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Wirtschaftsdienst - Prices for energy and food are currently rising extraordinarily sharply. Households with low net incomes in particular are being burdened by the price increases, in some cases...     

Early Warning Systems for Currency Crises with Real-Time Data

Open Economies Review - This paper investigates the performance of early warning systems for currency crises in real-time, using forecasts of indicators that are available at the moment predictions...     

The opportunity to improve psychological competences of project managers in international businesses

Many projects are currently conducted in international businesses in which cultural issues play an important role. In‐depth analysis of the risks associated with the unknown of this type of issues offers companies a better understanding of how to focus their marketing tools to be more effective, and provides project managers with strategies to improve customer relationships. Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Meyer's Culture Map have demonstrated that every society possesses distinguishing features. These cultural theories serve as foundation for including the category of culture in a proposed Cultural Risk Breakdown Structure. Through a literature review, risks associated with cultural differences are identified in projects executed in Africa, China, and the Middle East. By linking these risks to cultural dimensions, it is possible to identify the psychological competences framework in international businesses. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to create not only a comprehensive record of these risks but also a list of the new skills and competences that project managers must possess to improve client satisfaction and make decisions in a cross‐cultural environment. By considering the association between psychological aspects and cultural issues, this analysis will be of considerable benefit for improving relationships in international contexts.     

Individual,Organizational, and Institutional Determinants of Formal and Informal Inter‐Firm Cooperation in SMEs

Inter‐firm cooperation has been considered an important strategy for SMEs to overcome competitive difficulties. Despite the relevance of this strategy there are no studies that jointly consider how entrepreneurs' characteristics, organizational factors, and institutional features influence SMEs to establish cooperative agreements. In order to bridge this gap, we analyze what factors at these three levels explain inter‐firm cooperation and whether formal and informal inter‐firm agreements are explained by different factors. Our research is based on a survey of 1,587 Spanish SMEs and the results show that individual, organizational, and institutional factors contribute to jointly shape the decisions concerning inter‐firm cooperation.     

How to face a political boycott: the relevance of entrepreneurs’ awareness

Despite the growth in the number of consumer boycotts, the marketing literature has paid little attention to the factors that could explain such behavior or the effect of boycotts on entrepreneurial initiatives. Several studies have examined the motivations of customer boycott behavior. Nevertheless, its relation to other attitudinal variables and with firm-related characteristics has not been analyzed or has been dealt with only partially even though the implications are crucial for incumbents and start-ups to adapt their strategies. This paper examines the factors that could explain the consumer’s decision to boycott a brand because of its location in a specific country. The relevance of addressing this gap is based on the boycotts’ impact on local firms and start-ups performance. This study addresses this issue by proposing a model that considers consumer-related variables and the perceived importance of brands. The hypotheses proposed in this research are verified via variance-based partial least squares structural equation modeling. The authors tested their framework during an actual boycott to Catalonian products and firms promoted on social media in Spain. The discussion of the results and their implications contribute to improving entrepreneurs, managers and academics’ comprehension of the determinants of customers’ intentions to participate in a boycott. This can also provide entrepreneurs and managers with a guide to orientate the design and implementation of strategies that enable the reduction of customer abandonment due to political boycotts. The main value of this research is that it provides a comprehensive model that includes different sorts of variables that could be involved in consumer boycott behavior. This model can support flexible entrepreneurial and managerial practices to help entrepreneurs to adapt rapidly to changes in the market due to boycotts.

     

New perspective on customer orientation of service employees: a conceptual framework

Customer orientation of service employees (COSE) refers to the capacity and skills of employees to (1) identify, understand and satisfy their clients’ needs, and (2) act to that end. The COSE model has been used extensively to assess customer orientation of service employees within different settings. However, minimal modifications from the original have been presented so far, and the proposed settings were unrelated to highly relational services such as private banking (PB). PB is defined as the services specifically designed to satisfy the financial needs of high net worth individuals (HNWI); they are usually delivered by only one contact person – the private banker. Thus, PB is based on a personal and long-lasting relationship between the private banker and the client. Drawing on the literature regarding customer orientation and PB, trust, loyalty and word of mouth are identified as the potential consequences of COSE, improving on previous models. These new propositions are accompanied by a conceptual framework of COSE that is able to address the PB particularities by considering some moderating variables that are inherent to the PB service (customer segment and type of banking firm). Further avenues for research are then charted in light of the new conceptual framework developed.     

Contingent Claim Pricing Using a Normal Inverse Gaussian Probability Distortion Operator

We consider the problem of pricing contingent claims using distortion operators. This approach was first developed in ( Wang, 2000 ) where the original distortion function was defined in terms of the normal distribution. Here, we introduce a new distortion based on the Normal Inverse Gaussian (NIG) distribution. The NIG is a generalization of the normal distribution that allows for heavier skewed tails. The resulting operator asymmetrically distorts the underlying distribution. Moreover, we show how we can recuperate non‐Gaussian Black–Scholes formulas using distortion operators and we provide illustrations of their performance. We conclude with a brief discussion on risk management applications.     

Productivity,R&D Spillovers and Educational Attainment*

Economists have long agreed that the local availability of a more qualified workforce generates significant spillovers. This study suggests that these externalities may arise because plants by having access to a more qualified workforce at a regional level, can benefit more from R&D spillovers than those located in areas with less qualified workforce. This hypothesis is tested on a sample of British establishments drawn from the Annual Business Inquiry over the period 1997–2002. The main results are consistent with our expectations that the regional differences in the industry‐level educational attainment of the workforce available to a plant will condition its capability of absorbing R&D spillovers.     

Duration analysis of adoption of drip irrigation technology in southeastern Spain

In this paper, the process of adopting drip irrigation technology is investigated in one of the more water-scarce irrigation communities in Spain during the period 1975-2005. Why some farmers are faster to adopt this technology is investigated using duration analysis, which allows the timing of an event to be explored in a dynamic framework. The relative influence of a range of farmer, farm, economic, technology and institutional determinants is explored using discrete time models. The empirical results highlight the importance of educational factors, technological trialability, credit availability and institutional factors such as water availability and price, information networks and policy factors, as well as systematic effects that influence the adoption decision over the lifetime of the producer and over the survey period.     

Market Orientation Adoption among Rural Tourism Enterprises: The Effect of the Location and Characteristics of the Firm

This paper highlighted the importance of market orientation as a strategy for the success of rural tourism enterprises. The purpose of the work was to identify an explanatory model for the market orientation adopted by rural tourism enterprises. The explanatory factors identified were as follows: category; information and communications technology use; and the entrepreneur's gender. It was also found that the location of the enterprise relative to its competitors may also influence market orientation adoption. A spatial econometric model was used that took into account the characteristics of the rural tourism enterprise and its physical location, in terms of their effect on market orientation adoption. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.