The Impact of Innovation in Small Industrial Operations to Increased Competitiveness： Empirical Evidence

The present research work in the Small and Medium Enterprise （SME） and industrial sector explains the impact of the relationship among innovation in the SME operations of Aguascalientes to find the most competitive one; to this end, a questionnaire was intended for managers where the results have been analyzed using the statistical package Structural Equation Modeling Programs （EQS） support which through structural equations has responded to the objective. In this sense, it can be concluded that innovation has a positive relationship with the operations and in turn, this relationship shows a positive impact on the competitiveness of SMEs in Aguascalientes. For this study, a sample of 150 companies has been used.     

Business creation by immigrant entrepreneurs in the valencian community. The influence of education

The authors analyse the level of education and the attitude to education of immigrant entrepreneurs in relation to enterprise activity, the reasons for setting up businesses and the creation process. The main objective of this article is to discover the most important characteristics of immigrant entrepreneurs in the Valencian Community. In particular, it attempts to explain the influence of education on the setting up of businesses. To do so, 326 questionnaires have been analysed to undertake a study of the various immigrant communities in the Valencian Community that identify said factors. The hypothesis we put forward in this article is an attempt at relating the attitude to education of immigrant entrepreneurs, and its relation to business activity, the motivation for setting up businesses and the process for said business creation. As the most outstanding result, this article shows that the level of education of an entrepreneur is the factor on which the majority of business activity will depend. There is no factor of this personal dimension that relates to most aspects of motivation and business process. The study focuses on a particular geographical area. Consequently, the study helps to understand business activity by non-national entrepreneurs in a globalized economy and adds value to public policies for fostering business.     

A Model of Flow Experience as Determinant of Positive Attitudes Toward Online Advergames

Advergames are gaining recognition as a captivating environment. Although several flow models have determined online games usage, no previous model has explored determinants of positive attitudes toward advergames. The objectives included development and empirically testing of a model of flow experience and its determinants of attitudes toward advergames. Positive attitudes toward advergames were partially explained by the flow experience. The model revealed that challenges offered by the gameplay were an important predictor of flow, followed by telepresence and players’ skills. Contrary to expectations, arousal significantly impacted attitudes toward advergames but not flow. Implications for advertisers and web developers are discussed.     

Residents' attitudes towards an instant resort enclave

Researchers have suggested that residents' attitudes towards tourism depend on the expected costs and benefits of tourism. While many studies have examined this proposition towards the later stages of development, few have examined the pre-tourism phase. This study used in-depth interviews with residents of Isabela, Puerto Rico, to examine their attitudes towards a proposed “instant” enclave resort in their community. At the time the research was conducted, Isabela was the planned site of the largest resort in the Caribbean. Results indicate that respondents are aware of both some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and are quite ambivalent about the planned tourist site.     

Connecting the STEM dots: measuring the effect of an integrated engineering design intervention

Recent publications have elevated the priority of increasing the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content for K-12 education. The STEM education community must invest in the development of valid and reliable to scales to measure STEM content, knowledge fusion, and perceptions of the nature of STEM. This brief report discusses the development of an instrument to measure student perceptions of the interdependent nature of STEM content knowledge in the context of a complex classroom intervention implemented in five Colorado high schools (N = 275). Specifically, cross-functional science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teams of high school students were formed to complete engineering design problems. Exploratory (pretest) and confirmatory (posttest) factor analyses indicated that a newly adapted scale to measure student perceptions of the interdependent nature of STEM content knowledge had possessed adequate model fit. Furthermore, analysis revealed a novel pattern of results for the intervention. Specifically, students with initially high perceptions of the interdependent nature of STEM sustained their high perceptions at posttest; however, students with initially low perceptions exhibited statistically significantly positive gains from pretest to posttest. Therefore, this intervention may work best with students who are at risk of losing interest in STEM disciplines. The implications of these research findings are discussed.     

Ageing-related services as a key element for social cohesion

The aim of this article is to carry out an empirical analysis of certain factors related to dependence in Spain and additionally to study the intensity of the use of health resources by dependents. Age appears to be the main socio-demographic factor related to dependence, which confirms the need for measures to deal with the demographic changes taking place. Thus, providing services to cover long-term care could become an important instrument for social cohesion. Multivariate analysis does not reveal a strong link between the use of healthcare services and dependence that would justify the joint management of the two systems. This means that self-regulating management of dependence and healthcare systems may be adequate except in the case of severe dependency.     

MACROECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT TO CAPITAL INFLOWS: LESSONS FROM RECENT LATIN AMERICAN AND EAST ASIAN EXPERIENCE

Capital inflows to some developing countries have increasedsharply in recent years. Impelled by better economic prospectsin those countries, lower international interest rates, anda slowdown of economic activity in the capital-exporting countries,the inflows have furnished financing much needed to increasethe use of existing capacity and to stimulate investment. Butcapital inflows can bring with them their own problems. Typicalmacroeconomic repercussions have been appreciation of the realexchange rate, expansion of nontradables at the expense of tradables,larger trade deficits, and, in regimes with a fixed exchangerate, higher inflation and an accumulation of foreign reserves. Should government intervene to limit some of these side effects—andif so, how? The question is especially pressing in the wakeof the Mexican crisis of December 1994. This article looks foranswers in the experience of four Latin American and five EastAsian countries between 1986 and 1993, examining the effectsof the capital inflows on the economy and comparing the differentways in which these countries responded to the problem of "toomuch" capital.      

Extending Productivity Research Frontiers: DEA Resource of Datasets and Errata

Website databases provide the opportunity to fundamentally change the way research and knowledge are advanced and disseminated. This paper describes a website, http://www.etm.pdx.edu/dea/dataset/, focused on Data Envelopment Analysis and DEA researchers.