The role of regions for different forms of business organizations

Abstract

The evidence for associations between area characteristics and entrepreneurship is fairly consistent in most studies. These studies, however, have disregarded the fact that the areas might be constructs that have no effect on the individual differences in entrepreneurship and, furthermore, have conflated entrepreneurship and sole proprietorship, disregarding the impact of area constructs on different forms of business organizations. Therefore, we investigate and quantify, within a multi-level framework, the importance of municipalities and regions for understanding individual differences in entrepreneurship and self employment (defined as sole proprietorship). By using register data comprising the entire Swedish population for 2000–2010, we decompose the variation for the respective form of business organization into three levels: the individual, the municipality and the region. Our results show that about 10% of the total variation in entrepreneurship can be attributed to the municipality and region level. The corresponding numbers for self employment are 3–4%. Our results indicate that regions and municipalities differ markedly in area impact for entrepreneurs compared to self employed. The results from the present study show the importance of taking into account the form of business organization in economic analysis, and they can be used when considering whether it is appropriate to focus on specific municipalities and regions for policy interventions on self-employment.     

Genetics,Homeownership, and Home Location Choice

We find that a significant proportion of the cross-sectional variation in the choice to own or rent is attributable to a genetic factor, while parental influence is not found to affect this choice. We also find evidence of gene-environment interactions: The environment moderates genetic effects on homeownership in that growing up in a wealthier family results in a stronger expression of genetic predispositions, while idiosyncratic life experiences appear to explain a larger portion of the variation in homeownership among those who grew up in a less wealthy family environment. Furthermore, we find that home location choices, for example, a familiar home location close to one’s birthplace and an urban versus a rural home location, are explained by both genetic factors and parental influence. Because we control for an extensive set of individual characteristics analyzed in existing research, an interpretation of our evidence is that an individual’s preferences with respect to homeownership and home location are partly genetic. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors that explain individual behavior with respect to the housing market, and add to an expanding literature on the biological and genetic factors that influence individuals’ economic and financial decisions.     

A series of persuasive events. Sequencing effects of negative and positive messages on party evaluations and perceptions of negativity

We test how party evaluations and perceptions of negativity are affected by sequences of positive/negative persuasive messages. In an experimental survey collected in Denmark, respondents were exposed to either a positive or a negative message on three issues in a random order; this creates a setting where we can test for the effects of eight different sequences of positive and/or negative messages. We find consistent effects. Being exposed to a higher volume of negative messages often depresses evaluations of the target, whereas being exposed to a higher volume of positive messages enhances evaluation of the sponsor. These effects are nuanced by recency effects: when a sequence ends on a negative message, regardless of its overall valence, evaluation of the target is depressed; similarly, negatively valenced sequences harm the target except when the sequence ends on a positive message. Backlash effects are unlikely, and no sequence simultaneously harms the target and promotes a positive evaluation of the sponsor. Finally, negatively valenced sequences of messages enhance perceptions of negativity, whereas positively valenced sequences do not reduce it; this trend is also nuanced by recency effects.     

Stock market listing status and real earnings management

This study analyzes real earnings management among privately held versus publicly listed firms. Our first finding is that public firms engage in more earnings management through operating activities. When a clear incentive to manage earnings in a specific direction is present we continue to find that public firms manage their earnings more than private firms. We reason that capital market pressure and ownership characteristics drive our results. Additional analyses reveal that public firms employ more real earnings management as a proportion of the total earnings management strategy. Furthermore, we find that mitigating factors of real earnings management have stronger impact in public firms. This study contributes to literature on non-accrual earnings management and to the broader understanding about the private vis-à-vis public firm reporting and operating behavior. Finally, we contribute by identifying an important societal cost of stock market listing, which is the increase in potentially value-destroying real earnings management.     

Incentive pay and rent in oligopoly

Our purpose is to examine strategic delegation in nonlinear Cournot oligopoly. The findings generalize earlier results and show that managerial contracts reward sales under the condition of a fixed input price. Alternatively, under a variable input price, owners might punish sales even when goods are strategic substitutes. We conclude that optimal strategic motivation depends critically on the input price. For example, motivation that supports positive owner profit under a fixed input price nullifies owner-profit if an upstream monopolist with convex costs sets the input price. In a vertical relationship between a duopoly and an upstream monopolist, strategic delegation punishes sales.     

Forest owners’ willingness to accept compensation for voluntary conservation: A contingent valuation approach

To avoid conflicts often associated with mandatory regulations, it is crucial to motivate and incentivize forest owners to participate in voluntary conservation programs. To investigate forest owner preferences and willingness to accept compensation (WTA) to participate, we conduct a contingent valuation survey of non-industrial private forest owners in Norway. We find that WTA is negatively related to the size of the forest holding and absentee ownership, and positively related to the share of the forest classified as productive. The overall mean WTA per year per hectare is estimated at NOK 1800. Costs of reaching conservation goals can be saved by targeting small and relatively less productive forests and absentee owners first, before considering increasingly expensive forest areas. However, this recommendation only holds if desirable biological characteristics are not substantially less likely to be found in such areas. Results are potentially important both for our understanding of forest owner preferences and the costs of voluntary forest conservation schemes currently in use in many countries.     

Liability of smallness in SMEs – Using co-creation as a method for the ‘fuzzy front end’ of HRM practices in the forest industry

This study explores the co-creation part in the early stage of need analysis and the formation of work towards formal HRM practices in the forest industry. While SMEs are shown to be of great importance for the development in society they often suffer from Liability of Smallness (LoS) especially in the area of HRM. In smaller firms, HRM practices are characterized by ad hoc and idiosyncratic solutions and less formality. In this paper, we show how co-creation can be used to develop HR practices in an SME. The overall methodological approach in this study is action-oriented research. The empirical data is collected with a mixed-method approach including documents, interviews, focus groups, observations, pulse meetings and feedback on the process and results. The co-creation process benefits from using co-creation activities to drive the process forward as well as consolidate the results during the process. Dialog, access, risk, transparency, and openness have been valuable in this process.     

Toward the Physical Internet—Logistics Service Modularity and Design Implications

The Physical Internet (PI) is a modularization of logistics services: standardized protocols, full interoperability and standardized packaging, PI‐containers, and encapsulated freight. The PI‐containers are a core component of the PI; however, previous PI studies have not addressed those containers’ repositioning, despite its importance and effect on the PI network efficiency. In this paper, we analyze how the PI‐containers’ design and characteristics will determine the containers’ flows in a domestic network context. The flows are studied strategically using a linear programming model minimizing flow imbalances between hubs and simulating the effect of PI‐container compatibility. The model is tested using inter‐regional freight data from Sweden, and the results are framed using modularity theory. Our analysis reveals that PI‐container compatibility in terms of forward and reverse flows determines whether PI presents increased or decreased empty runs compared with the existing conventional logistics system. Departing from modularization theory, we discuss our results, emphasizing not only the importance of keeping synergistic specificity low but also how the characteristics will affect the urgency of technology use. Our implications are important to supply chain managers and policymakers for the future research on the Physical Internet, PI‐container repositioning and routing, and packaging design.     

Using crowdsourced data to analyze transport crime

ABSTRACT

Anecdotal evidence suggests that harsh social conditions in the road haulage industry are having an impact on transport crime. This paper analyses transport crime, and demonstrates how to use a combination of official statistics and crowdsourced data in the process. A hierarchical regression analysis was applied to investigate the relations among different factors in order to predict transport crime threats. A secondary data set on transport crime from the Swedish Police was combined with primary crowdsourced data from volunteer observations of trucks in Sweden from both high-wage and low-wage countries. The findings imply that transportation is more vulnerable to antagonistic threats in geographical areas where the low-wage hauliers operate more frequently. For policymakers and practitioners, these findings provide useful guidance for the planning of security measures. To the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first exploratory study of its kind that uses a combination of official statistics and crowdsourced data.     

Building the foundation of a Firm’s market competence

Many firms are experiencing difficult times regarding their turnover and profits. What started as a financial crisis soon became a sales crisis. This article offers a definition of market competence — what areas a firm needs to master in order to drive sales — and a model offering a stable foundation for knowledge sharing, strategizing and executing regarding customers.