Sustainable Development and Corporate Performance: A Study Based on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming a mainstream issue for many organizations, most of the research to date addresses CSR in large businesses rather than in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), because it is too often considered a prerogative of large businesses only. The role of SMEs in an increasingly dynamic context is now being questioned, including what factors might affect their socially responsible behaviour. The goal of this paper is to make a comparison of SME and large firm CSR strategies. Furthermore, size of the firm is analyzed as a factor that influences specific choices in the CSR field, and studied by means of a sample of 3,680 Italian firms. Based on a multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides evidence that large firms are more likely to identify relevant stakeholders and meet their requirements through specific and formal CSR strategies.     

An Empirical Test of the Institutionalist View on Income Inequality

This paper analyzes the relationship between income inequality and economic growth within the United States using state level data. It describes income inequality in the U.S. since 1960, then employs a two‐step causal model to test the institutionalist contention that income inequality leads to socio‐political instability, which has a negative impact on economic progress. The empirical results offer support for the institutionalist view.     

The non-equivalence of tariffs and quotas under retaliation

This note shows the non-equivalence of tariffs and quotas when foreign retaliation is allowed for. Using a Cournot-Johnson type of retaliation mechanism it is shown that, contrary to the case of tariffs, quota retaliation will lead to the elimination of international trade between the countries involved.     

SME Export Performance in Indonesia After the Crisis

Firms in export-oriented sectors with more exporters and more foreign investment, or firms with more access/use of credit, tend to export a higher share of their output, whether they are small or large. The latter points out that the benefits of size-neutral policies that improve the overall business and foreign investment climate and secure access to formal credit for all enterprises produce benefits for the entire economy. Small firms with higher use of machinery and higher use of domestic inputs displayed a higher likelihood to increase the share of their output exported. SMEs show rising productivity with access and use of appropriate production inputs. Decades of protective size-specific policies, such as the reservation scheme for SMEs still in place in Indonesia’s manufacturing may have distorted, more than supported, adoption of appropriate technologies among SMEs. These policies may need to be revisited and refocused on more size-neutral policies such as improved access to collateral or reduced cost of business registration and licensing.     

Trade and the Effect of Public Investment on Regional Inequalities in Heterogeneously Integrated Areas

Regional integration, it is argued, challenges the distribution of economic activity among regions. However, the government role in shifting the patterns of regional inequalities is still under debate and has received small comprehensive empirical evidence. This paper examines the hypothesis of trade as channelling public investment and, thus, perpetuating regional inequalities. We argue that the interplay of public and private investment plays a key role in stimulating trade and economic activity. To avoid problems of cross‐country heterogeneity and comparability this study examines data for two countries; Mexico and Spain, both followers of trade integration arrangements. Findings indicate that regional inequalities in Mexico are significantly explained by differences in export capacity serving to boost private investment whereas inequalities in Spain are appreciably driven by previous endowments and private capital formation.     

Managing the Next Generation of Sales,Gen Z/Millennial Cusp: An Exploration of Grit,Entrepreneurship, and Loyalty

Purpose: The current study explores the latest generation of the workforce, Generation Z/Millennial cusp, and the loyalty concerns hiring managers’ experience. The authors explore how the characteristics of entrepreneurship and grit can potentially impact employee loyalty to an organization.

Methodology/approach: A content analysis using responses from 51 hiring managers and their views of the advantages and challenges of hiring from the millennial generation yielded patterns focused on grit, loyalty, and entrepreneurship.

Findings: Based on the feedback from hiring managers using a grounded theory approach, we propose a conceptual model that includes three constructs that emerged from the analysis: individual entrepreneurship orientation, grit, and loyalty. The results from the content analysis suggest grit moderates the relationship between entrepreneurship and loyalty. The conceptual model proposes sales managers can hire individuals with grit to decreased employee turnover.

Originality/value contribution: This study provides several contributions to the stream of research focused on Generation Z and employee loyalty. First, due to the changing demographic of the workforce, sales managers need to hire and retain younger sales professional that have different expectations; therefore, thinking differently of their hiring process. Second, the study creates an exploratory discussion that can help sales managers evaluate future talent for their organization. Sales managers may evaluate an applicant’s “grittiness” vs. those who are more entrepreneurial in spirit in order to retain those sales professionals long term.     

Welfare-theoretical analyses of the brain drain

The paper reviews and synthesises the theoretical analyses of the brain drain in the earlier literature and in the present symposium in the Journal on the subject. Static analysis and dynamic analysis are distinguished, critical issues are raised relating to how welfare changes should be discussed in the context of migration, and possibilities of fruitful future research are outlined.     

Warfare, fiscal capacity, and performance

We exploit differences in casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to estimate the impact of fiscal capacity on economic performance. In the past, states fought different amounts of external conflicts, of various lengths and magnitudes. To raise the revenues to wage wars, states made fiscal innovations, which persisted and helped to shape current fiscal institutions. Economic historians claim that greater fiscal capacity was the key long-run institutional change brought about by historical conflicts. Using casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to instrument for current fiscal institutions, we estimate substantial impacts of fiscal capacity on GDP per worker. The results are robust to a broad range of specifications, controls, and sub-samples.