The dynamics of crop sectors in regional development: The case of tobacco

The importance of specific crop sectors can be better cast in a broader framework to account for intersectoral effects. Input-output analysis can provide this framework to assess the importance of the controversial crop, tobacco. In this respect, employment, income, and output multipliers were estimated to demonstrate the dynamics of the sector at the regional and national levels. Furthermore, the impact of totally eliminating tobacco cultivation was computed. Results clearly demonstrate the significance of the tobacco sector and its interrelation with the rest of the economic sectors.This study was partially financed by the Portuguese Association of Tobacco Producers.     

Do entrepreneurship programmes raise entrepreneurial intention of science and engineering students? The effect of learning,inspiration and resources

Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour, this study tests the effect of entrepreneurship programmes on the entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions of science and engineering students. This is necessary in order to confirm (or disconfirm) conventional wisdom that entrepreneurship education increases the intention to start a business. The results show that the programmes raise some attitudes and the overall entrepreneurial intention and that inspiration (a construct with an emotional element) is the programmes' most influential benefit. The findings contribute to the theories of planned behaviour and education and have wider implications for a theory of entrepreneurial emotions and also for the practice of teaching entrepreneurship.     

Human capital contributions to explain productivity differences

This paper develops a parametric decomposition framework of labor productivity growth relaxing the assumption of labor-specific efficiency. The decomposition analysis is applied to a sample of 121 developed and developing countries during the 1970–2007 period drawn from the recently updated Penn World Tables and Barro and Lee (A new data set of educational attainment in the world 1950–2010. NBER Working Paper No. 15902, 2010) educational databases. A generalized Cobb–Douglas functional specification is used taking into account differences in technological structures across groups of countries to approximate aggregate production technology using Jorgenson and Nishimizu (Econ J 88:707–726, 1978) bilateral model of production. The measurement of labor efficiency is based on Kopp’s (Quart J Econ 96:477–503, 1981) orthogonal non-radial index of factor-specific efficiency modified in a parametric frontier framework. The empirical results indicate that the weighted average annual rate of labor productivity growth was 1.239 % over the period analyzed. Technical change was found to be the driving force of labor productivity, while improvements in human capital and factor intensities account for the 19.5 and 12.4 % of that productivity growth, respectively. Finally, labor efficiency improvements contributed by 9.8 % to measured labor productivity growth.     

On the choice of functional form in stochastic frontier modeling

This paper examines the effect of functional form specification on the estimation of technical efficiency using a panel data set of 125 olive-growing farms in Greece for the period 1987–93. The generalized quadratic Box-Cox transformation is used to test the relative performance of alternative, widely used, functional forms and to examine the effect of prior choice on final efficiency estimates. Other than the functional specifications nested within the Box-Cox transformation, the comparative analysis includes the minflex Laurent translog and generalized Leontief that possess desirable approximation properties. The results indicate that technical efficiency measures are very sensitive to the choice of functional specification. Perhaps most importantly, the choice of functional form affects the identification of the factors affecting individual performance – the sources of technical inefficiency. The analysis also shows that while specification searches do narrow down the set of feasible alternatives, the identification of the most appropriate functional specification might not always be (statistically) feasible. First version received: November 1999/Final version received: July 2001 RID="*" ID="*"  The authors wish to thank Almas Heshmati, Robert Romain, and an anonymous referee for insightful comments and suggestions. Special thanks go to the associate editor who handled the paper, and whose careful reading and suggestions have improved the paper substantially. The second author wishes to acknowledge the financial support from “President SSHRC” from the University of Saskatchewan. The usual caveats with respect to opinions expressed in the paper apply. Senior authorship is shared. This is University of Nebraska-Lincoln Agricultural Research Division Article No. 13270.     

Network modeling approaches for calculating wholesale NGA prices: A full comparison based on the Greek fixed broadband market

According to the European Commission Recommendation for setting copper and fiber wholesale prices where cost orientation is imposed as a remedy, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) should adopt a Bottom-UP Long-Run Incremental Cost Plus (BU LRIC+) costing methodology that estimates the current cost that a hypothetical efficient operator would incur to build a modern efficient Next Generation Access (NGA) network. The starting point of modeling an efficient operator investing in NGA networks is the network modeling approach. In this paper, we compare the most widely adopted network modeling approaches in terms of wholesale fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) prices. In particular, the modified scorched node approach is compared to the extreme cases of the scorched node and the scorched earth approaches. The comparison between the aforementioned scenarios sheds light on the impact of each approach on the wholesale FTTH prices. The main finding of this paper is that the scorched earth approach leads to a maximum of 10% reduction in the short-term access prices compared to the most inefficient scorched node approach, whereas further extending its optimizations by optimizing the number of central offices, both the short-term and long-term wholesale price reductions are quite significant (more than 20%) regardless of service speeds. Consequently, NRAs should consider a geographically differentiated modeling approach when regulating the wholesale market by adjusting the level of scorching in each area and network segment according to the investment plans of telecom operators. An appropriate variation of the modeled network operator's efficiency is expected to more accurately represent the costs of a reasonably efficient operator based on the real market conditions and a forward-looking perspective. These findings provide valuable information to both network operators and telecom regulators.     

Strategic environmental management in the Greek chemical industry: results from an exploratory study of selected companies

The aim of this paper is to explore the state of environmental management of three large chemical companies in Greece, using the case study approach. To begin with, a number of models of corporate environmental responsiveness are reviewed and compared. Two of them are used as a basis for classifying the selected firms. An operational tool is developed, in order to gather qualitative data from the companies regarding their environmental responsiveness. The findings suggest that, although Greek chemical companies are environmentally conscious, they conform to rather than advocate environmental issues. Implications are, then, drawn from the study and suggestions are made for a proactive environmental responsiveness in the context of the Greek chemical industry. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Parametric decomposition of the input-oriented Malmquist productivity index: with an application to Greek aquaculture

Using a stochastic frontier approach and a translog input distance function, this paper implements the input-oriented Malmquist productivity index to a sample of Greek aquaculture farms. It is decomposed into the effects of technical efficiency change, scale efficiency change, input-mix and, technical change, which is further attributed to neutral, output- and input-induced shifts of the frontier. Implementable expressions for the aforementioned components are obtained using a discrete changes-approach that is consistent with the usual discrete-form data. Empirical findings indicate that the productivity of the farms in the sample increased during the period 1995–1999 and it was shaped up primarily by the input mix-effect and technical change.     

Technical efficiency measures for olive-growing farms in Crete, Greece

This study attempts to contribute to the productivity literature of the agriculture of developing countries by exploring the distribution of technical efficiency over time among olive-growing farms operating in the southern part of Greece—specifically, the island of Crete. A balanced panel data set during the period 1987–93 is utilized for the estimation of the stochastic production frontier. The results show decreasing efficiency for farms since 1987 and suggest the need for a development strategy to improve their economic performance in the context of expected major changes in the Common Agricultural Policy. A further result is that farm size, the farmer's education, the existence of an improvement plan, and land fragmentation are the most important factors explaining inter-farm variation in efficiency.     

The Peripheral Halo Effect: Do Academic Spinoffs Influence Universities' Research Income?

Extant literature has drawn attention to the ‘halo effect’ of the good reputation of a core organizational activity on the outcome of a peripheral activity. We contribute to the literature on organizational reputation by illustrating a halo effect in the opposite direction – from the periphery to the core. We show that developing a reputation for a peripheral activity (in our context, universities' social impact via spinoffs) may have positive spillovers for core organizational activities (in our context, university research), a phenomenon we term the ‘peripheral halo effect'. We also show that this effect is more prominent for high‐status than for low‐status organizations. Our research also contributes to the academic‐entrepreneurship literature by revealing that spinoff portfolios can generate income for universities not only directly via equity positions but also indirectly via reputational benefits.