The impact of the tertiarization process in Spanish economic growth from a regional perspective

The article focuses on the impact that the growth of the service sector has had on the economic growth of the Spanish regions. Thus, the study tries to define regional groupings in order to identify different modalities of regional growth. As a result of the cluster analysis, we propose the groupings and analyse the beta-convergence in per capita GDP and in terms of the degree of tertiarization in the Spanish regions. Taking these groups as our starting point, a data panel model with fixed effects is applied and the study concludes that mainly capital stock and capital productivity in market services explain to a great extent the growth in per capita GDP in the Spanish regions.     

Product Innovation Management in Spain

In line with the latest studies of product innovation management, Angel Martinez Sanchez and Luis Navarro Elola report results from their study of 56 industrial firms in Spain. The results reveal a systematic process of new products development with little consideration given to innovation, but with a contrasting preoccupation with market activities.     

Deal-to-deal marginal efficiency dynamics of serial US banking acquirers

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - This study investigates the changes in the marginal cost, revenue, and profit efficiencies after a series of deals by US acquiring banks for the...     

Financial Liberalization and Foreign Bank Entry on the Domestic Banking Performance in MENA Countries

Abstract: This study examines the impact of financial liberalization and foreign bank entry on the domestic banking sector from 1996 to 2007, and builds upon and expands the work of Lee (2002). We find that foreign bank entry, financial liberalization, ownership structure and degree of openness of foreign bank entry positively impact domestic banking system operating efficiency, capitalization, risk management, long‐term soundness, financial performance as well as economic and financial development. However, foreign bank entry is associated with reduced profit margins and increased operating costs of domestic banks in countries with less developed capital markets. Empirical evidence seems to support the argument that foreign bank presence leads to better allocation of capital and eliminates connected lending practices.     

The tourist art market as a factor in social change

Richter, Dolores. “The Tourist Art Market as a Factor in Social Change,” Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. V, No. 3, July/September 1978, pp.323–338. This paper disputes the theory that participation in the tourist art market has had limited economic impact on African artists. An analysis of social changes that have occured in the social organization of a group of traditional woodcarvers indicates that tourist art market participation is directly responsible for significant changes in many social institutions. It has also provided the economic means by which the carvers have been able to respond positively to government policies and regulations aimed at modernization.     

Validation of a market orientation adoption scale in rural tourism enterprises. Relationship between the characteristics of the enterprise and extent of market orientation adoption

Market orientation (MO) is considered as a competitive strategy for the rural tourism sector. A MO adoption scale is proposed and validated for the rural tourism sector. Given the importance of MO, it is important to know the relationship between a firm's characteristics and MO adoption. This study makes a hierarchical segmentation to predict the behaviour of these firms when adopting the MO. Activity and category are the two characteristics that most effectively predict a firm's behaviour. The contribution made by this work is of interest given the new field of application achieved and which have implications for the professional sector.     

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.

     

Aggregation is not the solution: the PPP puzzle strikes back

Recently, Imbs, Mumtaz, Ravn and Rey (2005, hereinafter IMRR) have argued that much of the purchasing power parity (PPP) puzzle is due to upwardly biased estimates of persistence. According to them, the source of the bias is the existence of heterogeneous price adjustment dynamics at the sectoral level that established time series or panel data methods fail to control for. This paper re‐examines this claim in two steps. Firstly, we demonstrate that IMRR's measures of sectoral persistence are systematically downwardly biased because they are based on an inaccurate definition of the ‘average’ impulse response function (IRF). We then show that standard estimates of shock persistence are recovered after this bias is corrected. Secondly, building on the results in Mayoral (2008), which prove that aggregate and micro models induce the same shock persistence behavior, we show that estimates based on aggregate and sectoral exchange rates are, in fact, highly consistent. Thus, aggregation is not the solution to the PPP puzzle. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.