Do independent directors protect shareholder value?

The present global financial crisis has revived the notion that competitive markets may lead some directors and executives to behave in opportunistic ways considered unethical and even illegal, through the pursuit of self‐interest. This article proposes and tests an integrated model that offers new insights into the relationship between board structure, independence and firm value. By incorporating the proportion of independent directors on the board as a moderating factor in this relationship, this study contributes to a better understanding of the entrenchment and convergence‐of‐interests hypotheses. Using empirical data obtained from 114 Spanish listed companies in a context of economic crisis, from 2007 to 2010, we conclude that having a board with a greater proportion of independent directors reduces the negative association existing between firm value and a large board size and significant board share ownership.     

Corporate social responsibility perception in business students as future managers: a multifactorial analysis

This paper examines undergraduate business students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in cases in which they have not attended any specific course either dealing with CSR or providing training in ethics. A survey was conducted of 535 Spanish business students as future managers. The results show that the stakeholders' perspective deserves a huge attention for those students considering what the keys of business success are. Significant differences in perception were nevertheless identified when a multifactorial analysis was undertaken. Female students are more concerned about CSR issues. The maximization of value for shareholders is less valued by second‐ and third‐year students than by first‐year ones. The findings point to a number of important orientations for the future development of university curriculum.     

Does having women managers lead to increased gender equality practices in corporate social responsibility?

There is increasing interest in determining what impact having women in management positions may have on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Various authors suggest that gender equality practices should be factored into the broader framework of CSR. This paper examines how the presence of women on corporate boards, in top and middle management and as heads of CSR departments, influences gender equality practices in the field of CSR. Using information collected from companies that have signed up to Women's Empowerment Principles in Spain, we show that the presence of women in the aforesaid posts has a positive impact on CSR activities with gender equality objectives. We thus supplement the justice, business and moral arguments with further arguments in support of the incorporation of women into not only corporate boards but all management positions. Finally, we provide a view of how gender equality can be included in the broader framework of CSR.     

Stability analysis and efficiency determinants: empirical evidence

Efficiency determinants analysis is a main contemporary component in the productive efficiency literature. Two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) procedure supposed a turning point in the methodology as the significance of a certain exogenous factor can provide policymakers with accurate information for future strategic decisions, but a deeper scrutiny into the importance of each factor remains unsettled. This article provides a novelty theoretical extension and empirical application for the two-stage DEA bootstrap procedure. We define the stability coefficient (SC) whose magnitude reveals the effect of each exogenous factor in the efficiency estimates. We present empirical evidence to examine the hypothesis that the efficiency of the 17 Spanish tourism regions for the average period data 2005–2013 is determined by a group of contextual variables, illustrating how the SCs strengthen knowledge concerning the significance of each potential attractor. The results help us to classify the significant attractors into strong and weak, accordingly enhancing the public or private decision process, and henceforth avoiding the wastefulness of decision-making units spending.     

Valuación de un producto estructurado de compra sobre el SX5E cuando la incertidumbre de los rendimientos está modelada con procesos log-estables

We report the participation level, we pricing a first generation's European call options on the Eurostoxx structured product, when returns’ uncertainty is modeled by log-stable processes, we present the basic statistics of the index's returns, we estimate the α-estable parameters, and we compare the structured products pricing by the both log-stable and log-Gaussian models using inputs of the debt markets. We conclude that investors get higher returns than debt markets using both models and returns’ differences depend of the participation level and the maturity.     

Dinámica de la inversión extranjera directa en los estados de México: un análisis de cadenas de Markov espaciales

The aim of this investigation is to analyze the evolution of the spatio-temporal distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) across Mexican states. The literature that analizes foreign direct invesment in Mexico is numerous and diverse; however, it is argued that the analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of FDI conditioned to spatial interaction effects in Mexico, is still absence. In this sense, by applying the spatial Markov chain approach as proposed by Rey (2001), we found a divergence process in the FDI inflows among mexican states that seems to get stronger over time. In particular, during the period from 2006 to 2013, the process of divergence towards higher-FDI-inflows quantiles occurs among states spatially associated with neighbors in lower-FDI-quantiles.     

New cross-proposal entrepreneurship and innovation in educational programs in third level (tertiary) education

Capitalism has promoted and requires the growing knowledge of entrepreneurs, creative people who have the ability to solve problems in the form of innovation. The types of enterprises they create can be social, public and private. By creating an enterprising company new products and new production methods can be introduced, new markets are open, new sources of raw materials and inputs are developed and new market structures in an industry are created. Entrepreneurship can be taught, the question is how to do it. Teaching entrepreneurship should go beyond the business plan. It proposes a form that overcomes the mistakes found by the author in two research studies in 2008 and 2014 in the programs of management in Bogotá.     

Evaluación del efecto de la psicología del inversionista en un mercado bursátil artificial mediante su grado de eficiencia

The main objective in this paper is developing a cellular automaton model where interact more than one kind of broker, where the use and exchange of information between the investors explain the complexity through the Hurst coefficient estimation, this, represents an efficient or random market when the value is equal to 0.5. Due to the variants proposed in this research it can be determined that should exist a rational component in the simulator in order to generate an efficient behavior.