Pace,rhythm, and scope: process dependence in building a profitable multinational corporation

Many potential benefits of foreign expansion have been identified in the literature, yet empirical support that multinational firms perform better than domestic firms is mixed. This paper takes a longitudinal perspective and argues that how much a firm benefits from having foreign subsidiaries depends on its process of internationalization. We argue that a firm's capacity to absorb expansion is subject to constraints: some expansion patterns increase profitability less than others, owing to diseconomies of time compression. We hypothesize that the speed of internationalization, the spread of the geographical and product markets entered, and the irregularity of the expansion pattern negatively moderate a firm's increase in profitability resulting from international expansion. Model estimations based on panel data raised strong support for these predictions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A note on Heckman-type corrections in models for zero expenditures

In Heien and Wessells (1990), a two-step estimation procedure, that makes use of Heckman-type corrections, is proposed to estimate consumption on household budget surveys. It is shown that this approach, which draws from switching regressions models, leads to inconsistent estimates.     

Economic well-being and poverty among the elderly: An analysis based on a collective consumption model

We apply the collective consumption model of Browning et al. (2010) to analyse economic well-being and poverty among the elderly. The model focuses on individual preferences, a consumption technology that captures the economies of scale of living in a couple, and a sharing rule that governs the intra-household allocation of resources. The model is applied to a time series of Dutch consumption expenditure surveys. Our empirical results indicate substantial economies of scale and a wife's share that is increasing in total expenditures. We further calculated two sets of poverty rates: one based on the collective consumption model and one based on the traditional approach with a standard equivalence scale. Poverty among widowers is underestimated by the traditional approach. The same is true for women (men) in elderly couples for the first (later) time periods in our analysis. Finally, we analysed the impact of becoming a widow(er). Based on cross-sectional evidence, we find that the drop in material well-being following the husband's death is rather substantial for women. For men, the picture is reversed.     

The international wealth channel: a global error-correcting analysis

This article investigates empirically whether shocks to asset prices transmit into the trade balance through consumption and investment for a group of five of the world??s most industrialized countries. We refer to this transmission channel as the international wealth channel and estimate a GVAR model including 29 countries with quarterly data over the period 1981Q1?C2006Q4. Generalized impulse response functions show that after a negative stock price shock US and UK consumption decreases, followed by an improving trade balance. This pattern is also visible for France, but not for Germany and Japan. Stock price decreases are only associated with decreasing investment and an improving trade balance in the UK. For housing, we do find that a negative shock to UK housing prices decreases domestic investment and improves the trade balance. However, this pattern is not visible in the other countries. Finally, a domestic negative real exchange rate shock only has a significantly positive impact on the US trade balance.     

Future perspectives on the role of extended producer responsibility within a circular economy: A Delphi study using the case of the Netherlands

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a proposed policy approach to promoting the circular economy (CE) within the European Union. This research used a policy Delphi to explore perspectives on improving EPR policies to further contribute to the CE goals of the Netherlands. Both the potential improvement and critical reflections discussed by CE and EPR experts and practitioners from this study contribute to a more detailed understanding of the future governance of CE practices. We present various activities to improve EPR and insights from Delphi participants that emerged from the study. This paper shows that whilst actors agree, in essence, that there is a need for modifying EPR, what the specific changes to the form are and to whom the new responsibilities apply is contested.     

Does land use planning shape regional economies? A simultaneous analysis of housing supply,internal migration and local employment growth in the Netherlands

Why has job growth over the past decades been weaker in the Dutch Randstad area than in surrounding regions? In a simultaneous equations analysis, we find that employment has adjusted to the regional supply of labour. Net internal migration was predominantly determined by regional housing supply, and not by employment growth. Growth of the regional housing stock appeared insensitive to changes in the number of people and jobs. This lack of responsiveness to demand conditions is consistent with the presence of strong restrictions on residential development near the main Dutch cities, suggesting that the current regional distribution of economic activity in the Netherlands reflects land use planning decisions.     

Identifying key determinants for new product introductions and firm performance in small service firms

Small firms have gained increasing attention in the innovation literature. Focusing mainly on manufacturing based literature we identified several key factors that contribute to the innovative potential of small firms. However, we do not know if these factors are recognised and used in small service firms. Distinguishing various types of service industries, our goal with this paper is threefold. First, we describe to what extent service firms use the key factors to their advantage. Second, we try to establish if there is a relation between the key factors and new product introductions. Third, we want to see if new product introductions indeed contribute to firm performance. After a survey among 502 Dutch service firms, we reveal some major differences between various types of service industries.     

Models and optimal designs for conjoint choice experiments including a no-choice option

In a classical conjoint choice experiment, respondents choose one profile from each choice set that has to be evaluated. However, in real life, the respondent does not always make a choice: often he/she does not prefer any of the options offered. Therefore, including a no-choice option in a choice set makes a conjoint choice experiment more realistic. In the literature, three different models are used to analyze the results of a conjoint choice experiment with a no-choice option: the no-choice multinomial logit model, the extended no-choice multinomial logit model, and the nested no-choice multinomial logit model. We develop optimal designs for the two most appealing of these models using the D-optimality criterion and the modified Fedorov algorithm and compare these optimal designs with a reference design, which is constructed while ignoring the no-choice option, in terms of estimation and prediction accuracy. We conclude that taking into account the no-choice option when designing a no-choice experiment only has a marginal effect on the estimation and prediction accuracy as long as the model used for estimation matches the data-generating model.     

Strategic actions in European soccer: Do they matter?

The objective of this paper is to discover (if and) what kind of strategic actions European football clubs conduct and whether these actions affect their financial performance and therefore their competitive position. In this paper we measure the context, content and process dimensions of strategic renewal and relate these to financial performance. The individual strategic actions undertaken by eight football organisations during the period 1995–2002 were examined. In total, 963 strategic actions could be assigned to three dimensions of strategic action. Our study shows that even in an environment in which other factors are crucial for surviving, undertaking strategic actions does contribute to the financial performance of firms. In the European football industry that requires some kind of ‘competitive balance’, strategic actions positively contribute to financial performance.