Interaction processes in long-term relationships in the metal mining industry: Longitudinal case studies of capital equipment buying

This study investigates the development of the relationships between customers and suppliers of capital equipment in the mining industry. The interorganizational relationships were characterized along three sets of variables: context, task characteristics, and interaction processes. Longitudinal case study research was conducted, and four long-term relationships in the Portuguese metal mining industry were investigated. The domesticated nature of the market, compatibility of partners' objectives and strategies, and the choice of a direct channel are significant driving forces for the establishment and development of these relationships. Well-driven interaction processes were found determinant to relationship development and outcomes. Particularly, the extent of supplier-based adaptations and scope of after-sales agreements are core to relationship development and continuity.     

The impact of local and external university knowledge on the creation of knowledge-intensive firms: evidence from the Italian case

This paper investigates how far in space university knowledge goes to breed the creation of knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs), depending on the nature (either codified or tacit) and quality of this knowledge. We consider the impact of knowledge codified in academic patents and scientific publications and tacit knowledge embodied in university graduates on KIF creation in Italian provinces in 2010, while distinguishing between local university knowledge created by universities located in the same province and external university knowledge created by universities located outside the province. Our econometric estimates indicate that the positive effects of scientific publications and university graduates are confined within the boundaries of the province in which universities are located. Conversely, the creation of new KIFs in a focal province is positively affected by both local and external university knowledge codified in academic patents, even though the positive effect of this external knowledge rapidly diminishes with geographic distance. Furthermore, the above effects are confined to high-quality universities; low-quality universities have little effect on KIF creation.     

The struggle for space: Past and future of the space race

This article is geared toward shedding some more light on what may be the next space race and its contours.Space flight is undoubtedly a human achievement of the second half of the 20th century, and probably the most audacious one of the past century. The space race started suddenly in the 1950s and has grown explosively during the following two decades, but decreased steadily after the 1970s. After the 1990s, however, we have seen a shy rebirth of space-related activities, when many other actors (states) entered the stage, adding up to the agonizing role of the two-actor piece that we have witnessed during the so-called Cold War.The opening years of the 21st century provided a more complex narrative for space exploration. At the start of the new millennium a new technosphere [1] emerged, dominated by what is used to be called as the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), with the Internet playing the leading role among the bandwagon of technological novelties that appeared during the twilight of space activities. In despite of the fact that artificial satellites represent the very backbone of the global communications system, space activities seem to play a secondary role amidst the apparently accelerated rate of change concerning the technological systems of the present technosphere. But, as it is demonstrated in this paper, things are changing, and very probably a renewed space race will unfold in the coming decades.A question may be placed: what happened? Why the Earth stood still with regard to the race toward the cosmos? Answer: futurists, even prestigious ones like Herman Kahn and Arthur Clarke, did not consider the existence of socioeconomic long waves (Kondratieff waves, or K-waves for short) with their two decades long economic downturn, which has contributed to the deceleration of space-related activities.Analyzing the worldwide evolving scenario of space-related activities during the last eighty years under the framework of the succeeding K-waves and applying some technological forecasting tools, namely the logistic analysis, technological surveillance and intensive data mining, scrutinizing more than 7500 events occurred in the period 1930–2010 related with space activities, it is demonstrated that the space race like the one that we have witnessed until now is a natural growth process that has saturated at the dawn of this century. The same analysis demonstrates that a new growth process in this field might be nowadays under way with contours very different from that imagined by futurists and science fiction writers sixty years ago. Also the main trends in the usage of launching vehicles and satellites are framed and discussed in this paper.     

“Do You Use English in Your Daily Life?” Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of Their Extramural Use of English

The aim of this research is to analyse the students’ perceptions about their extramural use of English, comparing undergraduates studying their degree in English (EMI) with those studying theirs in their native language (non-EMI) within a span of five academic years. Data collected from a Spanish University suggest that the students´s interest and perception of their possibilities of working abroad in English differ. Results also reveal key differences in the use of extramural English and suggest that exposure to reading books or watching English-language films will eventually contribute to the formation of global mindset in students. The trend of the importance of English during a five year span is also considered, for both strands of students. This study makes a contribution in the field of teaching in international business settings for high education institutions.     

Entrepreneur location decisions across industries

In this paper we analyse whether entrepreneur location decisions differ across industries and identify the factors determining the choice of location between rural and urban environments. Firm location is based on a new taxonomy developed over the influential three dimensions of Hayter’s (1997) approach. The paper uses data from sample of one thousand Portuguese firms. We present a stylized theoretical model to determine how these new five dimensions influence firm’s location and test the model through a logistic regression. Our results show that that the location decisions depend on the sector of activity, type of area (urban vs. rural) and the characteristics of the entrepreneur. We find that companies engaged in knowledge intensive business services prefer to locate in urban areas. From an institutional point of view, firms prefer to locate in rural areas.     

Microeconometric Analysis of Residential Water Demand

This paper develops a structural model for obtaining price elasticities and evaluating consumer’s response to changes in nonlinear tariffs when only panel data on household consumption are available. The model and the empirical strategy address problems implied by nonlinear tariffs, existence of a fixed cost, and use of limited data, giving rise to a random effects model with a nonlinear individual effect. Results show that the estimated model does well at fitting data and demand is inelastic, although elasticity varies by initial consumption block. Then, I estimate welfare consequences of implementing several demand policies.     

Measuring image: shopping centre case studies

The first goal of the paper is to define the concept of micro-marketing, overcoming the 'specialized' perspectives and definitions that have prevailed so far. Micro-marketing relates to ways of controlling environment complexity, facilitated by information technology and required by highly competitive markets. Such control has three forms: segmentation , which reduces complexity to a controllable number of variables; organization , which absorbs a certain amount of complexity by modelling the structure onto the environment; technology , which explores complexity and dominates it through simplification. The second goal is to demonstrate that micro-marketing can build a sustained competitive advantage. Finally, the theoretical implication of the diffusion of a micromarketing approach in the retailing industry is discussed. The areas of strategy, organization, channel relationships, and customer satisfaction are examined. Should micro-marketing become widespread in the retailing industry, we argue that its final result would be increased welfare for the consumer, as long as retailers capitalize on the power of information and stand as a 'countervailing power' to suppliers in the channel.     

Non-homothetic preferences and growth

We observe that countries at low levels of income invest at lower rates than those at higher levels of income. This paper explains this fact as a consequence of Engel's law, i.e. that there is an inverse relation between expenditure and its proportion spent on food. It introduces non-homothetic preferences based on Engel’s law in a simple Solow model. These preferences imply rates of net investment that increase with the level of income as we approach the steady state. Increasing investment rates imply a positive correlation between growth rates and the level of income, at low levels of income, rather than an inverse relation, as the usual Solow model implies. The existence of a positive correlation between income growth rates and income levels, at low levels of income in the presence of this type of preference, has already been shown in a previous paper for a closed economy. The purpose of this paper is to show that this positive correlation persists when we introduce trade into the model.