The dynamic nature of survival determinants in e-commerce

The dynamic effects of survival determinants in e-commerce are tested using longitudinal data on 460 e-tailers. This is achieved through the incorporation of both time-varying covariates and coefficients in a discrete hazard rate model. The model includes elements of competitive strategy, industry structure, firm and product characteristics, and the macro environment. The study demonstrates the changing effect over time of factors affecting survival. For example, order of entry advantages are observed, but they are short-lived. This finding shows that e-tailers cannot rely on early entry as a strategic move in the long run. E-tailers with more media presence seem to survive longer. Being publicly traded and selling products with digital characteristics present advantages for e-tailers only in the beginning years, but they are not sustainable over long time periods. Survival chances decrease with higher competitive density, market growth rate, and equity market level at the time of entry. Conversely, economic growth tends to increase survival chances. The study also finds an inverted-U relationship between the hazard of exit and firm age. The conclusion section discusses the implications of the time-varying nature of survival determinants.     

Monopolistic wages or efficient contracts?

Using a representative sample of medium and large firms, this paper explores the process of employment and wage bill determination in the Bulgarian manufacturing sector. The results suggest that, during 1997–2001, the labour market behaviour of these firms was consistent with weakly efficient contracting and employment elasticity with respect to both sales and wages similar to that of the fastest‐reforming Central and Eastern Europe economies. Although a case study using data on sell‐off deals by the Privatization Agency suggests that the largest firms selected for cash privatization may have exhibited higher preference for wage enhancement than employment protection, the results do not bring into question the efficient performance of the post‐crisis labour market in Bulgaria. Importantly, the study rejects the hypothesis that either persistent government stakes or mass privatization may have led to efficiency deterioration.     

The impact of labour reallocation and competitive pressure on TFP growth: firm‐level evidence from crisis and transition ridden Bulgaria

This article uses the experiment of a macro‐financial crisis and radical liberalization in Bulgaria to explore the impact of labour reallocation and competitive pressure on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in the manufacturing sector. Our results indicate that labour reallocated from less efficient to more efficient firms in virtually all industries but the influence of other within industry characteristics on TFP growth was significantly higher than the impact of between industry characteristics. Furthermore, while increased competitive pressure had a positive impact on TFP growth among relative laggards in the respective industries, this impact was more than overwhelmed by the inability of industrial leaders to leapfrog their competitors. This result is inconsistent with evidence from developed industrialized economies, but similar to that of less developed countries marked by credit crunch and institutional failure. It has potentially important policy implications.     

Millennials’ travel motivations and desired activities within destinations: A comparative study of the US and the UK

Millennials are one of the largest groups to be targeted by tourism companies. This paper compares the travel motivations of Millennials from both the United States and the United Kingdom by ratings, rankings and perceptual structures of both push and pull factors. This exploratory study used a questionnaire to examine the inner motivations (e.g. push factors) and preferred destination activities (e.g. pull factors) of American and British Millennials (n?=?322). Data analysis included the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, an alternating least-squares algorithm (ALSCAL) model and ordinal regression. The results reveal that American and British Millennials are quite homogeneous in their push travel motivations and destination activity preferences. The most important motivational factors for both are ‘to relax’ and ‘to escape from the ordinary’. Both nationalities also agree that the most attractive destination activities are ‘to try local food’ and ‘to go sightseeing’. The findings indicate that the US and UK samples are similar and that there is room for segmentation according to demographics.     

Interorganizational imitation heuristics arising from cognitive frames

The literature on organizational imitation mostly disregards its cognitive aspect. Yet, imitation is a cognitive heuristic. The study draws a unifying framework of imitation theories through a cognitive lens in the context of innovation adoptions. The premise is that organizations imitate in order to improve the status quo or to avoid losing it. The interaction of the framing of imitation and the organization's evaluation of an innovation as threats or opportunities results in the use of combinations of the two most popular imitation heuristics – “imitate the successful” and “imitate the majority.” Since the framings dictate different imitation timings, the speed of innovation diffusion depends on these interactions. The study contributes to the organizational learning literature by proposing that social learning is subject to interpretations resulting in the use of different imitation heuristics. Its contribution to the decision-making literature is that complex strategic decisions employ imitation heuristics from Gigerenzer's adaptive toolbox.     

Migration,Transfers and Child Labor

We examine agricultural child labor in the context of emigration, transfers and the ability to hire outside labor. We start by developing a theoretical background and show how hiring labor from outside the household and transfers to the household might induce a reduction in children's working hours. Analysis using Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data on the Kagera region in Tanzania lend support to the hypothesis that both emigration and remittances reduce child labor.     

Allocation of Labor in Urban West Africa: Insights from the Pattern of Labor Supply and Skill Premiums

Using comparable data from five West African capitals, we assess the rationale behind development policies targeting high rates of school enrollment through the prism of allocation of labor and earnings effects of skills across the formal and informal sectors, and not working. We find that people with high levels of education allocate to the small formal sector, while less educated workers allocate to the informal sector. While high levels of education are given more value in the relatively smaller sectors of salaried employment, observed skills like education appear to be fairly unprofitable in the larger self-employment sector. The fact that only the small formal sector in urban West Africa both seems to absorb highly educated workers and provide high skill premiums may be an important reason for the observed low demand for education and high dropout rates.     

Desigualdad de oportunidades laborales para los jóvenes: ¿En qué se diferencia el mundo árabe?

El mercado de trabajo de Oriente Medio y África del Norte se caracteriza por un desempleo juvenil generalizado y desproporcionadamente alto entre los jóvenes con estudios. Con datos de las encuestas de la OIT sobre la transición de la escuela al trabajo en Egipto, Jordania y Túnez, los autores examinan si esto está relacionado con la desigualdad de oportunidades o con un desajuste estructural entre la demanda y la oferta de competencias laborales. Se constata que la escasa disponibilidad de puestos de trabajo altamente calificados y el escaso valor otorgado a las competencias adquiridas mediante el sistema de formación profesional tienen un gran poder explicativo.     

Off-farm labor supply and labor markets in rapidly changing circumstances: Bulgaria during transition

This study examines off-farm labor supply in the rapidly changing conditions of Bulgaria during the 1990s. In doing so, we make use of three different waves of the Bulgarian Integrated Household Survey, each reflecting remarkably different environmental conditions. The results suggest that standard theories of off-farm labor supply provide little guidance in situations characterized by chronic excess supply in the off-farm labor market and/or rapidly changing circumstances. In particular, the results show (1) that off-farm employment throughout the transition was predominantly determined by demand rather than by supply, and (2) that the magnitude and statistical significance of the various determinants are very sensitive to changing environmental conditions. As such, the results can be extremely relevant for both theory and policy for the many countries which may still need to go through privatization and painful restructuring as a result of financial crises and globalization.