A conceptual framework for evaluating the most cost-effective intervention along the supply chain to improve food safety

This paper develops a conceptual framework for choosing the most cost-effective intervention along the supply chain to improve food safety. This framework identifies both the initial level of on-farm infection and the potential for new infection post farm-gate as key parameters influencing the relative effectiveness of on-farm and abattoir interventions. In addition, the potential for cost economies of scale in implementing interventions at abattoir compared to on-farm is shown to be a further factor determining the relative cost-effectiveness of these interventions. Overall, it is suggested by the analysis in this paper that successful abattoir interventions will typically be more cost-effective than successful on-farm interventions. These findings are consistent with existing case study evidence.     

Uniform payoff security and Nash equilibrium in compact games

We introduce a condition, uniform payoff security, for games with compact Hausdorff strategy spaces and payoffs bounded and measurable in players’ strategies. We show that if any such compact game G is uniformly payoff secure, then its mixed extension is payoff secure. We also establish that if a uniformly payoff secure compact game G has a mixed extension with reciprocally upper semicontinuous payoffs, then G has a Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies. We provide several economic examples of compact games satisfying uniform payoff security.     

Disclosure of GAAP line items in earnings announcements

We provide new evidence on the disclosure in earnings announcements of financial statement line items prepared under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). First, we investigate the circumstances that might provide disincentives generally for GAAP line item disclosures. We find that managers who regularly intervene in the earnings reporting process limit disclosures at the aggregate level and in each of the financial statements so as to more effectively guide investor attention to summary financial information. Specifically, this disclosure behavior obtains when managers habitually cater to market expectations, engage in income smoothing, or use discretionary accruals to improve earnings informativeness. Second, we predict and find that the specific GAAP line items that firms choose to disclose are determined by the differential informational demands of their economic environment, consistent with incentives to facilitate investor valuation. However, these valuation-related disclosure incentives are muted when managers habitually intervene in the earnings reporting process.     

Resources and market definition: Rethinking the “hypothetical monopolist” from a resource‐based perspective

We reassess the concept of the hypothetical monopolist as a device for relevant market definition. The hypothetical monopolist test (also known as the Small but Significant Non‐transitory Increase in Price test) is a clever, intuitive way of thinking the relevant market in antitrust, and is gaining ground in strategic management. The test, however, implicitly disregards resource characteristics in relevant market delineation, focusing exclusively on demand side substitutability. In reassessing the hypothetical monopolist, we make 2 general contributions to the strategy literature. First, using cooperative game theory, we advance a precise resource‐based definition of the hypothetical monopolist. Second, we demonstrate how this definition broadens our conventional understanding on 2 important topics: resource complementarities and disruptive innovations. In doing so, we complement and strengthen the hypothetical monopolist test as a device for management (strategic) and public policy (antitrust) analysis.     

The external knowledge sourcing process in multinational corporations

Research summary: We study the processes through which multinational corporations (MNCs) identify and make use of external sources of knowledge. Based on a seven‐year longitudinal study of one MNC's overseas scouting unit, we show how a simple one‐directional “channelling” process gradually gave way to three higher value‐added processes, labelled “translating,” “matchmaking,” and “transforming.” Building on these insights, we develop an integrative framework, defining the conditions under which each of the four processes is likely to transpire, and showing how the stock of social capital held by the scouting unit allows it to perform increasingly high value‐added activities over time. Implications for the MNC, external knowledge sourcing, and boundary‐spanning literatures are discussed. Managerial summary: Over the years, many multinational corporations (MNCs) have created overseas “scouting” units to tap into new ideas and opportunities in leading‐edge markets, but with mixed outcomes. In this study, we describe the development of a European telecom firm's scouting unit in Silicon Valley during the 2000s, focusing on the specific approaches used by the scouting managers to build effective connections between Silicon Valley start‐ups and the firm's business units back in Europe. We identify four distinct approaches for different types of opportunities, and we observe a clear sequencing of effort over time as the scouting managers built the necessary capabilities and credibility. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing agricultural trade policies options with the European Union: a Brazilian perspective

Brazil has shown interest in agricultural trade negotiations at bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels. This study addresses several important negotiations, using the agricultural sector model CAPRI (Common Agricultural Policy Regional Impact Analysis), to analyze liberalization scenarios between the European Union and the Mercosur countries focusing particularly on their impacts in Brazil. Four possible agreements between Europe and Mercosur are simulated, including a broader multilateral agreement proposed in the G20. The results suggest that a bilateral scenario involving larger tariff rate quota increase, as called for by Mercosur, generates larger gains than accepting the European Union proposal of 2004 or further multilateral trade liberalization based on the G20 proposal. However, much larger increases in tariff rate quotas for all products are not necessarily justified in all cases. Moreover, Brazil's production and export potential is limited by factors other than trade restrictions.     

Thorstein Veblen as Evolutionary Feminist Economist of the Progressive Era

Abstract

Just prior to the turn of the twentieth century, Thorstein Veblen advanced an evolutionary approach to feminist economics. A host of scholars considered in this inquiry are noted to have endorsed and also furthered his tradition. What distinguishes Veblen’s evolutionary approach to feminist economics is that he emphasizes that the roots of private property can be related to women being taken captive through warfare during the Age of Savagery. Instincts affecting behavior are viewed as relative constants, but which take on an evolutionary character when considered against what Veblen defines as four stages of social and economic development.     

The low effect of perceived risk in the relation between hedonic values and purchase intention

ABSTRACT

This research seeks to identify the influence of perceived risk in the purchase intention environment regarding innovative technological products, and also to understand how brand trust reduces the expected impact of this risk due to the hedonic and utilitarian characteristics influencing purchase intention. Quantitative research was carried out and analysed through structural equation modelling, where the influence of perceived risk on utilitarian value and purchase intention was identified, as well as the influence of brand trust in reducing this risk. The conceptual implications of the study describe as the perceived risk moderates hedonic features less compared to utilitarian features regarding purchase intention, thus demonstrating that emotional relationships are less affected by this risk. The managerial implications suggest that devices with utilitarian characteristics should be more carefully planned according to their brand and complexity, while hedonic products do not require brand trust to guarantee consumers’ purchase intention in the current innovative scenario.     

Sustainable finance and investment: Review and research agenda

Sustainable finance and investment (SFI) is key to fostering sustainable global development. Research in this field has focused on specific topics, such as the financial performance of sustainable investments and companies committed to sustainability. The SFI literature is excessively fragmented, rendering it difficult to identify what constitutes the field and what differentiates it from traditional finance and investment. Based on a systematic literature review of 166 articles, we map and integrate the main elements of the SFI field and identify the most relevant avenues for further research. In this process, we provide a definition of SFI; identify the main players in the field; and describe their profiles, strategies, and outcomes. We also propose a framework for understanding the SFI field and a research agenda. This agenda organizes the main SFI research questions and suggests suitable approaches to address them. We conclude that SFI players have worked together to promote positive social and environmental impacts through their financial and investment activities. However, the under-theorization of the SFI concept, the traditional short-term nature of financial logic, and the lack of evidence on the SFI impacts on society and the environment are the greatest challenges facing the field.     

Testing for optimal monetary policy via moment inequalities

The specification of an optimizing model of the monetary transmission mechanism requires selecting a policy regime: commonly, commitment or discretion. In this paper we propose a new procedure for testing optimal monetary policy, relying on moment inequalities that nest commitment and discretion as two special cases. The approach is based on the derivation of bounds for inflation that are consistent with optimal policy under either policy regime. We derive testable implications that allow for specification tests and discrimination between the two alternative regimes. The proposed procedure is implemented to examine the conduct of monetary policy in the US economy.