Learning to export from neighbors

This paper studies how learning from neighboring firms affects new exporters' performance. We develop a statistical decision model in which a firm updates its prior belief about demand in a foreign market based on several factors, including the number of neighbors currently selling there, the level and heterogeneity of their export sales, and the firm's own prior knowledge about the market. A positive signal about demand inferred from neighbors' export performance raises the firm's probability of entry and initial sales in the market but, conditional on survival, lowers its post-entry growth. These learning effects are stronger when there are more neighbors to learn from or when the firm is less familiar with the market. We find supporting evidence for the main predictions of the model from transaction-level data for all Chinese exporters over the 2000-2006 period. Our findings are robust to controlling for firms' supply shocks, countries' demand shocks, and city-country fixed effects.     

The response of decentralized health services to demand uncertainty and the role of political parties in the Spanish public health system

Decentralization of the public health system should lead to health resources being managed more in line with citizens’ preferences. A decentralized system is more flexible in that it can better adapt resources to local needs. Moreover, if regional political parties have responsibility for public health policies, citizens will be able to elect those parties whose positions are more in line with their preferences. However, the role of political parties in public health management has received little attention in the literature. Focusing on the decision to provide reserve service capacity to deal with demand uncertainty, we analyse whether there have been differences between central and decentralized health authorities in Spain and whether these can be explained to some extent by the way different political parties manage the trade-off between being able to cover demand and the economic costs involved. Using data on Spanish public hospitals for the period 1996–2006, we model the difference between observed and potential output using an output-oriented distance function. Reserve capacity is modelled as a function of demand uncertainty, economic costs and the political party in power. We find differences in the way resources are managed by central government and decentralized authorities, even within the same political party. We also find differences between the decentralized authorities themselves according to the political party in power. We conclude that decentralization of public health in Spain has provided regional political authorities with greater flexibility to manage reserve capacity in line with citizens’ needs and preferences.     

The Scenario of Lean Product Development in Brazilian Auto-industry

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of lean product development （LPD） in the Brazilian automotive sector. A mailed-questionnaire survey was used to examine 23 questions about LPD principles and practices. The target population for the study was Brazil＇s largest product development and design companies. The study identified that although the automobile sector is seen as a reference in the adoption of lean practices, there is still potential for improvement by establishing partnership relations with suppliers, and with those on the other points of the chain by identifying what provides value to clients. Set-based concurrent engineering is also a practice that needs to be better developed, as well as the value stream mapping tool to identify waste and activities that add value to the product development process. There has been no previous study of this nature in Brazil that characterizes the sector and highlights its importance in relation to the global scene, providing incentives to international investors. The value of the work is in the results that allow diagnosing the lean development practices that are most used in the automotive sector. Moreover, the survey questions can be applied in other economic sectors and at companies of other sizes. The study contributed to providing a systematic view of the product development process from the perspective of people, processes, and technology, and assists companies and academics manage change.