Can Agile Project Management Be Adopted by Industries Other than Software Development?

This research paper presents evidence from an exploratory survey on the use of agile project management (APM) practices and the presence of APM enablers in 19 medium‐ and large‐sized companies from different industry sectors considering innovative projects. The results show that these companies are possibly struggling to use their current management practices in the face of different project challenges. Additionally, the presence of some APM enablers indicates opportunities to adapt the APM theory for different companies other than those in software development. Future research should explore the correlation between APM practices and enablers in order to develop “hybrid” management models for different industries.     

Determinants of Financial Distress Costs

This paper provides international evidence on financial distress costs. To achieve this aim, we have developed a model where financial distress costs are determined, on the one hand, by making use of a more accurate indicator of the probability of financial distress and, on the other, by a set of variables that, according to financial theory, explain the magnitude of the costs borne by a firm in the case of financial distress. Our results reveal the relevance of our improved indicator of the probability of financial distress, since it positively affects financial distress costs in all the countries analyzed. Furthermore, since our model controls for the probability of financial distress, we can test the trade-off between the benefits and costs of debt. This allows us to verify that the benefits debt outweigh the costs. Our results also indicate that distress costs are negatively related to liquid assets; hence, their benefits more than offset their opportunity costs.     

Further econometric evidence on the extent and sources of cost savings in competitively tendered contracts

Empirical Economics - By estimating a flexible nonlinear regression model of savings on an original dataset of service procurements conducted by the Spanish Armed Forces, this paper provides robust...     

Fractional integration and cointegration in US financial time series data

This paper examines several US monthly financial time series using fractional integration and cointegration techniques. The univariate analysis based on fractional integration aims to determine whether the series are I(1) (in which case markets might be efficient) or alternatively I(d) with \(d < 1\) , which implies mean reversion. The multivariate framework exploiting recent developments in fractional cointegration allows to investigate in greater depth the relationships between financial series. We show that there might exist many (fractionally) cointegrated bivariate relationships among the variables examined, for some of which only standard cointegration tests had previously been carried out.     

International drug procurement and market intelligence: Cuba

Cuba's experience during the last 20 years is reviewed as far as international procurement and market intelligence are concerned. The steps taken during that period, in order to provide the Cuban people with the most efficacious medicines at the lowest cost are enumerated and analysed. The paper then discusses several aspects of Cuban drug policy: for instance, promoting national production of drugs; converting active ingredients into pharmaceutical forms; promoting research and development and technological innovation; and establishing an adequate infrastracture, including specialized institutional structures, for the evaluation of technology transfer and development in order to meet the demands made by human beings and animals on the pharmaceutical industry. The article also discusses the functions of Medi-Cuba dealing both with foreign commerce and its role as a drug intelligence centre for the pharmaceutical industry and research establishment.