Internationalization choices and Italian firm performance during the crisis

We focus on the relationship between internationalization choices and performance of Italian firms during the first period of the financial crisis (2007–2010). Making use of a new firm-level database, we build a six-class taxonomy of firms’ internationalization activities; then we estimate firms’ performance as a function of internationalization forms, also estimating propensity score and Heckman selection models in order to control for endogeneity and sample selection bias. Over the period 2007–2010, Italian firms moved (on average) towards more complex forms of internationalization. Empirical analysis finds that these upward changes are related with positive effects on firms’ (labour) productivity, also in a period characterized by the 2009 trade collapse. These findings put additional emphasis on the issue of the diversification of both products and markets as a goal to be pursued by firms, even in times of crisis, to remain competitive and make profits.     

Mesure de l'efficacitééconomique des modes de faire valoir au Brésil

L'objet de cet article est de tester économétriquement l'efficacité des différents modes de faire valoir rencontrés au Brésil. À cettefin, nous utilisons une mesure de l'eficacitééconomique des exploitations dérivée d'un modèle de frontière de profit stochastique dans lequel la variable d'efficacité dépend du mode de faire valoir et de l'investissement dans la conservation et l'amélioration de la terre. Les résultats montrent que le métayage est un contrat inefficace dont l'existence peut s'expliquer par une gestion plus soucieuse de la conservation et de l'amélioration du capital d'exploitation que dans le cadre du fermage. Les résultats permettent aussi d'opposer les exploitations des différentes régions du Brésil en fonction de leur degré d'efficacité et de la viabilitéà long terme des systkmes productifs. L'étude porte sur un écchantillon de données de panel, agrégées au niveau des États brésiliens. The purpose of this paper is to test econometrically the efficiency of different tendril patterns in Brazil. We use a measure of farm economic efficiency derived from a stochastic profit function in which the efficiency variable depends on the tenurial contract and on the investment in conservation and land improvement. The results show that sharecropping is an inefficient contract the existence of which may be explained by a type of management that is more concerned with conservation and enhancing of the farming capital than within the framework of a fied-rent contract. The results also allow us to compare the farms of different regions in Brazil in terms of their efficiency level and the long-term viability of their systems of production. The study bears on n sample of panel data aggregated at the level of Brazilian states.     

Prosecutorial Resources, Plea Bargaining, and the Decision to Go to Trial

This article examines the strategic interaction between a defendantand a prosecutor during the plea bargaining process. A four-stagegame of incomplete information is developed where the defendant'sguilt or innocence is private information but the amount ofresources available to the prosecutor is common knowledge. Thebasic result of the article is that equilibrium is semiseparating;the plea offer is accepted by a proportion of the guilty defendantsand is rejected by all of the innocent defendants and the remainingguilty defendants. In this model an increase in the resourcesavailable to the prosecutor increases the proportion of guiltydefendants who accept plea offers. Although the prosecutor isunable to generate complete separation of the guilty and innocentdefendants through the plea bargaining process, prosecutorialresources are beneficial from a societal standpoint.     

A CONVENIENT MULTISECTORAL POLICY CONTROL FOR ICT IN THE US ECONOMY

Through the application of the Macro Multiplier (MM) approach on an Input–Output matrix for US economy in year 2005, the paper identifies the ‘convenient’ structure of a policy control on final demand, oriented to a particular policy objective. The approach quantifies a set of aggregated scale effects, called MM, and the associated structures of both policy and objective variables. In this way the policy maker can both get a complete picture of the patterns of the objective that can be attained and determine a ‘convenient’ structure of the policy variable that compels the model towards those patterns.     

The shadow economy beyond European public governance

The purpose of this paper is to try to analyze the Shadow Economy (SE) and its determinants by means of the Structural Equation Model (SEM)-Partial Least Squares (PLS). The overall topic of the SEM-PLS approach is controversially debated in the literature. In the past decades, the focus on the SE has increased and the range in the estimated size of this phenomenon is very divergent. By examining the effects of a set of indicators, economic theory often emphasizes the need for lower taxes and less regulation, but many other factors, such as administrative quality, are frequently neglected. Policy implications are discussed. Estimates for the SE as a percentage of GDP can be calculated and European countries are clustered according to the obtained results.     

EVALUATING UNCERTAINTY IN RISK-BASED INTERDEPENDENCY MODELING WITH INTERVAL ARITHMETIC

Several sources of uncertainty exist in the effort to quantify the efficacy of preparedness decision-making in interdependent systems. For the Inoperability Input–Output Model (IIM), a risk-based extension of the traditional Leontief model, which describes the propagation of inoperability throughout interconnected economic sectors, uncertainty is manifested in parameters describing the strength of interdependencies among sectors and in parameters describing the adverse impacts of a disruptive event, among others. As the model is used to evaluate preparedness options to reduce the impact of these disruptive events, such uncertainty can impact decision-making efforts. This paper introduces interval arithmetic as an approach for dealing with uncertainties in the IIM when probability distributions are not known and only variable bounds are available. Illustrative examples highlight the use of the approach as well as a means to improve the evaluation and comparison of risk management strategies in interdependent systems when only intervals are known.     

Liquid Applepie: Market Entry Strategy for a New Lifestyle Drink

ABSTRACT

This is a theoretical case which observes the path a small business needs to follow to be successful. It is hoped the company involved will take these conclusions into consideration for future development.

This case study has been conducted in order to understand the theoretical models of international marketing. It determines the key criteria that need to be considered when entering a foreign market. The idea was to develop a market entry strategy for a Polish Vodka manufacturer who wants to enter the Austrian market.

After an analysis of the market and consideration of the situational factors, which are very important for the development of a detailed SWOT analysis, the segmentation, targeting, positioning and finally the selection of the right entry method, including the customer specific marketing tools, have been identified.     

SOLVABLE AFFINE TERM STRUCTURE MODELS

An Affine Term Structure Model (ATSM) is said to be solvable if the pricing problem has an explicit solution, i.e., the corresponding Riccati ordinary differential equations have a regular globally integrable flow. We identify the parametric restrictions which are necessary and sufficient for an ATSM with continuous paths, to be solvable in a state space     , where     , the domain of positive factors, has the geometry of a symmetric cone. This class of state spaces includes as special cases those introduced by Duffie and Kan (1996) , and Wishart term structure processes discussed by Gourieroux and Sufana (2003) . For all solvable models we provide the procedure to find the explicit solution of the Riccati ODE.