Purpose – The rule of law and an efficient legal system are the core factors that ensure growth in BRIC economies. Weak institutions and failures with respect to the rule of law in Russia call into question its position as one of the BRIC countries. The purpose of this paper is to propose that...

The now‐famous work of Modigliani and Miller (MM) (1) asserted that firms should prefer to use debt over equity in financing assets. That prescription holds that there exists realisable value in the tax deductibility of interest payments. The deductibility benefit lowers the cost of debt with...

Five hundred financial executives from North American companies were surveyed by means of a mailed questionnaire to gain a view from outside the operations functions of the basis on which aggregate inventory decisions are taken. The response indicated that more functions than might have been...

This paper examines and updates an earlier study of the liquidity of an extensive array of common stocks traded on NYSE/ASE/NML‐NASDAQ. It reports apparent variances in liquidity due to trading location and other variables. The paper suggests causes for these differences.

In estimating desired inventory holdings business organizations must use some estimate of their cost of funds. While conceptually the overall or weighted average cost of capital would seem to be the appropriate measure, survey of senior U.S. and Canadian financial executives at large firms...

This study explores the potential benefits and costs of bank entry into venture capital investing. Data are obtained from a survey of banking organizations regarding their perceptions of the effects of such venture capital investing. Also, evidence on the portfolio diversification effects of...