Valuation effects of corporate strategic transactions in the cleantech industry

This paper investigates capital market reactions to announcements of corporate strategic transactions in the clean technology, or cleantech, industry. Using the event study method in a multi-country setting, we exploit a dataset of 328 hand-collected announcements of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and asset disposals that took place between 2001 and 2011. We provide strong evidence of significant wealth gains from cleantech deals. On average, cleantech companies earn significantly higher abnormal returns than non-cleantech companies, confirming the beneficial idiosyncrasies of the cleantech industry. These high premia are likely driven by government interventions that are believed to be a necessary pre-condition for development of clean technology. Alternatively, the premia are commanded by the acquisition of cutting-edge environmental innovations and the positive credibility spillover inherent in cleantech deals.     

经济增长和环境质量相容性政策条件——环境技术进步方向视角下的政策偏向效应检验

现有文献关注政策规制的经济与环境绩效,却并未重视不同类型政策的技术偏向,以及技术偏态情境中经济增长和环境质量相容发展的政策条件。本文扩展Acemoglu等(2012)的环境技术进步方向模型,数理演绎不同性质政策的技术偏向,以及技术进步方向转变时经济增长和环境质量的动态演化过程,再结合我国经济数据进行政策效果评价。研究结果发现:(1)环境技术进步方向是技术研发效率和环境政策累积作用的结果,环境政策会通过影响不同类型技术创新激励的方式,改变环境技术进步方向。(2)异质性政策转变技术进步方向,影响经济增长和环境质量,其作用存在不同的着力点和偏向性。其中,研发补贴政策的清洁技术偏向和产出激励效果明显,而规制类政策的环境质量效应优于研发补贴,但其对经济增长的作用表现出非线性U型特征。(3)单一政策干预往往难以破除经济增长和环境质量的两难困境,而政策组合的效果明显优于单一政策,特别是在碳排放权交易试点地区实施研发补贴政策,以及在碳排放权交易试点地区同时实行环境税与研发补贴,效果明显优于实施单一政策。但最优的政策组合并非固定不变,而往往处于动态变化过程中。     

Sustainable supply chain practices: an empirical investigation on Indian automobile industry

The purpose of this research study is to analyze sustainable supply chain (SSC) management practices for Indian automobile industry and to identify the critical factors for its successful implementation. Despite the fact that SSC has been frequently promoted as a means of improving business competitiveness, little empirical evidence exists in the literature validating its positive link with organizational performance. Sustainable supply chain practices (SSCP) not only help in reducing environmental degradation but it also has social and economic implications (as per tipple bottom line approach). For this purpose, empirical data is collected to measure the SSCP prevailing in Indian automobile industry. A structural equation modeling technique is used to build the measurement and structural models. Later, statistical estimates are used to validate the model that has been built. The data analysis helps to determine whether to accept or reject the hypothesis that has been stated based on the structural model. The result shows how SSCP are correlated and help in improving the supply chain performance among the industries being surveyed. It is also observed that environmental and social performance have a positive relationship with economic performance.     

Motivations for Environmental Alliances: Generating and Internalizing Environmental and Knowledge Value

Environmental alliances are a common response to societal sustainability demands. In environmental alliances, firms collaboratively exploit and explore environmental technologies to address market opportunities while simultaneously generating positive environmental impacts. A striking idiosyncrasy is that in addition to economic value, environmental alliances generate two types of external value: environmental value from positive effects on air, water, land and biodiversity, and knowledge value from innovations in environmental technologies. Research on motivations for environmental alliances is dispersed and underdeveloped compared to the well‐established literature on motivations for strategic alliances that emphasize economic value. This study therefore develops a classification of motivations for environmental alliances by combining the literature on strategic alliances and that on environmental and knowledge value. The resulting classification includes motivations for environmental alliances to generate environmental and knowledge value as well as motivations to create economic value by internalizing environmental and knowledge value. A systematic review of 123 articles on environmental inter‐firm alliances identifies specific motivations to populate the new classification. We show that alliance partners are motivated to share sustainable resources, reduce sustainability risk, respond to stakeholders or invest in specific sustainable assets to generate external value. They collaborate to reduce costs or enhance competitive advantage, reputation or legitimacy to internalize external value. The resource‐based view, resource‐dependence view, institutional theory and transaction cost economics have not previously distinguished between motivations to generate and internalize external value. We extend their area of application from strategic alliances to environmental alliances, and thus beyond the exclusive pursuit of economic value.     

Leadership,Passion and Performance: A Study of Job Creation Projects during the Recession

In the aftermath of the economic recession that began in 2008, governmental bodies have been assisting private sector companies to create jobs. To increase financial performance under greater economic uncertainty and liquidity constraints, this study proposes that a leader's type of passion could explain why some project leaders who receive government funding succeed in creating jobs whereas others do not. Harmonious passion, a voluntary but not overpowering urge to engage in an activity, leads to higher job creation, especially under greater environmental complexity. Obsessive passion, an uncontrollable urge to engage in an activity, also leads to higher job creation, particularly under increasing environmental dynamism. Using survey data from 105 European Union projects and archival data on job creation from the EU funding agency, we find support for the proposed framework. The findings provide a basis for acknowledging the relevance of a leader's passion for environmental adaptation.     

Fostering Innovation in Contaminated Sediments Management Through Multicriteria Technology Assessment and Public Participation

Management of contaminated sediments is problematic and costly. Several new technologies are under development that may in some cases reduce costs and environmental or ecological impacts. However, there are significant barriers to implementing new technologies, including the increased management complexity, the potential for introducing antagonistic or incommensurate objectives that are unfamiliar to stakeholders or regulators, and the difficulty of capturing private, commercial benefits from environmental improvements that may primarily benefit the public. This article identifies several innovative contaminated sediments technologies, discusses the difficulty of proving or quantifying the benefits of new technologies, and presents an agenda for research that would foster partnerships between scientific, government, and public communities of interest for the purpose of improving innovative technology assessment and environmental decision making.     

Regulating private monopolies and promoting competition

This article describes developments in the British telecommunications industry in its transition from the public to the private sector. These developments are not particular to this industry alone. The 1980s are seeing a movement away from direct government control in large organizations in the public sector and towards privatization, for reasons that are both political and economic. The experience of the telecommunications industry has both particular and general relevance.     

Effects of key enabling technologies for seru production on sustainable performance

Demand uncertainty, economic globalization, and environmental deterioration force factories to innovate their manufacturing systems for achieving sustainable performance. Seru production, which is the latest manufacturing mode developed in Japan, attracts broad attention from both academia and practitioners. The overwhelming majority of existing works on seru production focus on economic performance unilaterally, while neglecting the environmental and social performance. This paper investigates the effects of key enabling technologies for seru production on sustainable performance. Firstly, four key enabling technologies for seru production are identified through systematic review, and an evaluation indicator system of sustainable performance in the context of seru production is developed. Then, the hypotheses about the effects of the identified key enabling technologies for seru production on sustainable performance are proposed on the basis of previous research achievements, theoretical analysis, and practical observations. Finally, the hypotheses are tested through structural equation modeling. Except for two hypotheses which are not supported and one which is indirectly supported, all other hypotheses are verified. The research results show that the four key enabling technologies for seru production have different effects on the three dimensions of sustainable performance. The achievements of this work are of significance to improve the comprehensive understanding of seru production, as well as to develop practical methods to implement sustainable operations.     

The Benefits and Costs of New Fuels and Engines for Light‐Duty Vehicles in the United States

Rising oil prices and concerns about energy security and climate change are spurring reconsideration of both automobile propulsion systems and the fuels that supply energy to them. In addition to the gasoline internal combustion engine, recent years have seen alternatives develop in the automotive marketplace. Currently, hybrid‐electric vehicles, advanced diesels, and flex‐fuel vehicles running on a high percentage mixture of ethanol and gasoline (E85) are appearing at auto shows and in driveways. We conduct a rigorous benefit‐cost analysis from both the private and societal perspective of the marginal benefits and costs of each technology—using the conventional gasoline engine as a baseline. The private perspective considers only those factors that influence the decisions of individual consumers, while the societal perspective accounts for environmental, energy, and congestion externalities as well. Our analysis illustrates that both hybrids and diesels show promise for particular light‐duty applications (sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks), but that vehicles running continuously on E85 consistently have greater costs than benefits. The results for diesels were particularly robust over a wide range of sensitivity analyses. The results from the societal analysis are qualitatively similar to the private analysis, demonstrating that the most relevant factors to the benefit‐cost calculations are the factors that drive the individual consumer's decision. We conclude with a brief discussion of marketplace and public policy trends that will both illustrate and influence the relative adoption of these alternative technologies in the United States in the coming decade.     

Solar energy: Where policy-makers and conservationists disagree

Solar energy policy-makers and solar energy advocates use significantly different scenarios upon which they perceive and evaluate the adoption of solar technologies. The differences between the two groups seem to be rooted in different hierarchies of values relating to solar energy policy. Policy-makers emphasize the economic and national security values of solar energy. On the other hand, solar energy advocates stress environmental, ethical and social values. Aside from understanding the different groups in the on-going energy debate better, the findings of the study have important implications for planners both in government and industry as they may help increase the effectiveness of their plans.     

“三重底线”下中国商业银行经营效率及其影响因素分析

银行业在我国经济中扮演着重要的角色。在现今可持续发展理念的倡导下，单一维度的银行效率评价已经难以适应时代的需要。为此，本文基于"三重底线"视角分别构建了中国商业银行经济、社会与环境效率指标，通过SBM-DEA模型对中国商业银行的"三重效率"进行了测算分析，并运用SBM-Pearson分析法初步揭示了中国商业银行三重效率间的关系，之后再利用SBM-SUR计量模型对影响中国商业银行三重效率的因素作了进一步的探究。研究结果表明：（1）中国商业银行中股份制商业银行与城市商业银行在经济效率、社会效率上表现突出，而国有商业银行表现不佳。但是在环境效率方面，国有商业银行后来居上表现强劲。（2）中国商业银行间三重效率并不存在相互冲突，社会效率、环境效率与经济效率之间有着显著的正相关关系，但是并没有发现社会效率与环境效率之间存在显著的联系。（3）在经济效率方面，资产规模、运营年限、银行类型以及资产回报率均对其有着显著的正向影响；不同的银行类型对社会效率有着不同程度的显著影响；在环境效率方面，资产规模与银行类型也对其影响显著。     

Public–private versus public ownership and economic performance: evidence from Italian local utilities

In the last century local public services have often been reformed. The declared outcome of the most recent reforms is the privatization and liberalization of the sector. However, in almost all European countries, the privatization of local public services has been only partial, because local governments have sought to privatise a minority stake in the public owned-companies, while remaining committed to retaining public ownership and control over the longer-term as a means of protecting public interest. The phenomenon of mixed public–private companies emerged as a result of this process. In this context, the article investigates whether differences in financial performance can be found between public–private companies and totally public-owned enterprises. Empirical quantitative studies on this particular topic are quite lacking at the moment. The present study tries to fill this gap through an empirical analysis on a sample of 623 Italian local utilities. The results of the study suggest that there are differences in economic performance between local utility companies with varying degrees of public ownership. In particular, public–private utilities show better economic performance than publicly owned firms, especially in terms of profitability. The results also seem to suggest that the majority private ownership is not necessary for better performance. In other terms, public–private partnership—and not private majority ownership—seems to be the key point for good performance.     

The Impact of Lean Management Practices and Sustainably‐Oriented Innovation on Sustainability Performance of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Empirical Evidence from the UK

While lean management practices (LMP) help small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to be efficient, sustainability‐oriented innovation (SOI) facilitates adopting environmental and social practices. Although prior research looks into the effect of LMP on the economic performance (EP) of SMEs, less is known about the effect of LMP on sustainability (economic, environmental and social) performance. Studies on the effect of SOI on sustainability and economic performance are also scant. Additionally, examining the mediating effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices (environmental and social practices) on both LMP and SOI achieving sustainability performance (SP) is rare. This research bridges these knowledge gaps by answering the question of how LMP, SOI, CSR practices, sustainability and economic performance are correlated. Through hypothesis testing using structural equation modelling, this study reveals the impact of LMP, SOI, CSR (environmental and social) practices on sustainability and economic performance. The study uses data from 119 SMEs within manufacturing industries in the Midlands, UK. The analysis reveals that LMP and SOI facilitate achieving both sustainability and economic performance, and SOI mediates LMP to achieve sustainability performance. Additionally, although CSR practices mediate LMP to achieve sustainability performance, they only borderline mediate SOI to achieve sustainability performance.     

PLANT‐LEVEL ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ORIENTATION: THE INFLUENCE OF MANAGEMENT VIEWS AND PLANT CHARACTERISTICS

As customers, the public and other stakeholders are increasingly demanding that manufacturing firms improve their approach to environmental management, some plants have moved to develop an orientation that is increasingly proactive. Synthesizing earlier research, environmental management orientation is defined here to include system analysis and planning, organizational responsibility, and management controls. The relationship between a proactive orientation and two sets of internal factors, specifically the personal views of plant managers and plant‐specific characteristics, was tested using survey data from the furniture industry. The production outlook for the plant was critical, with a favorable outlook fostering a more proactive environmental management orientation. After controlling for plant‐specific factors, personal views also were influential; an increasing emphasis on short‐term economic value was related to a more reactive plant‐level orientation. Thus senior corporate management can foster strong plant‐level environmental management through a more balanced emphasis on economic and ethical values and continued investment in a plant's long‐term viability.     

The future of the stock exchange

What is the future of the Stock Exchange? In this article the author considers the question from the point of view of the U.K. His analysis will be of interest to planners in many types of organization. He concludes that provided the British economy remains one where private enterprises, funded by private savings voluntarily dispersed, the Stock Exchange will have a central part to play. At the same time, as the business of securities trading becomes more and more international so will the business of the Stock Exchange.     

地方保护主义、股权转让方式与控制权私有收益:基于大宗股权协议转让的经验证据

本文以股改之前七年内引发控制权变更的非流通股协议转让事件为样本,区分本地并购与异地并购、相关并购与多元化并购,对实际控制人通过转让控制权攫取私有收益的程度进行研究发现,地方政府实际控制人,以及普遍受到地方政府干预的非政府实际控制人将控制权转让给异地、异行企业时获得的转让溢价更高;支付较高控制权转让溢价的并购方实施内幕交易的程度更严重,获得的累计超额收益更多。     

The Economic Value of Market Information for Farmers in Developing Economies

In developing countries, farmers lack information for making informed production, manufacturing/selling decisions to improve their earnings. To alleviate poverty, various non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and for‐profit companies have developed different ways to distribute information about market price, crop advisory and farming technique to farmers. We investigate a fundamental question: will information create economic value for farmers? We construct a stylized model in which farmers face an uncertain market price (demand) and must make production decisions before the market price is realized. Each farmer has an imprecise private signal and an imprecise public signal to estimate the actual market price. By examining the equilibrium outcomes associated with a Cournot competition game, we show that private signals do create value by improving farmers' welfare. However, this value deteriorates as the public signal becomes available (or more precise). In contrast, in the presence of private signals, the public signal does not always create value for the farmers. Nevertheless, both private and public signals will reduce price variation. We also consider two separate extensions that involve non‐identical private signal precisions and farmers' risk‐aversion, and we find that the same results continue to hold. More importantly, we find that the public signal can reduce welfare inequality when farmers have non‐identical private signal precisions. Also, risk‐aversion can dampen the value created by private or public information.     

APPOINTMENT POLICIES IN SERVICE OPERATIONS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

In this paper we review the literature on appointment policies, specifically in terms of the objective function commonly used and the assumptions made about the behavior of demand. First, we provide an economic framework to analyze the problem. Based on this framework we make a critical analysis of the objective functions used in the literature. We also question the validity of the assumption made throughout the literature that demand is exogenous and independent of customers' waiting times. We conclude that the objective functions used in the literature are appropriate only in the case of a central planner facing a demand that is unresponsive to waiting time. For other scenarios, such as a private server facing a demand that does react to waiting time, these objective functions are only shortcuts for the real objective functions that must be used. A more general model is then proposed that fits these scenarios well. Finally, we determine the impact of using the literature's objective functions on optimal appointment policies.     

Innovation: The way out of the recession?

A nation may easily have more than enough of any one commodity though she can never have more than enough of commodities in general: Faced with the possibility of a prolonged recession the introduction of innovations into manufacturing industry is essential. With the likelihood of a declining role for the already industrialized countries—while that of the developing countries will continue to grow as current technologies are still expanding there—an equilibrium will eventually be reached. New technologies must be found to provide the basis for a new growth in the economic cycle.