Relationships among functional units and new product performance: The moderating effect of technological turbulence

Though there has been plenty of research into new product success factors, only a few studies have tried to analyse whether these factors are important in different settings. In this study, we propose and test a model that links physical proximity among functional units, presence of product champions, cross-functional harmony, and new product program performance. The moderating effects of perceived technological turbulence on relationships between new product performance and its antecedents are also tested. Our results, obtained from 151 managers working for Spanish firms with a R&D department, confirm the different impact of these factors on the three measures of performance considered and also on two groups of organizations, the ones that perceive high technological turbulence and the ones that perceive low technological turbulence.     

Royalty licensing

Most patent licensing agreements observed empirically include either per-unit or ad valorem royalties. The theoretical literature generally focuses on per-unit royalties. We provide a simple justification for the presence of ad valorem royalties in licensing contracts.     

Some insights on conceptualizing and measuring service quality

We discuss past work in the conceptualization and measurement of perceived service quality and describe the most important models proposed in the last 25 years. We infer the general equations that can be derived from each conceptualization. Finally, we summarize the shortcomings and contradictions of each model as well as conclusions reached so far by a certain consensus of researchers using different models. In order to provide a framework for understanding service quality models, we discuss the service quality paradigm from the realist and constructivist perspective along with the multidimensional nature of service quality implicit in the reflective versus formative debate. We conclude by recommending the development of more creative models of service quality, proposing three different options for quantitative analysis that minimize the various limitations that characterize the most widely used models.     

Housing deprivation and health status: evidence from Spain

Living in inadequate housing conditions not only supposes a failure of a basic functioning. It also has effects on other essential aspects of well-being such as health. This study questions to what extent living in poor housing conditions can determine individuals’ health status once the possible influence of other factors is controlled for. By estimating a logistic model with individual effects and a housing deprivation index based on a latent variable model, we reach a number of relevant conclusions concerning the relationship between these two different dimensions of multidimensional well-being. We find a negative effect of housing deprivation on the individuals’ health, both when housing conditions are introduced in a disaggregated manner in the model and when they are combined in a latent variable.     

Frontier markets’ efficiency: mutual information and detrended fluctuation analyses

This study tests weak form efficiency in frontier markets. Mutual information and detrended fluctuation analyses are performed to assess global correlation and long range dependence in the stock markets of twenty three countries. The results indicate that Slovenia is the only case where there is evidence compatible with weak form efficiency. The relatively less inefficient markets are mainly located in Europe and America, and the relatively more inefficient mainly in the Middle East. This information is useful for investors, but also for the assessed countries’ regulators as they indicate that relevant impediments are preventing the exploitation of potential profitable opportunities.

     

Managerial perceptions of employees’ affective commitment and product innovation

In this paper we examine how managers perceive employees’ affective commitment and how this perception determines their trust as a managerial attitude toward organizational learning capability (OLC). Likewise, we study how managerial trust affects product innovation and OLC. In other words, we carry out a double mediation: firstly, we examine whether managerial trust is a mechanism through which managerial perceptions of employees’ affective commitment influences on OLC, and secondly, we study if OLC mediates between managerial trust and product innovation. By using structural equation modeling (partial least squares) on a sample of 192 Spanish firms we conclude that: (1) if managers perceive employees to be affectively committed, they will be willing to enhance OLC and to trust them; (2) managerial trust favors OLC and product innovation and (3) OLC appears to exert a full mediation between managerial trust and product innovation.     

On the Time Inconsistency of Optimal Monetary and Fiscal Policies with Many Consumer Goods*

In this paper, we study the time consistency of optimal policies in an environment where agents use cash to purchase many consumer goods and where those goods might be taxed at differential rates. Our main result is that optimal monetary and fiscal policies are, in general, time‐inconsistent, because the number of bond instruments is insufficient to influence all future fiscal decisions. However, there is one special case where optimal policies are time‐consistent, which is when differential tax rates across cash goods are optimally zero.     

Corporate Social Responsibility as a Strategic Opportunity for Small Firms during Economic Crises

The aim of this study is to analyze if there is a direct causal relationship between small firms’ orientation toward corporate social responsibility and their competitive success, mediated by innovation and performance. A structural equation model has been applied to a sample of 758 small Spanish firms. The results indicate that, in times of economic crisis, socially responsible strategies are a determining factor in firms’ competitiveness. Pragmatic advice for practitioners derives from research results, considering that social responsibility represents an opportunity for small firms in the complex and turbulent time. The findings encourage small firms to manage operations responsibly as a guarantee of market success.     

Further empirical evidence on block transactions below the MBR: the Spanish market

There is a relatively unknown market for partial control or corporate influence in Spanish listed firms, where the control transaction size is below the legal threshold that triggers a mandatory tender offer, as this kind of deal looks for exercising some degree of control, but not a full control. The goal of this paper is to go further in its empirical analysis by exploring its distinguishing features, using as the criterion to define its transactions obtaining a seat in the board of directors. We find that these deals are mainly located in the segment of the market of large trades where the rules for private negotiations are easier to implement; the size of the block is relatively large and it is negotiated as a whole block. Besides, the most common buyer has no previous stake in the firm. We find no evidence that the buyers pay, in median, for a seat on the board of directors, but the variability of the premiums for those blocks is higher and shows that buyers that had no control position in the target firm pay more for being among largest shareholders (partial control) and less for not being among them (influence).