Volume 57 (2021): Issue 1 (March 2021)

The financial health hypothesis argues that the valuation multiple of book value of equity (earnings) increases (decreases) as financial health decreases. By considering the liquidity dimension of financial health, we analyze an accrual-based liquidity ratio (current ratio) and a cash-based liquidity ratio (OCF ratio) from the perspective of this hypothesis. Using the median values of these ratios, we divide the sample consisting of listed firms on Borsa Istanbul during 2009–2018 into two and document the ensuing outcomes. Valuation multiples of book value of equity and earnings are reported as being statistically indifferent between low-liquid and high-liquid subgroups obtained for the median current ratio. However, the valuation multiple of book value of equity (earnings) significantly increases (decreases) for the low-liquid subgroup below the median OCF ratio. As the latter is consistent with the financial health hypothesis, this study reveals that the OCF ratio is a more convenient and reliable measure of liquidity than the current ratio.

Studies indicate that a consistent rise in insolvency risk should be addressed at the strategic level. Vigilant boards can use leverage maturity structure as a tool to control insolvency risk. However, according to the information asymmetry theory, leverage acquisition is subject to the presence of fixed assets which can be used as collateral. The current study focuses on the relationship between board vigilance and insolvency risk, mediated by debt maturity and moderated by fixed collaterals in Pakistan based non-financial firms. A data set of 284 firms is constructed between the years 2013 and 2017. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis is used to test the proposed hypothesis using ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) regression estimators. The results indicate that debt maturity mediates the relationship between board vigilance and insolvency risk. New information is generated about the fixed collaterals, and these negatively moderate the relationship between leverage maturity and emerging market z-score indicating inefficiency in the usage of fixed assets as collaterals. These results are robust to both regression techniques confirming that the non-productive fixed collaterals overshadow the positives of tangible assets in asset structure.

The position of information and communication technology (ICT) services is growing in the European Union (EU) trade, however to different extend in different EU countries. The article aims to identify trade positions of the EU Member States in intra-EU trade and extra-EU trade in ICT services and to assess changes that have taken place in the years 2013–2018. The importance of the EU Member States in trade in ICT services is assessed, followed by the analysis of their trade positions in terms of selected indices. We discovered that countries of the highest importance for the intra-EU and extra-EU trade in ICT services are not holding the best positions in trade in this area, except for Ireland. Additionally, leaders in ICT services trade do better in extra-EU trade rankings than in the EU Internal Market, since the distance does not matter to business operations consequent to the digitalization of economic activities.

Many studies raise the issue of relationships between internationalization and innovativeness, linking them with firms’ international competitiveness. However, very few of these studies focus on the influence of internationalization on innovativeness and regard the multifaceted nature of these two concepts. The study presented in this paper is based on a holistic approach to internationalization and innovativeness. It explores the influence of the outward (e.g. exporting, outward FDI) and inward (e.g. importing, inward FDI) internationalization on the outward (product and marketing) and inward (process and organizational) innovativeness of 274 firms in Poland, adopting formative variables and a correlations analysis. The key contribution of the research is that the outward internationalization is conducive to both the outward and inward innovativeness, while the inward internationalization supports only the inward innovativeness. It shows that learning by outward and inward internationalization supports innovativeness of firms, responsible for their international competitiveness. The findings might be unique for transition and emerging economies characterized with a low degree of internationalization and innovativeness, while the holistic approach is more universal, and might bring interesting results when applied to the research of highly advanced economies.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in advanced business services (ABSs), referred to here as the offshoring of white-collar jobs, has become one of the major developments in the operations of multinational corporations (MNCs). However, a specific theoretical approach to this phenomenon has not been adequately defined. In this article, we have two objectives. The first objective is to outline the key elements of the theoretical framework and introduce a simple formal model for business services within MNCs. The second objective is to verify the assumptions of the model in the empirical part. We use the sample of the largest European companies having foreign affiliates. Special attention is paid to Visegrád economies (i.e. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) as host economies. We applied here a multinomial logistic model, which indicates the probability of having an ABS subsidiary taking into consideration the characteristics of MNCs.

The consumer goods market is characterized by strong competition. Thus, to bind customers to the company, a higher priority needs to be attributed to customer retention measures. Such measures include the loyalty card, but the use of the physical card is declining. To counteract this decline, mobile loyalty cards were developed. The basis for the use of mobile loyalty cards is sufficient consumer acceptance. This work is expected to contribute to the explanation of acceptance in the form of usage behavior. Based on the Technology-Acceptance-Model-2 (TAM2) and the literature, hypotheses were derived and a research model was developed. For model testing, a dataset of 255 participants was generated through an online survey and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that in addition to financial benefits, convenience benefits and psychological factors also have an influence on acceptance. Furthermore, the usage behavior is not negatively influenced by the expected loss of control over personal data. Based on the findings, indications for marketing implementation are given for the confirmed factors.