Self-scanning technologies in retail: Determinants of adoption

Self-scanning represents a form of customer participation in service creation, a form of self-service and a technology-based service delivery device. This study, conducted within the large-scale retail sector, pursues a dual aim: firstly, to assess the link between satisfaction with self-scanning and some of its possible antecedents; secondly we intend to determine whether satisfaction with this service has any impact on consumers' overall opinion of the supermarket and their intention to patronise the store with greater frequency. The data show that both the sense of control and hedonic component have a positive impact on satisfaction with self-scanning and further bring to light that service satisfaction is an antecedent both of customers' opinion of the supermarket and their intention to patronise the store more frequently.     

Balancing the trade-off between learning prospects and spillover risks: MNC subsidiaries’ vertical linkage patterns in developed countries

This paper investigates local vertical linkages of foreign subsidiaries and the dual role of such linkages as conduits for learning as well as potential channels for spillovers to competitors. On the basis of data from 97 subsidiaries, we analyze the quality of such linkages under varying levels of competition and subsidiary capabilities. Our theoretical development and the results from the analysis document a far more complex and dynamic relationship between levels of competition and MNCs’ local participation in knowledge intensive activities, i.e. learning and spillovers, than previous studies do. We find a curvilinear relationship between the extent of competitive pressure and the quality of local linkages confirming our argument of a trade-off between learning prospects and spillover risks. Furthermore, the level of subsidiary capabilities moderates this relationship.     

COMPETITION AND THE STRATEGIC CHOICE OF MANAGERIAL INCENTIVES: THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE CASE

We investigate how market competition affects the incentive to adopt a non‐profit‐maximizing behaviour. The analysis is developed in a strategic delegation framework in which owners delegate output decisions to managers interested in firm's relative performance. We study how the optimal delegation scheme is affected by market concentration and the elasticity of market demand. We prove that the distortion from a profit‐maximizing rule decreases as market becomes less concentrated, while it increases as demand becomes more elastic. Finally, we discuss the impact of market competitiveness on the welfare‐enhancing ability of delegation contracts.     

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies: economic and financial research

Decisions in Economics and Finance - The motivation of proposing and editing the Special Issue “Blockchain and cryptocurrencies” came from the inspirational invited and contributed...     

An Analysis of Chinese Acquisitions of Made in Italy Firms in the Luxury Sector

Outward Foreign Direct Investment （OFDI） from emerging economies has begun to increase significantly and has been growing at a faster pace than Foreign Direct Investment （FDI） from the developed world. This research seeks to assess the impact of Chinese acquisitions and their implications for the ＂Made in Italy＂ luxury sector and its firms. This paper presents a cross-case analysis of two Chinese acquisitions in order to provide some in-depth insights into the influences and the motives driving Chinese firms to invest in the luxury Made in Italy sector, the patterns and modes of the Chinese acquisitions as well as the competitive strategies and the distinctive challenges that both investors and acquired firms have to face. From the findings, it emerges that both the investor and the acquired firm need to overcome several key challenges to be mutual benefits from the acquisition.     

The relationships between CEO characteristics and strategic risk-taking in family firms

Abstract

We examine the influences of chief executive officer (CEO) personal characteristics on family firms’ strategic risk-taking. Building on upper echelons theory, we investigate the influences of CEO family relationships, the CEO professional education, other career experiences, tenure, and career horizon have on the risk level a company takes. By analyzing a sample of 107 Italian family firms listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, we find that company’s risk-taking significantly and negatively relates to CEO family relationship and professional education, but positively to CEO career horizon. This provides support to the argument that such CEO personal characteristics are key factors in explaining differences in risk-taking among family firms. Further, our analysis of control variables shows that family firms’ risk-taking relates positively to board size and negatively to company size. These results suggest that company and board characteristics also significantly influence the risk levels taken by a company.     

Environmental transparency and investors' risk perception: Cross-country evidence on multinational corporations' sustainability practices and cost of equity

We explore whether a greater amount of environmental disclosure can reduce a firm's ex ante cost of equity. This could occur because the quantity of environmental information changes investors' risk perception of the company, thereby influencing its ex ante cost of equity. Our study is a cross-country analysis of 1481 multinational corporations (MNCs) across 43 countries and territories from 2013 to 2019. Firstly, we measure investors' risk perception as a firm's ex ante cost of equity by employing five different valuation models, all based on equity analysts' forecasted data. We then investigate whether large quantities of environmental information disclosed by an MNC affect its ex ante cost of equity. We find evidence that investors price the amount of environmental disclosure. More environmental disclosure decreases a firm's ex ante cost of equity because it lessens investors' information asymmetry. However, this relationship is non-linear. Once the amount of environmental disclosure data exceeds a certain threshold level, a firm's ex ante cost of equity will rise again. Our empirical results also suggest that non-financial factors at the country level play a role in shaping how investors perceive a firm's riskiness. Locating the firm in a country with better environmental performance and a higher score of the human development index can reduce investors' risk perception and result in a lower ex ante cost of equity. A policy implication of our findings is that a global standardised and effective corporate sustainability reporting is needed to provide investors a more holistic view for evaluating the riskiness of their investments.     

Consumption, habit formation, and precautionary saving: evidence from the British Household Panel Survey

In this paper, we generalise Weil's (1993) model, which is basedon hybrid non-expected utility preferences, by allowing forhabit formation. We use this generalised model to derive anEuler equation, where current consumption changes depend onlagged changes and labour income risk. We then estimate thisEuler equation using data from the British Household Panel Survey(BHPS) for the period 1992–97. Our results suggest thatboth labour income risk and past changes in consumption playan important role in determining current changes in consumption.We then compare the model with habits with the one without,and strongly reject the latter.     

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.