Risk-based classification of supplier relationships

The management and exploitation of external resources has increased and become a new source of business success. This has given rise to various new risks and therefore increased the need for collaborative risk management and learning. The objective of this paper is to explore the differences in risk management and learning across supplier relationships classified through network risks. The paper provides a theoretical review of supplier relationships and risk management, as well as a survey-based empirical study conducted in one case company's supply network. A set of network risks and risk-management measures is developed by means of factor analysis, and a supplier classification by means of cluster analysis. According to the results, the exploitation of collaborative risk management and learning is highest among the most strategic supplier relationships. A classification typology based on suppliers’ opinions helps both parties in the relationship and enables the efficient exploitation of mutual risk management with collaborative learning as one of its keystones.     

Characteristics of piloting longitudinal birth cohort surveys: a systematic review

Quality & Quantity - This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of piloting approaches, systemize piloting processes, and underline good practices in large scale longitudinal birth...     

Antecedents of Purchase Intention in the Online Context

The understanding of the determinant factors of customer purchase intention is necessary, and it is equally important to study the online purchase context, since this context is disseminated among customers. A theoretical model has been elaborated on and tested, considering the constructs of information quality, distrust, and perceived risk as antecedents of purchase intention, and aiming to analyze the relationship among these constructs in the online purchase context. A quantitative research study has been performed by means of the application of a survey. Multivariate statistics techniques have been applied for data analyses, including structural equation modeling. This study contributes to the evolution of the empirically tested concepts by providing a greater individual understanding of each construct presented in the theoretical model, as well as the relationship among them as determinants of purchase intention; the indication is that meaningful relationships were found which may impact greater profitability and, consequently, greater competition for online retailers.     

An Exploration of Older Men's Social Lives and Well-Being in the Context of a Coffee Group

Recreation professionals continually strive to serve a host of diverse program constituents, while leisure researchers attempt to uncover barriers to leisure participation. Much of the barriers or constraints research has come from the perspective of program participants. This study identified, from the perspectives and experiences of 18 recreation professionals, the issues and barriers that they perceive inhibit recreation program access and availability to diverse constituents, particularly ethnic minority populations. Co-cultural theory, which integrates the concepts of muted group theory and standpoint theory, was utilized as the study's theoretical framework. In-depth interviews were utilized. Five primary barriers were identified that related to the changing faces of the community, the changing faces of management and staff, deferred program responsibility, language barriers, and negative attitudes and stereotypes held by some management and staff. This article demonstrates how these barriers impact leisure participation for disenfranchised groups. The findings suggest that recreation agencies, often unwittingly or unknowingly, foster organizational barriers that inhibit the perceived program accessibility or attractiveness to ethnic minorities. Implications for research and professional practice are explored.     

Building Innovation Excellence of World Class: The Cluster as an Instrument of Spatial Governance in the European Union

European spatial governance is becoming an intriguing mix of ideas from the economic, political and cultural spheres. This article asserts that, in the EU's spatial planning, the cluster is increasingly part of a hybrid spatial politics, here named the ‘cluster gaze’, based on the interplay of innovation‐oriented political rationality and spatial governance. To study this process, the article provides an empirical investigation into selected EU documentation. The investigation is based on two perspectives. First, the cluster is analysed as a mediating instrument to stimulate and rescale transnational market developments in the EU. Second, the cluster is studied as an instrument of spatial management — one that builds on a business managerial ethos and endorses a specific hierarchical spatial imaginary and a cluster evidence base to assess the productivity and efficiency of European clusters. Both of these perspectives pave the way for a European ‘politics of cluster excellence’ that is about the constant sharpening of cluster practices, continuous evaluation and ranking, and the enhancement of cluster performance to rise from the ‘European league’ towards the ‘world class’.     

Older Men's Perceptions of Leisure and Aging

As the North American population ages, detailed research will be needed to understand the leisure experiences of older adults. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of leisure and aging among a sample of older Canadian men. Data were collected among 15 men aged 60–70 using individual interviews and follow-up focus groups. Data were analyzed thematically and four themes emerged: the interplay between leisure and work, the desire to “give back” to family or to the community through leisure, the individual purpose of leisure choices, and viewing constraints as a reflection of priorities rather than as barriers.     

Small local firms inside the supply chain: Challenges and perspectives

The authors provide the results of an empirical research carried out in north-east Italy and completed in 1992, which was aimed at investigating the rapport between large manufacturers operating on the multidomestic and global markets and the small local supplying concerns. This research identifies that the globalization process has had a strong impact in the relations with suppliers. The purchasing firms have adopted a particular approach when selecting the suppliers. This has involved widening their previous geographic areas of contact, even making use of foreign sources. Consequently, the local micro units either will become excluded from future business relations with the purchasing organizations, or will be relegated into lower levels of the supply chain. Today small and very small units working as suppliers with direct link with large-scale clients, face many challenges: they should now renew their know-how and skills, develop a new managerial and organizational sense, and recognise the need to invest in new forms other than machinery and processes. The empirical study clearly showed both the limits and the structural weakness of such small units and provided some indications for growth in their technical-productive potential.     

The real effects of delisting: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design

We study how the delisting of a firm’s stock, and the accompanying drop in liquidity, causally affects a firm’s real economic decisions. Although delisting is endogenous, we identify a causal effect by using regression discontinuity design (RDD). This technique suits the delisting problem because the probability of delisting rises discontinuously when observable variables pass known thresholds. We find that delisting results in a modest decline in investment and cash saving and an important and robust decline in employment.     

Proxy-quality thresholds: Theory and applications

We consider alternative models of a regression containing a proxy for an unobserved regressor. For each model at most two pieces of prior information are necessary to determine the sign of any regressor coefficient: the sign of the partial correlation between the proxy and the unobserved regressor, and a lower bound on the partial or simple correlation between the proxy and the unobserved regressor. We apply our technique to investment and leverage regressions that contain a proxy for the incentive to invest. In both cases proxy quality must be high for the coefficient of interest to be non-zero.     

Is It Inefficient Investment that Causes the Diversification Discount?

Diversified conglomerates are valued less than matched portfolios of pure-play firms. Recent studies find that this diversification discount results from conglomerates' inefficient allocation of capital expenditures across divisions. Much of this work uses Tobin's q as a proxy for investment opportunities, therefore hypothesizing that q is a good proxy. This paper treats measurement error in q . Using a measurement-error consistent estimator on the sorts regressions in the literature, I find no evidence of inefficient allocation of investment. The results in the literature appear to be artifacts of measurement error and of the correlation between investment opportunities and liquidity.