Investment Dilemma Research Articles

Smart port vs. port integration to mitigate congestion: ESG performance and data validation

In practice, ports compete on both service volume and service quality. The latter can be measured by the port congestion situation so the mitigation of congestion helps improve customers’ experience. We observe that smart ports are widely built and many local governments are promoting port integration to ease competition and reduce congestion. One immediate question is: Are the two strategies really effective that further enable the improvement of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) performance? In this study, by taking the do-nothing strategy as the benchmark, we examine how smart port and port integration strategies work in port congestion reduction and ESG improvement. We reveal that the smart port strategy brings the Matthew effect that the large port obtains a larger market share and the smaller port worries about the win-lose situation. We also reveal that smart port can make each port and the entire port system more congested, resulting in the investment dilemma. Differently, the port integration strategy can effectively reduce congestion but hurt social welfare. We further discuss a mixed strategy where both strategies are implemented. Interestingly, under the mixed strategy, the risk of falling into the investment dilemma can be reduced and social welfare can be increased. We compare the ESG performances under three strategies and highlight that the mixed strategy achieves the highest system profit, the smart port strategy yields the highest social welfare, and the port integration strategy may outperform the other strategies in terms of environmental sustainability.

VRL Logistics Limited: Investment Dilemma Amidst the Global Pandemic

The case examined the investment dilemma faced by the portfolio manager Mr Thomas George of a leading wealth management company regarding investments in VRL Logistics Limited, a leading logistics company in India. As part of the portfolio evaluation and rebalancing exercise, the portfolio manager had to take a call on whether to retain VRL Logistics Limited in the portfolio or exit the stock. The share price had seen a drastic increase from ₹161.55 to ₹282 at the time of reviewing the portfolio. The logistics sector was one of the major sectors affected due to the lockdown announced by the Government on account of the global pandemic. With the imminent threat of multiple waves and lockdowns, determining the intrinsic value amidst the global pandemic poses a challenge to the portfolio manager. The case employed different methods of valuation, such as discounted cash flow and relative valuation, to arrive at the fair value of the stock. The case also discussed incorporating ‘risk’ in the valuation exercise by performing a sensitivity analysis of key variables.

Islamic equity funds and stock market: dynamic relation and market timing during the COVID-19 outbreak

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market timing skills of Islamic equity funds in Asia, Europe and North America.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed a two-step process. First, a Granger causality test is applied to test the bivariate relationship between Islamic fund indices and stock market ones by highlighting the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the methodology of Treynor and Mazuy (1966) is deployed to account for the market timing abilities skills of Islamic fund managers during the pandemic period.FindingsThe investigation revealed mixed results. The European Islamic funds were positively impacted by the stock market as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic context. Additionally, compared to their Asian and North American peers, only European Islamic fund managers have the ability to time the market during the health crisis period.Research limitations/implicationsDespite its contribution to the Islamic finance literature, this study has some flaws. Indeed, the selected sample of three regions, namely Asia, Europe and North America, precludes extrapolating these conclusions. Other regions should be investigated to further our understanding of Islamic equity funds. Furthermore, due to data availability and accessibility, the study period was limited to a specific time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This shortcoming can be addressed through a multiwave investigation, especially since each region was exposed differently to the pandemic.Practical implicationsThe paper provides scholars, portfolio managers and investors with insights regarding the investment dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic period, especially for those wishing to hedge their pandemic risk exposure and/or diversify their portfolios. Equally, the depiction of potential market timing abilities of Islamic fund managers across the three regions would serve as a guide to identifying the most suitable internationally focused investment strategy.Social implicationsThe paper provides scholars, portfolio managers and investors with insights regarding the investment dilemma during the COVID-19 pandemic period, especially for those wishing to hedge their pandemic risk exposure and/or diversify their portfolios. Equally, the depiction of potential market timing abilities of Islamic funds managers across the three regions would serve as a guide to identify the most suitable internationally focused investment strategy.Originality/valueThe originality of this investigation is that it is the first to examine Islamic equity fund managers and their skills to time the stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Asia, Europe and North America. The current paper extends the Islamic finance literature.

Experiences of Diversified Investment in Basic Research

Basic research is the source of the whole scientific system. How to improve the efficiency of diversified investment in basic research is of special significance to the development of basic research in China. Therefore, this paper combines China's basic research investment dilemma, draws on the excellent experience of the United States, Japan and other advanced countries, further develops the fund-raising channels for basic research, guides social capital to fund basic research in the form of donations or the establishment of foundations, etc., and promotes the high-quality development of basic research in China.

Revisiting the sustainable versus conventional investment dilemma in COVID-19 times

Sustainable living has emerged as the need of the hour for mankind in present times. Practitioners, as well as scholarship in the area, are divided over the comparison of financial returns from sustainable indexes vis-à-vis conventional indexes, causing investors' dilemma. These questions loom larger during the times of global crises, such as COVID-19, which have brought sustainability concerns to the limelight. This dilemma of the investors leads us to approach the study on hand. We study the Thomson Reuters/S-Network global indexes (as a proxy for sustainability-based indexes), and their corresponding alternatives, using the daily closing prices from 1st January 2011 to 29th June 2020. We apply the time-frequency-based Granger-Causality test, and further attempt to understand the coherence between these indexes before and during the COVID-19 period by using the Wavelet Coherence and phase-difference mechanisms. Our results suggest short-run uni-directional causality from sustainable indexes to conventional indexes whereas bi-directional causality in medium and the long-runs. The coherence is particularly stronger at low frequencies, indicating the long-run coherence with sustainable indexes in the lead during COVID-19. The results and conclusions of the study have important implications for different audiences. The portfolio and fund managers can prefer to invest in such markets to avail of higher returns over a longer period.

Investment Dilemma of Coastal and Marine Zoning in Conservation Areas: Case Study of Karimunjawa National Park

Zoning is widely applied to control spatial use in marine conservation areas. However, experience from terrestrial planning showing an investment dilemma. This study aims to determine whether this dilemma also occurs in marine conservation areas. This research conducted a case study in Karimunjawa Marine National Park. Data were analyzed and presented descriptively. The results show that the conservation area faces an investment dilemma, mainly to accommodate the tourism development plan. This dilemma raises spatial compatibility issues, management space boundaries, and equitable benefits distribution that the planners must carefully handle.

Equity Factors: To Short or Not to Short, That Is the Question

What is the best market-neutral implementation of classical equity factors? Should one use the specific predictability of the short leg to build a zero beta long–short portfolio, in spite of the specific costs associated to shorting, or is it preferable to ban the shorts and hedge the long leg with—say—an index future? The authors revisit this question by focusing on the relative predictability of the two legs, the issue of diversification, and various sources of costs. Their conclusion is that, using the same factors, a long–short implementation leads to superior risk-adjusted returns than its hedged long-only counterpart, at least when assets under management are not too large. <b>Key Findings</b> ▪ A toy model gives key insights on the long hedged investment versus long–short investment dilemma. ▪ The authors provide an in-depth analysis and revisiting of “When Equity Factors Drop Their Shorts” by Blitz, Baltussen, and van Vliet (2020). ▪ Realistic implementations of long hedged factor investing and long–short factor investing lead to different conclusions than those of Blitz, Baltussen, and van Vliet (2020).

Conditional sanctioning in a legume–Rhizobium mutualism

Legumes are high in protein and form a valuable part of human diets due to their interaction with symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria known as rhizobia. Plants house rhizobia in specialized root nodules and provide the rhizobia with carbon in return for nitrogen. However, plants usually house multiple rhizobial strains that vary in their fixation ability, so the plant faces an investment dilemma. Plants are known to sanction strains that do not fix nitrogen, but nonfixers are rare in field settings, while intermediate fixers are common. Here, we modeled how plants should respond to an intermediate fixer that was otherwise isogenic and tested model predictions using pea plants. Intermediate fixers were only tolerated when a better strain was not available. In agreement with model predictions, nodules containing the intermediate-fixing strain were large and healthy when the only alternative was a nonfixer, but nodules of the intermediate-fixing strain were small and white when the plant was coinoculated with a more effective strain. The reduction in nodule size was preceded by a lower carbon supply to the nodule even before differences in nodule size could be observed. Sanctioned nodules had reduced rates of nitrogen fixation, and in later developmental stages, sanctioned nodules contained fewer viable bacteria than nonsanctioned nodules. This indicates that legumes can make conditional decisions, most likely by comparing a local nodule-dependent cue of nitrogen output with a global cue, giving them remarkable control over their symbiotic partners.

Frugal innovation and leapfrogging innovation approach to the Industry 4.0 challenge for a developing country

ABSTRACT There has been little discussion about solving problems in response to the Industry 4.0 challenge to a developing country. This paper focuses on those problems, including the investment dilemma caused by low affordability market, low capability of firms, and the fragmented stakeholder problem, in responding to the Industry 4.0 challenge. We develop a framework for solving the problems in responding to the Industry 4.0 challenge in Thailand, having frugal innovation and leapfrogging innovation concepts as theoretical bases. The examples of frugal and or leapfrogging innovation scenarios, which could offer a new momentum of the dynamics of industrial growth, which can be implemented under private–public partnership, are briefly discussed, and the pilot results of exposure of scenarios to Thai experts are discussed. The implication is that firms and developing countries need to consider alternative innovation approaches including the ones suggested and other possible approaches, and serious experimentation is required and the policy direction needs to be found out from feedbacks of the experimentations.

Foreign Investment Dilemma: Real Estate on Jeju Island, Korea Gregory Chu 01/31/19 Volume 61 Photo Essay Moving Cuba Jenny Pettit, Charles O. Collins 12/14/18 Feature Article Igarka Vanishes: The Story of a Rapidly Shrinking Russian Arctic City Kelsey Nyland, Valery Grebenets, Nikolay Shiklomanov, Dmitry Streletskiy 10/26/18 Geo Quiz Quiz Nine: Energy Wesley Reisser 09/03/18 Feature Article Agricultural Social Networks as

Foreign Investment Dilemma: Real Estate on Jeju Island, Korea Gregory Chu 01/31/19 Volume 61 Photo Essay Moving Cuba Jenny Pettit, Charles O. Collins 12/14/18 Feature Article Igarka Vanishes: The Story of a Rapidly Shrinking Russian Arctic City Kelsey Nyland, Valery Grebenets, Nikolay Shiklomanov, Dmitry Streletskiy 10/26/18 Geo Quiz Quiz Nine: Energy Wesley Reisser 09/03/18 Feature Article Agricultural Social Networks as

Lonmin Plc: mining and responsible investment – dangerous liaisons?

Subject area The case presents a responsible investment dilemma case. Swedish institutional responsible investors have to make a choice about their investment in Lonmin, a platinum mining company whose operation are located in South Africa and has been the theatre of workers’ killings. Study level/applicability The case targets MBA students and can be taught in a corporate finance course, a corporate governance course, a business ethics course or on sustainable and responsible investment. Case overview The teaching case follows the journey of Hilde Svensson, the head of equities for a Swedish responsible investor. She has been tasked to visit the site of Lonmin in South Africa which is the theatre of a tragic workers’ unrest that led to the killings of 44 workers in August 2012. She must decide what the best responsible investment strategy is to adopt with Lonmin for the future. Expected learning outcomes The students are expected to learn about what responsible investment entails and the dilemmas that can be faced by responsible investors. The case also gives insight to business students and the complexities of environment, social and governance (ESG) analysis and how to integrate financial and ESG analysis when you are a responsible investor. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CCS 1: Accounting and Finance

Understanding the dilemmas of multifunctional regional planning

Multifunctional projects integrate land uses to fulfill economic, environmental and social objectives. Planning multifunctional projects is complex because of the interdependence of effects and actors. When selecting functional combinations, actors often encounter dilemmas related to the project priorities. This paper draws on an earlier categorisation of dilemmas, identifying the regulation and investment dilemmas in a multifunctional case in the Dutch South West Delta. Our results show the influence of dilemmas on the course of decision making in a multifunctional project. In our case, the investment dilemma prevails because decision makers must balance the need to select functions based on earning potential while satisfying other stakeholder demands. Furthermore, we shed light on the interrelation between the regulation and investment dilemmas, given the tension of having to transform and preserve values in an area while prioritising regional demands and earning potential.

Is My Firm-Specific Investment Protected? Overcoming the Stakeholder Investment Dilemma in the Resource-Based View

The resource-based view posits that firms achieve competitive advantage from value creation through firm-specific investments held by key stakeholders: employees, suppliers, and customers. Sharehol...

The Climate Finance and Energy Investment Dilemma in Africa

Africa is a continent that has abundant renewable and non-renewable energy resources. Regardless of the presence of these resources, it is noted that the continent has significant challenges in providing reliable and modern energy services to most of its population, thereby increasing people’s dependence on biomass, and consequently hindering their potential to overcome poverty and attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Through a review of energy policies, energy sector studies, and socioeconomic development reports, this article provides some insights into how the renewable energy and non-renewable energy sectors can be enhanced in the context of current opportunities and challenges in Africa. Since the current state of technology is deemed sufficient to provide adequate energy for Africa, there should be an emphasis on developing the right institutions to make do with local energy resources and capital. Special attention is given to climate financing instruments (such as the Clean Development Mechanism [CDM]) and their potential contribution to African societies and energy sectors. With persistent interest by international donors to encourage CDM projects in least developed countries and growing foreign direct investment in Africa by Chinese firms, there are strong possibilities that Africa’s energy sectors, other infrastructure, and human and institutional capacity building can grow and develop more rapidly than historical trends. Enhanced private sector participation and energy sub-sector policies and strategies might hold the key to achieving this.

Dilemmas of planning: Intervention, regulation, and investment

Planning through processes of “co-creation” has become a priority for practitioners, urban activists, and scientific researchers. However, urban development still shows a close instrumentalism on goal-specific tasks, means, and outcomes despite awareness that planning should enlarge possibilities for social change rather than constrain them. The article explores the dilemmas of planning agency in light of the contemporary need to open spaces for innovative practices. Planning is understood as a paradox; a structural tension between organization and spontaneity. The article provides a detailed profile of three specific dilemmas stemming from this condition. We distinguish and conceptually explore the dilemmas of intervention, regulation, and investment in current practices. The article provides a specific understanding of today’s planning dilemmas, exploring the key notions of “space and time” in the intervention dilemma, “material and procedural norms” in the regulation dilemma, and “risk and income” in the investment dilemma. We suggest that planning practice today needs to make sense of these dilemmas, navigating through their extremes to find new contextualized forms of synthesis.

Business Critical Application: An IT Investment Dilemma at a Securities Company

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

Cogeneration – Investment dilemma

Energy companies face several crucial investment dilemmas in the liberalized energy market. These are: the availability of energy sources, feed-in tariffs, market positioning and consumer satisfaction. Research analyzes profitability of the Cogeneration (Combined Heat and Power, CHP) project in the city of Rijeka. The CHP is designed to provide district heating for the University campus, the Hospital and active private consumers of district heating, and bring about further sales of electricity. Revitalization of the CHP project comprises necessary adaptive actions in the distribution power system but also real time monitoring, which enables the CHP island operation, with uninterrupted electric and thermal energy supply of critical consumers (e.g. hospital) in case of a serious disturbance. Results indicate the project profitability under several conditions: non-government regulation for heating price, feed-in tariffs and guaranteed sale of electricity together with added value from automatic control system (ACS)–island operation.

More on Bernanke's 'Bad News Principle'

The role that Bernanke's Bad News Principle plays in the modern theory of investment under uncertainty is analyzed. The analysis shows that the actual investment dilemma is that by delaying investment firms trade-off a higher present value of earnings for a lower present value of the investment cost, in contrast to previous interpretations of this dilemma. The economic interpretation of the Smooth Pasting Condition is clarified too and found to be representing the trade-off mentioned above. It is also shown how investment triggers stay intact despite changes in the profit process, if the changes are restricted to the range of sufficiently high profits.

Economic Efficiency in Cooperatives

HE cooperative form of business organization has deep historical roots in the economy. The cooperative dairy association movement began in New York in the mid-1800s as a response to the monopsony power of privately held milk-processing plants.1 It was perceived that a producer cooperative had the ability to produce processed cheese from its members' raw milk at a lower per-unit cost than would have been possible by contracting with a geographically isolated, private, for-profit firm. Modern refrigerated transportation has diminished monopsony power. In modern times, the cooperative form of business has been consciously nurtured as a matter of public policy. The tax laws of the United States exempt cooperatives that meet certain requirements from payment of income taxes.2 Certain other pecuniary advantages are available to agricultural cooperatives. Loans are available to cooperatives at a belowmarket rate of interest. The collective knowledge of the Department of