The effects of low internal integration between purchasing and operations on suppliers’ resource mobilization

A company that suffers from low internal integration between corporate functions performs worse than its more integrated competitors, leaving it in a position of competitive disparity. This paper reports on an investigation of the effects of internal integration between purchasing and operations on the mobilization of supplier resources. Low internal integration generates uncoordinated operations and purchasing behaviors that negatively affect supplier resource mobilization. We find that the lack of operations support for eight major purchasing initiatives in a construction company negatively affects supplier resource mobilization, resulting in poor exchange outcomes for the suppliers. Furthermore, different types of uncoordinated behaviors affect suppliers’ resource mobilization in diverse negative ways. Based on the results, we offer a categorization of diverse types of supplier mobilization activities and offer several managerial implications for both buyers and suppliers.     

How to predict transfer of training? Investigating the application of the unified model of task-specific motivation

Transfer motivation is an important factor influencing transfer of training. However, earlier research often did not investigate transfer motivation as a multidimensional construct. The unified model of task-specific motivation (UMTM) takes into account that (transfer) motivation is multidimensional by including both affective and cognitive motivational components and their antecedents. Prior research has provided evidence that the UMTM can predict self-reported transfer of training, but is unclear whether it also can predict transfer reported by expert external raters. Moreover, it is unclear whether controlling for prior knowledge matters for the relationship between transfer motivation and transfer of training. This study improves on existing research by accounting for both of these gaps in the literature. Data were collected among 299 participants who filled in a questionnaire about the UMTM components directly after attending a writing training. They also handed in written documents before, and 6 weeks after the training, which were rated on transfer by trainers. Outcomes showed that components of the UMTM positively predict externally reported transfer when prior knowledge was controlled for. The outcomes imply that the UMTM has predictive value for transfer of training and points out which factors influence whether transfer does or does not occur.     

Improving the Quality of CAP Strategic Planning through Enhancing the Role of Agricultural Economics

Extending strategic planning to the full range of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) interventions could improve the impacts of this controversial public policy. Science, particularly agricultural economics, can play a role in improving the quality of planning and implementation of a reformed CAP. The preparation of Member States' Strategic Plans (SP) is rather formalistic, while the plans are not very rigorously designed. A major weakness is related to the CAP's political-economic characteristics and lies in the selection and definition of interventions: financially strong but poorly targeted interventions tend to be pre-fixed, which prevents a stronger focus on the results and quality of planning. The intervention logic functions as a black box, as the links between policy priorities and interventions are merely implied, with no clear, evidence-based links. Therefore, European decision makers should re-examine the concept of CAP SP and especially improve a support system and capacity building for SP designers. Greater involvement of academic research and scientific methods and tools in the preparation, monitoring and evaluation of plans, could significantly improve the quality of planning. This would require increased investment in research and dialogue among representatives of academia, government and the nongovernmental sector.     

‘ALL EYES ON ME’: The (In)Formal Barriers to Market Trade in Europe

Studies of marketplaces in the global North have often conceptualized markets as important public spaces of social encounter and conviviality where visitors, regardless of race, age, class or gender, feel they have an equal right to be. Yet comparatively little has been written about how inclusive European marketplaces are for the traders who (want to) work there. In this article we argue that the common conception of marketplaces as accessible to everyone, and as vehicles of socioeconomic mobility, is oversimplistic and romanticized. We draw on empirical data from marketplaces in four European countries to focus on the more or less informal ways in which markets are regulated by managers and traders themselves, and on the exclusionary and inclusionary effects of this process that may ultimately determine traders’ access to and success in these markets. This article not only challenges dominant conceptions of marketplaces as accessible and inclusive, but also addresses prevalent stereotypes about economic practices in the global North and assumptions about the ways in which these differ from practices in the global South.     

Do tax subsidies for retirement saving affect total private saving? New evidence on middle-income workers*

We exploit exogenous variation from a pension reform in Denmark to estimate the effect of tax subsidies on total private saving. We present new evidence on individuals in the middle of the income distribution and show that a reduction in tax subsidies for retirement saving reduces total private saving. The reform changed the tax incentives for saving in the pension scheme that holds the highest tax advantage for middle-income workers in Denmark. We find that for each unit of reduced saving in this pension scheme, only 64 percent is substituted to other types of saving.     

Entrepreneurial metacognition: a study on nascent entrepreneurs

This paper contributes to uncovering the role of metacognition in the decision-making process of entrepreneurs. Specifically, we analyze nascent entrepreneurs in their process of start-up development while relying on metacognitive processes. The experiences of a sample of new venture initiatives are explored in two distinct phases, a start-up competition and the subsequent launch of their venture. Following the Gioia protocol, the study contextualizes the process in which social capital reinforces metacognitive processes. This process stimulates nascent entrepreneurs to consider alternatives, such as extending expertise outside the start-up. Moreover, we find that these processes support entrepreneurs and their teams in improving their decision-making processes. The findings support that nascent entrepreneurs rely heavily on the input of others in their start-up creation process, and contribute to new empirical insights about entrepreneurial metacognition. A dynamic model in which these relationships emerge is developed. The study’s results contribute to a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of metacognitive processes in nascent entrepreneurship.