Circular economy and sustainability: The role of organizational behaviour in the transition journey

Implementing circular economy (CE) requires complex and dynamic changes in technical and behavioural aspects. Few studies spend efforts to understand the organizational behavioural side of CE transition. Thus, this study proposes a theoretical framework that addresses the requirements for the transition towards CE from the organizational perspective. We conducted a systematic review aiming to identify the relations between CE and organizational culture. As a result, we developed a theoretical framework composed of five building blocks (mindsets, values, behaviours, capabilities and competences) that guide the transition towards a CE-oriented culture aiming to achieve sustainability in business. We also identified several gaps for future researches. We concluded that the framework could enrich the literature discussion in the field and be used by practitioners for the identification of paths to implement CE from the organizational culture perspective. In addition, the use of this framework could lead to the achievement of the sustainable development.     

Impact of high‐growth start‐ups on entrepreneurial environment based on the level of national economic development

In this paper, we examine the relationship between the conditions of the entrepreneurial environment and high‐potential entrepreneurship according to the stage of economic development of the country. A structural equation model was designed based on data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project, which contains information about 62 countries. Our results suggest that economic development and high‐potential entrepreneurship have a greater impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem than entrepreneurial activity in general—with special effects on government programs, R&D transfer, and access to the domestic market. Notably, the level of influence of sustainable economic development and high‐potential entrepreneurship depends on the level of economic development of the country.     

Looking good or feeling good? The dual role of the body in the taste transformation process

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the process of taste transformation in body-centered consumption fields and the role of the body in this process. Although previous studies have investigated taste acquisition, the body is still commonly understood only as the enactor of the practices in this process. By analyzing the context of healthy living, this study identifies the body as a lived-in trigger of taste transformation and the main place where change unfolds. It demonstrates how, after taste transformation, the body becomes a lived-in enactor of practices that display mastery of the tenets of a taste regime but is still captured in normative systems that animate the desire for change. The findings reveal that the body is both situated in normative beauty systems and an embodied enactor of practices and that by unveiling its dual role, it allows individuals to navigate distinction-over and distinction-between.     

Saving rates and portfolio choice with subsistence consumption

We analytically show that a common across rich/poor individuals Stone-Geary utility function with subsistence consumption in the context of a simple two-asset portfolio-choice model is capable of qualitatively and quantitatively explaining: (i) the higher saving rates of the rich, (ii) the higher fraction of personal wealth held in risky assets by the rich, and (iii) the higher volatility of consumption of the wealthier. On the contrary, time-variant “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” weighted average consumption which plays the role of moving benchmark subsistence consumption gives the same portfolio composition and saving rates across the rich and the poor, failing to reconcile the model with what micro data say.     

The boomerang effect of mandatory sanitary messages to prevent obesity

A variety of prevention measures are being adopted to counter obesity. One of them is to include health sanitary messages on advertisements for food products. We tested the efficacy of this type of measure in an experimental study with 131 participants who were randomly exposed to an advertisement for a hedonic product containing or not a sanitary message. Implicit memory representations (priming protocol), explicit attitudes (questionnaire) and a behavioral measure of food choice (healthy versus unhealthy snack) were collected. Results showed that participants associated negative concepts more easily to the product when the advertisement was presented without the sanitary message, while there were no differences in the explicit attitudes. Moreover, the choice of a healthy snack doubled in the absence of sanitary message. Contrary to its objectives, the obesity prevention sanitary message fills in consumers’ need for justification leading to a greater acceptability of the advertised product and increased choice of an unhealthy snack.     

Yield Spread and Term to Maturity: Default vs. Liquidity

The aim of this paper is the analysis of the yield spreads between Treasury and non–Treasury Spanish fixed income assets and its relationship with the term to maturity. We find a downward sloping term structure of yield spreads for investment–grade bonds that seems to be contrary to the 'crisis at maturity' theory. However, we claim that this outcome is caused mainly by the effect of liquidity on yield spreads. Once the effect of liquidity and other factors are removed we find that there is a positive relationship between default premiums and term to maturity. That result is now consistent with the existing literature.     

Some results on residual entropy function

Ebrahimi and Pellerey (1995) and Ebrahimi (1996) proposed the Shannon residual entropy function as a useful dynamic measure of uncertainty. They studied the characterization problem from the residual entropy. They also used this function to define a stochastic order and two classes of distributions, DURL and IURL. In this paper, we obtain some new results on this function and we correct some mistakes in the preceding literature.Supported by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia under grant BFM2000-0362Acknowledgements. We thank two anonymous referees for some useful comments that led to an improvement in the presentation of this paper.     

Evolución de la capacidad tecnológica en México. Aplicación del análisis estadístico multivariante de cluster

This paper conducts an analysis on the existence of state clusters related with technological capabilities in Mexico. An empirical study was conducted using the technique of multivariate statistical cluster analysis, based on the set of indicators proposed by Cepal (2007), collecting data from various public sources country for 2006 and 2012 in order to study the time evolution of such clusters, trying to see what states have been moving to a cluster located in positions more which have advanced and retreated over the period. The results show the existence of 7 groups of states characterized by different technological capabilities, plus states are identified in decline and progress, both in terms of absorptive capacity and innovation, and in relation to the technological infrastructure capabilities.     

‘Chariots of fire’: the evolution of tank technology, 1915–1945

We reconsider the notion of technological trajectories by means of a detailed case-study of the evolution of tank technology between 1915 and 1945. We use principal component analysis to analyze the distribution of technical characteristics and how they map into specific service characteristics. We find that, despite the existence of differences in technical leadership, tank designs of different countries show a high degree of overlap and closeness along a common technological trajectory. In the conclusions, we speculate on whether this pattern can be explained by common heuristics that influenced the rate and direction of design activities or by doctrinal viewpoints influencing the development and use of tanks in the battlefield.