Stock Returns,Productivity, and Corruption in Eight European Fast-Emerging Markets

This article addresses the impact of productivity, corruption, and trade openness on the stock returns of 265 industrial companies listed in eight Eastern European fast-emerging markets, over the 2004-2013 period. Through a three-factor model that includes both measures at firm level and macro-level control variables, our findings suggest that country corruption index is negatively correlated with the total annual return of the stocks of the listed industrial companies of our sample. Moreover, the most productive firms are featured by higher stock returns, while leverage seems not to be a key predictor of stock returns. In addition, the article uncovers innovative evidence about trade openness that is negatively correlated with stock returns due to its connection with the recent financial crisis. That is, firms operating in markets that are more open to trade show a higher degree of interconnection with other economies and are more likely to undergo the effects of negative fluctuations from foreign markets during the economic crisis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Measuring scale effects in the allocative profit efficiency

This paper provides an approach to the measurement of the “scale effects” in the allocative profit efficiency. To be specific, we evaluate the improvements of profit that can be accomplished by means of a change in the scale size, once technical efficiency is achieved. New decompositions of the allocative efficiency into a scale effect component and the corresponding residual mix effect component are derived.     

Entry and Managerial Incentives: A Note

This note reinforces the results in a paper by Sen (International Journal of Industrial Organization, vol. 11, 1993, pp. 123–37). It is shown that his assumption that the incentive schemes in a two‐period model are the same for the two periods is not necessary for the results: only the long‐term nature of contracts with managers matters.     

Restrictions on Foreign Investments and the Relocation of Firms

We analyse why the Chinese government sets restrictions on foreign direct investment (FDI). We focus our analysis on the percentage of shares in relocated firms that the government allows to be foreign‐owned. The government's decision on this percentage depends on the entry cost, the number of firms that relocate and the weight of the consumer surplus in the objective function of the government. We show that by its choice of this percentage, the Chinese government may restrict or encourage FDI to its country. We also find that if the government may subsidise the fixed entry cost, it provides a subsidy only when the producer surplus has a greater weight than the consumer surplus in weighted welfare. In that case, the subsidy encourages relocation by both firms and permits the government to allow a lower percentage of shares to be foreign‐owned in relocated firms.     

Market representations in industrial marketing: Could representations influence strategy?

A central question in industrial marketing is whether the form in which the market of a firm is represented influences the marketing strategy. This question has been studied generally through case study research, and quantitative evidence is limited. In response to this limitation, this paper reports on a quasi-experiment investigating whether market representations have a constructive aspect in business. Empirically, this study compares two types of market representations - ostensive and performative - in order to test for influence exacted in two well-established strategies in industrial marketing - service focus and product differentiation. Results indicate that service focus is selected when market representations rely on agency in firms (i.e., performative), and product strategies are selected when structures are emphasized (i.e., ostensive). This paper contributes to methodology development by expanding the link between a case study approach and quasi-experiments explaining how quasi-experiments can replicate findings in industrial marketing.     

Capital-induced labor migration in a spatial Solow model

Journal of Economics - In this work we consider labor mobility in the spatial Solow model for economic growth. Besides considering that labor diffuses from regions with higher density to regions...     

Higher education and firms: on the interaction between research and regional policies

In the European Union, a series of competencies are shared between a central agency called the European Commission, and the governments of the Member States. This paper focuses on two of those policies: research and regional development. Here, we model and discuss how the level of commitment of a central authority toward poor regions affects the design of the best decision-making process. We explore cases of full centralization and full decentralization, and situations where the two levels of government are allowed to take decisions, either simultaneously or sequentially. In the latter case, we make a distinction between a situation where the central agency decides first as in most federations, and one in which it decides second, then being an agent of national governments. This setting is especially relevant for the European Union. We show, in particular, that when the degree of commitment of the center is high, assignment of redistributive competencies to both levels of power is a proxy for centralization. Additionally, the poorer region may find its best interest in an institutional design where the regions decide first.     

Factores determinantes de la lealtad al proveedor de servicios turísticos online

The aim of this study is to analyze the factors determining loyalty towards online tourist services supplier with a model which integrates the influence of trust in tourism websites with the conceptual framework of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 305 airline travel tickets online purchasers, with the use of structural equation models. The results of the empirical study suggest that the three variables of TPB (perceived control, subjective norm and attitude) positively influence loyalty towards Internet use to purchase airline tickets. The role of trust is especially relevant as it also boosts the effect of TPB variables. Finally, a set of managerial implications are considered.     

Exploring cruise ship passenger spending patterns in two Uruguayan ports of call

The cruise industry has become a significant component of the Uruguayan tourism economy in the last few years. The present study aims to provide a better understanding of the cruise industry by considering the expenditure of cruise ship passengers disembarking at the ports of call of Montevideo and Punta del Este as a key variable in the economic analysis of the costs and benefits. We estimate two cross-sectional regression models for cruise passenger expenditures, and show that the size of the group the visitors travel with and visitor mobility within the country are the most important variables to explain individual expenditure behaviour. We also include some management recommendations that policy-makers could implement in order to improve the economic profits from cruise ship tourism.