The influence of strategic dimensions and the environment on the introduction of internet as innovation into small and medium-sized enterprises

The expansion of the Internet has been spectacular, but only limited research has analysed how environmental and strategic variables simultaneously influence its organisational implementation and how small firms decide to adopt the use of the Internet. This study simultaneously examines the influence of three environmental dimensions (hostility, complexity and dynamism), and the three strategic dimensions (entrepreneurial, technological and administrative), upon the decision to introduce the use of the Internet into small business enterprises. We base our conclusions upon the data obtained from interviews with the managers of a sample of 94 small and medium-sized Spanish enterprises. Our results support a multidimensional view of environmental and strategic characteristics and show that all these variables constitute significant factors in deciding whether to introduce the Internet into company use. Logistic regression also shows the greater influence exerted by internal (strategic) factors and size rather than by environmental factors.     

HOW ORGANIC IS YOUR ORGANIZATION?– DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIC/MECHANISTIC TENDENCIES IN A PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

This study compares two units within a major public accounting firm in order to determine their organic/mechanistic tendencies and establish the variables most closely related to these organizational characteristics. Results from a sample of 67 professionals balanced by unit and hierarchical level indicate that the process-oriented elements of an organization are the more relevant indicators of organizational development and provide a system for evaluating an organization on an organic/mechanistic continuum.     

Reform of the CAP : Impact on the Third World

The European Community is under pressure to reform the CAP, mainly due to internal financial reasons. Proposals have been put forward by the EC Commission that reform the CAP with respect to milk, oils and fats, and corngluten and citrus pellets. The authors look at the impact of these proposals on developing countries. They conclude that the effect will be to increase non-tariff barriers to trade and increase the cost of food production both in and outside the EC.     

Agricultural Incentives in Developing Countries: Measuring the Effect of Sectoral and Economywide Policies

The impact of sector-specific (direct) and economywide (indirect)policies on agricultural incentives for eighteen developingcountries for the period 1975–84 are estimated. The directeffect is measured by the proportional difference between theproducer price and the border price (adjusting for distribution,storage, transport, and other marketing costs). The indirecteffect has two components. The first is the impact of the unsustainableportion of the current account deficit and of industrial protectionpolicies on the real exchange rate and thus on the price ofagricultural commodities relative to nonagricultural nontradables.The second is the impact of industrial protection policies onthe relative price of agricultural commodities to that of nonagriculturaltradable goods. We find that (1) in almost all cases the directeffect is equivalent to a tax on exportable goods (–11percent on average) and to a subsidy for importables (20 percenton average); (2) the indirect effect also taxes agriculture(–27 percent on average) and dominates the direct effect(whether the direct effect is positive or negative); and (3)the direct policies for both importables and exportables stabilizedomestic producer prices.     

On the interaction between public and private capital in economic growth

This paper introduces two forms of interaction between private and public capital in an endogenous growth model in which productive government expenditure takes the form of a stock-variable and public capital is used in part as an input in the production of final output and in part to increase its own supply. While the first form of interaction involves the stocks of the two capital-goods and takes place within the final output sector through the specification of the aggregate production function (Cobb?CDouglas vs. CES), the second one concerns the rates of investment in the two kinds of capital. The share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production can be either exogenous or endogenous. Our results suggest that when this share is exogenous, along the balanced growth path the optimal growth rate of the economy is a positive function of the degree of complementarity between the two forms of investment. When the share of productive public expenditure devoted to output production is endogenous, the public capital share in GDP becomes, along with the model??s preference parameters, an important determinant of the economy??s long run growth. We also find that the optimal growth rate is an increasing function of the elasticity of substitution between public and private capital inputs in goods production, and is independent of the complementarity/substitutability between the two forms of investment.