Convenience food consumption in the Nordic countries and St. Petersburg area

Building on the theoretical framework provided by sociological research on eating practices, family meals, self‐cooked meals and time use, this study examines national differences and similarities in the use of convenience food in Northern Europe. The study draws on two quantitative sets of data, the primary data set (N = 8248) collected in 2012 in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the complementary data set (N = 800) collected in St. Petersburg area in 2013. In general, consumers’ attitudes towards convenience food were negative. Time saving was an important motivator for convenience consumption in all countries. The effects of other attitudes were diffuse and factors such as low cost, health effects, and taste of convenience food, affected convenience consumption differently in different countries. In the four Nordic countries women used less convenience food than men. In Finland and in Norway older respondents used convenience food less often than the young. Generally, the use of convenience food was most frequent among those living alone. The effects of education and occupation were small, implying that the phase of life is more important than social stratification in explaining convenience food consumption. In the St. Petersburg data, there were no differences related to social background.     

Housing Attribute Preferences in a Northern Mexico Metropolitan Economy

Studies of the valuation of housing attributes have been conducted for numerous metropolitan markets. Empirical analyses of this nature for cities in Latin America and Mexico are less common. This study utilizes data for 175 new houses in Ciudad Juarez, a major metropolitan economy in northern Mexico, to estimate a hedonic pricing model. All units in the sample were completed and sold between November 2006 and April 2007. For each house, a total of 14 characteristics relating to structure and location are employed as explanatory variables. Estimation results indicate that the structural characteristics play bigger roles than the neighborhood amenities. Surprisingly, neighborhood parks are found to lower housing values.      

Project management systems: Moving project management from an operational to a strategic discipline

This article illustrates one aspect of the concept of “fit” between an organization's implementation of project management and its organizational context by exploring how the underlying drivers of an organization's strategy might influence not only the nature of the projects that it undertakes, but also the appropriateness of the arrangements that it makes to manage those projects. Using a model conceptualized from the literature on strategic management, an analysis of four organizations that have made significant investments in project management over the past 5 years supports the hypothesis that the degree of “fit” between an organization's strategic drivers of value and the configuration of its project management system influences the value it obtains from project management.     

Mapping accessibility in Belgium: a tool for land-use and transport planning?

This paper compares the spatial structure of car accessibility to towns and to railway stations during peak and off-peak hours in Belgium for the country’s 2616 municipalities. A clustering method is applied. It is shown that in a highly urbanised country, the situation is far from being spatially equitable in terms of accessibility, and some areas are more favoured than others. Congestion increases spatial inequalities, differently according to absolute or relative measures of change. By means of examples, this paper shows that even simple accessibility indicators could be useful to support decisions taken by planners and politicians (e.g. as regards the development of residential, industrial and business park areas). Maps indicate the spatial inequalities in terms of accessibility to urban centres and transport nodes, and the impact of congestion on these inequalities. The absolute and relative time losses due to congestion affect different areas in different ways. The location of new developments further increases the congestion problem and the spatial disparities. This paper also insists on the caution that should be adopted when measuring and interpreting “accessibility”, its measurements, its inputs, its temporal changes in absolute and relative terms as well as the need for spatially disaggregated data.     

The impact of job embeddedness on innovation‐related behaviors

It has often been argued that low turnover leads to less innovation in organizations, not only because fewer job vacancies are available for outsiders with new ideas, but also because longer‐tenured employees might be more resistant to change. In this study, we propose that job embeddedness may actually strengthen employees' motivation to generate, spread, and implement innovative ideas in organizations. In a longitudinal study with a diverse sample, we found that job embeddedness was positively and significantly related to innovation‐related behaviors, even after controlling for demographic variables, the job attitudes, and the job perceptions that are frequently associated with job embeddedness. In addition, we found some support for the proposed moderating effects of career stage; that is, the relationship between job embeddedness and implementing innovative ideas was stronger for individuals in the mid‐ and late stages of their careers than for those in the early stage of their careers. This article concludes with directions for developing future theory. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

On optimal regulation of price and R&D with asymmetric information

This paper deals with the optimal regulation for cost-reducing R&D and pricing in natural monopoly that is privately informed on its efficiency. We extend the work of Cantner and Kuhn (Rev Econ Des 4:191–204, 1999) and then we are able to analyse the entire effects of the interplay between agent’s efficiency and investment in R&D particularly considering the substitutability case.     

The Impact of Religion on the Going Concern Reporting Decisions of Local Audit Offices

We extend research on the effects of local audit office characteristics on audit quality by investigating whether audit offices in highly religious U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) exhibit going concern decisions that reflect heightened professional skepticism relative to audit offices in less religious MSAs. Prior research links religiosity to risk aversion and ethical development and suggests audit practice offices in more religious MSAs are more likely to issue going concern opinions because they will assess the effects of mitigating factors in a more skeptical manner. Our results indicate that audit practice offices located in highly religious MSAs are more likely to issue going concern audit opinions, consistent with a more skeptical assessment of mitigating factors. Additional tests provide direct evidence consistent with the argument that these audit offices are more risk averse in issuing going concern opinions. Our findings are relevant to auditors, audit clients, researchers, and regulators.     

Do Parents and Peers Influence Adolescents’ Monetary Intelligence and Consumer Ethics? French and Chinese Adolescents and Behavioral Economics

As recently stakeholders complain about the use of conflict minerals in consumer products that are often invisible to them in final products, firms across industries implement conflict mineral management practices. Conflict minerals are those, whose systemic exploitation and trade contribute to human right violations in the country of extraction and surrounding areas. Particularly, supply chain managers in the Western world are challenged taking reasonable steps to identify and prevent risks associated with these resources due to the globally dispersed nature of supply chains and the opacity of the origin of commodities. Supply chain due diligence (SCDD) represents a holistic concept to proactively manage supply chains reducing the likelihood of the use of conflict minerals effectively. Based on an exploratory study with 27 semi-structured interviews within five European industries, we provide insights into patterns of implementation, key motivational factors, barriers and enablers, and impacts of SCDD in mineral supply chains. Our results contribute to both theory and practice as we provide first insights to SCDD practices and make recommendations for an industry-wide implementation of SCDD. Altogether, this study provides the basis for future theory testing research in the context of SCDD and conflict mineral management.     

Governance and strategy of entrepreneurial networks: an introduction

This special issue focuses on empirical and theoretical papers that help us to better understand the strategy and governance of entrepreneurial networks, such as franchise chains, alliances, and cooperative networks. The following central themes are covered: (I) Which formal governance mechanisms do entrepreneurial networks use in order to reduce transaction cost/agency cost and to increase strategic value? (II) What is the role of relational governance mechanisms (such as information exchange and social ties) for the performance outcomes in franchise chains and cooperatives? (III) Which alliance strategies do entrepreneurial firms pursue to realize a competitive advantage, and what is the impact of resources and capabilities on performance outcomes of entrepreneurial firms. To address these issues, insights from organizational economics (transaction cost theory, agency theory, signaling theory), strategic management perspectives (resource-based, knowledge-based and organizational capabilities theory), entrepreneurship theory and the relational governance view are used.