Industrial segmentation,the ethnic economy,and job mobility: the case of Cuban exiles in Florida

We examine mobility between core, periphery, and the ethnic economy in a sample of Cuban exiles. We analyze, first, hypotheses involving the relative magnitude of exit rates from given origins, and, second, hypotheses positing effects of independent variables on exit rates. Regarding the first type of hypotheses, we argue that the presence of an ethnic economy requires modification of predictions in the segmented economy perspective. Data support our argument. Concerning the second type of predictions, regression analysis shows that movement into the periphery is negatively associated with number of relatives in the U.S., movement into ethnic economy employment is positively related to number of relatives living in same city as respondent, and movement into self-employment is positively related to education, intention to return to Cuba if communism were overthrown, and taking a university-level course, and negatively associated with living in a Cuban neighborhood. As a whole, regression results indicate that, with the exception of movement into the periphery, individuals with more resources are more prone to mobility.     

Social and Environmental Filters to Market Incentives: The Persistence of Common Land in Nineteenth‐Century Spain

The regional diversity of communal persistence in nineteenth‐century Spain has been well documented by historiographers. Although the explanation of this divergence has been attributed to the social and environmental context, together with the prevailing market incentives, that characterized the different rural societies of this period, there has been no clear assessment of the role played by each of these factors. Through a comparative study of the historical data at the provincial level, this paper analyses the relative contribution of these elements to that divergence. The results diminish the significance of market signals and show how the social and environmental conditions interacted to limit, or promote, the dismantling of the common lands. Apart from the greater need to resort to the commons when it was necessary to increase agricultural production in dry regions, this paper highlights the role of unequal levels of access to land in promoting enclosure. The Spanish case illustrates the limitations of the theories that predict the inevitable drift towards individual property rights.     

Pre‐commercial procurement: a demand or supply policy instrument in relation to innovation?

In 2006, the European Commission introduced the concept of ‘pre‐commercial procurement’ (PCP) as an instrument to promote innovation and to mitigate grand challenges. One of the main motives for the support of PCP schemes was to use public needs as a driver for innovation. This concept was also introduced as a response to the need to reinforce the innovation capabilities of the European Union while improving the quality and efficiency of public services. But what is meant by PCP? Is it a demand‐ or a supply‐side instrument in relation to innovation? This is the research question addressed in this paper, the goal being motivated by the lack of academic discussion in this direction. The paper is based on three cases, one from the Netherlands, one from the United Kingdom and one from Australia. These cases provide evidence that PCP is a matter of research and development (R&D) funding of a targeted kind, geared toward very specific goals and in a focused way. This leads the authors to conclude that PCP is a supply‐side policy instrument in relation to innovation. In this sense, they would like to raise a flag for going back to the origins of the PCP program and calling it a ‘precompetitive R&D program’, rather than labeling it as an innovation procurement instrument.     

BPR implementation in Europe: the adaptation of a management concept

This paper analyses Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) implementation in 20 European firms. In contrast with the radical postulates of the early orthodox literature, the find- ings reveal that BPR was used in a preventive way, with implementation time lengths directly related to the scope of the organisational changes attempted and generating moderately positive results according to corporate performance indicators, with relatively low social cost.     

Building a culture of personal benefits responsibility

Successfully having employees take personal responsibility for their benefits plans requires going beyond the rapid rollout of new benefit plan designs; it requires employers to invest in understanding the complexity of their workforce. This article reviews the evolution of benefit plans and what has arisen as the current state of employee benefits. It then discusses steps employers can take to build a successful total benefit strategy that recognizes the importance of the emerging workforce's racial, ethnic and cultural diversity.     

Epigenetic Economic Dynamics: The evolution of big internet business ecosystems,evidence for patents

The aim of this article is to contribute to literature with new findings from biogenetics that are becoming increasingly important. In particular, we will discuss the new analytic frameworks that may open as a result of the incorporation of epigenetics in evolutionary economic thinking. This new approach is illustrated by studying the evolution of big Internet industry groups such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and Samsung. With it we shed light on the dynamics of business groups, which we approach as ‘business ecosystems’.     

“Not Fissures but Moments of Crises that Can Be Overcome”: Building a Relational Organizing Culture in Community Organizations and Trade Unions

Community organizations and trade unions rely to a certain extent on a committed membership to be effective. It can be difficult, however, to build solidarity when there are diverse members with competing interests and this can lead to internal conflicts. Based on participant observation and interviews, this article examines how membership organizations have been able to maintain an active grassroots base and overcome internal crises through the development of a relational organizing culture.     

The Disciplining Effect of Concern for Referrals: Evidence from Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents rely on clients for referrals to generate future business; this article examines whether concern for referrals disciplines agents. We compare results for sellers who move to another area (and are less likely to provide referrals) with results for sellers who remain in the area (and are more likely to provide referrals). We find that moving‐away sellers’ houses have a higher sale rate, sell faster and sell for less (even after controlling for moving‐away sellers’ greater impatience). We also provide evidence that the disciplining effect of concern for referrals is stronger for agents who place a greater value on reputation. Finally, among sellers who are better at evaluating and monitoring agents, we see less of the high sell rate, low sale‐price effect.     

Rental as A Taste of Freedom: The Decline of Home Ownership amongst Working‐class Youth in Spain during Times of Crisis

Over the past few decades, as the neoliberal project gradually took hold, owning one's home became a widespread practice in Spanish society. However, the prospects of purchasing housing have since been severely reduced due to the bursting of the real estate bubble and the onset of an overwhelming economic crisis. This article analyses how working‐class young people in Catalonia reflect on this phenomenon as they face their own process of moving away from home. It also considers the extent to which the spread of the so‐called ‘culture of ownership' represented an expression of neoliberal culture, and the extent to which the apparent dissolution of the former implies the erosion of the latter. The article concludes that home ownership has undergone a complex resignification in this sector of society, but continues to be an important aspiration insofar as the underlying conditions that originally brought it about continue to exist.     

Quantifying the relationship between entrepreneurship and competitiveness development stages in Latin America

This research aims to quantify the importance of a country??s entrepreneurship level in terms of its competitiveness rates. Our hypothesis is that those countries entrepreneurship growth rates increase their competitiveness indicators and that this entrepreneurial improvement could be a key factor in reaching the next stage of development. We establish this relationship using a longitudinal database of Latin American countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Global Competitiveness Reports of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from 2001 to 2006. GEM and WEF construct aggregated indexes using several variables to rate each country??s entrepreneurship activity and competitiveness development. We use a discriminant analysis to identify various countries?? competitiveness subgroups and show how each country??s entrepreneurship rates have weight in different stages of competitiveness, placing a special emphasis on Latin America. Our results suggest that Latin American countries need to gain entrepreneurial dynamics and economic (and competitiveness) development by transforming their typical self-employment or low value-added new ventures for local markets into strong, innovative networked firms competing globally. Some management and policy implications are also discussed.