Prioritization of Facilitation Strategies of Park and Recreation Agencies Through DEMATEL Analysis

Rural park and recreation agencies introduce facilitation strategies to mitigate rural park visitation leisure constraints. Using Taiwanese population as sample, this article used leisure constraints concept and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to help agencies to prioritize facilitation strategies. DEMATEL analysis showed that constraints overlap in the consumer's mind. Impact of constraints vs sum of rows r map informs agencies which constraints should be given the priority to mitigate. DEMATEL influence map shows how facilitation strategies that allay priority constraints impact other constraints. Although this method is applied for rural park visitation, it is context neutral and can be applied to other leisure activities.     

Portfolio choice with indivisible and illiquid housing assets: the case of Spain

This paper studies the investment decisions of Spanish households using a unique data-set, the Spanish Survey of Household Finance (EFF). We propose a theoretical model in which households, given a fixed investment in housing, allocate their net wealth across bank time deposits, stocks and mortgage. Besides considering housing as an indivisible and illiquid asset that restricts the portfolio choice decision, we take into account the financial constraints that households face when they apply for external funding. For every representative household in the EFF, we solve this theoretical problem and obtain the theoretically optimal portfolio that is then compared with households’ actual choices. We find that households significantly under-invest in stocks and deposits while the optimal and actual mortgage investments agree. Considering the three types of financial assets at once, we find that the households headed by highly financially sophisticated, older, retired, richer, and unconstrained persons are the ones investing more efficiently.     

Do stock prices influence corporate decisions? Evidence from the technology bubble

We study the capital investment, stock issuance, and cash savings behavior of non-tech manufacturers (old economy firms) during the 1990s technology bubble. Our empirical results show that high stock prices affect corporate policies because they relax financing constraints. During the tech bubble, constrained non-tech firms' investment responded strongly to “high stock prices” (specifically, the component of price that is not captured by fundamentals). They also issued stock in response to that overvaluation effect, saving part of the proceeds in their cash accounts. We find no such patterns for unconstrained non-tech firms, nor for tech firms. Our findings are not consistent with the notion that managers systematically issue overvalued stocks and invest in ways that transfer wealth from new to old shareholders. More broadly, they suggest that what appears to be overvaluation in one sector of the economy may have positive externalities for other sectors.     

湖北省承接国际服务外包的制约因素分析

文章在简要介绍湖北省服务外包产业发展现状的基础上,根据服务外包承接地竞争力影响因素评价标准,从基础因素、企业因素和市场因素三个方面对湖北省承接国际服务外包的制约因素进行了分析.研究发现,湖北省承接国际服务外包存在较多的制约因素,如政府扶持力度不足、知识产权保护体系不完善、劳动力成本的增加、外包企业规模小、外包企业创新能力不足、服务外包中介组织体系不完善、人才流失严重、英语沟通水平低等.最后,从政府和企业两个层面提出了湖北省承接国际服务外包的政策建议,包括政府要加大政策扶持力度、加大知识产权保护力度、完善中介服务体系、改善用人机制、重视英语教育等,企业要不断扩大规模、加强自主创新能力和提高服务质量等.     

Credit constraints and margins of import: first evidence for German manufacturing enterprises

This study uses tailor-made enterprise-level data for 2008–2010 from various sources for firms from manufacturing industries to test for the link between credit constraints, measured by a credit rating score provided by a leading credit rating agency, and imports in Germany for the first time. We find empirical evidence that a better credit rating score is positively related to extensive margins of import – firms with a better score have a higher probability to import, they import more goods and they source from more countries of origin. The intensive margin of imports – the share of imports in total sales – is found not to be related to credit constraints.     

Access to Financing as a Barrier to Trade: Evidence From Mauritius

Access to credit is essential for the development and growth of firms. For a small open economy like Mauritius, the ability of firms to enter export markets is essential for their growth and development, given that the size of the local market is quite limited. To increase sales and profitability, firms have to export. However, there are several costs that are involved when firms enter an export market. In many cases, finance becomes an essential factor that influences firms’ ability to export. These authors investigate whether the main constraint that firms in Mauritius face is access to finance and try to understand how firms overcome financial barriers. Given the limitations of existing methods to estimate financing constraints directly from firm-level accounting data, the results based on survey data are an important contribution in improving understanding of firms’ financing obstacles to exporting and how they overcome these barriers.     

A Case Study on the Dual Effect of External Support and Implications on Small Business Growth,Entrepreneurial Creativity and Performance

ABSTRACT

Using a case study approach, this article investigates a Small Plastic Manufacturing Firm (SPMF) and Entrepreneur in Nigeria. The firm represents an example of a firm that has received external support. Very few firms are able to acquire adequate SME grants in Nigeria. Findings from the study revealed that most Small Plastic Manufacturing Entrepreneurs in Nigeria constrained by certain external and internal factors ironically, seem to be challenged to invent original strategies on their own, to cope, survive and to remain in business. Lack of financial capital, especially foreign exchange needed to import vital operating inputs from abroad has been the most serious constraint. Other serious external constraints identified are inadequate infrastructure facilities, competition from large firms, unfavorable government policies, dearth of machines and spare parts and paucity of raw materials. Internal obstacles like incompetent planning, poor organizational skills, and limited knowledge, among others, are common obstacles faced by most Nigerian entrepreneurs. It is also discovered that, in Nigeria, funding assis tance to entrepreneurs by relevant institutions concerned are not based on merit but rather biased on the basis of favoritism.     

Growth effects of FDI in 80 developing economies: the role of policy reforms and institutional constraints

Theoretical and empirical literatures have identified several channels through which foreign direct investment (FDI) influences economic growth. This paper examines the impact of FDI on economic output growth per worker using aggregate production function augmented with FDI inflows, economic policy reforms and institutional constraints. The paper covers 80 developing countries over the period 1980–2006. We use panel data and employ fixed, random effects and GMM methods for estimation. Our results highlight the importance of FDI, policy reforms and institutional development for growth in developing economies. Finally, we demonstrate that irrespective of reforms and institutions, an increase in FDI affects output growth positively.     

The effect of financial constraints,investment policy,product market competition and corporate governance on the value of cash holdings

This study empirically investigates the value shareholders place on excess cash holdings and how shareholders’ valuation of cash holdings is associated with financial constraints, firm growth, cash‐flow uncertainty and product market competition for Australian firms from 1990 to 2007. Our results indicate that the marginal value of cash holdings to shareholders declines with larger cash holdings and higher leverage. However, firms that are more financially constrained, that have higher growth rates and that face greater uncertainty exhibit a higher marginal value of cash holdings. These findings are consistent with the explanation that excess cash holdings are not necessarily detrimental to firm value. Firms with costly external financing and that also save more cash for current operating and future investing needs find that the market values these cash hoarding policies favourably. Finally, there is limited evidence of an association between various corporate governance measures and the value of cash holdings for a shorter sample period.     

Examining Organic Food Purchases and Preferences Within Jordan

Continuing economic development in Jordan provides potential food marketing opportunities as a new group of prospective value-added food product consumers emerges. The growing demand for high-value foods such as organically produced items also provides a new potential value-added market for Jordanian farmers. No studies to our knowledge have examined consumer preferences toward organic food items within Jordan. This study provides an initial attempt to fill this knowledge gap by examining the market for organic food items from a demand perspective in order to increase the knowledge available to Jordanian farmers, food processors, and retailers.