Balanced portfolio via signed graphs and spectral clustering in the Brazilian stock market

Quality & Quantity - A portfolio associated with a balanced signed graph that contains both positive and negative edges is more predictable and risk-averse, and is therefore likely to require...     

Lean Implementation in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises in Less Developed Countries: Some Empirical Evidences From North Africa

The purpose of this paper is to provide an exploration and analysis of lean implementation in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in less developed countries. Therefore, exploratory empirical evidences were collected from a survey study among a sample of 84 SMEs in North Africa. Moreover, statistical tests were conducted to assess the overall picture of lean among SMEs in this region. Although SMEs have expressed their immense need for lean, the level of its implementation is found to be very low. The findings could encourage further extensive studies to develop strategies to promote the use of lean in these countries.     

Market impact: a systematic study of the high frequency options market

This paper deals with a fundamental subject that has seldom been addressed in recent years, that of market impact in the options market. Our analysis is based on a proprietary database of metaorders—large orders that are split into smaller pieces before being sent to the market—on one of the main Asian markets. In line with our previous work on the equity market [Said, E., Bel Hadj Ayed, A., Husson, A. and Abergel, F., Market impact: A systematic study of limit orders. Mark. Microstruct. Liq., 2018, 3(3&4), 1850008.], we propose an algorithmic approach to identify metaorders, based on some implied volatility parameters, the at the money forward volatility and at the money forward skew. In both cases, we obtain results similar to the now well-understood equity market: Square-Root Law, Fair Pricing Condition and Market Impact Dynamics.     

Oil,the Baltic Dry index,market (il)liquidity and business cycles: evidence from net oil-exporting/oil-importing countries

Financial Markets and Portfolio Management - The recent financial crisis has made (il)liquidity research more significant than ever. Galariotis and Giouvris (Int Rev Financ Anal 38:44–69,...     

Sustainability reporting and corporate identity: action research evidence in an Italian retailing cooperative

Cooperatives are facing the challenge to be competitive in the market, without losing their traditional values of mutuality and democracy. To do that, they need to re‐construct open and participative dialogue with their employees and members based on more democratic forms of communication and engagement. From this point of view, the measurement and communication of sustainability aspects may allow a dialogue to be mobilized with shareholders and stakeholders without losing the attention on competitive factors. Based on these premises, the article analyses the experience of a 5‐year action research project (from 2006 to mid‐2011), carried out within Unicoop Tirreno, an Italian consumers' cooperative, and aimed to implement different tools for sustainability accounting and to embrace a more open dialogue with stakeholders, in particular with employees and members. In this process of change, the tools implemented for sustainability accounting played a key role in supporting the cooperative to reinterpret its own values and in stimulating a new and participative management approach. The results indicate a virtuous circle between the management and measurement of cooperative principles and the management and measurement of sustainability issues.     

Measuring the Impact of Longevity Risk on Pension Systems: The Case of Italy

This article estimates the impact of longevity risk on pension systems by combining the prediction based on a Lee-Carter mortality model with the projected pension payments for different cohorts of retirees. We measure longevity risk by the difference between the upper bound of the total old-age pension expense and its mean estimate. This difference is as high as 4% of annual GDP over the period 2040–2050. The impact of longevity risk is sizeably reduced, but not fully eliminated, by the introduction of indexation of retirement age to expected life at retirement. Our evidence speaks in favor of a market for longevity risk and calls for a closer scrutiny of the potential redistributive effects of longevity risk.     

AHP-based approaches for supplier evaluation: Problems and perspectives

Supplier evaluation has assumed a strategic role in determining competitiveness of large manufacturing companies. An increasing number of researches have been devoted to the development of different kind of methodologies to cope with this problem. Nevertheless, while the number of applications is growing, there is little empirical evidence of the practical usefulness of such tools with a dichotomy between theoretical approaches and empirical applications. Considering this evidence, the goal of this paper is to contribute to understand the above dichotomy by implementing, in a corporate environment, a model for supplier evaluation based on the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), one of the most prominent methodologies used to address the problem. The analysis of the implementation process of the methodology allows the identification of strengths and weaknesses of using formalized supplier selection models to tackle the supplier evaluation problem, also highlighting potential barriers preventing firms to adopt such methods. Relevant issues arising from the application and managerial implications for both customer and suppliers are discussed.     

Implications of perceived competitive advantages,adaptation of marketing tactics and export commitment on export performance

The aim of this exploratory paper is to fill an important gap in the international marketing literature by examining the influence of firm behavior in foreign markets (export commitment and adaptation of marketing tactics) on perceived competitive advantages and export performance. Using a sample of 150 Spanish export firms, the study found that firms that are more committed to their foreign markets are more willing to adapt elements of the marketing program. These firms also perform better in foreign markets. Moreover, the results also point out that adapting marketing tactics does not have direct effects on export performance, although it does have on the achievement of perceived competitive advantages in foreign markets, which positively influence export performance.     

Mapping the antecedents of telework diffusion: firm‐level evidence from Italy

Previous literature has studied telework practices predominantly from the employees' perspective rather than exploring its use at the firm level. With the objective of contributing to reducing this research gap, the relationship between firms' adoption of telework and the firms' technological, organisational and environmental contexts is explored. Data were obtained from a survey conducted between 2005 and 2009 on a sample of 1,134 Italian firms in the Piedmont region. The results show an overall increase in the diffusion of telework primarily attributable to a rise in the adoption of ‘mobile’ work rather than home‐based forms of telework. The results also show that firms that had previously adopted information systems supporting core business processes and knowledge management were more inclined to adopt telework. Telework arrangements were more widely diffused among firms facing a growing and geographically dispersed market demand, and also in the contexts of higher levels of human capital and lower capital intensity.