Duopoly Pricing Under ‘Private Knowledge’ of Product Differentiation

This note studies price decisions in a duopoly industry where firms have private information over the degree of product differentiation (product-type). A Bayesian-Nash price solution is derived assuming firms maximize their ??certainty-equivalent?? profit levels. The comparative-statics indicate that increased risk aversion over the rival??s product triggers price competition. Consequently, the results of the study suggest revealing information is a higher reward strategy than concealing information in situations where rivals have asymmetric information over product type. These findings contribute to the industrial economic literature by generalizing the Bertrand equilibrium in an asymmetric information game model.     

The Influence of Managerial Ownership on Bank Market Value,Performance, and Risk: Evidence from Banks Listed on the Stoxx Global Index

We follow agency theory to assess the influence of managerial ownership on the market value, performance, and risk of 123 listed banks in 23 countries included in the STOXX Global Index in 2007 and 2010. After controlling for bank characteristics, regulatory restrictions, and macroeconomic conditions, our findings show a positive relation between managerial ownership and both market value (Tobin's Q) and performance (ROA and ROE). Moreover, we find a negative relation between managerial ownership and risk (EDF, NPL/L, and Z‐SCORE). Bank market value and performance is a non‐linear, inverse U‐shaped function of managerial ownership. The negative relation between managerial ownership and bank risk is also non‐linear and U‐shaped. Our results remain robust to reverse causality. In their effort to immunize the global financial system from systemic risks, central banks and practitioners should find our results relevant for regulation purposes.     

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT,STRUCTURAL CHANGE AND NATURAL RESOURCE BOOMS: A STRUCTURALIST PERSPECTIVE

In this paper we present a structuralist two‐sector model on economic development, structural change and natural resource booms. We describe a multiple equilibria scenario, in which manufacturing development is the main source of economic progress. Natural resource booms, by modifying the productive structure of the economy, may set destabilizing forces. De‐industrialization processes may take place, confining developing countries in poverty traps. Public intervention in the economic sphere, both through short‐run macro policies and through long‐run development strategies, may help to free the economy from poverty traps and to foster the development process.     

The relationship of perception of time and attributes of leisure in daily experiences

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between perceived passage of time (slowly versus quickly) and perceived freedom, enjoyment, interest and subjective meaning of leisure in daily experiences of married couples. Eleven college-age married couples participated in this study. Data were collected using experience sampling method that produced a total of 650 self-reports. Couples were signalled at random five times a day for one week. Using logistic regression results suggest that some leisure attributes are more relevant in influencing perception of passage of time in husbands' and wives' daily experiences.     

Performance in franchising: the effects of different management styles

Various theoretical approaches uphold the relevance of the relationship between the form of management and performance. Different management styles influence the relationships of agencies [Jensen, M.C. (1998). Foundations of organizational strategy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], the cost of governing transactions [Williamson, O.E. (1985). The economics institutions of capitalism: Firms, markets, relational contracting. New York, NY: Free Press], and the allocation of resources between the exploitation and exploration of activities [March, J.G. (1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organization Science, 2(1), 71–87], and this is manifested in firm performance. In light of these assumptions, this article presents an empirical verification of the relationship between the management of franchises and their performance, examining how different styles of management on the part of franchisers over their franchisees have significant effects on the growth and profits of franchiser firms.     

Effort optimisation in artisanal fisheries with multiple management objectives,collective quotas and heterogeneous fleets*

In this study, we analyse effort optimisation in common rights‐based joint‐stock artisanal fisheries when several objectives are pursued by the authorities and the fleets are heterogeneous. The purpose is to discuss policy options available to the authorities and their implications in terms of trade‐offs between goals. We apply a multi‐objective programming model to the sardine and anchovy artisanal fisheries in central southern Chile. The results suggest that the regulatory system generates inefficient solutions for profit and employment maximisation goals. Moreover, the fleet structure of the artisanal organisations is central for the outcomes obtained by different policy simulations. To improve effort assignment, the authorities should seek to increase flexibility in the system.     

Environmental strategy and exports in medium,small and micro-enterprises

Growing corporate internationalization and the emergence of environmental concerns are two of the main trends in the business world. This paper analyzes whether strategies for environmental protection can help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they internationalize their activities through exports. Personal interviews were conducted with 123 general managers of exporting SMEs from the Spanish food industry. The results show a relationship between advanced environmental strategies and export intensity for the sampled firms. However, the size of firm plays a role in this relationship, as the relationship between advanced environmental strategies and exports is stronger with an increase in the size of the SMEs. Authors discuss implications of these results for practitioners and future research.     

A Note on Distributive Equity and Social Efficiency

This note proposes a social welfare function (SWF) where most functions, such as the Benthamite or the Rawlsian functions, found in the literature can be considered particular cases. Moreover, the SWF propounded let us obtain compromises or balances between the welfare criteria of social efficiency and distributive equity. The level of compromise or balance is established with the help of a simple and operational parameter.     

A natural science approach to investigate cross-cultural managerial creativity

As the relative effectiveness of physical resources decreases toward parity with rivals due to their fungibility, the firm's marketplace position, established by managers with a particular set of inter-culturally attuned set of personal values, may be the key antecedent in creating competitive strength in the firm. The research question addressed is how creative are culturally diverse managers; are managers from certain countries more creative than adaptive?We tested hypotheses in a cross-cultural setting based on the survey responses of 1365 managers operating in eight countries located in four culturally diverse regions of the world.Our study shows that managers are both creative and adaptive but the mixture of creative and adaptive behaviour varies depending on region and country and even within countries. Furthermore, the results confirm that creativity among managers in some countries is similar but large differences also exist between countries.