Technical efficiency and productivity growth of entrant firms in the retail sector in Spain

This paper analyses efficiency and productivity growth in relation to size, and age and for both entrant and incumbent firms using a birth cohort approach for the period 1995–2003 for two sectors, non-specialized shop (521) and specialized shop (524) three-digit NACE. On the one hand, our results indicate the existence of statistically significant differences among entrant and incumbent firms by size. Also, we found differences according to the start up size in relation to membership of the birth cohort and activity sectors. On the other hand, productivity growth shows that, in general, the larger entrants in the non-specialized sector obtained higher productivity than did small firms. This phenomenon was not observed in the specialized sector, where firms worsened in productivity in most of the cohorts and we did not find significant differences in productivity growth between large and small firms. Efficiency changes tend to be a positive contributor to total factor productivity change, but technical change tends to be a negative contributor for both sectors. A deeper analysis of the efficiency changes (catching up) has shown that these improvements are generally attributed to pure technical efficiency and the scale.     

A qualitative and longitudinal analysis of market orientation

This work analyzes the dynamic effect of market orientation (MO) on organizational performance, both in the long term and in the short term. The performance was measured by the sales growth and profitability. The methodology used is innovative as it quantifies the MO with a qualitative technique: content analysis. Data from the Spanish banking sector between 2005 and 2007 are the basis of a longitudinal study. The results indicate that the banks that develop an MO approach maintain this approach over time. On the other hand, MO does not seem to have a direct effect on profitability, but does affect the long-term sales growth.     

The Deaton paradox in a long memory context with structural breaks

This article contributes to the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) and excess consumption smoothness debate in the context of fractional integration. We show that the excess consumption smoothness result is a consequence of the quarterly data frequency commonly employed in the empirical work. In fact, the I(1) hypothesis is rejected for the income process with monthly data in favour of a fractional integration order lower than 1. Moreover, if a structural break is taken into account, we observe a substantial reduction in the degree of consumption smoothness, especially after the break found in 1975.     

How much does water consumption drop when each household takes charge of its own consumption? The case of the city of Seville

Making individuals take charge of their own domestic water consumption is one of the measures used to reduce the growing demand for this resource and to achieve sustainable consumption compatible with the goal of equity. The use of individual meters instead of communal meters and fixing tariffs by inhabitant rather than by household are two measures aimed at achieving these objectives. This article assesses the measures put in place in the Seville metropolitan area during the last 20 years with an unobserved component model set up in a state-space framework estimated using maximum likelihood. Water consumption elasticity to individual meters has changed from –0.307 to –1.317 with the introduction of per inhabitant tariffs, which demonstrates that there are water-saving synergies when the two measures are implemented together. The reductions in water consumption achieved with these measures are also longer lasting than the changes in consumption habits during the frequent droughts in Seville.     

Optimal Bonus Scales Under Path-Dependent Bonus Rules

Bonus malus systems have been studied by several authors under the framework of Markov chains. Optimal scales have been deduced by Norberg (1976), Borgan, Hoem & Norberg (1981) and Gilde & Sundt (1989). In these articles the authors assumed that the bonus system forms a first order Markov chain. In the present paper we deduce the optimal scales, using the same criteria as in the cited papers, for bonus systems that are not first order Markovian processes, but that can be regarded as Markovian by increasing the number of states of the system.     

The Impact of Affective Reactions on Risky Decision Making in Accounting Contexts

In this study we examine whether managers' affective reactions influence their risk–taking tendencies in capital budgeting decisions. Prior research on risky decision making indicates that decision makers are often risk averse when choosing among alternatives that yield potential gains, and risk taking when the alternatives yield losses. The results reported here indicate that negative or positive affective reactions can change this commonly found risky behavior. Managers were generally risk avoiding (taking) for gains (losses) in the absence of affective reactions, as predicted by prospect theory. However, when affect was present, they tended to reject investment alternatives that elicited negative affect and accept alternatives that elicited positive affect, resulting in risk taking (avoiding) in gain (loss) contexts. The results also indicate that affective reactions can influence managers to choose alternatives with lower economic value, suggesting that managers consider both financial data and affective reactions when evaluating the utility of a decision alternative. These findings point to the importance of considering affective reactions when attempting to understand and predict risky decision making in accounting contexts.     

Sponsorship relationships as strategic alliances: A life cycle model approach

In recent years, academics and practitioners have recognized that sponsorship relationships operate as strategic alliances. Additionally, they have emphasized the lack of analytical approaches which allow an understanding of the developmental process of such alliances. In an attempt to fill this gap, we examine how key sponsorship characteristics change over different stages of the life cycle (formation, operation, and outcome) to determine the success or failure of the relationship. Specifically, we propose a life cycle model that articulates general paths in sponsorship relationship developmental stages and the behavior pattern of sponsorship characteristics. Throughout this framework, we illustrate our reasoning with examples drawn from the UBS/Team Alinghi sponsorship relationship.     

Location and the Growth of Nations

Does a country‘s long-term growth depend on what happensin countries that are nearby? Such linkages could occur for avariety of reasons, including demand and technology spillovers.We present a series of tests to determine the existence of suchrelationships and the forms that they might take. We find thata country‘s growth rate is closely related to that of nearbycountries and show that this correlation reflects more than theexistence of common shocks. Trade alone does not appear responsiblefor these linkages either. In addition, we find that being neara large market contributes to growth.