Mutual fund flows and investors’ expectations in BRICS economies: Implications for international diversification

This paper empirically examines the relationship between different classes of mutual funds, measures of investors’ expectations and business cycle movements in the BRICS markets over the 1996Q1-2017Q3 period. Applying the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model in a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) setting, the results suggest a strong causal relationship between mutual fund flows and measures of investors’ future expectations. In particular, fund flows are forward-looking and assist in forecasting real economic conditions. Moreover, investors choose to invest in riskier funds when economic conditions are good, while they prefer safer options in poor economic situations. These findings have important implications for international diversification.     

Technology valuation of a scanning probe microscope developed at a university in a developing country

Precompetitive technology (PT) refers to devices, equipment, software or processes primarily developed at universities in developing countries for research or teaching as a result of externally financed projects contracted between the university institutes, centers or faculties and industry. PT is generally embodied in the form of laboratory prototypes and is licensed via technology transfer (TT) contracts between the university and external funding agencies or other interested parties. In the process of defining the terms of a TT contract, a fundamental question arises: what is the monetary value of a precompetitive technology? In this paper we present a methodology for PT valuation based on the identification of specific value points (SVP) related to its development. The four-step method includes the definition of a PT value range based on cost and market approaches, expected incomes, present value and scoring in order to determine the relative weights of the primary aspects of the intellectual capital behind the technology. The valuation methodology is applied to the specific example of a scanning probe microscope (SPM) developed at the Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).     

Adaptiveness in Virtual Teams: Organisational Challenges and Research Directions

Computer supported teams are capturing the attention of academics and practitioners as organisations increasingly put them into practice as virtual teams. The practical relevance of current research into computer supported teams could be increased if greater attention is paid to organisational challenges as they form the context within which virtual teamwork takes place. A model of organisational challenges mapped against processes of adaptation is developed to highlight principle factors affecting virtual teams. A sample of current research groups studying computer-supported teams is plotted onto this map to reveal the extent to which current research addresses these contextual factors. From this map insights are distilled with respect to what is known and is not known about virtual teams. This paper concludes with specific research needs in the study of virtual teams.     

Trade Expansion of China and India: Threat or Opportunity?

By exploring the export performances and specialisation patterns of China and India, we assess their trade competitiveness and complementarity vis-à-vis each other as well as with the rest of the world. Our analysis indicates that (a) India faces tough competition from China in the third markets especially in clothing, textiles and leather products; (b) there is a moderate potential for expanding trade between the two countries; (c) China poses a challenge for the East Asian economies, the US, and most European countries especially in medium-technology industries; (d) India appears to be a competitor mainly for its neighbouring South Asian countries; (e) complementarity exists between the imports of China and India, and the exports of the US, some European states and East Asian countries, especially Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, implying opportunities for trade expansion; and finally (f) the export structure of China is changing with the exports of skill-intensive and high-technology products increasing and those of labour-intensive products decreasing gradually. This suggests that challenges created by China in traditional labour-intensive products might reduce in the long run.     

Economic implications of alternative mill mud management options in the Australian sugar industry

Sugar mills produce a range of byproducts during the process of extracting sugar from cane. Mill mud is one of the byproducts produced in significant volume. The practice of spreading mill mud onto cane fields close by the mill has been the primary means of disposing of mill mud for many years. The continued application of mill mud at high rates, without appropriate recognition of its nutrient content, the soil condition, crop nutrient requirements, slope of the land, or proximity of application sites to environmentally sensitive areas has raised a number of concerns in recent years, including overfertilization, heavy‐metal contamination, leaching, and offsite impacts from drainage to waterways. This study develops a regional mathematical programming model to determine optimal rates of mill mud application for various soil types and distances from the mill in the Mackay region in central Queensland, Australia. The optimal application rate of mill mud varies according to soil type and by distance from the mill. Lower rates of mill mud application are economically desirable at greater distances from the mill. However, when the cost of mill mud application is shared between growers and the mill operator, the optimal application rates are reduced at some locations while increasing at others.     

The Dynamics of Negotiation in a Global Inter-Organizational Network: Findings from the Air Transport and Travel Industry

Networks of interdependent organizations, also known as network-based businesses, are being shaped by many forces. In supporting negotiations between the airlines and travel agencies locked in a principle/agent relationship wrought with tension, this paper uncovers the dynamics of negotiating in a global inter-organizational network. It provides guidelines for supporting such negotiations. Networks, as a form of interorganizational co-ordination, are becoming increasingly predominant. Knowledge on how to facilitate negotiations in global inter-organizational networks will become more valuable.     

Bi-objective decision support system for routing and scheduling of hazardous materials

This paper presents a Pareto-based bi-objective optimization of hazardous materials vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time windows and shows its application to a realistic hazardous material logistics instance. A meta-heuristic solution algorithm is also proposed, which returns a set of routing solutions that approximate the frontier of the Pareto optimal solutions based on total scheduled travel time and total risk of whole transportation process. It works in a single-step fashion simultaneously constructing the vehicle route and selecting the optimal paths connecting the routed locations from a set of non-dominated paths obtained in terms of travel time and risk value.     

An analysis of highway work zone safety practices in Pakistan

Highway Work Zones (HWZs) present a major hazard for road users, construction workers and equipment, and significantly contribute to occurrence of road crashes worldwide. The present study focuses on analysing the current state of safety measures at HWZs in Pakistan. A more direct approach is adopted by comparing safety measures at randomly selected HWZs in Pakistan with well-established safety procedures in Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). HWZ safety measures such as traffic signs, markings, safety measures for pedestrians, workers and construction machinery, police enforcement, speed control measures, provision of advance warning area, buffer spaces, transition areas, and tapers for eight different HWZs were studied and compared with MUTCD standards. The results revealed that majority of the HWZs in Pakistan do not conform to any standard layout especially for safety and speed control measures. An enhanced need for special efforts towards improving safety at HWZs in Pakistan is highlighted.     

Value Creation from Intellectual Capital: Convergence of Knowledge Management and Collaboration in the Intellectual Bandwidth Model

Current efforts in managing knowledge have concentrated on creating, sharing and storing knowledge while business problems require the combined use of these intellectual resources to enable organizations to provide innovative and customized services. The Intellectual Bandwidth model posits that an organization's potential to create value is determined by its intellectual assets and collaboration capabilities. While this is a potentially powerful assertion, the model does not explain the relationship between knowledge management and collaboration. This paper argues that knowledge management and collaboration have common, mutually interdependent purposes and practices. It demonstrates this interdependence, by mapping collaboration processes to knowledge management activities. Following an analysis of the relationship between knowledge management activities and collaboration, this paper concludes with implications for the use of collaboration technologies for increasing the potential of an organization to create value.     

The impact of sustainability (environmental,social, and governance) disclosure and board diversity on firm value: The moderating role of industry sensitivity

Using a large panel data set comprising 812 listed European firms, this study investigates whether sustainability disclosure (environmental, social, and governance) and female representation on boards affect firm value. We observe a positive impact of sustainability disclosure and board gender diversity on firm value, suggesting that the best management practices, enhanced stakeholder trust, and female representation on boards improve firm value. We observe that the firms in sensitive industries achieve superior social and governance performance. We also observe that the firms with higher female representation on their boards present significantly superior environmental, social, and governance performance. Our results are robust to different firm and country specific control variables and to year‐ and country‐fixed effects.