liabilities of $560 million for high-polluting firms, or 16.6 percent of market capitalization.

Aplicação do exame da proporcionalidade diante da implantação de empreendimentos eólicos em áreas de preservação permanente

The setting up of wind power enterprises at Permanent Preservation Areas reflects the obvious conflict and necessary convergence between free market and energy security on the one hand, and the promotion of environmental quality on the other. From the perspective of energy sustainability, and in order to achieve development (in its complex meaning, which converges economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects), the harmonization between free market and an ecologically sustainable environment is required. This work aims to identify the link between the protection system of the Permanent Preservation Areas and the current constitutional order, by analyzing the implementation of wind power enterprises in these protected zones focusing on the proportionality aspects. A legal and purposeful research was developed, from a theoretical method, followed by collecting and analyzing both primary and secondary data. From these data, the law, the legal literature and judicial decisions were cross-examined, under the light of the Constitution and guided by the theory of proportionality and related development imperatives. In this context, the present study identified the link between the principles of the economic order, environment and energy law, finding their basis under the Federal Constitution and development. By reproducing this interrelationship and by means of post-crisis institutional reforms, the guiding objectives of the Brazilian electric sector began to corroborate the precepts of development, although issues regarding its sustainability still persist. The appraisal of proportionality indicates that the Permanent Preservation Areas protection system is insufficient to materialize the right to a healthy quality of life upon the implementation of wind projects at Permanent Preservation Areas, albeit seeking the harmonization between free market and environmental protection.

Aplicação do exame da proporcionalidade diante da implantação de empreendimentos eólicos em áreas de preservação permanente

The setting up of wind power enterprises at Permanent Preservation Areas reflects the obvious conflict and necessary convergence between free market and energy security on the one hand, and the promotion of environmental quality on the other. From the perspective of energy sustainability, and in order to achieve development (in its complex meaning, which converges economic, social, environmental and cultural aspects), the harmonization between free market and an ecologically sustainable environment is required. This work aims to identify the link between the protection system of the Permanent Preservation Areas and the current constitutional order, by analyzing the implementation of wind power enterprises in these protected zones focusing on the proportionality aspects. A legal and purposeful research was developed, from a theoretical method, followed by collecting and analyzing both primary and secondary data. From these data, the law, the legal literature and judicial decisions were cross-examined, under the light of the Constitution and guided by the theory of proportionality and related development imperatives. In this context, the present study identified the link between the principles of the economic order, environment and energy law, finding their basis under the Federal Constitution and development. By reproducing this interrelationship and by means of post-crisis institutional reforms, the guiding objectives of the Brazilian electric sector began to corroborate the precepts of development, although issues regarding its sustainability still persist. The appraisal of proportionality indicates that the Permanent Preservation Areas protection system is insufficient to materialize the right to a healthy quality of life upon the implementation of wind projects at Permanent Preservation Areas, albeit seeking the harmonization between free market and environmental protection.

Interest rate (in)sensitivity of emerging market corporate debt : economic analysis based on 2002-2015 empirical evidence

Interest rate sensitivity assessment framework based on fixed income yield indexes is developed and applied to two types of emerging market corporate debt: investment grade and high yield exposures. Our research advances beyond the correlation analyses focused on co- movements in yields and/or spreads of risky and risk-free assets. We show that correlation- based analyses of interest rate sensitivity could appear rather inconclusive and, hence, we investigate the bottom line profit and loss of a hypothetical model portfolio of corporates. We consider historical data covering the period 2002 – 2015, which enable us to assess interest rate sensitivity of assets during the development, the apogee, and the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Based on empirical evidence, both for investment and speculative grades securities, we find that the emerging market corporates exhibit two different regimes of sensitivity to interest rate changes. We observe switching from a positive sensitivity under the normal market conditions to a negative one during distressed phases of business cycles. This research sheds light on how financial institutions may approach interest rate risk management, evidencing that even plain vanilla portfolios of emerging market corporates, which on average could appear rather insensitive to the interest rate risk in fact present a binary behavior of their interest rate sensitivities. Our findings allow banks and financial institutions for optimizing economic capital under Basel III regulatory capital rules.

ISO 14001:2015: An Improved Tool for Sustainability

ISO 14001 is an International Standard of worldwide acceptance based on the concept that better environmental performance can be achieved when environmental aspects are systematically identified and managed giving a major contribution to Sustainability, through pollution prevention, improved environmental performance and complying with applicable laws. This paper aims to discuss the Sustainability approach through the use of Environmental Management Standards (EMS), the results achieved by organizations that implement and certify those EMS and a special focus on the current process of ISO 14001:2015 revision and the logic behind it.