Exploring the nonlinear effect of size on profitability: evidence from an insurance brokerage industry in an emerging market

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Angelous Kotey ◽  
Richard Akomatey ◽  
Baah Aye Kusi

PurposeThis study examines the possible nonlinear effect of size on stakeholder and shareholder profitability in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a panel dataset of 64 Ghanaian insurance brokerage firms spanning 2011–2015. Static [ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effect and random effect and dynamic (two-step generalized method of moments (GMM))] estimation techniques are employed to analyze the data.FindingsThe study finds the existence of both economies and diseconomies of scale and scope theories in the Ghanaian insurance brokerage industry confirming the existence of nonlinear nexus between size and performance. This finding is consistent for both stakeholder and shareholder profit performance. Thus, the results show that size improves profitability of insurance brokerage firms, but beyond a certain threshold, the relationship turns negative as size negatively affects profitability.Practical implicationsThe research findings have implications for both policy and research; the study recommends that Ghanaian brokerage managers should understand that not all growth is good and exercise a duty of care when applying growth strategies by monitoring size effect on performance so as not to go beyond the inflection point. Further research can be done to examine this effect in other contexts, timeframes and jurisdictions.Originality/valueThis research is unique in that it employs a panel dataset consisting of 96% of insurance brokerage firms in Ghana whilst employing both static and nonstatic regression models to examine the effect of size. The research analysis adopted is robust, and the findings are significant. Also, the lack of empirical studies on the operations and dealings of auxiliary institutions such as the insurance brokerage firms adds value to this research.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Issa ◽  
Hesham Yousef ◽  
Ahmed Bakry ◽  
Jalal Rajeh Hanaysha ◽  
Ahmad Sahyouni

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of board diversity (e.g. nationality, gender and educational level) on financial performance for a sample of banks listed in 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the system generalized method of moments estimation approach on the data of banks listed in the MENA countries over the period 2011–2018 to investigate the relationship between board diversity and financial performance. Also, the findings are supported by additional robustness tests, including ordinary least squares, fixed and random effect techniques. Findings The empirical results show that there is a significant relationship between board diversity and financial performance in banks. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that board diversity related to nationality has a significant positive impact on bank performance. The findings also show an insignificant association between gender and educational level diversity and bank performance. The robustness analysis supports the findings of the baseline model. Practical implications The study provides multi-country evidence on the importance of board diversity in the MENA region and it sheds light on possible tracks for future reforms aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the board’s functions. Originality/value This paper extends the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the association between board diversity and financial performance of banks in the MENA countries. This paper also provides preliminary evidence on the importance of board diversity to influence financial performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quoc Trung Tran

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of monetary loosening on corporate investment in an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach The paper begins this study by using a dynamic model to investigate the effect of monetary loosening on corporate investment. This paper uses money supply growth as a proxy for monetary loosening, as the State Bank of Vietnam relies mainly on a quantity-based policy. Next, this paper continues to analyze whether cash holdings are able to mitigate this effect. Finally, this paper examines the effect of monetary loosening on investment smoothing and the mitigating role of cash holding. The research sample includes 4,868 from 617 firms. This paper uses different regression techniques (i.e. pooled ordinary least squares clustered by firm, fixed effects, random effects and system generalized method of moments). Findings The research findings show that money supply growth is positively related to both corporate investment and investment smoothing. The effect of monetary loosening on corporate investment is mitigated by corporate cash holding. Moreover, this paper finds that the mitigating effect of cash holdings is stronger for financially constrained firms and non-state-owned enterprises. Originality/value Prior studies only focus on corporate investment under-tightening monetary policy; however, there is no research on firm investment under monetary loosening in an emerging market.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 269-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdan Amer Al-Jaifi

PurposeThis study examines the associations between board gender diversity and banks' environmental, social and corporate governance performance in the ASEAN context.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a sample of yearly observations for ASEAN banks over the period 2011–2016. Generalized method of moments (GMM) regression is used for the main models, and the findings are supported by other robustness tests, namely ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and panel models (fixed and random effect regression).FindingsThe findings imply that board gender diversity positively influences corporate governance performance, although it has no impact on the banks' environmental and social performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers insights to regulators, investors and bank managers concerning board diversity and its impact on environmental, social and corporate governance performance. The findings imply that having a specific percentage of female directors on the board positively influences corporate governance performance. However, the impact of gender diversity on environmental and social performance is not supported.Originality/valueFew empirical studies have examined the impact of gender diversity on non-financial performance. This study contributes to the debate on the importance of gender diversity by providing empirical evidence for the impact of board gender diversity on three non-performance measures (environmental, social and corporate governance) for ASEAN banks, a topic not previously examined. There is scant attention to it in ASEAN countries, which have unique characteristics, and there remains a gap in the literature regarding the impact of board diversity among banks in this region. The findings of the study are confirmed by several robustness tests.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nufazil Altaf ◽  
Farooq Ahamad Shah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance and, second, to determine the moderating role of investor protection quality on the ownership concentration-performance relationship from a dynamic perspective. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on secondary financial data of 236 Indian manufacturing firms obtained from CAPITALINE database, pertaining to a period of five years. This study uses ordinary least squares, fixed effects and two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques to arrive at results. Findings Results of the study confirm the inverted U-shaped relationship between ownership concentration and firm performance and a significant positive effect of investor protection quality on firm performance. With regard to moderating role of investor protection quality on ownership concentration–performance relationship, results show that investor protection quality would significantly moderate the ownership concentration–performance relationship. Originality/value The study is a pioneer in proving that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between ownership concentration and firm performance in an emerging market in general and India in particular. This study extends the corporate governance literature by examining ownership concentration–performance relationship in a dynamic perspective and in an unexplored market.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Chen ◽  
Yiwei Jiang ◽  
Chengqi Wang ◽  
Wen Chung Hsu

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how firm resources and diversification strategy explain the performance consequences of internationalization of emerging market enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – The paper conducts a regression analysis by using a novel panel data set comprising of 685 listed Chinese firms over the period of 2008-2011. Findings – The results show that the relationship between internationalization and performance is inverse U-shaped. Further, marketing resources play a greater role in enhancing the performance effects of internationalization than technological resources do. Related product diversification enhances the performance effects, while unrelated product diversification does the contrary. Research limitations/implications – The study focusses on listed firms in one country, and as a result, the findings cannot be generalized to non-listed firms and firms in other countries. Practical implications – This paper offers guidelines for international managers to improve performance of internationalization by developing a particular type of resources and diversification strategy. Originality/value – This paper extends the literature on the functional form of the internationalization-performance relationship, and further suggests that the analysis of the performance consequences of internationalization should go beyond the nexus between internationalization and performance, and focusses on firm-specific resources and strategies that may facilitate or constrain the performance effects of internationalization.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (11/12) ◽  
pp. 2071-2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Vanharanta ◽  
Alan J.P. Gilchrist ◽  
Andrew D. Pressey ◽  
Peter Lenney

Purpose – This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance. Design/methodology/approach – An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews. Findings – This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices. Research limitations/implications – The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies. Practical implications – This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities. Originality/value – A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zukaa Mardnly ◽  
Zinab Badran ◽  
Sulaiman Mouselli

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the individual and combined effect of managerial ownership and external audit quality, as two control mechanisms, on earnings management. Design/methodology/approach This study applies ordinary least squares estimates on fixed-time effects panel regression model to test the impact of the investigated variables on earnings management for the whole population of banks and insurance companies listed at Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) during the period from 2011 to 2018. Findings The empirical evidence suggests a negative non-linear relationship between managerial ownership (as proxied by board of directors’ ownership) on earnings management. However, neither audit quality nor the simultaneous effect of the managerial ownership and audit quality (Big 4) affects earnings management. Research limitations/implications DSE is dominated by the financial sector and the number of observations is constrained by the recent establishment of DSE and the small number of firms listed at DSE. In addition, the non-availability of data on executive directors’ and foreign ownerships restrict our ability to uncover the impact of different dimensions of ownership structure on earnings management. Practical implications First, it stimulates investors to purchase stocks in financial firms that enjoy both high managerial ownership, as they seem enjoying higher earnings quality. Second, the findings encourage external auditors to consider the ownership structure when choosing their clients as the financial statements’ quality is affected by this structure. Third, researchers may need to consider the role of managerial ownership when analyzing the determinants of earnings management. Originality/value It fills the gap in the literature, as it investigates the impact of both managerial ownership and audit quality on earnings management in a special conflict context and in an unexplored emerging market of DSE. It suggests that managerial ownership exerts a significant role in controlling earnings management practices when loose regulatory environment combines conflict conditions. However, external audit quality fails to counter earnings management practices when conditions are fierce.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Osama F. Atayah ◽  
Khakan Najaf ◽  
Ravichandran K. Subramaniam ◽  
Phaik Nie Chin

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the implication of top executives’ number of years of experience (tenure) on corporate risk-taking behaviour and corporate performance in Malaysian corporations.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypothesis efficiently, the authors have extracted the data from Bloomberg for 788 listed companies of the Malaysian Stock Exchange. The methodology entails ordinary least squares regressions, quantile regression and dynamic system generalized method of moments model.FindingsFirst, the authors show that executive management tenure has a significant negative relationship with corporate risk-taking. It means that the long-tenured executives tend to undertake less risky strategies and decisions. Second, this study reveals that the longer executive management tenure has a positive relationship with corporate performance. Third, the moderating effect of corporate risk-taking with executive tenure (Tenure dummy*Risk) has a negative relationship with the corporate performance by 1%.Practical implicationsIt implies that the appointment of experienced executive management contributes towards corporate performance directly. However, experienced management trends take less risk, which eventually results in mitigating the corporate performance. On that basis, the findings are significant in highlighting the usefulness of executive leadership term and offers insights to academics, practitioners and policymakers.Originality/valueThis paper is novel since it is unique in evaluating the executive tenure and the preferences to handle risk strategies and how that impact the firm performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhua Du ◽  
Chao Bian ◽  
Christopher Gan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the government intervention and bank competition on small and medium enterprise (SME) external debt financing in Chinese capital market. Design/methodology/approach This study uses ordinary least squares with standard errors clustered at the firm level. In addition, the authors use the dynamic system generalized method of moments to address the possible endogeneity issue in the regressions. Findings Using a sample of 908 firms from 2000 to 2010, the authors found that SMEs are more likely to access bank loans only in regions with higher level of government intervention than median government intervention. Further, the result shows that the government is motivated to help SMEs to obtain more external debt in regions where the level of bank competition is lower than the median bank competition index. Last, the authors found evidence that firms with politically connected CEOs are likely to access bank loans. Research limitations/implications This paper highlights that government intervention enables the SMEs to secure more bank loans. Second, the authors’ results imply that the government is motivated to help SMEs to obtain more external debt in regions with low level of bank competition. Originality/value This study contributes to the current literature by revealing that government intervention is the driving force alleviating SMEs’ constraints in accessing external financing. Second, this study finds the evidence to supports the argument that government has a strong motive to help SMEs to secure long-term credits for political purpose (Fan et al., 2012), when the level of bank competition is low (Berger and Udell, 2006).


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nor Farizal Mohammed ◽  
Kamran Ahmed ◽  
Xu-Dong Ji

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between accounting conservatism, corporate governance and political connection in listed firms in Malaysia where political influence plays a significant role in the capital market and in many business dealings. Design/methodology/approach By utilizing 824 firm-year observations comprising large listed companies over a period of four years from 2004, this study uses ordinary least squares regression models to investigate the relationship between accounting conservatism, corporate governance and political connections in Malaysia. Multiple measures of conservatism developed by Basu (1997) and Khan and Watts (2009) are employed. Findings The results show evidence of accounting conservatism (bad news being recognized earlier than good news) in Malaysia. Further, the results reveal that better corporate governance structure in terms of board independence is positively associated with accounting conservatism while management ownership is negatively associated with it. However, political connection has a negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between accounting conservatism and board independence. The results also suggest political connections have a positive association with firm’s future performance. Originality/value This study is the first in investigating the effect of political connections on accounting conservatism in Malaysian context and how political connections negatively affect the monitoring role of the corporate boards. By directly measuring political connection and controlling for various corporate governance mechanisms and firm-specific attributes, this study contributes to enhance the authors’ understanding of the political influence in financial reporting quality and firm performance in an emerging market setting.


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