Invited Speakers

Assoc. Prof. Fang Zhao, Siena College, USA

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Finance

Fang Zhao is an Associate Professor of Finance at Siena College and has served as the Chair of the Finance Department since 2021. She got her doctoral degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University. Her teaching portfolio includes a diverse range of undergraduate and graduate courses, such as Intermediate Managerial Finance, Case Problems in Finance, Advanced Investments: Theory and Practice, Advanced Corporate Finance, Financial Operations, and Fixed Income Securities. As a member of the American Finance Association (AFA), the Financial Management Association (FMA), and the Southern Finance Association (SFA), she actively contributes to the field. Her research primarily focuses on banking, corporate finance, real estate investments, and financial services. She has published numerous papers in these areas, covering topics related to bank lending, risk management, corporate cash holdings, real estate investment. Collaborating with scholars from various disciplines, she has engaged in interdisciplinary research projects related to financial services, the cultural impact on financial and strategic decision-making, and managerial effectiveness.

Title: Preliminary Analysis of Economic Policy Uncertainty and Bank Interest-rate Derivatives

Abstract: Effective risk management within financial institutions is critical for maintaining stability, complying with legal requirements, and fostering enduring growth. It empowers banks to navigate obstacles, preserve their capital, and strengthen the overall resilience of the financial system. A commonly used risk management technique involves derivative hedging. Empirical evidence shows that interest-rate derivatives activities have an expanding effect on bank lending (e.g., Brewer et al., 2000), as the use of derivatives effectively reduces interest-rate uncertainty and systematic risk in a bank’s loan portfolio, thereby enhancing more efficient intermediation by banks (Diamond, 1984). Purnanandam (2007) and Hoffmann et al. (2019) confirm that banks actively employ interest rate derivatives to strategically manage the duration gap between assets and liabilities, resulting in effective control over exposure to interest rate fluctuations. Therefore, this approach allows banks to mitigate the impact of interest rate shocks on their lending policy. In contrast, Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) exerts a credit-restricting impact through the bank-lending channel (Bordo et al., 2016). Additionally, it elevates bank risk due to the transformation of negative shocks from economic uncertainty into adverse effects on financial stability (Wu et al., 2020). This article fills the research gap by examining the connection between EPU and interest-rate derivatives used by U.S. bank holding companies (BHCs) during the period of 1986: Q1-2017: Q3 in the context of bank lending. The preliminary results also highlight that interest-rate derivatives can partially mitigate the effects of both interest-rate risk and economic policy uncertainty risk on bank lending, offering relevant policy implications.

Keywords: Economic policy uncertainty, Interest-rate derivatives, Bank lending, Credit growth, Bank stability

 

 

Prof. Jenny Oliveros Lao Phillips, University of Saint Joseph (USJ), China

Jenny Oliveros Lao Phillips is an Associate Professor of Human and Social Sciences at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ). She has been the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law since 2018. Prof. Phillips held a PhD in Business Administration from USJ in 2015 and was awarded the highest honour of Summa cum Laude. With an MBA in General Management jointly awarded by the Inter-University Institute of Macau and the Catholic University of Portugal (2003), an MA in English Studies: Literature Specialization from the University of Macau (2007), and a Bachelor in Tourism Business from the Institute for Tourism Studies (2000), Prof. Phillips has been teaching a wide range of courses for the past 19 years including Creativity Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Managing Social Service Organizations, Product Design and Development, Family Business Management, Marketing for Entrepreneurs, Global Strategic Management, Literature and Creative Writing, to name a few. Prof. Phillips is also a Cantonese-English interpreter, a translator, a writer and a poet. She wrote the column “Made in Macao” in the Macau Daily Times on the culture and tradition of Macao. Her research interests and publications include organisational behaviour, innovation and entrepreneurship, social enterprises, family businesses, government studies, Macao’s tourism industry, and theatre studies.

Title: Drivers of Social Enterprises in Macao and the Dominance of the Hybrid Model

Abstract: This study examines the drivers behind establishing social enterprises in Macao, where the concept was introduced in 2009 with government financial aid. Globally, social enterprises are typically for-profit, leveraged non-profit, or hybrid non-profit models. In Macao, approximately 20 social enterprises exist, all as hybrid non-profits operated by five non-profit organizations. This research seeks to understand why this singular model is prevalent in Macao. Key drivers include a strong commitment to social missions, support from founding non-profit organizations, innovation in problem-solving, new management style challenges, and government backing. These factors shape the perception and operational framework of social enterprises in Macao, leading to the exclusive adoption of the hybrid non-profit model. The study highlights how local socio-economic and institutional contexts influence the development and strategies of these organizations, providing insights into the region's unique landscape of social enterprises.

Keywords: Social Enterprises. hybrid non-profit model. local socio-economic
 

 

 

Assoc. Prof. Karoly Miklos Kiss, University of Pannonia, Hungary

Károly Miklós Kiss is an Associate Professor of economics at University of Pannonia (UoP) and a senior research fellow at HUN-REN Centre for Economic and Regional Studies. He has been the Head of Department of Economics at UoP, Head of Applied Economics Research Unit at UoP and Head of Economics of Networks Research Unit at the Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Kiss is a Panel Member of the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Economics Panel), Member of Hungarian Economic Association, Member of Hungarian Society of Economists, Member of International Atlantic Economic Society. Prof. Kiss held a PhD in Economics from University of Pannonia in 2009 and was awarded the highest honour of Summa cum Laude. He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the Corvinus University Budapest. Prof. Kiss has been teaching a wide range of undergraduate, graduate and PhD courses at several universities related to Microeconomics, Industrial Organization, Theories of markets and competition, Economics of Networks, Economics of Regulation, Competition Policy, Economics of Information. His research is focused on Industrial Organization, Economics of regulation (mostly in network industries and public utilities), Economics of networks, Economics of Information (asymmetrical information). Prof. Kiss has participated, led and coordinated several international and national research projects, including for the Hungarian Communications Authority, the Hungarian Competition Authority and ministries.

Title: Large Intra-Industry Productivity Gaps Between Firms: Can They Persist and What Can Reduce Them?

Abstract: Economic theory suggests that productivity differences between firms in different markets or industries cannot persist in the long term. Theoretical models of competition and market theory show that competitive pressure drives inefficient firms out of the market, so that in the long run there should not be significant productivity differences. Nevertheless, many empirical studies on productivity show that high productivity differences persist between firms, even within narrowly defined industries. Syverson (2004) reports that in the U.S. manufacturing sectors, the productivity of the top ten percent (p90) of firms is twice the productivity of the lowest ten percent (p10) of firms on average, and it is even higher in some sectors. According to Hsieh and Klenow (2009), in China and India, the average p90-p10 productivity range is 5:1.
Productivity gaps can be reduced under competitive pressure through two mechanisms: due to market entries and exits, or through learning (technology transfer) between firms. On the one hand, competition can force inefficient firms to exit, leaving only companies with similar high efficiency in the market. This approach concentrates on the lack or constrains of market competition in explaining these large and persistent productivity differences, proxied by the dynamics of exits and entries (Syverson 2004, 2011), or competition advantages due to export activities (Melitz 2003). For example, Syverson (2004) examines the impact of spatial substitutability in product markets. In their study, they find that where producers are spatially densely clustered in a market, consumers can more easily switch between suppliers, which increases the intensity of competition locally and that an increase in this substitutability crowds out less efficient firms, leading to higher minimum and average productivity levels and lower productivity dispersion.
Alternatively, competition may force inefficient firms to learn from more productive ones, so that they catch up with highly productive firms through knowledge and technology transfer between firms. There are several channels for knowledge and technology transfer between firms: R&D links between firms, supplier (vertical) links, or labour flows between firms. Following Arrow (1962), worker mobility has long been considered a major source of knowledge flow across firms: the hiring firm benefits from the embodied knowledge and skills of incoming labor, which has a positive effect on wages and productivity in the target company (Almeida and Kogut 1999; Zucker, Darby, and Torero 2002; Palomeras and Melero 2010; Stoyanov and Zubanov 2012) (Balsvik 2011; Poole 2013; Csáfordi et al. 2020). This suggests that knowledge transfers between firms can decrease productivity differences, while constraints to knowledge transfers can explain why productivity differences sustain. In this lecture I examine how the intensity and structure of labor mobility network between firms is associated with the productivity dispersion of industries. In empirical investigation, I use econometric analysis of the Hungarian administrative and firm data on labor mobility and productivity dispersion (using a Hungarian administrative data integration database, which is an anonymized employer-employee linked panel dataset created by matching five administrative data sources). I argue that it is not only the existence of labour flows between firms that is of interest, but also the structure of this channel of knowledge transfer, how it links firms in the industry. I apply panel regression models with dependent variable TFP (total factor productivity) range (p90-p10 and p75-p25, normalized by TFP median) of firms within each industry. Explanatory variables are network characteristics of labor mobility within an industry and also between industries.

Keywords: labor mobility network, firm productivity, knowledge spillover, network characteristics, density, diversity
JEL codes: D22, J24, J60, M51
Acknowledgement: The research project was financed by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (K 135195).

 

Assoc. Prof. Shu Yu, Dalian Polytechnic University, China

Shu Yu is an Associate Professor at Dalian Polytechnic University, China. She got the doctoral degree from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, major in Knowledge Science. She has been a visiting scholar at Edith Cowan University in Australia. Dr. Yu have hosted and participated in more than 30 national, Ministry of Education, and provincial-level and municipal level vertical projects, and published more than 20 papers on SSCI/SCI, CSSCI, and other topics. She focused on exploring the knowledge flow between university and industry, tried to find the method to improve the efficiency and effective creative performance of U-I collaborations. She consulted previously worked in labor relations, performance management, and corporate consulting and training for companies such as Canon in Japan.

Title: Exploring the impact of overqualification among new generation employees on proactive change behavior

Abstract: With the popularization of higher education, competition in the labor market is becoming increasingly fierce, and overqualification has become a common phenomenon. Starting from the positive effects of overqualification, our study used the self-regulation theory and resource conservation theory to collect data from the new generation of employees born in the 1990s through questionnaire surveys. A moderated mediation model is constructed to empirically analyze the impact of overqualification on proactive change behavior among new generation employees. The results indicate that a sense of overqualification positively affects employees' proactive change behavior; The various dimensions of job reshaping, including task reshaping, cognitive reshaping, and relationship reshaping, all play a partial mediating role in the relationship between overqualification and proactive change behavior; High commitment human resource management positively moderates the relationship between task reshaping and cognitive reshaping and employee proactive change behavior, as well as the indirect effect of overqualification on proactive change behavior through task reshaping and cognitive reshaping. The research findings enrich and expand the literature on the outcome variables of overqualification, helping to clarify the mechanism and boundary conditions between overqualification and proactive change behavior among the new generation of employees, and helping organizations take measures to benefit from overqualified employees. 

Keywords: Overqualification; Proactive change; Work reshaping; High commitment human resource management

Prof. Boo Ho Voon, Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak, Malaysia

Professor Dr. Boo Ho Voon is a professor of marketing at Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak, Malaysia. He is an experienced researcher who has published many papers and a few books in service management and marketing, strategic value-chain, and educational administration research. His book chapter on ‘Confucian values for service excellence’ can provide strategic insights. He has years of experience in education and banking in Sarawak before joining the academia. He teaches various strategic marketing and research methodology courses as well as supervised learners at bachelor degree and postgraduate levels. His innovations such as ServEx, BEHAVE, BLUE-SEA, eDioms (Chinese Marketing), Marketing Research MOOC and MyServEx system have won prestigious awards locally and internationally. MyServEx is commercialized. His consultancy projects on service management, customer experience and product development have helped the clients, and Sarawak government. His current research projects include socio-economic development service, rehabilitation service excellence, and personal service attitudes.

Title: Leveraging Service Management for Sustainability: Not for Profit Though

Abstract: Serving the need and persons with special needs is recommendable for sustainability. Good understanding and effective measurement of service culture for excellence are essential for no-for-profit organizations such as the community-based rehabilitation (CBR) centres. The target customers are the CBR’s trainees (i.e., persons with disability). In this service management journey, it is imperative to ensure consistent and continuous superior service quality to the parents/guardians and trainees. The parents/guardians also need to be empowered to care for their special children. This sharing aims to explain the empirical research on rehabilitation service management with the intended co-value creation for mutual benefits of the stakeholders. There is essentially a service excellence-value chain for sustainability. The service excellence culture is multi-dimensional and impactful on the satisfaction, behavioural intentions, and health outcomes. The sustainable rehabilitation service culture aims to co-create and co-serve the persons with disabilities (PwDs) to achieve and sustain the triple bottom-lines of sustainability (i.e., natural environment, cost-effectiveness, and social inclusivity) for better quality of life of the trainees with special needs. Sustainable service management always and willingly puts the interests of the target customers first, not the profitability. Amazingly, the stakeholders are happy and satisfied.           

Keywords. Community-based rehabilitation, service excellence; sustainability