Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the board of directors and the distribution of dividends. This study specifically examines the effect of gender diversity on dividend payout for French SBF companies using panel data. Design/methodology/approach This study examines a sample of 70 non-financial French companies from the SBF 120 index from 2011 to 2019. A quantile regression approach is applied to the empirical analysis since it offers a more comprehensive description of the entire conditional distribution of the dividend payout and not only its average as in classical linear regression. The main goal is to investigate whether the impact of gender diversity characteristics varies among the different quantiles of the dividend conditional distribution. Findings The findings reveal distinct effects of gender board characteristics on dividend distribution across various levels. Furthermore, this study investigates the nonlinear relationship between female directors and dividend payout. This paper identifies an inverted U-shaped relationship between female directors and dividend payout, which aligns with the critical mass theory. Research limitations/implications Quantile regression method offers a better understanding of the impact of female representation at different levels of the distributions of the dividend payout ratio. This surpasses the limitations of simple linear regression models, which focus exclusively on the impact on the mean. Practical implications The objective of authorities should extend beyond merely achieving a numerical quota. Instead, they should focus on ensuring a substantial and meaningful representation of women in decision-making positions. This may involve implementing initiatives dedicated to promoting genuine diversity and achieving a balance of skills, experiences and perspectives within governance bodies. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of gender diversity on dividend payout policy for non-financial French companies using the quantile regression technique.
This paper presents a new algorithm for generating planar circle patterns. The algorithm employs gradient descent and conjugate gradient method to compute circle radii and centers separately. Compared with existing algorithms, the proposed method is more efficient in computing centers of circles and is applicable for realizing circle patterns with possible obtuse overlap angles.
Purpose The present manuscript aims to develop and validate a theoretical model capable of explaining that organizational citizenship behavior is influenced by the extent to which employees feel valued, accepted and considered integral to the organizational fabric. To do this, the authors draw on social identity theory, according to which the level of identification of a person with a group or organization is not fixed but situational and context-dependent. Design/methodology/approach To validate the theoretical model, the authors surveyed the employees of eight large-scale distribution companies operating in Italy. Overall, the authors received completed data from 2,010 employees. Findings The authors theorize and demonstrate that the presence of an inclusive corporate climate positively influences employees’ perceptions of work inclusion and that this latter, in turn, positively affects organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, they show that the indirect effect of an inclusive corporate climate on organizational citizenship behavior becomes stronger when inclusive leadership is promoted within an organization. Originality/value Overall, this paper confirms social identity theory in a novel way. Social identity theory suggests that the context can impact an employee’s identification with the organization they work for, without specifying the characteristics that the context must possess. The authors’ contribution reaffirms this theory by proposing that it is specifically the inclusiveness of the context that positively influences the employee’s identification within the organization. By focusing on this aspect of inclusion, this research introduces a novel perspective that enriches the current discourse on OCB and underscores the importance of cultivating inclusive workplace environments. Also, the authors add theoretical nuance to previous literature by suggesting that the way top management exercises leadership over employees can amplify the strength of corporate climate influence on worker inclusion perception.
A sparse graph that preserves an approximation of the shortest paths between all pairs of points in a plane is called a geometric spanner. Using range trees of sublinear size, we design an algorithm in massively parallel computation (MPC) model for constructing a geometric spanner known as Yao-graph. This improves the total time and the total memory of existing algorithms for geometric spanners from subquadratic to near-linear.
Consider two axis-aligned rectilinear simple polygons in the domain consisting of axis-aligned rectilinear obstacles in the plane such that the bounding boxes, one for each obstacle and one for each polygon, are disjoint. We present an algorithm that computes a minimum-link rectilinear shortest path connecting the two polygons in $O((N+n)\log (N+n))$ time using $O(N+n)$ space, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the domain and $N$ is the total number of vertices of the two polygons.
We study the problem of decomposing (i.e. partitioning and covering) polygons into components that are $α$-fat, which means that the aspect ratio of each subpolygon is at most $α$. We consider decompositions without Steiner points. We present a polynomial-time algorithm for simple polygons that finds the minimum $α$ such that an $α$-fat partition exists. Furthermore, we show that finding an $α$-fat partition or covering with minimum cardinality is NP-hard for polygons with holes.
The paper presents a discrete variation of the Frechet distance between closed curves, which can be seen as an approximation of the continuous measure. A rather straightforward approach to compute the discrete Frechet distance between two closed sequences of m and n points using binary search takes O(mn log mn) time. We present an algorithm that takes O(mn log* mn) time, where log* is the iterated logarithm.
We present a linear-time algorithm for finding the quadrilateral of largest area contained in a convex polygon, and we show that it is closely related to an old algorithm for the smallest enclosing parallelogram of a convex polygon.
We study the approximate range searching for three variants of the clustering problem with a set $P$ of $n$ points in $d$-dimensional Euclidean space and axis-parallel rectangular range queries: the $k$-median, $k$-means, and $k$-center range-clustering query problems. We present data structures and query algorithms that compute $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximations to the optimal clusterings of $P\cap Q$ efficiently for a query consisting of an orthogonal range $Q$, an integer $k$, and a value $\varepsilon>0$.
The concept of derivative coordinate functions proved useful in the formulation of analytic fractal functions to represent smooth symmetric binary fractal trees [1]. In this paper we introduce a new geometry that defines the fractal space around these fractal trees. We present the canonical and degenerate form of this fractal space and extend the fractal geometrical space to R3 specifically and Rn by a recurrence relation. We also discuss the usage of such fractal geometry.
The geodesic $k$-center problem in a simple polygon with $n$ vertices consists in the following. Find a set $S$ of $k$ points in the polygon that minimizes the maximum geodesic distance from any point of the polygon to its closest point in $S$. In this paper, we focus on the case where $k=2$ and present an exact algorithm that returns a geodesic $2$-center in $O(n^2\log^2 n)$ time.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the contrasting views of banks and banking authorities in Lebanon regarding the corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) nexus.Design/methodology/approachUsing survey responses collected from the managers of five Lebanese banks and banking authorities, the authors conduct a qualitative comparative study of the opinions on CG, CSR and CG–CSR nexus.FindingsThe findings of this paper reveal that while a CG culture is well-instituted by the authorities and that some forms of CSR are already practiced by banks, disagreements exist between the Lebanese banks and banking authorities in defining the CG–CSR nexus. While CG is viewed as an all-encompassing concept by the banking authorities, most banks ascribe to the paradigm that CG is component of CSR.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample of this paper consists of large banks that have clear CG and CSR agendas. The results, therefore, cannot be generalized for the wider population of Lebanese companies that are characterized by family ownership and non-separation of ownership and control.Practical implicationsThis paper informs both managers and policymakers on the differing views of the CSR–CG nexus while also contributing to informing the policy dialogue. Theoretically, this paper sheds light on the CG–CSR nexus in a developing country context.Originality/valueThere is a paucity of research on the CG–CSR nexus in the context of developing countries and for the banking sector in specific. This paper aims to address the gap in the literature by providing an in-depth qualitative examination of the CG, CSR and the CG–CSR nexus in the context of the Lebanese banking sector.
Given an even number of points in a plane, we are interested in matching all the points by straight line segments so that the segments do not cross. Bottleneck matching is a matching that minimizes the length of the longest segment. For points in convex position, we present a quadratic-time algorithm for finding a bottleneck non-crossing matching, improving upon the best previously known algorithm of cubic time complexity.
We show that the hypercube has a face-unfolding that tiles space, and that unfolding has an edge-unfolding that tiles the plane. So the hypercube is a "dimension-descending tiler." We also show that the hypercube cross unfolding made famous by Dali tiles space, but we leave open the question of whether or not it has an edge-unfolding that tiles the plane.
An $r$-gentiling is a dissection of a shape into $r \geq 2$ parts which are all similar to the original shape. An $r$-reptiling is an $r$-gentiling of which all parts are mutually congruent. This article shows that no acute tetrahedron is an $r$-gentile or $r$-reptile for any $r < 9$, by showing that no acute spherical diangle can be dissected into less than nine acute spherical triangles.
In this paper, we prove that every planar 4-connected graph has a CZ-representation---a string representation using paths in a rectangular grid that contain at most one vertical segment. Furthermore, two paths representing vertices $u,v$ intersect precisely once whenever there is an edge between $u$ and $v$. The required size of the grid is $n \times 2n$.
Euclidean triangles and IFS fractals seem to be disparate geometrical concepts, unless we consider the Sierpiński gasket, which is a self-similar collection of triangles. The "circumcircle" hints at a direct link, as it can be derived for three-map IFS fractals in general, defined in an Apollonian manner. Following this path, one may discover a broader relationship between polygons and IFS fractals.