Paying for the environmental services of silvopastoral practices in Nicaragua

Agricultural landscapes can provide many valuable ecosystem services, but many are externalities from the perspective of farmers and so tend to be under-produced. This paper examines an effort to make direct payments for ecosystem services (PES) in an agricultural landscape. The Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Ecosystem Management Project is piloting the use of PES to induce adoption of silvopastoral practices in the Matiguás-Río Blanco area in Nicaragua. Silvopastoral practices could substantially improve service provision while retaining agricultural production, but they have found only limited acceptance among farmers. The Silvopastoral Project seeks to increase their adoption by paying farmers for the expected increase in biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration services that these practices would provide. The Project developed an ‘environmental services index’ (ESI) and pays participants for net increases in ESI points. Although the Silvopastoral Project is still underway, it already appears to have succeeded in inducing farmers to increase substantially the use of practices that generate higher levels of ecosystem services. In the project's first two years, over 24% of the total area experienced some form of land use change. The area of degraded pasture fell by two thirds, while pastures with high tree density increased substantially, as did fodder banks and live fences. On-going monitoring indicates that these land use changes are in fact generating the desired services. Questions remain about the long-term sustainability of the approach, however. To ensure sustainability, long-term payments are likely to be needed, raising the question of how they will be financed. Payments by water users and by carbon buyers provide a partial answer to this challenge, but still leave many gaps.     

Tax mimicking among local governments: some evidence from Spanish municipalities

The aim of this paper is to study the spatial patterns in the Spanish local tax system. The three most relevant taxes are analyzed: the property tax, the motor vehicle tax and the building activities tax, which jointly represent 80% of the tax revenue at local level in Spain. Using spatial econometrics procedures, three alternative weight specifications to define competitors are explored: contiguity, distance and a combination of economic and geographical characteristics. After carrying out an exploratory spatial analysis, the results of the estimation of spatial lag and spatial error models confirm positive spatial-autocorrelation for the property tax and the building activities tax, with an order of magnitude between 0.3 and 0.5. On the contrary, the motor vehicle tax does not exhibit a significant spatial pattern.     

Selección de proveedores basada en análisis dimensional

This article presents the evaluation of a group of six suppliers for an electromechanical component of hydraulic bombs. The comparison is made by using the dimensional analysis technique and the attributes evaluated were the component´s costs, product quality, post sale service from supplier, product reliability, supplier’s administration and organization and production technology in their production system. In addition, in order to integrate the opinion of several persons in the selection and decision process, the information analysis was done with the aid of a decision group integrated by five persons with responsibilities in the purchase area. The technique is easy to apply and has been widely accepted by its users, who are making its use extensive to other components supplier’s selection process.     

Declaraciones institucionales y percepciones individuales sobre la sustentabilidad en escuelas de negocios mexicanas

The objective of this paper is to analyze how business schools of Mexican universities deal with the concept of sustainability as part of their educational task. In order to achieve a comprehensive vision, this study considers the environmental, the social, and the economic components of sustainability. After discussing the conceptual dimensions of education for sustainability, the empirical part of the paper consists of two sections: a content analysis of how official university documents handle the concept of sustainability and a survey of professors’ and students’ perceptions of sustainability. The analysis shows that both professors and students in the Management and Accounting disciplines need to extend their understanding about the economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. The results of this study provide information that can guide the efforts made by institutions of higher learning for training their professors and offering a comprehensive education for their students in all three components of sustainability.     

Measuring Pricing to Market in the Eurozone: The Case of the Automobile Industry

In this paper we measure the pricing to market for the main export products in the Eurozone automobile industry. Results reveal that significant markup adjustments exist following exchange rate variations. In general, these adjustments allow a strong stabilization of prices in buyer's currency terms. Nevertheless, the degree of pricing to market is quite heterogeneous and differs highly across both product categories and destination markets.     

Impact of sustainable management policies on tourism companies' performance: the case of the metropolitan region of Madrid

The adoption of sustainable management practices is booming among service companies, whether due to pressure exerted by external agents or the internal perception that not being aligned with sustainability distances companies from clients and puts companies' long-term prospects at risk. However, few studies have examined the combined effect of implementing environmental management practices and corporate social responsibility practices in the tourism sector. By analysing two surveys conducted with the managers of 370 hotels and 176 restaurants and using structural equations, this study concludes that sustainability practices have a direct and significant impact on the company's competitiveness and on the companies' financial results. However, a separate study of the two surveys shows significant differences between the two analysed groups. This article suggests that despite operating in the same sector, hotels and restaurants behave differently regarding sustainability practices, and they achieve significantly different results in their implementation. In addition, by focusing on the tourism industry, a highly competitive sector, this analysis sheds light on whether investing in sustainability is a good strategy for companies to differentiate themselves and survive in complex sectors.     

Effects of personal characteristics on organizational commitment: evidence from Brazil's oil and gas industry

In 1997, Brazil's major energy company faced a loss of its monopoly as part of the country's structural reform. Many of its employees were recruited by new entrants to the oil and gas industry. In order to retain employees, the company initiated a multiyear planning process which included a redesigned human resource management model oriented to organizational commitment. This study examines the long-term influence of five employee personal characteristics (type of employment, job level, gender, education level and service time) on the affective, normative and continuance components of organizational commitment. The research was conducted in one of the company refinery and involved a questionnaire survey of all employees and interviews with senior managers. It was found that type of employment (company staff or contractor) had the greatest impact on affective and normative commitment, while service time and education level are the most significant contributors to continuance commitment. Gender and job level were found to have limited implication for commitment. The results demonstrate that the company response to structural reform had the long-term positive effect of binding employees to the organization.     

International quality awards and excellence quality models around the world. A multidimensional analysis

There are many theories about what is Total Quality Management and the scope to implement it. Researchers from several countries agree that the International Quality Awards and Excellence Quality Models are the viable form to achieve, under these criteria, an excellence in quality topics. However, if we analyze carefully the criteria of these awards around the world, we can find likely the most heterogeneous element as a guide and evaluation, depending on the geographical places. But the truth is that quality is a universal concept and the achievement of Total Quality Management needs the criteria and unified elements around the world. The aim of this paper is to find a logical structure to evaluate and apply the Total Quality Management in any company around the world despite cultural and geographical situations. As a result of the research, thirty nine International Quality Awards and Excellence Quality Models were examined through the cluster analysis, carrying out seven dimensions that involve all necessary criteria to achieve and evaluate the Total Quality Management.     

The supply of effort in a fishery

This papers user a price-accounting approach to measure total factor productivity growth in Canadian manufacturing, at the two-digit level, over the period 1965–80. Its purpose is to describe how given productivity improvements have been apportioned among labour, capital, materials and government through an increase in the price of these factors or through an increase in taxes levied on factor inputs and ‘consumers’ through a decrease in the industry selling prices.     

Estimation of the Option Prime: Microsimulation of Backward Stochastic Differential Equations

A mathematical statistical model is needed to obtain an option prime and create a hedging strategy. With formulas derived from stochastic differential equations, the primes for US Dollar/Chilean Pesos currency options using a prime calculator are obtained. Furthermore, a backward simulation of the option prime trajectory is used with a numerical method created for backward stochastic differential equations. The use of statistics in finance is highly important in order to develop complex products.