Contingent Valuation Versus Choice Experiments: Estimating the Benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Scotland

This paper reports results from a study of the economic value of the conservation benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in Scotland. The main novelty of the approach taken is in comparing two direct valuation methods, namely contingent valuation and choice experiments, to value these benefits. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is well-established as a technique for valuing the sorts of landscape and wildlife enhancements associated with ESAs. The CVM experiment reported here uses a dichotomous choice format, and includes a new correction for part-whole bias. Choice experiments are much less used as an environmental valuation technique. We note several advantages of such experiments over CVM, and then report characteristic values and ‘programme values’ estimated using the method. This application brings to light some problems in applying the choice experiment method. Finally, we discuss the issue of benefits transfer in the context of these two approaches to valuation.     

New technology and restructuring in the UK energy industry: the case of renewable energy

Among the justijcations for the UK government's electricity privatization programme was the suggestion that it would stimulate the development of a range of new supply options, including the UK's extensive renewable energy resource. This paper assesses the prospects for renewable energy technologies i n the UK after privatization. It finds that there is enthusiasm for renewables, but that the market alone will not stimulate renewables effectively or develop them appropriately, and that state support and regulation will be necessary.     

Does asymmetric information affect the premium in mergers and acquisitions?

We test the influence of information asymmetry on the premium paid for an acquisition. We analyze mergers and acquisitions as English auctions. The theory of dynamic auctions with private and common value predicts that more informed bidders may pay a lower price. We test that prediction with a sample of 1,026 acquisitions in the United States between 1990 and 2007. We assume that blockholders of the target's shares are better informed than other bidders because they possess privileged information on the target. Our empirical results show that blockholders pay a much lower premium than do other buyers     

How Ethical Leadership Shapes Employees’ Job Performance: The Mediating Roles of Goal Congruence and Psychological Capital

Drawing from research on ethical leadership, psychological capital, and social learning theory, this study investigated the mediating effects of goal congruence and psychological capital in the link between supervisors’ ethical leadership style and followers’ in-role job performance. Data captured from 171 employees and 24 supervisors showed that ethical leadership has a positive effect on followers’ in-role job performance, yet this effect is explained through the role of psychological capital and follower–leader goal congruence, providing evidence of mediation. These findings have significant implications for research and practice.     

Recursive preferences,learning and large deviations

We estimate the relative contribution of recursive preferences versus adaptive learning in accounting for the tail thickness of price–dividends/rents ratios. We find that both of these sources of volatility account for volatility in liquid (stocks) but not illiquid (housing) assets.     

Towards a schematic theory of entrepreneurial alertness

This article is an investigation into Kirzner's concept of entrepreneurial alertness — its mechanism and its antecedents. By drawing from decision theory and schema theory, a model is developed to show how changes in the environment are mediated by entrepreneurial alertness and brought to the situated attention of entrepreneurs for evaluation. Entrepreneurial alertness is seen to be the application of unique schemata that allow the entrepreneur to impute meaning to environmental change that would not be imputed by other managers. It is argued that the alertness that allows entrepreneurs to see opportunity where others do not arises from differences in schematic richness, schematic association, and schematic priming. These three antecedents may therefore form a basis on which enhanced entrepreneurial alertness can be developed.     

Anticounterfeiting Strategies and Their Influence on Attitudes of Different Counterfeit Consumer Types

This article reports the findings of two studies that were designed to determine the effectiveness of several anticounterfeiting strategies on the counterfeit purchasing behavior of the participants, through a mixed methods research approach. In Study 1, in‐depth interviews were conducted with 50 consumers of counterfeit brands in order to investigate their attitudes. Drawing on the results, which revealed four different consumer types (struggle, spurious, indifferent, and liberated), Study 2 was undertaken with a further 128 consumers (32 from each type) to further define each group's type and identify the best anticounterfeit strategies suited to each. The findings suggest that counterfeit purchasing may be reduced if a specific strategy is adapted to suit each typology. Overall, positive rather than negative strategies were found to be more effective for the struggle and spurious consumers compared with indifferent and liberated consumers. The findings also reveal that the acquisition of affordable genuine merchandise may be the key to preventing counterfeit purchasing.     

UK export assistance: Are we supporting the best programmes?

This article provides empirical evidence to show that differences exist in how UK exporters rate factors in their export marketing effort between: (1) those that are believed to be desired by importers; (2) the possibility for improving performance of these factors by a change in emphasis by people in the exporting firms; and (3) what international business assistance is actually requested by firms. It then looks at differences between firms based on their level of involvement in exporting, i.e. stage of internationalization, and the extent to which they are successful. It therefore substantially builds upon previous research by showing that there are differences between the factors that firms believe are desirable to importers and how their performance could improve with the emphasis and assistance of internal and external change agents. Furthermore, it shows that exporting firms should not be seen as homogeneous and that significant differences exist between firms based on their level of internationalization and their level of success.

In this way, the study has implications for UK policy makers insofar as it questions the idea that export promotion policies should be standardized, and offers evidence to support the view that firms with different characteristics actually require different kinds of support.