Nikolaos G. Theriou

Modelling traditional accounting and modern value‐based performance measures to explain stock market returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of two value‐based performance measurement models, Economic Value Added (EVA®) and shareholder value added (SVA), compared with three traditional accounting performance measures: earnings per share (EPS), return on investment (ROI), and return on equity (ROE), in explaining stock market returns in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE).Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses the Easton and Harris formal valuation model and employs both a relative and an incremental information content approach to examine which performance measure best explains stock market returns; and the explanatory power of the pairwise combinations of one value‐based performance measurement model and one traditional accounting performance measure in explaining stock market returns. For this purpose, pooled time‐series, cross‐sectional data of listed companies in the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) over the period 1992‐2001 have been collected and modelled.Findings –...

Individual investors' perceptions towards dividends: the case of Greece

This study is based on the assumption that there exists a strong preference for dividends among individual investors in Greece. Its main objective is to explore the driving forces that lead retail investors to reveal their preference for either cash or stock dividends. Several of the most important dividend theories were employed to test the behaviour of Greek individual investors towards dividends. The results reveal strong evidence that individual investors in Greece want dividends. Their answers provide strong support for the signalling theory of Bhattacharya (1979), while the behavioural finance theory of Shefrin and Statman (1984) is marginally confirmed.

The Cross‐Section of Expected Stock Returns: An Empirical Study in the Athens Stock Exchange

This paper explores the ability of the capital asset pricing model, as well as the firm specific factors, to explain the cross‐sectional relationship between average stock returns and risk in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). The objective of this study is to investigate the cross‐section of stock returns in the Greek stock market for the period from July 1993 to June 2001. A methodology similar to that of Fama and French (1992) is employed, by taking into account the constraints imposed by a smaller sample both in time and in terms of number of stocks. Our findings indicate that in the Greek stock market there is not a positive relation between risk, measured by β, and average returns. On the other hand, there is a “size effect” on the cross‐sectional variation in average stock returns.

A Proposed Framework for Integrating The Balanced Scorecard into the Strategic Management Process.

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) proposed by Kaplan and Norton has been accepted by the business world, worldwide, as a very promising tool for the performance measurement of an organization at the firm level. Later on, its founders described the way of using their model as an integrated system of the whole strategic planning process. However, what it still remains vaguely explained is the operational (practical) connection of the BSC model to the strategic planning and performance measurement process. The ambition of the present paper is to demonstrate a method that could easily connect directly the various performance measures (criteria) of a BSC with the stated goals and objectives of any firm. Specifically, it explains in great detail how the multicriteria method of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) could practically facilitate this connection. It analyses how a firm could arrange the various performance criteria in such a way that could be capable of controlling its stated goals and objectives through the implementation of its strategy. This paper starts with a literature review concerning the two methods, BSC and AHP, and then proceeds to the formation of the proposed framework, which actually facilitates the formal and quantitative links between the firm’s stated performance criteria and its overall strategic planning and performance measurement process.

Software project management and planning: the case of the Greek IT sector

Some of the most important factors that affect the competitiveness of the companies within the IT/IS sector are the use of modern management techniques and state-of-the-art production tools. This research attempts to examine the production process adopted and the management practices used by Greek IT/IS sector. A structured questionnaire was addressed to project managers of almost all Greek IT/IS companies. The results show that, although very experienced and highly educated people are involved in the production process, most companies are not using any formal development methodology and they do not plan or manage their development process in the right way.

The relationship between the use of strategic human capital, the design of the management control system and organisational performance: an empirical study in the Greek context.

This study examines, within the context of Greece, the relationship between the four attributes (importance, behavioural uncertainty, firm specificity and spread) of Strategic Human Capital (SHC), the design/use of Management Control Systems (MCSs) and organisational performance. It utilises both Transaction Cost Economics (TCS) and contingency theory to develop the theoretical background of the study, since both analyse the function of management control. This study extends the model of Widener (2004) a step further by incorporating organisational performance. It supports the proposed model of Widener, by verifying the positive influence of the four components of SHC to the personnel controls and non-traditional results controls and their negative influence on the use of traditional results controls.