How optimal distinctiveness affects new ventures' failure risk: A contingency perspective

In this article, we apply the concept of optimal distinctiveness to test whether category spanning has a nonlinear effect on new ventures' risk to fail. We argue that by being optimally distinct, i.e., by attaining a level of category spanning that allows new ventures to benefit from balancing the competing needs of conformity with and differentiation from competitors, new ventures can improve their survival chances. In addition, we argue that the relevance of optimal distinctiveness varies with a venture's age and a category's density. We tested our hypotheses using data from 1668 metal bands that were founded in the United Kingdom between 1967 and 2005. The results indicate that optimal distinctiveness is relevant to new ventures' failure risk. Moreover, we show that venture age attenuates the relevance of optimal distinctiveness, whereas category density strengthens that factor's relevance.     

Export‐led growth and its determinants: Evidence from Central and Eastern European countries

In this study, we assess the importance of exports and global value chain (GVC) participation for economic growth. Using novel methods and an extensive data set, we decompose GDP growth in the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) to show that in a large part of the period of transition and integration with the EU, exports have played a predominant role in shaping economic growth. We also show that exports have been the major factor driving the convergence of the CEECs with their advanced counterparts. We employ panel methods to analyse the determinants of growth of exported value added and show that the major growth drivers in the analysed period of 1995–2014 are GVC participation, imports of technology and capital deepening.Jel classificationC23, F21, O33     

ECONOMIC EXPERIMENTS,HYPOTHETICAL SURVEYS AND MARKET DATA STUDIES OF INSURANCE DEMAND AGAINST LOW‐PROBABILITY/HIGH‐IMPACT RISKS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF DESIGNS,THEORETICAL INSIGHTS AND DETERMINANTS OF DEMAND

This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on 80 experimental, hypothetical survey and market data studies of insurance demand against low‐probability/high‐impact risks. The objective of the review is to extract lessons from these studies and to outline an agenda for future research. We contrast the results of experimental and survey studies to findings from market data. We focus on experimental design methods, insurance characteristics, as well as results about theories, heuristics, behavioural biases and explanatory variables. Lessons for policymakers are drawn which can facilitate disaster preparedness.     

Speculation and volatility—A time-varying approach applied on Chinese commodity futures markets

Experts have long discussed and empirically investigated whether speculative activity increases volatility on commodity futures markets. Little empirical research, however, analyzes the role of speculators on commodity futures markets in China. Using time-varying vector autoregression models with stochastic volatility, this paper investigates for four heavily traded metal and agricultural contracts, how the relationship between returns volatility and speculation evolves over time. Our findings indicate that speculative activity has little to no impact on volatility. On the contrary, for all commodities examined, returns volatility seems to amplify speculation.     

The Opportunity Cost of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing

This paper investigates the impact of negative screening on the investment universe as well as on financial performance. We come up with a novel identification process and as such depart from mainstream socially responsible investing literature by concentrating on individual firms’ conduct and by studying a much wider range of issues. Firstly, we study the size and financial performance of fourteen potentially controversial issues: abortion, adult entertainment, alcohol, animal testing, contraceptives, controversial weapons, fur, gambling, genetic engineering, meat, nuclear power, pork, (embryonic) stem cells, and tobacco. We investigate an international sample of more than 1,600 stocks for more than twenty years. We then analyze the impact of applying negative screens to a market portfolio. Our findings suggest that the choice for negative screening strategies does matter for the size of the investment universe as well as for risk-adjusted return performance. Investing in controversial stocks in many cases results in additional risk-adjusted returns, whereas excluding them may reduce financial performance. These findings suggest that there are opportunity costs to negative screening.     

Business Process Management as a Key Factor for eHealth Success

International Advances in Economic Research -     

The family meal as an ideal: Children’s perceptions of foodwork and commensality in everyday life and feasts

The present article concerns meals from the point of view of children, focusing on structural and sociocultural aspects of meals in a Western context in general, and Sweden in particular. The aim was to study children's perceptions of meals with regard to what, where and with whom meals are eaten and how meals are made. The method used was an internet‐based, ethnological questionnaire, which is a qualitative method in which participants share their experiences and values regarding a certain topic of interest in writing. A hundred and twelve Swedish children were included. The children almost exclusively chose to write about family meals. These meals were described as well‐structured and organized, and were often portrayed in an idealized way, with family members sharing proper meals at home, spending an enjoyable time together with a nice atmosphere and good conversation. The children made a distinction between everyday meals and festive meals, where the main differences were that festive meals were more prone to include extended family and friends besides the nuclear family, and were described in a more exceptional way with regard to what is served and mealtime conditions. The article concludes that the family meal functioned as a way to construct the family and as a site where children acquire norms and values about meals and family identity, but they did so in an active way, by breaking rules and by challenging norms, thereby also contributing to change. The changing nature of the family meal was also seen in an extended proper meal and the commensal aspects surrounding mealtime, as commensality included both commensal eating and commensal foodwork.     

Network-centric business models for health,social care and wellbeing solutions in the internet of things

In this multiple case study we analyze solutions based on connected devices in the context of health, social care and wellbeing. Based on the consideration that a solution is a combination of services and products, we build on the notion that business models can be studied at a firm-level and also at a network-level. The network-level analysis is used to motivate the reasons why solutions emerging at the intersection of the healthcare and the ICT industries benefit from collaboration among different actors. We conclude that the firm- and the network-level development of business models provide alignment in the business network and are useful to establish the relation that technological component have with overall solutions. Our findings suggest that some component bring novelty in the final offer without affecting the ongoing operation, while other component aim at improving the internal working processes, with minimal effects on the final offer to end users. We discuss the benefits of a network-level perspective for each case.     

The digital future of internal staffing: A vision for transformational electronic human resource management

Through an international Delphi study, this article explores the new electronic human resource management regimes that are expected to transform internal staffing. Our focus is on three types of information systems: human resource management systems, job portals, and talent marketplaces. We explore the future potential of these new systems and identify the key challenges for their implementation in governments, such as inadequate regulations and funding priorities, a lack of leadership and strategic vision, together with rigid work policies and practices and a change-resistant culture. Tied to this vision, we identify several areas of future inquiry that bridge the divide between theory and practice.