Browsing by Author "Parker, David"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 24
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    Banking performance and technological change in non-core EU countries: A study of Spain and Portugal
    (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z) Figueira, Catarina; Nellis, Joseph G.; Parker, David
    The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cost efficiency of banks operating in two "non-core" EU countries, Portugal and Spain, over a number of years. Specifically, the paper aims to examine the extent to which banks' efficiency is influenced by their portfolio orientation and scale of operation. Data envelopment analysis is used to identify banks' levels of performance over time in both countries. In order to decompose banks' total factor productivity change into technological, scale efficiency and pure efficiency changes, the Malmquist index method is applied. Banks operating in both countries have improved their performance over time and savings banks and large banks, in particular, have tended to outperform other types of banks. Banks operating in Spain tend to perform better than in Portugal and Spanish-owned banks perform better than their Portuguese-owned counterparts. The improvements in performance revealed have mainly been due to technological change. Bankscope is a well- respected data source and has been the basis of many studies of performance in international banking. Unfortunately, owing to data deficiencies, around 20 per cent of the banks operating in Portugal and Spain were not included. Practical implications - If Portuguese banks are to be competitive internationally, there is considerable need for efficiency improvements. The paper provides insights into the dynamics of the Portuguese and Spanish banking systems. The results should be of interest to management in banking and bank regulators in Europe, and economists and others studying bank performance trends. The research reported may shed light on some of the challenges facing the banking sectors of the "new" EU states (such as Poland and Hungary).
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    Electricity sector reform in developing countries: an econometric assessment of the effects of privatisation, competition and regulation
    (Springer, 2008-04) Zhang, Yin-Fang; Parker, David; Kirkpatrick, Colin
    Over the last two decades electricity sectors in both developed and developing countries have been subject to restructuring to introduce private capital and increase competition. Although the effects of such reforms in a number of the developed economies are now well documented, apart from a few case studies the experience of developing countries is much less well researched. This paper provides an econometric assessment of the effects of privatisation, competition and regulation on the performance of the electricity generation industry using panel data for 36 developing and transitional countries, over the period 1985 to 2003. The study identifies the impact of these reforms on generating capacity, electricity generated, labour productivity in the generating sector and capacity utilisation. The main conclusions are that on their own privatisation and regulation do not lead to obvious gains in economic performance, though there are some positive interaction effects. By contrast, introducing competition does seem to be effective in stimulating performance improvements.
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    An empirical analysis of state and private-sector provision of water services in Africa
    (Oxford University Press, 2006) Kirkpatrick, Colin; Parker, David; Zhang, Yin-Fang
    Under pressure from donor agencies and international financial institutions such as the World Bank, some developing countries have experimented with the privatization of water services. This article reviews the econometric evidence on the effects of water privatization in developing economies and presents new results using statistical data envelopment analysis and stochastic cost frontier techniques and data from Africa. The analysis fails to show evidence of better performance by private utilities than by state-owned utilities. Among the reasons why water privatization could prove problematic in lower-income economies are the technology of water provision and the nature of the product, transaction costs, and regulatory weaknesses
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    How efficient is the Polish banking industry?
    (2005-06-01T00:00:00Z) Figueira, Catarina; Nellis, Joseph G.; Parker, David
    In 2004 Poland entered the EU. This paper investigates whether the Polish banking industry is prepared for entry by looking specifically at its comparative efficiency in relation to one of the largest banking sectors in the EU, that of the UK. A range of efficiency measures is used. The empirical results reveal a surprising degree of relative efficiency in the Polish banking industry, no doubt reflecting the substantial economic changes introduced in Poland since 1989. The results suggest that the Polish banking sector should be able to survive the new competition that it will face following entry into the EU.
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    The impact of regulation on economic growth in developing countries: a cross-country analysis
    (Elsevier, 2007-01) Jalilian, Hossein; Kirkpatrick, Colin; Parker, David
    The role of an effective regulatory regime in promoting economic growth and development has generated considerable interest among researchers and practitioners in recent years. In particular, building effective regulatory structures in developing countries is not simply an issue of the technical design of the most appropriate regulatory instruments, it is also concerned with the quality of supporting regulatory institutions and capacity. This paper explores the role of state regulation using an econometric model of the impact of regulation on growth. The results based on two different techniques of estimation suggest a strong causal link between regulatory quality and economic performance.
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    The importance of ownership
    (1990) Parker, David
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    Infrastructure regulation and poverty reduction in developing countries: a review of the evidence and a research agenda
    (Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2008-05-01T00:00:00Z) Parker, David; Kirkpatrick, Colin; Figueira, Catarina
    Poverty reduction is a primary goal of development policy. In large parts of the World people have to live on meagre incomes and have limited access to infrastructure services, such as mains water, safe sanitation, mains power supplies, maintained roads and telephones. In response, more and more infrastructure provision has been opened up to private investment over the last two decades and regulatory institutions have been introduced to protect the public interest in the absence of state ownership. In this paper the role of infrastructure regulation in poverty reduction is investigated drawing on the published evidence. The conclusion is that the evidence is both patchy and sometimes contradictory. There is mixed knowledge regarding the extent to which regulators address poverty issues and about the results of regulatory decisions. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda aimed at improving our understanding of the ways in which infrastructure regulation impacts on poverty, with the objective of improving actual regulatory policy in developing economies.
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    Infrastructure regulation and poverty reduction in developing countries: a review of the evidence and a research agenda
    (Cranfield University School of Management, 2007-02) Parker, David; Kirkpatrick, Colin; Figueira, Catarina
    Poverty reduction is a primary goal of development policy. In large parts of the World people have to live on meagre incomes and have limited access to infrastructure services, such as mains water, safe sanitation, mains power supplies, maintained roads and telephones. In response, more and more infrastructure provision has been opened up to private investment over the last two decades and regulatory institutions have been introduced to protect the public interest in the absence of state ownership. In this paper the role of infrastructure regulation in poverty reduction is investigated drawing on the published evidence. The conclusion is that the evidence is both patchy and sometimes contradictory. There is mixed knowledge regarding the extent to which regulators address poverty issues and about the results of regulatory decisions. The paper concludes by proposing a future research agenda aimed at improving our understanding of the ways in which infrastructure regulation impacts on poverty, with the objective of improving actual regulatory policy in developing economies.
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    Ownership, managerial changes and performance
    (1991) Parker, David
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    Regulation of mergers by the UK competition authorities: the effects on shareholder value and management motivations for mergers
    (Cranfield University, 2007) Arnold, Malcolm F.; Parker, David
    The UK competition authorities are responsible for regulating company mergers that were originally considered to have adverse effects that were “against the public interest”, or presently that could result in a “substantial lessening of competition”. The research in this thesis examines wider economic side effects of this regulatory policy that fall outside the remit of the competition authorities. Data on 63 merger cases that were subject to the merger regulatory process by the UK competition authorities between 1989 and 2002 are studied for effects on two economic aspects, shareholder value and managers’ motivations to undertake mergers. Some previous studies have suggested that competition regimes can destroy shareholder value. The research in this thesis confirms the finding from earlier studies of greater gains to shareholders in target rather than bidding companies, but does not find evidence supporting overall loss of shareholder value to target company shareholders when a merger is prohibited. It finds evidence that when the regulatory regime is stable and well understood the capital market behaves efficiently in response to new information. However, for a sub group of the mergers involving companies with a new regulatory regime, of which industry and the market had little or no experience with respect to mergers, the capital market operated less efficiently. A number of studies have also considered the motivation of managers to follow a merger strategy. Apparently, none has looked at the influence of competition regulation on merger motives using stock market data and event study techniques. This research examined data for the stock market’s perceptions of what motivated managers to pursue their initial merger bid. The findings suggest that Synergy and Hubris dominate as motivations for mergers and that, unintentionally, competition policy may help to reduce the number of mergers motivated by Managerialism.
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    Regulatory Impact Assessment
    (Cranfield School of Management, 2006) Parker, David
    The cost of regulation is spiralling. Manufacturing, financial services and even small businesses are struggling to keep pace with the time consuming and financially burdensome cost of new legislation and regulation required by both national government and international bodies such as the European Union. Estimating the full economic costs of regulation – which would include both the administrative costs of managing regulations by Government and the (usually much larger) costs to business of complying with the regulations – is not easy. But undoubtedly the compliance costs are huge and often hidden. In 2005 the British Chambers of Commerce quantified the total costs of regulation on business since 1998 at £39 bn. Sir Digby Jones, the former Director General of the CBI, reported that 95% of business leaders felt that the time they spent dealing with regulation had increased over the past five years and a survey of offshoring work in 2004 by CBI/MORI concluded that regulation in the UK was playing an important part in companies’ decisions to relocate abroad.
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    Stock market perceptions of the motives for mergers in cases reviewed by the UK competition authorities
    (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2008-10-01T00:00:00Z) Arnold, Malcolm F.; Parker, David
    A number of studies have considered the motivation of managers to follow a merger strategy. However, as far as we are aware none has looked at the influence of competition regulation on merger motives using stock market data and event study techniques. Data drawn from 63 merger cases in the UK between 1989 and 2003 are examined for the stock market's perceptions of what motivated managers to pursue their initial merger bid. The findings suggest that the Synergy and Hubris dominate as motivations for mergers and that, unintentionally, competition policy may help to reduce the number of mergers motivated by Managerialism.
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    Strategic group theory: review, examination and application in the UK pharmaceutical industry
    (Emerald, 2006) Leask, Graham; Parker, David
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the current status of strategic group theory in the light of developments over the last three decades. and then to discuss the continuing value of the concept, both to strategic management research and practising managers. Design/methodology/approach – Critical review of the idea of strategic groups together with a practical strategic mapping illustration. Findings – Strategic group theory still provides a useful approach for management research, which allows a detailed appraisal and comparison of company strategies within an industry. Research limitations/implications – Strategic group research would undoubtedly benefit from more directly comparable, industry‐specific studies, with a more careful focus on variable selection and the statistical methods used for validation. Future studies should aim to build sets of industry specific variables that describe strategic choice within that industry. The statistical methods used to identify strategic groupings need to be robust to ensure that strategic groups are not solely an artefact of method. Practical implications – The paper looks specifically at an application of strategic group theory in the UK pharmaceutical industry. The practical benefits of strategic groups as a classification system and of strategic mapping as a strategy development and analysis tool are discussed. Originality/value – The review of strategic group theory alongside alternative taxonomies and application of the concept to the UK pharmaceutical industry.