ARDL Investigation of Macroeconomic Mechanisms on ASEAN-5 Stock Earnings Equation

The objective of Autoregressive Distributed Lag （ARDL） investigation of macroeconomic mechanisms on ASEAN-5 stock earnings equation can contribute to analyzing and demonstrating macroeconomic forces acting a statistically and economically significant effect on rate of return of securities for a given time through the application of the ARDL approach to cointegration when the variables are mixed degrees of integration in cointegrated time series, i.e. I（0） and I（1）. This results in a long-run or a short-run relationship between macroeconomic force acting for a given time affecting 24 quarterly rates of return for listed companies in Information and Communication Technologies OCT） sector of Stock Exchange of Thailand （SET）, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index （KLSE） index （Malaysia）, Financial Times Share Index （FTSI）, Philippine Stock Exchange （PSE）, and Jakarta Composite Index （JKSE） （Indonesia）. The impulses of three ASEAN macroeconomic forces---GDPt, EXt, and INTt acting for a given time influence the earnings of selected 23 1CT returns for listed companies on both domestic investments and outsider investments in the same period. This paper has investigated how other-concerning macroeconomic force acting might interrelate with rate of return of securities in the ICT sector, debt and financial innovations, in line with some significant formalized facts. The funding of capital inflow in part of ICT securities was statistically globally significant to recognize significant achievement in ICT specific pathways to distinction as the science of accomplishment. The public sector performing as a key purchaser of ICT security solutions related to integrate the ASEAN exchange members into modern capitalization can lead to adverse effects, such as risky investment-hub interventions due to the mixing financial systems in three ASEAN regional integrations through investments.

Corporate Governance Mechanisms： Evidence From Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises （SMEs）

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which Malaysian small- and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） adopted corporate governance （CG） principles and their effects on firm performance. The principles examined included： establishing clear roles and responsibilities; strengthening composition; and reinforcing independence. The paper is based on a questionnaire survey study among 113 SMEs that consisted of 35% （39） of manufacturing and related services and 65% （74） from services including information and communication technology （ICT）, primary agriculture, construction, mining, and quarrying. The analysis of the data indicates that 32% of the respondents said that the primary reason why they have their own business is to have control over their own working life. This fmding appears to confirm the f＇mancing theory that SMEs owners have other goals than profitability. In addition, 30% of SMEs perceived that the most important role played by the board is risk management; hence, these boards have a greater control over financial risks that may lead to better financial performance. The analysis also shows that 81% of the respondents＇ board consisted of internal board members only. These enterprises need to see the important role of external board members as a source of advice providers and experts to them. For policies relating to clear roles and responsibilities of board, only 28% of the respondents established clear functions reserved for the board and those delegated to management; substantial respondents did not draw up policies relating to reinforce board independency （between 75% and 79%） and to strengthen board composition （46%）. Besides, 68% of the respondents have the position of chairman and CEO held by same individuals and 81% of the chairman is an executive member of the board. These findings suggest that SMEs cannot see the importance of strengthening board and having independent board members. Regression analysis also indicates that board independence has a significant and positive impact on firm performance. Hence, SMEs need to appreciate networking advantages, competency, and strategic knowledge that the right board can offer. The governmental ministries and agencies in Malaysia need to take active measures to encourage SMEs to strengthen their board governance, because SMEs are the important economic powers for stimulating national economic growth. This paper contributes to the empirical literatures on the adoption of CG principles and their effects on SMEs＇ firm performance in emerging markets.

A New Approach to Provide Global Certificate Service in Virtual Enterprise

Certificate Authority (CA) is the core of public key infrastructure. However, the traditional structure of CA is either hierarchical or reticular, and none of them is suitable for security require-nients come from the new trend in enterprise cooperation, namely virtual enterprise (VE). In this paper a new idea - virtual certificate authority (VCA), is proposed, as well as its implemen-tation. The goal of VCA is to provide global certificate service over vital enterprise while keeping CA of each participant intact as much as possible. Unlike PEM, PGP, and BCA, by using secret sharing scheme, virtual CA avoids the need for TTP and supports virtual enterprise's feature of dynamical construction and destruction.

A Public Verifiable Identity Based Signcryption in the Random Oracle Model

Since Libert and Quisquater's identity based signcryption scheme cannot provide public verifiability after research, the paper proposes a new identity based signcryption scheme. The scheme uses quadratic residue and pairings over elliptic curves to realize public verifiability. By analysis the scheme is proved to be more efficient than Libert and Quisquater's scheme. Moreover, a security proof of the original scheme is presented in the random oracle model.

An Empirical Analysis on the Prediction of Chinese Financially Distressed Listed Companies

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of financially distressed listed companies in China between 1998 and 2002. We compare the predictive power of multiple discriminant analysis （MDA）, logistic regression, and neural network models. We design and implement 126 different forecasting models using different predictive methods, different sample proportions, and different initial independent variables. The aim is to determine which model（s） and variables are best applicable for the short-term prediction of financial distress in China. We find that logistic regression models are superior to multiple discriminant analysis models in terms of prediction accuracy rate, restriction of sample distribution or prediction cost, but the neural network models show promise in their low Type I and Type II errors. The paper also inherently tests the applicability of variables traditionally used for bankruptcy prediction to the purpose of financial distress prediction in China.