Businesses, Volume 4, Issue 1 (March 2024) – 8 articles

Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020 as a research sample, this paper examines the relationship between negative media coverage and corporate ESG performance using a two-way fixed-effects model. It is found that, first, negative media coverage can effectively promote corporate ESG performance. Second, the mediation mechanism study shows that negative media coverage positively promotes corporate ESG performance by increasing the degree of corporate financing constraints and information asymmetry and prompting corporations to change their ESG governance level. Third, the results of the heterogeneity test find that the positive relationship between negative media coverage and corporate ESG performance is more pronounced among firms without executives with overseas backgrounds, and the positive relationship between the two is more significant after the promulgation of China’s Code of Governance for Listed Companies in 2018. Fourth, further discussion revealed that negative media coverage has the strongest promotion effect on the performance of corporate environmental governance, followed by social governance performance, and lastly, corporate governance performance. The research in this paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the impact of negative media coverage on corporate ESG performance and provides empirical evidence to facilitate policy formulation related to the role of media monitoring and to fully utilize the media’s role in corporate ESG governance. Full article

The paper examines the nexus between working capital management (WCM) and financial performance of listed non-financial firms in Ghana. An unbalanced panel data for the period 2008 to 2021 was used for the study. It is observed that the residual terms of the models were cross-sectionally independent and all the series were first-differenced stationary and cointegrated in the long term The elasticities of the predictors were explored via the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) techniques. The findings of the study indicate that WCM proxied by accounts receivable period (ACP), accounts payment period (APP), and inventory turnover period (ITP) have significant positive effect on firms’ financial performance measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and return on capital employed (ROCE). This suggests that the working capital management practices of non-financial firms in Ghana improve their financial performance. Also, firm size and asset growth improve firm financial performance. On the causalities between the variables, bidirectional causalities between ACP, APP, ITP, size, and thecompanies’ ROA, ROE, and ROCE are disclosed. Finally, causality from growth to the ROA, ROE, and ROCE of the firms are unraveled. It is recommended that policy makers of non-financial firms in Ghana should not overlook WCM practices in their financial decisions, since ignoring them could seriously compromise the firms’ short- and long-term sustainability. Full article

Implementing effective dispute resolution strategies such as negotiation has proved to be quite effective whenever there is a divergence of interest between two conflicting groups. This study aims to see if gender-based stereotypes or specific personality traits can positively or negatively influence negotiation skills in an attempt to improve the negotiation process, whereby individuals could be trained to adopt specific behaviors to obtain more favorable negotiation results. Using the expectancy violation theory (EVT) to analyze how individuals respond to unanticipated violations of social norms and expectations whilst negotiating, a quantitative study was carried out among legal officers working in private, public, and parastatal organizations in Mauritius. The sample size, 270, was calculated based on a population size of 899 as per records of the Mauritius Bar Council. The results demonstrate most legal officers were equipped with good negotiation skills, with no significant difference between males and females (U = 1138.50, p > 0.05), while a high level of neuroticism was indicative of poor negotiation skills (τb = −0.167, p > 0.05). These findings demonstrate that participants agreed that their negotiation skills were influenced in gender-dominated meetings which align with the principles of the EVT, the violation of certain expected negotiation behavior based on gender impact negotiation outcomes. Since negotiation skills were significantly associated with negotiation outcomes (χ2(4) = 37.963, p < 0.05), this provides pointers to businesses on how to improve and optimize negotiation outcomes by choosing a negotiator with the most apt personality traits. Full article

To enhance the competitiveness of the traditional handicraft industry, providers should offer service experiences using their products (i.e., servitization) instead of merely selling them. Effective management for servitization in the traditional handicraft industry must consider the differences in customers’ prior knowledge. Nevertheless, previous studies have overlooked how this knowledge about traditional handicrafts impacts service experiences. This study explores which factors of consumer behavior (during services) and service outcomes (post-services) are affected by customers’ prior knowledge about a traditional handicraft. An organic food restaurant booth was provided at an annual summer festival about pottery as an experiment, and data were collected on customers’ meal experiences with a pottery plate through a questionnaire. The findings suggest that customers’ prior knowledge about a traditional handicraft promotes their search for information from service resources (i.e., organic foods) which are integrated with the traditional handicraft and their creativity during services, thereby changing their understanding of service resources and increasing satisfaction with service experience. This study contributes to services marketing by identifying the factors of during and post-services that are affected by customers’ prior knowledge about a traditional handicraft in the context of servitization. Full article

The need to update an enterprise quality management system (QMS) seems to be more urgent each time. Without adequate updating, the system may not be capable of responding to market changes, generating delivery delays and increasing customer costs and losses instead of allowing industries to improve product quality and services, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Thus, the present research deals with a case study of a Mexican metal mechanics industry certified to ISO 9001:2015 with the need to update its operating QMS. Due to reasons for growth, the industry has added new activities to the processes and modified others, working in the integration area to improve efficiency and efficacy. Therefore, an analysis of strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (SWOT) was performed. The status of the processes was evaluated, creating a document with new activities and updating those that showed non-compliance. The results of this investigation have the purpose of contributing to the importance of QMS empirical evidence in emerging countries and increasing quality studies in Mexican industries. Full article

Objective: In recent years, management accounting in higher education institutions has undergone significant changes due to the various New Public Management (NPM) reforms. One of the management accounting tools that has been advised to HEIs is Activity-Based Costing (ABC). With this evolving field of research, this article aims to analyze research in international scientific journals focusing on ABC in HEIs. To this end, this article provides an overview of how research in this area has evolved. We present an overview of the past, present, and future of research in the field of the ABC model applied in HEIs. Methodology: Through a systematic literature review, the Web of Science and Scopus databases were used as a source of articles. Our analysis is based on a total of 139 articles. We used a systematic literature review combining different bibliometric techniques. These allowed us to develop a mapping of the literature on the application of the ABC model in HEIs, which helps us better understand the research related to the topic and its evolution. Results: It is concluded that the existing literature on this topic has developed along three lines of research: implementation of ABC as a cost-control method, TDABC as a time-based cost-control method, and the application of the ABC Method in health services. Originality: Based on the results found, this article identifies avenues of research that can be explored, namely the study of the application of ABC in the education sector, and provides a research agenda for future studies. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for a paradigm shift in supply chain and logistics operations to respond to myriad disruptions. However, this paradigm shift has changed the supply chain to be more resilient, agile, flexible, and adaptable to upcoming disruptions. Hence, a comprehensive guide to understanding, implementing, and harnessing the power of digitization in the face of disruption, leading to a more resilient and adaptive global community, is greatly appreciated. Thus, this study aims to identify the strategies used in the complex and dynamic nature of the contemporary supply chain landscape for these disruptions. Among several strategies adopted and proposed, this systematic review examines overall efficiency and operational resilience, particularly supplier diversification, investment in digital supply chain technology, and adopting flexible manufacturing models. Following a rigorous four-step identification, screening, qualification, and inclusion process, this review focuses on real-time visibility, robust risk management, and data-driven decision making to determine whether future disruptions under digitization are conducive. Therefore, this systematic review, along with these enhanced resilience strategies, will provide a comprehensive resource for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers seeking to navigate and improve logistics and supply chain operations in the face of future disruptions. Full article