Determinants of R&D in knowledge-intensive business services firms

Research and development (R&D) is a key factor enabling firms to gather information, create knowledge and innovate. Although often seen as the preserve of goods-producing sectors, knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in particular also engage in R&D. In this paper, we are interested in understanding the determinants of R&D in KIBS. We address this question by exploring factors connected to R&D in KIBS, with attention to whether it is connected with internal capabilities or to establishments' openness. We show that KIBS' R&D is associated with internal capabilities, and that recourse to external R&D is part of a strategy of openness that complements internal capacity. We also suggest that KIBS's own view of R&D is aligned with R&D in the goods-producing sector, leading establishments in non-technological KIBS sectors to under-report R&D.     

Collaborative workplaces for innovation in service companies: barriers and enablers for supporting new ways of working

The paper aims to provide a systematic overview of the barriers and enablers that contribute to the success or failure of collaborative workplaces initiatives aimed at fostering innovation in service companies. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with innovation managers, human resource managers and facility department executives from a sample of multi-national service companies. Its primary focus is on the workplace initiatives carried out in their Spanish subsidiaries. The paper contributes to the extant research by identifying a conceptual model for collaborative workplaces and by providing a systematic overview of the related barriers and enablers. From the interviews, these factors were organized within a framework usable by practitioners for analysis. This paper is of interest to companies that aim to design collaborative workplace strategies to justify associated investments. It can also provide their managers with guidelines to lead the company in the transition toward new ways of working based on higher employee collaboration and flexibility.     

Patents,technological inputs and spillovers among regions

This article analyses the importance of different technological inputs (R&D and human capital) and different spillovers in explaining the differences in patenting among Spanish regions in the period 1986 to 2003. The analysis is based on the estimation of a knowledge production function. A region's own R&D activities and human capital are observed to have a positive significant effect on innovation output, measured by the number of patents. R&D spillovers weighted by the distance and the volume of trade flows between regions cause positive effects on a region's patents. However, distance matters more than the intensity of trade flows and the R&D spillover effects between regions are bounded: spillovers from closer regions perform better than spillovers from distant regions. On the opposite side, human capital spillovers do not cause any effect outside the region itself.     

Abstraction and product categories as explanatory variables for food consumption

This study sets out to explore variation in the consumer choice structure in relation to three types of products with different levels of search, experience and credence attributes. The decision structures of rice, wine and functional food (experience, search and credence products) consumers were explored by means of laddering. The results suggest the presence of an emotional component in foods that increases in complexity (becomes more abstract) with the number of credence attributes. The findings recommend adjusting the complexity of advertising campaigns and product positioning to the type of product being promoted.     

Measuring the Impact of Reserve Requirement Changes Using Interest Rate Spreads: Evidence from Costa Rica

Researchers have proposed several different theories regarding the effects of reserve requirement changes. One theory suggests that reserve requirements represent a tax on financial institutions. This theory is usually tested by examining stock price responses to announced reserve requirement changes. Reliable, historical stock price information for Costa Rica firms is generally not publicly available. In this paper, the spread between deposit rates and loan rates is used as a proxy for firm profitability. The results indicate a complex response to reserve requirement changes that is dependent on bank classification.     

The effects of store brand loyalty on store loyalty: evidence from the Spanish market

This article studies the impact of retailers' store brands on store performance. Specifically, we analyze the extent to which store brands contribute to store loyalty. On the one hand, a positive relationship between customers' familiarity with and loyalty to the retailer's own brand and customers' loyalty to the retailer should result from the potential of the store brand to differentiate the retailer. On the other hand, an negative relationship between customers' familiarity with and loyalty to the retailer's own brand and customers' loyalty to the retailer may result from store brands' association with more price-sensitive customers, who have a higher propensity to buy at different stores that offer the best bargain. The empirical analysis, conducted with a sample of customers of leading retailers in the Spanish detergent market, shows no relationship between store brand loyalty and loyalty to the retailer. Although the purchase of store brands relates positively to higher loyalty to the retailer, this relationship deteriorates with the degree of exclusivity of store brands within the customer's shopping basket.     

Perceived compensation discrimination against physically disabled people in Andalusia

This study proposes and tests a model that explains the job dissatisfaction of the physically disabled as a result of their general perception that they are treated inequitably by their employer, and their specific perception that they have experienced discrimination in compensation. These three variables have not previously been studied in combination. Using the theoretical framework of organisational justice, we apply structural equation models to test our hypotheses in a sample of 220 employed people with physical disabilities in Andalusia. We show that the perception of discrimination in compensation follows the perception of inequity and mediates the relationship between that perception and job dissatisfaction.     

A metafrontier directional distance function approach to assessing eco-efficiency

This paper uses directional distance functions to extend the non-parametric metafrontier approach to efficiency measurement proposed by O’Donnell et al. (Empir Econ 34:231–255, 2008) to the assessment of technological differences in eco-efficiency between groups of producers. Furthermore, eco-efficiency is assessed at the level of specific environmental pressure management. This methodology is applied to a sample of Spanish olive producers that belong to both traditional mountain and traditional plain growing systems. We find great potential for both olive growing systems to reduce environmental pressures. In terms of pressures on natural resources, the most eco-efficient technology is the traditional plain system, while the traditional mountain system is the most eco-efficient when considering pressures on biodiversity. These results might help policymakers design strategies to improve the performance of olive growing and meet the demands of society regarding the economic and ecological functions of this farming activity.     

Socially responsible mutual fund exit decisions

This paper studies, for the first time, socially responsible (SR) mutual fund exits. We analyse a sample of 534 U.S. SR equity mutual funds in the period 2003–2017, in which 182 exit events occurred (53 liquidations, 109 mergers within the same family, and 20 mergers across different families). The results obtained indicate that both liquidations and mergers are more likely among smaller funds that suffer net money outflows in the previous year to the event. At the family level, mergers are more frequent in outperforming families with a larger number of funds, whereas liquidations occur in families with a lower number of funds. When comparing mergers within the same family with mergers across different families, we observe that the former share more drivers with liquidations than the latter. In addition, we observe that religious and environmental funds are more likely to suffer exit events than other SR fund types. Finally, other interesting findings point out that mergers financially benefit investors in merged SR mutual funds and the financial outcomes of acquiring fund investors are not jeopardized.     

Homogeneity and symmetry testing when the error distribution has fat tails

The Laitinen (1978) and Meisner (1979) experiments are extended to error distributions that are fat-tailed mixtures of normal distributions.