Search results for: market%20competition

Authors: Björn de Kruijf, Arjen Edzes, Sietske Waslander

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In an ever-quickly changing society, lifelong development is seen as a solution to labor market problems by politicians and policymakers. In this paper, we investigate how policy instruments are used to increase participation in lifelong development and on which behavioral principles policy is based. Digitization, automation, and an aging population change society and the labor market accordingly. Skills that were once most sought after in the workforce can become abundantly present. For people to remain relevant in the working population, they need to continue adapting new skills useful in the current labor market. Many reports have been written that focus on the role of lifelong development in this changing society and how lifelong development can help keep people adapt and stay relevant. Inspired by these reports, governments have implemented a broad range of policies to support participation in lifelong development. The question we ask ourselves is how government policies promote participation in lifelong development. This stems from a complex interplay of policy instruments and learning. Regulation, economic and soft instruments can be combined to promote lifelong development, and different types of education further complex policies on lifelong development. Literature suggests that different stages in people’s lives might warrant different methods of learning. Governments could anticipate this in their policies. In order to influence people’s behavior, the government can tap into a broad range of sociological, psychological, and (behavioral) economic principles. The traditional economic assumption that behavior is rational is known to be only partially true, and the government can use many biases in human behavior to stimulate participation in lifelong development. In this paper, we also try to find which biases the government taps into to promote participation if they tap into any of these biases. The goal of this paper is to analyze government policies intended to promote participation in lifelong development. To do this, we develop a framework to analyze the policies on lifelong development. We specifically incorporate the role of learning and the behavioral principles underlying policy instruments in the framework. We apply this framework to the case of the Netherlands, where we examine a set of policy documents. We single out the policies the government has put in place and how they are vertically and horizontally related. Afterward, we apply the framework and classify the individual policies by policy instrument and by type of learning. We find that the Dutch government focuses on formal and non-formal learning in their policy instruments. However, the literature suggests that learning at a later age is mainly done in an informal manner through experiences.

Keywords: learning, lifelong development, policy analysis, policy instruments

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Authors: Emine Zeytinli

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Ottoman carpets were depicted in Renaissance painting while they were exported commercially. The carpets were highly demanded and used by the middle and upper classes of Western European countries. The motifs, designs, patterns, and ornamentation of these carpets were decorative objects of luxury for Western European residences as well as paintings. Oriental carpets found their way into European market already from the medieval times to the present century. They were considered as luxury items first, however, demanded by middle classes in Europe and North America within the nineteenth century. This century brought unprecedented changes in production and consumption in the world. Expanding industries created quick urbanization, changed the city life and new types of goods dominated the entire century. Increases in income allowed Europeans to spend on luxury items, consumers taste changed in number of ways including furniture and decoration. Use of a carpet in the orient lifestyle often considered as an art object with Western aesthetic sensibility. A carpet with an oriental character, an essential part of home decoration, was highly appreciated for floor, table covering and wall hanging. Turkish carpets with distinctive classical style, patterns, and colours were changed for the tastes of European consumers. This paper attempts to analyse how the taste and preferences of European and American consumers increased their buying of oriental objects namely carpets. The production of local hand woven carpet industry developed, carpet factories were set up and special weaving schools were opened in some major waving centres, and carpet weaving became one of the main manufacturing and export commodity of the empire. All of these attempts increased the reputation and market share in international market. The industry flourished, commercially operated carpet looms, sales revenues and export increased unprecedentedly. British and Ottoman archival documents, parliamentary papers and travel notes were used to analysed above mention effect on how the foreign demand changed designs of carpets and the business itself, how the production in households moved to the commercial premises and a flourished the industry.

Keywords: consumption patterns, carpet weaving, ottoman oriental carpets, commercialisation

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Authors: Doaa H. I. Mahmoud, El-Said M. Elsharkawy, Saad Z. Soliman, Soher E. Mustfa

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The opening of new promising foreign markets is one of the objectives of Egypt’s foreign trade policies, especially for agricultural exports. This study aims at the examination of the commodity structure of the Egyptian agricultural imports and exports with the COMESA countries. In addition, estimation of the surplus/deficit of the Egyptian commodities and agricultural balance with these countries is made. Time series data covering the period 2004-2016 is used. Estimation of the growth function along with the derivation of the annual growth rates of the study’s variables is made. Some of the results of the study period display the following: (1) The average total Egyptian exports to the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) countries is estimated at 1,491 million dollars, with an annual growth rate of 14.4% (214.7 million dollars). (2) The average annual Egyptian agricultural exports to these economies is estimated at 555 million dollars, with an annual growth rate of 19.4% (107.7 million dollars). (3) The average annual value of agricultural imports from the COMESA countries is set at 289 Million Dollars, with an annual growth rate of 14.4% (41.6 million dollars). (4) The study shows that there is a continuous surplus in the agricultural balance with these economies, whilst having a deficit in the raw-materials agricultural balance, as well as the balance of input requirements with these countries.

Keywords: COMESA, Egypt, growth rates, trade balance

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Authors: Hajer Habib, Ghazi Boulila

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The objective of this paper is to present our contribution to the theoretical literature through a simple theoretical model dealing with the effect of transferring funds on the labor market of the countries of origin and on the other hand to test this relationship empirically in the case of Tunisia. The methodology used consists of estimating a panel of the nine main destinations of the Tunisian diaspora in Europe between 1994 and 2014 in order to better value the net effect of these migratory financial flows on unemployment through population growth. The empirical results show that the main factors explaining the decision to emigrate are the economic factors related mainly to the income differential, the demographic factors related to the differential age structure of the origin and host populations, and the cultural factors linked basically to the mastery of the language. Indeed, the stock of migrants is one of the main determinants of the transfer of migratory funds to Tunisia. But there are other variables that do not lack importance such as the economic conditions linked by the host countries. This shows that Tunisian migrants react more to economic conditions in European countries than in Tunisia. The economic situation of European countries dominates the numbers of emigrants as an explanatory factor for the amount of transfers from Tunisian emigrants to their country of origin. Similarly, it is clear that there is an indirect effect of transfers on unemployment in Tunisia. This suggests that the demographic transition conditions the effects of transferring funds on the level of unemployment.

Keywords: demographic changes, international migration, labor market, remittances

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Authors: Shirekha Layangani, Suneth Dharmaparakrama

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When the manufacturing industry is concerned the Environment Management System (EMS) is a common term. Currently most organizations have obtained the environmental standard certification, ISO 14001. In the Sri Lankan context even though the organizations adopt Environmental Management, a very limited number of companies tend to calculate their Carbon Footprints. This research discusses the demotivating factors of manufacturing organizations in Sri Lanka to integrate calculation of carbon footprint into their supply chains. Further it also identifies the benefits that manufacturing organizations can gain by implementing calculation of carbon footprint. The manufacturing companies listed under “ISO 14001” certification were considered in this study in order to investigate the problems mentioned above. 100% enumeration was used when the surveys were carried out. In order to gather essential data two surveys were designed to be done among manufacturing organizations that are currently engaged in calculating their carbon footprint and the organizations that have not. The survey among the first set of manufacturing organizations revealed the benefits the organizations were able to gain by implementing calculation of carbon footprint. The latter set organizations revealed the demotivating factors that have influenced not to integrate calculation of carbon footprint into their supply chains. This paper has summarized the results obtained by the surveys and segregated depending on the market share of the manufacturing organizations. Further it has indicated the benefits that can be obtained by implementing carbon footprint calculation, depending on the market share of the manufacturing entity. Finally the research gives suggestions to manufacturing organizations on applicability of adopting carbon footprint calculation depending on the benefits that can be obtained.

Keywords: carbon footprint, environmental management systems (EMS), benefits of carbon footprint, ISO14001

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Authors: Prajwal Eachempati, Laurent Muzellec, Ashish Kumar Jha

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We use Facebook as a case study to investigate the complex relationship between the firm’s public discourse (and actions) surrounding data privacy and the performance of a business model based on monetizing user’s data. We do so by looking at the evolution of public discourse over time (2004–2021) and relate topics to revenue and stock market evolution Drawing from archival sources like Zuckerberg We use LDA topic modelling algorithm to reveal 19 topics regrouped in 6 major themes. We first show how, by using persuasive and convincing language that promises better protection of consumer data usage, but also emphasizes greater user control over their own data, the privacy issue is being reframed as one of greater user control and responsibility. Second, we aim to understand and put a value on the extent to which privacy disclosures have a potential impact on the financial performance of social media firms. There we found significant relationship between the topics pertaining to privacy and social media/technology, sentiment score and stock market prices. Revenue is found to be impacted by topics pertaining to politics and new product and service innovations while number of active users is not impacted by the topics unless moderated by external control variables like Return on Assets and Brand Equity.

Keywords: public discourses, data protection, social media, privacy, topic modeling, business models, financial performance

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Authors: Mansoureh Zangiabadi, Shamil Velji, Rajendra Kelkar, Neal Wade, Volker Pickert

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The EU has set itself a long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% of the 1990 levels by 2050 as set in the Energy Roadmap 2050. This paper reports on the European Union H2020 funded E-Lobster project which demonstrates tools and technologies, software and hardware in integrating the grid distribution, and the railway power systems with power electronics technologies (Smart Soft Open Point - sSOP) and local energy storage. In this context this paper describes the existing policies and regulatory frameworks of the energy market at European level with a special focus then at National level, on the countries where the members of the consortium are located, and where the demonstration activities will be implemented. By taking into account the disciplinary approach of E-Lobster, the main policy areas investigated includes electricity, energy market, energy efficiency, transport and smart cities. Energy storage will play a key role in enabling the EU to develop a low-carbon electricity system. In recent years, Energy Storage System (ESSs) are gaining importance due to emerging applications, especially electrification of the transportation sector and grid integration of volatile renewables. The need for storage systems led to ESS technologies performance improvements and significant price decline. This allows for opening a new market where ESSs can be a reliable and economical solution. One such emerging market for ESS is R+G management which will be investigated and demonstrated within E-Lobster project. The surplus of energy in one type of power system (e.g., due to metro braking) might be directly transferred to the other power system (or vice versa). However, it would usually happen at unfavourable instances when the recipient does not need additional power. Thus, the role of ESS is to enhance advantages coming from interconnection of the railway power systems and distribution grids by offering additional energy buffer. Consequently, the surplus/deficit of energy in, e.g. railway power systems, is not to be immediately transferred to/from the distribution grid but it could be stored and used when it is really needed. This will assure better energy management exchange between the railway power systems and distribution grids and lead to more efficient loss reduction. In this framework, to identify the existing policies and regulatory frameworks is crucial for the project activities and for the future development of business models for the E-Lobster solutions. The projections carried out by the European Commission, the Member States and stakeholders and their analysis indicated some trends, challenges, opportunities and structural changes needed to design the policy measures to provide the appropriate framework for investors. This study will be used as reference for the discussion in the envisaged workshops with stakeholders (DSOs and Transport Managers) in the E-Lobster project.

Keywords: light railway, electrical distribution network, Electrical Energy Storage, policy

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Authors: Yih-Wenn Laih

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In recent times, the dependence and co-movement among international financial markets have become stronger than in the past, as evidenced by commentaries in the news media and the financial sections of newspapers. Studying the co-movement between returns in financial markets is an important issue for portfolio management and risk management. The realization of co-movement helps investors to identify the opportunities for international portfolio management in terms of asset allocation and pricing. Since the election of the new Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in November 2012, the yen has weakened against the US dollar from the 80 to the 120 level. The policies, known as “Abenomics,” are to encourage private investment through a more aggressive mix of monetary and fiscal policy. Given the close economic relations and competitions among Asia markets, it is interesting to discover the co-movement relations, affected by the depreciation of yen, between stock market of Japan and 5 major Asia stock markets, including China, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Specifically, we devote ourselves to measure the co-movement of stock markets between Japan and each one of the 5 Asia stock markets in terms of rank correlation coefficients. To compute the coefficients, return series of each stock market is first fitted by a skewed-t GARCH (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity) model. Secondly, to measure the dependence structure between matched stock markets, we employ the symmetrized Joe-Clayton (SJC) copula to calculate the probability density function of paired skewed-t distributions. The joint probability density function is then utilized as the scoring scheme to optimize the sequence alignment by dynamic programming method. Finally, we compute the rank correlation coefficients (Kendall's  and Spearman's ) between matched stock markets based on their aligned sequences. We collect empirical data of 6 stock indexes from Taiwan Economic Journal. The data is sampled at a daily frequency covering the period from January 1, 2013 to July 31, 2015. The empirical distributions of returns indicate fatter tails than the normal distribution. Therefore, the skewed-t distribution and SJC copula are appropriate for characterizing the data. According to the computed Kendall’s τ, Korea has the strongest co-movement relation with Japan, followed by Taiwan, China, and Singapore; the weakest is Hong Kong. On the other hand, the Spearman’s ρ reveals that the strength of co-movement between markets with Japan in decreasing order are Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. We explore the effects of “Abenomics” on Asia stock markets by measuring the co-movement relation between Japan and five major Asia stock markets in terms of rank correlation coefficients. The matched markets are aligned by a hybrid method consisting of GARCH, copula and sequence alignment. Empirical experiments indicate that Korea has the strongest co-movement relation with Japan. The strength of China and Taiwan are better than Singapore. The Hong Kong market has the weakest co-movement relation with Japan.

Keywords: co-movement, depreciation of Yen, rank correlation, stock market

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Authors: P. Ghosh, S. B. Sharma

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The growing problem of food waste is causing unacceptable economic, environmental and social impacts across the globe. In Australia, food waste is estimated at about AU$8 billion per year; however, information on the extent of wastage at different stages of the food value chain from farm to fork is very limited. This study aims to identify causes for and extent of food waste at wholesaler stage of the food value chain in the state of Western Australia. It also explores approaches applied to reduce and utilize food waste by the wholesalers. The study was carried out at Perth city market in Caning Vale, the main wholesale distribution centre for fruits and vegetables in Western Australia. A survey questionnaire was prepared and shared with 51 wholesalers and their responses to 10 targeted questions on quantity of produce (fruits and vegetables) delivery received and further supplied, reasons for waste generation and innovations applied or being considered to reduce and utilize food waste. Data were computed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). Among the wholesalers 52% were primary wholesalers (buy produce directly from growers) and 48% were secondary wholesalers (buy produce in bulk from major wholesalers and supply to the local retail market, caterers, and customers with specific requirements). Average fruit and vegetable waste was 180 Kilogram per week per primary wholesaler and 30 Kilogram per secondary wholesaler. Based on this survey, the fruit and vegetable waste at wholesaler stage was estimated at about 286 tonnes per year. The secondary wholesalers distributed pre-ordered commodities, which minimized the potential to cause waste. Non-parametric test (Mann Whitney test) was carried out to assess contributions of wholesalers to waste generation. Over 56% of secondary wholesalers generally had nothing to bin as waste. Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis showed positive correlation (r = 0.425; P=0.01) between the quantity of produce received and waste generated. Low market demand was the predominant reason identified by the wholesalers for waste generation. About a third of the wholesalers suggested that high cosmetic standards for fruits and vegetables - appearance, shape, and size - should be relaxed to reduce waste. Donation of unutilized fruits and vegetables to charity was overwhelmingly (95%) considered as one of the best options for utilization of discarded produce. The extent of waste at other stages of fruit and vegetable supply chain is currently being studied.

Keywords: food waste, fruits and vegetables, supply chain, waste generation

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Authors: Ning Niu

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The study hinges on consumer taste, food industry (wine production) and cultural consumption (vineyard tourism) which are related to the Chinese market, consumers, and visitors traveling to Australian vineyards. The research topic can be summed up as: the economic importance of the Chinese market on Australian wine production; the economic importance of the Chinese market have an impact on how Australian wine is produced or packaged; the impact of mass Chinese wine tourism on Australian vineyards; the gendered and cultured experience of wine tourism for Chines visitors. This study aims to apply the theories of Pierre Bourdieu into the research in food industry and cultural consumption; investigate Chinese experiences with Australian wine products and vineyard tours; to explore the cultural, gendered and class influences on their experiences. The academic background covers the concepts of habitus, taste, capital proposed by Pierre Bourdieu along with long-lasting concepts within China’s cultural context including mianzi (face, dignity/honor/hierarchy) and guanxi (connections/social network), in order to develop new perspectives to study the tastes of Chinese tourists coming to Australia for wine experiences. The documents cited from Australian government or industries will be interpreted, and the analysis of data will constitute the economic background for this current study. The study applies qualitative research and draws from the fieldwork, choosing ethnographic observation, interviews, personal experiences and discursive analysis of government documents and tourism documents. The expected sample size includes three tourism professionals, two or three local Australian wine producers, and 20 to 30 Chinese wine consumers and visitors travelling to Australian vineyards. An embodied ethnography will be used to observe the Chinese participants’ feelings, thoughts, and experiences of their engagement with Australian wine and vineyards. The researcher will interview with Chinese consumers, tourism professionals, and Australian winemakers to collect primary data. Note-taking, picture-taking, and audio-recording will be adopted with informants’ permissions. Personal or group interview will be last for 30 and 60 minutes respectively. Personal experiences of the researcher have been analyzed to respond to some research questions, and have accumulated part of primary data (e.g., photos and stories) to discover how 'mianzi' and 'guanxi' influence Australian wine and tourism industries to meet the demands’ of Chinese consumers. At current stage, the secondary data from analysis of official and industrial documents has proved the economic importance of Chinese market is influencing Australian wine and tourism industries. And my own experiences related to this study, in some sense, has proved the Chinese cultural concepts (mianzi and guanxi) are influencing the Australian wine production and package along with vineyard tours. Future fieldwork will discover more in this research realm, contribute more to knowledge.

Keywords: habitus, taste, capital, mianzi, guanxi

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Authors: Maharani Yulisti, Amin Mugera, James Fogarty

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Food safety standards have received significant attention in the fisheries global market due to health issues, free trade agreements, and increasing aquaculture production. Vertical coordination throughout the supply chain of fish producing and exporting countries is needed to meet food safety demands imposed by importing countries. However, the complexities of the supply chain governance structures and difficulties in standard implementation can generate safety uncertainty and high transaction costs. Using a Transaction Cost Economics framework, this paper examines the alignment between food safety standards and the governance structures in the shrimp supply chain in Indonesia. We find the supply chain is organized closer to the hierarchy-like governance structure where private standard (organic standard) are implemented and more towards a market-like governance structure where public standard (IndoGAP certification) are more prevalent. To verify the statements, two cases are examined from Sidoarjo district as a centre of shrimp production in Indonesia. The results show that public baseline FSS (Food Safety Standards) need additional mechanism to achieve a coordinated chain-wide response because uncertainty, asset specificity, and performance measurement problems are high in this chain. Organic standard as private chain-wide FSS is more efficient because it has been achieved by hierarchical-like type of governance structure.

Keywords: governance structure, shrimp value chain, food safety standards, transaction costs economics

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Authors: Sriram Kashyap Prasad, Ionut Florescu

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This study models the intraday asset prices as driven by Markov process. This work identifies the latent states of the Hidden Markov model, using limit order book data (trades and quotes) to continuously estimate the states throughout the day. This work builds a trading strategy using estimated states to generate signals. The strategy utilizes current state to recalibrate buy/ sell levels and the transition between states to trigger stop-loss when adverse price movements occur. The proposed trading strategy is tested on the Stevens High Frequency Trading (SHIFT) platform. SHIFT is a highly realistic market simulator with functionalities for creating an artificial market simulation by deploying agents, trading strategies, distributing initial wealth, etc. In the implementation several assets on the NASDAQ exchange are used for testing. In comparison to a strategy with static buy/ sell levels, this study shows that the number of limit orders that get matched and executed can be increased. Executing limit orders earns rebates on NASDAQ. The system can capture jumps in the limit order book prices, provide dynamic buy/sell levels and trigger stop loss signals to improve the PnL (Profit and Loss) performance of the strategy.

Keywords: algorithmic trading, Hidden Markov model, high frequency trading, limit order book learning

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Authors: Ana Pinheiro, Fatima Suleman

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Literature has revealed strong awareness of companies in regard of expatriation, but issues associated with repatriation of employees after an international assignment have been overlooked. Repatriation is one of the most challenging human resource practices that affect how companies benefit from acquired skills and high potential employees; and gain competitive advantage through network developed during expatriation. However, empirical evidence achieved so far suggests that expatriates have been disappointed because companies lack an effective repatriation strategy. Repatriates’ professional and emotional needs are often unrecognized, while repatriation is perceived as a non-issue by companies. The underlying assumption is that the return to parent company, and original country, culture and language does not demand for any particular support. Unfortunately, this basic view has non-negligible consequences on repatriates, especially on expatriate retention and turnover rates after expatriation. The goal of our study is to examine the specific policies and practices adopted by companies to support employees after an international assignment. We assume that expatriation is process which ends with repatriation. The latter is such a crucial issue as the expatriation and require due attention through appropriate design of human resource management policies and tools. For this purpose, we use data from a qualitative research based on interviews to a sample of firms operating in Portugal. We attempt to compare how firms accommodate the concerns with repatriation in their policies and practices. Therefore, the interviews collect data on both expatriation and repatriation process, namely the selection and skills of candidates to expatriation, training, mentoring, communication and pay policies. Portuguese labor market seems to be an interesting case study for mainly two reasons. On the one hand, Portuguese Government is encouraging companies to internationalize in the context of an external market-oriented growth model. On the other hand, expatriation is being perceived as a job opportunity in the context of high unemployment rates of both skilled and non-skilled. This is an ongoing research and the data collected until now indicate that companies follow the pattern described in the literature. The interviewed companies recognize the higher relevance of repatriation process than expatriation, but disregard specific human resource policies. They have perceived that unfavorable labor market conditions discourage mobility across companies. It should be stressed that companies underline that employees enhanced the relevance of stable jobs and attach far less importance to career development and other benefits after expatriation. However, there are still cases of turnover and difficulties of retention. Managers’ report non-negligible cases of turnover associated with lack of effective repatriation programs and non-recognition of good performance. Repatriates seem to having acquired entrepreneurial spirit and skills and often create their own company. These results suggest that even in the context of worsening labor market conditions, there should be greater awareness of the need to retain talents, experienced and highly skills employees. Ultimately, other companies poach invaluable assets, while internationalized companies risk being training providers.

Keywords: expatriates, expatriation, international management, repatriation

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Authors: Vidya Nimkar Tayade

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Introduction: Intellectual capital of an organization is a key factor to success. Many companies invest a huge amount in their Research and development activities. Any innovation is helpful not only to that particular company but also to many other companies, industry and mankind as a whole. Companies undertake innovative changes for increasing their capital profitability and indirectly increase in pay packages of their employees. The quality of human capital can also improve due to such positive changes. Employees become more skilled and experienced due to such innovations and inventions. For increasing intangible capital, the author has referred to a couple of books and referred case studies to come to a conclusion. Different charts and tables are also referred to by the author. Case studies are more important because they are proven and established techniques. They enable students to apply theoretical concepts in real-world situations. It gives solutions to an open-ended problem with multiple potential solutions. There are three different strategies for undertaking intellectual capital increase. They are: Research push strategy/ Technology pushed approach, Market pull strategy/ approach and Open innovation strategy/approach. Research push strategy, In this strategy, research is undertaken and innovation is achieved on its own. After invention inventor company protects such invention and finds buyers for such invention. In this way, the invention is pushed into the market. In this method, research and development are undertaken first and the outcome of this research is commercialized. Market pull strategy, In this strategy, commercial opportunities are identified first and our research is concentrated in that particular area. For solving a particular problem, research is undertaken. It becomes easier to commercialize this type of invention. Because what is the problem is identified first and in that direction, research and development activities are carried on. Open invention strategy, In this type of research, more than one company enters into an agreement of research. The benefits of the outcome of this research will be shared by both companies. Internal and external ideas and technologies are involved. These ideas are coordinated and then they are commercialized. Due to globalization, people from the outside company are also invited to undertake research and development activities. Remuneration of employees of both the companies can increase and the benefit of commercialization of such invention is also shared by both the companies. Conclusion: In modern days, not only can tangible assets be commercialized, but also intangible assets can also be commercialized. The benefits of such an invention can be shared by more than one company. Competition can become more meaningful. Pay packages of employees can improve. It Is a need for time to adopt such strategies to benefit employees, competitors, stakeholders.

Keywords: innovation, protection, management, commercialization

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Authors: Giovanni Masala, Stefania Marica

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Forecasting electricity load plays a crucial role regards decision making and planning for economical purposes. Besides, in the light of the recent privatization and deregulation of the power industry, the forecasting of future electricity load turned out to be a very challenging problem. Empirical data about electricity load highlights a clear seasonal behavior (higher load during the winter season), which is partly due to climatic effects. We also emphasize the presence of load periodicity at a weekly basis (electricity load is usually lower on weekends or holidays) and at daily basis (electricity load is clearly influenced by the hour). Finally, a long-term trend may depend on the general economic situation (for example, industrial production affects electricity load). All these features must be captured by the model. The purpose of this paper is then to build an hourly electricity load model. The deterministic component of the model requires non-linear regression and Fourier series while we will investigate the stochastic component through econometrical tools. The calibration of the parameters’ model will be performed by using data coming from the Italian market in a 6 year period (2007- 2012). Then, we will perform a Monte Carlo simulation in order to compare the simulated data respect to the real data (both in-sample and out-of-sample inspection). The reliability of the model will be deduced thanks to standard tests which highlight a good fitting of the simulated values.

Keywords: ARMA-GARCH process, electricity load, fitting tests, Fourier series, Monte Carlo simulation, non-linear regression

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Authors: Rui Du

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This paper attempts to assess the impact of a major sporting event —the Super Bowl on the local economies. The identification strategy is to compare the winning and losing cities at the National Football League (NFL) conference finals under the assumption of similar pre-treatment trends. The stock market performances of companies headquartered in these cities are used to capture the sudden changes in local economic activities during a short time span. The exogenous variations in the football game outcome allow a straightforward difference-in-differences approach to identify the effect. This study finds that the post-event trends in winning and losing cities diverge despite the fact that both cities have economically and statistically similar pre-event trends. Empirical analysis provides suggestive evidence of a positive, significant local economic impact of conference final wins, possibly through city image enhancement. Further empirical evidence shows the presence of heterogeneous effects across industrial sectors, suggesting that city image enhancing the effect of the Super Bowl participation is empirically relevant for the changes in the composition of local industries. Also, this study also adopts a similar strategy to examine the local economic impact of Super Bowl successes, however, finds no statistically significant effect.

Keywords: Super Bowl Participation, local economies, city image enhancement, difference-in-differences, industrial sectors

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Authors: Bhakti Chitale

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Mumbai city, which is the business capital of India and one of the most crowded cities in the world, holds the biggest slum in Asia. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) occupies an area of 4035 sq.km. with a population of 22.8 million people. This population is mostly urban with 91% of this population living in areas of Municipal Corporations and Councils. Another 3% live in Census Towns. The region has 9 Municipal Corporations, 8 Municipal councils, and around 1000 villages. On the one hand MMR reflects the highest contribution to the Nations overall economy and on the other hand it shows the horrible and intolerable picture of about 2 million people, who are living in slums/without even slum with totally unhygienic conditions and with total loss of hope. The generations are about to get affected adversely if the solution is not worked out. This study is an attempt towards working out the solution. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is state government's authority, specially formed to govern the development of MMR. MMRDA is engaged in long term planning, promotion of new growth centres, implementation of strategic projects and financing infrastructure development. While preparing the master plan for MMR for next 20 years MMRDA conducted a detail study regarding Housing scenario in MMR and possible options for improvement. The author was the in charge officer for the said assignment. This paper puts light on the interesting outcomes of the research study, which ranges from the adverse effects of government policies, automatic responses of housing market, effects on planning processes, and overall changing needs of housing patterns in the world due to changes in the social mechanism. It alarms the urban planners who usually focus on smart infrastructure development, about allied future dangers. This housing study will explain the complexities, realities and needs of innovations in the housing policies all over the world. The paper will explain further few success stories and failure stories of government initiatives with reasons. It gives the clear idea about the differences in needs of housing for people from different economic groups and direct and indirect market pressures on low cost housing. Magical phenomenon came in front like a large percentage of vacant houses is present in spite of the huge need. Housing market gets affected by the developments or any other physical and financial changes taking place in the nearby areas or cities, also by changes in cities which are located far from the region and also by the international investments or policy changes. Instead of just depending on governments actions in case of generation of affordable housing, it becomes equally important to make the housing markets automatically generate such stock and still make them sustainable is the aim of all the movement. In summary, we may say that the paper will sequentially elaborate the complete dynamics of housing in one of the most crowded urban area in the world that is Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with a lot of data, analysis, case studies, and recommendations.

Keywords: Mumbai India, slum housing, region planning, market recommendations

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Authors: M. Panidou, F. Kilipiris, E. Christou, K. Alexandris

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This study focuses on Generation Z, the next generation of tourists born between 1996 and 2012. Given their significant population size, Generation Z is expected to have a substantial impact on the travel and tourism sector. Therefore, understanding their travel preferences is crucial for businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry. By examining their travel preferences, this research aims to identify the unique characteristics and motivations of this generation when it comes to travel. This study used a quantitative method, and primary data was collected through a survey (online questionnaire), while secondary data was gathered from academic literature, industry reports, and online sources to provide a comprehensive analysis of the topic. The sample of the study was 100 Greek individuals aged between 18-26 years old. The data was analyzed with the support of SPSS software. The findings of the research indicated that technology, sustainability, and budget-friendly options are essential components for attracting and retaining Generation Z tourists. These preferences highlight the importance of incorporating innovative technologies, promoting sustainable practices, and offering affordable travel options to effectively engage this market niche. This research contributes to the field of hospitality and tourism businesses by providing valuable insights into the travel preferences of Generation Z. By understanding their distinct features and preferences; businesses can tailor their strategies and marketing efforts to effectively engage and retain this market segment. Considering the limitations of the sample size, future studies could aim for a larger and more diverse sample to enhance the generalizability of the findings.

Keywords: gen Z, technology, travel preferences, sustainability

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Authors: Sujit Kumar Pradhan, Anil Kumar, Vijay Kumar

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The testing process of the software during the software development time is a crucial step as it makes the software more efficient and dependable. To estimate software’s reliability through the mean value function, many software reliability growth models (SRGMs) were developed under the assumption that operating and testing environments are the same. Practically, it is not true because when the software works in a natural field environment, the reliability of the software differs. This article discussed an SRGM comprising change-point and imperfect debugging in a simulated testing environment. Later on, we extended it in a multi-release direction. Initially, the software was released to the market with few features. According to the market’s demand, the software company upgraded the current version by adding new features as time passed. Therefore, we have proposed a generalized multi-release SRGM where change-point and imperfect debugging concepts have been addressed in a simulated testing environment. The failure-increasing rate concept has been adopted to determine the change point for each software release. Based on nine goodness-of-fit criteria, the proposed model is validated on two real datasets. The results demonstrate that the proposed model fits the datasets better. We have also discussed the optimal release time of the software through a cost model by assuming that the testing and debugging costs are time-dependent.

Keywords: software reliability growth models, non-homogeneous Poisson process, multi-release software, mean value function, change-point, environmental factors

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Authors: Vangelis Papadimitropoulos

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This paper is part of the research program “Techno-Social Innovation in the Collaborative Economy”, funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.) for the years 2022-2024. The paper showcases the Open Food Network (OFN) as an open-sourced digital platform supporting short food supply chains in local agricultural production and consumption. The paper outlines the research hypothesis, the theoretical framework, and the methodology of research as well as the findings and conclusions. Research hypothesis: The model of open cooperativism as a vehicle for systemic change in the agricultural sector. Theoretical framework: The research reviews the OFN as an illustrative case study of the three-zoned model of open cooperativism. The OFN is considered a paradigmatic case of the model of open cooperativism inasmuch as it produces commons, it consists of multiple stakeholders including ethical market entities, and it is variously supported by local authorities across the globe, the latter prefiguring the mini role of a partner state. Methodology: Research employs Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse analysis -elements, floating signifiers, nodal points, discourses, logics of equivalence and difference- to analyse the breadth of empirical data gathered through literature review, digital ethnography, a survey, and in-depth interviews with core OFN members. Discourse analysis classifies OFN floating signifiers, nodal points, and discourses into four themes: value proposition, governance, economic policy, and legal policy. Findings: OFN floating signifiers align around the following nodal points and discourses: “digital commons”, “short food supply chains”, “sustainability”, “local”, “the elimination of intermediaries” and “systemic change”. The current research identifies a lack of common ground of what the discourse of “systemic change” signifies on the premises of the OFN’s value proposition. The lack of a common mission may be detrimental to the formation of a common strategy that would be perhaps deemed necessary to bring about systemic change in agriculture. Conclusions: Drawing on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory of hegemony, research introduces a chain of equivalence by aligning discourses such as “agro-ecology”, “commons-based peer production”, “partner state” and “ethical market entities” under the model of open cooperativism, juxtaposed against the current hegemony of neoliberalism, which articulates discourses such as “market fundamentalism”, “privatization”, “green growth” and “the capitalist state” to promote corporatism and entrepreneurship. Research makes the case that for OFN to further agroecology and challenge the current hegemony of industrial agriculture, it is vital that it opens up its supply chains into equivalent sectors of the economy, civil society, and politics to form a chain of equivalence linking together ethical market entities, the commons and a partner state around the model of open cooperativism.

Keywords: sustainability, the digital commons, open cooperativism, innovation

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Authors: Lukas Reznak, Maria Reznakova

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Recession of an economy has a profound negative effect on all involved stakeholders. It follows that timely prediction of recessions has been of utmost interest both in the theoretical research and in practical macroeconomic modelling. Current mainstream of recession prediction is based on standard OLS models of continuous GDP using macroeconomic data. This approach is not suitable for two reasons: the standard continuous models are proving to be obsolete and the macroeconomic data are unreliable, often revised many years retroactively. The aim of the paper is to explore a different branch of recession forecasting research theory and verify the findings on real data of the Czech Republic and Germany. In the paper, the authors present a family of discrete choice probit models with parameters estimated by the method of maximum likelihood. In the basic form, the probits model a univariate series of recessions and expansions in the economic cycle for a given country. The majority of the paper deals with more complex model structures, namely dynamic and bivariate extensions. The dynamic structure models the autoregressive nature of recessions, taking into consideration previous economic activity to predict the development in subsequent periods. Bivariate extensions utilize information from a foreign economy by incorporating correlation of error terms and thus modelling the dependencies of the two countries. Bivariate models predict a bivariate time series of economic states in both economies and thus enhance the predictive performance. A vital enabler of timely and successful recession forecasting are reliable and readily available data. Leading indicators, namely the yield curve and the stock market indices, represent an ideal data base, as the pieces of information is available in advance and do not undergo any retroactive revisions. As importantly, the combination of yield curve and stock market indices reflect a range of macroeconomic and financial market investors’ trends which influence the economic cycle. These theoretical approaches are applied on real data of Czech Republic and Germany. Two models for each country were identified – each for in-sample and out-of-sample predictive purposes. All four followed a bivariate structure, while three contained a dynamic component.

Keywords: bivariate probit, leading indicators, recession forecasting, Czech Republic, Germany

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Authors: Palak Patel

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Mumbai is one of the largest cities of the country with a population of 12.44 million over 437 Sq.km, and it is known as financial hub of India. In early 20th century, with the expansion of industrialization and growth of port, a huge demand for housing was created. In response to this, government enacted rent controls. Over a period of time, due to rent controls, the existing rental housing stock has deteriorated. Therefore, in last 25 years, government has been focusing on redevelopment of these rental buildings, also called ‘Cessed buildings’, in order to provide better standard of living to the tenants and also, to supply new housing units in the market. In India, developers are the main players in the housing market as they are the supplier of maximum dwelling units in the market. Hence, government attempts are inclined toward facilitating developers for the cessed building redevelopment projects by incentivizing them through making special provisions in the development control regulations. This research focuses on the entire process of redevelopment by the developers and issues faced by the related stakeholders in the same to reduce the stress on housing. It also highlights the loopholes in the current system and inefficient functioning of the process. The research was carried out by interviewing various developers, tenants and landlords in the island city who have already gone through redevelopment. From the case studies, it is very evident that redevelopment is undoubtedly a huge profit making business. In some cases, developers make profit of almost double the amount of the investment. But yet, satisfactory results are not seen on ground. It clearly indicates that there are some issues faced by developers which have not been addressed. Some of these issues include cumbersome legal procedures, negotiations with landlords and tenants, congestion and narrow roads, small size of the plots, informal practicing of ‘Pagdi system’ and financial viability of the project. This research recommends the up gradation of the existing cessed buildings by sharing the repairing and maintenance cost between landlords and tenants and also, income levels of tenants can be traced and housing vouchers or incentives can be provided to those who actual need it so that landlord does not have to subsidize the tenants. For redevelopment, the current interventions are generalized in nature as it does not take on ground issues into the consideration. There is need to identify local issues and give area specific solutions. And also, government should play a role of mediator to ensure all the stakeholders are satisfied and project gets completed on time.

Keywords: cessed buildings, developers, government’s interventions, redevelopment, rent controls, tenants

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Authors: Khaldoon G. Albitar, Hassan Y. Kikhia, Jin P. Zhang

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Since 2007, all companies listed on both Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This study investigates the impact of adopting IFRS on accounting quality for a sample of listed on Chinese companies during the period 2003-2013 with sample of 10846 observations over a four-year period before and a five-year period after the adoption of IFRS. This study tests whether the level of earnings management is significantly lower after the adoption of IFRS, and reported earnings is more value relevant during the IFRS period by using the Ohlson model and Jones model, as modified by Dechow. The empirical results show that accounting quality improved with lower earnings management and higher value relevant after the adoption of IFRS in China. The current study contributes to the literature on IFRS adoption and earning quality in two ways. First, As most of the existing studies on earnings quality and IFRS have been conducted on data from the U.S and European countries, this study fills a gap in the existing literature by studying the effect of adoption of IFRS on earnings quality in an emerging market. Second, the findings of our study have important implications for policymakers, auditors, multinational firms, and users of financial reports. As the rapid growth of China's economy gains global recognition, the Chinese stock market is capturing the attention of international investor.

Keywords: international financial reporting standards (ifrs), accounting quality, earnings management, value relevance, china

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Authors: Volker Wannack

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Regional, national, and international strategies focusing on hydrogen (H₂) and blockchain are driving significant advancements in hydrogen and blockchain technology worldwide. These strategies lay the foundation for the groundbreaking "Blockchain Based Hydrogen Market (BBH₂)" project. The primary goal of this project is to develop a functional Blockchain Minimum Viable Product (B-MVP) for the hydrogen market. The B-MVP will leverage blockchain as an enabling technology with a common database and platform, facilitating secure and automated transactions through smart contracts. This innovation will revolutionize logistics, trading, and transactions within the hydrogen market. The B-MVP has transformative potential across various sectors. It benefits renewable energy producers, surplus energy-based hydrogen producers, hydrogen transport and distribution grid operators, and hydrogen consumers. By implementing standardized, automated, and tamper-proof processes, the B-MVP enhances cost efficiency and enables transparent and traceable transactions. Its key objective is to establish the verifiable integrity of climate-friendly "green" hydrogen by tracing its supply chain from renewable energy producers to end users. This emphasis on transparency and accountability promotes economic, ecological, and social sustainability while fostering a secure and transparent market environment. A notable feature of the B-MVP is its cross-border operability, eliminating the need for country-specific data storage and expanding its global applicability. This flexibility not only broadens its reach but also creates opportunities for long-term job creation through the establishment of a dedicated blockchain operating company. By attracting skilled workers and supporting their training, the B-MVP strengthens the workforce in the growing hydrogen sector. Moreover, it drives the emergence of innovative business models that attract additional company establishments and startups and contributes to long-term job creation. For instance, data evaluation can be utilized to develop customized tariffs and provide demand-oriented network capacities to producers and network operators, benefitting redistributors and end customers with tamper-proof pricing options. The B-MVP not only brings technological and economic advancements but also enhances the visibility of national and international standard-setting efforts. Regions implementing the B-MVP become pioneers in climate-friendly, sustainable, and forward-thinking practices, generating interest beyond their geographic boundaries. Additionally, the B-MVP serves as a catalyst for research and development, facilitating knowledge transfer between universities and companies. This collaborative environment fosters scientific progress, aligns with strategic innovation management, and cultivates an innovation culture within the hydrogen market. Through the integration of blockchain and hydrogen technologies, the B-MVP promotes holistic innovation and contributes to a sustainable future in the hydrogen industry. The implementation process involves evaluating and mapping suitable blockchain technology and architecture, developing and implementing the blockchain, smart contracts, and depositing certificates of origin. It also includes creating interfaces to existing systems such as nomination, portfolio management, trading, and billing systems, testing the scalability of the B-MVP to other markets and user groups, developing data formats for process-relevant data exchange, and conducting field studies to validate the B-MVP. BBH₂ is part of the "Technology Offensive Hydrogen" funding call within the research funding of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection in the 7th Energy Research Programme of the Federal Government.

Keywords: hydrogen, blockchain, sustainability, innovation, structural change

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Authors: Lyton Chithambo

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This paper reports the results of an investigation into the extent to which various stakeholder pressures influence voluntary disclosure of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in the United Kingdom (UK). The study, which is grounded on institutional theory, also borrows from the insights of upper echelons theory and examines whether specific managerial (chief executive officer) characteristics explain and moderates various stakeholder pressures in explaining GHG voluntary disclosure. Data were obtained from the 2011 annual and sustainability reports of a sample of 216 UK companies on the FTSE350 index listed on the London Stock Exchange. Generally the results suggest that there is no substantial shareholder and employee pressure on a firm to disclose GHG information but there is significant positive pressure from the market status of a firm with those firms with more market share disclosing more GHG information. Consistent with the predictions of institutional theory, we found evidence that coercive pressure i.e. regulatory pressure and mimetic pressures emanating in some industries notably industrials and consumer services have a significant positive influence on firms’ GHG disclosure decisions. Besides, creditor pressure also had a significant negative relationship with GHG disclosure. While CEO age had a direct negative effect on GHG voluntary disclosure, its moderation effect on stakeholder pressure influence on GHG disclosure was only significant on regulatory pressure. The results have important implications for both policy makers and company boards strategizing to reign in their GHG emissions.

Keywords: greenhouse gases, voluntary disclosure, upper echelons theory, institution theory

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Authors: Bentayeb-Ait Lounis Saïda, Cheref Zahia, Cherifi Thizi, Ri Kahina Bahmed, Kahina Hallali Yasmine Abdellaoui, Kenza Adli

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Algeria is the leading consumer of dairy products in North Africa. This is a fact. However, the nutritional quality of the latter remains unknown. The aim of this study is to characterise the dairy products available on the Algerian market in order to assess whether they constitute a healthy and safe choice. To do this, it collected data on the labelling of 390 dairy products, including cheese, yoghurt, UHT milk and milk drinks, infant formula and dairy creams. We assessed their degree of processing according to the NOVA classification, as well as the proportion of imitation products. The study was carried out between March 2020 and August 2023. The results show that 88% are ultra-processed; 84% for 'cheese', 92% for dairy creams, 92% for 'yoghurt', 100% for infant formula, 92% for margarines and 36% for UHT milk/dairy drinks. As for imitation/analogue dairy products, the study revealed the following proportions: 100% for infant formula, 78% for butter/margarine, 18% for UHT milk/milk-based drinks, 54% for cheese, 2% for camembert and 75% for dairy cream. The harmful effects of consuming ultra-processed products on long-term health are increasingly documented in dozens of publications. The findings of this study sound the alarm about the health risks to which Algerian consumers are exposed. Various scientific, economic and industrial bodies need to be involved in order to safeguard consumer health in both the short and long term. Food awareness and education campaigns should be organised.

Keywords: dairy, UPF, NOVA, yoghurt, cheese

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Authors: Zhuang Ma, Zihan Zhang, Yu Li

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Environmental concerns from stakeholders (e.g., governments & customers) have pushed firms to integrate environmental management systems into business processes such as R&D, manufacturing, and marketing. Environmental systems include managing environmental risks and pollution control (e.g., air pollution control, waste-water treatment, noise control, energy recycling & solid waste treatment) through raw material management, the elimination and reduction of contaminants, recycling, and reuse in firms' operational processes. Despite increasing studies on firms' proactive adoption of environmental management, their focus is primarily on large corporations operating in developed economies. Investigations in the environmental management efforts of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are scarce. This is problematic for SMEs because, unlike large corporations, SMEs have limited awareness, resources, capabilities to adapt their operational routines to address environmental impacts. The purpose of this study is to explore how SMEs develop organizational capabilities through interactions with business partners (e.g., environmental management specialists & customers). Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and an organizational capabilities perspective, this study investigates the interactively developed capabilities that allow SMEs to adopt environmental management systems. Using an exploratory approach, the study includes 12 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from four SMEs, two environmental management specialists, and two customers in the pharmaceutical sector in Chongqing, China. Findings of this study include four key organizational capabilities: 1) ‘dynamic marketing’ capability, which allows SMEs to recoup the investments in environmental management systems by developing environmentally friendly products to address customers' ever-changing needs; 2) ‘process improvement’ capability, which allows SMEs to select and adopt the latest technologies from biology, chemistry, new material, and new energy sectors into the production system for improved environmental performance and cost-reductions; and 3) ‘relationship management’ capability which allows SMEs to improve corporate image among the public, social media, government agencies, and customers, who in turn help SMEs to overcome their competitive disadvantages. These interactively developed capabilities help SMEs to address larger competitors' foothold in the local market, reduce market constraints, and exploit competitive advantages in other regions (e.g., Guangdong & Jiangsu) of China. These findings extend the RBV and organizational capabilities perspective; that is, SMEs can develop the essential resources and capabilities required for environmental management through interactions with upstream and downstream business partners. While a limited number of studies did highlight the importance of interactions among SMEs, customers, suppliers, NGOs, industrial associations, and consulting firms, they failed to explore the specific capabilities developed through these interactions. Additionally, the findings can explain how a proactive adoption of environmental management systems could help some SMEs to overcome the institutional and market restraints on their products, thereby springboarding into larger, more environmentally demanding, yet more profitable markets compared with their existing market.

Keywords: capabilities, environmental management systems, interactions, SMEs

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Authors: Tamanna Rimi

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A large body of literature has discussed the determinants of migration decision. However, the potential role of individual risk attitudes on migration decision has so far been overlooked. The research on migration literature has studied how the expected income differential influences migration flows for a risk neutral individual. However, migration takes place when there is no expected income differential or even the variability of income appears as lower than in the current location. This migration puzzle motivates a recent trend in the literature that analyzes how attitudes towards risk influence the decision to migrate. However, the significance of risk attitudes on migration decision has been addressed mostly in a theoretical perspective in the mainstream migration literature. The efficient outcome of labor market and overall economy are largely influenced by migration in many countries. Therefore, attitudes towards risk as a determinant of migration should get more attention in empirical studies. To author’s best knowledge, this is the first study that has examined the relationship between relative risk aversion and migration decision in US market. This paper considers movement across United States as a means of migration. In addition, this paper also explores the network effect due to the increasing size of one’s own ethnic group to a source location on the migration decision and how attitudes towards risk vary with network effect. Two ethnic groups (i.e. Asian and Hispanic) have been considered in this regard. For the empirical estimation, this paper uses two sources of data: 1) U.S. census data for social, economic, and health research, 2010 (IPUMPS) and 2) University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, 2010 (HRS). In order to measure relative risk aversion, this study uses the ‘Two Sample Two-Stage Instrumental Variable (TS2SIV)’ technique. This is a similar method of Angrist (1990) and Angrist and Kruegers’ (1992) ‘Two Sample Instrumental Variable (TSIV)’ technique. Using a probit model, the empirical investigation yields the following results: (i) risk attitude has a significantly large impact on migration decision where more risk averse people are less likely to migrate; (ii) the impact of risk attitude on migration varies by other demographic characteristics such as age and sex; (iii) people with higher concentration of same ethnic households living in a particular place are expected to migrate less from their current place; (iv) the risk attitudes on migration vary with network effect. The overall findings of this paper relating risk attitude, migration decision and network effect can be a significant contribution addressing the gap between migration theory and empirical study in migration literature.

Keywords: migration, network effect, risk attitude, U.S. market

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Authors: Mokgadi Julia Ngoepe-Ntsoane

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The article aims to make a case for a legislative framework for the fire sector in South Africa. Robust legislative framework is essential for empowering those with obligatory mandate within the sector. This article contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of policy reviews particularly with regards to the legal framework. It has been observed overtime that the scholarly contributions in this field are limited. Document analysis was the methodology selected for the investigation of the various legal frameworks existing in the country. It has been established that indeed the national legislation on the fire industry does not exist in South Africa. From the documents analysed, it was revealed that the sector is dominated by cartels who are exploiting the new entrants to the market particularly SMEs. It is evident that these cartels are monopolising the system as they have long been operating in the system turning it into self- owned entities. Commitment to addressing the challenges faced by fire services and creating a framework for the evolving role that fire brigade services are expected to execute in building safer and sustainable communities is vital. Legislation for the fire sector ought to be concluded with immediate effect. The outdated national fire legislation has necessitated the monopolisation and manipulation of the system by dominating organisations which cause a painful discrimination and exploitation of smaller service providers to enter the market for trading in that occupation. The barrier to entry bears long term negative effects on national priority areas such as employment creation, poverty, and others. This monopolisation and marginalisation practices by cartels in the sector calls for urgent attention by government because if left attended, it will leave a lot of people particularly women and youth being disadvantaged and frustrated. The downcast syndrome exercised within the fire sector has wreaked havoc and is devastating. This is caused by cartels that have been within the sector for some time, who know the strengths and weaknesses of processes, shortcuts, advantages and consequences of various actions. These people take advantage of new entrants to the sector who in turn find it difficult to manoeuvre, find the market dissonant and end up giving up their good ideas and intentions. There are many pieces of legislation which are industry specific such as housing, forestry, agriculture, health, security, environmental which are used to regulate systems within the institutions involved. Other regulations exist as bi-laws for guiding the management within the municipalities.

Keywords: sustainable job creation, growth and development, transformation, risk management

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Authors: Vijay Marisetty, Poonam Singh

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Research on the effect of director's network connections on investor welfare is inconclusive. Some studies suggest that directors' connections are beneficial, in terms of, improving earnings information, firms valuation for new investors. On the other hand, adverse effects of directorial networks are also reported, in terms of higher earnings management, options back dating fraud, reduction in firm performance, lower board monitoring. From regulatory perspective, the role of directorial networks on corporate welfare is crucial. Cognizant of the possible ill effects associated with directorial networks, large investors, for better representation on the boards, are building their own database of prospective directors who are highly qualified, however, sourced from outside the highly connected directorial labor market. For instance, following Dodd-Frank Reform Act, California Public Employees' Retirement Systems (CalPERs) has initiated a database for registering aspiring and highly qualified directors to nominate them for board seats (proxy access). Our paper stems from this background and tries to explore the chances of outside directors getting directorships who lack established network connections. The paper is able to identify such aspiring directors' information by accessing a unique Indian data sourced from an online portal that aims to match the supply of registered aspirants with the growing demand for outside directors in India. The online portal's tie-up with stock exchanges ensures firms to access the new pool of directors. Such direct access to the background details of aspiring directors over a period of 10 years, allows us to examine the chances of aspiring directors without corporate network, to enter directorial network. Using this resume data of 16105 aspiring corporate directors in India, who have no prior board experience in the directorial labor market, the paper analyses the entry dynamics in corporate directors' labor market. The database also allows us to investigate the value of corporate network by comparing non-network new entrants with incumbent networked directors. The study develops measures of network centrality and network degree based on merit, i.e. network of individuals belonging to elite educational institutions, like Indian Institute of Management (IIM) or Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and based on job or company, i.e. network of individuals serving in the same company. The paper then measures the impact of these networks on the appointment of first time directors and subsequent appointment of directors. The paper reports the following main results: 1. The likelihood of becoming a corporate director, without corporate network strength, is only 1 out 100 aspirants. This is inspite of comparable educational background and similar duration of corporate experience; 2. Aspiring non-network directors' elite educational ties help them to secure directorships. However, for post-board appointments, their newly acquired corporate network strength overtakes as their main determinant for subsequent board appointments and compensation. The results thus highlight the limitations in increasing board diversity.

Keywords: aspiring corporate directors, board diversity, director labor market, director networks

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