Evaluating the efficiency change and productivity progress of the top global telecom operators since OTT's prevalence

The telecommunications industry has undergone significant evolvement from fixed to mobile substitution (FMS) to fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and now to over-the-top (OTT) services due to the huge rise in data usage. This paper explores efficiency variation during the period 2012–2017 for the top 41 global telecom operators in Forbes Global, 2000. Based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) meta-frontier approach to reflect differences in production functions, the empirical results herein show that the number of operators achieving technical efficiency with respect to the meta-frontier fell from 13 firms in 2012 to 10 firms in 2013 to 8 firms in 2014 to 8 firms in 2015 and then to 7 firms in 2016, but then rose to 11 firms in 2017, displaying the impact from rise in OTT. For the mobile-only group, the average technical efficiency with respect to the meta-frontier is 0.841, which is superior to the fixed-mobile group's 0.774 and the fixed-only group's 0.714, and the group difference is significant among the three facilities-based groups. The meta-frontier estimation suggests that the fixed-mobile group has the highest meta-technology ratio (MTR) of 0.901 versus the mobile-only group's 0.886 and fixed-only group's 0.718. The empirical results offer policy implications for regulators to encourage telecom operators to have fixed-mobile operations. We further suggest that telecom operators cooperate with OTT service providers and invest in them in order to take advantage of people's more personalized digital life.     

The influence of position and gender on personal networks in a UK professional service

This paper presents empirical findings regarding the content and process of personal contact or social networks and networking of practitioners in a professional service. The focus of the study is public relations practitioners operating in seven consultancies across the UK, in Manchester, London, Yorkshire and Cheshire. Using qualitative methodologies including in-depth interviews and network mapping, the study reveals practitioners' network size and variety of contacts, and their role in client acquisition and retention. In particular, the study suggests that position and gender are two key influences on practitioners' personal networks. The study appears to identify that managers may have the smallest networks compared to their colleagues and especially lack weak tie contacts in the form of friends, and that female practitioners may have larger and more varied personal contact networks than men. The study thus offers an insight into personal network membership for public relations practitioners, hitherto unexplored, plus a deeper understanding of interactional dimensions of social networks and the gendered nature of networking in the UK public relations sector.     

Got milk? The rapid rise of China’s dairy sector and its future prospects

This paper synthesizes recent research and new empirical findings to build a more comprehensive understanding of developments in China’s dairy sector. China’s tremendous rise in dairy demand has been driven by several mutually reinforcing factors: including rapid income growth, promotion by the government and dairy industry, changes in urban lifestyles, and the development of new, more sophisticated marketing channels. Domestic milk output has grown to satisfy rising demand largely by increasing the dairy herd. Substantial increases in productivity have been achieved through technology adoption, but there is evidence that the torrid growth has created inefficiencies because adaptations to marketing rules, infrastructure, and institutions have not kept pace with the changing environment. These results suggest there is ample room for future growth in both domestic milk production and dairy demand, but multinational firms and imported products will likely play and increasing role as China’s dairy market continues to develop.     

The effect of board capital and CEO power on strategic change

We develop the construct of board capital, composed of the breadth and depth of directors' human and social capital, and explore how board capital affects strategic change. Building upon resource dependence theory, we submit that board capital breadth leads to more strategic change, while board capital depth leads to less. We also recognize CEO power as a moderator of these relationships. Our hypotheses are tested using a random sample of firms on the S&P 500. We find support for the effect of board capital on strategic change, and partial support for the moderating effect of CEO power. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of board size and diversity on strategic change

This study examines an important potential conflict between the institutional, governance, and strategic functions of boards. We specifically test how higher levels of board size and diversity, traditionally associated with optimal institutional and governance performance of boards, affect the boards ability to initiate strategic changes during periods of environmental turbulence. Our findings suggest that board diversity, in particular, may be a significant constraint on strategic change.     

Research notes and communications corporate restructuring and strategic change: The effect on diversification strategy and R & D intensity

In the 1980s a number of large corporations restructured their diversified businesses through divestitures. It is hypothesized that restructuring activity focused on firms at intermediate levels of diversification (e.g., related-linked) which have a mixture of related and unrelated business units. Results confirm this hypothesis which explains that such mixed corporate strategies create organizational and control inefficiencies in managing both related and unrelated types of business units. Restructured firms were also found to move towards two types of different internal capital markets (related and unrelated). Most restructuring firms moved toward lower levels of diversification (e.g., related-constrained), although some moved toward higher levels of diversification (e.g., unrelated business). Also, this study finds restructuring firms that changed their corporate strategy by reducing diversified scope increased their R&D intensity. Firms that restructured and increased their diversified scope decreased R&D intensity. This result suggested a partial substitution between diversification and R&D activity.     

The impact of climatic change on agricultural production: Is it different for Africa?

This paper examines the impact of climatic change on the level of total agricultural production of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and non-Sub-Sahara Africa (NSSA) developing countries. In doing so it uses a new cross-country panel climatic dataset in an agricultural production framework. The results show that climate, measured as changes in country-wide rainfall and temperature, has been a major determinant of agricultural production in SSA. In contrast, NSSA countries appear not to be affected by climate in the same manner. Simulations using the estimates suggest that the detrimental changes in climate since the 1960s can account for a substantial portion of the gap in agricultural production between SSA and the rest of the developing world.     

Redevelopment along arterial streets: The effects of light rail on land use change

We use difference-in-differences approaches and parcel-level data from Minneapolis to estimate the effects of light rail on land use change using alternate definitions of treatment area. Results using circular buffers corroborate previous findings that light rail has virtually no effect on land use change in our study area. In contrast, light rail increases the likelihood of land use change along arterial streets that cross the line at station areas. To accurately model the effects of public transit projects on urban land use, one must consider how potential riders access station areas, rather than assuming accessibility improves radially around a station.     

The impact of high value markets on smallholder productivity in the Ecuadorean Sierra: A Stochastic Production Frontier approach correcting for selectivity bias

This paper uses data from small-scale potato farmers in Ecuador to examine the impact of the program Plataformas de Concertación on productivity growth. Using propensity score matching combined with a Stochastic Production Frontier model that corrects for sample selection bias, we disaggregate the yield growth attributable to the program into technological change (TC) and technical efficiency (TE). While the results do not exhibit a clear indication of selection bias, the analysis does show that on average beneficiaries exhibit higher yields than control farmers given the same input levels, but lower TE with respect to their own frontiers. These results suggest that while the program raised the technology gap in favor of beneficiaries, it had a negative effect on TE in the short run. The latter finding is consistent with the notion that beneficiaries enjoyed a significant change in production techniques, but it is very likely that they were still in the “learning by doing” stages at the time the data was collected. In fact, the results suggest a fast recovery in TE levels on the part of beneficiaries as time with project increased.     

The presence of a separate COO/president and its impact on strategic change and CEO dismissal

This study focuses on the leadership structure at the very top of a firm. Specifically, it examines how the presence of a COO/president, who is separate from the CEO, affects strategic change and CEO dismissal. With longitudinal data on the tenures of 207 CEOs, results suggest that the presence of a separate COO/president increases the magnitude of strategic change under conditions of low firm performance but it decreases the magnitude of strategic change under conditions of high firm performance. In addition, the presence of a separate COO/president increases the likelihood of CEO dismissal under conditions of low firm performance, and this effect is stronger when the magnitude of strategic change is high; but it has no impact on the likelihood of CEO dismissal under conditions of high firm performance. These results suggest that the impact of the presence of a separate COO/president on strategic change and CEO dismissal varies across different organizational contexts. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of household wealth on the adoption of improved maize varieties in Zambia

Production and price risks that could render input use unprofitable sometimes prevent rural households from benefiting from input technological change. The household’s ability to cope with such risks and hence benefit from input technological change is often positively related to its wealth or stock of productive assets. Empirical evidence, however, suggests a non-linear relationship between wealth and adoption of new agricultural technologies so that within a rural community, households on the lower wealth continuum behave differently from those on the higher level. Using farm level data collected from 300 randomly selected households in three districts of Zambia in 2004/2005 crop season, this paper first stratifies households into poorly- and well-endowed households based on their access to productive assets and estimates separate double-hurdle models for the adoption of improved, high yielding maize (IHYM) varieties for each group. The results show that factors influencing the adoption and use intensity of IHYM varieties differ between the two groups. This draws attention to the need for recommending wealth group-specific interventions to increase the adoption and use intensity of such varieties and their subsequent impacts on food security and general livelihoods of the households. The explicit testing for the possibility that differences in household wealth affect the way in which other variables influence adoption decisions is the paper’s unique contribution to the adoption literature.