Risk management and reinsurance strategies in the Spanish insurance market (1880–1940)

Reinsurance allows insurance companies to diversify their risks. However, from this original role, insurance companies have developed various reinsurance strategies in order to expand their market share. From the last decades of the nineteenth century to the 1940s, Spanish insurance companies used reinsurance in a largely unregulated context. This article analyses the reinsurance practices and their adaptation to the singularities of the Spanish market, namely: the difficulties for the consolidation of a core of pure reinsurers; the management of reinsurance in the internationalisation process; and the use of reinsurance by mutual societies to overcome their lack of equity capital.     

Brands as cultural resources in children’s peer culture

This article examines how children collectively appropriate brands as cultural resources. From the New Childhood Studies perspective, an ethnographic study was conducted in schools to investigate the engagement of 10- to 11-year-old children in brand culture. The findings demonstrate that, through a process similar to Corsaro’s model of interpretive reproduction, children do not simply reproduce brand culture; instead, they actively use branding to fuel their peer culture. Mastering and manipulating brands are thus sources for integration or exclusion within the peer group and for differentiation from the adult world. We show the paradoxical impacts of branding on children’s well-being and participate in the debate on their vulnerability to marketing by highlighting how they deploy brand culture to interact in their social spheres, with the consequence being that their would-be empowerment remains entangled in the “brandscape.” Last, we contribute to a better understanding of the concept of culturally based brand literacy.     

Institutional theory and global entrepreneurship: exploring differences between factor- versus innovation-driven countries

Using the lenses of institutional theory, this study examines several Entrepreneurial Factor Conditions (National Experts Survey database) while focusing on potential differences of several institutional dimensions between factor- (or production) and innovation-driven countries. This study therefore examines first the extent to which several Scott’s institutional variables (normative, regulative, and cultural-cognitive) differ according to the economic structure of countries participating in NES-GEM. Results indicate that the relevance of both regulative and cultural-cognitive dimensions differ between the group of countries driven by factor (or production) versus innovation, with a single exception, the normative dimension. Second, the study fine tunes the analysis and examines the extent to which the relevance of the aforementioned dimensions differs in two distinct institutional contexts (Portugal and Angola). Results show that the relevance of all institutional variables is different except one, the basic education and training. A possible explanation for these results may be associated to the lack of and fragility of several institutions and the absence of norms and regulations needed for a well-functioning economy, particularly in what concerns the factor (or production)-driven countries. In terms of originality, the study addresses an area of the GEM model that is under-researched.     

Can Marketing Help in Tackling Food Waste?: Proposals in Developed Countries

One third of food destined for human consumption is wasted globally, and much of the food waste that comes from high-income or developed countries is caused by poor marketing practices, consumer behavior, and consumption patterns. The present study focuses on developed countries to propose some marketing actions that could help in reducing food waste. A comprehensive analysis was carried out for each marketing variable, to provide a snapshot of actions and proposals that are being developed. Our study highlights the relevance of marketing in contributing to reduce food waste, through the removal of “Buy one, get one free” sales promotions, clarifying date labeling, or raising food waste awareness campaigns. The main contribution of this study is the proposal of marketing actions that help in tacking food waste.     

Social networks and small business performance in West African border regions

This paper studies the links between economic performance and social networks in West Africa. Using data collected on 358 small-scale traders in five border markets, we show that social networks can be simultaneously a resource which positively contributes to labour market outcomes and a social burden that has a negative economic impact. Testing the effect of social networks between small traders and three categories of actors, we find that the most well-connected actors are also the most successful in terms of monthly profit. The effects of social networks are, however, dependent on the type of persons with whom traders are connected. We show that support received from state representatives and politicians is converted into economic performance, while the impact of law enforcement officers on the monthly profits of traders is not significant. We also find that interacting with traditional religious leaders has a negative effect on economic performance. Our work has two implications: Firstly, collecting data on social networks remains challenging due to endogeneity. Secondly, network-enhancing policies should aim at improving both the internal connectivity of economic actors at the local level and their external connectivity with the rest of the world.     

Pesticide‐handling practices: the case of coffee growers in Papua New Guinea

Pesticide mismanagement potentially has high risks for farmers, households living in the community and the environment. In Papua New Guinea where farming is the primary occupation, there is evidence of dangerous herbicide application methods being used by coffee growers. Using original survey data for coffee smallholders from four provinces, we assess the factors driving farmers' use of personal protective equipment when preparing and applying herbicides, and farmers' disposal of agro‐chemical containers. We control for households' demographic variables and measure the impact of farmers' training in pest and disease management. We use the special regressor method to estimate binary choice models featuring an endogenous binary regressor (training). Our results show that human capital (education) and training are important drivers of farmers' pesticide‐handling practices, with marginal effects estimated at 10 and 22 per cent, respectively.     

Reassessing marketing boards as hybrid arrangements: evidence from Canadian experiences

In this article, we reassess the role of marketing boards and similar arrangements that have played an important role in numerous agro‐food sectors of developed countries over almost a century. Referring to transaction cost economics and to more recent contributions on the allocation of decision and property rights, we interpret these arrangements as hybrid modes of governance. We hypothesize that uncertainty is the leading force pushing toward these organizational solutions and we explore forms of uncertainty at stake and their impact in shaping various types of hybrids. We also explore the role of institutional embeddedness in providing marketing boards and the like their legitimacy. Using numerous examples from Canadian marketing boards, we discuss the benefits and point out flaws of these arrangements. We conclude on the need to assess comparatively the role of these solutions with respect to, for example, a system of bilateral contracts.     

Are patent fees effective at weeding out low‐quality patents?

The paper investigates whether patent fees are an effective mechanism to deter the filing of low‐quality patent applications. The study analyzes the effect on patent quality of the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1982, which resulted in a substantial increase in patenting fees at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Results from a series of difference‐in‐differences regressions suggest that the increase in fees led to a weeding out of low‐quality patents. About 10% of patents in the lowest quality decile were filtered out, with the effect concentrated in the patents of firms whose overall patent portfolio was medium to large (more than 20 patents). The study has strong policy implications in the current context of concerns about declines in patent quality.     

Academic leadership and commercial activities at research institutes: German evidence

This paper focuses on entrepreneurship by academic leaders. With the use of patents, inventions, and spin‐offs to measure commercialization, and directors, research group leaders, and business owners as academic leaders, results, using a sample of more than 2,500 German researchers, show differences across academic leaders and commercialization. Findings for spin‐offs are different from those for patents and inventions. Academic leaders in sciences were more likely to commercialize. Doctoral degrees helped patents by business owners and spin‐offs by group leaders, whereas female business owners and female group leaders faced challenges patenting and inventing, respectively. For business owners, age increased the likelihood of patenting but lowered spin‐offs.