Abeer Hassan

An Explanatory Study of Private Equity and Venture Capital in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from Egypt

The private equity and venture capital industry began in the U.S. and then extended worldwide. As it expanded into other markets, there was a deliberate effort to duplicate U.S. industry practices. It is argued that private equity PE/VCcan be considered one of the most effective ways of promoting small and medium enterprises and the economic growth of a nation. However, the success of the PE/VC industry does not occur incidentally, especially in developing countries. This article shows how PE/VC operates in one emerging economy, namely, Egypt. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for research.

The Influence of Venture Capitalists' Source of Finance on their Post-Investment Behavior in Investee Companies

Venture capital firms face agency and incentive problems that can require the use of non-financial inputs into the investee company. This article considers differences in the post investment behaviour of venture capital firms. The literature has paid little attention to the influence of the source of venture capital funding on this behaviour. In particular there has been no research into the behaviour of semi captive venture capital companies. Changes in the structure of venture capital in the U.K. have taken the form of a rapid growth in semi captive enterprises. The non-parametric statistical analysis determines the significant differences in the post investment behaviour of this group compared to independent and captive firms. The results confirm the need to separately identify semi captive venture capital companies and to recognise the heterogeneity of post investment behaviour according to the source of funding.

Agency and information problems in venture capital markets: an empirical study of the information needs of U.K. investors and the demand for accounting information

Venture capital firms face information deficits, asymmetric information and agency problems with respect to their proposed investee companies. This paper considers differences in the approaches and methods used by venture capital firms to overcome these market imperfections and value unquoted companies. The research looks for statistically significant differences in the valuation behaviour of different types of venture capital firms and assesses the relative importance and use of independent accounting information. The results suggest the overall importance of information deficits and agency problems and the extent to which they vary by organisational structure, funding and different stages of investment.

Analysis of the banking sector performance in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia before and after the global financial crisis

Summary The focus of this study is the banking sector of the three neighbouring countries Bosnia and Herzegovina; Montenegro; and Serbia. These are former communist countries which have been going through the transition from centrally-planned economies to open market economies over the past 25 years. During the transition process, structural reforms were conducted to transform the banking sector into a sector suitable for open market economy. These reforms are considered to be the most successful ones in the region. Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, the economies of the three selected countries were experiencing credit booms. The aim of this research was to examine how the banking sector is performing on an aggregated level years after the crisis and whether the performance is better or worse compared to the pre-crisis period. The findings show that the banking sector was performing better before the crisis in all three countries. After the crisis, the three countries experienced prolonged slow credit growth and had higher nonperforming loans.

Environmental performance and voluntary disclosure on specific environmental activities: an empirical study of carbon vs. non-carbon intensive industries. Legitimacy proactive approach

Adopting legitimacy proactive approach, this paper examines and evaluates relationship between levels of environmental performance (measured by environmental awards) and the quality of specific voluntary environmental disclosure using a sample of UK FTSE 100 companies. Companies in the sample have been grouped according to industry membership (carbon intensive vs. non-carbon-intensive) and environmental performance (poor performers vs. better performers). Statistical techniques have been used to test for variations in the quality of voluntary environmental disclosure between the companies in these groups. The findings reveal that the extent of quantitative environmental disclosure by companies with poor environmental performance in the carbon intensive group was significantly higher than similar disclosures made by either better environmental performers or poor environmental performers from non-carbon intensive industries for some activities. In contrast, quantitative environmental disclosure by better performers is found to be of a significantly higher quality than similar disclosures made by either poor performers or better performers from carbon intensive group for other activities. The results have some implications for various stakeholders and offers opportunities for future research, specially, in relation to environmental awarding bodies and their criteria for awarding.

The relationships between reporting format, environmental disclosure and environmental performance: An empirical study

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess whether European companies issue standalone environmental reports in an attempt to gain and maintain legitimacy with relevant stakeholders. This is achieved by creating and empirically testing a model of the relationships between corporate reporting format, industry membership, environmental disclosure, and environmental performance. Design/methodology/approach - Data are collected from 100 large European companies in carbon and non-carbon-intensive industries. Hypothesis testing is conducted via structure equation modeling. Findings - Evidence exists that companies which disclose environmental information in standalone environmental reports tend to provide higher levels of environmental information than companies which combine financial and environmental disclosure in annual reports. The findings support greenwashing as a new perspective of legitimacy theory: companies in carbon-intensive industry use standalone environmental reports to pose as good corporate citizens even when they are not. Research limitations/implications - The sample companies are large European companies and this could limit the generalizability of research findings. The authors call for longitudinal studies examining how the relationship between reporting format and environmental disclosure changes. Practical implications - This paper suggests that reporting format be considered a proactive, strategic communication-driven activity rather than a decision that managers passively make in response to external scrutiny. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the literature by adding to the scarce evidence of the relationship between reporting format and environmental disclosure. Greenwashing as a new perspective of legitimacy theory is used to develop research hypotheses.

Inappropriate or intriguing?: The impact of demographics and psychographics on the attitudes of genders towards sexual imagery in press advertising

This study compares the male and female attitudes towards sexual imagery in press advertising and identifies the demographic and psychographic factors influencing their attitudes. Although this topic has received previous attention in literature, genders’ attitudes have not been exclusively compared and particularly not with a view to the factors influencing these attitudes. We employed qualitative methodology to gain a greater understanding of the participants’ views. The findings revealed the significance of gender and age on shaping consumers’ attitude. The contrast between male and female attitudes was undeniable, however overall interviewees implied their growing indifference to the genre.