Performance and size: empirical evidence from Portuguese SMEs

This article studies the relationship between company size and performance for small and medium-sized Portuguese companies. Using dynamic panel estimators, we conclude that performance is related positively to size. This relationship suggests the greater relevance of scale effects, diversification and the greater ability of larger companies to cope with market changes. Furthermore, our empirical results show that performance is persistent, not showing discontinuity, suggesting that small and medium-sized Portuguese companies are relatively successful in coping with possible scenarios of aggressive competition. Debt and level of fixed assets influence performance negatively, and separation of management and ownership influence performance positively. Liquidity, risk and ownership control are not relevant in explaining the performance of small and medium-sized Portuguese companies.

What Can We Learn From Great Business Leaders?

There are many leadership lessons that can be extracted from the lives of great business leaders like John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, Sam Walton, Jack Welch, A. G. Lafley, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates. Although different in personality and style, these leaders showed talent at a very young age, persevered in achieving their goals, surrounded themselves with the best people they could, worked hard and with great discipline, had great confidence in themselves, and were creative and innovative in managing their businesses.     

Cooperative R&D and Commitment to A Policy of Know-how Trading

In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework to investigate the impact of adopting a strategy of know-how trading on the degree of research and development (R&D) cooperation. We show that the consequences of cooperation in know-how sharing under the conditions of the model are similar to a policy of cooperation in R&D investments in areas with large spillovers. An industry-wide policy of cooperation among competitors with respect to R&D investment and sharing would simply result in maximal joint profits. This cooperative R&D outcome could be generalized to any degree of spillover other than 100%. In this paper, the commitment to a policy of know-how trading by the participants in an industry is explained by the firm’s attempt to induce the equilibrium of a single industry-wide cooperative research joint venture. In a repeated game framework, we show that pre-commitments by non-cooperative firms to disclose their own know-how to the industry can be effective in inducing cooperative R&D investments by the participants.     

Local House Price Paths: Accelerations,Declines, and Recoveries

The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics - Mortgage credit risk measurement hinges on the choice of a house price stress path, which is used to project loan losses and determine financial...     

The role of satisfaction in labor diaspora dynamics: An analysis of BREXIT effects

In diaspora research, people's international mobility is often understood as a response to pull-push forces on an economic macro-level or as part of diasporic waves. However, labor diaspora formations are also influenced by micro-level (i.e., individual perceptions) drivers related to work per se, such as satisfaction. This explorative qualitative study takes a novel angle and focuses on the role of Portuguese nurses’ satisfaction with the evaluation of the Brexit scenario and its effects on this labor diaspora's mobility and stability. The findings illustrate that satisfaction, although affected by uncertainty, mainly relates to perceived working conditions and legislation and the possibilities to communicate with locals and other diasporans. This paper provides suggestions for future research and contributes to the development of theory on staying and human stickiness, explaining the dynamics of exit and entry in (re-)migration decision making.     

On the Effects of Capital Markets’ Regulation on Price Informativeness: an Assessment of EU Market Abuse Directive

Financial Markets and Portfolio Management - This study assesses the impact on price informativeness of the market abuse directive adopted by European economic area member-states. Price...     

Education and financial mistakes: The case of avoidable trading fees in stock markets

Portuguese Economic Journal - We study a quasi-natural experiment that altered the structure of commission fee schedules applied to retail investors in the Portuguese stock market in 2003. Using a...     

Corporate social responsibility projects: critical success factors for better performance of Brazilian companies and guidelines to qualify professionals and entrepreneurs

Corporate Social Responsibility is a reality for businesses and can be understood through the analysis of organizational actions in three areas, namely: economic, social and environmental. Its operationalization occurs through projects, and cases presented by the literature can greatly contribute to the definition of factors that lead these projects to success. Generally, professionals and entrepreneurs have good qualifications in traditional aspects of project management, but when they need to manage Corporate Social Responsibility projects doubts arise. In this context, the main objective of this study was to analyse the most impactful Critical Success Factors for Corporate Social Responsibility projects, considering Brazilian companies’ context, and to propose guidelines to better qualify new professionals and entrepreneurs in the kind of projects mentioned. Thirteen Critical Success Factors were identified in the literature and, through a survey with experienced professionals, it was possible to evidence the six most relevant for Brazilian companies’ context: ability to properly define the scope; ability to integrate the CSR project with the company's strategy; ability to identify stakeholders’ needs; ability to analyse risks; identify and involve stakeholders outside the organization; and grant financial resources to meet project needs. Using the information provided, three guidelines were proposed to better qualify professionals and entrepreneurs. This is an exploratory study that can contribute to potentialize debates on theme.

     

Modeling Competition over Multiple Variables under Limited Consumer Awareness*

When analyzing firm competition over two strategic variables (e.g., quality and price), it is important to decide whether to model it as a one-stage or a two-stage game. Our analysis focuses on markets in which consumers are not aware of all alternatives. We find that, if consumers are sufficiently unaware, both the one-stage and the two-stage equilibria of the game that explicitly models limited awareness are close to the one-stage equilibrium of the standard game, which assumes full awareness. Therefore, markets in which consumers have limited awareness can be studied with standard models, provided that the one-stage game is analyzed.     

The wealth effects of takeover bids regulation in the European Union

We investigate the wealth effects of the Takeover Bids Directive, enacted by the European Union (EU), on mergers and acquisitions. The directive aims at protecting target minority shareholders by restricting antitakeovers provisions and preventing managerial entrenchment. We test the regulation impact using a treatment sample of EU public acquisitions and a control sample from outside the EU. Our results suggest diverse effects of the regulation across treatment countries: acquirers from countries with better shareholder protection engage in more value-enhancing acquisitions postregulation that could otherwise be too costly. The regulation also increases the likelihood of firms becoming targets and raises market value.