Uncertainty and Growth of the Firm

Using data from a survey of 1,097 small and medium-sized non-listed Dutch firms we investigate the relation between growth of the firm and uncertainty. We focus on the impact of sales uncertainty on various types of investment. We find that sales uncertainty, measured by the conditional variance, has a mixed impact on various investment decisions. We include an analysis of the relevance of financial structure and firm size on the growth-uncertainty relation.     

The long and winding roads: Perceived quality of scenic tourism routes

This study aims to understand self-drive tourists’ satisfaction with and loyalty toward scenic roads. Building on previous studies in the context of tourism destinations, satisfaction is hypothesised to be influenced by leisure and holiday motorists’ motivation for driving the routes and the provision of roadside facilities. In turn, satisfaction is assumed to increase motorists’ loyalty toward the route. The study comprises data from two scenic roads in Norway that differ with respect to landscapes formations, settlements, experiences along the routes, and travel distance. Data are analysed using structural equation modelling. Results show that roadside facilities play a crucial role in achieving overall satisfaction and loyalty among motor tourists, and that route managers should improve the quality of these and related infrastructure facilities and services. Moreover, the study indicates that it is important to take into consideration the motorists’ desire to experience attractive sceneries in order to increase overall route satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction is demonstrated to significantly increase route loyalty, although this relationship appears weaker than in conventional destination studies.     

Drivers of firm formalization in Vietnam: an attention theory explanation

Informal enterprises are widely viewed as a mechanism to engage unemployed people in the economy and thereby alleviate poverty in developing economies. However, over-representation in an economy may lead to both economic growth and broader employment opportunities being sacrificed. This paper presents a process model to investigate three potential drivers for firms to formalize: the first from a desire to grow and develop the firm through innovation, the second from the wish to access government financial support and the third stimulated by the payment of unofficial payments or bribes. We use data from surveys of Vietnamese firms in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 to investigate these drivers of formalization. Although we find support for all three of these drivers, the results differ in significance across years and firm types. We explain these differences using attention theory to show how different situations and events can make the formalization decision more likely over time.     

Managing micropolitical risk: A cross‐sector examination

This article stresses the need for today's multinational firms to adopt their own political risk‐assessment and risk‐mitigation strategies. A comparative study of the energy, financial, and automobile sectors illustrates the need for all companies in these sectors to undertake comprehensive risk‐assessment strategies. Risk‐assessment models established by leading multinationals like British Petroleum, Bank of America, and General Motors are examined as examples that other companies in these sectors can build upon. The consistent micropolitical risk variables then lead to a proposed practical framework for examining sector‐specific micropolitical risk. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Realizing public values: enhancement or obstruction? Exploring value tensions and coping strategies in the co-production of social care

ABSTRACT

We examine the potential of co-production to enhance or obstruct the realization of public values by analysing what value tensions co-producers experience and what coping strategies they follow. In-depth study of a social care initiative in Flanders shows that co-production enhances the realization of values relating to services delivered, relationships between public servants and citizens, and the democratic quality of the service delivery process. However, public servants and citizen co-producers experience tensions between values, such as efficiency, individual freedom of co-producers, reciprocity, and inclusion. In trying to deal with these value tensions, public servants are found to follow a variety of coping strategies, whereas citizen co-producers tend to escalate tensions or avoid coping with them. The type of coping strategy followed, however, influences if and what values are ultimately represented in the service delivery process and its results.     

Introverts abroad? Long-term visitors' adaptations to the multicultural tourism context of Costa Blanca,Spain

Many people from North-Western Europe have quite long stays in Mediterranean Spain, partly related to phenomena such as ‘wintering’, seasonal movements and sabbatical holidays, for the most part dwelling in their own houses or apartments. This paper explores intercultural relations of long-term visitors and it raises some questions on differentiation and dedifferentiation in the consolidated holidaymaking context of Costa Blanca (Alicante, Spain). The paper includes visitors' assessments of certain central aspects of their (temporary) life in Spain, based on an exit survey. It is revealed that long-term visitors have far more varied and wide-ranging adjustments to their new and/or temporary surroundings than is usually assumed in news media and in some previous scholarly works. The study also demonstrates that generalised views depicting long-term visitors as secluded and living predominantly in compatriot enclaves are too simple, especially in long-established holiday destination areas. A considerable proportion of long-term visitors make an effort to relate to the language, culture, and social conditions of the host society. It is argued that a more nuanced and complex analysis is needed in order to describe the varied life situations of sojourners and other long-term visitors in Mediterranean Spain.     

Ownership structure and economic performance in the largest european companies

The paper examines the impact of ownership structure on company economic performance in 435 of the largest European companies. Controlling for industry, capital structure and nation effects we find a positive effect of ownership concentration on shareholder value (market‐to‐book value of equity) and profitability (asset returns), but the effect levels off for high ownership shares. Furthermore we propose and support the hypothesis that the identity of large owners—family, bank, institutional investor, government, and other companies—has important implications for corporate strategy and performance. For example, compared to other owner identities, financial investor ownership is found to be associated with higher shareholder value and profitability, but lower sales growth. The effect of ownership concentration is also found to depend on owner identity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diagnostic and lifetime hospital costs of patients suffering from wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy in Denmark

Abstract

Aims

Wild-type transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt) is a fast progressing and fatal disease associated with substantial delays in diagnosis. Between the first symptoms and diagnosis, patients are frequently hospitalized, primarily with cardiac symptoms. After diagnosis, patients continue to experience frequent hospital admissions. The objective of this study was to estimate the Danish diagnostic and lifetime hospital costs associated with the treatment of patients with ATTRwt both before and after they are diagnosed.