Competition,signaling and non-walking through the book: Effects on order choice

We investigate the effects of competition and signaling in a pure order driven market and examine the trading patterns of agents when walking through the book is not allowed. Our results suggest that the variables capturing the cost of a large market order are not informative for an impatient trader under this market mechanism. We also document that the competition effect is not present only at the top of the book but persistent beyond the best quotes. Moreover, it dominates the signaling effect for both a limit order and a market order trader. Finally, we show that institutional investors’ order submission strategies are characterized by only a few pieces of the limit order book information. This is consistent with informed traders placing orders based on their own private valuations rather than the state of the book.     

Specifying “regime” — A framework for defining and describing regimes in transition research

It is more and more agreed by research and policy that a long-term sustainability of industrialized societies cannot be achieved without fundamental changes at the level of different societal subsystems, such as the agricultural, transportation or water management systems. This view has lead to an increase in the amount of research carried out about the so-called “transitions”. Transitions comprise long-term, fundamental change in societal subsystems and are seen as encompassing co-evolutionary and mutually reinforcing processes in the economic, technological, institutional and socio-cultural domains. Transition research aims at understanding transitions and at finding methods that facilitate change directed towards societal goals (so-called “transition management”).This paper adds to the growing body of concepts of this young research strand. It suggests a framework for defining and describing “regimes”, the systems resulting from the broad and interdisciplinary view taken by transition research. The concept “regime” is of central importance for transition research, since it defines the level of societal systems on which transitions are mainly analysed. What actually is “the regime” to be researched and possibly managed is however usually not given through clear system boundaries but is a matter of framing and deliberation. In order to guide processes of regime identification, the paper develops five defining characteristics of regimes and gives a definition based on them. Further a method useful to structure and graphically represent knowledge about a regime is introduced. Such a structuring of knowledge is an important first step to understand how a regime “works”.     

Trade and market selection: Evidence from manufacturing plants in Colombia

We examine the link between trade liberalization and aggregate productivity, with a focus on improved market selection resulting from a reduction in trade barriers and in the dispersion of these barriers across producers. Our analysis exploits tariff changes across sectors after the Colombian trade reform. An additional advantage of our analysis is that our TFP measure does not include demand and price effects. We find that reduced trade protection makes plant survival depend more closely on productivity. Using a dynamic simulation, we find that enhanced selection increases aggregate productivity substantially. Trade liberalization also increases productivity of incumbent plants and improves the allocation of activity. We find larger effects on allocative efficiency with our TFP measure than with a traditional measure including price effects.     

Using mean-Gini and stochastic dominance to choose project portfolios with parameter uncertainty

Although a variety of models have been studied for project portfolio selection, many organizations still struggle to choose a potentially diverse range of projects while ensuring the most beneficial results. The use of the mean-Gini framework and stochastic dominance to select portfolios of research and development (R&D) projects has been gaining attention in the literature despite the fact that such approaches do not consider uncertainty regarding the projects’ parameters. This article discusses, with relation to project portfolio selection through a mean-Gini approach and stochastic dominance, the impact of uncertainty on project parameters. In the process, Monte Carlo simulation is considered in evaluating the impact of parametric uncertainty on project selection. The results show that the influence of uncertainty is significant enough to mislead managers. A more robust selection policy using the mean-Gini approach and Monte Carlo simulation is proposed.     

Does the UK have a ‘comparative institutional advantage’ that is supportive of the IT services sector?

This paper applies a ‘sector‐in‐country’ approach to examine the institutional conditions associated with the recent expansion of the information technology services sector in the UK. The findings reveal both synergies and tensions between the business and employment conditions of the sector and the wider institutional characteristics of the UK employment model.     

A Universal Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants： Religious Restrictions

The International Federation of Accountants （IFAC） has emerged as a worldwide organization to help bring about international convergence with regard to professional standards, including standards governing ethics. The IFAC has issued a Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants for use by accountants members of the IFAC around the world. This study extends prior research about the variables that could block the possibility of adopting the universal single code of ethics proposed by the IFAC. In particular, this study analyses the influence of the dominant religious affiliation of the country to which the accounting organization belongs on the decision to adopt the IFAC Code. Data about 165 accounting bodies, members of IFAC, from 125 countries has been obtained from the IFAC Member Body Compliance Program. The results of our study show that to date, not all the accounting organizations members of the IFAC have adopted the Code. Further, results reveal that religion is a significant factor in the decision to adopt IFAC Code of Ethics. In particular, the study demonstrates that the national accounting organizations belonging to countries where the predominant religion is Christianity are more prone to adopt the IFAC Code of Ethics as their own. This paper contributes to the knowledge of the current state of ethical harmonization for the accounting profession. Moreover, an understanding of the religious restrictions provides guidelines to the international accounting organizations for an effective implementation of the ethical standards worldwide.     

Trends and Paths From Border Regions＂ The Frontier Centro-Castilla y Leon of Portugal and Spain

The objective of this paper is to determine whether the process of European Union （EU） integration has unleashed a new territorial dynamic with the convergence of border regions. Authors intend to analyze trends and trajectories of the Portuguese--Spanish border regions of the Center of Portugal and Castilla y Leon, particularly the municipalities of NUTS Ill and northern and southern Beira Interior （Central Region） and the provinces of the municipalities of Salamanca and Zamora （Region of Castilla y Leon）, in the last 20 years, given a set of demographic, economic, and social indicators, by using statistical analysis combined with contributions from the development processes established in these regions.     

Do previous good deeds to a third party make people more tolerant of bad deeds against them? An experimental investigation

How do people react to a mix of good deeds to a third party and bad deeds against them? A modified ultimatum game shows that previous good deeds make responders substantially more tolerant to unfair proposals.     

Technological capabilities accumulation and internationalization strategies of Mexican biotech firms: a multi case study from agro-food & pharma industries

ABSTRACT

In this paper our aim is to analyze the relationship between technological capabilities accumulation of Mexican biotech firms and their different types of internationalization strategies. Because of the determining effect of firms’ capital investment level, we analyzed three groups of firms: start-ups, small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) and multinational firms (MNEs). We made use of a wide range of information: The First Survey of Biotechnology Development Firms in Mexico, the systematization of 20 case studies, interviews with key persons in the industry and public sources. We confirmed the two hypotheses outlined: (i) TCA process does not follow a linear path in Mexican biotech firms and (ii) firms with lower capital investment levels exhibit a lower level of TCA and less complex internationalization strategies; while firms with higher capital investment levels are associated with higher TCA levels and more complex internationalization strategies. Biotechnology requires high levels of capital investment and these to a large extent determine the development and technological capabilities accumulation. Therefore, we suggest that a capitalization program is much needed to foster Mexican biotech firms’ TCA processes and develop internationalization strategies.     

Can Ecolabeling Schemes Preserve the Environment?

A three-stage game of production technology, signal and price competition is developed to study the impact of eco-labeling, in a duopoly model of vertical product differentiation. The production technology and the subsequent pollution level are non-observable by consumers. The only way to inform consumers about the environmental quality of the product is to stick an ecolabel on it. However, a polluting firm may also usurp the ecolabel by incurring a certain cost. By assuming that consumers are altruistic and willing to pay for environmental quality, we show that ecolabels can reduce the pollution level. Finally and importantly, under restrictive conditions on labeling cost, ecolabeling can constitute to some extent an environmentally effective and economically efficient policy. However, ecolabeling cannot alone internalize the whole negative externality until the optimum point.