Organizational Structure and the Choice of Price versus Quantity in a Mixed Duopoly

We consider the choice of price/quantity of a public and a private firm in a mixed differentiated duopoly. First, we study the way in which the strategic choice of the market variable is affected by different given organizational structures (managerial or entrepreneurial) of the public and the private firm. Second, we investigate how the price/quantity choice interacts with the endogenous choice of the organizational structure, thus determining a subgame perfect equilibrium at which firms choose to behave as price‐setters and to adopt a managerial structure.     

Internal financial constraints and firm productivity in China: Do liquidity and export behavior make a difference?

Financial factors have been found highly important in influencing firms’ real activities and in promoting aggregate growth. Yet, the linkage between finance and firm-level productivity has been overlooked in the literature. We fill this gap using a panel of 130,840 Chinese manufacturing firms over the period 2001–2007 to estimate a TFP model augmented with cash flow. We find that, especially for illiquid foreign and private firms, productivity is strongly constrained by the availability of internal finance. Furthermore, contrary to private firms, foreign non-exporters display higher dependence of productivity on cash flow than exporters.     

What are we learning from the life satisfaction literature?

The recent availability of cross-sectional and longitudinal survey data on life satisfaction in a large number of countries gives us the opportunity to verify empirically (and not just to assume) what matters for individuals and what economists and policymakers should take into account when trying to promote personal and societal well-being. We now have ample evidence, generally robust to different cultural backgrounds, on the effects of some important happiness drivers (income, health, unemployment, marital status, etc.) which can be considered “quasi-stylized facts” of happiness. If economic policies, for many obvious reasons, cannot maximize self-declared life satisfaction as such, we are nonetheless learning a lot from these findings. In particular, results on the relevance of relational goods, on the inflation/unemployment trade-off in terms of welfare and, more in general, on the measurement of the shadow value of non-market goods obtained with life satisfaction estimates are conveying relevant information about individual preferences and what is behind utility functions. Such findings suggest that the anthropological reductionism characterizing most economic models can be misleading and that target indicators of economic policies have to be refocused if we want to minimize the distance between economic development and human progress.     

Wage arrears uncertainty and precautionary saving in Russia1

Wage arrears are widespread in Russia, and are one of the main causes of uncertainty in the labour market. In this paper, we use the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey over the period 1994–98 to construct a new and improved measure of household income risk, based on the uncertainty due to wage arrears. We then use this measure of uncertainty to test the precautionary saving hypothesis, according to which households save to self‐insure against risk. We find significant evidence of additional saving by those households whose head is more likely to suffer from wage arrears one year hence. This suggests the existence of a strong precautionary saving motive.     

The Effects of Consumption Variability on Saving: Evidence from a Panel of Muscovite Households**

Due to the high uncertainty characterizing them, transition economies provide an extraordinary opportunity to test the precautionary saving hypothesis. This paper represents an attempt to exploit this opportunity. We use a panel of 2,346 Muscovite households, over the 12 months of 1996, to construct two time‐varying measures of consumption growth variability, which we use as proxies for households’ perceived uncertainty. We then regress household saving on these uncertainty variables using a GMM‐system estimator. We find that both uncertainty measures generally have a positive and statistically significant effect on saving. This result, which is robust to the use of different measures of saving, supports the precautionary saving hypothesis.     

Knowledge,innovation, and control towards accountability: a comparative case study

This paper deepens the countervailing relationship between control and innovation in highly innovative networks. It adopts a middle range theory perspective [Broadbent and Laughlin, 2013. Accounting Control and Controlling Accounting: Interdisciplinary and Critical Perspectives. 1st ed. Bingley: Emerald Group] integrated with the quintuple helix model (Carayannis and Campbell, 2010. “Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix and Quintuple Helix and How Do Knowledge, Innovation and the Environment Relate To Each Other?.” International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development 1 (1): 41–69] to explore how control and innovation interact and shape each other in the contexts of high complexity and intensive knowledge creation, towards the satisfaction of accountability demands by stakeholders. The research relies upon two case studies and reveals what are the factors positively shaping the interaction between innovation and control towards greater accountability. We document that successful changes are facilitated by the implementation of adequate and innovative informal control devices favouring collaborative relationships, reinforcing innovation and shared knowledge and capabilities within the organisation. The findings are relevant to all complex settings involved in multifaceted processes of producing knowledge and innovation.     

Development paths of risk management: approaches,methods and fields of application

In the most recent stage of development of modern society, the growing complexity and dynamism of the contexts firms operate in has led to a relentless increase in the level of risk in all areas of firms’ management and activities. For this reason, the discipline and practice of risk management (RM) has taken hold more and more in very different sectors and contexts: from nuclear to supply chain to healthcare. The evolutionary path of RM has followed distinct paths of development that have adopted specific perspectives and, backed by different cultural matrices, led to unique approaches and methods. The aim of this paper is to provide a contribution to the identification and characterization of new paths of development based on a thorough analysis of the academic and managerial literature. This taxonomy can serve as an integrated reference to the RM discipline allowing those who deal with RM to identify and characterize the most suitable paths of development for a given context, within a comprehensive framework. This study can also promote a sort of ‘cross fertilization’ between experts in specific areas of RM as has been the case of clinical RM which draws from the experience gained in the field of complex engineering systems.     

A cultural perspective on innovation in international manufacturing

This paper presents the results of a survey administered across 24 countries that examines innovation in manufacturing firms by adopting Hofstede's national cultural framework. The purpose of this study is to test the validity of the “culture-specific” argument as an explanatory construct for innovation performance in international manufacturing. Data was collected in 2006 as part of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey IV (IMSS) by relying on a questionnaire addressed to firms classified by ISIC codes (rev.3.1) Divisions 28-35. From the findings it emerges that the “culture-specific argument” is a useful explanatory construct for innovation performance.