Manuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: Recent research from the United States has advocated increasing ownership concentration and aligning ownership and control to mitigate principal-agent conflicts for entrepreneurial firms. By contrast, this study aims to demonstrate that the major governance problem in an emerging economy is principal-principal conflicts, and that increasing ownership concentration and aligning ownership and control will instead reinforce such conflicts and IPO underpricing. Research Findings/Insights: Using data from 525 IPO firms in Taiwan, an emerging economy, this study finds that increasing family ownership and institutional ownership and introducing CEO duality increase IPO underpricing, while employing independent outside directors mitigates IPO underpricing. These results are consistent with our hypotheses concerning principal-principal conflicts. Theoretical/Academic Implications: Our results are quite different from those of prior research using US data, in that institutions are weaker in an emerging economy than in the United States, where principal-agent conflicts are the main concern. Consequently, corporate governance research, particularly when conducted outside the US, should consider institutional contexts, which agency theory fails to do. As such, institutional theory offers a promising approach. Practitioner/Policy Implications: Government policies designed to address principal-agent conflicts, such as increasing ownership concentration and aligning ownership and control, may make principal-principal conflicts worse and increase IPO underpricing in an emerging economy. To mitigate principal-principal conflicts and IPO underpricing, regulatory reforms need to reduce ownership concentration, separate ownership, and control, and strengthen formal institutions that help minority shareholders monitor firm decisions.

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Purpose Although multinational enterprises (MNEs) based in emerging economies arose quickly during the past decade, most of these firms lack marketing capabilities and strong brands. Emerging-economy MNEs that have tried to build their own brands have been largely unsuccessful. The purpose of this paper is to argue that corruption in the MNEs’ home countries has been detrimental to their brand values. Corruption makes it more difficult for consumers to govern their transactions with local firms, thus decreasing firms’ trustworthiness and brand values. Design/methodology/approach Data of the global top 500 most valuable brands of 2008 and 2014 and the Poisson regression model are used. Findings This study finds that firms based in countries with lower levels of corruption establish more valuable brands than those based in countries with higher corruption, even when GDP and GDP per capita are controlled. Practical implications Policymakers who want to help local firms increase their marketing capabilities and establish strong brands should strive to increase the trustworthiness of local firms by undertaking anti-corruption reforms aimed at protecting consumers. Originality/value Few studies have address the research question that why emerging-market MNEs lack marketing capabilities and strong brands. This study finds that institutional factors such as corruption at country level prevent them from establishing strong brands.

Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems ensure indoor air quality and provide a comfortable environment. However, the conventional HVAC systems only provide indoor ventilation and adjust temperature and humidity. This work removes indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using a feasible and novel air-cleaning for an HVAC system, to remove indoor VOCs. An activated carbon-fiber (ACF) filter calcined with copper oxide (CuO) catalyst, called a CuO/ACF catalyst filter, was the developed kit. Formaldehyde, a major VOC, was chosen as the target pollutant. Experiments were performed to confirm the filtration ability of the CuO/ACF catalyst filter in removing formaldehyde in a stainless-steel chamber equipped with a simplified HVAC system. Total air exchange rate (ACH) was controlled at 0.5 and 1.0 h À1 , the fresh ACH was 0.15 and 0.30 h À1 , and relative humidity (RH) was set at 30 and 70%. A first-order decay of formaldehyde existed in the controlled chamber when the two pretreated CuO/ACF catalyst filters were employed. Experimental results demonstrate that the CuO/ACF catalyst filters removed formaldehyde effectively. The decay constant was 0.425 and 0.618 h À1 for 0.5 and 2.0 ppm formaldehyde, respectively. Moreover, the formaldehyde decay rate increased as total ACH, fresh ACH, RH, and the Cu(NO 3 ) 2 concentration for calcination of CuO/ACF catalyst filter increased.

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