On the predictability of knowledge formation: The tortuous link between regional specialization trade, and development

This paper examines the relation between industrial mix, trade, and regional productivity growth. For this purpose, a dynamic model of the open economy with diversified sectoral knowledge formation and incomplete interregional knowledge diffusion is constructed. The theoretical framework is first used to show the consequences of increasing globalization on regional growth. It is then applied to German regional data in order to investigate whether there is evidence of generally specified patterns of knowledge formation. It emerges that some causal relationships are robust for the case of German regions but cannot be exploited by economic policy in general.     

Portfolio Choice in the Presence of Background Risk

In this paper, we focus on how the presence of background risks – from sources such as labour and entrepreneurial income – influences portfolio allocations. This interaction is explored in a theoretical model that is calibrated using cross-sectional data from a variety of sources. The model is shown to be consistent with some but not all aspects of cross-sectional observations of portfolio holdings. The paper also provides a survey of the extensive theoretical and empirical literature on portfolio choice.     

International Expansion of SMEs: The Inducascos Case

While small and medium enterprises contribute to gross domestic product, generate crucial employment, and improve socio-economic development, unfortunately the literature on the internationalization processes of these companies remains timid and inconsistent. The following study seeks to analyze the international expansion of the Colombian company Inducascos. The research follows the structure of a case study including literature analysis and secondary data of the Colombian industrial market and Inducascos. Challenges, opportunities and learning process of the organization related to its international expansion and set out, seeking to contribute to the existing studies in international business.     

Impact investing and sustainable market transformations: The role of venture capital funds

Impact investors often know their financial return on investments, but are less certain about their impact. This article frames impact as their contribution to sustainable market transformation. A sustainable market transformation consists of inception, first movers, critical mass, and institutionalization phases. Given the nature of such transformations, the impact is effectuated at different moments and toward various market actors. Based on an exploratory research design with semi-structured expert interviews, this article aims to create an overview of the roles of impact venture capital funds in sustainable market transformations. The results suggest that the view that the capitalization of start-ups is the only impact of impact investors is a misconception. The needs of companies with sustainability value propositions change over time and consequently impact investors perform various roles. For example, exiting an investment while upholding social and environmental objectives communicates to mainstream business that the start-up is ready to create a greater impact. Further, impact investors fulfill external roles that change the perspectives of institutional actors toward sustainable investments. Based on an overview of the different roles that impact investors fill, this article proposes a future research agenda to strengthen our knowledge about the impact return of investments.     

Does country matter in urban organic food products consumption?

The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the possibility of finding international consumer segments in the organic food product (OFP) market. For that purpose, the power of country of residence in discriminating between urban frequent, occasional and non‐consumers of OFP was evaluated; and the most appropriate international segmentation bases for that market were studied. In order to achieve this goal, a survey of organic food consumers from Lisbon (Portuguese) and Berlin (German) was implemented through a structured questionnaire. Upon this, factorial and discriminant analysis was applied to the data. The results highlight the significance of the “Country” variable when distinguishing between groups of urban OFP consumers and non‐consumers as well as between frequent and occasional urban OFP consumers. The different levels of OFP consumption are mostly explained by the level of declared “OFP knowledge”. Therefore, we can conclude that in order to increase the consumption of OFP and dilute the effect of the country variable and to be able to work with international segments, marketers should aim to increase awareness and knowledge on these products. It is important to mention that this study was based on a non‐probabilistic sample and, consequently, generalizations of its conclusions must be made with care.     

Wholesale most-favored-nation clauses and price discrimination with negative consumption externalities: equivalence results

Most-favored-nation (MFN) clauses in wholesale contracts have been the subject of recent controversy and renewed antitrust scrutiny. We demonstrate that a vertical environment where MFN clauses may be endogenously adopted shares equivalence properties with an environment where a final goods monopolist sells a good exhibiting negative consumption externalities directly to consumers and is faced with an exogenously imposed uniform pricing requirement. By leveraging these equivalence results, we are able to offer a new and useful framework for assessing the welfare effects of wholesale MFNs and which generates new insights.     

Advertising in streaming video: An integrative literature review and research agenda

Streaming video (SV), such as YouTube, is a new media widely used nowadays. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about advertising in SV. In view of this, through a search in the rich depository of the Scopus database, this article presents the first integrative literature review about advertising in SV. Searching every article and conference paper related to the topic published until May 04, 2020, 59 studies were found and classified into two main topics: marketing studies (35), mostly focused on evaluating or exploring advertising in SV, and computational studies (24), focusing on the development of systems for the insertion of ads into SV. All knowledge present in these studies was summarized so that readers (both scholars and practitioners) could have easy access to the main contributions and information present in each study. Moreover, future research directions in six main themes are presented through a research agenda.     

Labor reallocation and demographics

We explore data from all transition economies over nearly two decades, providing insights on the mechanisms behind labor force reallocation. We show that worker flows between jobs in different industries are rare relative to the demographic flows of youth entry and elderly exit. The same applies to the flows between state-owned enterprises and private firms. In fact, evidence suggest that changes in the demand for labor were accommodated mostly through demographic flows, with a smaller role left for job transitions. We also show that the speed of changing the ownership structure in the economy has driven exits to retirement, in particular the early exits.     

Managerial practices that enhance innovation

In high-innovation organizations, special funds earmarked for research and development are used to support experimental activities. A special committee accepts or rejects an innovators proposal and undertakes a feasibility study. The feasibility-study team uses a marketing orientation to determine if a real customer need exists and how it may best be met. By the time a proposal reaches the adoption stage, the advocate's original idea has been modified by input from study-group members. The project is given an adequate funding level and is monitored and audited on a regular basis. Finally, implementation takes place first on a small scale so that, in the event of failure, a minimum amount of resources will be lost.Essentially, successful innovation depends on a company's willingness to commit the necessary time, money, and leadership to research and development. In the simplest terms, the difference between high- and low-innovation organizations is that the latter are willing to follow up and follow through on behalf of new ideas.