Corporate Frauds as Criminal Business Models: An Exploratory Study

In this article, we report on the findings of an exploratory, interpretive study of a notorious corporate fraud that occurred in Brazil from 1989 to 2005. We examine the process by which this scheme was created as well as how it was maintained for all those years. Our analysis covers both the substantive aspects (the actions fraud agents effectively perform) and the symbolic aspects (the resources of impression management that they use). We suggest that under certain circumstances, corporate frauds may be understood as the result of implementation of a criminal business model that focuses on a niche market of risk takers or greed investors, uses aggressive commercial practices and offers exclusivity, promotes the organization's image and personality cult of the entrepreneur, operates a management model that combines centralized control with fragmented systems, and uses complex fraudulent practices. This perspective allows us to understand the phenomenon of corporate fraud from a systemic point of view. We also suggest directions for future research and theory development on corporate frauds. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Toward a better comprehension of Lean metrics for research and product development management

This paper presents a compilation and empirical survey‐based evaluation of the metrics most commonly used by program managers during product development management. This work is part of a bigger project of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Project Management Institute (PMI) and International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). Three methodological procedures were applied: systematic literature review, focus‐group discussions, and survey. The survey results indicate the metrics considered to be the most and least useful for managing lean engineering programs, and reveals a shift of interest towards qualitative metrics, especially the ones that address the achievement of stakeholder values, and the absence of useful metrics regarding the lean principles People and Pull.     

Inside innovation persistence: New evidence from Italian micro-data

This paper contributes the analysis of the persistence of innovation activities, as measured by different innovation indicators and explores its past and path dependent characteristics. The study provides new insights on the role of R&D investments in innovation persistence and analyses differentiated patterns of persistence across product and process innovation, by accounting for complementarity effects between the two types of innovative behaviour. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 451 Italian manufacturing companies observed during the years 1998–2006. Results highlight the relevance of innovation persistence. The highest level of persistence is found for R&D-based innovation activities, witnessing the actual presence of significant entry and exit barriers. Moreover, we obtain more robust evidence of persistence for product innovation than for process innovation when complementarity effects between the two types of innovation are accounted for.     

AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES IN ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STOCHASTIC FRONTIER APPROACH

Total factor productivity (TFP), factor accumulation, and growth are analysed for a panel of 40 countries in 2001–11. TFP growth and technical inefficiency are estimated using a stochastic frontier model. Environmental variables are found to have an important role in explaining differences in inefficiency across countries. Over 2001–11, the general improvement in technical efficiency of countries is almost outweighed by technological regress. Results indicate that differences in factor accumulation between OECD and emerging economies are more important than differences in TFP change to explain differences in economic growth. Results also indicate negative and significant random shocks for the OECD countries.     

Technological districts localized spillovers and productivity growth. The Italian evidence on technological externalities in the core regions

Technological R&D externalities are the effects on the technological capacity of each firm stemming from the complementary and interrelated activities of R&D activities of other firms that operate both in the same industry and in other industries. R&D technological externalities are specially influential at the regional level. Regional proximity enhances the circulation of information, the opportunities for external learning; the scope for capitalizing on potential complementarities among the variety of firms and the different R&D activities being carried out by each firm, and the opportunity for technological networking. The empirical evidence on core regions in Italy in the 1980s confirms that regional clustering of complementary and interrelated R&D activities facilitated the emergence of technological districts. Firms located within technological districts benefited enormously from the R&D technological externalities spilling out from the complementary and interrelated R&D activities of other firms localized in the same area. Consequently, firms localized within technological districts had fast rates of introduction of technological innovations which, in turn, made it possible for total factor productivity levels to be raised with comparatively low levels of intra-muros R&D expenses.     

TESTING THE INDUCED INNOVATION HYPOTHESIS USING COINTEGRATION ANALYSIS

This paper deals with some of the problems involved in testing the hypothesis that factor price movements tend to influence the type of technological innovations which are developed and adopted, known as the Induced Innovation Hypothesis. Previous methods to perform this test are briefly reviewed and their limitations are discussed. A testing procedure which is based on the use of cointegration analysis is proposed and its advantages outlined. Finally, one application of the method is made, providing little support for the Induced Innovation Hypothesis in the case of US Agriculture (1948–83).     

An emerging tourism planning paradigm? A comparative analysis between town and tourism planning

This article examines the roots and the evolution of tourism and town planning theory and practice. It discusses how both fields have interacted with each other, and provides some clues about the way in which tourism and town planning theory and practice are likely to evolve in the future. It is argued that tourism planning theory is still looking for its own identity and ways of evolving in the future. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do Internet Activities Add Value? Evidence from the Traditional Banks

Very little is known about how adopting Internet activities impact traditional banks. By tracing the experience of Italian commercial banks, we provide evidence and implications for banks’ use of new Internet technology and innovative banking products as they relate to performance. Using different definitions for what is considered as Internet activity and by examining alternative proxies for bank return and risk, we find a significant link between offerings of Internet banking products and bank performance. Although this link is significantly positive for bank returns, we find a negative, marginally significant, association between the adoption of Internet activities and bank risk.

The Organization of Production

The organization of production depends on both technical and governance factors. The integration of recent advances in cost theory into production theory makes it easier to appreciate the joint effects of transaction and coordination costs interacting with wages and capital costs in the decision-making of firms. The corporate function, integrating the production function and the governance function, facilitates the joint analysis of the full array of factors including the effects of interrelatedness and complementarities of new technologies and of pecuniary economies of scale. The corporate function and pecuniary economies of scale also provide new elements in the understanding of the ever present variety of firms in industrial structures and the role of historic time in the theory of the firm.