Highway to Economic Growth? Competition in Public Works Tenders in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the poorest countries in the world. The construction sector will play an essential part to bring the country on the path of economic growth, and competition within the sector is crucial to achieve this goal. In this paper, we analyse the effect of competition in public works tenders in the DRC, using a unique and newly assembled database on public works contracts. We find that the number of participating bidders significantly reduces contract prices, confirming our prior hypothesis that competitive pressure can enhance the overall performance of the sector. Further, we account for the possibility of heteregenous tender participants, finding that the competition effect can vary with the degree of bidders' heterogeneity.     

Innovation and business research in Latin America: An overview

Innovation in Latin America is a challenge for achieving development. Several Latin American countries and businesses are attempting to increase innov ation and entrepreneurship but they face substantial challenges and difficulties. Institutional, governmental and business policies and practices need to be enhanced in order to increase such innovation. Increasing business research in Latin America and university-business partnerships is probably key in such endeavor. This special issue provides some evidence regarding these challenges at the company level, industry level, and country level. This issue also includes three cases showing Latin American company experiences with financial, marketing and new product innovations and market changes.     

The Spanish monarchy as a contractor state in the eighteenth century: Interaction of political power with the market

Abstract

The concept of the contractor state has been formulated to underline the existence of a necessary relation between state and private markets in the eighteenth century. Although all states acted as contractors in this period, it is necessary to clarify the relationship between the rulers and the market. Significant differences can be observed between parliamentary governments, which were comfortable with this situation, and the absolute monarchies, which constantly tried to interfere. The Spanish monarchy belongs to the second type, as this article tries to prove. This is a study about such a situation’s relevance and consequences with regard to the provision of uniforms for the army in particular, and for Spanish economic growth in general.     

Erratum to: Determinants of Consumer Attributions of Corporate Social Responsibility

Philanthropic giving among leaders is often assumed to be an expression of ethical leadership in both academic and media discourses; however, this assumption can overlook the ways in which philanthropy produces and is underpinned by inequality. In order to extend current understandings of ethical leadership, this study employs a critical discourse analytic approach to examine how the link between philanthropy and ethical forms of leadership is verbally and visually constructed in the media. Based on the analysis, the article demonstrates how the construction of Australian philanthropists as ethical leaders is achieved through their representation via three paradoxical identities: Aristocratic Battlers; Caring Controllers; and Publicity-Shy Celebrities. These discourses are mediated by Australian cultural norms and serve to conceal yet ultimately reinforce social and economic inequality. The article proposes that a critical discursive approach to understanding leadership ethics can help to explore the hidden or adverse effects of ostensibly ethical practices.     

Relational Consequences of Perceived Deception in Online Shopping: The Moderating Roles of Type of Product,Consumer’s Attitude Toward the Internet and Consumer’s Demographics

Appropriate enablers are essential for management of intellectual capital. Through the use of structural equation modeling, we investigate whether organic renewal environments, interactive behaviors, and trust are conducive to intellectual capital management processes, as they each depend upon the establishment of a climate emphasizing mutual respect. Owing to a lack of clarity in the literature, we tested the ordering of the variables and found statistical significance for two ordering alternatives. However, the sequence presented in this article provides the best statistical fit: an organic renewal environment provides a foundation for interactive behaviors, which leads to trust, and thus is consistent with the development of intellectual capital management pro- cesses within the organization.     

Market orientation, knowledge-related resources and firm performance

Based upon new perspectives to explain superior business performance, an integrative conceptual model that links these different explanations of superior performance is presented, highlighting the role of knowledge-related resources as key antecedents of the continuous creation of competitive advantages (Day 1994, Day George S. The capabilities of market-driven organizations. J Mark 1994a, 58 [October]: 37-52., Day George S. Continuous learning about markets. Calif Manage Rev 1994b, 36 [Summer]: 9-31., Hunt and Morgan, 1995, Hunt Shelby D., Morgan Robert M. The comparative advantage theory of competition. J Mark 1995; 59 [April]: 1-15). An empirical test of this conceptual model is conducted with a Chilean sample of publicly traded firms, using structural equations modeling. The results show a significant impact of: market orientation, market sensing and innovativeness (among other knowledge-related resources) on superior performance, thus providing support for the original ideas of Drucker (1954) [Drucker Peter F. The practice of management. New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1954.] and Schumpeter (1934), and for the dynamic evolutionary approaches to strategy (Dickson, 1992, Dickson Peter R. Toward a theory of competitive rationality. J Mark 1992; 56: 69-83., Dicskson, 1996, Dickson Peter R. The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on Hunt and Morgan's comparative advantage theory. J Mark 1996; 60: 102-106.; Hill and Deeds, 1996, Hill C.W., Deeds D.L. The importance of industry structure for the determination of firm profitability: a Neo-Austrian perspective. J Manag Stud 1996; 33: 429-451.).     

Heterogeneity in property tax capitalization: Evidence from municipalities in Wisconsin

This article provides evidence that higher property taxes usually decrease property value. On average, a 10% increase in property taxes decreases property value by more than 0.34%. To control for school quality and related sorting, we estimate within-school-district property tax impacts. The effective cost of services (driven by appraisal errors or tax code changes), preferences for local services, and the elasticity of supply of housing all play an important role in determining whether property taxes increase or decrease house prices. Locally produced and consumed municipal services such as trash collection are positively capitalized.     

Sources of uncertainty in functional measurement methodology

Quality & Quantity - Functional measurement methodology is applied in many psychological fields to investigate cognitive operations of information integration that people use in judgment and...     

Adoption Gaps of Environmental Adaptation Technologies with Public Effects

Environmental and Resource Economics - As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018) testifies, the world is a long way from halting climate change, let alone reverting it. The existence...