International Journal of Business & Economics (IJBE)
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TIME SERIES ANALYSIS OF GLOBAL PRICES OF COFFEE: INSIGHTS INTO A COMPLEX MARKET
Get PDFThe global coffee market is a complex and dynamic system influenced by a multitude of factors, resulting in continuous fluctuations in coffee prices. This study utilized time series analysis to examine the historical trends and dynamics of the monthly global price of coffee, Arabica, from January 1990 to July 2023. The data were transformed to achieve stationarity using a methodical process, and an ARIMA (0,1,2) model was found to be the best-fit model for forecasting. The analysis' findings show how complex the coffee market is. Coffee prices are influenced by factors like supply and demand, climate change, currency exchange rates, economic conditions, and trade policies. Since 2001, unstable markets have affected producers and consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to the coffee sector, disrupting consumption patterns and supply chains. Economic variables like GDP growth and exchange rates influence coffee prices and producer welfare. While the coffee industry is experiencing recovery, price fluctuations remain a concern. Understanding these factors is crucial for stakeholders, and time series analysis can help inform decision-making in this dynamic market
CEO Communications and ESG Performance: Deciphering the Impact of Corporate Narratives
Get PDFIn the realm of corporate economics, this study explores the influence of CEO communications within Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports on a firm's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. It specifically examines the content, tone, and strategies of CEO messages in CSR reports of companies with top ESG scores from S&P Global Indices. The research aims to study the correlation between the linguistic characteristics of the CEO communications and the company's ESG performance. By analyzing key themes and content strategies in CEO communications, the study assesses their effectiveness in enhancing ESG practices within organizations. Our methodology includes analyzing qualitative aspects of CEO communications in CSR reports, and correlating them to the ESG performance. The findings indicate a significant connection between the qualitative aspects of CEO letters and ESG performance. CEOs emphasizing wellness, environmental impact, and business responsibility are perceived more favorably, suggesting a need for more readable and less polarized CEO communications to engage stakeholders and investors effectively. The study contributes both theoretically and managerially, offering insights into the impact of CEO communication on corporate sustainability and providing guidance for advancing a company's commitment to sustainable economic growth and ethical business practices
EFFECTS OF FIRM-SPECIFIC VARIABLES ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
Get PDFCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the pivotal determinants of promoting corporate brand and long-term reputation. Traditionally, firms operate to maximize profits and wealth for shareholders. Nowadays, they are constantly facing pressures from society and stakeholders to operate businesses in a socially responsible and environment-friendly manner while creating value for shareholders, stakeholders, and society. CSR is considered an important business strategy and a source of competitive advantage for many firms. There are ongoing debates about what drives corporate social responsibility. Historically, scholars and managers believed that CSR is a voluntary activity that firms pursue to optimize social welfare and protect the environment. Shareholders and stakeholders are more aware of firms’ activities to optimize wealth and social welfare which creates pressures on firms. Previous literature shows the effects of corporate governance, firm size, CEO gender, and legal systems on CSR practice. This study explores a significant research gap in measuring the relationships of firm-specific factors (e.g., disclosure quality, total investment, total revenue, R&D expenses, marketing and advertising expenses, and earnings per share) on CSR practice. The study conducted an empirical analysis based on 38 samples. The contribution of the study will facilitate researchers and policymakers to focus on important aspects that attribute firms’ potential for CSR practice
INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A WAY TO PENETRATION OF MACEDONIAN PRODUCTS ON THE GLOBAL MARKET
Get PDFThe global markets in which we will initially have to try to penetrate Macedonian products and services are those that, according to the needs of consumers and market conditions, most closely resemble the domestic market. It is also necessary to assess whether applying the same business model of international entrepreneurship would be successful in those markets. We need to gather information about the models that are "winning" in the markets we are thinking about internationally. We need to put the emphasis and check how much our business practices interact with the local ones, and how many interventions we will have to undertake in our own company to successfully fit into the international environment. For the market economy in which international entrepreneurship enters, the concept of free economy is used, which underlines that people are free to become international entrepreneurs and to have and run a business (enterprise). Thus, individuals as international entrepreneurs are free to invest money in their own business, or the business of some other people, and to penetrate products in international markets
EVALUATION OF A SUMMER COURSE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR DISADVANTAGED HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Get PDFThis paper overviews a pre-college entrepreneurial education program and examines its impact on entrepreneurial intention. The program, entitled the Think Like an Entrepreneur Summer Academy, aims at disadvantaged and underrepresented high school students and is developed by a public research university in the northeast USA. We analyzed the data from 154 graduates of the program and found a significant increase in entrepreneurial intention in the posttest compared to the pretest. The study adds to the literature on exploring and identifying the characteristics of pre-college entrepreneurial education interventions that help increase entrepreneurial intent and provides suggestions for future research, including comparing dropouts to graduates and exploring the interplay between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial mindset
LABOR INTENSITY, ADVERTISING INTENSITY, AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Get PDFThis study examines the relation between a firm’s labor intensity and its operating performance. Using a large sample of US public firms from the period 2001 to 2018, we find that firms with a higher level of labor intensity are less likely to engage in mergers & acquisitions (M&As) activities. Our main finding suggests that a firm’s operating performance, proxied by return on assets and return on equity, decreases with a higher level of labor intensity. Further analysis shows that if labor-intensive firms engage in M&As, they are less likely to use cash and stock as payment methods and consider the target’s legal forms of business orientation. The negative relation between labor intensity and firm performance is aggravated (attenuated) by the firm’s advertising intensity (stock payment method and private target of potential M&A characteristics). Finally, labor productivity is also negatively associated with labor intensity
MICROFINANCING FOR MARGINALIZED MICRO - ENTREPRENEURS: NEXUS FOR A COVID - RESPONSIVE PARADIGM
Get PDFMicrofinance institutions’ mission is to assist micro-entrepreneurs in improving their business conditions. However, the status quo has shifted significantly since the COVID–19 pandemic struck the country. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of microfinance in improving the current conditions of the businesses of the micro-entrepreneurs. The descriptive-correlational design was utilized with a validated survey questionnaire constructed by the researcher as the primary research instrument and data collection tool. The study was conducted in the twenty-six (26) Barangays considered as rural areas of Santiago City. The number of micro-entrepreneurs chosen for this study in Santiago City was one hundred thirty (130), as determined by the G*Power 3.1 Software. The study's findings revealed that financial intermediation, social intermediation, enterprise development, and social services are important roles of micro financing in improving their businesses. Meanwhile, microfinance's financial intermediation, social intermediation, enterprise development, and social services roles had a significant impact on the micro-businesses of marginalized micro-entrepreneurs. The findings further revealed a significant relationship between the financial intermediation roles of microfinance and the effects of enterprise development on the respondents' micro-businesses. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the micro-businesses of marginalized micro-entrepreneurs. As a result, there is a significant relationship between and among the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth and sustainability of the respondents’ businesses
A PLS-SEM APPROACH TO ENTERPRISE RISK MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF SMEs IN GHANA
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is three-fold. First, examine the effect of ERM on the operational and financial performances; second, the effect of competitive advantage on operational and financial performances; and third, explore the mediating roles of competitive advantage and financial literacy on the relationship between ERM and the operational and financial performances of SMEs in Ghana. Sampling 8,384 SMEs purposively, the analytical framework was based on SMART PLS-SEM. The empirical results reveal that ERM just as competitive advantage are positive determinants of financial and operational performances of SMEs. Financial literacy does not mediate the relationship between ERM and financial performance, although it partially mediates the relationship between ERM and operational performance just as competitive advantage partially mediates ERM and financial performance. Competitive advantage mediates between ERM and operational performance of SMEs in Ghana. Therefore, effective ERM practices and competitive advantage strategies are necessary conditions for the long-run sustainability of Ghanaian SMEs by way of improved financial and operational performances, given that the key officers are financial literate
DIGITAL SERVICE TRADE AND HIGH QUALITY DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY: MECHANISM AND PATH—FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHAIN MULTIPLE MESOMERIC EFFECT
Get PDFThis the article analyzes in-depth the mechanism of how digital service trade impacts the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. Also, by selecting 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2020 as samples, the paper empirically analyzes the impact and path of digital service trade on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry by using the chain multiple intermediary effects model and spatial Durbin model. The empirical results show that: (1) digital service trade has a positive impact on the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry; (2) digital service trade can positively impact the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry by promoting human capital, green technology innovation, and chain intermediary effects between the two; (3) compared with the eastern region and the central-western region, digital service trade has a greater promotion effect on the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry in the central-western region
SENTIMENT AND INDIVIDUAL STOCK PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA
Get PDFThis paper investigates the effect of investor investment sentiment on individual stock returns in China. We find that investment sentiment is positively associated with stock performance contemporaneously. The Granger Causality test shows that investor sentiment is a driving force of stock price movement but not the other way around. Our constructed VAR model further suggests that the change in investor sentiment in the lagged period does not significantly affect the current stock return. In addition, both the Impulse Response and the Variance Decomposition analysis provide evidence that the stock price will increase right after a positive sentiment shock, and then follow a price drop until an intrinsic value comes up. Overall, the investor sentiment factor has a strong explanatory power to explain the variation in stock return