Research on effectiveness of technology transfer in technology alliances: evidence from Turkish SMEs

Many SMEs homed in newly industrialised countries are successful international players despite limited technological infrastructure and R&D resources. This study bridges a gap in the extant literature by examining the relationships between characteristics of partnership relationships, knowledge sharing and the effectiveness of technology transfer in partnerships between SMEs in developing countries and firms from developed countries. By studying data from Turkish SMEs and using partial least squares structural equation modelling, we find that explicit knowledge sharing forms the basis of technology transfer. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that explicit knowledge sharing is strongly contingent upon formalised technical support while trust and technical support seemed to be important antecedents of tacit knowledge sharing.     

The Japanese saving rate between 1960 and 2000: productivity,policy changes,and demographics

In this paper, we use an overlapping generations model to study the factors generating the saving rate in Japan between 1960–2000. The model economy allows for observed aging of the population, total factor productivity (TFP), and fiscal policy to affect the national saving rate. Our calibrated general equilibrium setup generates saving rates that are reasonably similar to the data during this period. Our counterfactual experiments indicate that observed TFP growth rates are the main reason for both the secular decline and the two humps in the saving rate during 1960–2000.      

A life cycle analysis of social security

Summary We develop an applied general equilibrium model to examine the optimal social security replacement rate and the welfare benefits associated with it. Our setup consists of overlapping generations of 65-period lived individuals facing mortality risk and individual income risk. Private credit markets, including markets for private annuities, are closed by assumption. Unlike previous analyses, we find that an unfunded social security system may well enhance economic welfare. In our benchmark economy, the optimal social security replacement rate is 30%, and an empirically more plausible replacement rate of 60% raises welfare compared with an economy with no social security system.We would like to thank Andy Atkeson, V. V. Chari, Steve Davis, Paul Evans, Lars Hansen, Tim Kehoe, Nobu Kiyotaki, Ed Prescott, José-Victor Ríos-Rull, Richard Rogerson, Tom Sargent, Nancy Stokey, Dick Sweeney, Robert Townsend, and the participants of the NBER Economic Fluctuations Small Group Workshop on Micro and Macro Perspectives on the Aggregate Labor Market in Palo Alto, the NBER General Equilibrium Theory Conference in Minneapolis, the Money and Banking Workshop at the University of Chicago, and the NBER Summer Institute. An earlier version of this paper was titled A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Analysis of Social Security. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-9210291. We also thank the Minnesota and San Diego Supercomputer Centers for their support.     

Repeated moral hazard with persistence

Summary. This paper considers the optimal contract when the current (hidden) action of an agent has a persistent effect on the future outcome. The optimal contract in a two-effort choice, two-period setting is characterized analytically and numerically. In particular, we show that persistence tends to make compensation less responsive to the first-period outcome. At the extreme, there are cases where the agent is perfectly insured against the first-period outcome: the agent obtains the same utility regardless of the first-period outcome. The model is extended to three periods. We also present a computational method to characterize an N-period model with two-period persistence.Received: 9 December 2003, Revised: 13 February 2004, JEL Classification Numbers: D82, J31, J65. Correspondence to: Ayegül ahinWe are grateful to an anonymous referee, Jack Barron, Mark Bils, Hugo Hopenhayn, Per Krusell, Lance Lochner, Steve Williamson, and seminar participants at Concordia University, Purdue University, the applied theory meetings at University of Rochester, the Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory 2003, the Rochester Wegmans Conference 2002, and the Society for Economic Dynamics Meetings 2003 for their comments and suggestions. We also wish to thank Vera Brencic, Nancy Marmon, and Roxanne Stanoprud for excellent research assistance.     

Corruption and the ownership composition of the multinational firm at the time of entry: Evidence from Turkey

This paper presents an empirical assessment of the relationship between corruption and the ownership structure of foreign direct investment receipts by Turkey. Two forms of ownership structures are considered: joint venture and wholly owned subsidiary. The results indicate a strong negative impact of corruption on joint ventures, particularly for the ones originating from developed countries. As the degree of dissimilarity between corruption levels in the source country and Turkey diverges, the share of foreign ownership declines. This lends support to the transaction cost approach which emphasizes the expected increase in costs of sharing ownership in corrupt environments.     

An analysis of the carrying capacity and life process risks of UK and Turkish insurance intermediaries

The primary aim of this paper is to examine the strategic risks associated with environmental selection and how this affects the life process risks of insurance intermediaries. To achieve this aim; firstly the carrying capacity of UK and Turkish insurance intermediaries is calculated and, secondly, the demographic, ecological and environmental variables that affect that carrying capacity are examined. Our study provides two contributions to the literature. For the first time, carrying capacity analysis is applied for an organisational community. As much as previous studies assume the existence of carrying capacity as theoretical, it has not been previously calculated on a quantitative basis. The second contribution is related to risk and insurance literature, specifically the life process risks of insurance intermediaries. The main rationale behind that analysis is the construction of a map that will simplify the strategic risk and reward decisions of insurers as to which areas are potentially profitable, or are indicative of fruitful relationships with intermediaries. Additionally, this research enables us to identify the areas that have potential for development in terms of insurance. For this reason, uncertainties relating to the selection of authorised brokers/agents as a strategic risk is, perhaps, minimised. Moreover, we have examined whether probable variables that can affect carrying capacity have contextual differences or not. The findings exhibit that there is contextual differentiations concerning the variables that affect the carrying capacity of both countries.     

The causality between FDI and sector-specific production in Turkey: evidence from threshold cointegration with regime shifts

This article considers bidirectional nonlinear cointegration relation between FDI and industrial output in Turkey. The data cover the monthly period 2005:1–2013:10 for the time series of total industrial production, 36 sub-industrial sectors’ production and FDI. Following nonlinear threshold cointegration and VECMs, the article yields that (i) total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions have positive long-run impact on FDI with significant error corrections, (ii) six sub-industrial productions have short-term influence on FDI, (iii) FDI has long-run positive impulse on total industrial production and nine sub-industrial productions with some significant error corrections and (iv) FDI affects four sub-industrial productions in the short run as well as in the long run. The results of VECMs from (i) also reveal that the all short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in 10 typical regimes (Regime-1s) and in 5 extreme regimes (Regime-2s). Finally, the outcome of VECMs from (iii) yields that short-term adjustment parameters are found significant and powerful in two typical regimes and in four extreme regimes. Eventually, considering FDI’s positive impact in the short and long run, this article suggests that policymakers promote specifically the FDI inflows to the sectors of intermediate goods, manufacture of beverages, manufacture of rubber and plastic and manufacture of other nonmetallic mineral products.     

Do Stock Index Futures Affect Economic Growth? Evidence from 32 Countries

This article investigates the relationship between stock index futures markets development and economic growth using time-series methods for 32 developed and developing countries. Evidence of cointegration between stock index futures and real economy in 29 countries suggests the presence of co-movements among the variables, indicating long-run stationarity in those countries. Our findings show that there is Granger-causality from stock index futures markets development to economic growth for middle-income countries with relatively low real per capita GDP, and Granger-causality in the reverse direction for the countries with high real per capita GDP. Variance decomposition and impulse-response function (IRF) analyses results support the existence of a relationship between stock index futures and real economy.     

Seasonal employee leadership and turnover intention in the hospitality and tourism industry: Serial mediation model workplace ostracism and work alienation

Based on the Conservation of Resources Theory, this research aims to examine the relationship between seasonal employee leadership (SEL) and turnover intention (TI). The data was obtained by administering a survey to 450 seasonal employees working in 15 five-star hotels in Antalya. The findings revealed that SEL reduces TI, which is an important problem for the tourism industry. The study results show that SEL was negatively related to workplace ostracism (WO) and work alienation (WA) and TI. Further, the findings show the serial mediating effect of WO and WA between SEL and TI. The study makes useful recommendations to managers to eliminate ostracism, curb the feeling of alienation and decrease TI.