An analysis of e-business adoption and its impact on relational quality in travel agency–supplier relationships

This study analyzes how managers of retail travel agencies perceive the antecedents and consequences of adopting e-business in their supplier relationships. A comprehensive model integrating its antecedents and relational effects is developed and empirically tested using SEM. The study surveyed 101 travel agents in Spain. Research findings indicate that customer pressure has a strong influence on e-communication practices. E-communication with the travel agency's supplier and the pressure exerted by the sector are the main antecedents for e-procurement. Effects of e-business on relational quality are contradictory. E-procurement influences negatively on trust. Conversely, e-communication has a positive impact on trust, thus having a favorable impact on perceived reciprocity and travel agent's commitment to its supplier. Main findings indicate that the use of the Internet is largely driven by normative pressures, and this coercive power has a detrimental impact on trust. To avoid such negative consequences, perceived reciprocity is a prerequisite for committed supplier relationships.     

Innovation, Differentiation, and the Choice of an Underwriter: Evidence from Equity-Linked Securities

Investment banks imitate other bank’s innovative corporatesecurities and compete with the innovator to underwrite newissues. This article uses data of all the corporate offeringsof equity-linked and derivative securities in the SecuritiesData Company (SDC) to estimate the issuer’s demand ofunderwriting services provided by investment banks across differentvarieties of securities. It finds that the demand for the innovator’svariety is larger than the imitators’. This demand advantagedecreases with time and faster for securities that appear laterin a sequence of innovations. Imitation becomes less attractivelater in the sequence as information from earlier deals spills-overto all banks.     

Effort optimisation in artisanal fisheries with multiple management objectives,collective quotas and heterogeneous fleets*

In this study, we analyse effort optimisation in common rights‐based joint‐stock artisanal fisheries when several objectives are pursued by the authorities and the fleets are heterogeneous. The purpose is to discuss policy options available to the authorities and their implications in terms of trade‐offs between goals. We apply a multi‐objective programming model to the sardine and anchovy artisanal fisheries in central southern Chile. The results suggest that the regulatory system generates inefficient solutions for profit and employment maximisation goals. Moreover, the fleet structure of the artisanal organisations is central for the outcomes obtained by different policy simulations. To improve effort assignment, the authorities should seek to increase flexibility in the system.     

Alliances Between Brands and Social Causes: The Influence of Company Credibility on Social Responsibility Image

This research extends previous findings related to the positive influence of company credibility on a social Cause–Brand Alliance’s (CBA) persuasion mechanism. This study analyzes the mediating role of two dimensions of company credibility (trustworthiness and expertise) with regard to the influence of altruistic attributions and two types of brand–cause fit (functional and image fit) on corporate social responsibility image. A structural equation model tests the proposed framework with a sample of 299 consumers, and the results suggest that (1) image fit and altruistic attribution are cues that consumers use to evaluate company trustworthiness when linking to a social cause; (2) functional fit significantly influences perceived company expertise but not trustworthiness; and (3) trustworthiness has more weight than expertise in judgments about corporate social responsibility.     

Growth Empirics in Panel Data Under Model Uncertainty and Weak Exogeneity

This paper considers panel growth regressions in the presence of model uncertainty and reverse causality concerns. For this purpose, my econometric framework combines Bayesian model averaging with a suitable likelihood function for dynamic panel models with weakly exogenous regressors and fixed effects. An application of this econometric methodology to a panel of countries over the 1960–2000 period highlights the difficulties in identifying the sources of economic growth by means of cross‐country regressions. In particular, none of the nine candidate regressors considered can be labeled as a robust determinant of economic growth. Moreover, the estimated rate of conditional convergence is indistinguishable from zero. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SUPPLY RESPONSIVENESS OF RICE FARMERS IN LAGUNA,PHILIPPINES

The supply response and input demand by farmers using modern rice technology in Laguna, Philippines were estimated using profit function analysis. The results indicate that farmers do maximise short-term profits and respond to price changes efficiently. The supply elasticity of rice with respect to its own price was approximately unity. Changes in real wages were estimated to have a greater impact on rice profit and supplies than changes in the real prices of mechanised land preparation, fertiliser or pesticides. Production elasticities derived from the profit function were consistent with those estimated directly from the underlying production function.     

Financial globalization, financial crises and contagion

Two observations suggest that financial globalization played an important role in the recent financial crisis. First, more than half of the rise in net borrowing of the U.S. non-financial sectors since the mid-1980s has been financed by foreign lending. Second, the collapse of the U.S. housing and mortgage-backed-securities markets had worldwide effects on financial institutions and asset markets. Using an open-economy model where financial intermediaries play a central role, we show that financial integration leads to a sharp rise in net credit in the most financially developed country and to large asset price spillovers of country-specific shocks to bank capital. The impacts of these shocks on asset prices are amplified by bank capital requirements based on mark-to-market.     

Growth machines and social movements in mature tourist destinations Costa del Sol-Málaga

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the new processes of tourism growth and its conflicts from the perspective of social movements. First, the urban growth machine analysis model is applied by the systematisation of six projects. Second, the resistance movements against those projects and whether this resistance could be the start of local tourism degrowth policies are examined. The methodology is qualitative, based on documentary analysis, participatory observation, discussion groups and interviews. The case study is the destination of Costa del Sol-Málaga. The results enable the development of the urban growth machine model in tourist destinations. Meanwhile, social movements demystify the argument based on neoclassical economic progress. The social movements condemn the effects of large-scale top-down projects, and implement alternative bottom-up proposals. Although the social movements do not reject tourism, they call for greater control over its impact, denounce unlimited growth, overtourism and the loss of urban quality of life. These movements advocate a lifestyle linked to the everyday space, which they believe is threatened by excessive urban-tourism growth. They are a symptom of the need to devise a proposal using the principles of degrowth.     

Advertising Media Planning in Spain: Models and Current Usages

Advertising media planning has attracted considerable attention from researchers and practitioners. There is a clear dichotomy between the optimizing and the nonoptimizing approaches. We have reviewed the present state of the art of the mathematical media models. The purpose of this study was to examine the available models for media planning in Spain and to assess their usage. A postal survey was conducted among Spanish advertising agencies whose advertising expenditure in million pesetas was 521,000 in 1988.     

How motivation,opportunity and ability can drive online airline ticket purchases

Despite the resources airlines are devoting to increasing e-commerce, the key drivers of online airline ticket purchases have been little explored. This study analyzes how motivation, opportunity and ability influence patrons’ intentions to purchase tickets online and the features that influence online airline ticket purchases. A sample of online purchasers of airline tickets in Spain is examined.