The long-run behaviour of the terms of trade between primary commodities and manufactures: a panel data approach

This paper examines the Prebisch and Singer hypothesis using a panel of twenty-four commodity prices from 1900 to 2010. The modelling approach stems from the need to meet two key concerns: (i) the presence of cross-sectional dependence among commodity prices; and (ii) the identification of potential structural breaks. To address these concerns, the Hadri and Rao (Oxf Bull Econ Stat 70:245–269, 2008) test is employed. The findings suggest that all commodity prices exhibit a structural break whose location differs across series, and that support for the Prebisch and Singer hypothesis is mixed. Once the breaks are removed from the underlying series, the persistence of commodity price shocks is shorter than that obtained in other studies using alternative methodologies.     

关于加强硕士研究生问题意识培养的思考

问题意识是对现实的质疑精神,是思维创新的基础。培养和提升研究生的问题意识,必须从扩大知识面,构建合理的知识结构;坚持问题为导向,开展研究式教学;营造研究氛围,强化科研实践;加强社会实践,关注现实生活等四个方面着力。     

Family Vacation Decision Making: The Role of Woman

Most people spend their vacations with their family and decide where, how, and when with their spouses. The woman's role within the couple has become more and more influential in certain purchase decisions. This influence is strongly related to their lifestyles and values. For the tourism sector and its marketing strategy, it would be very useful to know the role that women play in vacation decisions. So, this article aims to analyze the influence of women's lifestyles and values on family vacation decisions. The information is based on 300 questionnaires addressed to married or cohabiting women. The results show differences in vacation decisions depending on the profile of the women (professional vs. traditional) and their preferences in activities.     

Reasons for implementing certified quality systems and impact on performance: an analysis of the hotel industry

Certifying quality systems has become standard practice in a wide range of companies the world over. However, studies on these systems' underlying motivations and these motivations' effects on performance have focused primarily on industrial firms, leaving the service sector largely unexplored in this regard. In this article structural equation modelling is used to analyse the reasons that underlie certification and the effects of these motivations on performance parameters within the hotel industry. The findings in this study show certain significant differences from the academic findings for industrial companies. The conclusions may help managers of hotel companies to better incorporate quality as a strategic, proactive tool with which to confront changing or adverse economic circumstances.     

A qualitative and longitudinal analysis of market orientation

This work analyzes the dynamic effect of market orientation (MO) on organizational performance, both in the long term and in the short term. The performance was measured by the sales growth and profitability. The methodology used is innovative as it quantifies the MO with a qualitative technique: content analysis. Data from the Spanish banking sector between 2005 and 2007 are the basis of a longitudinal study. The results indicate that the banks that develop an MO approach maintain this approach over time. On the other hand, MO does not seem to have a direct effect on profitability, but does affect the long-term sales growth.     

Searching for latent class segments in technological services

The focus in this article is on uncovering segments that describe mobile phone users and on investigating the nature of these segments to get some relevant information. We use a phased approach to reach this objective. First, two segmentation bases have been compared in order to select the best variables for the identification of groups. This is done using a latent class modelling approach. Second, two different segmentation techniques are examined looking for the best model fit. Finally, the model that achieves the best results is applied to the most significant segmentation variables with the purpose of uncovering segments that describe mobile phone users.     

Perceived value and customer loyalty in financial services

Taking into account how expensive it is to maintain customer loyalty programmes, it is necessary to know which aspects of the firm’s service are the ones that really deliver value to the customer. The aim of this paper is to study the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction and consumer loyalty in the financial services market, in order to know which factors are the most important for gaining the customers’ loyalty. A personal survey was made of 200 customers of financial entities, and structural equations models were used to test the relationships posited.     

Start-up incentives: Entrepreneurship policy or active labour market programme?

As several European governments develop new start-up programmes during recessions, the appropriateness of these policies recently has become a hot policy issue. This study suggests that the contribution of these incentives is dubious, if aimed to combat economic and jobs crises as part of the entrepreneurship policy, and can be shaped by various country-specific factors, such as the economic situation and the stringency of labour laws. To provide support for these claims, this paper investigates the underlying determinants of an individual's decision to switch from unemployment to self-employment in Europe and stresses the need to devote special attention to the role of three essential dimensions: (i) the existing heterogeneity within self-employment, by considering self-employed individuals who hire employees (employers) and self-employed individuals without personnel (own-account workers) as separated groups; (ii) the effects of different measures of social capital and network contacts, as forms of micro level institutional factors; and (iii) the explanatory power of cross-country differences in the state of the economy, expenditure on start-up incentives, and the stringency of labour laws, as forms of macro level institutional factors. This study has useful theory and policy implications for entrepreneurship development.     

Exclusive contents and next generation networks

This paper analyzes the interaction between the market of contents and the development of the next generation network (NGN) industry. We assume structural separation between the network and service operators and the comparative advantage of the service operators depends on the access to premium contents. On one side, we analyze how the structure of the market of contents (the scope of exclusivity contracts) may affect deployment and competition in a NGN setting. On the other side, we endogenize the structure of the market of contents given the presence of NGNs, where a content provider can sell contents directly to consumers, by-passing telecom operators (disintermediation, over-the-top content). In this context, we show that exclusivity only occurs when the content is not highly valued by consumers. Finally, the implication of our analysis for the evolution of the telecommunications industry is discussed.     

Do process innovations boost SMEs productivity growth?

In this paper, we explore in depth the effect of process innovations on total factor productivity growth for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), taking into account the potential endogeneity problem that may be caused by self-selection into these activities. First, we analyse whether the ex-ante most productive SMEs are those that start introducing process innovations; then, we test whether process innovations boost SMEs productivity growth using matching techniques to control for the possibility that selection into introducing process innovations may not be a random process. We use a sample of Spanish manufacturing SMEs for the period 1991–2002, drawn from the Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales. Our results show that the introduction of process innovations yields an extra productivity growth, and that the life span of this extra productivity growth lasts for only one period.