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Topic Review
An Analysis of the Board of Directors Composition
Abstract:   Purpose: The objectives of this study were to analyse certain aspects of the Board composition of Maltese listed companies (MLCs), namely Board size, independence, expertise, gender diversity and the chairperson/CEO links, and  how these may be improved. Design/Approach/Methodology: The study was designed around a qualitative approach of data collection. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen participants, consisting of fourteen company secretaries of MLCs, a representative of the Maltese regulator, a corporate advisor and a corporate lawyer. Findings: The nomination and appointment process of directors in MLCs relies mainly on networking, with a tendency to continuously appoint the same tried network of directors. This creates a barrier towards new talent being introduced into boardrooms. A general disagreement also persists as to what constitutes a truly independent Board member. Practical Implications: Practical experience often supplants academic qualifications when nominating and appointing directors. Moreover, female representation on the Boards of MLCs is still lacking. Notwithstanding the fact that the importance of having separate chairperson/CEO roles is acknowledged, there is likely to be strong resistance to any law rendering this mandatory.   Originality/Value: Studies relating to the composition of the Board of Directors in smaller states such as the island state of Malta are infrequent. This paper provides information that is of particular value to listed companies in smaller states and their stakeholders, including regulators and sheds more light on the priniciple of proportionailty when dealing with requirements imposed by the authorities.
  • 4.0K
  • 13 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Sustainability Accounting
Sustainability accounting is expanding in the academic context and business practice. It has different meanings but few definitions, and this demonstrates a lack of conceptualization in this regard. The concept is often used as a synonymous of environmental accounting, social accounting, or non-financial accounting. According to Zvezdov and Schaltegger (2013), it “entails systems, methods, and processes of creating sustainability information for transparency, accountability, and decision-making purposes. This includes the identification of relevant sustainability issues of the company, the definition of indicators and measures, data collection, overall performance tracking and measurement, as well as the communication with […] internal and external information recipients.
  • 4.0K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Performance Evaluation of the Board of Directors
Abstract:   Purpose: The objectives of this paper are to analyse both individual and overall performance evaluations of the Board of Directors as carried out by Maltese Listed Companies (MLCs) and to assess the importance of such board evaluations to small shareholders. Design/Approach/Methodology: The study was designed around semi-structured interviews with fifteen MLC representatives and seven stockbrokers, as well as questionnaires administered to twenty-nine small shareholders. Findings: The findings indicate that, while Boards of Director evaluations are carried out in MLCs, they lack the necessary formal structures that specify critical evaluation measures. Thus one may infer that those charged with the responsibility of conducting evaluations are not being well determined. By departing from the recommendations of the Maltese Corporate Governance Code on performance evaluations, MLCs have generally opted to resort to an inward and more restricted style of evaluation, doing away with external or independent parties in the process.   Practical Implications: Recommendations include the promotion of shareholder interest by enhancing their awareness of the benefits they will stand to gain from the process and by involving them more in the process. Originality/Value: The paper considers possible evaluation measures that may be aimed to enhance both shareholder and public confidence in the exercise and also other ways by which it may be improved. It thus contributes to the literature, as yet scarce, which relates to corporate governance in small states.   Keywords: Performance evaluation, corporate governance, board of directors, MLCs.   JEL code: G34. Paper type: Research article.
  • 4.0K
  • 28 May 2020
Topic Review
Peppercorn (Legal)
In legal parlance, a peppercorn is a metaphor for a very small cash payment or other nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. It is featured in Chappell & Co Ltd v Nestle Co Ltd ( AC 87), which stated that "a peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw away the corn". What is unusual about the term is that it came into the language when peppercorns were extremely expensive; coming, as they exclusively did, from the Dutch Moluccas. Yet today, the term is more-or-less synonymous with ”a pittance“ — something of minimal value.
  • 3.9K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Financial Accounting and Sustainability Accounting
A phenomenon in development of accounting knowledge is the generalisation of accounting  principles and concepts from the traditional (financial) domain/context to the sustainability domain/context. This phenomenon draws debates between two schools. Some scholars support the way of simulation, maintaining it is necessary and inevitable for sustainability accounting researchers and practitioners to draw knowledge the financial accounting that has been familiar for them. But some scholars take a critical stance against the simulation, arguing that it is too difficult to apply financial accounting concepts to sustainability practices, for the two accounting contexts are significantly different from each other. But the sustainability accounting application of the materiality concept indicates another side of the phenomenon. That is, sustainability accounting academy should neither give up or discourage the way of generalisation, nor simply and directly simulate the definitions and practices of financial accounting concepts. 
  • 3.9K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
2015–16 Chinese Stock Market Turbulence
The Chinese stock market turbulence began with the popping of the stock market bubble on 12 June 2015 and ended in early February 2016. A third of the value of A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was lost within one month of the event. Major aftershocks occurred around 27 July and 24 August's "Black Monday". By 8–9 July 2015, the Shanghai stock market had fallen 30 percent over three weeks as 1,400 companies, or more than half listed, filed for a trading halt in an attempt to prevent further losses. Values of Chinese stock markets continued to drop despite efforts by the government to reduce the fall. After three stable weeks the Shanghai index fell again on 24 August by 8.48 percent, marking the largest fall since 2007. At the October 2015 International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meeting of "finance ministers and central bankers from the Washington-based lender’s 188 member-countries" held in Peru, China's slump dominated discussions with participants asking if "China’s economic downturn [would] trigger a new financial crisis". By the end of December 2015 China's stock market had recovered from the shocks and had outperformed S&P for 2015, though still well below the 12 June highs. By the end of 2015 the Shanghai Composite Index was up 12.6 percent. In January 2016 the Chinese stock market experienced a steep sell-off and trading was halted on 4 and 7 January 2016 after the market fell 7%, the latter within 30 minutes of open. The market meltdown set off a global rout in early 2016. According to 19 January 2016 articles in the Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the China , China reported a 6.9 percent GDP growth rate for 2015 and an "economic volume of over ten trillion U.S. dollars". Forbes journalist argues that the "stock market crash does not indicate a blowout of the Chinese physical economy." China is shifting from a focus on manufacturing to service industries and while it has slowed down, it is still growing by 5%. After this last turbulence, as of January 2017 the Shanghai Composite Index has been stable around 3,000 points, 50% less than before the bubble popped.
  • 3.8K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
2010–14 Portuguese Financial Crisis
2010–14 Portuguese financial crisis was part of the more wider downturn of the Portuguese economy that started in 2001 and possibly ended in 2016–17. The period from 2010 to 2014 was probably the hardest and more challenging part of the entire economic crisis; this period includes the 2011–14 international bailout to Portugal and was marked by an intense austerity policy, intenser than in any other period of the wider 2001–17 crisis. Economic growth stalled in Portugal in 2001–02; following years of internal economic crisis, the (international) Great Recession started to hit Portugal in 2008 and eventually led to the country being unable to repay or refinance its government debt without the assistance of third parties. To prevent an insolvency situation in the debt crisis, Portugal applied in April 2011 for bail-out programs and drew a cumulated €78.0 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Portugal leaved bailout in May 2014, the same year that positive economic growth re-appeared following three years of recession. The government achieved a 2.1% budget deficit in 2016 (the lowest since the restoration of democracy in 1974) and in 2017 the economy grew 2.7% (the highest growth rate since 2000). Greece and Ireland also went into a debt crisis in 2010. Together these debt crisis of these three countries marked the start of the European sovereign debt crisis.
  • 3.8K
  • 06 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Electronic Trading
Electronic or scripless trading, sometimes called e-trading or paperless trading is a method of trading securities (such as stocks, and bonds), foreign exchange or financial derivatives electronically. Information technology is used to bring together buyers and sellers through an electronic trading platform and network to create virtual market places. They can include various exchange-based systems, such as NASDAQ, NYSE Arca and Globex, as well as other types of trading platforms, such as electronic communication networks (ECNs), alternative trading systems, crossing networks and "dark pools". Electronic trading is rapidly replacing human trading in global securities markets. Electronic trading is in contrast to older floor trading and phone trading and has a number of advantages, but glitches and cancelled trades do still occur.
  • 3.7K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Fixed Exchange-Rate System
A fixed exchange rate, sometimes called a pegged exchange rate, is a type of exchange rate regime in which a currency's value is fixed against either the value of another single currency to a basket of other currencies or to another measure of value, such as gold. There are benefits and risks to using a fixed exchange rate. A fixed exchange rate is typically used to stabilize the value of a currency by directly fixing its value in a predetermined ratio to a different, more stable, or more internationally prevalent currency (or currencies) to which the value is pegged. In doing so, the exchange rate between the currency and its peg does not change based on market conditions, unlike flexible exchange regime. This makes trade and investments between the two currency areas easier and more predictable and is especially useful for small economies that borrow primarily in foreign currency and in which external trade forms a large part of their GDP. A fixed exchange-rate system can also be used to control the behavior of a currency, such as by limiting rates of inflation. However, in doing so, the pegged currency is then controlled by its reference value. As such, when the reference value rises or falls, it then follows that the value(s) of any currencies pegged to it will also rise and fall in relation to other currencies and commodities with which the pegged currency can be traded. In other words, a pegged currency is dependent on its reference value to dictate how its current worth is defined at any given time. In addition, according to the Mundell–Fleming model, with perfect capital mobility, a fixed exchange rate prevents a government from using domestic monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic stability. In a fixed exchange-rate system, a country’s central bank typically uses an open market mechanism and is committed at all times to buy and/or sell its currency at a fixed price in order to maintain its pegged ratio and, hence, the stable value of its currency in relation to the reference to which it is pegged. To maintain a desired exchange rate, the central bank during the depreciation of the domestic money, sells its foreign money in the reserves and buys back the domestic money. This creates an artificial demand for the domestic money, which increases its exchange rate. In case of an undesired appreciation of the domestic money, the central bank buys back the foreign money and thus flushes the domestic money into the market for decreasing the demand and exchange rate. The central bank from its reserves also provides the assets and/or the foreign currency or currencies which are needed in order to finance any imbalance of payments. In the 21st century, the currencies associated with large economies typically do not fix or peg exchange rates to other currencies. The last large economy to use a fixed exchange rate system was the People's Republic of China, which, in July 2005, adopted a slightly more flexible exchange rate system, called a managed exchange rate. The European Exchange Rate Mechanism is also used on a temporary basis to establish a final conversion rate against the euro from the local currencies of countries joining the Eurozone.
  • 3.4K
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Non-Patent Literature
Non-patent literature is defined as scientific publications, technical standards, conference proceedings, clinical trials, books, manuals, technical or research reports, or any other technical scientific material which is cited in patents to show what has already been published and disseminated about the invention to be patented, in order to justify its novelty. These documents are considered technically relevant to the patent granting procedure and are cited along with other patents related to the same subject matter. 
  • 3.4K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Sustainable Tourism in Fiji
The tourism industry has evolved as a major contributor to economic development and employment creation globally. Over the past seven decades, the tourism industry has experienced growth in both developed and developing countries. Although tourism has significant economic benefits, it often compromises environmental quality. Thus, tourism sustainability becomes an important element in managing the industry. Tourism sustainability has emerged as a leading policy paradigm and is important because tourism is a significant contributor to carbon emissions worldwide.
  • 3.4K
  • 02 Jun 2022
Topic Review
2010 Flash Crash
The May 6, 2010, Flash Crash, also known as the Crash of 2:45, the 2010 Flash Crash or simply the Flash Crash, was a United States trillion-dollar stock market crash, which started at 2:32 p.m. EDT and lasted for approximately 36 minutes.:1 Stock indexes, such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite, collapsed and rebounded very rapidly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its second biggest intraday point drop (from the opening) up to that point, plunging 998.5 points (about 9%), most within minutes, only to recover a large part of the loss. It was also the second-largest intraday point swing (difference between intraday high and intraday low) up to that point, at 1,010.14 points. The prices of stocks, stock index futures, options and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were volatile, thus trading volume spiked.:3 A CFTC 2014 report described it as one of the most turbulent periods in the history of financial markets.:1 When new regulations put in place following the 2010 Flash Crash proved to be inadequate to protect investors in the August 24, 2015 flash crash—"when the price of many ETFs appeared to come unhinged from their underlying value"—ETFs were put under greater scrutiny by regulators and investors. On April 21, 2015, nearly five years after the incident, the U.S. Department of Justice laid "22 criminal counts, including fraud and market manipulation" against Navinder Singh Sarao, a trader. Among the charges included was the use of spoofing algorithms; just prior to the Flash Crash, he placed thousands of E-mini S&P 500 stock index futures contracts which he planned on canceling later. These orders amounting to about "$200 million worth of bets that the market would fall" were "replaced or modified 19,000 times" before they were canceled. Spoofing, layering, and front running are now banned. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) investigation concluded that Sarao "was at least significantly responsible for the order imbalances" in the derivatives market which affected stock markets and exacerbated the flash crash. Sarao began his alleged market manipulation in 2009 with commercially available trading software whose code he modified "so he could rapidly place and cancel orders automatically." Traders Magazine journalist, John Bates, argued that blaming a 36-year-old small-time trader who worked from his parents' modest stucco house in suburban west London for sparking a trillion-dollar stock market crash is a little bit like blaming lightning for starting a fire" and that the investigation was lengthened because regulators used "bicycles to try and catch Ferraris." Furthermore, he concluded that by April 2015, traders can still manipulate and impact markets in spite of regulators and banks' new, improved monitoring of automated trade systems. As recently as May 2014, a CFTC report concluded that high-frequency traders "did not cause the Flash Crash, but contributed to it by demanding immediacy ahead of other market participants.":1 Some recent peer-reviewed research shows that flash crashes are not isolated occurrences, but have occurred quite often. Gao and Mizrach studied US equities over the period of 1993–2011. They show that breakdowns in market quality (such as flash crashes) have occurred in every year they examined and that, apart from the financial crisis, such problems have declined since the introduction of Reg NMS. They also show that 2010, while infamous for the Flash Crash, was not a year with an inordinate number of breakdowns in market quality.
  • 3.4K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Herfindahl–Hirschman Index
The Herfindahl index (also known as Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, HHI, or sometimes HHI-score) is a measure of the size of firms in relation to the industry they are in and an indicator of the amount of competition among them. Named after economists Orris C. Herfindahl and Albert O. Hirschman, it is an economic concept widely applied in competition law, antitrust and also technology management. HHI is calculated by squaring the market share of each competing firm in the industry and then summing the resulting numbers,(sometimes limited to the 50 largest firms), where the market shares are expressed as fractions or points. The result is proportional to the average market share, weighted by market share. As such, it can range from 0 to 1.0, moving from a huge number of very small firms to a single monopolistic producer. Increases in the Herfindahl index generally indicate a decrease in competition and an increase of market power, whereas decreases indicate the opposite. Alternatively, if whole percentages are used, the index ranges from 0 to 10,000 "points". For example, an index of .25 is the same as 2,500 points. The major benefit of the Herfindahl index in relationship to such measures as the concentration ratio is that it gives more weight to larger firms. Other benefits of the Herfindahl index includes its simple calculation method and the small amount of easily obtainable data required for the calculation. The measure is essentially equivalent to the Simpson diversity index, which is a diversity index used in ecology; the inverse participation ratio (IPR) in physics; and the effective number of parties index in politics.
  • 3.3K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Marketing Information System
A marketing information system (MKIS) is a management information system (MIS) designed to support marketing decision making. Jobber (2007) defines it as a "system in which marketing data is formally gathered, stored, analysed and distributed to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a regular basis." In addition, the online business dictionary defines Marketing Information System (MKIS) as "a system that analyzes and assesses marketing information, gathered continuously from sources inside and outside an organization or a store." Furthermore, "an overall Marketing Information System can be defined as a set structure of procedures and methods for the regular, planned collection, analysis and presentation of information for use in making marketing decisions." (Kotler, at al, 2006)
  • 3.3K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Liquid versus Solid Consumption
Sharing economy is nowadays a particularly important facet of modern society. It is driven by digitalization that allows firms to interact with their customers on a daily basis by the need of reducing the environmental impact of both companies and individual actions and by the growing consciousness for environment that consumers are developing day by day. New models of consumption, such as the liquid one, are becoming very frequent, shaping countries’ productive systems and consumers’ habits.
  • 3.2K
  • 23 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Perceived Green Value (PGV)
Perceived Green Value (PGV) is defined as consumers’ overall evaluation and appraisal of products in regards to their perceived environmental and sustainable advantages. This concept derives from consumer perceived value (CPV) theory, which mainly considers two dimensions, which are the functional value (quality, services, price, and convenience values) and the symbolic value (aesthetic, emotional, social, and reputational values) .
  • 2.9K
  • 26 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Shelf Life
Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or just no longer on a supermarket shelf (unfit for sale, but not yet unfit for use). It applies to cosmetics, foods and beverages, medical devices, medicines, explosives, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, tires, batteries and many other perishable items. In some regions, an advisory best before, mandatory use by or freshness date is required on packaged perishable foods. The concept of expiration date is related but legally distinct in some jurisdictions.
  • 2.9K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Online Reviews
Online reviews, also referred to as electronic word of mouth (eWOM) or user-generated content (UGC), are all similar concepts with minor differences. eWOM is all electronic communications between producers and consumers and between consumers themselves: emails, websites, consumer review sites, blogs, virtual communities, chat rooms, newsgroups, and instant messaging. UGC is data generated online by consumers, e.g., text (consumer reviews and blogs) and picture data.
  • 2.9K
  • 09 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Big-Box Store
A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The store may sell general dry goods, in which case it is a department store, or may be limited to a particular specialty (such establishments are often called "category killers") or may also sell groceries, in which case some countries (mostly in Europe) use the term hypermarket. Typical architectural characteristics include the following: Commercially, big-box stores can be broken down into two categories: general merchandise (examples include Walmart, Kmart and Target), and specialty stores (such as Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy) which specialize in goods within a specific range, such as hardware, books, or consumer electronics respectively. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, many traditional retailers—such as Tesco and Praktiker opened stores in the big-box-store format in an effort to compete with big-box chains, which are expanding internationally as their home markets reach maturity.
  • 2.8K
  • 26 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Panama as a Tax Haven
The Republic of Panama is one of the oldest and best-known tax havens in the Caribbean, as well as one of the most established in the region. Panama has had a reputation for tax avoidance since the early 20th century, and Panama has been cited repeatedly in recent years as a jurisdiction which does not cooperate with international tax transparency initiatives. Panama's offshore sector is intimately tied to the Panama canal, which has made it a gateway and entrepôt for international trade. There are strong similarities between Panama and other leading tax havens like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai. On paper at least, Panama has the largest shipping fleet in the world, greater than those of the US and China combined, according to the Tax Justice Network.
  • 2.8K
  • 16 Nov 2022
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