The role of mutual funds in the sustainable energy sector

The integration of renewable energy criteria in mutual fund investment decisions could channel private resources into the funding of environmentally related projects implemented by firms contributing to sustainable development. This paper examines the performance of European renewable energy funds that invest globally by comparing their risk‐adjusted returns with those achieved by black energy and conventional mutual funds. It uses Carhart's model on a sample of 81 renewable energy funds, 125 black energy funds, and 4,337 conventional mutual funds. The results indicate that 32.1% of renewable mutual funds—most of which adopt energy producers, renewable energy technology, and energy efficiency‐focused criteria—perform significantly better than the S&P Clean Energy market benchmark, this percentage being affected by the different states of the economy. However, none of them are able to beat the fossil fuel energy (S&P Global 1200 Energy Index) or conventional market benchmarks (S&P Global 1200 Index). Furthermore, 37.04% of renewable energy funds significantly underperform the S&P Global 1200 benchmark. Therefore, the investment in renewable energy funds has a financial cost for investors in relation to conventional fund investors.     

The resource‐based theory: dissemination and main trends

Papers published on the resource‐based theory (RBT) have made clear its widespread application, heterogeneity, and usefulness as a strategic approach. This paper empirically analyzes the assumptions underlying the theory from an inductive perspective. The paper differs from previous works by identifying the main trends within the theory and by noting their diffusion among the leading management‐oriented journals. Three main trends are shown to coexist within RBT: the resource‐based view, the knowledge‐based view, and the relational view. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family model of contributions to non-profit organizations and labour supply

In this article a model is presented in which the family decides the labour supply of both spouses and their time donations to non-profit organizations. For the estimation, Spanish data was used which showed that family size and pre-school children influence decisions made about time distribution of husband and wife. Women with fewer family responsibilities work longer hours and donate more time, whilst the effect on men is the contrary. Also, monetary donations by the family are directly related to time donations by the spouses.     

Culture As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Service Quality And The Tourist'S Satisfaction With Different Distribution Channels

The present research analyzes the influence of culture on the relationship between each of the dimensions of service quality and tourists' satisfaction with the distribution channel, differentiating between travel agencies and the Internet. More specifically, the research seeks to understand the influence of the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and individualism/collectivism on the relationship between each of the dimensions of service quality and satisfaction, depending on the medium through which the service is purchased. The sample was made up of 600 tourists. Of these, 300 tourists (150 Spanish and 150 English) had purchased hotel accommodation for their last holiday via a travel agency, and the other 300 (150 Spanish and 150 English) had purchased hotel accommodation for their last holiday via the Internet. The findings indicate that there are variations in the relationships between each of the dimensions of service quality and satisfaction, and that these variations are shaped by the cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and individualism/collectivism.     

The economics and implications of moratoria on tourism accommodation development as a rejuvenation tool in mature tourism destinations

This paper fills a literature gap on the economic rationale and implications of moratoria on accommodation development in mature tourism destinations. Moratoria are government-led capacity controls, which reduce market competition and seek to create economic rents. The paper provides a comprehensive set of economic foundations justifying the enactment of moratoria in situations characterised by over-capacity, low profitability, little innovation, environmental damage, strategic behaviour and sectoral imbalances. It notes that the implementation of these controls could be related to regulatory capture, rent seeking and clientelism. While capacity controls can restrain tourism over-expansion and can help fix some of its undesirable consequences, they may lead to multiple and varied unforeseen effects on the rejuvenation process and on the rest of the economy, issues also addressed in the paper. Moratoria relate to the concept of de-growth, which is a highly contested area of discussion. A moratorium does not ensure renovation of private and public capital or maintain the natural environment. It may give rise to detrimental strategies by firms, opening up room for corruption. To be effective, a moratorium must be accompanied by complementary policies, besides being coherently embodied in a broader tourism and regional rejuvenation strategy.     

Pollution standards, technology investment and fines for non-compliance

In this paper, we analyze whether it is socially desirable that fines for exceeding pollution standards depend not only on the degree of non-compliance but also on technology investment efforts by the polluting firms. For that purpose, we consider a partial equilibrium framework where a representative firm chooses the investment effort and the pollution level in response to an environmental policy composed of a pollution standard, an inspection probability and a fine for non-compliance. We find that the fine should strictly decrease with the investment effort when (i) there are administrative costs of sanctioning; (ii) the optimal policy induces non-compliance; and (iii) either the fine is sufficiently convex in the degree of non-compliance or the investment effort decreases marginal abatement costs significantly.     

Organisation of R&D departments as determinant of innovation: testing alternative explanations

This study sheds light on understanding the effect of two organisational variables, formalisation and communication, on innovation. The prevailing belief that formalisation hinders innovation while communication fosters it seems too simplistic. Therefore, we explore two possible explanations in such relationships: (1) the effect of organisational variables on innovation may be conditioned by the type of innovation (radical vs incremental) and (2) the possibility to find a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped relationship, instead of linear, between these two organisational variables and innovation. This empirical study has been undertaken in R&D departments, considering a sample of Spanish companies belonging to different innovative industries. The results show that the relationship between formalisation and innovative performance is negative when innovation radicalness is low, while it is positive when radicalness is high. On the contrary, the relationship between communication and innovative performance is linear and positive. The existence of a curvilinear relationship, then, could not be demonstrated.     

Quality of Imports Relative to Exports,and the Transmission of Sustained Growth through the Terms of Trade

Abstract

This paper shows that an economy can import sustained growth, in spite of not possessing mechanisms to absorb foreign knowledge. To do that, it develops a two-country model of exogenous growth with investment-specific technological change. In autarky, one country sustainably grows while the other economy remains stagnant. In the trade situation, the quality-adjusted terms of trade become increasingly favourable to the second economy, which results in the transmission of growth. The continuous improvement in the quality of imported capital goods relative to exported consumption goods is the reason why this occurs. Moreover, this mechanism leads to convergence in per capita income if trade involves incomplete specialisation.     

Privatisation and Franchising of British Train Operations

The Railways Act 1993 privatised the British railways industry resulting in the separation of ownership and control of the railway infrastructure (track, signals and stations) from that of passenger train operations. The Great North Eastern Railway (GNER), a major train operator, was unable to meet its contractual obligations shortly after successfully re‐tendering for its second franchise. By referring to the organisational form and structure of the franchising process, this paper discusses the main financial and operational problems that specifically contributed to the collapse of GNER. In particular, the paper argues that the fragmented structure of privatised train operations, the lack of industry coordination and the inherent problems of franchising an essential transport service explain the demise of GNER and have undermined the general objectives of railway privatisation. Overall, the paper highlights that privatisation of train services has failed to deliver both travelling benefits for the public and financial benefits to the state.     

Assessing the impact of organizational learning and innovation on performance in cultural organizations

• Product innovation, technological innovation and organizational innovations are the key to helping cultural organizations achieve their social mission and achieve efficiency. This innovation strategy and the outcomes depend on introducing learning orientation into the organization. The current work analyses the relationship between learning orientation, innovativeness and performance for the case of 386 British, French and Spanish museums. Findings indicate that learning orientation significantly influences both innovativeness and performance. Further, whereas technological and organizational innovations are related to economic performance, product innovations have a greater impact on social performance.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.