The energy efficiency of local food systems: A comparison between different modes of distribution

The possible contribution of local sales chains to the reduction of energy consumption has been hotly debated in recent years. Some authors establish a link between the reduction of distances traveled by food and lower energy consumption due to transportation, while others hold that local supply chains have a poor energy performance. This article engages this debate by comparing the rates of energy consumption attributable to different modes of distribution of fruits and vegetables in a region of France.     

Technologies,preferences, and policies for a sustainable use of natural resources

We discuss eight contributions that combine the topics of sustainable natural resource use and economic dynamics. In the first part we consider enhanced oil recovery (EOR), carbon capture and storage (CCS), as well as innovations allowing for energy-efficiency improvements and renewable energy cost reductions. We discuss how to include these technologies and innovations in CGE models, how each of them has different effects on the timing of emissions and abatement and on total emissions, and how (first-best as well as second-best) complementary policies (in particular, emission taxes and innovation subsidies) differ across these technologies. In the second part we compare differences in intergenerational preferences towards resource conservation - altruistic preferences and concern for social status from relative consumption -and also found sharply contrasting effects across the alternative assumptions.     

Equity-premium prediction: Attention is all you need

Predictions of stock returns are greatly improved relative to low-dimensional forecasting regressions when the forecasts are based on the estimated factor of large data sets, also known as the diffusion index (DI) model. However, when applied to text data, DI models do not perform well. This paper shows that by simply using text data in a DI model does not improve equity-premium forecasts over the naive historical-average model, but substantial gains are obtained when one selects the most predictive words before computing the factors and allows the dictionary to be updated over time.     

Architectural innovation in product development through early supplier integration

The paper explains how an important opportunity exists to pro-actively integrate suppliers at an early stage in the concept exploration and definition stages of product development. Research suggests that the concept of architectural innovation can be extended so that product features are matched with the associated specialized technical skills of partners in the development team.
In addition to the establishment of integrated product teams, key enablers include: long-term commitment to suppliers; co-location; joint responsibility for design and configuration control; seamless information flow; and retaining flexibility in the definition of system configuration. Important contributing factors include: supplier-capability-enhancing investments; target costing; and incentive mechanisms. To promote innovative outcomes in military and government programmes, attention is drawn to the importance of governments championing closely-knit customer-supplier relationships.
Firms can build enduring competitive strength by leveraging the specialized knowledge bases of their supplier networks. Two case-studies provide lessons to improve current approaches to the creation of long-term partnerships, or strategic alliances, with suppliers.     

Credit cycles and macro fundamentals

We use an intensity-based framework to study the relation between macroeconomic fundamentals and cycles in defaults and rating activity. Using Standard and Poor's U.S. corporate rating transition and default data over the period 1980–2005, we directly estimate the default and rating cycle from micro data. We relate this cycle to the business cycle, bank lending conditions, and financial market variables. In line with earlier studies, the macro variables appear to explain part of the default cycle. However, we strongly reject the correct dynamic specification of these models. The problem is solved by adding an unobserved dynamic component to the model, which can be interpreted as an omitted systematic credit risk factor. By accounting for this latent factor, many of the observed macro variables loose their significance. There are a few exceptions, but the economic impact of the observed macro variables for credit risk remains low. We also show that systematic credit risk factors differ over transition types, with risk factors for downgrades being noticeably different from those for upgrades. We conclude that portfolio credit risk models based only on observable systematic risk factors omit one of the strongest determinants of credit risk at the portfolio level. This has obvious consequences for current modeling and risk management practices.     

选择银行

<正> 投资者可能忽视了银行部门,但银行部门具有的优势正在抵消结构重组和不良贷款引起的诸多问题,众多机遇也开始在出现。银行:存放现金的安全可靠的地方——只要凑巧不是在印尼。大银行:投资者稳定的生财之处——只要凑巧不是在亚洲。果真如此?看来,这些至理名言今年听上去开始有点徒有其名。全球各地利率正在下跌,使存款似乎不怎么吸引人。对投资者而言,局势也在改变:假如全球经济放慢速度,那么贷     

Distinguishing market segments to assess price responsiveness

Economists and marketers have developed theoretical constructs which suggest that effective market segmentation can be used to identify differences in price sensitivity among market theory in the industrial marketing literature by using marketing research to distinguish market segments that are useful in industrial pricing decisions. Both macrosegmentation, using characteristics of customers (that is, end-use and usage level), as well as microsegmentation (using behavioral variables) were utilized in a survey of natural gas customers to determine if segments of the industrial market differ in price sensitivity.     

The Influence of Informality in a Local Agri-food Supply Chain in Brazil

During qualitative research on trust, conducted in a mariculture chain in southern Brazil, the theme of informality emerged spontaneously in most interviews. Although it is difficult to measure, some data and estimates point out that informality is still quite present worldwide, but especially in emerging and developing countries, and this situation was confirmed in the studied supply chain. In analysing the narratives, we noticed that this is a chronic issue which bothers the producers that are properly formalised mainly because of unfair competition, and hinders the organisation of the chain. Some factors foster the persistence of informality, such as family labour and temporary jobs, the low educational level of entrepreneurs, lack of adequate supervision and cultural aspects of producers and their families. We could corroborate the perspectives of modernisation (informality is still persistent), neo-liberal (informal entrepreneurs reject the bureaucracy of an over-regulated market) and post-structuralist (informality is a way of life related to identity, social position and/or resistance against the formal structure) theories. Our research has shown us that the situation found is contributing to a reduction in the number of formal producers and impairing the development of that local supply chain, as well as its sustainability.     

Significant developments and emerging issues in human resource management

A review of over 100 papers concerned with human resource management (HRM) in five leading hospitality journals during 2002 and 2003, finds that the research agenda mirrors what is seen in mainstream HR research and theory, focusing around general HRM, employee resourcing, employee development and employee relations. Given that some mainstream HR academics have ‘highjacked’ topics such as emotional labour, emotional intelligence and HRM in service work as new and innovative, hospitality researchers need to reclaim their territory, push forward the boundaries of theory making and propose theory that is hospitality specific, relevant and useful.