We provide new evidence that current account balances in Greece, Portugal and Spain have become non-stationary after the adoption of the euro implying that there is no long-run stable relationship between savings and investment contrary to the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle. This can be taken as evidence of unsustainable current account balances and loss of solvency for the underlying economies. Using the ARDL methodology we also report a statistical association between fiscal balances and current account balances which implies that fiscal austerity can help these economies to reduce their current account deficits and restore their competitiveness. Our empirical evidence also suggests a particularly strong significant negative association between domestic investment and current account deficits. The magnitude of this latter effect may have important policy implications concerning the ways in which investment is financed to improve external competitiveness.

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Transportation infrastructure projects are prone to cost and schedule overruns. At the time of contract award, a construction contingency budget is often used to accommodate for unplanned events such as scope changes. Recent empirical research has shown that rework during construction as a result of design changes, errors and omission are the major contributors of overruns in projects. The statistical characteristics of rework, and cost and schedule overruns that are experienced from a project's contract award for 58 Australian transportation infrastructure projects are analysed. Theoretical probability distributions are fitted to the rework, cost and schedule overrun data. Goodness of fit tests are used in conjunction with probability-probability (P-P) plots to compare the sample distribution from the known theoretical distribution. A Generalised Logistic probability density function is found to describe the behaviour of cost-overruns and provides the best overall distribution fit. The best fitting distribution for schedule overruns and rework data were the Four Parameter Burr and a Johnson SB distribution, respectively. The distributions are used to calculate the probability of rework, cost and schedule overruns being experienced. A case illustration is presented and discussed to demonstrate how the derived probabilities may be utilised in practice.

We develop a non-linear Markov error correction approach to examine the general co-integration relation between the H- and A-prices of cross-listed Chinese stock issuers across the period January 1999 to March 2009. We unravel three important dimensions of this relation. These pertain to (i) the long-run expectation of the H- (to A-price) discount; (ii) the level of short-run co-movement in prices; and (iii) the magnitude of error corrections. Findings point to significant improvements in all three areas. Policy and corporate governance change appears to be the principal force driving the efficiency gains. Weakening informational asymmetries underlie much of the change in the markets’ relative pricing. In contrast, sentiment effects strongly underpin the contemporaneous response and error correction adjustments. Finally, the escalating Global Financial Crisis of 2008 appears to have not only bolstered the A- and H-markets’ short-term pricing dynamic but also temporarily increased the long-term H-share discount.

This paper considers the definitions of spouse, civil partner and partner in European Union free movement of persons law in order to question the EU’s heterocentric approach to defining ‘family’ in this context. It argues that the terms ‘spouse’ should include same sex married partners to ensure there is no discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. It further highlights the problems created by basing free movement rights of civil partners on host state recognition of such partnerships. This approach allows Member States to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation and is therefore not compatible with EU equality law in others areas. The position of unmarried or unregistered partners is also considered. In particular the paper examines the requirement of a duly attested durable relationship and its impact on same-sex partners wishing to move from one Member State to another. The paper argues that it is time to reconsider the law in this area and bring it in line with the EU’s commitment to eliminate discrimination on several grounds including sexual orientation.

Despite a substantial body of self-congruity (SC) research (cf. Aguirre-Rodriguez, Bosnjak, & Sirgy, 2012) two important questions remain open: First, does the SC effect apply beyond Western countries. Second, does individual level culture moderate the SC effect? This study contributes to SC theory by developing hypotheses on the validity of the four SC effects across East and West and by studying the moderating impact of the individual level cultural variable self-construals on those four effects. This study tests its hypotheses through a survey of over 1,600 consumers in an Eastern (India) and a Western (USA) country. Results show that the overall actual SC effect holds across East and West, while the ideal SC effect holds across contexts yet only for consumers with an independent self-construal. Meanwhile, the social SC effect holds in the Eastern but not in the Western context, while the ideal social SC effect does not hold in either context. Results further show a moderating effect of individual level culture on the SC effect, as the actual SC effect is stronger for interdependent consumers whereas the ideal SC effect is stronger for independent consumers across contexts. Finally, the findings of this study are used to advance managerial implications and to propose a refinement of SC theory.

Although literature on entrepreneurship has increasingly focused on intention-based models, not much emphasis has been laid on understanding the combined effect of contextual and situational factors along with support of university environment on the formation of entrepreneurial intention among students. In an effort to make up for this shortfall, by taking Theory of Planned Behavior as basic framework, the present study seeks to understand the influence of three of the most important factors, viz. (a) endogenous barriers, (b) exogenous environment, and (c) university environment and support on the entrepreneurial intention among management students. The study sample consisted of 1,097 students, wherein 526 students were from India, 252 from Singapore, and 319 were from Malaysia. The results indicates that along with positive attitude and perceived behavioral control that directly influences entrepreneurial intention, university environment and support and exogenous environment also have an indirect but significant impact on shaping of entrepreneurial intention among students. With this, it was found that exogenous environment was found to have a negative relationship with both attitude towards behavior and perceived behavioral control for all three countries.

Incorporating the global production network approach and competitor analysis, this paper establishes an analytical framework with two hypotheses for the role of foreign multinational enterprises (FMNEs) in indigenous firms’ exports and domestic sales. First, the presence of FMNEs as a whole is likely to have a negative impact on indigenous firms’ domestic sales but a simultaneous positive impact on their exports in an emerging economy like China. Second, the presence of MNEs from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (HMT MNEs) is more likely to generate this pattern of impact than MNEs from other countries (Other FMNEs). The FDI-led export strategy contributed to the dominance of the scenario described by the first hypothesis in China, while a higher degree of market commonality and resource similarity of HMT MNEs with that of indigenous Chinese firms than Other FMNEs leads to the second hypothesis. These novel hypotheses are tested and supported by a very large and recent firm-level panel dataset from Chinese manufacturing.

Extant research has established that environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) has a positive influence on performance outcomes. Nevertheless, several contingencies tend to affect the strength of this relationship. In this study, we draw on natural resource-based theory to introduce competitive strategies as moderators in the ESO-performance nexus. Using time-lagged data obtained from 269 firms in Ghana, this study finds that firms pursuing the differentiation strategy can positively boost performance outcomes with ESO than without differentiation strategy. We also find that firms can use the low-cost or the integrated strategy to get higher impact on performance with ESO respectively. Based on the results, firms in Ghana do not need differentiation strategy in order to boost the effect of ESO on financial performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of dynamic marketing capabilities (DMC), foreign ownership modes and sub-national locations on the performance of foreign owned affiliates (FOAs) in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a sample of 254 FOAs in Indian manufacturing sector (covering the period of 2000-2008 leading to 623 firm-year observations), the empirical paper adopts the panel data regression approach. Findings – The study confirms the significant importance of DMC to assist FOAs to gain better sales performance in an emerging market such as India. The findings indicate that Wholly Owned Foreign Affiliates (WOFAs) have better sales performance than International Joint Venture (IJV), and Majority-owned IJV (MAIJV) perform better than Minority-owned IJV (MIIJV) in the Indian manufacturing sector. The results confirm that effective deployment of DMC leads to better sales performance in WOFAs and to some extent in MAIJVs. Perhaps the most interesting finding is that developing DMC in non-Metropolitan areas is associated with higher sales growth than in Metropolitan locations. Originality/value – The study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of DMC on performance of FOA by considering the organised manufacturing sector in a large and fast growing developing economy. In addition, the results for the moderating effects provide novel evidence of the conditions under which DMC of FOA interacts with different ownership modes and influence firm performance.