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cover of 2020 issue of Lubin Business Review with abstract image of computer keyboard
Lubin Business Review

Lubin Business Review Spring 2020 Issue

Globalization, Technology, and Change

Spring 2020 Issue No. 3

Table of Contents

In The Journals

On the Bookshelf

Editors' Introduction (PDF)
Drs. Eric Kessler and Ping Wang

For better or worse, we operate in a VUCA world. That is, a business climate that is simultaneously Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. This presents organizations with both threats and opportunities that they must address to survive and to thrive. However, in order to position themselves on the positive side of the change curve, business leaders need to first understand the new challenges confronting them. Then they can apply the appropriate mindsets, as well as toolsets, to manage their challenges well. Yet it is easier said than done. This notion was captured well by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. when he said, "Progress is a nice word, but change is its motivator, and change has its enemies." It was also evident in Nicolo Machiavelli's warning, "There is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than to put oneself at the head of introducing a new order of things." Perhaps this is why, as per Mark Twain, "Nobody likes change except a wet baby!'

In the Journals

Building Bridges in Global Virtual Teams: The Role of Multicultural Brokers in Overcoming the Negative Effects of Identity Threats on Knowledge Sharing Across Subgroups (PDF)
Dr. Julia Eisenberg

Technology advancements continue to lead to an increasingly globally distributed work environment, where team members collaborate across multiple boundaries to share knowledge and generate innovative ideas. Global team member differences are in part based on diverse identities stemming from one's nationality, occupational background, and personal interests, among many other factors, which may result in identity threats. A multicultural broker is a team member or leader who transcends cultural boundaries and helps to bridge differences among colleagues in different global subgroups, facilitating cross-boundary teamwork. We explore the role of multicultural brokers in positively influencing the relationship between identity threats and knowledge sharing in global teams.

Generative Imitation, Strategic Distancing and Optimal Distinctiveness During the Growth, Decline, and Stabilization of Silicon Alley (PDF)
Dr. Theresa K. Lant

Technological innovation creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop new ventures in emerging industries. Entrepreneurs face the challenge of convincing potential stakeholders of the viability of the new technology in addition to the merits of the entrepreneur's own venture. In order to attract stakeholder resources, such as financial investment and human talent, entrepreneurs create exciting narratives that envision the potential for the new technology and their new venture. Due to the inherent uncertainty of new technologies, reality often falls short of promises and even well run ventures suffer from a downturn in confidence. This is important because the rate of technological innovation is increasing; new technologies promise to change the very nature of work in the 21st century.

Shedding Light on Dark Pools: Recent Regulatory Attempts Toward Transparency and Oversight of Alternative Trading Systems (PDF)
Drs. Rosario Girasa, Jessica A. Magaldi, and Joseph DiBenedetto

High frequency traders (HFTs) and their alleged abuses has been the subject of considerable comment. To combat their effort and avoid other abuses, dark pools of liquidity are an alternative trading system (ATS). They are engaged in the transfer of ownership of securities that was historically previously accomplished through the use of public exchanges, which are subject to stringent statutory and regulatory regulations not otherwise applicable to ATS. Large institutional investors make sizeable investments in particular securities, which may then cause the securities to fluctuate considerably, and the price may be negatively affected. By the use of dark pools of liquidity institutions are able to conceal the trades until they are placed. The issue is whether these institutions should be subject to regulation and the extent thereof.

New lncentivized Investment: Opportunity Zones (PDF)
Dr. Mark Fichtenbaum

Tax laws are used to both raise funds for the operation of the government, and encourage certain types of behavior and investments. In the recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Congress has added an opportunity to encourage investors to start new businesses in economically depressed areas called "opportunity zones." The goal of the legislation is to encourage job formation and economic development of these areas.

Firm Characteristics Associated with Concurrent Disclosure of GAAP-Compliant Financial Statements with Earnings Announcements (PDF)
Drs. Rudolph Jacob and Samir El-Gazzar

Preliminary quarterly earnings announcements have, over time, become the most regularly disseminated form of voluntary disclosure on corporate performance. However, interpretation and usefulness of the content of earnings and concurrently disclosed financials depend on the measures used to calculate earnings and other accounting metrics. Professional financial analysts and SEC officials have been calling not only for the concurrent disclosure of statement of cash flows and balance sheet with earnings releases, but also that earnings and other financial information should be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the quarterly earnings announcements. This research examines the characteristics of firms that voluntarily disclose GAAP-compliant statements of income, statements of cash flows and balance sheet concurrently with quarterly earnings releases.

The Impact of the SEC's Indecision Regarding IFRS Migration on the Readiness Efforts of U.S. Issuers and Accounting Faculty (PDF)
Dr. Chunyan (Claudia) Li

The 2012 SEC IFRS work plan staff report was silent regarding the path forward for the use of IFRS in the U.S. While convergence efforts by the IASB and the FASB have resulted in modified standards on both sides that have reduced differences, some convergence efforts have been discontinued or have resulted in different standards because the two boards could not agree. What is the impact of the SEC's indecision?

The Subjective Norms of Sustainable Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Exploration (PDF)
Dr. Lynn Kahle

Although extensive research has explored aspects of sustainable consumption, such as specific sustainable behaviors and motivations for participating in sustainable activities, little research has examined the role of national culture and how pragmatism influences sustainable consumption. Sustainable consumption can encompass both sustainable attitudes and sustainable behaviors, and in this research, two types of social norms related to sustainable consumption (normative and self-enhancing) are also included and examined across three nations (France, Japan, and the United States).

Exploring the Psychological Processes Underlying Interpersonal Forgiveness: The Superiority of Motivated Reasoning Over Empathy (PDF)
Dr. Leigh Anne Donovan

When, why, and how does forgiveness occur? Though a seemingly simple question, a clear answer has been elusive. Forgiveness provides the crucial mechanism by which relationships are able to be maintained following interpersonal betrayals, transgressions, and disappointments. Through this research, we develop a model of motivated interpersonal forgiveness by synthesizing and linking previous independent findings and we compare this model to the other leading forgiveness model to understand the underlying psychological processes of forgiveness. This model hypothesizes that relationship closeness leads to a desire to maintain the relationship, this desire leads to motivated reasoning, and this motivated reasoning leads to interpersonal forgiveness.

Global Equity Investing: An Efficient Frontier Approach (PDF)
Dr. Niso Abuaf

In a U.S. economic environment where return expectations in virtually all asset classes have declined significantly, international diversification to boost returns for given risk appetites will likely play an increasingly important role. International diversification allows investors to reduce the total risk of their portfolios, given a return expectation, or increase their return expectation, given a risk. This benefit exists because international stocks are not perfectly correlated. Because most developed economies are confronted with similar problems including aging and declining populations, and diminished productivity growth, portfolio managers will be tempted to move into emerging markets. The objective then becomes identifying which markets provide the best investment opportunities within the context of a macroeconomic outlook and modern portfolio theory.

Internal Capital Markets, Forms of Intra-Group Transfers and Dividend Policy: Evidence From Indian Corporates (PDF)
Drs. Elena Goldman and P.V. Viswanath

As ownership of businesses becomes increasingly transnational with subsidiaries in more than one country, governments need to take that into account in setting public policy and formulating regulations. Studying business groups is a good way to get an idea of how inter-unit resource flows are likely to occur in larger interrelated governance structures. Business groups often operate as single entities, moving funds from one unit to another, taking into account the relative costs of different means of resource transfers.

On the Bookshelf

Understanding Systemic Risk in Global Financial Markets (PDF)
Dr. Aron Gottesman

Systemic risk is defined as potential risks in the financial system that can disrupt financial stability. Systemic risk has always been present in the financial system, but it has been a topic of particular concern since the credit crisis of 2007-2009. This book provides an in-depth overview of systemic risk and financial stability and evaluates the regulatory regimes that have been put into place as a result. This book further explores how systemic risk can be monitored, analyzed, and mitigated; the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act; and international regulators and regulation such as the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Accords.

The Secret to Getting a Job After College: Marketing Tactics to Turn Degrees Into Dollars (PDF)
Dr. Larry Chiagouris

The inspiration of the book, now in its third edition, came from 桃瘾社区 students. Every spring, graduating seniors would share with me their apprehension about starting the job search process. In my offers to help them, we began exploring solutions together. First, we began by engaging in research through interviewing Career Services advisors across the country and at 桃瘾社区. That was followed by interviewing human resource professionals and successful recent graduates, all of whom contributed to the view that to be successful in the job search, students should think of themselves as a product. Students need to apply marketing principles to be successful in their job search.

Artificial Intelligence as a Disruptive Technology: Economic Transformation and Government Regulation (PDF)
Dr. Rosario Girasa

The advent of computer technology brought about by miniaturization and other advances has led to what many commentators have termed: "The Fourth Industrial Revolution:' Science fiction novelists and filmmakers speculated about the futuristic time when aliens or other creatures would take control over human inhabitants. The advances of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and, more particularly, artificial intelligence (Al), have caused serious questions to arise whether these evolving developments will cause far greater harm to humanity than benefits unlike prior technological innovations.

International Human Resource Management Policies and Practices for Multinational Enterprises, 5th Edition (PDF)
Dr. lbraiz Tarique

The conduct of business is increasingly global in scope and managing a global workforce has become even more important in the successful conduct of global business. This book comprehensively and thoroughly covers the field of International Human Resource Management (IHRM). It focuses on the IHRM and talent management issues, changes, and challenges facing multinational enterprises (MNEs) and MNE managers as they internationalize their business operations.