Nick Tsitsianis

Evaluating the digital divide: the Silver Surfer's perspective

The aim of this paper is to explore and ascertain using an information systems perspective evaluation framework, the factors that encouraging the adoption and usage of online products and services; namely, in this case, broadband, within one particular population group – the Silver Surfer. Data were collected using email, interviews and an online survey. The findings of this study illustrate that technical factors are not of primary importance. Non-technical factors were considered to be fundamental and clearly need to be taken into consideration when encouraging Silver Surfers to become online interactive. What was also discovered is that interest, whether in technological or non-technological factors, as well as communication are very pertinent in adopting and using technology. This research should offer a substantial contribution to various stakeholders including government agencies, management consulting firms, Internet Service Providers and IT organisations wanting to identify the online interactions of Silver Surfers.

Financialization directing strategy

Abstract This paper constructs an account of how financialization is directing strategy in the S&P 500 now that senior managers are required to both deliver value creation and respond to value absorption in an era of shareholder value. Value absorption arises out of the need to account for the market value of capital market transactions and this modifies reported corporate financials. Value creation and value absorption are directing strategy and financial arbitrage across product, factor and capital markets and between stakeholder groups as managers struggle to hold cash extraction out of sales revenue and maintain an increased share of cash distribution to shareholders.

Does the day of the week effect exist once transaction costs have been accounted for? Evidence from the UK

This article investigates the day of the week anomaly in the FTSE 100 Share Index over an 11-year time period from 1 January 1986 to 31 December 1997. Its focus is to assess whether the day of the week effect continues to persist once transactions costs are considered. Unlike previous literature it uses the bid–ask spread as a proxy for transactions costs. It finds that once returns become robust to transactions costs the anomaly appears to fade away. It then extends the research by looking at the time-varying volatility of stock returns with use of a GARCH model. The GARCH results further support the fact that transaction costs appear to die away the day of the week anomaly in the UK Stock market.

Apple’s financial success. The precariousness of power exercised in global value chains

Abstract The topic of this paper is the Apple Inc business model and how, in a financialized world, the success of this business model is represented by what we term financial ‘point values’. Our argument is that there is a tendency to promote specific point valuation multiples as measures of success, but these values, by their nature, do not reveal the contingent and variable nature of the power relations exercised in and along global supply chains. Firms such as Apple exploit their resources and capabilities to ‘create value’ but also exercise power to recalibrate relationships with suppliers in the value chain to secure ‘value capture’ for financial transformation. Value capture is an active ingredient that can help inform our understanding of the fragility of the Apple business model value proposition and frame a critical argument regarding the precarious nature and sustainability of Apples substantial profit margins.

Financialized accounts : A stakeholder account of cash distribution in the S&P 500 1990-2005

Abstract In this paper, we construct a financialized account of corporate restructuring in S&P 500 survivor firms where corporate transactions are accounted for at fair value or are marked to market. Accounting practitioners are preoccupied with the technical aspects of fair value reporting, but the outcome of absorbing wealth accumulation into corporate sector balance sheets is not simply a neutral technical issue. In financialized accounts blending current income and expenditure with capital market value amplifies the need to distribute cash to equity holders. In financialized accounts realignments generated by a product market downturn are magnified because value at risk and corrective restructuring will be wired into balance sheet fair value not historic cost.

What a waste : outsourcing and how it goes wrong

This is the first ever book to analyse outsourcing ? contracting out public services to private business interests. It is an unacknowledged revolution in the British economy, and it has happened quietly, but it is creating powerful new corporate interests, transforming the organisation of government at all levels, and is simultaneously enriching a new business elite and creating numerous fiascos in the delivery of public services. What links the brutal treatment of asylum-seeking detainees, the disciplining of welfare benefit claimants, the profits effortlessly earned by the privatised rail companies, and the fiasco of the management of security at the 2012 Olympics? In a word: outsourcing. This book, by the renowned research team at the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change in Manchester, is the first to combine ?follow the money? research with accessibility for the engaged citizen, and the first to balance critique with practical suggestions for policy reform.

Corporate strategy financialized: Conjuncture, arbitrage and earnings capacity in the S&P500

Abstract The conjuncture that ushered in the era of shareholder value served to embed capital market expectations into corporate governance aligning management and shareholder interests. Market arbitrage focussed on modifying contractual relations with stakeholders to extract a (higher) return on invested capital. In this article we focus on cash earnings on capital employed generated by the S&P 500 survivor group of firms covering the period 1990–2008. We use this financial data to construct three complementary perspectives on corporate financial performance: firm, firm-relative and macro. Within this framework the financial numbers and perspectives are analogous to a ‘hall of mirrors’ where ambiguity and contradiction are in play frustrating straightforward performative narratives that connect purpose with financial transformation an era of shareholder value.

A Financialized Account of Corporate Governance

The literature on governance is generally organized within an international, national or industry framework of analysis, taking either a political economy or economic perspective. There is a need for governance because of a general reorientation of international, national and local economies away from political blocks to a neo-liberal paradigm of global free product, labour and capital markets. At a national level, withdrawal of the state further strengthens the demand for local governance which, in turn, requires new forms of regulatory institutions and policy frameworks around, for example ‘participative governance’. The political economy debates on governance stress the importance of institutions and how changed relations between society and markets can, possibly, be controlled and regulated. On the other hand, an economic perspective would place more weight and emphasis on the role of markets and particularly ‘non-market’controls which are employed to correct market imperfection(s).

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS): A new business model in the FTSE100

Abstract This paper is about the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) business model. REITs benefit from tax concessions and Fair Value Accounting (FVA) practices. REITs distributing over 90 percent of profits can obtain tax concessions for their shareholders. This encourages profit distribution at the expense of accumulating retained earnings in shareholder equity. The financial viability of REITs depends upon FVA because this records holding gains when property values are increased. These holding gains can be employed to generate additional financial leverage. However, REITs are exposed to property market volatility and this can quickly undermine solvency, credit ratings and financial stability.

Identifying adopters and non-adopters of Broadband amongst silver surfers: using BHPS

The aim of this paper is to identify the adopters and non-adopters of Broadband within the silver surfer group. This was achieved using the British Household Panel Survey, a large scale survey used to collect data from UK households. The data was analysed using statistical tools, such as, SPSS v. 15. The conclusions drawn are that Broadband will be adopted in nuclear households (no presence of elderly) with silver surfers who have children aged between 12 and 18, without ignoring the role played by a relatively level of education. This research offers contributions for academics by providing an objective viewpoint of the factors leading to Broadband adoption within silver surfers, a group of immense, current interest. For industry, this research offers an intensive identification of socio-economic factors that are considered important when marketing a product or service within the market.