Tournaments and piece rates revisited: a theoretical and experimental study of output-dependent prize tournaments

Tournaments represent an increasingly important component of organizational compensation systems. While prior research focused on fixed-prize tournaments where the prize to be awarded is set in advance, we introduce ‘output-dependent prizes’ where the tournament prize is endogenously determined by agents’ output—it is high when the output is high and low when the output is low. We show that tournaments with output-dependent prizes outperform fixed-prize tournaments and piece rates. A multi-agent experiment supports the theoretical result.     

Institutional Change and State-Owned Enterprises: Reflections from the Petrobras case study

Abstract

The Brazilian oil and gas (O&G) sector has experienced institutional changes that put an end to the state monopoly. The purpose of this article is to explain why Petrobras has remained dominant after the sector had been opened to competition. We consider that it is possible to explain this paradox via two ideas that emanate from North’s analysis on institutional change: first, by explaining institutional change as a continuous interrelation between formal and informal institutions and the political and economic organizations involved; second, by considering institutional change as a path-dependent process marked by a dialectic between elements of change and continuity.     

Gastronomy as a tourism resource: profile of the culinary tourist

The aim of this paper is to explore the characteristics and motivations of culinary tourists whose destination is the city of Córdoba (Spain) while attempting to determine whether gastronomy is an important aspect of the trip or if it is perceived simply as a secondary activity. Fieldwork was carried out among a series of restaurant establishments in the city of Córdoba. A demand survey was conducted in 10 particular establishments that were selected among those offering local dishes and which are regularly visited by tourists and the questionnaire was distributed among clients obtaining 206 valid answers. Our results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Córdoba's restaurant sector. While 10% state that the cuisine is one of the main reasons for visiting the city, 68% believe that the local cuisine is an important but not an essential aspect of their trip and the rest view it as being secondary. These three types of tourists exhibit different kinds of motivation. This suggests that strategies should be designed and developed to promote gastronomy as one of the city's chief tourist attractions. Good tourism management based on initiatives such as the creation of culinary routes could be an alternative for implementing strategies aimed at the social and economic development and promotion of particular areas, for example turning typical food from rural areas in certain regions into a marketable attraction.     

Empirical approach to the analysis of university student absenteeism: proposal of a questionnaire for students to evaluate the possible causes

Works on student absenteeism in the universities have not been preferential for the authors in the field of educational research. Usually, what has been made is an approach to the available absenteeism data as an intervening variable or as a variable characteristic of the educational process, but not as a dependent variable in the strict sense of the term. In this work, we intend to make an empirical approach to the possible reasons of student absenteeism. There is a double point of view: the students’ and the professors’; the reasons that justify it according to its protagonists are studied. This paper focuses on the six university degrees taught at the School of Economy and Business of the University of Barcelona (Facultat d’Economia i Empresa de la Universitat de Barcelona). An “ad-hoc” questionnaire has been prepared and the opinions of 1,162 undergraduates have been analyzed. The reasons given by each population differ in hierarchy and motivations.     

Semi-parametric estimation of American option prices

We introduce a novel semi-parametric estimator of American option prices in discrete time. The specification is based on a parameterized stochastic discount factor and is nonparametric w.r.t. the historical dynamics of the Markovian state variables. The historical transition density estimator minimizes a distance built on the Kullback–Leibler divergence from a kernel transition density, subject to the no-arbitrage restrictions for a non-defaultable bond, the underlying asset and some American option prices. We use dynamic programming to make explicit the nonlinear restrictions on the Euclidean and functional parameters coming from option data. We study asymptotic and finite sample properties of the estimators.     

Marketing practices in the Spanish rural tourism sector and their contribution to business outcomes

This paper sets out to highlight the importance of entrepreneurial and market orientations for the success of enterprises operating out of a rural base. Using these two strategic frameworks, this paper identifies the marketing practices undertaken by rural enterprises, and evaluates their effect on business performance, on the local entrepreneur, and on the rural area itself. Enterprises operating from a rural location play a strategic role in the sustainable development of economies, in the context of which the rural tourism sector particularly stands out. The use of marketing practices appropriate to the aims, capacities and resources of such enterprises is proposed as a mechanism for improving their performance. Using the Spanish rural tourism sector as the basis, a scale measuring marketing practices, and another scale reflecting three different types of outcome – financial, those linked personally to the entrepreneur, and those in terms of development of the rural environment – are proposed and validated, and the effect of marketing practices on the performance of such enterprises is analysed. The findings, which reveal that marketing practices have a significant effect on the achievement of outcomes, have implications of interest for the literature and for practitioners in the rural enterprise sector.     

Necessity entrepreneurship in Latin America: it´s not that simple

ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship literature takes for granted the motivation dichotomy; however, this simplistic view have been criticised for several studies because it likely does an injustice to entrepreneurs, particularly Latin America (LA) entrepreneurs. This study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on entrepreneurs to better explain the process of entrepreneurs being motivated by necessity. We use the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database for LA countries and develop an econometric model based on a set of variables, including contextual variables. First, we identify three types of entrepreneurial motivation: necessity, opportunity and transition. We then demonstrate that the motivation dichotomy does not represent LA entrepreneurship. Second, we find that necessity-driven entrepreneurship does not necessarily indicate the absence of high growth aspirations because some entrepreneurs in this category have such aspirations. Third, we observe that significant differences exist among entrepreneurs based on context, specifically among necessity-driven entrepreneurs. These findings have practical implications for research on entrepreneurship and for regional development.     

Call for Papers

Submission deadline: September 30, 2009     

In search of demanded competencies: designing superior compensation systems

Employees' competencies are decisive components in a firm's competitiveness. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to assess whether differences in strategy influence employees' competencies and how the design of compensation systems may best take into account the competencies required by a firm. An analysis was conducted on a sample of manufacturing firms using structural equation models. The findings support the existence of generic competencies, such as results and customer orientation, which are found in both prospector and defender strategic contexts, while other competencies – such as innovation, technical expertise and adaptability – are specific to the prospector strategy. In relation to compensation, the results show that skill-based pay is more strongly associated with competencies such as innovation, technical expertise and adaptability, whereas performance-based compensation systems encourage result-based competency. Therefore, the design of a compensation system should be guided by the competencies required as part of a firm's strategy.     

Managing knowledge through human resource practices: empirical examination on the Spanish automotive industry

This paper considers the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and knowledge management (KM). Specifically, it examines how the human resource (HR) practices that are expected to impact on employees’ abilities, motivation, and opportunity to engage in KM, do so by enabling knowledge sharing, knowledge maintaining, and knowledge creation within organizations. HRM expected to impact employees’ abilities include training and development practices. HRM expected to impact on employees’ motivation include rewards and appraisal practices. HRM expected to impact on employees’ opportunities including providing the support of trusting collaborative relationships. Therefore, HR practices impacting employees’ abilities, motivation, and opportunities are expected to be positively related to knowledge sharing and maintaining within organizations. HR practices impacting employees’ abilities, motivation, and opportunity are expected to be positively related to knowledge creation through their effect on knowledge sharing within organizations. Our research methodology uses a questionnaire survey approach to collect data from firms belonging to the Spanish automotive industry. Results from a final sample of 64 Spanish automotive firms show that HR practices aimed at motivating and giving employees the opportunity to behave as expected significantly affect knowledge sharing and maintaining. Further, knowledge sharing and maintaining is shown to mediate the relationship between HR practices and knowledge creation. The paper ends with a conclusion, limitations and implications for future research.