Narrow Results

Purpose: The key objectives of the study are to investigate whether increased bank size is essential for banking efficiency in Pakistan, further, to explore the influence of market power or economies of scale on size–efficiency relationship. Design/Methodology/Approach: The dynamic two-step system GMM approach is applied on bank-level data of a panel set of 31 commercial banks of Pakistan, over the period 2006 to 2022. For robustness, the selected period is further divided into three time spans, 2006–2010, 2011–2019, and 2019–2022, and to explore size-efficiency association among different size categories, the entire data is divided into two groups. Findings: The study reveals two key outcomes. First, size is a c ore variable in describing efficiency movement in Pakistan as a significant positive relationship is evinced between bank size and net interest margin in both groups even in the period of COVID-19. Second, both market power and economies of scale strongly influence size–efficiency relationship. However, the impact of these variables is insignificant for medium and small banks. Further, all bank-specific and macroeconomic variables are significantly allied with banking efficiency. Originality: The study is premiered to examine the bank size–efficiency relationship in the light of market power and economies of scale for the banking sector of Pakistan. The originality of this research is the deep examination of bank size–efficiency relationship with two effectual macroeconomic variables. Research Implications: The core policy implication is that size is a fundamental factor while market power and economies of scale are driving forces of size–efficiency association in Pakistan.

The minimum energy and size of doubly muonic D₃ molecule, which two of the electrons are replaced by the much heavier muons, are calculated by the well-known variational method. The calculations show that the system possesses two minimum positions, one at typically muonic distance and the second at the atomic distance. It is shown that at the muonic distance, the effective charge, z_eff is 2.9. We assumed a symmetric planar vibrational model between two minima and an oscillation potential energy is approximated in this region.

A new sorting network with exactly the same size and depth as the odd-even sorting network is presented. This sorting network is designed using the zero-one principle, and proceeds by first sorting pairs of bits and then sorting the pairs into lexicographic order.

Firms’ behaviors are not only affected by their taxation burden level, but also their differences from each other. In this paper, we use Chinese Industrial Enterprises Database (CIED) to investigate the relationship between firms’ heterogeneity of tax burden and firms’ characteristics, such as size, ownership, exportation and location. We measure a firm’s tax burden in three ways, the value-added tax (VAT) burden, the corporate income tax (CIT) burden, and the total tax burden. By using a Hausman–Taylor estimation, we find: (1) The CIT burden is positively correlated to the size, while other two tax burdens are not; (2) Both the VAT burden and the total tax burden of SOEs are significantly heavier than those of non-SOEs, while the CIT burden shows the exactly opposite effect; (3) Exporters have a remarkably lower tax burden than non-exporters for all three tax burden measures; and (4) The western region and particularly the central region have lighter tax burden than the eastern region for all three tax burden measures. We also provide empirical evidence and policy suggestions for continuing to proceed with the structural tax reduction and the structural fiscal reform in China.

Using firm-level data from 7165 firms from Indian manufacturing, this paper explores the effects of firm age and size on its inclination to invest in research and development (R&D). The paper addresses the inadequately answered question on the choice between in-house R&D and technology purchase from foreign firms. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of age, size and technology transfer on firm’s inclination to invest in R&D for the manufacturing sector in India. Our results suggest that young firms are more likely to invest in R&D. A firm’s exports further increase its propensity towards R&D. Contrary to the previous results, we show that young and small firms possibly use in-house R&D as a complementary input with purchased foreign technology. Thereafter, policy prescriptions are drawn.

Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) composites filled with 0–400 phr ${\mathrm{\text{PbWO}}}_4$ (PWO) were prepared by conventional process using a two-roll mill. Surface treatment of the fillers coated with KH570 was conducted to enhance the wettability and lubrication of fillers in the polymer matrix. According to SEM images and mechanical test, both micro- and submicro-fillers disperse homogeneously in the matrix, and adhesion of submicro-fillers to the matrix is stronger than that of micro-fillers. The submicro-PWO composites had better tensile strength and elongation at break than those composites containing micro-PWO powder, but a relatively higher hardness. The photon shielding test was performed to determine the radiation shielding properties of these composites, which showed that attenuation of gamma-rays for the submicro-PWO composites was substantially enhanced compared to micro-PWO reinforced composites.

A simple theoretical model is developed to study the effect of size and shape on the bandgap of semiconductor nanomaterials. It is found that bandgap increases by decreasing the size, which depends on the shape considered. The results obtained are compared with the available experimental data as well as with those based on earlier models. Different models predict similar trend of variations. However, such an excellent agreement with experimental data particularly in low size range using a simple model is never seen earlier. The model reduces the number of input parameters and includes more shapes as compared with earlier studies. This demonstrates the simplicity and wide applicability of the present model due to which it can be used to study the size and shape dependence of bandgap of different semiconductor nanomaterials of current interest in science and technology.

In this paper, a novel GSA technique is used for improving the voltage stability of the system with multiple FACTS devices. The proposed novel algorithm is used to optimize the location, size and number of FACTS devices. The GSA is enhanced with the use of boundary for optimizing the parameters of the system. Therefore, the voltage stability is improved while satisfying a given set of operating and physical constraints. Here, multiple FACTS devices are used to evaluate the performance of proposed algorithm and these devices are connected in single line and double line of the bus system. The optimal locations and power ratings of the FACTS devices are determined, based on the voltage collapse rating and power loss of the system. The proposed technique is implemented in MATLAB platform and tested with IEEE 30 bus system. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by locating multiple FACTS devices and compared with the PSO-adaptive GSA and GA-GSA technique.

Motivated by Leinster-Cobbold measures of biodiversity, the notion of the spread of a finite metric space is introduced. This is related to Leinster’s magnitude of a metric space. Spread is generalized to infinite metric spaces equipped with a measure and is calculated for spheres and straight lines. For Riemannian manifolds the spread is related to the volume and total scalar curvature. A notion of scale-dependent dimension is introduced and seen for approximations to certain fractals to be numerically close to the Minkowski dimension of the original fractals.

Microscale to nanoscale carbon and carbon nitride particles and films were synthesized by using plasma discharge sputtering deposition techniques. Experimental results indicated that sizes and distributions of the particles were directly determined by both discharge voltage and bias voltage. Sputtering deposition at high discharge voltages yielded large sizes (micrometer order) of particles with a high disorder of distribution. Whereas sputtering deposition at low discharge voltages yielded nanoscale of particles that uniformly distributed on the surface of the substrate. Ar laser beam in combination with an optical microscope has been used, enabling one to remove these particles and to achieve preferred distributions of the particles. Low growth rate of the films was found at the low voltage discharge sputtering deposition. Bias voltage was employed during the experiments in order to speed up the growth rate and increase nitrogen content inside the carbon nitride film. With an increase of the bias voltage up to 5 kV, nanoparticles appeared in two-dimensional, sunflower type of cluster distributions. Typical G, D, and C=N bands in the Raman spectra of the samples were identified.

This paper examines the major determinants of a firm's derivatives use for companies listed in Taiwan Stock Exchange in the period from 1997 to 1999. The study finds that the proportion of derivatives use in Taiwan, ranging from 31% to 37%, is comparable to that of the US (35%), but less than that of New Zealand (53%). Firms' derivatives use in Taiwan asymmetrically focuses on currency/forwards derivatives. Industry breakdown illustrates that the electronic industry stands for the heavy user both in terms of number and amount. We show that the vital determinants of a firm's derivatives use are size, the ratio of long-term debt to total debt, the electronic industry dummy, and the export ratio. The fact that firms' derivatives use positively correlated with size and the long-term-debt-to-total-debt ratio implies the capability-willingness hypothesis: only large firms are affordable to engage in derivatives use due to the concern of economies of scale in establishing and maintaining expertise, and these firms demand more derivatives use when they face with high financial risk in debt structure.

Value-added performance measures, such as economic value added (EVA), are promoted as a means to better align managerial incentives and improve firm performance. This paper empirically examines whether EVA adopters outperform a peer group of non-adopters over a long term horizon. It also explores the determinants associated with differences in relative market performance of these two groups. We find mixed results consistent with previous studies. In examining risk adjusted market returns, we find that the full sample significantly underperforms the market. However, during the period of the study, EVA adopters exhibit less negative performance than non-adopters. Moreover, over the entire study period, adopter performance improves in a positive direction, while non-adopters experience a performance decline. Adopting firms also exhibit higher earnings growth and higher returns. In perspective, these results suggest there is some benefit to EVA adoption, relative to a peer group, as adopters outperform their peer group. In a comparison of peer matched groups, firm size and growth opportunities are found to have a significant impact on performance for three size-based groups.

In this study, we intended to examine empirically how a firm's profitability performance would impact its growth process and the inference for Gibrat's Law. The basic study looks at small, medium and large firms' tendency to grow when their internally generated profits are high. The sample is 124 construction companies listed from years 2003 to 2010 at BURSA Malaysia. Data used is secondary data collected from BURSA Malaysia and annual reports. The result indicated that "growth" contributed significantly to profitability in both small and medium-sized construction companies, but was not significant in large companies. Thus, hypothesis two was supported. This study supports Gibrat's Law, showing that size and growth rate are independent.

This paper examines relative performance of alternative asset pricing models using individual security returns. The standard multivariate test used in studies comparing the performance of asset pricing models requires the number of stocks to be less than the number of time series observations, which requires grouping stocks into portfolios. This results in a loss of disaggregate stock information. We apply a different statistical test to overcome this problem and to investigate relative performance of alternative asset pricing models using individual security returns instead of portfolio returns. Our findings suggest that a parsimonious six-factor model that includes the momentum and orthogonal value factors outperforms all other models based on a number of measures as well as the average $F$-test. Unlike the standard multivariate test, we find that the average $F$-test has superior power to discriminate among competing models and does not reject all tested models.

A procedure confirms whether a return-factor correlation is anomalous or results from endogenous simultaneous-equations bias. The identification strategy sorts the cost of capital components for instruments. In the first stage, the initially found factors are regressed on cost instruments. In the second stage, a confirmed anomaly has predicted value significant in returns and exogenous.

Taxes, depreciation and capital structure are strong instruments, affecting 1980–2017 quarterly U.S. stock returns. Size, value and profitability decisions are significant in instruments. Returns increase in fitted profits, but not small size. Actual and predicted values have weaker correlation with returns over time.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a compound with versatile applications. The compound can be synthesized in multiple sizes and shapes. The actual final product shape or morphology depends largely on the solvent used. The understanding of the actual interaction amongst the solvent and solute molecules is a very promising way to predict the shape of ZnO. Further, the operating conditions used during synthesis of ZnO also influence the final size of the product. This review paper specifically focuses on synthesis of zinc oxide through solvothermal synthesis with salt of zinc oxide with single solvent and with different operating conditions. The literature on effect of mixture of solvents is also reported in one of the subsections. The aim of this review is to understand the actual interaction amongst single salt and solvent without presence of any other compound in it. The presence of more than one compound in solvent or mixture of solvent increases the complexity of the problem. Therefore, there is a need to focus on this specific collection of literature to understand the basics, while future studies can be devoted to more complex studies. This review covers the effect of solvents like alcohols, alkanes, glycols, ring compounds and water on zinc salt. Also, it reports the effect of operating parameters like effect of precursor, temperature and time based on the available literature.

This study investigates the barriers to growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kosova. It is based on a SME survey conducted by Riinvest Institute at the end of 2002 which identified critical business environment barriers perceived by entrepreneurs such as legal environment, administrative burden, external financing, tax burden and unfair competition. First, based on this SME survey, the econometric model is constructed in order to test empirically the validity of Gibrat's Law. Then, in order to identify and measure the impact of current reported business environment barriers on SME growth, the Gibrat's Law is augmented with other business environment variables. The econometric results suggest that firms' growth is negatively linked to firms' size and age, suggesting that Gibrat's Law does not hold for growing SMEs in Kosova. Also, the growth of the SMEs is reduced by the presence of the business environmental barriers such as tax burden, unfair competition and inadequate financing. Econometric results raise important issues and policy implications for the development of the SME sector in Kosova.

Judiciously designed phthalocyanines (Pcs), such as silicon-Pc bis(3,5-diphenyl)benzoate (1c), with axial substituents which prevent aggregation, can self-assemble to form ordered nanoporous films on electrode surfaces. In this paper, complementary techniques such as Scanning Kelvin Nanoprobe (SKN) microscopy, Atom Force Microscopy (AFM) and electrochemical measurements are used to demonstrate that films formed by silicon-Pc bis(3,5-diphenyl)benzoate allow size- and charge- selective transport of probe molecules through well-defined intermolecular cavities. In contrast, the analogs silicon-Pc bis(4-tert-butylbenzoate) (1a) and silicon-Pc bis(3-thienyl)acetate (1b) have different film morphologies when solvent-cast in the same manner and block the electrode surface. The role of the different axial substituents in orienting the molecules on the substrate is discussed.

The aim of this paper is to conduct an empirical study to explore the influence of size category on innovation incorporation in Irish SMEs. Changes in markets and in large organisation strategies have resulted in the need for SMEs to re-examine and modify their competitive strategies to increase innovation. Although there is some literature on innovation incorporation in SMEs, there is a lack of direct studies on this issue, with a reliance on related but indirect studies such as Reengineering and New product development in SMEs. Furthermore, there is a paucity of studies and data on the innovation incorporation in different organisational size categories within SMEs.

This study uses a grounded SME innovation model developed from earlier studies as the basis of a questionnaire survey of 2086 SMEs in Northern Ireland. The results indicate that SME organisational size categories has a significant effect on innovation incorporation in relation to leadership, people and culture, TQM/CI, product and process and Knowledge and information management.

In an important effort to understand what enhances innovation, the extent to which innovative actions rest on organisational values, beliefs and interests is particularly crucial. This study analyses the impact of organisational culture — specifically, the firm's entrepreneurial and market orientation — on different innovation dimensions. It also considers the role of business size in the relationship between organisational culture and innovation. An empirical study with a sample of 440 variously sized enterprises from five industrial sectors in Spain demonstrates the relationship between market orientation and entrepreneurship and innovation. Business size does not cause the relationship, though it moderates the relationship regarding management and marketing innovations.