Euro money market spreads during the 2007–? financial crisis

In the paper we investigate the empirical features of euro area money market turbulence during the recent financial crisis. By means of a novel Fractionally Integrated Heteroskedastic Factor Vector Autoregressive model, we find evidence of a deterministic level factor in the EURIBOR-OIS (OIS) spreads term structure, associated with the two waves of stress in the interbank market, following the BNP Paribas (9 August 2007) and Lehman Brothers (16 September 2008) “shocks”, and two additional factors, of the long memory type, bearing the interpretation of curvature and slope factors, respectively. The unfolding of the crisis yields a significant increase in their persistence and volatility. We also find evidence of a declining trend in the level and volatility of OIS spreads since December 2008, associated with ECB liquidity policies.     

How financial intermediation impacts on financial stability?

The great financial crisis widened the role of financial intermediation in financial stability. This study develops a new financial intermediation variable, credit cash flow (CCF), which enables measurement of the net financial flow resulting from loan activity. An analysis provides evidence that CCF affects the capital buffer via credit gap behaviour, thus indicating the existence of a channel between the CCF and the capital buffer. Such a link offers the policy-maker the possibility to monitor the behaviour of financial intermediation carried out by banks, in order to avoid the outbreak of financial instability events.     

A study on the attributes involved in the hedonic pricing of Brazilian clothing

The objective of this study is to identify the weighted importance of intrinsic and extrinsic attributes. Intrinsic attributes are defined as the specific features of products. Extrinsic attributes refer to other characteristics that are also important for price composition, such as brand, store layout and services, and purchasing experiences. In a survey with 1,923 collected responses, it was possible to identify and quantify intrinsic and extrinsic influencing factors beyond price strategy in the Brazilian fashion market for blue jeans. The statistical analysis was based on the hedonic price method. The idea of expressing the price based on a series of intrinsic and extrinsic variables avoids the problem of using the regression technique. In this research, multiple linear regression and quantile regression were applied. The results show that extrinsic attributes have greater influence than intrinsic features on explaining the final market prices using log-linear and quantile regression statistical methods.     

Discovering quiescent meanings in technologies: exploring the design management practices that support the development of Technology Epiphanies

In contemporary business and academia, design has been increasingly viewed as an important strategic asset such that several scholars and executives have recently investigated the links among design, innovation and competitive advantage. Indeed, recent and emerging literature streams are exploring the potential contribution design can provide in valorising and differently adopting new or existing technologies [Dell’Era, Marchesi, and Verganti 2010. “Mastering Technologies in Design-Driven Innovation – How Two Italian Companies Made Design a Central Part of their Innovation Process.” Research Technology Management 53 (2): 12–23 Buganza et al. 2015. “Unveiling the Potentialities Provided by New Technologies: A Process to Pursue Technology Epiphanies in the Smartphone App Industry.” Creativity and Innovation Management 24 (3): 391–414]. This paper aims to investigate the design managerial practices able to support Technology Epiphanies, which are defined as the discovery of quiescent meanings in new or existing technologies [Verganti 2009. Design-Driven Innovation. Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean. Boston: Harvard Business Press]. The paper relies on four in-depth case studies developed by both primary and secondary sources: Nintendo, Kartell, Technogym and KUKA Robotics. The paper identifies three design management practices that can guide managers in the development of Technology Epiphanies: interpreting technology as an enabling platform, building double-sided network and accessing new knowledge domains.     

Strategic foresight in corporate organizations: Handling the effect and response uncertainty of technology and social drivers of change

Today many companies in many industries put a lot of efforts into monitoring and investigating emerging drivers of change in their business environment, particularly in relation to new technologies and events in the social, economic, political and ecological landscapes which surround their industry. So far scholars in the literature on foresight and future studies focused on the techniques and practices for analysing the “state” uncertainty about the likely path of evolution of emerging drivers of change. Anyway, less attention was devoted to the “effect” uncertainty about the impact of drivers of change on the competitive position of the firm and to the “response” uncertainty about how to take advantage of these drivers. These are the main issues we take into account, through a field research on firms that, notwithstanding they were able to properly assess the likely evolution (state uncertainty) of relevant drivers of change in their industry, either were successful or dramatically failed in handling the effect and response uncertainty of these drivers. Moreover, we carried out multiple case studies of some large companies that have established an organizational unit dedicated to strategic foresight. Overall, the results of our research may contribute to improve the effectiveness of strategic foresight and to increase its value added to the planning process of corporate firms, while providing helpful insight to public organizations that promote foresight exercises for enhancing the competitiveness of local firms.     

Detecting the relationship between competitive intensity and firm product line length: Evidence from the worldwide mobile phone industry

The way firms lengthen or shorten their product line with respect to rivals is regarded as one of the possible strategies firms can pursue to respond to competition. This article builds and tests hypotheses to study the effect of different levels of competitive intensity on product line length. The empirical analysis of data on 3,527 handset models introduced by 66 mobile phone vendors from 1994 to 2010 shows a consistent inverse U‐shaped relationship between competitive intensity and the firm's product line length. In this way, we pinpoint an interesting link between the product line extension literature and the competitive dynamics and competitive intensity perspectives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

CHARTERS,PARTNERSHIPS AND NATURAL RESOURCES: TWO CASES OF ENDOGENOUS REGULATION IN ITALY

This paper illustrates two examples of natural resources management drawn from Italian history: the rural charter system in the current province of Trento and the rural partnership system in Nonantola in the province of Modena. These institutions lasted for many centuries, and survived and evolved in the contemporary legal system. It is concluded that both the cases can be defined as ‘robust’ institutions for the successful management of common pool resources.     

Selection,Heterogeneity, and Entry in Professional Markets

We analyze two different cases of entry regulation in professional markets: first, when licensing is a requirement for becoming a professional (lawyers); second, when entry and price restrictions are applied on a geographical basis (pharmacists). Both cases are investigated within a circular model of localized competition and heterogeneous players. The analysis reveals that licensing introduces a selection mechanism which is effective in preventing entry of inefficient players in markets with large ex ante heterogeneity. Furthermore, because in the second case excessive entry is reduced as the degree of heterogeneity increases, our analysis lends support to a policy that simultaneously relaxes entry and price restrictions.     

What do women want? Female suffrage and the size of government

The economic literature has attributed part of the increase in government expenditure over the 20th century to female voting. This is puzzling, considering that the political science literature has documented that women tended to be more conservative than men over the first half of the 20th century. We argue that the current estimates of this relationship are afflicted by endogeneity bias. Using data for 46 countries and a novel set of instruments related to the diffusion of female suffrage across the globe, we find that, on average, the introduction of female suffrage did not increase either social expenditures or total government expenditure.     

Toward sustainable corporate behavior: The effect of the critical mass of female directors on environmental,social, and governance disclosure

Boards of directors have recently become more attentive to their stakeholders' concerns, providing more transparent information and adopting more sustainable business strategies. This study investigates the influence of a critical mass of women on boards on the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure score and its three components separately. Using a sample of the FTSE-MIB listed companies in the 2005–2017 period, we show that reaching a critical mass of female board members—going from one or two women to at least three—enhances the level of ESG disclosure. The results also show that the critical mass of female board members has a positive influence on every component of the ESG score, with the highest contribution of women reaching the governance score. These findings provide insights to shareholders and policymakers and suggest that a critical mass of female board members is particularly effective in improving transparency, and it can be seen as a mechanism to transit to stakeholder governance, fostering more sustainable behavior in firms.