Michael Troilo

Values and female entrepreneurship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research the extent to which different types of values influence a womans decision to become an entrepreneur.Design/methodology/approach – The paper constructs a two‐stage model to capture the entrepreneurial decision. In the first stage, life values affect the decision to enter the workforce. In the second stage, work values impact the type of employment sought: entrepreneur vs employee.Findings – It is found that women whose life value is that “men should have scarce jobs before women” are less likely to participate in the labor force and hence less likely to become an entrepreneur; work values of initiative, achievement, and respect are positively correlated with entrepreneurship.Research limitations/implications – The definition of entrepreneurship is limited to those who are self‐employed.Practical implications – The findings have important policy implications. If policy makers wish to spur the rate of entrepreneurship among women to make it approach or reac...

Financing small and medium enterprises in Asia and the Pacific

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to propose policy suggestions for the financing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia-Pacific region. Recent literature suggests that lack of capital is the most severe constraint for SME survival and growth. Enabling policymakers to assist SMEs in their search for financing will boost economic growth. Design/methodology/approach - – The methodology includes both quantitative and qualitative components. Current World Bank data on the strength of various financial institutions in the countries of interest is analyzed to discover areas of improvement. Additionally, 32 experts from East and South Asia were interviewed several times to determine areas of concern in financing SMEs. Their responses and the evidence from the World Bank data form the basis of the policy prescriptions in the paper. Findings - – Financing is a critical constraint for SMEs for several reasons. Many SME owners do not manage working capital effectively, information asymmetry between banks and SMEs retards the loan application and approval process, and underdeveloped equity markets deny SMEs future growth opportunities. Policymakers can ameliorate conditions by serving as facilitators and communicators; governments should not provide financing directly if possible. Practical implications - – It is hoped and expected that the policy prescriptions offered herein will enhance the growth and survival prospects of SMES, thereby creating more employment, innovation, and economic growth. Originality/value - – The main contribution of this work is its scope. While the financing of SMEs is a familiar topic, the review of issues and policies in East and South Asia, and their distillation into practical advice for officialdom, is what makes this manuscript unique.

Guanxi and entrepreneurship in urban China

We test for the relative importance of guanxi (‘connections’) as a catalyst for entrepreneurship in urban China using survey data from five cities for the period 1996–2001. We find that guanxi with the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) is negatively correlated with the likelihood of being either a sole proprietor or an entrepreneur with employees. Family guanxi has no effect for sole proprietors, but is positively correlated with the probability of being an entrepreneur with employees. These findings add to the literature on entrepreneurship in China by differentiating the effects of various types of guanxi on various forms of entrepreneurship.

The role of trust in new SME creation Differences in motivations and opportunities

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key to economic growth, and yet comparatively little research has examined the relationship between the level of societal trust and the motivations and opportunities of entrepreneurs starting new SMEs. The author tests the impact of trust on new firm formation using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey data for 2001–2003. Trust is found to be significant for starting SMEs that pursue Schumpeterian opportunities. Trust is also significant for overall levels of entrepreneurship and for opportunity entrepreneurs in developing countries. These findings add nuance to previous literature suggesting that trust is significant for all forms of entrepreneurial activity.

Managing cognitive risk in real estate

This paper explores cognition and its impact on the uncertainty and risk that surround real estate enterprises. We posit that cognition creates its own risk and affects risk from other sources in many ways, and we situate an overlay paradigm within a behavioural real estate paradigm. We develop the concept of cognitive risk, and examine it using a multidisciplinary perspective. We explore approaches to managing cognitive risk and offer a framework for further research and development of cognitive risk and its management.

The Impact of International Football Matches on Primary Sponsors and Shareholder Wealth

The effect of sponsorship on the stock market returns of the sponsoring companies has been previously studied, but the internationalizing aspect of sponsorship has been overlooked. We examine returns to shareholders for firms sponsoring international football matches using an event study analysis. We find that there are cumulative abnormal returns to stockholders of sponsoring firms of international matches 10 days after the match and 20 days after the match. This finding is robust across several different event-study methods. We also find this general pattern across different professional football leagues, as well as a positive effect on returns by sponsoring high-profile football clubs. We theorize that the elapsed time until the effect on the stock price is the result of building brand awareness before a shift in the price becomes evident. These findings add nuance to the literature on sponsorship and event studies, which is almost exclusively domestic in character.

The limits of China's growth

Purpose – Despite the global economic slowdown, Chinas economy continues to grow at astonishing rates. This has led some observers to conclude that China must lead the rest of world out of the doldrums, and that Chinas rise to become the pre‐eminent economy is imminent. The purpose of this paper is to offer a countervailing view. Chinas rise, while impressive, masks some serious deficiencies in its economic structure. In particular, its growth is largely input driven, and this will constrain the rate of future growth.Design/methodology/approach – Statistics were gathered from a number of sources to make the case that China will face limited growth in the near future. A scenario analysis was performed to model possible outcomes for China vis‐a‐vis the US economy.Findings – In the most realistic scenario, China will close the gap with the USA from its current position of 61.5 percent of the US economy, as measured by 2009 purchasing power parity gross domestic product figures to nearly 88 percent by the ...

Collaboration, product innovation, and sales: an empirical study of Chinese firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that collaborations, both foreign and domestic, play on product innovation, sales mix, and sales revenue for Chinese firms. Both statistical correlations and marginal (economic) effects of collaborations feature in the analysis. Design/methodology/approach – This study includes 2,700 Chinese firms across 15 industry sectors and 25 cities from a World Bank survey conducted in 2012; the data are stratified by firm size. Given the different types of dependent variables to be estimated, several methodologies are employed: logistic regression, Poisson regression, and ordinary least squares. The marginal effects of key variables are then calculated to demonstrate their economic impact. Findings – Regarding the likelihood of product innovation, collaboration with domestic (Chinese) companies is significant for Chinese micro, medium, and large enterprises. Being a foreign subsidiary is significant for the proportion of new products in the sales mix for sm...

Real estate valuation, cognitive risk, and translational research

Purpose – This paper seeks to consider selected aspects of the relationship between real estate valuation, human cognition, and translational research. Its purpose is to introduce the concept of cognitive risk, to propose a framework for mitigating it, and to develop a stream of translational research to transfer knowledge to real estate valuers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes an interdisciplinary conceptual approach towards the development and study of cognitive risk, and its mitigation. It proposes to broaden the study of behavioral issues in real estate valuation beyond cognitive psychology to cognitive science, and also fields such as time studies and human failure, in order to identify and mitigate cognitive risk.Findings – The paper offers a framework as a starting‐point for handling cognitive risk. It borrows the concept of translational research from medicine to discuss how basic theoretical knowledge may be communicated to real estate valuers to improve performance.Originality/value...

National factor effects on firm competitiveness and innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate how national-level characteristics such as country wealth, a floating exchange rate and European Union (EU) membership influence firm-level perceptions of competition and firm-level innovation. Greater understanding of these relationships can promote more effective policymaking as well as add to the existing academic conversation regarding national factors and firm competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach – The authors’ data consist of a panel of 27 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia from 2002 to 2009 with a total of nearly 27,000 firms from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. The authors utilize a multinomial logistic regression to estimate firm-level perceptions of both domestic and foreign competition upon decisions to introduce new products and manage new product costs. The authors then estimate the probability of innovation (introduction of a new product/service, obtaining international quality certification) using a logi...