Time will tell: interaction effects of franchising percentages and age on franchisor mortality rates

Drawing from franchising and organizational ecology literatures, we hypothesize that franchising provides benefits to franchisors by addressing issues of adverse selection, moral hazard, holdup, obsolescence, and senescence. We assert that, over time, these benefits increase such that the more a franchise chain utilizes franchisees rather than company-owned outlets, the greater the franchising benefits accrue to the franchisor. We test our propositions by studying the mortality rates of 393 franchise organizations in the U.S. automotive products and services sector over the 21-year time period 1985–2005, using proportional hazard analysis. We find that older franchise chains with higher percentages of franchised units have lower mortality rates than older franchise chains with lower percentages of franchised units. We also find that younger franchise chains with higher percentages of franchised units have higher mortality rates than younger franchise chains with lower percentages of franchised units.     

Sustainability assessment of food chain logistics

Food chain logistics plays an important role in the sustainability performance of the food sector. Therefore, project SCALE (Step Change in Agri-food Logistics Ecosystems) started as a collaborative international project, aiming for tools and frameworks for the food sector to make a step change in operational practices. A sustainability framework is introduced to propose a structured and rational method for assessing sustainability. Next, we empirically apply the framework, based upon explorative web-based research and semi-structured interviews with the best practice players in the field in the Netherlands, the UK and France. Findings provide clear insights into the current state of the art regarding the use of sustainability performance indicators, companies’ sustainability strategies, supply chain redesign strategies currently applied in practice and experienced barriers to sustainability improvement. Overall, logistics service providers seem to have a wait-and-see attitude towards sustainability where food companies are more proactive following market demands for more sustainable products.     

An empirical investigation of framing effects in negotiations: A study of single‐family home sales

This paper integrates Prospect Theory and the concept of framing in a study of consumer negotiated pricing in a real estate context. Building on previously conducted experimental designs, a field survey indicated that home sellers using sales price as a reference point display greater willingness to make concessions than those who use equity as their reference point. Further, the third‐party influence of the realtor was shown to alter Prospect Theory predictions so that even equity‐based sellers became concessionary. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Rent taxation and its intertemporal welfare effects in a small open economy

Previous literature concludes that replacing wage taxation by taxes on a fixed factor or its rents benefits future generations. However, the effects of such steady-state gains on the transition generations have been left open. In this paper, we show that taxation of rents may also increase utility of the current generation provided tax revenues are earmarked to reduce wage taxes. In particular, a shift in the tax mix may yield an intergenerational Pareto-improvement when the initially prevailing tax mix is sufficiently skewed toward wage taxation.     

A Respecified Fama French Three‐Factor Model for the New European Union Member States

This study uses factor models to explain stock market returns in the Eastern European (EE) countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. In line with other studies, we find that the market value of equity component in the Fama French (1993) three‐factor model performs poorly when applied to our emerging markets dataset. We propose a significant amendment to the standard three‐factor model by replacing the market value of equity factor with a term that proxies for accounting manipulation. We show that our three‐factor model is able to explain returns in the EE EU nations significantly better than the Fama French (1993) three‐factor model, hereby offering an alternative model for use in the numerous markets in which previous studies have found little correlation between market value of equity and equity returns.     

Bertrand’s paradox: is there anything else?

In this paper we give some other solutions of the well-known Bertrand??s paradox. The random choice of a chord is done by choosing two independent points under some uniform distributions. We obtained results that differ from the classic ones.     

Keeping sustainable innovation on a leash? Exploring incumbents’ institutional strategies

This research aims to identify the institutional strategies of incumbent firms with regard to sustainable energy innovations that threaten their interests. This exploratory study contributes to the multi‐level perspective by providing new insights into niche–regime interaction. The focus on actor behavior in transitions is informed by literature from institutional theory and strategic management. Based on semi‐structured interviews with actors and on documents related to LED lighting and biofuels in the Netherlands, this study identified a preliminary set of empirical strategies: providing information and arguments to policy makers and the general public, as well as strategically setting technical standards. Incumbents are in a position to significantly influence the innovation's development by employing these strategies; thus temporarily keeping sustainable innovation on a leash. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Institutional Logics and Responses to Performance Measurement Systems

Abstract: This comparative study analyzes institutional logics and categorizes organizational responses to performance measurement systems (PMSs) in two Finnish cities. We refine the typology of organizational responses and suggest how the choice of response depends on the institutionalized logic in the public sector accounting context (cf. Oliver, 1991 ). Further, we discuss and refine the types of successful co‐operation under competing institutional logics (cf. Reay and Hinings, 2009 ). Our study also sheds light on practice variation in public sector accounting such as how and why PMS use materializes in different forms in units with different institutional logics.     

Tax Competition and Fiscal Equalization

This paper analyzes the relation between tax competition and fiscal equalization. In particular, it asks the question whether fiscal equalization schemes can mitigate inefficient tax competition. Two transfer schemes are considered: tax revenue and tax base equalization schemes. The paper shows that equalizing transfers may internalize fiscal externalities. In particular, in a small open economy tax base equalization yields efficient tax rates. Thus, transfer mechanisms with an explicit redistributive character do not always impair efficiency.     

Editorial

Original Papers

Editorial