International Expansion of SMEs: The Inducascos Case

While small and medium enterprises contribute to gross domestic product, generate crucial employment, and improve socio-economic development, unfortunately the literature on the internationalization processes of these companies remains timid and inconsistent. The following study seeks to analyze the international expansion of the Colombian company Inducascos. The research follows the structure of a case study including literature analysis and secondary data of the Colombian industrial market and Inducascos. Challenges, opportunities and learning process of the organization related to its international expansion and set out, seeking to contribute to the existing studies in international business.     

Insider Trading 2.0? The Ethics of Information Sales

The sale of faster access to financial market data has recently generated public controversy. NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has referred to such fast data feeds as “Insider Trading 2.0”. For example, Thomson Reuters sold the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index to computerized trading firms 2 seconds before releasing its data to its other paying clients. This paper explores the ethical issues involved in the sale of such information. Is selling faster access ethically the same as traditional insider trading, which generally involves a breach of fiduciary duty or the use of misappropriated information? Such practices are extremely different from traditional insider trading as there is neither a breach of fiduciary duty nor misappropriation of inside information. The ethical issues are similar to other market segmentation and price discrimination issues, in which different prices are charged to different customers. The ability to price discriminate across segments can actually benefit large segments of the population who may receive lower prices because others, such as the high-speed traders, are paying more. The sale of faster access to information, especially by exchanges, raises additional ethical issues. There may be adverse effects on market quality that must be addressed. The moral distaste for the practice expressed by some stems from the seeming unfairness of a modern market structure that provides advantages to a small group of computerized traders.     

基于扎根理论的西部物流集群中横向物流协同制约因素及作用机制研究——以五省市为例

物流集群是物流业降本增效的重要形式,本质是其内部相互竞争的企业之间的物流协同。但企业在开展协同活动时,却受到诸多制约因素的影响。文章通过对中国西部7个大型物流集群的管理方、企业代表以及相关的政府官员、专家、学者等进行半结构化深度访谈。借助扎根理论研究方法进行编码分析,构建出由“协同环境”“合作伙伴”“信任”“信息系统”四个主范畴共同构成的“横向物流协同制约因素”模型,并编织故事线,说明它们之间的逻辑关系。制约因素“作用机制”模型揭示了上述制约因素在计划、实施和评估阶段的内在联系与相互影响。在此基础上,针对性地提出相应对策与建议,以便消除阻力,推动协同,促进物流集群的发展和中国西部物流业的转型升级。     

Convergence of Inflationary Shocks: Evidence from the Caribbean

In this paper, we aim to shed some light on the inflation dynamics in the Caribbean. We analyse the inflation rates for twelve countries using various time series methods. The results show that the inflation rates are mean reverting processes and that there is evidence of a convergence club in inflation rates within the area, which contradicts previous studies. Our contribution implies a high degree of similarity in the dynamics of our target countries' inflation rates.     

Assessing primary healthcare services quality in Spain: managers vs. patients perceptions

This paper measures the perceptions of the service quality by both the users and the health centre managers in Spain. With this information, it was possible to calculate the size of Gap-6, proposed by Lewis of discrepancy among the customers' perceptions and the perceptions of health centre managers. Using factor analysis and multiple regressions, significant associations were found between the service quality dimensions and patient satisfaction. Implications and future research issues are discussed.     

Improving competitiveness through city marketing in Spanish hotels

The degree to which hotels can be competitive depends upon some very important factors, such as city promotion initiatives and city knowledge networks. The purpose of this study is to analyse and present how a city marketing procedure could become an effective tool for knowledge development and the competitiveness of Spanish hospitality hotels. Our findings support the view that in order to implement a marketing city programme oriented towards hotels, municipal managers need to provide and support knowledge creation networks. Furthermore, a hotel's size is significantly associated with levels of city promotion initiatives. Therefore, to consolidate marketing city results among small hotels, municipal managers need to reinforce the environment in which hotel managers operate and provide them with the means to survive in the context of a competitive knowledge-based economy.     

文学翻译中的异化与归化

在翻译中一直存在着"异化"与"归化"之争,根据异化和归化策略在翻译中应用的历史和趋势,在比较直译与意译和异化与归化两对概念区别的基础上,可以说明,在文学翻译中选择异化还是归化策略,应当从文化和语言两个层面来考虑.     

三次样条法估计利率期限结构的加权方式比较研究

利率期限结构的静态估计是验证动态模型以及进行动态变化分析的基础。本文介绍了三次样条法的基本模型结构,指出了传统三次样条法使用久期倒数作为估计误差权重的逻辑错误,并据此提出了"准久期"加权以及成交量排名加权的概念;通过对比多个样本时间点的估计结果,发现成交量排名加权方法无论在样本内的模型估计还是样本外模型预测方面均优于久期以及准久期倒数加权方法。     

Internal and external drivers for quality certification in the service industry: Do they have different impacts on success?

This paper presents the results of a study of hotels that are certified for quality management to identify the reasons for seeking quality certification. The authors analyse whether internal or external drivers for seeking certification have different impacts on benefits and the use of quality tools in the hotel industry. The analysis groups hotels according to the importance of their internal reasons for certification, and uses cluster analysis to identify the significant differences between groups of hotels. The findings for the 32 hotels analysed show that hotels that pursued certification for internal reasons develop better quality tools and have increased levels of benefits.     

Expropriation risk and housing prices: Evidence from an emerging market

This paper examines the microeconomic determinants of residential real estate prices in Caracas, Venezuela, using a private database containing 17,526 transactions from 2008 to 2009. The particular institutional characteristics of many countries in Latin America, and Venezuela in particular, where land invasions and expropriations (with only partial compensation) have been common threats to property owners, provide us with an opportunity to test the effects of these risks on housing prices using a unique database. The effect of these risks on property prices is negative and significant. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to quantify these impacts in the Hedonic pricing literature applied to real estate. Size, the number of parking spaces, the age of the property, the incidence of crime, and the average income in the neighborhood are significant determinants of prices. Finally, this paper analyzes the microeconomic determinants of housing prices at the municipal level.