Productivity and international competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union and the United States

This study looks at international competitiveness of agriculture in the European Union and the United States. The most intuitive concept is that of price competitiveness. We calculate relative prices for 11 member states of the European Union and the United States for the period 1973–2002. We assume that markets are perfectly competitive and in long‐run equilibrium, so that the observed price always equals average total cost, as measured by the cost dual to the production function. This assumption is used in our calculation of relative competitiveness and productivity gaps between the European Union and the United States and in our decomposition of relative price movements between changes in relative input prices and changes in relative productivity levels.     

Spatial determinants of productivity growth on agri‐food Spanish firms: a comparison between cooperatives and investor‐owned firms

This study analyses the effect of the spatial factor, location, and interaction effects among peer companies, on the productivity growth of agri‐food companies in Spain. With this aim, we build a productivity growth index and apply a multiequational Seemingly Unrelated Regression on a sample of 344 Spanish cooperatives and investor‐owned firms for the period 2010–2012. Our findings show that agri‐food firms are influenced by spatial factors finding interesting differences between cooperatives and investor‐owned firms. With regard to the geographical location, cooperatives in the western of Spain show higher productivity growth rates, whereas investor‐owned firms in the northeast of Spain present better results. The interaction effect among closer peer companies is also a relevant factor to determine the productivity growth in agri‐food companies. This factor is more relevant for cooperatives than for investor‐owned firms.     

Aspects of statistical analysis in DEA-type frontier models

In Grosskopf (1995) and Banker (1995) different approaches and problems of statistical inference in DEA frontier models are presented. This paper focuses on the basic characteristics of DEA models from a statistical point of view. It arose from comments and discussions on both papers above. The framework of DEA models is deterministic (all the observed points lie on the same side of the frontier), nevertheless a stochastic model can be constructed once a data generating process is defined. So statistical analysis may be performed and sampling properties of DEA estimators can be established. However, practical statistical inference (such as test of hypothesis, confidence intervals) still needs artifacts like the bootstrap to be performed. A consistent bootstrap relies also on a clear definition of the data generating proces and on a consistent estimator of it: The approach of Simar and Wilson (1995) is described. Finally, some trails are proposed for introducing stochastic noise in DEA models, in the spirit of the Kneip-Simar (1995) approach.     

The effects of supportive management and job quality on the turnover intentions and health of military personnel

To be competitive in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing envi‐ronment, organizations must retain personnel and promote the well‐being of employees. We examine the relationship of both support provided to person‐nel and job quality with employee health and turnover intentions among a sample of 450 military personnel. Factors involving the supportive manage‐ment of personnel (i.e., supervisory support, organizational support, and work‐life balance) and factors pertaining to job quality (i.e., work stimulation and job clarity) were indirectly related to health and to turnover intentions through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The contribution of holiday trips to life satisfaction: the case of people with disabilities

This study analyses the contribution of holiday trips to the life satisfaction (LS) of people with disabilities as compared to people without disabilities. Particular attention is paid to the effects of the intensity of taking part in holiday trips on LS. We are interested in testing two different hypotheses: (a) holiday trips increase individuals' LS and (b) the effects of holiday trips on LS are different for people without and with disabilities, being greater for this latter group. Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we estimate LS equations (running generalised least square random-effects models) for people without and with disabilities which include a set of variables measuring participation or not in holiday trips and its intensity. Although people with disabilities are less likely to participate in holiday trips than people without disabilities, the results indicate that people with disabilities obtain higher levels of LS than people without disabilities from their participation in holiday trips, especially when this participation is more intense. Policy-makers and the tourism industry must promote and facilitate full access and participation of people with disabilities in holiday trips by eliminating all barriers, understanding their differential needs and providing an inclusive leisure environment.     

Is the hotel classification system a good indicator of hotel quality?: An application in Spain

This paper analyses whether the hotel classification system is a good indicator of hotel quality, where quality is defined to be satisfying the expectations and needs of the client. We conducted our research in Spain, where a five-category system using stars is employed. To be exact, the hotel sector of one autonomous community (Cantabria, located in northern Spain) was studied, given that it is these autonomous regions that have exclusive authority to regulate and promote tourism. The results of the study confirm that even though significant quality differences are seen between the different categories, the ranking by quality does not correspond to that by categories. This supports the idea that quality is associated with the delivery of a service according to client expectations, more than it is with establishment category.     

Rate of Return Regulation: The Case of Spanish Ports

An original model is put forward in this article to explain and consider the behavior of some of the most important public services in Spain. The cost function approach and the input distance function approach are used to estimate the existence of overcapitalization as a result of rate of return regulation. The results show that overcapitalization generated by this regulation is too significant not to be taken into account.     

Do stable strategic time periods exist? Towards new methodological and theoretical insights

This paper investigates a fundamental issue in the current research on strategic groups: the existence or non‐existence of the so‐called ‘stable strategic time periods’ (SSTPs). Our study provides new evidence by adding new methodological and theoretical insights. The research setting is the Spanish banking industry over a 15‐year period, 1983–1997. Unlike all prior longitudinal research that found SSTPs, the multi‐method procedure that we used in this study (i.e. equality of variance and covariance matrix and mean vector of strategic variables and a subsequent grouping analysis performed through the MCLUST) has led us to reject the existence of SSTPs in the industry under study. Based on these original findings, we conclude by suggesting a proposition which should be corroborated in future empirical studies on strategic groups. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The power of quality models: The example of the SIQ model for performance excellence

Most contemporary total quality management (TQM) practice is influenced, directly or indirectly, by structured, acontextual and standardized quality models. The present paper focuses on the strategic introduction of one such model, namely the Swedish Institute for Quality (SIQ) model for performance excellence, in a Swedish public-sector organization, which we refer to as ‘the Authority.’ We take our theoretical stance from Foucault's concept of ‘power/knowledge.’ In describing the case, we focus on the management team of one of the Authority's ten regions. Our analysis shows the members of the management team using the SIQ model to objectify both the organization and themselves as managers. However, contrary to many critical or managerial accounts, the SIQ model was not totalizing: management subjectivities changed but were not entirely reconstituted, and some resistance to them was generated by the members of the management team, in their role as professionals.     

The role of information technology in corporate strategy of small and medium enterprises

The crisis of the new economy might have cast doubt on the usefulness of the Internet for business activities. However, it is unquestionable that the possibilities offered by Internet-based technologies in terms of information processing, transfer and collection enable the firm to improve market knowledge and the relationship with clients and suppliers. This work explores, theoretically and empirically, the possibilities offered by the Internet to facilitate the internationalization process of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well as to improve the relationship with other firms within the same value chain. Using a wide representative sample of Spanish SMEs, the empirical analysis confirms the benefits of the Internet in both cases.