The Decision to Use Alliances as Corporate Entrepreneurship: The Role of Resources and Skills

This aim of this research is to analyse the role of firm resources and skills in the decision to cooperate as a method for developing entrepreneurial activity. We use a sample of 967 entrepreneurial operations undertaken between 2000 and 2004 by 323 EU-15 companies. Results suggest that skills are more important than resources when choosing how to undertake an entrepreneurial activity. While experience in cooperation and possession of technological resources make the choice of an alliance more probable, experience in entrepreneurial activities and possession of physical resources may lead the company to opt for other alternatives.     

Modeling Distribution Channel Dynamics of North American Cars in the Spanish Automobile Industry

Relations between manufacturers and distributors have been the center point of the distribution channel’s management. This study covers the effects of coercive, as well as non-coercive power on intermediary variables such as cooperation and conflict. It will also analyze the effects of cooperation and conflict on American car dealers’ satisfaction and performance in Spain. Due to the small sample size (46 dealers), the model based on causal modeling compelled us to use the optimization method based on the partial least squares (PLS) regression techniques coupled with a bootstrapping to enable some generalization of the results.

Economic freedom, civil liberties, political rights and growth: a causality analysis

Several empirical studies have established the relationship between economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights, and economic growth. Nevertheless, few studies analyze the directions of causality. This paper studies the causality relations between the institutional dimensions mentioned above and economic growth, as well as the interrelations between them, using the Granger methodology with panel data for 187 countries and five-yearly observations for the period 1976–2000. In addition, the relations between these freedoms and investment in physical and human capital are examined, to be able to isolate the direct and indirect effects on growth. The authors acknowledge the suggestions made by the editor and the reviewers, which have improved this work with respect to its initial version.     

Job satisfaction and disability: lower expectations about jobs or a matter of health?

This article focuses on the analysis of the reported differentials of job satisfaction for disabled and non-disabled individuals. Using the Spanish data of the European Community Household Panel during the period 1995–2001, we estimate a job satisfaction equation for each group and evaluate job satisfaction differentials through the Oaxaca-Blinder methodology. The results show that disabled individuals are more likely to be more satisfied in their jobs than non-disabled ones, but only after controlling for other variables. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition shows the greater importance of the returns in job satisfaction for disabled people, which is supported by explanations based on the lower expectations about jobs of disadvantaged groups.      

Reemployment wages and UI liquidity effect: a regression discontinuity approach

This paper puts together the non-distortionary liquidity effect of unemployment insurance and job match quality. We identify a big impact on subsidized unemployment duration and a small impact on wages on the job that follows the unemployment spell. Wage gains are heterogeneous and concentrated on individuals at the bottom of the pre-unemployment income distribution. The non-distortionary nature of the liquidity effect reduces the pressure on low-income workers to accept lower productivity jobs.

Strategies developed by leading EU agrifood cooperatives in their growth models

The objective of this article is to identify the factors that have brought about the greatest degree of competitiveness in some of the principal agrifood cooperative groups in the European Union (EU), using pertinent case studies from a range of sectors including the dairy, meat and fruit and vegetable sectors from three EU member states: Holland, Ireland and Denmark. With this purpose in mind, seven cases were identified for inclusion: Kerry Group, the Irish Dairy Board, Arla Foods, The Greenery BV, Danish Crown, Agrifirm and DLG. The article identifies the main barriers and problems faced by this type of cooperative and shows the strategies developed by leading cooperatives in their sector within the current comparative context and familiarizes readers with the different growth models these cooperatives use to achieve and maintain their market standing.     

Methods to Manage Information Sources for Software Product Managers in the Energy Market

The German energy market is facing several challenges due to changes in regulation, technical advancements as well as increasing energy costs and climate achievements like CO₂ reduction. This results in changing requirements for companies in the energy market and thus business information systems, which support their core tasks and processes. Software product managers in energy and software developing companies in charge of driving the functional development of information systems have to deal with these challenges and need to develop new information systems or enhance existing ones. Conceptual models proved helpful to design and implement information systems within several industries. However, identification and management of models as well as impact analysis of model changes results difficult. This contribution describes methods to construct, use and maintain a domain specific reference model catalogue to support requirements analysis for software product manager in the German electricity and gas market.     

Vertical integration, market foreclosure and quality investment

We study incentives to vertically integrate in an industry with vertically differentiated downstream firms. Vertical integration by one of the firms increases production costs for the rival. Increased production costs negatively affects quality investment both by the integrated firm and the unintegrated rival. Quality investment by both firms decreases under any (vertical integration) scenario. The decrease in quality invesment by both firms softens competition among downstream firms. By integrating first, a firm always produces the high quality good and earns higher profits. A fully integrated industry, with increased product differentiation, is observed in equilibrium. Due to increase in firm profits, social welfare under this structure is greater than under no integration.     

Fuzzy Negotiation Solutions of n-Person Cooperative Games by Knowledge Engineering in Bargaining

A model for negotiation is developed upon the basis of a previous model called Fuzzy Negotiation Solution by Knowledge Engineering. The new model, called Compensatory Negotiation Solution by Knowledge Engineering and FNSKE are based on the combination of knowledge of experts in negotiation, rather than on classical notions of rationality. The experts in negotiation present four propositions in a non-mathematical way and with a natural language, according to the theory of Knowledge Engineering. In the CNSKE model, knowledge is represented through logic predicates, and the calculations are made using the Compensatory Fuzzy Logic system. CFL is a system whose operators satisfy the axioms of Utility. The CFL operators, especially because of the compensation property, are more adequate than the norm and co-norm’s operators to model human decision-making, according to empirical results. The Good Deal Index in CNSKE is statistically estimated from the GDI in FNSKE. This is a quantitative index, which provides the solution concept. The fuzzy function f(C) represents the likelihood the players of a coalition C to reach an agreement into this coalition. Counterpart Convenience Indexes 1, 2 allow each player to select the best coalition for negotiation. The advantage of CNSKE over FNSKE is that the idempotency of conjunction and disjunction operators give every membership function -obtained from the predicates- the possibility to be interpreted by itself. Hence, the truth-values of the CNSKE membership functions can be semantically interpreted. In addition, CNSKE can be easily applied to solve real negotiation problems.     

Transforming Human Resource Management Systems to Cope with Diversity

The purpose of this study is to examine how workgroup diversity can be managed through specific strategic human resource management systems. Our review shows that ‘affirmative action’ and traditional ‘diversity management’ approaches have failed to simultaneously achieve business and social justice outcomes of diversity. As previous literature has shown, the benefits of diversity cannot be achieved with isolated interventions. To the contrary, a complete organizational culture change is required, in order to promote appreciation of individual differences. The paper contributes to this discussion by exploring the implications of this change for human resource management, and explaining how the systems of practices should be changed when they are directed to diverse groups. The model designed to test this notion includes: (1) demographic and human capital diversity as independent variables, (2) group performance (measured as innovation outcomes) as the dependent variable and, (3) the orientation of the strategic human resource management system as a potential moderator of this relationship. The main conclusion of the empirical analysis developed is that different patterns of human resource management practices can be used, depending on the type of diversity that the organization faces, and the specific effects that it wishes to manage. Concretely, three alternative management systems are identified in this paper, with different moderating effects. This result has interesting implications for human resource management professionals, explained in the last section. The limitations of this study are also discussed, as well as some issues that future research in this field should address.