Structural models of complementary choices

This article reviews the rapidly growing literature on structural models of complementary choices. It discusses recent modeling developments and identifies promising areas for future research.     

Concurrent sourcing,governance mechanisms,and performance outcomes in industrial value chains

We examine transaction governance in the context of concurrent sourcing, where a manufacturer relies on sourcing from external suppliers and in‐house production simultaneously. Our focus is on (1) a buyer's use of particular safeguards or governance mechanisms vis‐à‐vis an external supplier and (2) how the effects of these mechanisms on various performance outcomes are influenced by the joint presence of an internal manufacturing branch. We conduct two studies in the apparel industry and show that performance outcomes are a joint function of (1) the individual governance mechanisms that are deployed in a particular relationship and (2) the larger sourcing context (concurrent or singular). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Constructing the Economy: The Role of Construction Sector in India’s Growth

On empirically examining the importance of construction sector in propelling economic growth rate in India, the study has found that in the presence of the dominant influence of capital stock, the impact of the construction sector gets blurred or neutralized. Once capital stock is dropped from the model, the construction sector emerges as a significant determinant of economic growth, while other financial variables such as interest rate and non-food bank credit including the financial liberalization dummy do not play significant roles in economic growth. However, from an investigation of the impact of the construction sector on economic growth through the channel of employment, it is seen that the construction sector might be impacting the growth rate through increasing employment and thereby increasing the aggregate output in the economy.     

Equipment-related injuries in agriculture: an international perspective

Injuries related to agricultural equipment are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, in both high-income and low-income countries. Tractors are most often associated with severe injuries and fatalities. All age groups sustain injuries. Injuries to children are also prevalent because the sites of agricultural work overlap homes in rural areas. In the majority of papers reviewed, preventive methods are mostly targeted at behaviour modification and effective medical facilities, whereas only a few authors have highlighted design changes and passive measures for injury control. The effectiveness of suggested interventions is not discussed in the majority of papers except those related to roll-over protection structures, fodder cutting machines and thresher safety devices.     

On the relationship between female labour force participation and fertility in G7 countries: evidence from panel cointegration and Granger causality

This article examines the relationship between the female labour force participation rate and total fertility rate for the G7 countries from 1960 to 2006 using panel unit root, panel cointegration, Granger causality and long-run structural estimation. The article’s main findings are that the female labour force participation rate and total fertility rate are cointegrated for the panel of G7 countries; that long-run Granger causality runs from the total fertility rate to the female labour force participation rate and that a 1% increase in the total fertility rate results in a 0.4% decrease in the female labour force participation rate for the G7 countries.     

Mobile banking in a developing economy: A customer-centric model for policy formulation

India needs inclusive growth to pull millions out of poverty. Despite the best efforts of mainstream financial institutions, financial exclusion is depriving millions of poor any chance to attain adequate standard of living. Telecommunication infrastructure growth especially mobile phone penetration has created an opportunity for providing financial inclusion. The current state of mobile banking is characterized by a top-down approach. This paper presents a bottom-up approach of designing mobile banking service which would be acceptable and accessible to the poor customers. The results point to clear preference of the urban poor for a joint bank–telecom led mobile banking model. Conjoint analysis of the data points to preference for attributes related to security/safety of a bank along with the coverage, accessibility and nimbleness of a telecom service provider with minimal documentation. The paper in its conclusion exhorts the regulators, telecom service providers and financial institutions to involve end-users in order to create a sustainable mobile banking service for financial inclusion.     

CEO's empathy and salience of socioemotional wealth in family SMEs – The moderating role of external directors

A focus on preserving socioemotional wealth may influence entrepreneurial activities in family firms. In this paper, we identify the emotion of empathy in the family CEO as an antecedent of socioemotional wealth creation. We argue that the presence of one or more external directors can have a direct as well as moderating influence on the relationship between CEO's empathy and the salience of socioemotional wealth to the family CEO. Our empirical tests confirm these hypotheses. Several areas of future research are suggested to incorporate empathy and other emotions in family business studies.     

Reversing the Logic: The Path to Profitability through Relationship Marketing

Many firms have experienced greater success through implementing relationship marketing strategies. This is achieved by gaining knowledge about their own customers through database marketing and about the general marketplace through marketing research. Over time, this has led firms to adopt a general framework which we call the conventional path to profitability. This conventional framework suggests that new product innovation leads to acquisition, acquisition combined with a rich experience leads to satisfaction, satisfaction leads to loyalty and customer retention, and loyalty/retention leads to profitability. However, we show that some of the links in the framework are weak based on both academic research and marketplace realities. Consequently, we reverse the logic of the conventional path to profitability. We introduce a new approach that starts the customer relationship management strategy with customer profitability and the notion that different customers should be rewarded and satisfied differently. In addition, we outline a strategy that relationship marketing firms can implement, leading to higher levels of customer profitability and offer directions for future research.     

ARE OUTPUT FLUCTUATIONS TRANSITORY? NEW EVIDENCE FROM 24 CHINESE PROVINCES

Abstract. The fact that an occurrence of a unit root in real output is inconsistent with the notion that business cycles are stationary fluctuations around a deterministic trend makes this an important topic for empirical investigation. We examine this issue for 24 Chinese provinces using the recently developed Lagrange multiplier panel unit root test which allows for a structural break. Our main finding is that real gross domestic product (GDP) and real GDP per capita for Chinese provinces are stationary fluctuations around a deterministic trend.