The determinants of innovation in green supply chains: evidence from an Italian sectoral study

Innovation processes are increasingly spreading through the unbounded universe of European small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It represents a fundamental opportunity especially for those SMEs operating in the so‐called ‘green economy’ sectors, in order to be competitive in a National, European and International market with their sustainable products and services. Drawing upon a database of over 300 enterprises operating within the eight defined green sectors, this paper assesses the determinants and drawbacks of innovation. In particular, by using an econometrical approach, we tested the following propositions: (1) small dimension of enterprises is not an obstacle to their innovation capabilities; (2) the adoption of an internationalisation strategy is an opportunity and a stimulus to innovation for SMEs; (3) cooperation with research centres, financial partners, trade association and public entities can help SMEs to overcome difficulties and help them to develop and offer innovative products and services, so to be competitive at an international level. The econometric analysis shows a positive impact of the variables ‘dimension’ and ‘level of internationalisation’ on innovation capabilities. In addition, cooperation with research centres and access to capital market are positively related with effective innovations.     

Does ownership matter in private equity? The sources of variance in buyouts' performance

We study the impact of ownership on firm performance in an unexplored governance context: private equity (PE) firms and the buyouts in which they invest. We employ a multiple‐membership, cross‐classified, multilevel model on a unique database of 6,950 buyouts realized by 255 PE firms between 1973 and 2008 in 77 countries. The results document a significant PE firm effect (4.6%), the importance of which grows as time passes. We then study three contingencies that increase the importance of the PE firm effect: (1) value addition vs. selection strategies; (2) developed vs. emerging economies; and (3) economic downturns. Our findings shed new light on the sources of variance in buyouts' performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using Relational and Transactional MCSs to Manage the Delivery of Outsourced Public Services: Evidence from Twelve Cases in the USA

The successful management of the purchaser–provider relationship is essential for the effective delivery of public services, and entails the use of both transactional and relational approaches. We herein analyse the degree and complementarity of transactional and relational management control systems in the management of purchaser–provider relationships for the successful delivery of public services using evidence from 12 US case studies. We demonstrate that transactional and relational management control systems are controlled differently in order to improve contracting efficiency. We also show how a combination of these management control systems offers a framework for structured public accountability and service flexibility.     

Anomalous waiting times in high-frequency financial data

In high-frequency financial data not only returns, but also waiting times between consecutive trades are random variables. Therefore, it is possible to apply continuous-time random walks (CTRWs) as phenomenological models of the high-frequency price dynamics. An empirical analysis performed on the 30 DJIA stocks shows that the waiting-time survival probability for high-frequency data is non-exponential. This fact imposes constraints on agent-based models of financial markets.     

Returns to buying earnings and book value: accounting for growth and risk

Historical cost accounting deals with uncertainty by deferring the recognition of earnings until the uncertainty has largely been resolved. Such accounting affects both earnings and book value and produces expected earnings growth deemed to be at risk. This paper shows that the earnings-to-price and book-to-price ratios that are the product of this accounting forecast both earnings growth and the risk to that growth. The paper also shows that the market pricing of earnings and book values in these ratios aligns with the risk imbedded in the accounting: the returns to buying stocks on the basis of their earnings yield and book-to-price are explained as a rational pricing of the risk of expected earnings growth not being realized. Accordingly, the paper provides a rationalization of the well-documented book-to-price effect in stock returns: book-to-price indicates the risk in buying earnings growth. However, growth identified by a high book-to-price as yielding a higher return in this paper is quite different from “growth” typically attributed to a low book-to-price as yielding a lower return. Accordingly, the notion of “growth” versus “value” requires modification.     

Climate change management: a resilience strategy for flood risk using Blockchain tools

Decisions in Economics and Finance - This work aims to offer a contribution in the analysis and management, from an economic and financial point of view, of the flood risk, and extended to the...     

Missing in Asynchronicity: A Kalman‐em Approach for Multivariate Realized Covariance Estimation

Motivated by the need for a positive‐semidefinite estimator of multivariate realized covariance matrices, we model noisy and asynchronous ultra‐high‐frequency asset prices in a state‐space framework with missing data. We then estimate the covariance matrix of the latent states through a Kalman smoother and expectation maximization (KEM) algorithm. Iterating between the two EM steps, we obtain a covariance matrix estimate which is robust to both asynchronicity and microstructure noise, and positive‐semidefinite by construction. We show the performance of the KEM estimator using extensive Monte Carlo simulations that mimic the liquidity and market microstructure characteristics of the S&P 500 universe as well as in a high‐dimensional application on US stocks. KEM provides very accurate covariance matrix estimates and significantly outperforms alternative approaches recently introduced in the literature. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coupling High Self-Perceived Creativity and Successful Newcomer Adjustment in Organizations: The Role of Supervisor Trust and Support for Authentic Self-Expression

This study addresses how supervisors can facilitate the socialization of newcomers with high self-perceived creativity into their new jobs. We combine self-verification theory and current literature on socialization in a dual-stage moderated mediation model where a) newcomer self-perceived creativity interacts with supervisor trust in the newcomer to trigger supervisor perception of newcomer creativity; and b) supervisor perception of newcomer creativity, in turn, interacts with supervisor support for newcomer authentic self-expression to impact newcomer adjustment outcomes (i.e., task performance, job satisfaction, and stress symptoms). A two-wave, multisource study of 146 newcomer–supervisor dyads provides support for our predictions, suggesting that high levels of supervisor trust and support for authentic self-expression serve as moderating conditions allowing supervisor perception of newcomer creativity to positively mediate the relationship between newcomer self-perceived creativity and newcomer adjustment.     

Migration outflows and optimal migration policy: rules versus discretion

We study the effects of more open borders on return migration and show that migrants are more likely to return to the origin country when migration rules are softened, because this implies that they could more easily re-migrate if return migration is unsuccessful. As a result, softening migration rules leads to lower net inflows than is generally acknowledged. We show that if government follows rules to shape the optimal migration policy, it will choose more open “borders” than were its behaviour to be discretionary. However, this requires an appropriate commitment technology. We show that electoral accountability may be a solution to the commitment problem. As a matter of fact, observed softer immigration rules in western countries suggest the effectiveness of such a mechanism.