Cash flow,investment, and investment opportunities: New tests using UK panel data

The interpretation of the correlation between cash flow and investment is controversial. Some argue that it is caused by financial constraints, others by the correlation between cash flow and investment opportunities that are not properly measured by Tobin’s Q. This paper uses UK firms’ contracted capital expenditure to capture information about opportunities available only to insiders and thus not included in Q. When this variable is added to investment regressions, the explanatory power of cash flow falls for large firms, but remains unchanged for small firms. This suggests that the significance of cash flow stems from its role in capturing the effects of credit frictions.     

The efficiency of social public expenditure in European countries: a two-stage analysis

Do European countries differ in the efficiency of their welfare policies? And which factors can account for such variability? To address these questions, we perform a two-stage efficiency analysis. First, based on a composite output indicator for social protection expenditure, we measure efficiency by means of the Free Disposable Hull and Data Envelopment Analysis techniques. Second, we perform an econometric analysis to identify the factors that can be associated to cross-country differences. We find that countries scoring higher efficiency have higher education and GDP levels, a smaller population size, a lower degree of selectivity of their welfare systems and a lower corruption level.     

A Regional Analysis of Hidden Unemployment in Great Britain, 1951–1966

Using data from a panel of 15 countries over the period 1990–1998, the determinants of the use of non cash payment instruments are analysed. The estimation results highlight the importance of distinguishing between the determinants of the value and volume of noncash transactions. It is found in fact that the volume of these transactions is generally affected by changes in the determinants more strongly than their value, and that variables such as the interest rate have a different impact on the volume and the value of the transactions. The findings also suggest that past habits play a dominant role in the intensity of use of noncash payment instruments.     

COMPETITION AND THE STRATEGIC CHOICE OF MANAGERIAL INCENTIVES: THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE CASE

We investigate how market competition affects the incentive to adopt a non‐profit‐maximizing behaviour. The analysis is developed in a strategic delegation framework in which owners delegate output decisions to managers interested in firm's relative performance. We study how the optimal delegation scheme is affected by market concentration and the elasticity of market demand. We prove that the distortion from a profit‐maximizing rule decreases as market becomes less concentrated, while it increases as demand becomes more elastic. Finally, we discuss the impact of market competitiveness on the welfare‐enhancing ability of delegation contracts.     

Companies Promoting Sustainable Consumption of Employees

Activities aimed at promoting sustainable consumption need to be introduced into everyday settings, as sustainable consumption behaviour needs to become part of daily living. Therefore it is worthwhile reflecting on social settings where consumption plays a minor role, but where people nonetheless learn and experience new attitudes and behaviours. The workplace is an important focal point of adults’ daily routines. This paper examines companies’ role in promoting sustainable consumption of their employees.     

Environmental Management of End‐of‐Life Products: Nine Factors of Sustainability in Collaborative Networks

The paradigm of the green economy has contributed to raising the attention paid to developing sustainability‐oriented strategies for supply chain (SC) management. The responsibility of producers to extend and reverse SCs is a critical and timely topic that captures increasing concerns over the way firms can adapt their business models to interlinking technical, socio‐economic and environmental frameworks. This is particularly true when producers are not also reuse/recycle actors. By performing a critical review of the scientific literature on this field, this article develops nine elemental factors that can be considered for assessing the impacts of collaborative strategies as a means to implement extended producer responsibility (EPR) in open‐loop SCs. The resulting conceptual framework provides EPR implementation guidance under different market conditions. Inter‐organizational relationships are found to present both opportunities and threats that can be profitably managed under a systemic perspective. Implications for management and needs for further research are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Self-scanning technologies in retail: Determinants of adoption

Self-scanning represents a form of customer participation in service creation, a form of self-service and a technology-based service delivery device. This study, conducted within the large-scale retail sector, pursues a dual aim: firstly, to assess the link between satisfaction with self-scanning and some of its possible antecedents; secondly we intend to determine whether satisfaction with this service has any impact on consumers' overall opinion of the supermarket and their intention to patronise the store with greater frequency. The data show that both the sense of control and hedonic component have a positive impact on satisfaction with self-scanning and further bring to light that service satisfaction is an antecedent both of customers' opinion of the supermarket and their intention to patronise the store more frequently.     

A practical approach to sensitivity analysis in linear programming under degeneracy for management decision making

Linear programming (LP) is a widely used tool in management decision making. Theoretically, sensitivity analysis of LP problems provides useful information for the decision maker. In practice, however, most LP software provides misleading sensitivity information if the optimal solution is degenerate. The paper shows how sensitivity analysis of LP problems can be done correctly when the optimal solution is degenerate. A production planning example is presented to illustrate the incorrect sensitivity analysis results automatically provided by most LP solvers. The general characteristics of the misleading results and the possible effects of this incorrect information on management decisions are also discussed.