International Marketing Standardization and Financial Performance of Mobile Network Op-erators – An Empirical Analysis
Torsten J. Gerpott/Nejc M. Jakopin
This study explores the degrees to which service firms standardize marketing instruments in their foreign subsidiaries. It also analyzes associations between international standardization of marketing instruments and company financial performance criteria in an industry study of mobile network operators. 15 mobile network operator corporations with substantial interna-tional business activities and 65 of their respective foreign majority-controlled affiliates were included in the empirical analysis. Results show that levels of international marketing stan-dardization vary substantially among the four program areas of the marketing mix. Product policy is most standardized internationally with an unweighted index value of 60.47%, while pricing procedures still reach a level of 54.07%. International standardization of distribution (42.19%) and promotion policy (33.33%) is significantly lower. No significant relations be-tween international marketing standardization and performance of mobile network operators were found at the corporate level of analysis. However, at the subsidiary level of analysis international product standardization and, to a lesser degree, price standardization are signifi-cantly and positively related to the foreign affiliates’ EBITDA margin and market share when the PLS approach is used to construct latent standardization measures comprising weighted additive combinations of various marketing mix indicators.
pp. 198-228
Audit Committees in Germany – Theoretical Reasoning and Empirical Evidence
Annette G. Köhler
This paper shows that due to legal restrictions, audit committee formation in Germany is not only a matter of enhancing monitoring effectiveness, but also a means of increasing Supervi-sory Board efficiency. This result is linked to some empirical findings derived from a ques-tionnaire developed especially for the survey and sent out to 100 German Supervisory Board/audit committee chairpersons in April 2004. The questionnaire covered the motivation, composition, qualification, organisation, and responsibilities of current German audit commit-tees. The results show that free float, perceived independence of members, and the size of audit committees significantly influence audit committee composition, and that tasks that are mainly auditor-related are treated as supplementary.
pp. 229-252
Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings: The Evidence for Switzerland
Wolfgang Drobetz/Matthias Kammermann/Urs Wälchli
We estimate the underpricing and long-run performance of Swiss initial public offerings (I-POs) from 1983 to 2000. The average market adjusted initial return is 34.97%. To examine the long-run performance of Swiss IPOs, we compute buy-and-hold abnormal returns, skew-ness-adjusted wealth ratios, and cumulative abnormal returns using 120 months of secondary market returns. In contrast to previous findings for the U.S. and Germany, we do not find strong evidence for a distinct IPO effect. We attribute long-run underperformance to the fact that IPO firms tend to be small firms. It virtually vanishes when we use a small capitalization index as a benchmark. In spite of distinct economic implications and statistical properties, our basic results are similar for all performance measures applied.
pp. 253-275
The Information Content of Goodwill-Impairments under FAS 142: Implications for External Analysis and Internal Control
Wolfgang Schultze
With its standards FAS 141 and 142 the Financial Accounting Standard Board has revolution-ized the accounting for business combinations. One of the major changes is the abolishment of goodwill-amortization, which has been replaced by an annual impairment test at the level of a reporting unit. Among other things, this new regulation is intended to improve the infor-mation content of goodwill accounting. This paper investigates into the information content of such an impairment from the perspective of external or internal financial analysis. I examine how impairment losses resulting from FAS 142 should be interpreted and treated in the inter-nal and external performance analysis. My analysis shows that an impairment can be due to several reasons, not just to a deteriorating economic performance. In particular, the way the impairment test is conducted according to FAS 142 may even lead to a discrimination of eco-nomically viable investment projects.
pp. 276-297
