WorldWideScience

Sample records for firm-level heterogeneous fixed

  1. Tariffs and Firm-Level Heterogeneous Fixed Export Costs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Jørgensen, Jan Guldager

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents a two country intra-industry trade model with bilateral ad valorem tariffs and fixed export costs that are heterogeneous across firms. In this model not all firms will choose to export. We examine the effects of reciprocal changes in the tariff and the fixed export barrier...... on the number of firms, firm profits, tariff revenue and consumer welfare. We show that both types of trade barriers reduce (increase) the number of exporting (pure domestic) firms. However, the sum of available home and foreign varieties may actually increase for small tariffs. Firm profits fall for both...... the tariff and the fixed export barrier. Tariff revenue falls for an increase in fixed exporting costs whereas we have a Laffer curve effect for the tariff. Finally, we establish that welfare falls with fixed export costs and large tariffs but increases for small tariffs, i.e. there exist a welfare...

  2. Tariffs and Firm-Level Heterogeneous Fixed Export Costs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Jan G.; Schröder, Philipp J.H.

    2005-01-01

    tariff that maximizes national and world welfare. Applying one of the simplest specifications possible, namely a symmetric two-country intra-industry trade model with fixed export costs that are heterogeneous across firms, we find that the reciprocal reduction of small tariffs reduces welfare....

  3. Fixed export costs and multi-product firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Creusen, H.; Smeets, R.

    2011-01-01

    This paper has two aims. First, we uncover some salient components of fixed export costs, which play a crucial role in recent heterogeneous firms models of international trade. Second, we investigate whether the importance of these fixed export costs varies with the size of a firms export product

  4. Fixed export cost heterogeneity, trade and welfare

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Jan Guldager; Schröder, Philipp J.H.

    2008-01-01

    -country intra-industry trade model where firms are of two different marginal costs types and where fixed export costs are heterogeneous across firms. This model traces many of the stylized facts of international trade. However, we find that with heterogeneous fixed export costs there exists a positive bilateral...

  5. 48 CFR 616.207 - Firm-fixed-price, level-of-effort term contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Firm-fixed-price, level-of-effort term contracts. 616.207 Section 616.207 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF STATE CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 616.207 Firm-fixed-price...

  6. 48 CFR 16.207 - Firm-fixed-price, level-of-effort term contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Firm-fixed-price, level-of-effort term contracts. 16.207 Section 16.207 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 16.207 Firm-fixed...

  7. Worker and Firm Heterogeneity in Wage Growth: An AKM approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Kenneth Lykke; Vejlin, Rune Majlund

    This paper estimates a wage growth equation containing human capital variables known from the traditional Mincerian wage equation with year, worker and firm fixed effects included as well. The paper thus contributes further to the large empirical literature on unobserved heterogeneity following...... the work of Abowd, Kramarz, and Margolis (1999). Our main contribution is to extend the analysis from wage levels to wage growth. The specification enables us to estimate the individual specific and firm specific fixed effects and their degree of explanation on wage growth. The analysis is conducted using...... are estimated to explain four to ten per cent. We furthermore find a negative correlation between the worker and firm effects, as do nearly all authors examining wage level equations....

  8. Trade, Industry Structure and Different Sources of Firm-heterogeneity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Jørgensen, Jan Guldager

    Recently the workhorse model of intra-industry trade has been augmented with heterogeneous cost structures at the firm level. In principle there exist various sources of heterogeneity, yet the literature appears -- for convenience or other reasons -- to settle on marginal cost heterogeneity...... as the preferred modelling device. The present paper develops a unified model framework allowing a systematic comparison of marginal and fixed cost heterogeneity. We find that both types of heterogeneity are in fact able to capture the central stylized facts of international trade. For example can either source...

  9. A Simple Model of Trade with Heterogeneous Firms and Trade Policy

    OpenAIRE

    Fukushima, Marcelo; Kikuchi, Toru

    2008-01-01

    This paper builds a Ricardian-Chamberlinian two-country model with heterogeneous firms in a monopolistically competitive sector in which every new entrant faces increasing fixed costs of production. There are efficiency gaps between countries in marginal and fixed costs and a country unilaterally imposes an import tariff. It is shown that an increase in tariff increases the number of firms of the tariff imposing country while decreases the number of firms of the tariff-imposed country, ...

  10. Foreign Entry and Heterogeneous Growth of Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Deng, Paul Duo; Jefferson, Gary H.

    We adopt the framework of Schumpeterian creative destruction formalized by Aghion et al. (2009) to analyze the impact of foreign entry on the productivity growth of domestic firms. In the face of foreign entry, domestic firms exhibit heterogeneous patterns of growth depending on their technologic...... manufacturing. Our empirical results confirm that foreign entry indeed generates strong heterogeneous growth patterns among domestic firms.......We adopt the framework of Schumpeterian creative destruction formalized by Aghion et al. (2009) to analyze the impact of foreign entry on the productivity growth of domestic firms. In the face of foreign entry, domestic firms exhibit heterogeneous patterns of growth depending on their technological...... distance from foreign firms. Domestic firms with smaller technological distance from their foreign counterparts tend to experience faster productivity growth, while firms with larger technological distance tend to lag further behind. We test this hypothesis using a unique firm-level data of Chinese...

  11. [Micro-simulation of firms' heterogeneity on pollution intensity and regional characteristics].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Nan; Liu, Yi; Chen, Ji-Ning

    2009-11-01

    In the same industrial sector, heterogeneity of pollution intensity exists among firms. There are some errors if using sector's average pollution intensity, which are calculated by limited number of firms in environmental statistic database to represent the sector's regional economic-environmental status. Based on the production function which includes environmental depletion as input, a micro-simulation model on firms' operational decision making is proposed. Then the heterogeneity of firms' pollution intensity can be mechanically described. Taking the mechanical manufacturing sector in Deyang city, 2005 as the case, the model's parameters were estimated. And the actual COD emission intensities of environmental statistic firms can be properly matched by the simulation. The model's results also show that the regional average COD emission intensity calculated by the environmental statistic firms (0.002 6 t per 10 000 yuan fixed asset, 0.001 5 t per 10 000 yuan production value) is lower than the regional average intensity calculated by all the firms in the region (0.003 0 t per 10 000 yuan fixed asset, 0.002 3 t per 10 000 yuan production value). The difference among average intensities in the six counties is significant as well. These regional characteristics of pollution intensity attribute to the sector's inner-structure (firms' scale distribution, technology distribution) and its spatial deviation.

  12. 48 CFR 1852.216-78 - Firm fixed price.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Firm fixed price. 1852.216... 1852.216-78 Firm fixed price. As prescribed in 1816.202-70, insert the following clause: Firm Fixed Price (DEC 1988) The total firm fixed price of this contract is $[Insert the appropriate amount]. (End...

  13. 48 CFR 16.202 - Firm-fixed-price contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Firm-fixed-price contracts. 16.202 Section 16.202 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 16.202 Firm-fixed-price...

  14. Selection of workers and firm heterogeneity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G.W.J. Hendrikse (George)

    1992-01-01

    textabstractA model based on differences between workers regarding their preferences for wage and leisure drives the heterogeneity of firms result. The more industrious workers are driven to small firms due to free riding in large firms. An industry consisting of small and large firms turns out to

  15. Monopolistic Competition, International Trade and Firm Heterogeneity - a Life Cycle Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Hansen, Jørgen Drud

    This paper presents a dynamic international trade model based on monopolistic competition, where observed intra-industry differences at a given point in time reflect different stages of the firm's life cycle. New product varieties of still higher quality enter the market every period rendering old...... varieties obsolescent in a process of creative destruction. For given technology (variety) production costs decrease after an infant period due to learning. It is shown that several patterns of exports may arise depending primarily on the size of fixed trade costs. At a given point in time firms therefore...... differ due to different age, although all firms are symmetric in a life cycle perspective. The paper thus offers an alternative view on firm heterogeneity compared with other recent papers, where productivity differences appear as an outcome of a stochastic process....

  16. 48 CFR 1816.202 - Firm-fixed-price contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 true Firm-fixed-price contracts. 1816.202 Section 1816.202 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CONTRACTING METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES TYPES OF CONTRACTS Fixed-Price Contracts 1816.202 Firm...

  17. Firm and Product Heterogeneity in China's Automotive Exports

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Wang

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of the anatomy of China's automotive exports, relying on the literature on firm and product heterogeneity. For this purpose, we use highly disaggregated HS 8-digit product-category level data collected by the Chinese Customs Office for 2000 and 2008, and we distinguish between foreign firms, domestic public firms, and domestic private firms. We also decompose automotive products into autos and auto parts and components (P/C. We then calculate both the extensive margins – number of products exported – and intensive margins – average value of exports per product – of China's automotive exports. We estimate gravity equations to assess the determinants of China's exports of autos and auto P/C. Overall, our analysis yields a number of new, interesting stylized facts about China's automotive exports by confirming the need for taking into account different types of heterogeneity in analyzing international trade.

  18. Modelling firm heterogeneity with spatial 'trends'

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarmiento, C. [North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND (United States). Dept. of Agricultural Business & Applied Economics

    2004-04-15

    The hypothesis underlying this article is that firm heterogeneity can be captured by spatial characteristics of the firm (similar to the inclusion of a time trend in time series models). The hypothesis is examined in the context of modelling electric generation by coal powered plants in the presence of firm heterogeneity.

  19. 48 CFR 16.403-1 - Fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... (firm target) contracts. 16.403-1 Section 16.403-1 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts. (a) Description. A fixed-price incentive (firm target... incentive (firm target) contract is appropriate when the parties can negotiate at the outset a firm target...

  20. The Regional Heterogeneity of Productivity Determinants: Evidence from Ukrainian Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cieślik Andrzej

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the determinants of the total factor productivity (TFP for Ukrainian firms in the manufacturing sector across macro-regions using recent micro-level datasets for 2013. Our empirical results show some degree of heterogeneity across Ukrainian macro-regions; in particular, the link between the total factor productivity, firm size, imports and the level of competition seems to be valid for all macro regions. However, the effects of private ownership status, capital intensity and exports seems to be region specific. In addition, we found no relationship between firm productivity and foreign ownership for any of the regions.

  1. Heterogeneous firms, mark-ups and income inequality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tamminen, S.H.

    2014-01-01

    Firm heterogeneity affects not only the implications of trade policies for countries, but also income distributions within-countries since firms generate most of wage and capital income payments. Recently, both within-country wage- and capital income inequality have been rising in various countries.

  2. Second-best energy policies for heterogeneous firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verhoef, E.T.; Nijkamp, P.

    1999-01-01

    This paper investigates second-best issues in the regulation of external costs of energy use by heterogeneous firms. The efficiency of regulatory energy policies depends in general on the policy incentives given for both output reduction and input substitution. The resulting endogeneity of firms' supply functions appears to lead to complicated policy rules. In contrast to earlier efforts, the analysis considers an arbitrarily large number of non-identical price-taking firms in a joint market; a large variety of possible production functions, including varying levels of economies of scale and possibilities for input substitution; and elasticities of market demand which may vary from completely elastic to completely inelastic. Two second-best instruments are considered, namely output taxes and energy-efficiency standards, and are compared to the benchmark of first-best energy taxes. The underlying market factors determining the relative efficiency of these second-best instruments, when used optimally, are identified

  3. Decomposing Firm-level Sales Variation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Jakob Roland; Nguyen, Daniel Xuyen

    , and that for the median product it drives 31% of the sales variation. When we remove first-time exports from our sample, the median value increases to 40%, implying that firm-destination-specific effects are most important the first year. We conclude that while firm-specific productivity can account for some......We measure the contribution of firm-specific effects to overall sales variation within a destination and find it remarkably low. Our empirical decomposition is structurally motivated by a heterogeneity model of exporting involving destination-specific, firm-specific, and firm......-destination-specific latent effects with incidental truncation. We use a highly detailed dataset with exports by products and destinations for all Danish manufacturing fi…rms. We fi…nd the contribution of firm-specific heterogeneity to within-destination sales variation varies greatly across HS6 products...

  4. Returns to Tenure, Firm-Specific Human Capital and Worker Heterogeneity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bingley, Paul; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.

    2003-01-01

    Workers with longer job tenure are paid more, on average, than those with shorter tenure. This paper re-opens the debate about whether individual financial returns to tenure are due to firm-specific human capital accumulation or sorting according to unobserved individual productivity heterogeneity...... firms to distinguish between firm-specific human capital and worker heterogeneity. Although the proportion of tenure returns due to firm-specific human capital is smaller than that found in the US, it has increased from 10% in 1980 to 30% in 1998 in Denmark. This change coincides with decentralisation...

  5. Make-or-Buy Decisions in Industry Equilibrium with Heterogeneous Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Laugesen, Anders

    2015-01-01

    , and the quality of a match determines the productivity of an outsourcing relationship. Incomplete contracts imply that outsourcing relationships suffer from holdup problems and suboptimally low levels of supplier investments. These search and contractual frictions under outsourcing are balanced against higher......This paper puts forward an industry-equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms in order to analyse possible interdependencies in firms' decisions to outsource the production of intermediates to unaffiliated business partners. Outsourcing requires that firms match in the market for intermediates...... production costs under vertical integration. It is found that interactions among firms in both the final- and intermediate-goods markets affect the decision to outsource. The results also show how the prevalence of outsourcing is affected by many different changes in the industry environment...

  6. Job loss, firm-level heterogeneity and mortality: Evidence from administrative data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloemen, Hans; Hochguertel, Stefan; Zweerink, Jochem

    2018-04-01

    This paper estimates the effect of job loss on mortality for older male workers with a strong labor force attachment. Using Dutch administrative data, we find that job loss due to firm closure increased the probability of death within five years by a sizable 0.60 percentage points. Importantly, this effect is estimated using a model that controls for firm-level worker characteristics, such as lagged firm-level annual average mortality rates. On the mechanism driving the effect of job loss on mortality, we provide evidence for an effect running through stress and changes in life style. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Heterogeneity in business groups and the corporate diversification firm performance relationship.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    George, R.; Kabir, Mohammed Rezaul

    2012-01-01

    This article examines how heterogeneous features among business groups influence the corporate diversification–firm performance relationship. The study classifies heterogeneity along three dimensions: group size, group diversity, and share ownership. Using a sample of firms from India, the study

  8. Firm Heterogeneity and the Two Sources of Gains from Trade

    OpenAIRE

    AGUR, Itai

    2006-01-01

    Recent empirical work identies two main channels through which consumers benefit from trade. Trade liberalization lowers prices, while it raises product variety. This paper develops the first model that connects both channels and interprets their interaction. It shows that heterogeneity in firm productivity is the source behind both. Upon liberalization efficient exporters enter, pushing out the least efficient domestic firms. Two countervailing forces emerge, both stylized fac...

  9. Heterogeneous agents and decison making within firms

    OpenAIRE

    Hung, Chung-yu

    2015-01-01

    This dissertation explores the implications of agents’ heterogeneity in decision making within situations where information is not completely contractible. Specifically, the study applies empirical methods across three chapters to examine the role of employees’ traits and their mutual relationships in decision making within firms. The first chapter investigates the association between managerial ability and managers’ discretionary bonus decisions using a dataset from a Chinese hospital and sh...

  10. Working long hours: less productive but less costly? Firm-level evidence from Belgium

    OpenAIRE

    DELMEZ, Françoise; Vandenberghe, Vincent

    2017-01-01

    From the point of view of a profit-maximizing firm, the optimal number of working hours depends not only on the marginal productivity of hours but also on the marginal labour cost. This paper develops and assesses empirically a simple model of firms' decision making where productivity varies with hours and where the firm faces labour costs per worker that are invariant to the number of hours worked: i.e. quasi-fixed labour costs. Using Belgian firm-level data on production, labour costs, work...

  11. Top management team heterogeneity and firm performance: An empirical research on Chinese listed companies

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHANG Ping

    2007-01-01

    An empirical study of the 2001-2002 data from 356 Chinese companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges indicates that within the social context of China the characteristics of a firm's top management team have a different impact on firm performance from those of foreign countries. Also, the tenure heterogeneity and functional experience heterogeneity of the top management team are inversely related to firm performance. This paper analyzes and discusses the findings in detail and points out areas for future research.

  12. Effect of Work-Life Balance Practices on Firm Productivity: Evidence from Japanese firm-level panel data

    OpenAIRE

    YAMAMOTO Isamu; MATSUURA Toshiyuki

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines how firm practices that could contribute to worker attainment of work-life balance (WLB) affect the total factor productivity (TFP) of a firm, by using panel data of Japanese firms from the 1990s. We observed a positive correlation between the WLB practices and TFP among sampled firms. However, that correlation vanished when we controlled for unobserved firm heterogeneity, and we found no general causal relationship in which WLB practices increase firm TFP in the medium or...

  13. Wage Differentials in the Presence of Unobserved Worker, Firm, and Match Heterogeneity

    OpenAIRE

    Woodcock, Simon

    2006-01-01

    We consider the problem of estimating and decomposing wage differentials in the presence of unobserved worker, firm, and match heterogeneity. Controlling for these unobservables corrects omitted variable bias in previous studies. It also allows us to measure the contribution of unmeasured characteristics of workers, firms, and worker-firm matches to observed wage differentials. An application to linked employer-employee data shows that decompositions of inter-industry earnings differentials a...

  14. Anti-Dumping with Heterogeneous Firms: New Protectionism for the New-New Trade Theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Christian Gormsen

    This paper analyzes anti­-dumping (AD) policies in a two-country model with heterogeneous firms in monopolistic competition. Effective AD legislation in one country imposes a no-dumping condition on firms exporting from the other country, altering their pricing both domestically and abroad. Some...... firms with intermediate productivities cease export activity, and entry shifts towards the AD protected country, which has now become relatively more attractive. Protecting firms with AD therefore increases the number of firms entering and eventually increases competition, and the consumers enjoy...

  15. Decarbonising the power sector via technological change – differing contributions from heterogeneous firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, Tobias S.; Schneider, Malte; Hoffmann, Volker H.

    2012-01-01

    In the power sector, technological change is a key lever to address the decarbonisation needed to avoid dangerous climate change. Policy makers aim to accelerate and redirect technological change by targeting relevant firms via climate policy, e.g., the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and climate-relevant technology policies, e.g., feed-in tariffs. Changes in firm's behaviour, i.e., their research and development (R and D) as well as diffusion activities, are at the heart of technological change. However, firms are heterogeneous actors with varying attributes which perceive policy differently. Hence, they can be expected to react very heterogeneously to these new policies. Based on an original dataset of 201 firms, we perform a cluster analysis grouping firms along their R and D and diffusion activity changes. We then compare these clusters with regards to the characteristics of the contained firms. Our analysis results in seven clusters showing very diverse contributions to low-carbon technological change, suggesting potential for policy to become more effective. A comparison of the firms' characteristics allows us to derive indicative recommendations on how to adjust the policy mix in order to induce contributions from most firms in the power sector. - Highlights: ► Firms differ strongly regarding their contribution low-carbon technological change. ► E.g., about 40% of the surveyed firms have not changed their R and D and diffusion activities. ► These observations cast doubt upon the effectiveness of current policy. ► From the findings recommendations for making policy more effective are derived.

  16. Firm-Level Corruption in Vietnam

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rand, John; Tarp, Finn

    This paper uses a unique panel dataset on firm-level corruption. It contains quantitative information on bribe payments by a sample of formal and informal Vietnamese firms. We show that bribe incidence is highly associated with firm-level differences in (i) visibility, (ii) sunk costs, (iii...

  17. Returns to Tenure, Firm-Specific Human Capital and Worker Heterogeneity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bingley, Paul; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.

    2003-01-01

    Workers with longer job tenure are paid more, on average, than those with shorter tenure. This paper re-opens the debate about whether individual financial returns to tenure are due to firm-specific human capital accumulation or sorting according to unobserved individual productivity heterogeneity...

  18. Determinants of investment in fixed assets and in intangible assets for high-tech firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Maçãs Nunes

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Based on a sample of 141 Portuguese high-tech firms for the period 2004-2012 and using GMM system (1998 and LSDVC (2005 dynamic estimators, this paper studies whether the determinants of high-tech firms’ investment in fixed assets are identical to the determinants of their investment in intangible assets. The multiple empirical evidence obtained allows us to conclude that the determinants of their investment in fixed assets are considerably different from those of their investment in intangible assets. Debt is a determinant stimulating investment in fixed assets, with age being a determinant restricting such investment. Size, age, internal finance and GDP are determinants stimulating investment in intangible assets, whereas debt and interest rates restrict such investment. These results let us make important suggestions for the owners/managers of high-tech firms, and also for policy-makers.

  19. Firm heterogeneity, investment, and industry expansion: a theoretical framework and the case of the uranium industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cohen, W.M.

    1981-01-01

    The distinguishing feature of this investment analysis is its consideration of firm-specific variables. The theoretical section proposes that firm investment and, in turn, industry expansion are determined by firm-specific corporate variables in addition to the typically considered variables characterizing the firm's experience and expected conditions in a given market, such as rate of growth of demand, price, cost of capital, degree of utilization of capacity, etc. The framework is applied to the uranium mining and milling industry. Descriptive analysis is used to trace the history of the uranium industry in aggregate terms and also as an evolving roster of participating firms with different attributes. The market structure of the industry is also examined. The corporate variables framework is tested statistically in a single-equation, fixed-effects model of uranium exploration behavior, estimated on pooled cross section and time-series data. The postulated corporate variables, except internal firm structure, are combined with market variables in a model which attempts to explain the exploration behavior of 24 firms in the uranium industry from 1973 through 1979. The results indicate that cash flow and exploration expertise influence firms' level of exploration effort. However, differences among firms' intermarket investment strategies do not differentiate the magnitude of their exploration programs

  20. A welfare ranking of multilateral reductions in real and tariff trade barriers when firms are heterogenous

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    2014-01-01

    heterogeneous-firms-trade model with Pareto distributed productivities. We derive analytical welfare rankings of all four liberalization channels for an equal effect on two openness measures, for any trade cost level and while all four barriers are simultaneously present, i.e. for any initial equilibrium. We...... to the most preferred mode of liberalization. Among the other three barriers we etablished a universal welfare ranking for any strictly positive level of revenue redistribution and for either measure of openness....

  1. New Firm Survival: Industry versus Firm Effects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D.B. Audretsch (David); P. Houweling (Patrick); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    1997-01-01

    textabstractRecent studies show that the likelihood of survival differs significantly across firms. Both firm and industry characteristics are hypothesized to account for this heterogenity. Using a longitudinal database of manufacturing firms we investigate whether firm or industry characteristics

  2. Firm heterogeneity, Rules of Origin and Rules of Cumulation

    OpenAIRE

    Bombarda , Pamela; Gamberoni , Elisa

    2013-01-01

    We analyse the impact of relaxing rules of origin (ROOs) in a simple setting with heterogeneous firms that buy intermediate inputs from domestic and foreign sources. In particular, we consider the impact of switching from bilateral to diagonal cumulation when using preferences (instead of paying the MFN tariff) involving the respect of rules of origin. We find that relaxing the restrictiveness of the ROOs leads the least productive exporters to stop exporting. The empirical part confirms thes...

  3. Flexible labor and innovation performance : Evidence from longitudinal firm-level data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhou, H.; Dekker, R.; Kleinknecht, A.

    Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts tend to have higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innovative new products ("first on the market"). High functional flexibility in "insider-outsider" labor markets enhances a firm's new product

  4. The Importance of Worker, Firm and Match Fixed Effects in the Formation of Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Torben; Vejlin, Rune Majlund

    This paper estimates a Mincerian wage equation with worker, firm, and match specific fixed effects and thereby complements the growing empirical literature started by the seminal paper of Abowd, Kramarz and Margolis (1999). The analysis takes advantage of the extensive Danish IDA data, which...

  5. Model of monopolistic competition with heterogeneous labor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filatov Alexander

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents a tool for modelling monopolistic competition markets, based on Dixit-Stiglitz ideology but taking into account heterogeneity at labor market. We analyse several modifications of a two-sector general equilibrium model. In the basic one with two levels of workers qualification their shares are determined endogenously on the base of comparison between the higher wage of the skilled worker and heterogeneous education costs, also taking into account the labor mobility between the manufacture and agriculture sector. The model is generalized for the case of continuous distribution of labor qualification. The impact of the model parameters (ratio of fixed and variable costs, market size, heterogeneity in productivity, elasticity of substitution, etc. on the obtained equilibrium prices, quantities, wages, number and size of firms, social welfare is investigated.

  6. Ad valorem versus unit taxes: Monopolistic competition, heterogeneous firms, and intra-industry reallocations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    a general equilibrium monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms and intra-industry reallocations. We show that the welfare superiority of ad valorem over unit taxes under imperfect competition is not only preserved but amplified. The additional difference between the tools arises because unit...... taxes distort relative prices, which in turn reduces average industry productivity through reallocations (the survival and increased market share of lower productivity firms). Importantly, numerical solutions of the model reveal that the relative welfare loss from using the unit tax increases...

  7. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Schjerning, Bertel; R. Markusen, James

    2013-01-01

    Three types of theories have been used to explain the wage premium in foreign firms: the theories of heterogeneous workers, heterogeneous learning, and heterogeneous firms. We set up a model that explicitly encompasses two of these theories, and that can illustrate the third. This unifying...

  8. Heterogeneity in Firm Performance During Economic Crisis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Bruni

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available What happens to firms during periods of deep economic crisis? Did different types of firms perform differently under the economic crisis? With the aid of a rich database and focusing on the literature regarding the growth of firms, this paper investigates the relative profitability performance of Italian firms during the current economic crisis, exploring those factors, which help certain firms to do relatively better even in the slowdown period. Some preliminary results show that the Italian firms that are relatively young in age, with relatively better current liquidity and more focused on domestic market have performed better than other firms. Furthermore, firms operating in high-tech and in highly concentrated sectors have enjoyed a better performance in this period.

  9. Endogenous Markups, Firm Productivity and International Trade:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bellone, Flora; Musso, Patrick; Nesta, Lionel

    ) markups are positively related to firm productivity; 3) markups are negatively related to import penetration; 4) markups are positively related to firm export intensity and markups are higher on the export market than on the domestic ones in the presence of trade barriers and/or if competitors...... on the export market are less efficient than competitors on the domestic market. We estimate micro-level price cost margins (PCMs) using firm-level data extending the techniques developed by Hall (1986, 1988) and extended by Domowitz et al. (1988) and Roeger (1995) for the French manufacturing industry from......In this paper, we test key micro-level theoretical predictions ofMelitz and Ottaviano (MO) (2008), a model of international trade with heterogenous firms and endogenous mark-ups. At the firm-level, the MO model predicts that: 1) firm markups are negatively related to domestic market size; 2...

  10. Female Employment and Firm Performance: An empirical analysis using firm panel data (Japanese)

    OpenAIRE

    YAMAMOTO Isamu

    2014-01-01

    This paper overviews the situation of female employment in listed Japanese companies using firm-level panel data after the 2000s, and demonstrates whether those companies utilizing female employment earn higher profits. The estimation results of fixed effect models show that a higher female proportion among regular employees significantly raises a company's profit rates, as measured by the return on assets. Particularly, it is shown that those firms with a female proportion of 30% to 40%, as ...

  11. Forecasting Aggregate Productivity using Information from Firm-level Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bartelsman, E.J.; Wolf, Z.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, we explore whether information from firm-level data can improve forecasts of aggregate productivity growth. We generate firm-level productivity measures and aggregate them into time-series components that capture within-firm productivity and the productivity contribution of

  12. Observed and unobserved heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models: An application to the electricity distribution industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria; Svento, Rauli

    2011-01-01

    In this study we combine different possibilities to model firm level heterogeneity in stochastic frontier analysis. We show that both observed and unobserved heterogeneities cause serious biases in inefficiency results. Modelling observed and unobserved heterogeneities treat individual firms in different ways and even though the expected mean inefficiency scores in both cases diminish the firm level efficiency rank orders turn out to be very different. The best fit with the data is obtained by modelling unobserved heterogeneity through randomizing frontier parameters and at the same time explicitly modelling the observed heterogeneity into the inefficiency distribution. These results are obtained by using data from Finnish electricity distribution utilities and the results are relevant in relation to electricity distribution pricing and regulation. -- Research Highlights: → We show that both observed and unobserved heterogeneities of firms cause biases in inefficiency results. → Different ways of accounting firm level heterogeneity end up with very different rank orders of firms. → The model which combines the characteristics of unobserved and observed heterogeneity fits the data best.

  13. Why do firms invest in accounts receivable? An empirical investigation of the Malaysian manufacturing sector

    OpenAIRE

    Paul, S.; Guermat, C.; Devi, S.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence Malaysian manufacturing sector investment in accounts receivable, an asset seen by many as one of the riskiest in any company’s balance sheet. We test several theories, related to accounts receivable, using a cross-section of 262 listed manufacturing firms over a period of five years (2007-2011). Both fixed and random effect approaches are considered to deal with potential heterogeneity across firms. Our results show that ...

  14. A Column Generation for the Heterogeneous Fixed Fleet Open Vehicle Routing Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Majid Yousefikhoshbakht

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper addressed the heterogeneous fixed fleet open vehicle routing problem (HFFOVRP, in which the vehicles are not required to return to the depot after completing a service. In this new problem, the demands of customers are fulfilled by a heterogeneous fixed fleet of vehicles having various capacities, fixed costs and variable costs. This problem is an important variant of the open vehicle routing problem (OVRP and can cover more practical situations in transportation and logistics. Since this problem belongs to NP-hard Problems, An approach based on column generation (CG is applied to solve the HFFOVRP. A tight integer programming model is presented and the linear programming relaxation of which is solved by the CG technique. Since there have been no existing benchmarks, this study generated 19 test problems and the results of the proposed CG algorithm is compared to the results of exact algorithm. Computational experience confirms that the proposed algorithm can provide better solutions within a comparatively shorter period of time.

  15. Foreign Exchange Exposures of Korean Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sungbin Cho

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available We measure foreign exchange exposures as sensitivity of firm's value to FX premium in the CAPM plus FX premium model, and try to find determinants of the exposures; using data of non-financial companies listed in the Korea Exchange from the year 2007 to 2008. Main findings are as follows. If Korean won depreciates, only a small number of firms is benefitted while majority of firms are harmed to the contrary of common knowledge. As a firm's export increases, the foreign exchange exposure increases up to a certain level and after that it declines. And, smaller firms of negative foreign exchange exposures are more sensitive to foreign exchange changes. These suggest heterogeneous effects of foreign exchange rates on industries and firms.

  16. Markups and Firm-Level Export Status

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    De Loecker, Jan; Warzynski, Frederic

    and export behavior using plant-level data. We find that i) markups are estimated significantly higher when controlling for unobserved productivity, ii) exporters charge on average higher markups and iii) firms' markups increase (decrease) upon export entry (exit).We see these findings as a first step...... in opening up the productivity-export black box, and provide a potential explanation for the big measured productivity premia for firms entering export markets....

  17. Flexible labor and innovation performance : Evidence from longitudinal firm-level data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleinknecht, A.; Dekker, R.; Zhou, H.

    2009-01-01

    Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts have significantly higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innovative new products (“first on the market”). High functional flexibility in “insider-outsider” labor markets enhances a firm’s new

  18. Flexible labor and innovation performance : Evidence from longitudinal firm-level data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dekker, R; Kleinknecht, A.H.; Zhou, H

    2010-01-01

    Firms with high shares of workers on fixed-term contracts have significantly higher sales of imitative new products but perform significantly worse on sales of innovative new products (“first on the market”). High functional flexibility in “insider-outsider” labor markets enhances a firm’s new

  19. Markups and Firm-Level Export Status

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    De Loecker, Jan; Warzynski, Frederic

    We derive an estimating equation to estimate markups using the insight of Hall (1986) and the control function approach of Olley and Pakes (1996). We rely on our method to explore the relationship between markups and export behavior using plant-level data. We find significantly higher markups when...... we control for unobserved productivity shocks. Furthermore, we find significant higher markups for exporting firms and present new evidence on markup-export status dynamics. More specifically, we find that firms' markups significantly increase (decrease) after entering (exiting) export markets. We...... see these results as a first step in opening up the productivity-export black box, and provide a potential explanation for the big measured productivity premia for firms entering export markets....

  20. Immigration and Firm Performance: a city-level approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mercedes Teruel Carrizosa

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This article analyses the effect of immigration flows on the growthand efficiency of manufacturing firms in Spanish cities. While most studies werefocusing on the effect immigrants have on labour markets at an aggregate level,here, we argue that the impact of immigration on firm performance should not onlybe considered in terms of the labour market, but also in terms of how city’s amenitiescan affect the performance of firms. Implementing a panel data methodology,we show that the immigrants’ increasing pressure has a positive effect on labourproductivity and wages and a negative effect on the job evolution of these manufacturingfirms. In addition, both small and new firms are more sensitive to thepressures of immigrant inflow, while foreign market oriented firms report higherproductivity levels and a less marked impact of immigration than their counterparts.We also present a set of instruments to control for endogeneity. It allows us toconfirm the effect of local immigration flows on the performance of manufacturingfirms.

  1. Global Sourcing, Technology, and Factor Intensity: Firm-level Relationships

    OpenAIRE

    TOMIURA Eiichi

    2007-01-01

    This paper empirically examines how technology and capital intensity are related with the firm's global sourcing decision. Firm-level data are derived from a survey covering all manufacturing industries in Japan without any firm-size threshold. Firms are disaggregated by their make-or-buy decision (in-house or outsourcing) and by their choice of sourcing location (offshore or domestic). Capital-intensive or R&D-intensive firms tend to source in-house from their FDI affiliates rather than outs...

  2. Corporate governance attributes, firm characteristics and the level of corporate disclosure: Evidence from the Indian listed firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunil Nandi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the association between firm characteristics, corporate governance attributes and the level of corporate disclosure of listed firms in India. The research paper has been based on a sample of 60 firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE / National Stock Exchange (NSE during the study period from 2000-01 to 2009-10. The study has used the Standard & Poor (2008 model for measuring the level of corporate disclosure. To examine the association between explanatory variables and the level of corporate disclosure, multiple regression model has been used. The results suggest a positive relationship between board size, ratio of audit committee members to total board members, family control, CEO duality, firm size, profitability, liquidity and the extent of corporate disclosure. However, the degree of corporate disclosure is negatively related to board composition, leverage and age of the firm.

  3. Firm Exit, Technological Progress and Trade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    The dynamics of export market exit and firm closure have found limited attention in the new heterogeneous-firms trade literature. In fact, several of the predictions on firm survival and exit stemming from this new class of models are at odds with the stylized facts. Empirically, higher productiv......The dynamics of export market exit and firm closure have found limited attention in the new heterogeneous-firms trade literature. In fact, several of the predictions on firm survival and exit stemming from this new class of models are at odds with the stylized facts. Empirically, higher...... productivity firms survive longer, most firm closures are young firms, higher productivity exporters are more likely to continue to export compared to less productive exporters and market exits as well as firm closures are typically preceded by periods of contracting market shares. The present paper shows...... liberalization on export market exit and firm closure....

  4. Global Sourcing: Evidence from Spanish Firm-level Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kohler, Wilhelm; Smolka, Marcel

    2012-01-01

    We investigate the link between productivity of firms and their sourcing behavior. Following Antràs and Helpman (2004) we distinguish between domestic and foreign sourcing, as well as between outsourcing and vertical integration. A firm's choice is driven by a hold-up problem caused by lack of en...... of enforceable contracts. We use Spanish firm-level data to examine the productivity premia associated with the different sourcing strategies....

  5. Energy efficiency and exporting: Evidence from firm-level data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roy, Jayjit; Yasar, Mahmut

    2015-01-01

    While exporting firms and non-exporters have been compared across several dimensions, empirical comparisons on the basis of environmental performance are relatively few. Moreover, analyzing the environmental implications of firm-level exports is not trivial due to non-random selection into exporting. In this light, we examine the impact of exporting on firms' energy efficiency by resorting to an instrumental variables strategy based on a differencing approach (Pitt and Rosenzweig, 1990). Utilizing data from Indonesia, we find (i) exporting to reduce the use of fuels (relative to electricity) and (ii) concerns over endogeneity of exporting status to be relevant. - Highlights: • We examine the impact of exporting on firms' energy efficiency. • We employ cost share equations, firm-level data from Indonesia, and an instrumental variables strategy. • Exporting is found to reduce the use of fuels (relative to electricity).

  6. Firm-Level Determinants of Exporting Behaviour: Evidence from ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper uses firm-level panel data to investigate the exporting behaviour of the Kenyan manufacturing firms. Using probit and tobit regression models, the results obtained show that factors determining the decision to export are different from those affecting the share exported. Likewise, factors determining exporting ...

  7. Estimating productivity with multi-product firms, pricing heterogeneity and the role of international trade

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Smeets, Valerie Anne Rolande; Warzynski, Frederic Michel Patrick

    In this paper, we analyze the relationship between exports, imports and firm productivity. We use a rich product-firm-level dataset providing both revenue and quantities of all products for a large panel of Danish manufacturing firms over the period 1998-2008 and link it to firms’ international...

  8. Correlation between Sales of Foreign Affiliates and Productivity of Multinational Firms: Evidence from Korean Firm-Level Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jung Hur

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Using firm-level panel data for Korean multinational enterprises (MNEs, we make a distinction between being the only affiliate of a parent firm and being one of the multiple affiliates of a parent firm. In particular, we attempt to find a correlation between the sales of foreign affiliates and the productivity of multinational firms. Our main empirical results in this paper suggest that productive Korean MNEs would enlarge the number of affiliates in the host country.

  9. Importing, productivity and SMEs: firm-level evidence from the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Berg, M.R.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/297206710

    2013-01-01

    Constructing a comprehensive data set covering Dutch firms over the years 2002-2008 I am the first to investigate the relationship between trade status, firm size and firm-level productivity in the Netherlands, thereby focusing particularly on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The empirical

  10. Solving the multiple-set split equality common fixed-point problem of firmly quasi-nonexpansive operators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jing; Zong, Haili

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we propose parallel and cyclic iterative algorithms for solving the multiple-set split equality common fixed-point problem of firmly quasi-nonexpansive operators. We also combine the process of cyclic and parallel iterative methods and propose two mixed iterative algorithms. Our several algorithms do not need any prior information about the operator norms. Under mild assumptions, we prove weak convergence of the proposed iterative sequences in Hilbert spaces. As applications, we obtain several iterative algorithms to solve the multiple-set split equality problem.

  11. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Markusen, James R.; Schjerning, Bertel

    to the firm?s productivity. Foreign-owned firms have, on average, higher productivity in equilibrium due to entry costs, which means that low-productivity foreign firms cannot enter. Foreign firms have higher wage growth and, with some exceptions, pay higher average wages, but not when compared to similarly...... large domestic firms. The empirical implications of the model are tested on matched employer-employee data from Denmark. Consistent with the theory, we find considerable evidence of higher wages and wage growth in large and/or foreign-owned firms. These effects survive controlling for individual...... characteristics, but, as expected, are reduced significantly when controlling for unobservable firm heterogeneity. Furthermore, acquired skills in foreign-owned and large firms appear to be transferable to both subsequent wage work and self-employment...

  12. Foreign Firms, Domestic Wages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Malchow-Møller, Nikolaj; Markusen, James R.; Schjerning, Bertel

    Many papers have documented a wage premium in foreign-owned and large firms. However, there is very little formal theory in the literature and empirical analyses are typically not based on hypotheses which are rigorously derived from theory. This paper contributes to the theory-empirics gap...... by developing a model that allows for two "pure" explanations for the wage premium. The first is a heterogenous-worker explanation along the lines of Yeaple (2005), where firms that select more scaleintensive technologies select ex-ante more productive workers. In this case, the wage premium is a pure selection...... phenomenon. The second explanation builds on the heterogeneous-firm model of Melitz (2003) combined with on-the-job learning as in Markusen (2001). Productivity differences between firms are internalized by ex-ante homogeneous workers, so the wage premium is a pure learning phenomenon due to ex-post higher...

  13. Methods for selecting fixed-effect models for heterogeneous codon evolution, with comments on their application to gene and genome data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bao, Le; Gu, Hong; Dunn, Katherine A; Bielawski, Joseph P

    2007-02-08

    Models of codon evolution have proven useful for investigating the strength and direction of natural selection. In some cases, a priori biological knowledge has been used successfully to model heterogeneous evolutionary dynamics among codon sites. These are called fixed-effect models, and they require that all codon sites are assigned to one of several partitions which are permitted to have independent parameters for selection pressure, evolutionary rate, transition to transversion ratio or codon frequencies. For single gene analysis, partitions might be defined according to protein tertiary structure, and for multiple gene analysis partitions might be defined according to a gene's functional category. Given a set of related fixed-effect models, the task of selecting the model that best fits the data is not trivial. In this study, we implement a set of fixed-effect codon models which allow for different levels of heterogeneity among partitions in the substitution process. We describe strategies for selecting among these models by a backward elimination procedure, Akaike information criterion (AIC) or a corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc). We evaluate the performance of these model selection methods via a simulation study, and make several recommendations for real data analysis. Our simulation study indicates that the backward elimination procedure can provide a reliable method for model selection in this setting. We also demonstrate the utility of these models by application to a single-gene dataset partitioned according to tertiary structure (abalone sperm lysin), and a multi-gene dataset partitioned according to the functional category of the gene (flagellar-related proteins of Listeria). Fixed-effect models have advantages and disadvantages. Fixed-effect models are desirable when data partitions are known to exhibit significant heterogeneity or when a statistical test of such heterogeneity is desired. They have the disadvantage of requiring a priori

  14. Green Product Development with Consumer Heterogeneity under Horizontal Competition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bing Xu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we explore the pricing and greenness issues of two competitive firms without and with consumer heterogeneity. We derive and compare the optimal solutions and profits employed by firms under different scenarios. Then, we identify the effects of consumer heterogeneity under different competition intensities. The analytical results reveal that if market competition is at a relatively low level, we find that: (i when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is sufficiently small, more consumers have high environmental awareness, and companies easily achieve their environmental goals as well as economic goals; (ii when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is at a medium level, as the fraction of consumers with high environmental awareness increases, and the firm might achieve economic goals at the cost of reducing environmental goals; and (iii when the greenness sensitivity of consumers with no preference is at a high level, the fraction of consumers with high environmental awareness increases, but firms might have more difficulty achieving their environmental and economic goals. On the other hand, if the market competition is at a relatively high level, the presence of consumer heterogeneity can help improve environmental goals, but make achievement of economic goals difficult.

  15. Sectoral patterns versus firm-level heterogeneity - The dynamics of eco-innovation strategies in the automotive sector

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Faria, Lourenco; Andersen, Maj Munch

    2017-01-01

    analysis using patent data from 1965 to 2012. Our findings suggest a process of co-evolution of firms' strategies and indicate that strong sectoral-specific patterns of eco-innovation are present in this sector from the mid-2000s onwards. For fuel cells technologies, however, we observe the formation......This paper sheds light on some important but underestimated elements of green industrial dynamics: the evolution of firms' eco-innovation strategies and activities within a sector. While eco-innovation sectoral case studies have taken place before, our analysis is distinct in investigating the rate......, direction and extent of eco-innovation in the automotive sector, represented here by the main automakers, in order to identify possibly sectoral-specific patterns in firms' strategies, as opposed to divergent strategic behaviors, grounded on evolutionary economic theory. We conduct a two-step empirical...

  16. Global Sourcing of Heterogeneous Firms: Theory and Evidence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kohler, Wilhelm; Smolka, Marcel

    2015-01-01

    The share of international trade within firm boundaries varies greatly across countries. This column presents new evidence on how the productivity of a firm affects the choice between vertical integration and outsourcing, as well as between foreign and domestic sourcing. The productivity effects...

  17. Towards an Organizational Economics of Heterogeneous Capabilities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Nicolai Juul

    The notion of “capability” has long been influential in management research as an approach to address firm-level heterogeneity and heterogeneity in competitive outcomes. I discuss how recent advances in economics may allow for a more rigorous understanding and measurement of capability that take...

  18. Measuring True Sales and Underreporting with Matched Firm-Level Survey and Tax-Office Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhou, F.; Oostendorp, R.H.

    2014-01-01

    This paper uses firm-level survey data matched with official tax records to estimate the unobserved true sales of formal firms in Mongolia. Taking into account firm-level incentives to comply with taxes and a production function technology linking unobserved true sales with observable firm-level

  19. Can Production Subsidies Explain China's Export Performance? Evidence from Firm-level Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gong, Yundan; Yu, Zhihong; Girma, Sourafel

    2009-01-01

    This paper analyses the relationship between production subsidies and firms" export performance using a very comprehensive and recent firm-level database and controlling for the endogeneity of subsidies. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity at the inten......This paper analyses the relationship between production subsidies and firms" export performance using a very comprehensive and recent firm-level database and controlling for the endogeneity of subsidies. It documents robust evidence that production subsidies stimulate export activity...

  20. Cross-regional Variations in Offshore Outsourcing Choices: Evidence from Firm-level Data

    OpenAIRE

    TOMIURA Eiichi; ITO Banri; WAKASUGI Ryuhei

    2008-01-01

    In offshoring, a firm chooses outsourcing to independent suppliers or in-sourcing from their FDI subsidiaries. This paper empirically examines how the factor intensity is related with the firm's offshore make-or-buy decision based on the Japanese direct firm-level data of offshoring across all manufacturing industries. This paper confirms that in-sourcing firms tend to be substantially more capital-intensive than outsourcing firms, even if firm size or industry is controlled for. Among the fi...

  1. Board diversity in family firms

    OpenAIRE

    Menozzi, Anna; Fraquelli, Giovanni; Novara, Jolanda de

    2015-01-01

    The paper deals with diversity as a key factor to improve the board of directors’ decision process in family firms. The empirical literature about board diversity points at the positive impact of diversity on board functioning and firm performance. The paper uses a statistical diversity index to capture the heterogeneity of board of directors and put it in relation with firm performance, as measured by firm profitability. The empirical analysis is based on a newly collected panel of 327 famil...

  2. The effects of country and firm-level governance on cash management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Seifert, Bruce; Gonenc, Halit

    We examine the effects of both country and firm-level governance on cash holdings and the value of cash for a large international sample during the period 2002-2013. We find that both strong country and strong firm-level governance reduce the amount of cash holdings. We observe that a number of the

  3. Effect of Knowledge Sources on Firm Level Innovation in Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osoro, Otieno; Kahyarara, Godius; Knoben, Joris; Vermeulen, P.A.M.

    In this paper we analyse the impact of different sources of knowledge on product innovation in Tanzania using firm level data from 543 firms. Specifically, we assess the separate impacts of internal knowledge and external knowledge and the combined impact of both on a firm’s likelihood of

  4. Do Work-Life Balance Policies Increase a Firm's Total Factor Productivity?: Evidence from panel data of Japanese firms (Japanese)

    OpenAIRE

    YAMAMOTO Isamu; MATSUURA Toshiyuki

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines how firms' policies for workers' work-life balance (WLB) affect total factor productivity (TFP) in the long run, by using panel data of Japanese firms from the 1990s. Although we observed a positive correlation between firms' WLB policies and their TFP, once controlling for unobserved firm heterogeneity, we found no causal relationship where WLB policies increase a firm's TFP in the long run. Under the following conditions, however, WLB policies would likely improve a firm...

  5. The adoption of energy efficiency enhancing technologies. Market Performance and Policy Strategies in Case of Heterogeneous Firms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Verhoef, E.; Nijkamp, P. [Department of Spatial Economics, Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    1997-07-01

    The adoption of energy-efficiency enhancing technologies by heterogeneous firms is analyzed. The fact that energy use does not only cause external environmental costs through pollution, but also directly affects the profitability of the firm and hence its behaviour on input and output markets is taken for granted. It is demonstrated that the consideration of such market processes may have important implications for the efficiency of environmental policies concerned with energy use. The analysis focuses in particular on the efficiency of the market-led adoption and diffusion process under various policy regimes. It is shown that the promotion of energy-efficiency enhancing technologies might have unexpected effects in that it could lead to an increase in energy use, while the use of energy taxes might actually reduce the attractiveness of energy-saving technologies. 22 refs.

  6. A Critical Review of the Literature on Firm-Level Theories on Ship Investment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sinem Celik Girgin

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The maritime industry is one of those rare industries that are both highly international integrated to international trade and also highly capital intensive dependent on substantial investment amount. In the literature, ship investments have not been widely examined through the firm-level investment theories to explore the link between investment level and asset price valuation. The general trend in the literature of ship investments is to analyse the relationship among the shipping markets (newbuilding, second-hand, freight rate and scrap and their impact on asset price valuation, the timing of investments and market entry and exit conditions. In this paper, we extensively reviewed the literature of firm-level investment theories and ship investments. We showed that the application of firm-level investment theories to the ship investments is confined to the basic investment valuation models, such as Net Present Value and Real Option Analysis. Ship investments need to be examined by firm-level investment theories to define firm/industry value maximization level within the approach of the solid investment theories.

  7. Worker-Level and Firm-Level Effects of a Wage Subsidy Program for Highly Educated Labor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaiser, Ulrich; Kuhn, Johan Moritz

    and firms, we find that the program had positive effects on employment and wages the year individuals participate in the program. For wages, we also find positive and statistically significant effects for the two subsequent years. At the program participating firm level, we find statistically significant...

  8. Firm-level volatility and exports

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vannoorenberghe, G.C.L.

    2012-01-01

    This paper shows that the share of exports in the total sales of a firm has a positive and substantial impact on the volatility of its sales. Decomposing the volatility of sales of exporters between their domestic and export markets, I show using an identification strategy based on a firm-specific

  9. Assessment of U.S. firm-level climate change performance and strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Yu; Wang, Derek D.; Li, Shanling; Shi, Qinfen

    2016-01-01

    Climate change is becoming an increasingly critical concern for human society. While there has been a great deal of research on climate change performance at the country/region level, our research focuses on the study of firm-level environmental efficiency as a proxy for firms' climate change management. Using a unique data set on U.S. S&P 500 firms for the period 2012–2013 and DEA slack-based models, we obtain firms' environmental efficiencies in six sectors. The results show significant performance dispersions both across and within the sectors. We highlight each sector's pros and cons in the environmental performance and propose guidelines for policy makers to further improve climate change performance. We also evaluate firms' operational performance and propose a unified performance measure by integrating operational and environmental efficiencies. Overall, we find there is no significant relationship between operational and environmental efficiencies in any of the six industrial sectors under study. The unified performance measures are more driven by the environmental efficiency than the operational efficiency. - Highlights: •U.S. firms have large variations in climate performance across/within the sectors. •Relationship between operational and climate performances is not significant. •The operational and climate performances can be captured in a unified measure.

  10. Determinants of firms' investment behaviour : a multilevel approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Farla, K.

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates micro and macro determinants of firms' investment behaviour using firm data from 101 developing and emerging economies. A substantial number of firms in our sample does not invest in fixed capital or invests little relative to sales revenue. Using a multilevel probit model we

  11. Board national diversity and firm-level innovativeness within the European Union

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Habersetzer, Antoine; Makkonen, Teemu; Williams, Allan

    2017-01-01

    It has become increasingly commonplace for firms to have foreign-born persons in their board of directors. This has been frequently linked to increasing firm-level innovativeness. Surprisingly, there is no empirical evidence to corroborate or contradict this assumption. The analyses conducted her...

  12. Final Report on the Audit of Subcontract Prices on Firm-Fixed-Price Contracts Awarded to McDonnell Aircraft Company

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-12-03

    This is our final report on the audit of Subcontract Prices on Firm-Fixed-Price Contracts Awarded to McDonnell Aircraft Company (MCAIR). The Contract Management Directorate made the audit from October 1989 through June 1990. The objective of the audit was to compare proposed and negotiated subcontract prices and determine reasons for significant variances. We also evaluated applicable internal control procedures. For a 6-month period ending December 1989, MCAIR issued 517 subcontracts valued at $679 million.

  13. Determining firm characteristics and the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosures among Malaysian listed property companies

    OpenAIRE

    Talpur Shabana; Lizam Mohd; Keerio Nazia

    2018-01-01

    This study examined the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosures and the influence of firm characteristics (i.e., firm size, firm age, and firm market listing) on the level of these disclosures among Malaysian property listed companies. The check-list to measure the voluntary corporate governance disclosures was adopted from Malaysian corporate governance index 2011 by Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG). The voluntary corporate governance disclosure practices and firm speci...

  14. Monopolistic Competition, International Trade and Firm Heterogeneity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller; Hansen, Jørgen Drud; Kvedaras, Virmantas

    This paper presents a dynamic international trade model based on monopolistic competition, where observed intra-industry differences at a given point in time reflect different stages of the firm's life cycle. New product varieties of still higher quality enter the market every period rendering old...

  15. The Clean Development Mechanism and Dynamic Capabilities of Implementing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Aggarwal, Aradhna

    and non-CDM firms as the control group for the pre- and post-CDM implementation periods. We control for unobserved fixed effects of firms and time periods and observed characteristics of firms and CDM projects. The analysis draws on the balance sheet data of 612 firms from India between 2001 and 2012 from...

  16. International Trade and Macroeconomic Dynamics with Heteroegenous Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Ghironi, Fabio; Melitz, Marc J

    2004-01-01

    We develop a stochastic, general equilibrium, two-country model of trade and macroeconomic dynamics. Productivity differs across individual, monopolistically competitive firms in each country. Firms face a sunk entry cost in the domestic market and both fixed and per-unit export costs. Only relatively more productive firms export. Exogenous shocks to aggregate productivity and entry or trade costs induce firms to enter and exit both their domestic and export markets, thus altering the composi...

  17. Capital market financing, firm growth, and firm size distribution

    OpenAIRE

    Didier Brandao,Tatiana; Levine,Ross Eric; Schmukler,Sergio L.

    2015-01-01

    How many and which firms issue equity and bonds in domestic and international markets, how do these firms grow relative to non-issuing firms, and how does firm performance vary along the firm size distribution? To evaluate these questions, a new data set is constructed by matching data on firm-level capital raising activity with balance sheet data for 45,527 listed firms in 51 countries. T...

  18. Determining firm characteristics and the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosures among Malaysian listed property companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Talpur Shabana

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the level of voluntary corporate governance disclosures and the influence of firm characteristics (i.e., firm size, firm age, and firm market listing on the level of these disclosures among Malaysian property listed companies. The check-list to measure the voluntary corporate governance disclosures was adopted from Malaysian corporate governance index 2011 by Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG. The voluntary corporate governance disclosure practices and firm specific characteristics were obtained from annual reports of property listed companies on Bursa Malaysia for the period of 2012 to 2015. The findings suggested an improving voluntary corporate governance reforms in Malaysia. However, the firm size was found as an inflicting factor in determining the level and quality of voluntary corporate governance disclosure practices. On the contrary, the results found were contradicting the hypothesis related to firm age and firm market listing, as no relation of voluntary corporate governance disclosures and firm age and firm market listing. The study has made an interesting contribution toward the disclosure and corporate governance by contributing in understanding the importance of quality disclosure and good governance practices.

  19. The Great Trade Collapse and the Spanish Export Miracle: Firm-level Evidence from the Crisis

    OpenAIRE

    Eppinger, Peter S.; Meythaler, Nicole; Sindlinger, Marc-Manuel; Smolka, Marcel

    2017-01-01

    We provide novel evidence on the micro-structure of international trade during the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent global recession by exploring a rich firm-level data set from Spain. The focus of our analysis is on changes at the extensive and intensive firm-level margins of trade, as well as on performance differences (jobs, productivity, and firm survival) across firms that differ in their export status. We find no adverse effects of the financial crisis on foreign market entry or exi...

  20. Nonlinear Effect of Financial Efficiency and Financial Competition on Heterogeneous Firm R&D: A Study on the Combined Perspective of Financial Quantity Expansion and Quality Development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Gao

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Manufacturing firm data and district financial quantity and quality indicators for 2005–2007 combined with heterogeneous firm characteristics were used with a threshold panel to study the effect of financial inefficiency on firm R&D and the financial boundaries of efficiency improvement. The results show that: (1 extensive financial quantity expansion cannot support high innovation efficiency R&D (Research and Development activities in private enterprises, low- and medium-technology enterprises, and underdeveloped area enterprises, as it causes financial inefficiency problems and a shortage of R&D inputs; and (2 financial efficiency and financial competition have nonlinear effects on firm R&D. Financial inefficiency and either low or excessive financial competition result in a lack of highly efficient firm R&D. Only improvements in financial efficiency and moderate competition can significantly promote firm R&D. The results of this study reveal an important way to improve the influence of financial inefficiency on firm R&D by moving away from simply expanding financial quantity to promoting quality instead.

  1. Private incentives to vertical disintegration among firms with heterogeneous objectives

    OpenAIRE

    Rossini, Gianpaolo

    2003-01-01

    A vertically integrated monopoly is compared to a decentralized market arrangement where production is segmented. A Labor Managed firm produces an input used by a profit maximizer manufacturer of a final good. Unlike what usually occurs between homogeneous firms we find circumstances in which the decentralised vertical arrangement is privately superior to the integrated one.

  2. Entrepreneurship and the Economic Theory of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Nicolai Juul; Klein, Peter G.

    2004-01-01

    . Because judgmentcannot be purchased on the market, the entrepreneur needs a firm — a set of alienableassets he controls — to carry out his function. We show how this notion of judgmentilluminates key themes in the modern theory of the firm (existence, boundaries,and internal organization). In our approach......, resource uses are not data, but are createdas entrepreneurs envision new ways of using assets to produce final goods. Theentrepreneur's problem is aggravated by the fact that capital assets are heterogeneous.Asset ownership allows the entrepreneur to experiment with novel combinationsof heterogeneous...

  3. Firm Export Diversification and Change in Workforce Composition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Guillou, Sarah; Treibich, Tania

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to show that part of the fixed cost of firms' trade expansion is due to the acquisition of new internal capabilities (e.g. technology, production processes or skills), which imply a costly change in the firm's internal labor organisation. We investigate the

  4. Team Heterogeneity in Startups and its Development over Time

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaiser, Ulrich; Müller, Bettina

    We investigate the workforce heterogeneity of startups with respect to education, age and wages. Our explorative study uses data on the population of 1,614 Danish firms founded in 1998. We track these firms until 2001 which enables us to analyze changes in workforce composition over time. Such a ......We investigate the workforce heterogeneity of startups with respect to education, age and wages. Our explorative study uses data on the population of 1,614 Danish firms founded in 1998. We track these firms until 2001 which enables us to analyze changes in workforce composition over time....... Our result holds both for non-knowledge-based and, to a lesser extent, knowledge-based startups. This seems surprising since a vast management literature advocates heterogeneous teams. The difficulties associated with workforce heterogeneity (like affective conflict or coordination cost) as well...... as “homophily” (people’s inclination to bound with others with similar characteristics) hence appear to generally overweigh the benefits of heterogeneity (like greater variety in perspectives or more creativity). We also document that workforces become more heterogeneous over time startups add workers...

  5. Credit scarcity in developing countries: An empirical investigation using Brazilian firm-level data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antônio Marcos Hoelz Pinto Ambrozio

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Brazilian manufacturing firms are credit constrained. We exploit a rich database that contains more than three thousand firms with characteristics that may affect their degree of credit constraint: size, being listed in the Brazilian stock market and level of exports-sales ratio. Our results show that all dimensions considered here may affect the sensitiveness of investment to cash flow. Large firms, stock market listed firms as well as firms with better export capacity are associated with inexistence or less credit restriction. Specifically, considering firms’ size, our results corroborate the economic theory prediction and empirical international literature. Furthermore, the influence of being listed in the stock market and export capacity is beyond any possible correlation with size. Even small and middle firms are not credit constrained when listed in the stock market or when the exports-sales ratio is higher.

  6. Enterprise Performance in Asia: Using firm-level data for Policy ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    Enterprise Performance in Asia: Using firm-level data for Policy-making. Micro and small enterprises play a critical role in job creation and economic ... prevent gender-based violence, and make digital platforms work for inclusive development.

  7. Corporate governance determinants: the firm-level evidence from transitional country, Ukraine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitaliy Zheka

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to empirically investigate the determinants of choices of corporate governance practices by corporations in a transition market. The study offers firm-level evidence benefiting from unique financial and governance data on Ukraine. In particular, we analyze the factors that affect overall level as well as individual elements of corporate governance. We consider such governance elements as shareholder rights, transparency, board independence, chairman independence and ownership. Overall we found that regulatory, industry and firm level factors are important, which is consistent with previous literature for other countries. Combining our results with the results of Zheka (20063 we conclude that it is possible for the government to implement and enforce better corporate governance practices in the economy that would make Ukrainian enterprises more attractive for foreign investment.

  8. The Great Trade Collapse and the Spanish Export Miracle: Firm-level Evidence from the Crisis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eppinger, Peter S.; Meythaler, Nicole; Sindlinger, Marc-Manuel

    resilient to the crisis than those firms that restricted their sales to the domestic market. Finally, in contrast to exporters, non-exporters experienced a significant deterioration in their total factor productivity, which led to an overall decline in the productivity of a significant number of industries......We provide novel evidence on the micro-structure of international trade during the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent global recession exploring a rich firm-level data set from Spain. The analysis is motivated by the surprisingly strong export performance of Spain in the aftermath of the great...... trade collapse (dubbed by some as the “Spanish export miracle”). The focus of our analysis is on changes at the extensive and intensive firm-level margins of trade, as well as on performance differences (jobs, productivity, and firm survival) across firms that differ in their export status. We find...

  9. TAX EVASION, LEVEL OF INTERNET CORPORATE REPORTING AND FIRM VALUE: EVIDENCE FROM INDONESIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asmoro P.S.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available As a developing country that accumulates its source of revenue to taxes, Indonesia is not spared from tax compliance issues. The low level of tax compliance indicates a different point of view between the government and the Taxpayer. The low level of tax compliance indicates a different point of view between the government and the Taxpayer. Taxpayers still consider the obligation to pay taxes as an expense that can reduce their income or profits. Therefore, the rational Taxpayer will try to minimize the tax burden. One of them is by doing Tax Evasion. Taxation management is more often done by the Taxpayer Agency, especially the Manufacturing company. This is because the company has a very high business risk. Tax Evasion can increase organizational complexity which in turn can reduce financial transparency. Therefore, companies are required to disclose more information and provide flexible reporting systems that facilitate stakeholders. This encourages companies in the world to take advantage of the development of information technology and interconnection networking through internet corporate reporting. Utilization of internet corporate reporting is expected to increase the value of the company. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the concept of Tax Evasion, the level of internet corporate reporting disclosure, and the firm value. The results showed that the three hypotheses in this study were accepted. Tax Evasion affects the level of internet corporate reporting disclosure. In addition, Tax Evasion also directly or indirectly influence the firm value through the level disclosure of internet corporate reporting.

  10. Austrian Capital Theory and the Link Between Entrepreneurship and the Theory of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Foss, Kirsten; Foss, Nicolai Juul; Klein, Peter G.

    2005-01-01

    tangible and intangible,are heterogeneous; arranging these assets to minimize contractual hazards, toprovide efficient investment incentives, or to exploit competitive advantage isconceived as the prime task of economic organization. None of these approaches,however, is based on a systematic theory......Several writers link entrepreneurship to asset ownership, trying to incorporatethe theory of entrepreneurship into the theory of the firm. The critical link, weargue, is capital heterogeneity. Transaction cost, property rights, and resourcebasedapproaches to the firm assume that assets, both...... of capital heterogeneity. Inthis paper we outline the approach to capital developed by the Austrian schoolof economics and integrate it into an entrepreneurial theory of the firm. We refineAustrian capital theory by defining capital heterogeneity in terms of subjectivelyperceived attributes, that is...

  11. What do we know about private family firms? A meta-analytic review

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Carney, M.; van Essen, M.; Gedajlovic, E.; Heugens, P.P.M.A.R.

    2015-01-01

    The universe of family firms is heterogeneous, and findings gleaned from publicly listed firms may not apply to the ubiquitous, but less frequently studied, privately held family firm (PFF). As PFFs are insulated from capital market pressures, owner-managers have greater latitude in setting

  12. Optimal investment with fixed refinancing costs

    OpenAIRE

    Jason G. Cummins; Ingmar Nyman

    2001-01-01

    Case studies show that corporate managers seek financial independence to avoid interference by outside financiers. We incorporate this financial xenophobia as a fixed cost in a simple dynamic model of financing and investment. To avoid refinancing in the future, the firm alters its behavior depending on the extent of its financial xenophobia and the realization of a revenue shock. With a sufficiently adverse shock, the firm holds no liquidity. Otherwise, the firm precautionarily saves and hol...

  13. Determinants of fixed investment by manufacturing firms in a developing country

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bilsborrow, R E

    1977-10-01

    The validity of classical explanations of business investment decisions are examined and evidence is found that a less-pure approach is appropriate in the context of a developing country. A new data base is developed, using an electric model of manufacturing corporations in Colombia. The main empirical findings are: (1) An accelerator was accepted and institutionalized as a long-run investment. (2) Cash flow effects were a slightly more-important determinant of annual-investment variations than the accelerator in accordance with business uncertainties and undeveloped capital and loan markets. (3) Although the balance-sheet risk variable was the best variable in individual firm time-risk regression studies, no firm conclusions can be drawn without further investigation. (4) The single most-important influence on annual variations in investment by aggregates of firms was the availability of foreign exchange, which suggests the impact that changes in government policies can have on investment and economic activity. (5) Investment theory ''explained'' the behavior of foreign-controlled investment in Colombia better than that of Colombian corporations, whose executives may have been less willing to take risks. 56 references.

  14. Effect of Knowledge Sources on Firm Level Innovation in Tanzania

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Osoro, O.; Vermeulen, P.A.M.; Knoben, J.; Kahyarara, G.

    2016-01-01

    This paper analyses the impact of different sources of knowledge on product and process innovation in Tanzania using firm-level data. We specifically analyse the separate impacts of internal knowledge, external knowledge and the combined impact of both types of knowledge on firms’ product and

  15. 48 CFR 16.403-2 - Fixed-price incentive (successive targets) contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... target cost plus the firm target profit as a guide. (ii) If negotiation of a firm fixed price is... pricing information is not sufficient to permit the negotiation of a realistic firm target cost and profit...; and (2) Cost or pricing information adequate for establishing a reasonable firm target cost is...

  16. Endogenous network of firms and systemic risk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Qianting; He, Jianmin; Li, Shouwei

    2018-02-01

    We construct an endogenous network characterized by commercial credit relationships connecting the upstream and downstream firms. Simulation results indicate that the endogenous network model displays a scale-free property which exists in real-world firm systems. In terms of the network structure, with the expansion of the scale of network nodes, the systemic risk increases significantly, while the heterogeneities of network nodes have no effect on systemic risk. As for firm micro-behaviors, including the selection range of trading partners, actual output, labor requirement, price of intermediate products and employee salaries, increase of all these parameters will lead to higher systemic risk.

  17. The marketing firm and consumer choice: implications of bilateral contingency for levels of analysis in organizational neuroscience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foxall, Gordon R

    2014-01-01

    The emergence of a conception of the marketing firm (Foxall, 1999a) conceived within behavioral psychology and based on a corresponding model of consumer choice, (Foxall, 1990/2004) permits an assessment of the levels of behavioral and organizational analysis amenable to neuroscientific examination. This paper explores the ways in which the bilateral contingencies that link the marketing firm with its consumerate allow appropriate levels of organizational neuroscientific analysis to be specified. Having described the concept of the marketing firm and the model of consumer behavior on which it is based, the paper analyzes bilateral contingencies at the levels of (i) market exchange, (ii) emotional reward, and (iii) neuroeconomics. Market exchange emerges as a level of analysis that lends itself predominantly to the explanation of firm-consumerate interactions in terms of the super-personal level of reinforcing and punishing contingencies: the marketing firm can be treated as a contextual or operant system in its own right. However, the emotional reward and neuroeconomic levels of analysis should be confined to the personal level of analysis represented by individual managers on the one hand and individual consumers on the other. This also entails a level of abstraction but it is one that can be satisfactorily handled in terms of the concept of bilateral contingency.

  18. Leverage, Investment, and Firm Growth

    OpenAIRE

    Larry Lang; Eli Ofek; Rene M. Stulz

    1995-01-01

    We show that there is a negative relation between leverage and future growth at the firm level and, for diversified firms, at the segment level. Further, this negative relation between leverage and growth holds for firms with low Tobin's q, but not for high-q firms or firms in high-q industries. Therefore, leverage does not reduce growth for firms known to have good investment opportunities, but is negatively related to growth for firms whose growth opportunities are either not recognized by ...

  19. Does money buy credit? Firm-level evidence on bribery and bank debt

    OpenAIRE

    Fungácová , Zuzana; Kochanova, Anna; Weill, Laurent

    2014-01-01

    This study examines how bribery influences bank debt ratios for a large sample of firms in 14 transition countries. We combine information on bribery practices from the BEEPS survey with firm-level accounting data from the Amadeus database. Bribery is measured by the frequency of extra unofficial payments to officials to “get things done”. We find that bribery is positively related to firms’ total bank debt ratios, which provides evidence that bribing bank officials facilitates firms’ access ...

  20. True versus spurious state dependence in firm performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaiser, Ulrich; Kongsted, Hans Christian

    2008-01-01

    This paper analyzes the persistence of firms' exporting behavior in a panel of German manufacturing firms using dynamic binary choice models. We distinguish between true and spurious state dependence in exports and apply fixed effects methods that allow us to verify the robustness of our results ...... determinants. Our results, which are consistent with the findings of previous studies on firms in developing countries and in the United States, show the presence of important sunk costs in export market entry and a depreciation of knowledge and experience in export markets....

  1. True Versus Spurious State Dependence in Firm Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaiser, Ulrich; Kongsted, Hans Christian

    This paper analyzes the persistence of firms' exporting behavior in a panel of German manufacturing firms using dynamic binary choice models. We distinguish between true and spurious state dependence in exports and apply fixed effects methods that allow us to verify the robustness of our results ...... determinants. Our results, which are consistent with the findings of previous studies on firms in developing countries and in the United States, show the presence of important sunk costs in export market entry and a depreciation of knowledge and experience in export markets...

  2. 48 CFR 36.207 - Pricing fixed-price construction contracts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Pricing fixed-price... Contracting for Construction 36.207 Pricing fixed-price construction contracts. (a) Generally, firm-fixed... methods. (b) Lump-sum pricing shall be used in preference to unit pricing except when— (1) Large...

  3. Direct and indirect effects of ownership on firm-level environmental performance

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Earnhart, D.; Lízal, Lubomír

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 45, č. 4 (2007), s. 66-87 ISSN 0012-8775 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : ownership structure * firm-level environmental performance * transition economy Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 0.413, year: 2007

  4. Globalisation and national trends in nutrition and health: A grouped fixed-effects approach to intercountry heterogeneity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberlander, Lisa; Disdier, Anne-Célia; Etilé, Fabrice

    2017-09-01

    Using a panel dataset of 70 countries spanning 42 years (1970-2011), we investigate the distinct effects of social globalisation and trade openness on national trends in markers of diet quality (supplies of animal proteins, free fats and sugar, average body mass index, and diabetes prevalence). Our key methodological contribution is the application of a grouped fixed-effects estimator, which extends linear fixed-effects models. The grouped fixed-effects estimator partitions our sample into distinct groups of countries in order to control for time-varying unobserved heterogeneity that follows a group-specific pattern. We find that increasing social globalisation has a significant impact on the supplies of animal protein and sugar available for human consumption, as well as on mean body mass index. Specific components of social globalisation such as information flows (via television and the Internet) drive these results. Trade openness has no effect on dietary outcomes or health. These findings suggest that the social and cultural aspects of globalisation should receive greater attention in research on the nutrition transition. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  5. Heterogeneity and the (de)stabilizing role of rationality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cavalli, Fausto; Naimzada, Ahmad; Pireddu, Marina

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • We analyze Cournot oligopolies with heterogeneous firms of generic size. • Rational and naive players are considered. • Stability with respect to oligopoly composition is studied. • In some settings, increasing the rational firms fraction introduces instability. - Abstract: In this paper we study oligopolies of generic size consisting of heterogeneous firms, which adopt best response adjustment mechanisms with either perfect foresight (rational firms) or static expectations (naive firms). Assuming an isoelastic demand function and possibly different marginal costs for the two groups of firms, we focus on the local stability of the Nash equilibrium. We show that, with respect to the oligopoly composition, described in terms of the fraction of rational firms, different scenarios are possible. We find that a high rationality degree may not always guarantee stability, in particular when rational firms have sufficiently larger marginal costs. In fact, in this situation, increasing the fraction of rational firms can even introduce instability. Besides the usual scenarios in which replacing some naive firms with rational ones leads to a stabilization of (or at least keeps unchanged) the dynamics, we provide a family of situations, characterized by costs ratio favorable to naive firms, in which equilibrium loses its stability when naive firms are replaced by rational ones. The results we present are both analytical and simulative.

  6. Listening to firms : how to use firm-level surveys to assess constraints on private sector development

    OpenAIRE

    Stone, Andrew H.W.

    1992-01-01

    Firm-level surveys elicit information important to formulating sound policy advice and designing projects to promote private sector development. Drawing on recent World Bank experience in eight countries, the author advises why and how to implement targeted field surveys by answering the following questions: Why use targeted field surveys? How should surveys be focused and designed? What types of questions work best in surveys? How can surveys be oriented toward their target population? How s...

  7. Impacts of Transitioning from Firm Fixed Price to Fixed Price Incentive Firm Target Contracts in PEO Missiles and Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    this graph, the Defense Index recognized lower operating margins than S&P indices for capital goods, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology , technical...Research Service. https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RS22942.pdf Frick, D. (2013). Risk in fixed-price contracts. Defense AT&L Magazine . November...Joint_Light_Tactical_Vehicle Kendall, F. (2011). Better Buying Power special issue foreword. Defense AT&L Magazine . September-October 2011. Retrieved from http://www.dau.mil

  8. Embedding Knowledge Processes to Maintain Service Levels and Efficiency in a Growing Software Service Firm

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oostdam, M.; Verburg, R.M.; Lobbezoo, M.

    2013-01-01

    Software service firms are challenged to maintain high service levels and to innovate at the same time. Therefore, valuable human resources need often to be balanced between innovation and operations related activities. In this paper we describe how such as a firm deals with these issues by

  9. Austrian Capital Theory and the Link Between Entrepreneurship and the Theory of the Firm

    OpenAIRE

    Foss, Kirsten; Foss, Nicolai J.; Klein, Peter G.; Klein, Sandra K.

    2005-01-01

    Several writers link entrepreneurship to asset ownership, trying to incorporate the theory of entrepreneurship into the theory of the firm. The critical link, we argue, is capital heterogeneity. Transaction cost, property rights, and resourcebased approaches to the firm assume that assets, both tangible and intangible, are heterogeneous; arranging these assets to minimize contractual hazards, to provide efficient investment incentives, or to exploit competitive advantage is ...

  10. 76 FR 57677 - Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Increase the Use of Fixed-Price Incentive...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-16

    ...] RIN 0750-AH15 Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement; Increase the Use of Fixed-Price...-price incentive (firm target) contracts, with particular attention to share lines and ceiling prices... the use of fixed-price incentive (firm target) contracts, especially for acquisitions moving from...

  11. Taking it to another level: do personality-based human capital resources matter to firm performance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, In-Sue; Kim, Seongsu; Van Iddekinge, Chad H

    2015-05-01

    Drawing on the attraction-selection-attrition perspective, strategic human resource management (SHRM) scholarship, and recent human capital research, this study explores organization-level emergence of personality (i.e., personality-based human capital resources) and its direct, interactive, and (conditional) indirect effects on organization-level outcomes based on data from 6,709 managers across 71 firms. Results indicate that organization-level mean emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness are positively related to organization-level managerial job satisfaction and labor productivity but not to financial performance. Furthermore, organization-level mean and variance in emotional stability interact to predict all three organization-level outcomes, and organization-level mean and variance in extraversion interact to predict firm financial performance. Specifically, the positive effects of organization-level mean emotional stability and extraversion are stronger when organization-level variance in these traits is lower. Finally, organization-level mean emotional stability, extraversion, and conscientiousness are all positively related to firm financial performance indirectly via labor productivity, and the indirect effects are more positive when organization-level variance in those personality traits is lower. Overall, the findings suggest that personality-based human capital resources demonstrate tangible effects on organization-level outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed along with study limitations and future research directions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

  12. Dynamic heterogeneity in life histories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tuljapurkar, Shripad; Steiner, Uli; Orzack, Steven Hecht

    2009-01-01

    or no fixed heterogeneity influences this trait. We propose that dynamic heterogeneity provides a 'neutral' model for assessing the possible role of unobserved 'quality' differences between individuals. We discuss fitness for dynamic life histories, and the implications of dynamic heterogeneity...... generate dynamic heterogeneity: life-history differences produced by stochastic stratum dynamics. We characterize dynamic heterogeneity in a range of species across taxa by properties of the Markov chain: the entropy, which describes the extent of heterogeneity, and the subdominant eigenvalue, which...... distributions of lifetime reproductive success. Dynamic heterogeneity contrasts with fixed heterogeneity: unobserved differences that generate variation between life histories. We show by an example that observed distributions of lifetime reproductive success are often consistent with the claim that little...

  13. The Impact of Financial Development on the Relationship between Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Firm Characteristics. A Study on Firm-Level Data from Six MENA Countries

    OpenAIRE

    Jézabel Couppey-Soubeyran; Jérôme Héricourt

    2013-01-01

    Using a database of more than 1,300 firms from six countries in the MENA region, we study the impact of financial development on the relationship between trade credit on the one hand and bank credit access and firm-level characteristics, especially financial health, on the other hand. Trade credit use increases with the difficulty for gaining access to bank credit, and indicators of the quality of the firm's financial structure negatively influence the use of trade credit. Additional investig...

  14. Internationalisation and Innovation Intensities of Polish Manufacturing Firms: A Close Nexus?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomasz Brodzicki

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The paper aims at the empirical identification of the nexus between innovation and internationalisation intensities in a sample of Polish manufacturing companies. Research Design & Methods: Using a unique dataset combining micro-level financial data from InfoCredit and results from an extensive survey we follow the approach of Altomonte, Aquilante, Ottaviano & Bekes (2013. We define innovation and internationalisation intensities and analyse the two dimensions disjointly and then simultaneously use formal econometric tools. Findings: Both dimensions are closely and robustly correlated. There is some evidence for the causality going from innovation to internationalisation. Polish manufacturing companies have in general low innovation and internationalisation intensity. Rising innovation intensity allows companies to become more internationalised and in particular, it raises their probability of exporting. Mean characteristics of firms, such as employment, sales or productivity, change along the two examined dimensions. Implications & Recommendations: Our results firmly support the postulates of the heterogeneous firms’ trade theory. The results strongly support the introduction of a new type of economic policy in which internationalisation promotion and innovation promotion are simultaneously targeted at the level of a firm. Contribution & Value Added: We extensively analyse innovation and internationalisation intensities for manufacturing firms from Poland. Using a logit model we show their impact on the likelihood of exporting. We furthermore apply the classification of exporting firms along temporal and geographical dimensions identifying main features and links to the key dimensions.

  15. Heterogeneous agents and decison making within firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hung, Chung-yu

    2015-01-01

    This dissertation explores the implications of agents’ heterogeneity in decision making within situations where information is not completely contractible. Specifically, the study applies empirical methods across three chapters to examine the role of employees’ traits and their mutual relationships

  16. Effect of International Standards Certification on Firm-Level Exports: An Application of the Control Function Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Tsunehiro Otsuki

    2011-01-01

    Growing number of firms in developing countries have earned certifications such as International Standards Organization (ISO) as it enhances reputation of their company or brand and attract buyers particularly in export market. This study evaluates the effect of international standards certification on firm's export performance in Europe and Central Asia by applying the control function approach with endogenous treatment effect to firm-level data. Certification is found to increase export sha...

  17. The marketing firm and consumer choice: implications of bilateral contingency for levels of analysis in organizational neuroscience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gordon Robert Foxall

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The emergence of a conception of the marketing firm (Foxall, 1999a conceived within behavioral psychology and based on a corresponding model of consumer choice, (Foxall, 1990/2004 permits an assessment of the levels of behavioral and organizational analysis amenable to neuroscientific examination. This paper explores the ways in which the bilateral contingencies that link the marketing firm with its consumerate allow appropriate levels of organizational neuroscientific analysis to be specified. Having described the concept of the marketing firm and the model of consumer behavior on which it is based, the paper analyzes bilateral contingencies at the levels of (i market exchange, (ii emotional reward, and (iii neuroeconomics. Market exchange emerges as a level of analysis that lends itself predominantly to the explanation of firm—consumerate interactions in terms of the super-personal level of reinforcing and punishing contingencies: the marketing firm can be treated as a contextual or operant system in its own right. However, the emotional reward and neuroeconomic levels of analysis should be confined to the personal level of analysis represented by individual managers on the one hand and individual consumers on the other. This also entails a level of abstraction but it is one that can be satisfactorily handled in terms of the concept of bilateral contingency.

  18. The marketing firm and consumer choice: implications of bilateral contingency for levels of analysis in organizational neuroscience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foxall, Gordon R.

    2014-01-01

    The emergence of a conception of the marketing firm (Foxall, 1999a) conceived within behavioral psychology and based on a corresponding model of consumer choice, (Foxall, 1990/2004) permits an assessment of the levels of behavioral and organizational analysis amenable to neuroscientific examination. This paper explores the ways in which the bilateral contingencies that link the marketing firm with its consumerate allow appropriate levels of organizational neuroscientific analysis to be specified. Having described the concept of the marketing firm and the model of consumer behavior on which it is based, the paper analyzes bilateral contingencies at the levels of (i) market exchange, (ii) emotional reward, and (iii) neuroeconomics. Market exchange emerges as a level of analysis that lends itself predominantly to the explanation of firm—consumerate interactions in terms of the super-personal level of reinforcing and punishing contingencies: the marketing firm can be treated as a contextual or operant system in its own right. However, the emotional reward and neuroeconomic levels of analysis should be confined to the personal level of analysis represented by individual managers on the one hand and individual consumers on the other. This also entails a level of abstraction but it is one that can be satisfactorily handled in terms of the concept of bilateral contingency. PMID:25071506

  19. Solidago canadensis invasion affects soil N-fixing bacterial communities in heterogeneous landscapes in urban ecosystems in East China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Congyan; Jiang, Kun; Zhou, Jiawei; Wu, Bingde

    2018-03-12

    Soil nitrogen-fixing bacterial communities (SNB) can increase the level of available soil N via biological N-fixation to facilitate successful invasion of several invasive plant species (IPS). Meanwhile, landscape heterogeneity can greatly enhance regional invasibility and increase the chances of successful invasion of IPS. Thus, it is important to understand the soil micro-ecological mechanisms driving the successful invasion of IPS in heterogeneous landscapes. This study performed cross-site comparisons, via metagenomics, to comprehensively analyze the effects of Solidago canadensis invasion on SNB in heterogeneous landscapes in urban ecosystems. Rhizospheric soil samples of S. canadensis were obtained from nine urban ecosystems [Three replicate quadrats (including uninvaded sites and invaded sites) for each type of urban ecosystem]. S. canadensis invasion did not significantly affect soil physicochemical properties, the taxonomic diversity of plant communities, or the diversity and richness of SNB. However, some SNB taxa (i.e., f_Micromonosporaceae, f_Oscillatoriaceae, and f_Bacillaceae) changed significantly with S. canadensis invasion. Thus, S. canadensis invasion may alter the community structure, rather than the diversity and richness of SNB, to facilitate its invasion process. Of the nine urban ecosystems, the diversity and richness of SNB was highest in farmland wasteland. Accordingly, the community invasibility of farmland wasteland may be higher than that of the other types of urban ecosystem. In brief, landscape heterogeneity, rather than S. canadensis invasion, was the strongest controlling factor for the diversity and richness of SNB. One possible reason may be the differences in soil electrical conductivity and the taxonomic diversity of plant communities in the nine urban ecosystems, which can cause notable shifts in the diversity and richness of SNB. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Do Direct Foreign Investments Increase Efficiency Convergence at Firm Level? The Case of Vietnam, 2000-2011

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Khac Minh

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to assess the extent to which  the effect of FDI on firms’  efficiency and efficiency convergence across industries in Vietnam. Dynamic input output tables are used to construct the linkages between domestic and foreign firms. Stochastic production frontier is used to estimate firms ‘efficiency with a large panel dataset covering manufacturing firms in Vietnam from 2000 to 2011. The analysis shows that, the impact of FDI on domestic firms ‘efficiency score and convergence at firms’ level through the horizontal, backward and supply backward channels are negative and different.

  1. Welfare-Reducing Trade Liberalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Jørgensen, Jan G.

    Recent literature on the workhorse model of intra-industry trade has explored heterogeneous cost structures at the firm level. These approaches have proven to add realism and predictive power. This note shows, however, that this added realism also implies that there may exist a positive bilateral...... tariff that maximizes national and world welfare. Applying one of the simplest specifications possible, namely a symmetric two-country intra-industry trade model with fixed export costs that are heterogeneous across firms, we find that the reciprocal reduction of small tariffs reduces welfare. We explore...

  2. Welfare-Reducing Trade Liberalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp J.H.; Jørgensen, Jan G.

    Recent literature on the workhorse model of intra-industry trade has explored heterogeneous cost structures at the firm level. These approaches have proven to add realism and predictive power. This paper shows, however, that this added realism also implies that there may exist a positive bilateral...... tariff that maximizes national and world welfare. Applying one of the simplest specifications possible, namely a symmetric two-country intra-industry trade model with fixed export costs that are heterogeneous across firms, we find that the reciprocal reduction of small tariffs reduces welfare....

  3. An analytical approach for a nodal formulation of a two-dimensional fixed-source neutron transport problem in heterogeneous medium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Basso Barichello, Liliane; Dias da Cunha, Rudnei [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Inst. de Matematica; Becker Picoloto, Camila [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Engenharia Mecanica; Tres, Anderson [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Matematica Aplicada

    2015-05-15

    A nodal formulation of a fixed-source two-dimensional neutron transport problem, in Cartesian geometry, defined in a heterogeneous medium, is solved by an analytical approach. Explicit expressions, in terms of the spatial variables, are derived for averaged fluxes in each region in which the domain is subdivided. The procedure is an extension of an analytical discrete ordinates method, the ADO method, for the solution of the two-dimensional homogeneous medium case. The scheme is developed from the discrete ordinates version of the two-dimensional transport equation along with the level symmetric quadrature scheme. As usual for nodal schemes, relations between the averaged fluxes and the unknown angular fluxes at the contours are introduced as auxiliary equations. Numerical results are in agreement with results available in the literature.

  4. Structural ambidexterity in NPD processes; A firm-level assessment of the impact of differentiated structures on innovation performance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Visser, Matthias; de Weerd-Nederhof, Petronella C.; Faems, D.L.M.; Song, Michael; Song, Michael; van Looy, Bart; van Looy, Bart; Visscher, Klaasjan

    2010-01-01

    Based on a survey study of 155 U.S. firms, we conducted a firm-level assessment of the impact of different kinds of structures (i.e., functional versus cross-functional) in different kinds of new product development (NPD) processes (i.e., incremental versus radical) on different kinds of firm

  5. The Nexus between Labor Diversity and Firm´s Innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Parrotta, Pierpaolo; Pozzoli, Dario; Pytlikova, Mariola

    technological areas (extensive margin). We find that skill diversity plays a key role in propelling firm's innovation outcomes. The positive in uence of heterogeneity in the ethnic dimension turns to be not negligible, too. Conversely, the effect of demographic diversity typically vanishes once detailed firm......This paper investigates the nexus between labor diversity and innovation in a population of Danish firms. Specifically, exploiting information retrieved from a comprehensive linked employer-employee database and implementing a proper instrumental variable strategy, we are able to identify...

  6. Board Characteristics and Firm Performance: Evidence from Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Athalia Ariati Hidayat

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This research examines the effect of board characteristics (comprising in different sized proportions: family commissioners, family directors, independent commissioners, ex-government officer commissioners, and board of commissioners size to firm performance. Using fixed-effects data panel regression, this research investigates 293 firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange during 2008-2012. Firm performance is proxied by market measure (Tobin’s Q and accounting measure (ROA. The findings of this research suggest that the proportion of family commissioners and family directors have positive impact only to Tobin’s Q value, while the proportion of independent directors can increase both Tobin’s Q and ROA. On the other hand, this research finds that the proportion of ex-government officers in the board gives no impact to firm performance. This research also finds that the board size has U-shaped non-linear relationship with firm performance as proxied by Tobin’s Q and ROA.

  7. Climate policy, asymmetric information and firm survival

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hagem, C.

    2001-02-01

    The purpose of this paper is to compare the effect of different domestic climate policy instruments under asymmetric information when the regulator wants to secure the survival of a specific firm. It is a well-known result from economic theory that emission taxes lead to a cost-effective distribution of abatement across polluters. However, if the regulator wants to ensure the survival of a specific firm, it may need to design policy instruments that reduce the firm's cost of complying with an emission tax regime. The climate policy instruments considered in this paper are tradable emission permits with distribution of free permits, emission taxes in combination with a fixed subsidy, and two types of voluntary agreements. It demonstrates first that if distributing free tradable permits shall have a preventing effect, the allocation of permits has to be made contingent on production. It further shows that a voluntary agreement where a specific abatement target is set by the regulator can prevent a shutdown but leads to lower welfare than the use of emission taxes in combination with a fixed subsidy. And finally it illustrates that a voluntary agreement designed as a menu of abatement contracts increases social welfare compared to an emission tax regime

  8. The Effects of Internationalization on Innovation: Firm-Level Evidence for Transition Economies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martijn Boermans; Hein Roelfsema

    2012-01-01

    It is well-documented that international enterprises are more productive. Only few studies have explored the effect of internationalization on productivity and innovation at the firm-level. Using propensity score matching we analyze the causal effects of internationalization on innovation in 10

  9. Listed Firm's Level of Stakeholder Transparency

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rose, Caspar

    2015-01-01

    This article analyzes how Danish listed firms comply with the Danish Corporate Governance Code's recommendations regarding the categories: Role of shareholders, role of stakeholders and transparency. It is shown that the number of recommendations can be explained by six different underlying facto...

  10. Domestic Multinationals and Foreign-Owned Firms in Italy: Evidence from Quantile Regression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grasseni, Mara

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the performance differences across and within foreign-owned firms and domestic multinationals in Italy. Used for the empirical analysis are non-parametric tests based on the concept of first order stochastic dominance and quantile regression technique. The firm-level analysis distinguishes between foreign-owned firms of different nationalities and domestic MNEs according to the location of their FDI, and it focuses not only on productivity but also on differences in average wages, capital intensity, and financial and non-financial indicators, namely ROS, ROI and debt leverage. Overall, the results provide evidence of remarkable heterogeneity across and within multinationals. In particular, it seems not possible to identify a clear foreign advantage at least in terms of productivity, because foreign-owned firms do not outperform domestic multinationals. Interesting results are obtained when focusing on ROS and ROI, where the profitability gaps change as one moves from the bottom to the top of the conditional distribution. Domestic multinationals investing only in developed countries present higher ROS and ROI compared with the subgroups of foreign-owned firms, but only at the lower quantiles, while at the upper quantiles the advantage seems to favour foreign firms. Finally, in regard to domestic multinationals, there is strong evidence that those active only in less developed countries persistently exhibit the worst performances

  11. Firm-level innovation activity, employee turnover and HRM practices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Tor; Qin, Zhihua; Wang, Wenjing

    2014-01-01

    This paper examines the relationship between employee turnover, HRM practices and innovation in Chinese firms in five high technology sectors. We estimate hurdle negative binomial models for count data on survey data allowing for analyses of the extensive as well as intensive margins of firms' in...

  12. Competitive Advantage of Interconnected Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nell, Phillip Christopher; Andersson, Ulf

    We model the complex interplay between firm-level variables, notably capabilities and performance, and relationship-level variables: relationship-specific assets and network context. We test how the network context of individual exchange relationships as well as firm-level capabilities jointly af...

  13. A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of European and Asian Manufacturing Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meric Gulser

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Comparing the financial characteristics of firms in different countries has been a popular research topic in finance. However, general financial characteristics of European and Asian manufacturing firms have never been compared. In this paper, we undertake such a study with the MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance technique. Our research uses all European and Asian manufacturing firms included in the Research Insight/Global Vintage database at the end of 2015. Our findings may provide valuable insights for financial managers and global investors. We find that Asian firms tend to have less liquidity risk but more bankruptcy risk compared with European firms. European firms have more efficient accounts receivable management and higher fixed and total assets turnover rates. However, Asian firms have higher inventory turnover and sales growth rates. Return on equity is not significantly different in European and Asian firms. However, Asian firms have significantly higher net profit margin and return on assets compared with European firms.

  14. Inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in Colombian electricity utilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galán, Jorge E.; Pollitt, Michael G.

    2014-01-01

    The electricity reform in Colombia has exhibited gains in terms of reliability but its effects on firm efficiency and service quality have not been clear. Previous studies evaluating the performance of distribution companies after the reform have not found evidence of improvements, although large differences in efficiency have been found among firms. This suggests high inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in the Colombian distribution sector. In this paper, we propose an extension of dynamic stochastic frontier models that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in the inefficiency persistence and in the technology. The model incorporates total expenses, service quality and energy losses in an efficiency analysis of Colombian distributors over fifteen years after the reform. We identify the presence of high inefficiency persistence in the sector, and important differences between firms. In particular, rural companies and firms with small customers present low persistence and evidence the largest gains in efficiency during the period. However, increases in efficiency are only manifested during thelast five years when the main improvements in service quality and energy losses are presented. Overall, inefficiency persistence, customer density and consumption density are found to be important criteria to be considered for regulatory purposes. - Highlights: • We evaluate efficiency of Colombian electricity distributors after the reform. • We use a stochastic frontier model with dynamic effects and heterogeneity. • We find high inefficiency persistence but important differences among firms. • High persistent and low efficient firms should draw the attention of the regulator. • Recent regulation in quality has increased not only efficiency but also tariffs

  15. The relationship between strategic type and firm capabilities in Chinese firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benedetto, Di A.C.; Song, X.M.

    2003-01-01

    Proposes that firms of different Miles and Snow strategic types will have different bundles of firm-level capabilities; that is, certain capabilities will be more important to certain strategic types. Specifically, proposes that prospectors have greater relative inside-out capabilities and

  16. Innovation in clean coal technologies. Empirical evidence from firm-level patent data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kruse, Juergen [Koeln Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Economics; Koeln Univ. (Germany). Energiewirtschaftliches Inst.; Wetzel, Heike [Kassel Univ. (Germany). Inst. of Economics

    2016-02-15

    This article empirically analyzes supply-side and demand-side factors expected to a.ect innovation in clean coal technologies. Patent data from 93 national and international patent offices is used to construct new firm-level panel data on 3,648 clean coal innovators over the time period 1978 to 2009. The results indicate that on the supply-side a firm¡¯s history in clean coal patenting and overall propensity to patent positively a.ects clean coal innovation. On the demand-side we find strong evidence that environmental regulation of emissions, that is CO{sub 2}, NO{sub X} and SO{sub 2}, induces innovation in both efficiency improving combustion and after pollution control technologies.

  17. A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of U.S. and European Manufacturing Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meric Gulser

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Comparing the financial characteristics of firms in different countries and regions has been a popular research topic in finance. In this paper, we compare the financial characteristics of U.S. and European manufacturing firms with the MANOVA (Multivariate Analysis of Variance method and financial ratios. Our findings indicate that the overall financial characteristics of U.S. and European manufacturing firms are significantly different. We find that U.S. manufacturing firms are more profitable and they have less liquidity and bankruptcy risks compared with European manufacturing firms. European manufacturing firms are more efficient in managing their fixed assets. However, U.S. manufacturing firms are more efficient in managing their accounts receivable and total assets. U.S. manufacturing firms are able to achieve significantly higher sales and total assets growth rates compared with European manufacturing firms.

  18. The Export Promoting Effect of Emigration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hiller, Sanne

    The theoretical claim that ethnic networks encourage trade has found broad empirical support in the literature on migration, business networks and international trade. Ethnic networks matter for the exporting firm, as they exhibit the potential to lower fixed and variable cost of exporting....... This paper provides a first attempt to identify the export-promoting effect of emigration on the firm level. Using detailed Danish firm-level data, we can parsimoniously control for export determinants other than emigration, unobserved heterogeneity at the firm level, as well as for self-selection of firms...... into exporting. Additionally accounting for taste similarity between Denmark and its trade partners, our findings suggest a positive effect of emigration on Danish manufacturing trade within Europe, thereby corroborating preceding studies on aggregate data. Nevertheless, as a novel insight, our analysis reveals...

  19. Heterogeneity in the Speed of Adjustment toward Target Leverage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elsas, Ralf; Florysiak, David

    2011-01-01

    Estimating the speed of adjustment toward target leverage using the standard partial adjustment model assumes that all firms within the sample adjust at the same (average) pace. Dynamic capital structure theory predicts heterogeneity in adjustment speed due to firm-specific adjustment costs. Appl...

  20. ‘Better late than never’: the interplay between green technology and age for firm growth

    OpenAIRE

    Leoncini, Riccardo; Marzucchi, Alberto; Montresor, Sandro; Rentocchini, Francesco; Rizzo, Ugo

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates the relationship between green/non-green technologies and firm growth. By combining the literature on eco-innovations, industrial organisation and entrepreneurial studies, we examine the dependence of this relationship on the pace at which firms grow and the age of the firm. From a dataset of 5498 manufacturing firms in Italy for the period of 2000–2008, longitudinal fixed effects quantile models are estimated, in which the firm’s age is set to moderate the effects of ...

  1. IMPACT OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM-LEVEL CONTROL VARIABLES ON DIVIDEND POLICY OF SERVICE TRADE SECTOR OF MALAYSIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agha Jahanzeb

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper empirically investigates the impact of corporate governance factors (i.e. board size, board independence and CEO ownership and firm-level control variables (i.e. firm size, firm growth and firm profitability on the dividend payout policy among the service sector companies of Malaysia that are listed on Bursa Malaysia. Ordinary least square model was used to estimate the results. Sample consisted of 113 service sector firms from the period of 2009 to 2013. The results show that the profitable companies with large boards and less growth tend to pay higher dividends. Findings can be interpreted as that the profitable companies are sharing their profits with their shareholders in terms of dividends to give positive message to the market.

  2. INCREASING RETURNS TO SCALE, DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF FIRMS

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Ying FAN; Menghui LI; Zengru DI

    2006-01-01

    A multi-agent model is presented to discuss the market dynamics and the size distribution of firms.The model emphasizes the effects of increasing returns to scale and gives the description of the born and death of adaptive producers. The evolution of market structure and its behavior under the technological shocks are investigated. Its dynamical results are in good agreement with some empirical "stylized facts" of industrial evolution. With the diversity of demand and adaptive growth strategies of firms, the firm size in the generalized model obeys the power-law distribution. Three factors mainly determine the competitive dynamics and the skewed size distributions of firms: 1. Self-reinforcing mechanism; 2. Adaptive firm growing strategies; 3. Demand diversity or widespread heterogeneity in the technological capabilities of firms.

  3. Heterogeneidade de desempenho das pequenas empresas brasileiras: uma abordagem da Visão Baseada em Recursos (VBR Performance heterogeneity of Brazilian small firms: a resource-based view approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Geraldo Alemandro Leite Filho

    2012-12-01

    was suggested that the internal factors (organizational capabilities and skills would exert greater influence than the external factors (strategic positioning and location in the heterogeneity of performance of Brazilian's small firms. Data were collected from a sample of 328 fastest growing Brazilian's small firms in 2010. The main results showed significant differences in performance (Sales growth rate -SGR between the Brazilian's small firms regardless of industry sector, confirming the effect of variation in firm performance. The industry effect was not significant, since the results suggested no significant differences in performance (Sales growth rate -SGR in Brazilian's small firms at the sectoral level. It was also observed that the variance of performance (Sales growth rate -SGR among the sectors where the companies was lower than the variance of performance within the sector where the companies operate. Thus reinforcing the assumption that the internal factors related to the companies individually, able to influence more significant than external factors in the performance heterogeneity. It was concluded that the skills and organizational skills were unevenly distributed among firms, causing various influences on their performance (Sales growth rate -SGR, validating the theoretical foundations of the resource based view.

  4. Manager impartiality? Worker-firm matching and the gender wage gap

    OpenAIRE

    Hensvik, Lena

    2011-01-01

    Using a rich matched employer-employee data set from Sweden, the author examines whether female managers in a firm narrow the gender pay gap. The studyÌs main contribution is its ability to account for unobserved heterogeneity among both workers and firms that is potentially correlated with manager gender. The results show a substantial negative association between the representation of female managers and the establishmentÌs gender wage gap. Estimates that account for sorting on unobserved w...

  5. Does Input Quality Drive Measured Differences in Firm Productivity?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fox, Jeremy T.; Smeets, Valerie Anne Rolande

    2011-01-01

    One explanation for productivity dispersion is that the quality of inputs differs across firms. We add labor market history variables such as experience and firm and industry tenure, as well as general human capital measures such as schooling and sex. Adding these variables decreases the ratio...... of the 90th to 10th productivity quantiles from 3.27 to 2.68 across eight Danish manufacturing and service industries. We also use the wage bill and worker fixed effects. We find that the wage bill explains as much dispersion as human capital measures....

  6. What results when firms implement practices: the differential relationship between specific practices, firm financial performance, customer service, and quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibson, Cristina B; Porath, Christine L; Benson, George S; Lawler, Edward E

    2007-11-01

    Previous research on organizational practices is replete with contradictory evidence regarding their effects. Here, the authors argue that these contradictory findings may have occurred because researchers have often examined complex practice combinations and have failed to investigate a broad variety of firm-level outcomes. Thus, past research may obscure important differential effects of specific practices on specific firm-level outcomes. Extending this research, the authors develop hypotheses about the effects of practices that (a) enable information sharing, (b) set boundaries, and (c) enable teams on 3 different firm-level outcomes: financial performance, customer service, and quality. Relationships are tested in a sample of observations from over 200 Fortune 1000 firms. Results indicate that information-sharing practices were positively related to financial performance 1 year following implementation of the practices, boundary-setting practices were positively related to firm-level customer service, and team-enabling practices were related to firm-level quality. No single set of practices predicted all 3 firm-level outcomes, indicating practice-specific effects. These findings help resolve the theoretical tension in the literature regarding the effects of organizational practices and offer guidance as to how to best target practices to increase specific work-related outcomes. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. (c) 2007 APA

  7. Monopolistic Competition, International Trade and Firm Heterogeneity - a Life Cycle Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Jørgen Drud; Kvedaras, Virmantas; Nielsen, Jørgen Ulff-Møller

    This paper presents a dynamic international trade model based on monopolistic competition, where observed intra-industry differences at a given point in time reflect different stages of the firm's life cycle. New product varieties of still higher quality enter the market every period rendering old...

  8. Electricity reforms and firm level responses: changing ownership, fuel choices, and technology decisions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukla, P.R.; Nag, Tirthankar; Biswas, Debashish

    2005-01-01

    This paper examines how electricity reforms in India managed to influence the responses of generating firms. Indian electricity reforms have federal and state character. This paper utilises an extensive survey of generation units in Gujarat State. The findings suggest that reforms have created heterogeneous ownership of generation units. The fuel-mix and technology choices of new owners differ from pre-reform pattern followed by state-owned utilities. The new owners prefer natural gas, sourced technologies internationally, and chosen unit sizes that follow market dynamics. Consequently, the operational performance of power plants has improved. This paper quantifies energy efficiency and carbon intensity baselines, projects their trends, and delineates the contribution of reforms for the state. In generalisation, this paper argues that energy and cost efficiency of power plants across different states shows secular improvements under the reforms, though it cautions that environmental performance would not show such uniformly improving trends. (Author)

  9. Inter-firm and intra-firm efficiency measures

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Silva, E.; Stefanou, S.

    2001-01-01

    Intra-firm efficiency involves computing a particular firm's efficiency degree over time relative to the firm-specific production frontier. Inter-firm efficiency reveals a particular firm's performance over time relative to the ``best practice frontier'' among the set of comparable firms. These

  10. The danger of fixed drug combinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herxheimer, H

    1975-07-01

    After the second world war a number of pharmaceutical firms which were not able to create new therapeutic substances by their own research, put a great number of fixed drug combinations on the market. Their number quickly increased, as the efficiency of these compounds required no legal proof and as, with appropriate propaganda, large profits could be earned. The number of firms doing this sort of production also increased, and in West Germany, for instance, more than 3/4 of all drugs on the official list are now fixed combinations. Our task is, therefore, to ask for regulations which limit fixed combinations to such preparation the efficiency of which has been shown and whose advantages more than outweigh their disadvantages. The advantages of these preparations are convenience to the patient, avoidance of potential mistakes made possible by too many drugs given on the same day and, perhaps, lower prices. The disadvantages are: 1. The individual optimum dose for a patient cannot be achieved, because in case of a change of dosis all components are changed. 2. Different components may have different duration of action. 3. Different components may have a different bioavailability. 4. Different components may interact. 5. Some components may create tolerance, others not. In many cases fixed combinations have been used to make drugs with poor efficiency financially viable by combining them with very efficient drugs. The existence of thousands of fixed combinations makes the drug market indiscernible and useless. They obscure the relatively few essential drugs and make it difficult for the doctor to find his way amongst the mass of offered medicaments. Few fixed combinations are justifiable. These are well known and they should be permitted as before. All others should be banned until it has been shown that their advantages are greater than their disadvantages.

  11. Wage fixing in the informal economy : evidence from Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Saget, Catherine

    2006-01-01

    Based on data analysis and surveys of firms in four countries, focuses on wage fixing in the informal economy and the role of the minimum wage in informal wage determination. Includes also information on working hours in informal firms.

  12. Revisiting the Complementarity between Education and Training--The Role of Job Tasks and Firm Effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Görlitz, Katja; Tamm, Marcus

    2016-01-01

    This paper addresses the question to what extent the strong positive correlation between education and training can be attributed to differences in individual-, job- and firm-specific characteristics. The novelty of this paper is to analyze previously unconsidered characteristics, in particular, job tasks and firm-fixed effects. The results show…

  13. Determinants of Capital Structure:Evidence from UK Firm Panel Data

    OpenAIRE

    SONG, PING

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates the factors that determine firms’ the capital structures in the UK market. There 139 firms, in total, listed on FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 have been used as the sample set, and a 10-year time scale, from 2004 to 2013, is selected to constitute the panel data. Both firm-specific and macroeconomic determinants are included to be investigated whether they would pose impacts on total, long term and short term debt issuance. The fixed effects regression model is adopted to estim...

  14. Do Less Regulated Markets Attract Lower Quality Firms?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsson, Ulf

    2013-01-01

    The paper examines whether the moderately regulated London AIM market is at a disadvantage in attracting high quality firms. The results show that firms listed on AIM are of the same quality level as firms listed in the US and in Continental Europe, albeit smaller in size. Furthermore, the delist......The paper examines whether the moderately regulated London AIM market is at a disadvantage in attracting high quality firms. The results show that firms listed on AIM are of the same quality level as firms listed in the US and in Continental Europe, albeit smaller in size. Furthermore...... equivalent to firms listing in more regulated markets...

  15. A Critical Review of the Literature on Firm-Level Theories on Ship Investment

    OpenAIRE

    Sinem Celik Girgin; Thanasis Karlis; Hong-Oanh Nguyen

    2018-01-01

    The maritime industry is one of those rare industries that are both highly international integrated to international trade and also highly capital intensive dependent on substantial investment amount. In the literature, ship investments have not been widely examined through the firm-level investment theories to explore the link between investment level and asset price valuation. The general trend in the literature of ship investments is to analyse the relationship among the shipping markets (...

  16. Firm Search for External Knowledge

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sofka, Wolfgang; Grimpe, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    ignored the institutional context that provides or denies access to external knowledge at the country level. Combining institutional and knowledge search theory, we suggest that the market orientation of the institutional environment and the magnitude of institutional change influence when firms begin......The innovation performance of modern firms is increasingly determined by their ability to search and absorb external knowledge. However, after a certain threshold firms "oversearch" their environment and innovation performance declines. In this paper, we argue that prior literature has largely...... to experience the negative performance effects of oversearch. Based on a comprehensive sample of almost 8,000 firms from ten European countries, we find that institutions matter considerably for firms' search activity. Higher market orientation of institutions increases the effectiveness of firms' search...

  17. The Role of Firm Ownership on Internationalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hobdari, Bersant; Gregoric, Aleksandra; Sinani, Evis

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates how different types of owners influence the extent of firm internationalization, measured by the share of firm exports in total sales. The results of the analysis carried out using firm level data of Estonian and Slovenian firms, show that the firms under the control...... in internationalization process. Finally, high market share also leads to increased internationalization through exports as firms seek to expand in foreign markets after having dominated the domestic ones....

  18. Firm Leverage and the Financial Crisis

    OpenAIRE

    Fatih Altunok; Arif Oduncu

    2014-01-01

    The firm growth dynamics is an important topic since the growth performance of firms is the main source of the economic growth in countries. Generally, crises produce a sharp decline in firms’ growth and this leads to a decline in both the level of employment and the income of households. This paper focuses on the role of firm leverage on the growth performance of the firm during the global financial crisis. We investigate whether the firms that experienced a large leverage increase before th...

  19. Cash Holdings and Leverage of German Listed Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rapp, Marc Steffen; Killi, Andreas Maximilian

    2016-01-01

    We examine cash holdings and leverage levels of German listed (non-financial and non-utility) firms. We document a secular increase in cash ratios over the last twenty years (1992–2011), reducing the net debt book leverage ratio for the average sample firm close to zero. Using prediction models...... firms are associated with measures of uncertainty faced by firms. Our results suggest that German firms have increased (reduced) their cash (net debt leverage) levels over time in order to adopt more precautionary financial policies....

  20. Capturing Firms’ Heterogeneity through Marketing and IT Capabilities in SMEs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María A. Ramón-Jerónimo

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available To achieve sustainability, firms capable of surviving economic recessions is of key relevance; the capabilities that firms need to face dynamic environments remain an open question. In this work, a new procedure is proposed to capture firms’ heterogeneity with regard to the capabilities they possess in operating efficiently in dynamic environments. This approach enables the identification of the classes of firms that develop efficiency with a specific integration of resources. While the literature has most often measured firm capabilities using subjective measures, this study suggests the use of Data Envelopment Analysis to capture the ability to transform resources into outcomes and of Latent Class Regression to capture differences across firms that explain firms’ heterogeneity in the way they perform. By combining these two techniques, this work presents a way to identify those firms that need to invest in and develop certain capabilities. This work analyses a large dataset of manufacturing Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs extracted from the Business and Strategy survey provided by Fundación de la Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales( SEPI in Spain. The dataset used enfolds 10,960 observations from 2048 firms during the period 1994–2011. The complete dataset has been employed to calculate manufacturing firms’ efficiency. In a second step, data were cleaned to eliminate outliers, and to identify SMEs and observations with records of IT capabilities. As a result, 329 manufacturing SMEs were analysed to capture their heterogeneity. The results contribute to the current literature by explaining how manufacturing SMEs show a different need in their development of capabilities to be efficient and adapt to environmental changes. While approximately 20% of firms analysed really take advantage of recessions through their investment in R&D, the remaining 80% need to adjust their size or invest in IT capabilities to become competitive

  1. Foreign Currency Borrowing by Small Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Martin Brown; Steven Ongena; Pinar Yesin

    2009-01-01

    We examine the firm- and country-level determinants of the currency denomination of small business loans. We first model the choice of loan currency in a framework which features a trade-off between lower cost of debt and the risk of firm-level distress costs, and also incorporates the impact of information asymmetry between banks and firms. When foreign currency funds come at a lower interest rate, all foreign currency earners as well as those local currency earners with high revenues and lo...

  2. Productivity and Openness: Firm Level Evidence in Brazilian Manufacturing Industries

    OpenAIRE

    Wenjun Liu; Shoji Nishijima

    2012-01-01

    This study investigates the productivity of Brazilian manufacturing industries, particularly addressing the influence of liberalization on productivity. We first calculate total factor productivity (TFP) by estimating the stochastic frontier production function and the inefficiency determination equation simultaneously. Then TFP growth rates are regressed on openness-related variables and other firm characteristics. The results show that firm openness to the world is a crucial determinant of ...

  3. A dynamic model for firm-response to non-credible incentive regulation regimes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agrell, Per J.; Grifell-Tatjé, Emili

    2016-01-01

    Economic network regulation increasingly use quantitative performance models (from econometrics and engineering) to set revenues. In theory, high-powered incentive regulation, such as revenue-caps, induces firms to cost-efficient behavior independent of underlying model. However, anecdotal evidence shows regulated firms occasionally maintaining cost-inefficiency under incentive regulation even under slumping profitability. We present a model for firm-level efficiency under a regime with a probability of failure explaining this phenomenon. The model is based on the hypothesis that the regulatory choice of method can be associated with intrinsic flaws leading to judicial repeal and replacement of it by a low-powered regime. The results show that the cost efficiency policy is proportional to the type of firm (cost of effort), value of time (discount factor) and the credibility of the method (risk of failure). A panel data set for 2000–2006 for 128 electricity distributors in Sweden is used to validate the model predictions (radical productivity slowdown, failing profitability and efficiency) at the launch and demise of a non-credible regulation method. The work highlights the fallacy of viewing incentive regulation as a method-independent instrument, a result applicable in any infrastructure regulation. - Highlights: • Incentive regulation relies on fixed revenue for operators. • In existing theory the efficiency-inducing effect is model-independent. • A dynamic game exposes the firm to a regulation that may fail. • One optimal policy is to pad cost and wait for the failure. • The Swedish DSOs show this policy 2003–2006, when the regime failed.

  4. Diversified boundaries of the firm

    OpenAIRE

    Kimura, Koichiro

    2012-01-01

    We analyze diversification of boundaries of local firms in developing countries under the economic globalization. The globalization has an aspect of homogenization of the world economy, but also has another aspect of diversification through international economic activities. Focusing on boundary-level of the firm, this article shows that the diversification from a comparison with boundaries of foreign firms in developed countries is brought by a disadvantage of technology deficit and a home a...

  5. Monitoring technology and firm boundaries: physician-hospital integration and technology utilization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCullough, Jeffrey S; Snir, Eli M

    2010-05-01

    We study the relationship between physician-hospital integration and its relation to monitoring IT utilization. We develop a theoretical model in which monitoring IT may complement or substitute for integration and test these relationships using a novel data source. Physician labor market heterogeneity identifies the empirical model. We find that monitoring IT utilization is increasing in integration, implying that expanded firm boundaries complement monitoring IT adoption. We argue that the relationship between monitoring IT and firm boundaries depends upon the contractibility of the monitored information.

  6. Explaining the level of credit spreads: Option-implied jump risk premia in a firm value model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cremers, K.J.M.; Driessen, J.; Maenhout, P.

    2008-01-01

    We study whether option-implied jump risk premia can explain the high observed level of credit spreads. We use a structural jump-diffusion firm value model to assess the level of credit spreads generated by option-implied jump risk premia. Prices and returns of equity index and individual options

  7. Is Innovation Destroying Jobs? Firm-Level Evidence from the EU

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariacristina Piva

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Using a unique firm-level database comprising the top European R&D investors over the period 2002–2013 and running LSDVC estimates, this study finds a significant labor-friendly impact of R&D expenditures. However, this positive employment effect appears limited in magnitude and entirely due to the medium- and high-tech sectors, while no effect can be detected in the low-tech industries. From a policy point of view, this outcome supports the EU2020 strategy but—taking into account that most European economies are specialized in low-tech activities—is also worrying in terms of future perspectives of the European labor market.

  8. Dual structures for the sole-proprietorship firm

    OpenAIRE

    Chambers, Robert G.; Quiggin, John

    2003-01-01

    This paper presents a dual representation of firm-level and market-level equilibrium behavior for a sole proprietorship economy with competitive and frictionless financial markets and stochastic production opportunities in a two-period setting. The dual equilibrium model is used to state conditions for the firms' production choices to be independent of their risk preferences in equilibrium. These conditions entail Pareto optimality, but do not require either that the firm's consumption choice...

  9. How does firm performance influence market orientation?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Hans Eibe; Stieglitz, Nils

    This paper contributes by investigating how firm performance influences its market orientation. We draw on the aspiration-level model from the behavioral theory of the firm to develop testable propositions that substantiate and extend prior market orientation research. Specifically, we address how...... performance influences firms' market-oriented search behavior (responsive or proactive) and the allocation of attention (customer and competitor orientation) as well as the formation of aspiration levels. Research and managerial implications are discussed....

  10. Determinants of investment decisions in a crisis: Perspective of Croatian small firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jelena Đurkin

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to determine the investment activity of small firms in Croatia during the crisis year 2012 and further analyse the effect of selected factors on capital investment decisions. For this purpose, an on-line survey of small businesses was conducted. The research sample consisted of small firms in Primorsko-Goranska County that earned the highest revenue in 2011, because it was assumed they would have greater investment potential in 2012. Research results show that almost half of the firms invested in new fixed assets in 2012. Their investment decisions were primarily motivated by mere "survival" purpose, since the investment activities were mostly oriented toward the replacement of worn-out assets.

  11. Firm performance and employment in the EU emissions trading scheme: An empirical assessment for Germany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anger, Niels; Oberndorfer, Ulrich

    2008-01-01

    This paper empirically investigates the role of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for firm performance and employment in Germany. We provide an overview of relative allowance allocation within the EU ETS as well as an econometric analysis for a large sample of German firms covered by the scheme in order to assess the impacts of EU emissions regulation on both firm revenues and employment. The dataset indicates that the EU ETS was in an overall long position in 2005, although allowance allocation was very heterogeneous across member states. Our econometric analysis suggests that, within the first phase of the EU ETS, relative allowance allocation did not have a significant impact on firm performance and employment of regulated German firms

  12. Energy price uncertainty, energy intensity and firm investment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoon, Kyung Hwan; Ratti, Ronald A.

    2011-01-01

    This paper examines the effect of energy price uncertainty on firm-level investment. An error correction model of capital stock adjustment is estimated with data on U.S. manufacturing firms. Higher energy price uncertainty is found to make firms more cautious by reducing the responsiveness of investment to sales growth. The result is robust to consideration of energy intensity by industry. The effect is greater for high growth firms. It must be emphasized that the direct effect of uncertainty is not estimated. Conditional variance of energy price is obtained from a GARCH model. Findings suggest that stability in energy prices would be conducive to greater stability in firm-level investment. (author)

  13. Risks and financing decisions in the energy sector: An empirical investigation using firm-level data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rashid, Abdul

    2013-01-01

    Using a sample of 102 UK energy firms over the period 1981–2009, this paper empirically examines the effects of uncertainty on firms' leverage decisions. The results indicate that both firms-specific and macroeconomic uncertainty have negative, sizeable, and statistically significant impacts on the UK energy sector firms' target leverage. The results also indicate that the profitability of energy firms plays an important role in uncertainty–leverage relationship by changing the (total) effect of uncertainty on leverage. While more profitable firms appear to reduce their leverage by a relatively large amount in response to increased macroeconomic uncertainty, they are less likely to be affected by firm-specific uncertainty. These results suggest that stability in macroeconomic conditions and business activity is important to the stability of the capital structure of firms in the energy sector which would in turn be conducive to stability in their investments and production. - Highlights: • I examine the effect of uncertainty on the UK energy firms' leverage decisions. • Both firm-specific and macroeconomic uncertainty have negative effects on leverage. • Firm profitability plays an important role in uncertainty–leverage relationships. • The total effect of uncertainty on leverage varies with changes in profitability

  14. Job Heterogeneity and Coordination Frictions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kennes, John; le Maire, Daniel

    We develop a new directed search model of a frictional labor market with a continuum of heterogenous workers and firms. We estimate two versions of the model - auction and price posting - using Danish data on wages and productivities. Assuming heterogenous workers with no comparative advantage, we...... the job ladder, how the identification of assortative matching is fundamentally different in directed and undirected search models, how our theory accounts for business cycle facts related to inter-temporal changes in job offer distributions, and how our model could also be used to identify...

  15. Periodontal pathogen levels in adolescents before, during, and after fixed orthodontic appliance therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thornberg, Michelle J; Riolo, Christopher S; Bayirli, Burcu; Riolo, Michael L; Van Tubergen, Elizabeth A; Kulbersh, Richard

    2009-01-01

    This purpose of this study was to document and investigate changes in periodontal pathogen levels before, during, and after orthodontic treatment in adolescents. DNA gene probe analysis was used to quantify the levels of 8 periodontal pathogens before, during, and after treatment with fixed orthodontic appliances in 190 concurrently treated adolescent orthodontic patients. The 8 pathogens examined were Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans (AA), Porphyromonas gingivalis (PG), Prevotella intermedia (PI), Tannerella forsythia (TF), Eikenella corrodens (EC), Fusobacterium nucleatum (FN), Treponema denticola (TD), and Campylobacter rectus (CR). Chi-square tests were used to determine whether the percentages of subjects with high counts significantly changed over time. Logistic regression analyses were also performed to derive the relative risk of higher counts of pathogenic bacteria with fixed appliances at the various time intervals studied. For 6 (PI, TF, EC, FN, TD, CR) of the 8 pathogens, the percentages of subjects with high pathogen counts increased significantly after 6 months of fixed appliance treatment, but these returned to pretreatment levels by 12 months of orthodontic treatment. No pathogen level was significantly higher after 12 months of orthodontic treatment, and orthodontic treatment was found to be significantly protective for half of the pathogens (EC, FN, TD, CR) posttreatment. Orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances does not increase the risk of high levels of these periodontal pathogens.

  16. License and entry strategies for an outside innovator under duopoly with combination of royalty and fixed fee

    OpenAIRE

    Hattori, Masahiko; Tanaka, Yasuhito

    2017-01-01

    We consider a choice of options for an innovating firm to enter the market with or without licensing its new cost-reducing technology to the incumbent firm using a combination of a royalty per output and a fixed license fee, or to license its technology without entry. With general demand and cost functions we show the following results. When the innovating firm licenses its technology to the incumbent firm without entry, the optimal royalty rate per output for the innovating firm is zero with...

  17. Power infrastructure quality and manufacturing productivity in Africa: A firm level analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moyo, Busani

    2013-01-01

    This study sought to examine the impact of the quality of power infrastructure on productivity in African manufacturing firms using data from the World Bank enterprise surveys. We measured power infrastructure quality using the number of hours per day without electricity and the percentage of output lost due to outages and found these indicators to be negative and significant determinants of productivity. These variables seem to be significant determinants in Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia as well as in the food and agriculture sector. To improve economic growth and encourage employment creation, governments in Africa have to come up with measures to improve the reliability of electricity infrastructure. - Highlights: • Power infrastructure quality indicators are found to have a negative and significant effect. • The power quality indicators have varied effects both at country and sector level. • Owning a generator minimises the negative impact of outages in Uganda, Tanzania and Mauritius. • Other controls like labour, capital, foreign ownership etc. have a positive and significant effect. • The firm age variable is insignificant suggesting that accumulated knowledge does not matter

  18. The Multinational Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Morgan, Glenn; Hull Kristensen, Peer; Whitley, Richard

    . These processes occur at a number of levels which are explored in different empirical settings. Firstly, at the level of governance, multinational firms may develop conflicts between investors from different national contexts, for example between the arms-length orientation of Anglo-Saxon institutional investors...

  19. Agility in a small software firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Thomas; Mathiassen, Lars

    2009-01-01

    Small software firms are vulnerable to environmental uncertainty. While agile methods and other technologies offer suggestions to this challenge, we know little about how these firms combine project and firm level capabilities to effectively respond to changes. On this backdrop, we examine a small...... Danish software firm, TeachTech Inc., through the lens of Haeckel's sense-and-respond approach. Our analysis suggests that: the firm has appropriate sense-and-respond cycles, but improving process modularity and human resource flexibility, could increase its ability to respond faster and more effectively......; the firm focuses on specific business goals, but these are not clearly explicated and expressed as empowering governing values enabling a quick and coordinated response; complex and demanding challenges are related to dynamically reassigning commitments and the supporting mechanisms are insufficient...

  20. Antecedents of Business Level Strategies in Nigerian Agro-Based Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ibidunni Ayodotun Stephen

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of antecedent factors on business level strategies of Nigerian agro-based firms. The study made use of survey method over one hundred and ninety-three respondents. Pearson’s correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data obtained. The existing relationship stemming from the results revealed that top management factor, organizational system, and departmental connectivity are important antecedent factors that determine the success or otherwise of strategic orientation dimensions. The study recommends that the calibre of the top management personnel and the internal cohesion between departments should be considered a critical variable in the adoption of particular orientation.

  1. Pilot Comparative Case Study on Eco-innovation Dynamics at firm level

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Yan; Du, Xiangyun; SHAO, Yunfei

    2010-01-01

    This paper pays special attention to eco-innovations dynamics at firm level. Triple helix twins are employed to disclose the complex collaborations within and across the case companies, as it provides us the possibilities of looking beyond the simpler, linear model of innovation and. Grundfos...... and environmental regulations. Dong Fang (China) is identified as a company at the very beginning of eco-innovation, as its compliance with environmental standards such as ISO 9001, ISO14001, OHSAS 18001 is absent at present; its collaborations with government and universities or research institutions...... helix twins and eco-innovation dynamics is addressed....

  2. Drivers of Discretionary Firm Donations in Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Discretionary firm donation is usually related to the stakeholder theory and corporate social performance. Although theoretical explanations for this social behavior are pervasive in related literature, empirical modeling remains underdeveloped. We developed an explanatory structural model of discretionary firm donation using firm and industry level indicators. Unlike previous research, we estimated the explanatory power of the construct we called stakeholder orientation. Our tentative model was tested on a Brazilian sample of 101 publicly traded donor firms, using data on firm donations to social projects and to political candidates in electoral campaigns. The main results suggest that discretionary donation seems to be a strategy for managing conflicting claims in highly stakeholder oriented firms; the characteristics of the firm are more important than industry effects in explaining firm donations; and large firms, showing slack resources, and with a less concentrated ownership structure tend to engage in discretionary donation more intensively.

  3. Within- and Cross-Firm Mobility and Earnings Growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frederiksen, Anders; Halliday, Timothy; Koch, Alexander Karl

    It is widely accepted that promotions within firms and mobility across firms lead to significant earnings progression. Existing research generally examined cross-firm mobility separately from hierarchical advancement. Yet, as our descriptive evidence from Danish panel data shows, how the two type...... growth of promotions (either within or across firms) and subsequent mobility at a higher hierarchy level....

  4. On the importance of forest assets for micro-firm performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katarina Haugen

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Business start-ups are on the increase, a development which is accompanied by hopes that these new firms will generate a potential for, e.g., local and regional development and a strengthening of local labour markets as well as the national economy. However, the long-term performance and viability of new firms are often rather poor. This research aims to analyse the importance of access to assets in the form of forest holdings for the performance of Swedish micro-firms. The analyses are based on official register data and fixed-effects panel regression modelling. A hypothesis is that a firm whose owner also possesses forest holdings is more viable thanks to the different resources (in the form of capital from logging or mortgaging, or non-pecuniary other values the forest holdings may provide, and which possibly contribute to the firm’s economic stability and resilience to economic fluctuations. From a general point of view, we find support for the hypothesis that forest assets positively and significantly influence firm performance in terms of earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT, but not in terms of value added. Access to forest assets is never detrimental to firm performance, although it does not have a significant positive effect in all sub-categories of entrepreneurs based on different combinations of age, gender and firm type. Particularly, the economic performance of private firms run by older men benefits from resources stemming from their forest holdings. No significant effects were found for female entrepreneurs or for limited companies. As regards regional variations, firms located outside the metropolitan regions – as compared to those at the top of the urban hierarchy – are likely to perform better, thus indicating that local development may benefit from resource transfers from the forest sector to micro-firms engaged in non-primary activities.

  5. Shared vision promotes family firm performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neff, John E

    2015-01-01

    A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS), Role Clarity (RCL), Confidence in Management (CON), and Professional Networking (OLN) that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR), the functional integrity of the family itself, exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC) that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

  6. Shared Vision promotes family firm performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Edward Neff

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available A clear picture of the influential drivers of private family firm performance has proven to be an elusive target. The unique characteristics of private family owned firms necessitate a broader, non-financial approach to reveal firm performance drivers. This research study sought to specify and evaluate the themes that distinguish successful family firms from less successful family firms. In addition, this study explored the possibility that these themes collectively form an effective organizational culture that improves longer-term firm performance. At an organizational level of analysis, research findings identified four significant variables: Shared Vision (PNS, Role Clarity (RCL, Confidence in Management (CON, and Professional Networking (OLN that positively impacted family firm financial performance. Shared Vision exhibited the strongest positive influence among the significant factors. In addition, Family Functionality (APGAR, the functional integrity of the family itself exhibited a significant supporting role. Taken together, the variables collectively represent an effective family business culture (EFBC that positively impacted the long-term financial sustainability of family owned firms. The index of effective family business culture also exhibited potential as a predictive non-financial model of family firm performance.

  7. The Role of Technology Spillovers in the Process of Water Pollution Abatement for Large International Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luigi Aldieri

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of technology externalities stemming from different technological sectors for international firms engaged both in water pollution abatement and in dirty activities. We present a theoretical framework and an empirical analysis based upon a dataset composed of worldwide R&D-intensive firms. In order to identify the technological proximity between the firms, we construct an original Mahalanobis environmental industry weight matrix, based on the construction of technological vectors for each firm, with European ecological patents distributed across more technology classes. Opportune econometric techniques that deal with the firms’ unobserved heterogeneity and the weak exogeneity of the explanatory variables are implemented. The findings show significant spillover effects on the productivity and environmental performance of the firms.

  8. Behavior of audit fees in the audit firm or partner changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Antonio Pierri Junior

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to identify if the behavior of audit fees are affected when the partner or audit firm change for the period 2010 to 2013. For this, an empirical model was developed and hypotheses based on the international and national literature about determinants of audit fees and audit firm rotation. The hypothesis of the study sought to observe the discount on the initial year relationship between the audited company and the audit firm, the fees in change of audit partner and the differences in the type of audit firm change, whether big- Four or non-Big Four. In addition to the variables incorporated to the assumptions, the model features eight control variables: total assets, subsidiaries, foreign subsidiaries, general liquidity, big-four, inherent risk, loss and restructuring operations. Data analysis technique used was the regression model with panel data. From the fixed effects model, it was observed that the company's asset size, liquidity and the type of firm that performs the audit contribute to increase the value of the fees paid by the audited companies. It wasn't possible to get significant evidence about discounted value of the audit fees, either in the audit firm or partner changes.

  9. International taxation and multinational firm location decisions

    OpenAIRE

    Barrios Cobos, Salvador; Huizinga, Harry; Laeven, Luc; Nicodème, Gaëtan J.A.

    2008-01-01

    Using a large international firm-level data set, we estimate separate effects of host and parent country taxation on the location decisions of multinational firms. Both types of taxation are estimated to have a negative impact on the location of new foreign subsidiaries. In fact, the impact of parent country taxation is estimated to be relatively large, possibly reflecting its international discriminatory nature. For the cross-section of multinational firms, we find that parent firms tend to ...

  10. Executive Remuneration and the Financial Performance of Quoted Firms: The Nigerian Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sunday OGBEIDE

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examined executive remuneration and firms’ performance in Nigeria. Specifically, the study seeks to ascertain the nexus between executive remuneration, firm size and board size variables and the performance of quoted companies. The population of the study consists of all the quoted firms as at 31st December, 2014. A sample of sixty (60 companies excluding non- financial firms was selected for the period 2013 and 2014. Summary statistics such as descriptive, correlation and granger causality tests were used. Inferential statistics, using panel Generalized Least Square (EGLS with fixed effect was used for the purpose of empirical validations. This was after the application of diagnostic test to enhance the study. The study ascertained that executive remuneration has a relationship with firm performance, but negatively impacted on it; though was not statistically significant. Firm size was ascertained not to have significant positive relationship with firms’ performance; though it has a causality relationship with the performance of the firms. Board size was found to negatively affect the performance of firms and is statistically not significant. Premised on this, the study suggests that executive remuneration of quote firms should be pegged constantly in a flexible manner. This will enable shareholders known the causality relationship between what is paid to the executive and how that influence performance.

  11. Corruption and firm behavior

    OpenAIRE

    Sandra Sequeira; Simeon Djankov

    2013-01-01

    This paper investigates how corruption affects firrm behavior. Firms can engage in two types of corruption when seeking a public service: cost-reducing "collusive" corruption and cost increasing "coercive" corruption. Using an original and unusually rich dataset on bribe payments at ports matched to firrm-level data, we observe how firms respond to each type of corruption by adjusting their shipping and sourcing strategies. "Collusive" corruption is associated with higher usage of the corrupt...

  12. The Location of Japanese MNC Affiliates: Agglomeration, Spillovers and Firm Heterogeneity

    OpenAIRE

    Tomohiko Inui; Toshiyuki Matsuura; Sandra Poncet

    2008-01-01

    We examine the location choices of the foreign affiliates of Japanese manufacturing firms, using a new data set that matches parents to the affiliates they created over the 1995-2003 period. The analysis is based on new economic geography theory, and thus focuses on the effect of market and supplier access, as well as production and trade costs. Our aim is twofold. First, we investigate the importance of agglomeration and spillover effects on firms’ decisions via variables showing the presenc...

  13. Financing patterns around the world : Are small firms different?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beck, T.H.L.; Demirgüc-Kunt, A.; Maksimovic, V.

    2008-01-01

    Using a firm-level survey database covering 48 countries, we investigate how financial and institutional development affects financing of large and small firms. Our database is not limited to large firms, but includes small and medium firms and data on a broad spectrum of financing sources,

  14. Financing patterns around the world: Are small firms different?.

    OpenAIRE

    Beck, T.H.L.; Demirgüc-Kunt, A.; Maksimovic, V.

    2008-01-01

    Using a firm-level survey database covering 48 countries, we investigate how financial and institutional development affects financing of large and small firms. Our database is not limited to large firms but includes small and medium-size firms and data on a broad spectrum of financing sources, including leasing, supplier, development, and informal finance. Small firms and firms in countries with poor institutions use less external finance, especially bank finance. Protection of property righ...

  15. Identifying Heterogeneities in Subsurface Environment using the Level Set Method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lei, Hongzhuan [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Lu, Zhiming [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Vesselinov, Velimir Valentinov [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-08-25

    These are slides from a presentation on identifying heterogeneities in subsurface environment using the level set method. The slides start with the motivation, then explain Level Set Method (LSM), the algorithms, some examples are given, and finally future work is explained.

  16. Sources of inter-firm heterogeneity in accessing knowledge-creation benefits within technology clusters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arikan, A.; Knoben, J.

    2014-01-01

    We build on recent literature to highlight the distinction between knowledge-diffusion and knowledge-creation benefits of technology clustering and argue that firms located in technology clusters will have differential access to the latter. To explain the antecedents of such differential access, we

  17. Firm-level perspectives on State-Business Relations in Africa

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Charles, Goodluck; Jeppesen, Søren; Kamau, Paul

    2017-01-01

    interviews with 41 firms, 20 key informants and a range of secondary sources on the food-processing sectors of Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The article shows that businesses in these countries have limited policy influence, find policies and programmes to be inadequate when targeting the needs......Experiences from developed and emerging economies inform us that close state–business relations (SBRs) are crucial for economic development and structural transformation. Based on the positive experiences from other parts of the world, most African governments have begun processes to establish...... collaborative SBRs. Amongst other initiatives, these processes include amendments to existing laws to facilitate public–private interaction, direct support to existing business associations (BAs). This article draws on an analysis of survey data from 210 local firms, complemented with qualitative data from...

  18. INNOVATION ANALYSIS BASED ON SCORES AT THE FIRM LEVEL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cătălin George ALEXE

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Innovation analysis based on scores (Innovation Scorecard is a simple way to get a quick diagnosis on the potential of innovation of a firm in its intention to achieve the innovation capability. It aims to identify and remedy the deficient aspects related to innovation management being used as a measuring tool for the innovation initiatives over time within the innovation audit. The paper aims to present the advantages and disadvantages of using the method, and the three approaches developed over time. Therefore, the model proposed by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little in collaboration with the European Business School, Eckelmann's model and AGGB's local model are summarized and compared. At the end of the paper, several possible solutions are proposed to improve the way of analysis based on scores.

  19. Determinants of the capital structure of Portuguese firms with investments in Angola

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge H.F. Mota

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Background: This article seeks to complement the previous literature and clarify the particularities of the capital structure policy of firms with foreign direct investment in Angola. Aim: This article seeks to identify the determinants of the capital structure of Portuguese firms with direct investment in Angola and to understand whether the determinants normally considered by standard finance theory are in line with those used by firms when structuring their capital structure policy to participate in the specific market of Angola. Setting: This article examines 26 large Portuguese firms with investments in Angola using econometric panel data for the period 2006–2010. Methods: The study applied fixed and random effects methods and panel-corrected standard errors that maintain efficiency and unbiased behaviour even in the presence of panel-level heteroscedasticity and contemporaneous correlation of observations among panels. Results: The results provide evidence that the determinants normally considered by standard finance theory are in fact – in terms of sign and coefficient dimension – those used by firms for structuring their capital structure policy when involved in the internationalisation process of entering Angola. Specifically, age, asset structure, return on assets and tangibility have a positive influence on the capital structure of Portuguese firms that have invested in Angola, while non-debt tax shields and liquidity have a negative influence on these companies’ leverage ratios. When comparing our results with studies that have analysed the capital structure determinants of listed Portuguese firmsfirms belonging to the PSI 20 Index and large firms in the Portuguese corporate sector – we found similarities in the sign and coefficient dimension of the determinants of capital structure. However, the profitability coefficient sign is in line with the trade-off framework (i.e. profitability is positively related to debt but

  20. Executive compensation and firm performance: Evidence from Indian firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehul Raithatha

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The study examines the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance among Indian firms. The evidence suggests that firm performance measured by accounting, as well as market-based measures, significantly affects executive compensation. We also test for the presence of persistence in executive compensation by employing the system-generalised methods of moments (GMM estimator. We find significant persistence in executive compensation among the sample firms. Further, we report the absence of pay–performance relationship among the smaller sample firms and business group affiliated firms. Thus, our findings cast doubts over the performance-based executive compensation practices of Indian business group affiliated firms.

  1. Measuring the Return on Information Technology: A Knowledge-Based Approach for Revenue Allocation at the Process and Firm Level

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Pavlou, Paul A; Housel, Thomas J; Rodgers, Waymond; Jansen, Erik

    2005-01-01

    ...., firm or process level). To address this issue, the study aims to develop a method for allocating the revenue and cost of IT initiatives at any level of analysis using a common unit of measurement...

  2. Exports and Innovation in Emerging Economies : Firm-Level Evidence from South-Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vannoorenberghe, Gonzague

    2015-01-01

    Using a new dataset on the innovation and exports of 500 South African firms, this paper asks whether exports affect rm innovation in the context of an emerging economy. We use a range of particularly attractive features of the dataset. Firms not only report whether they innovated but describe their

  3. Implementing the EU's Directive on Fixed-term Contracts at Company Level

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Trine Pernille

    This article examines the effects and influences of the EU's directive on fixed-term contracts in the Danish local government sector. The study is based on interviews with 259 workplaces, central management and trade union representatives from 14 randomly selected Danish municipalities. The article...... argues that although social partners at local level have transposed the directive, its actual effects are limited, as employers' recruitment strategies and fixed-term workers' working conditions have changed relatively little as a result of the directive. The success of implementing the directive largely...

  4. Human Capital and Wages in Exporting Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Jakob Roland; Skaksen, Jan Rose

    This paper studies the link between a firms education level, export performance and wages of its workers. We argue that firms may escape intense competition in international markets by using high skilled workers to differentiate their products. This story is consistent with our empirical results....... Using a very rich matched worker-firm longitudinal dataset we find that firms with high export intensities pay higher wages. However, an interaction term between export intensity and skill intensity has a positive impact on wages and it absorbs the direct effect of the export intensity. That is, we find...... an export wage premium, but it accrues to workers in firms with high skill intensities...

  5. A Quantal Response Statistical Equilibrium Model of Induced Technical Change in an Interactive Factor Market: Firm-Level Evidence in the EU Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jangho Yang

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper studies the pattern of technical change at the firm level by applying and extending the Quantal Response Statistical Equilibrium model (QRSE. The model assumes that a large number of cost minimizing firms decide whether to adopt a new technology based on the potential rate of cost reduction. The firm in the model is assumed to have a limited capacity to process market signals so there is a positive degree of uncertainty in adopting a new technology. The adoption decision by the firm, in turn, makes an impact on the whole market through changes in the factor-price ratio. The equilibrium distribution of the model is a unimodal probability distribution with four parameters, which is qualitatively different from the Walrasian notion of equilibrium in so far as the state of equilibrium is not a single state but a probability distribution of multiple states. This paper applies Bayesian inference to estimate the unknown parameters of the model using the firm-level data of seven advanced OECD countries over eight years and shows that the mentioned equilibrium distribution from the model can satisfactorily recover the observed pattern of technical change.

  6. International taxation and multinational firm decisions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Barrios, S.; Huizinga, H.P.; Laeven, L.; Nicodeme, G.

    2012-01-01

    Using a large international firm-level data set, we examine the separate effects of host and additional parent country taxation on the location decisions of multinational firms. Both types of taxation are estimated to have a negative impact on the location of new foreign subsidiaries. The impact of

  7. The relationship between human resource investments and organizational performance: a firm-level examination of equilibrium theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Subramony, Mahesh; Krause, Nicole; Norton, Jacqueline; Burns, Gary N

    2008-07-01

    It is commonly believed that human resource investments can yield positive performance-related outcomes for organizations. Utilizing the theory of organizational equilibrium (H. A. Simon, D. W. Smithburg, & V. A. Thompson, 1950; J. G. March & H. A. Simon, 1958), the authors proposed that organizational inducements in the form of competitive pay will lead to 2 firm-level performance outcomes--labor productivity and customer satisfaction--and that financially successful organizations would be more likely to provide these inducements to their employees. To test their hypotheses, the authors gathered employee-survey and objective performance data from a sample of 126 large publicly traded U.S. organizations over a period of 3 years. Results indicated that (a) firm-level financial performance (net income) predicted employees' shared perceptions of competitive pay, (b) shared pay perceptions predicted future labor productivity, and (c) the relationship between shared pay perceptions and customer satisfaction was fully mediated by employee morale.

  8. Human Capital and Wages in Exporting Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Jakob Roland; Skaksen, Jan Rose

    2006-01-01

    This paper studies the link between a firms education level, export performance and wages of its workers. We argue that firms may escape intence competition in international markets by using high skilled workers to differentiate their products. This story is consistent with our empirical results....... Osing a very rich matched worker-firm longitudinal dataset we find that firms with high export intensities pay higher wages. However, an interaction term between export intensity and skill intensity has a positive impact on wages and it absorbs the direct effect of the export intensity. That is, we find...... an export wage premium, but it accrues to workers in firms with high skill intensities.Keywords: Exports, Wages, Human Capital, Rent Sharing, Matched Worker-Firm DataJEL Classification: J30, F10, I20...

  9. CAPITAL STRUCTURE, COST OF DEBT AND DIVIDEND PAYOUT OF FIRMS IN NEW YORK AND SHANGHAI STOCK EXCHANGES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Jiang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The Study collects panel data of listed firms in New York Stock and Shanghai Stock Exchanges during 1992 to 2008. The data are used to perform panel regression estimates for firms in each stock market. The main purpose is to compare the decision on dividend payout of listed firms in the two stock markets. The results from fixed effect estimates show that factors that can explain dividend payout of firms in New York Stock Exchange poorly explain dividend payout of firms in Shanghai Stock Exchange. This paper adds to the literature in that it provides an evidence of difference in dividend policy of firms between advanced and emerging stock markets. For policymakers in the Chinese economy, implementation of measures to enhance the advancement of bond market is necessary. Additionally, firms in Shanghai Stock Exchange should adjust their capital structure to provide room for investors to diversify and adjust their portfolios of stocks and bonds.

  10. Free Trade Agreements and Firm-Product Markups in Chilean Manufacturing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lamorgese, A.R.; Linarello, A.; Warzynski, Frederic Michel Patrick

    In this paper, we use detailed information about firms' product portfolio to study how trade liberalization affects prices, markups and productivity. We document these effects using firm product level data in Chilean manufacturing following two major trade agreements with the EU and the US....... The dataset provides information about the value and quantity of each good produced by the firm, as well as the amount of exports. One additional and unique characteristic of our dataset is that it provides a firm-product level measure of the unit average cost. We use this information to compute a firm...

  11. The Impact of Hedge Fund Activism on Target Firm Performance, Executive Compensation and Executive Wealth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew Carrothers

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the relationship between hedge fund activism and target firm performance, executive compensation, and executive wealth. It introduces a theoretical framework that describes the activism process as a sequence of discrete decisions. The methodology uses regression analysis on a matched sample based on firm size, industry, and market-to-book ratio. All regressions control for industry and year fixed effects. Schedule 13D Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC filings are the source for the statistical sample of hedge fund target firms. I supplement that data with target firm financial, operating, and share price information from the CRSP-COMPUSTAT merged database. Activist hedge funds target undervalued or underperforming firms with high profitability and cash flows. They do not avoid firms with powerful CEOs. Leverage, executive compensation, pay for performance and CEO turnover increase at target firms after the arrival of the activist hedge fund. Target firm executives’ wealth is more sensitive to changes in share price after hedge fund activism events suggesting that the executive team experiences changes to their compensation structure that provides incentive to take action to improve returns to shareholders. The top executives reap rewards for increasing firm value but not for increased risk taking.

  12. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FIRM VALUE IN EMERGING MARKETS AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ADR ISSUING EMERGING MARKET FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aysun Ficici

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the value implications of good corporate governance for a sample of 54 ADR issuing emerging market firms (EMFs from 9 countries primarily located in the regions of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America and the and employs recently constructed company composite corporate governance metric along with some alternative corporate governance measures associated with the origin of the issuing firm. Although the ADR literature primarily focuses on the impact of subscription to US disclosure requirements we contend that company and country specific corporate governance standards play a significant role in the risk reduction and ensuing value capture.  The fundamental inquiry in this study has the following foci: The primary focus is on the impact of corporate governance structures on firm performance as to whether adherence to standards creates market value for ADR issuing EMFs.  Do good corporate governance practices affect the value of EMFs? The secondary focus is concerned with whether the impact of corruption level and legal system in a firm’s home country affect the corporate structures of EMFs thus affecting the market value of firms.  In this study, we utilize Tobin’s q as the measure of firm performance/market value.  Our findings suggest that there is a significant correlation between corporate governance structures of ADR issuing EMFs and their market values and/or performances.  The results also indicate that the level of corruption and legal structures in home countries of EMFs strongly impact the corporate governance structures of these firms and sequentially affect their market values. Therefore, this research further contributes to the scholarly findings and suppositions that corporate structures of firms do create consequences on firm value.

  13. Hard and soft locational factors, innovativeness and firm performance: an empirical test of Porter's Diamond model at the micro-level

    OpenAIRE

    Eickelpasch, Alexander; Lejpras, Anna; Stephan, Andreas

    2007-01-01

    This paper investigates predictions of Porter's Diamond model regarding the impact of locational factors on innovativeness and performance at the firm level. We formulate a structural equation model based on the relationships between locational conditions, e.g., transportation infrastructure, proximity to universities and research institutes, qualified labour, on the one hand, and innovativeness measured by new product or process development, number of patents, and firm performance in terms o...

  14. Firm Strategies and Business Models in the Software Industry: A Configurational Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Pussep, Anton

    2017-01-01

    Researchers have long focused on the determinants of firm success, which is of crucial interest to practitioners as well, since being successful is at the very heart of economic activity. Extant research emphasizes three levels of analysis at which determinants occur: firm, industry, and group level. Each level has been found to affect firm success. At group level, firms choose between a limited set of competitive approaches. The resulting groups are referred to as configurations. The a...

  15. Firm Segmentation as a Tool for R&D Policy Evaluation: Revisiting the Taxonomy of Firms Engaged in International R&D Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Brandao Fischer

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available As we have addressed in an earlier article, quantitative evaluation of R&D policies often approaches the outcomes of initiatives without effectively considering differential impacts on economic agents. Our goal is to confirm the existence of “segments” of firms according to their outcomes arising from participation in a given R&D program. Data is gathered from Eureka Program’s Final Reports (2000-2005 and 2006-2008 from Spanish, Italian, French, British, and German firms. Classification focus is directed towards variables related to innovation projects’ outcomes. Log-likelihood clustering method was used. Tests for differences between clusters in terms of some variables of interest were performed. Results are consistent with the hypothesis of marked heterogeneity in firms’ outcomes. This methodology offers a valuable instrument for RTD policymakers in terms of monitoring and ex post intervention.

  16. THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION FOR LARGE CHINESE FIRMS

    OpenAIRE

    Peter Nolan; Jin Zhang

    2002-01-01

    As China joins the World Trade Organization, the author questions whether China’s large firms will be able to compete on the global level playing field. Over the past two decades, Chinese large enterprises have undertaken extensive evolutionary change but, at the same time, the world’s leading firms have undergone a revolutionary transformation. Based on analysis of firms with the aerospace, oil and petrochemical industry, the authors conclude that China’s leading firms face critical challeng...

  17. International working capital practices of Ghanaian firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Abor

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available International working capital management is important to firms frequently operating in the international market. This article investigates the international working capital practices of top Ghanaian firms involved in international trade. The objective of the study is to ascertain the extent to which Ghanaian firms use international working capital management vehicles. The article focuses on two main areas of international working capital management; international cash management and international sales and accounts receivables management. The results of this study reveal low level of use of international working capital vehicles among Ghanaian firms. Recommendations are made in this regard.

  18. LEADERSHIP IMPACT ON A RENOWNED FIRM IN CARAS-SEVERIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANDREȘ SOLOMIA

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The paper presents theoretical and practical contributions regarding the study theme chosen, after understanding that at the level of present modern organizations and of great companies, leadership became more important than any management instrument or technique, thus imposing the association of management to leadership in order to stimulate firms, the management of great changes and complex problems generated by this situation. Contributions are based on specific research method, on observation and analysis of financial indicators and of some non-financial indicators, relevant for the firm analyzed and which lead to realist and pertinent conclusions and to future research themes. As a general conclusion one can underline that many theoretical and practical aspects from this domain were also found in the leadership and management practices at the level of the firm analyzed. Thus the practice of the firm confirms scientific approaches and concepts and a scientific based leadership generates the maintaining of high performances at a global level for the firm analyzed

  19. Asset Structure Impact on Capital Structure of Capital Market-Listed Firms in Indonesia and Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zainal Abidin Sahabuddin

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Debt was able to be used by firm as source of funds for investment-related activities,especially when the amount of retained earnings was not sufficient to cover the amount of investment needed. Naturally, the use of debt definitely caused the agency conflict between firm shareholders and debt holders. To reduce this conflict, the existence of fixed assets as collateral was needed when firm decided to borrow money from debt holders.The purpose of this study was to prove the agency theory perspective by testing an impact of asset structure on capital structure of firms. The population of this study was the firms listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange and Malaysian Stock Exchange. The firms as sample were taken from the population by conducting stratified random sampling method. The pooled data regression model was used as the data analysis method. This result of this study showed that asset structure had the positive impact on capital structure. It meant the causal relationship between asset structure and capital structure happened and was supported by the agency theory perspective.

  20. Persistence Heterogeneity Testing in Panels with Interactive Fixed Effects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ergemen, Yunus Emre; Velasco, Carlos

    We consider large N,T panel data models with fixed effects, a common factor allowing for cross-section dependence, and persistent data and shocks, which are assumed fractionally integrated. In a basic setup, the main interest is on the fractional parameter of the idiosyncratic component, which...

  1. Choice of Ownership Structure and Firm Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jones, Derek C; Kalmi, Panu; Mygind, Niels

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we use rich panel data for a representative sample of Estonian enterprises to analysediverse issues related to the determinants of ownership structures and ownership changes afterprivatisation. A key focus is to determine whether ownership changes are related to economicefficiency....... While employee owned firms are found to be much more prone than other firms toswitch ownership categories, often `employee owned' firms remain `insider-owned' as ownershippasses from current employees to managers and former employees. Logit analyses of thedeterminants of ownership structures...... and ownership changes provides mixed support for severalhypotheses. As predicted: (i) wealth and resource constraints play a crucial role in thedetermination of ownership, with foreigners buying firms with the highest equity levels andinsiders buying firms with the lowest equity valuations; (ii) risk aversion...

  2. Do Peer Firms Affect Firm Corporate Social Responsibility?

    OpenAIRE

    Shenggang Yang; Heng Ye; Qi Zhu

    2017-01-01

    Peer-firm strategies are a critical factor for corporate finance, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the main trend for evaluating the behavior of firms. On the basis of the connection between peer strategy and CSR, this paper explores the CSR strategies employed by a sample of Chinese firms during the 2008–2015 period. Our two main empirical findings are as follows. First, the CSR strategies of firms have a positive effect on their CSR behavior. Second, when there is the CSR gap be...

  3. An empirical study of Malaysian firms' capital structure

    OpenAIRE

    Zain, Sharifah Raihan Syed Mohd

    2003-01-01

    Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/821 on 27.03.2017 by CS (TIS) It is sometimes purported that one of the factors affecting a firm's value is its capital structure. The event of the 1997 Asian financial crisis was expected to affect the firms' gearing level as the firms' earnings deteriorated and the capital market collapsed. The main objective of this research is to examine empirically the determinants of the capital structure of Malaysian firms. The main additional aim is ...

  4. Source of finance, growth and firm size: Evidence from China

    OpenAIRE

    Du, Jun; Girma, Sourafel

    2009-01-01

    Using a comprehensive firm-level dataset spanning the period 1998-2005, this paper provides a thorough investigation of the relationship between firm size, total factor productivity growth and financial structure in China, controlling for the endogeneity of the latter. Generally, it finds financing source matters for firms of different size, and the extent to which financing source matters for firm growth is greater for small firms than big firms. Self-raised finance appears to be most effect...

  5. Regulation and the Ownership Structure of European Listed Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rapp, Marc Steffen; Trinchera, Oliver

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we explore an extensive panel data set covering more than 4,000 listed firms in 16 European countries to study the effects of shareholder protection on ownership structure and firm performance. We document a negative firm-level correlation between shareholder protection and ownersh...

  6. Coevolution of Firm Capabilities and Industry Competition

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.W. Huygens (Marc); C.W.F. Baden-Fuller (Charles); F.A.J. van den Bosch (Frans); H.W. Volberda (Henk)

    2001-01-01

    textabstractThis paper proposes that rival firms not only search for new capabilities within their organization, but also for those that rest in their competitive environment. An integrated analysis of these search processes at both firm and industry levels of analysis shows how their interaction

  7. Multiple levels in the organisation of innovation : project organization in single-firm projects and multi-firm projects

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jaspers, F.P.H.; Ende, van den J.C.M.; Borgh, van der W.; Yin, Jie

    2008-01-01

    Studies about how the organization of new product (and new service) development projects (NPD) projects influences project performance typically investigate this in Single-firm projects, i.e. projects with high ownership integration. However, NPD projects are often performed by two or more

  8. Currency Denomination of Bank Loans : Evidence from Small Firms in Transition Countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brown, M.; Ongena, S.; Yesin, P.

    2008-01-01

    We examine the firm-level and country-level determinants of the currency denomination of small business loans. We introduce an information asymmetry between banks and firms in a model that also features the trade-off between the cost of debt and firm-level distress costs. Banks in our model don’t

  9. Within- and cross-firm mobility and earnings growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frederiksen, Anders; Halliday, Timothy; Koch, Alexander

    , we show that cross-firm moves at the non-executive level provide sizeable short-run gains (similar to the effect of a promotion), consistent with the existing literature. These gains, however, appear modest when compared with the persistent impact on earnings growth of promotions (either within...... or across firms) and subsequent mobility at a higher hierarchy level....

  10. Performance measurement systems, TQM, and multi-level firm performance: a person-organisation fit perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Wei, Jo-Ting; Chang, Yeun Wen; Zhang, Xiaoxiang; Wu, Hsin-Hung

    2017-01-01

    For firms implementing TQM, there is a need to redesign performance measurement systems (PMS). Innovated PMS ought to have measurement diversity in their structure with considering the spirit of TQM and emphasize the congruence of goals between employees and firms by adding the viewpoint of person-organisation fit (P-O fit). This paper adopts structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine Taiwanese manufacturing firms to study the association between the P-O fit of PMS and the implementation o...

  11. The Impact Of Country-Level vs Firm-Level Factors On The Effectiveness Of IFRS Adoption: The Case Of European Union

    OpenAIRE

    Kanogporn Narktabtee; Suntaree Patpanichchot

    2011-01-01

    The mandatory adoption of IFRS has been encouraged worldwide, with the objective to enhance the quality of accounting information. However, this effort is challenged by the argument that several factors affecting financial reporting incentives still vary across countries. Also, Gaio (2010) indicates that firm-level factors also have significant explanatory power on earning quality. Therefore, it is doubtful whether the mandatory adoption of IFRS can always lead to better quality of accounting...

  12. Technology diversification, coherence, and performance of firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leten, B.; Belderbos, R.A.; Looy, van B.

    2007-01-01

    Technological diversification at the firm level (i.e., the expansion of a firm's technology base into a wide range of technology fields) is found to be a prevailing phenomenon in all three major industrialized regions,—the United States, Europe, and Japan—prompting the term multitechnology

  13. The system of firm support grants in Estonia: whom does it favor? Summary: Ettevõtlustoetused Eestis: millist ettevõtet need soosivad?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maksim Mõttus

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available After joining the European Union, remarkable support has been provided to Estonian firms through government grants financed from EU funds, but so far it has not been systematically studied, which firms can get support from them. Current study analyzes all grants for firms financed from EU funds in Estonia in the period of 2007-2013. The paper outlines most supported firms based on activities financed and restrictions set on firms and application. The results indicate that some limitations make only a narrow range of firms eligible to get financial support. The grant measures in different implementing units providing grants vary a lot. Also, grants directed to fixed asset investments have more restrictions when compared with those directed to reimbursement of costs.

  14. Does Government Support for Private Innovation Matter? Firm-Level Evidence from Turkey and Poland

    OpenAIRE

    Wojciech Grabowski; Teoman Pamukcu; Krzysztof Szczygielski; Sinan Tandogan

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the project is to analyze government support for innovation in a comparative perspective by first examining the main existing instruments of financial support for innovation in Turkey and Poland, and secondly to assess their effectiveness by applying recent econometric techniques to firm-level data for both countries obtained from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS). Comparing Turkey to Poland is both meaningful and promising from a policy-analysis point of view. Both countries a...

  15. Multinational Firms and The New Trade Theory

    OpenAIRE

    James R. Markusen; Anthony J. Venables

    1995-01-01

    A model is constructed in which multinational firms may arise endogenously. Multinationals exist in equilibrium when transport and tariff costs are high, incomes are high, and firm-level scale economies are important relative to plant-level scale economies. Less obvious, multinationals are more important in total economic activity when countries are more similar in incomes, relative factor endowments, and technologies. The model may thus be useful in explaining several stylized facts, includi...

  16. Dynamic Embeddedness in Chinese Firm Internationalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lattemann, Christoph; Alon, Ilan; Spigarelli, Francesca

    2017-01-01

    the resource-based view (firm-specific advantages), institutional-based view (push/pull home and host country factors), and network-based view (network relations). We also explicitly incorporate ”time” as a variable into our framework by introducing and explaining the concept of “dynamic embeddedness......This paper presents a multi-level framework to analyze the motivations and location choices of Chinese OFDIs. We contribute to theory-integration on Chinese OFDI flows and patterns by suggesting a framework that combines country-, industry- and firm-level analyses and by reflecting aspects from...

  17. The Heterogeneity of Job Creation and Destruction in Transition and Non-transition Developing Countries: The Effects of Firm Size, Age and Ownership

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haggai Kennedy Ochieng

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates how firm age, size and ownership are related with job creation and destruction, and how these patterns differ across transition and non-transition economies. The analysis finds that age is inversely related with gross job creation and net job creation in the two samples. This finding is consistent with the theory of the learning effect. The relationship between age and job destruction is indifferent in non-transition economies. On the contrary, old firms in transition economies destroy more jobs than young ones. The paper further establishes an inverse relationship between size and gross job creation in the two groups. However, there is divergence between the two samples; small firms in non-transition economies also exhibit a higher gross job destruction rate. Consequently large firms have a higher net job creation rate. In transition economies, small and large firms exhibit similar rates of job destruction. But small firms retain a higher net job creation rate. A more intriguing finding is that state owned firms do not underperform domestic private ones. This means these countries may be using soft budget constraint which allows state owned firms to overstaff. Finally, crowding out of SMEs by foreign owned firms is not evident in transition economies.

  18. Consumer Networks and Firm Reputation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Huck, Steffen; Lünser, Gabriele K.; Tyran, Jean-Robert

    Arguing that consumers are the carriers of firms' reputations, we examine the role of consumer networks for trust in markets that suffer from moral hazard. When consumers are embedded in a network, they can exchange information with their neighbours about their private experiences with different ...... sellers. We find that such information exchange fosters firms' incentives for reputation building and, thus, enhances trust and efficiency in markets. This efficiency-enhancing effect is already achieved with a rather low level of network density......Arguing that consumers are the carriers of firms' reputations, we examine the role of consumer networks for trust in markets that suffer from moral hazard. When consumers are embedded in a network, they can exchange information with their neighbours about their private experiences with different...

  19. Masking functions and fixed-signal functions for low-level 1000-Hz tones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepherd, Daniel; Hautus, Michael J; Jesteadt, Walt

    2013-06-01

    Masking functions and fixed-signal functions were constructed using a narrow range of pedestal intensities for 10-ms, 1000-Hz gated tones. Data from three experiments agreed with previously reported data, clearly demonstrating negative masking and the pedestal effect. The data extend earlier findings by showing (1) the resilience of the pedestal effect when a background noise masker is introduced; (2) a possible indifference of the fixed-signal function to stimulus duration; (3) the ability of a set of psychometric functions to produce both masking and fixed-signal functions; (4) depending on method, the impact of unit choice on the interpretation of both the pedestal effect and negative masking data. Results are discussed in relation to current psychophysical models, and suggest that accounting for the auditory system's sensitivity to differences in low-level sounds remains a challenge.

  20. Why do firms engage in forward-looking search?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jissink, Tymen; Rohrbeck, René; Huizingh, Eelko K.R.E.

    firms with a low level of slack resources engage to a much lower extent into forward-looking search, if they operate in high-competitive-intensity environments. Our findings not only carry important implications for predicting a firm’s engagement in forward-looking search, but also potentially...... performed below aspirations are less likely to engage in forward-looking search, suggesting that forward-looking search is not a form of problemistic search. In contrast, firms that have abundant uncommitted (slack) resources as well as firms expecting to outperform in the near future are engaging more...... into forward-looking search. We also find interaction effect between performance feedback and environmental characteristics. Interestingly firms with a high level of slack resources are only surpassing their less rich peers in forward-looking search, if they are in technologically turbulent environments. Also...

  1. Firm-Level Productivity and Management Influence: A Comparison of U.S. and Japanese Automobile Producers

    OpenAIRE

    Marvin B. Lieberman; Lawrence J. Lau; Mark D. Williams

    1990-01-01

    This study compares the productivity of six major US and Japanese motor vehicle manufacturers---General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda---from the early 1950's through 1987. Techniques of productivity measurement, conventionally applied at the level of industries or national economies, are adapted for the analysis of individual firms. Several potential determinants of growth in productivity are evaluated, including economies of scale, adoption of "just-in-time" manufacturing,...

  2. Estimating risk propagation between interacting firms on inter-firm complex network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goto, Hayato; Takayasu, Hideki; Takayasu, Misako

    2017-01-01

    We derive a stochastic function of risk propagation empirically from comprehensive data of chain-reaction bankruptcy events in Japan from 2006 to 2015 over 5,000 pairs of firms. The probability is formulated by firm interaction between the pair of firms; it is proportional to the product of α-th power of the size of the first bankrupt firm and β-th power of that of the chain-reaction bankrupt firm. We confirm that α is positive and β is negative throughout the observing period, meaning that the probability of cascading failure is higher between a larger first bankrupt firm and smaller trading firm. We additionally introduce a numerical model simulating the whole ecosystem of firms and show that the interaction kernel is a key factor to express complexities of spreading bankruptcy risks on real ecosystems.

  3. Estimating risk propagation between interacting firms on inter-firm complex network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayato Goto

    Full Text Available We derive a stochastic function of risk propagation empirically from comprehensive data of chain-reaction bankruptcy events in Japan from 2006 to 2015 over 5,000 pairs of firms. The probability is formulated by firm interaction between the pair of firms; it is proportional to the product of α-th power of the size of the first bankrupt firm and β-th power of that of the chain-reaction bankrupt firm. We confirm that α is positive and β is negative throughout the observing period, meaning that the probability of cascading failure is higher between a larger first bankrupt firm and smaller trading firm. We additionally introduce a numerical model simulating the whole ecosystem of firms and show that the interaction kernel is a key factor to express complexities of spreading bankruptcy risks on real ecosystems.

  4. Corporate Governance, Cash Holdings, and Firm Value: Evidence from Japan

    OpenAIRE

    Qi Luo; Toyohiko Hachiya

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents evidence on cash holdings for Japanese firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, focusing on the impact of corporate governance factors in cash holdings and the implication of cash holdings to firm value. We find that insider ownership and bank relations of firms play a significant role in determining cash holdings. Our results indicate that foreign stockholders select profitable firms to invest, and these firms have higher levels of cash. We document evidence that cash ho...

  5. Economic Reform, Firm Survival and Competitiveness (Middle East ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    During the 1980s, it was thought that liberalizing trade and exposing industries ... of some firms but a more productive and competitive industrial sector as a whole. ... to stimulate higher firm-level productivity in the Middle East and North Africa.

  6. Transformation of Manufacturing Firms to Servitisation Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lin, Chih-Cheng; Ma, Zheng; Tanev, Stoyan

    2014-01-01

    It is crucial for the manufacturing SMEs to reconsider their business strategy in order to be able to launch customer-centric solutions. This ability is associated with a paradigm shift from a product-orientation to service-orientation. One of the major challenges to success in transforming...... a traditional manufacturing firm to service-oriented firms is the conspicuous lack of publications in this research stream. Applying a case study research approach, this study explores the transformation model for manufacturing SMEs to servitisation firms by adopting a network approach, and reveals...

  7. Impact of firm-level factors and market entry mode on performance: A study of service MNCs in an emerging economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Acheampong

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available The study examined the market entry strategies of multinational services companies into Ghana’s service sector and the linkages to firm level performance after entry. Literature was reviewed on market entry strategies, internationalisation, globalisation of service firms and resource-based theory. The study adopted a combination of both quantitative and qualitative research approaches in this study. The qualitative approach was for deeper enquiry and quantitative for empirical testing. The study found that firm specific factors affect the market entry strategy while the entry strategy also affects performance after it enters the market. Home country factors and the features of services are also seen to moderate on the effects mentioned. Respondents also indicated that the features of services were an industry wide issue not so much consideration is given to it.

  8. Effects of RoHs and REACH regulations on firm-level production and export, and the role of global value chains : the cases of Malaysia and Vietnam

    OpenAIRE

    Otsuki, Tsunehiro; Honda, Keiichiro; Michida, Etsuyo; Nabeshima, Kaoru; Ueki, Yasushi

    2015-01-01

    This paper uses firm-level data to examine the impact of foreign chemical safety regulations such as RoHS and REACH on the production costs and export performance of firms in Malaysia and Vietnam. This paper also investigates the role of global value chains in enhancing the likelihood that a firm complies with RoHS and REACH. We find that in addition to the initial setup costs for compliance, EU RoHS (REACH) implementation imposes on firms additional variable production costs by requiring add...

  9. Female Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from UK Listed Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pananda Pasaribu

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The impact of female directors on firm performance has lacked consistency in the previously conducted empirical studies, which may be due to the endogeneity problem, or certain characteristics (i.e. governance, industry, competition. This study examines the relationship between female directors and firm performance by addressing those problems. This study analyses all non-financial UK listed firms during the period 2004-2012 and employs several econometric models. The regression results indicate that there is little evidence that female directors have a positive and strong relationship with firm performance. But, further analysis reports that the UK’s small listed firms experience a positive significant effect, because small firms do not suffer from the problem of over-monitoring and they have more flexibility in composing their boards of directors.

  10. Firm Spin-offs in Denmark, 1981-2000

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Tor Viking; Kuhn, Johan Moritz

    Abstract. The motivation of this paper is to add large sample evidence to our knowledge on the extent to which the likelihood of business failure or success is related to relationships between parent firms and their 'off-spring'. For this purpose we make use of an exhaustive matched employer...... that the exit risks of spin-offs and the comparison group are converging over time. However, when we cater for unobserved heterogeneity this observation turns out to be predominantly an outcome of selection rather than the result of other start-ups catching up via some learning process. For the entire sample...

  11. Firm Culture and Leadership as Firm Performance Predictors : a Resource-Based Perspective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wilderom, C.P.M.; van den Berg, P.

    2000-01-01

    In this study, we tested part of the resource-based view of the firm by examining two 'soft' resources, firm culture and top leadership, as predictors of 'hard' or bottom-line firm performance.Transformational top leadership was found to predict firm performance directly while the link between firm

  12. Banking Firm, Equity and Value at Risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Udo Broll

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The paper focuses on the interaction between the solvency probability of a banking firm and the diversification potential of its asset portfolio when determining optimal equity capital. The purpose of this paper is to incorporate value at risk (VaR into the firm-theoretical model of a banking firm facing the risk of asset return. Given the necessity to achieve a confidence level for solvency, we demonstrate that diversification reduces the amount of equity. Notably, the VaR concept excludes a separation of equity policy and asset-liability management.

  13. Do Firms Replenish Executives’ Incentives After Equity Sales?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ladika, T.

    2013-01-01

    After selling firm equity, executives' incentives to maximize shareholder value may decrease. How do boards respond? Theory shows boards can restore executives' incentives by shifting subsequent pay from cash toward equity. Unobservable firm-level changes that cause executives to sell equity and

  14. Foreign currency borrowing by small firms in the transition economies

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brown, M.; Ongena, S.; Yesin, P.

    2011-01-01

    We examine the firm- and country-level determinants of foreign currency borrowing by small firms, using information on the most recent loan extended to 3101 firms in 25 transition countries between 2002 and 2005. Our results suggest that foreign currency borrowing is much stronger related to

  15. The effect of information technology investment on firm-level performance in the health care industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thouin, Mark F; Hoffman, James J; Ford, Eric W

    2008-01-01

    The return on investment for information technology (IT) has been the subject of much debate throughout the history of management information systems research. Often referred to as the productivity paradox, increased IT investments have not been consistently associated with increased productivity. Understanding individual IT factors that directly contribute to business value should provide insight into the productivity paradox. The effects of 3 different firm-level IT characteristics on financial performance in the health care industry are studied. Specifically, the effects of IT budget, IT outsourcing, and the relative number of IT personnel on firm-level financial performance are analyzed. Regression analysis of archival survey data for 914 Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems is performed. IT budgetary expenditures and the number of IT services outsourced are associated with increases in the profitability of Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems, whereas increases in IT personnel are not significantly associated with increased profitability. Each one tenth of a percentage increase in IT expenditures is associated with approximately $100,000 in increased profit, and each additional IT service outsourced is associated with approximately $950,000 in increased profit for an average-sized Integrated Healthcare Delivery System. To increase profitability, IT administrators should increase IT budgetary expenditures along with IT outsourcing levels. IT administrators in the health care industry can use such findings during budgeting cycles to justify increased investments in IT personnel as being budget neutral while increasing organizational capacity.

  16. The price of fixed income market volatility

    CERN Document Server

    Mele, Antonio

    2015-01-01

    Fixed income volatility and equity volatility evolve heterogeneously over time, co-moving disproportionately during periods of global imbalances and each reacting to events of different nature. While the methodology for options-based "model-free" pricing of equity volatility has been known for some time, little is known about analogous methodologies for pricing various fixed income volatilities. This book fills this gap and provides a unified evaluation framework of fixed income volatility while dealing with disparate markets such as interest-rate swaps, government bonds, time-deposits and credit. It develops model-free, forward looking indexes of fixed-income volatility that match different quoting conventions across various markets, and uncovers subtle yet important pitfalls arising from naïve superimpositions of the standard equity volatility methodology when pricing various fixed income volatilities. The ultimate goal of the authors´ efforts is to make interest rate volatility standardization a valuable...

  17. Firm Innovation and the Ratchet Effect Among Consumer Packaged Goods Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Christine Moorman; Simone Wies; Natalie Mizik; Fredrika J. Spencer

    2012-01-01

    We consider how public firms influence their stock market valuations by timing the introduction of innovative new products. Our focus is on innovation ratchet strategy --firms timing the introduction of innovations in order to demonstrate an improvement in the number of introductions over time. We document that public firms use an innovation ratchet strategy more often than do private firms and that the stock market rewards public firms for doing so. These rewards from the stock market, howev...

  18. Firm productivity, pollution, and output: theory and empirical evidence from China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Erzi; Zhang, Jingjing; Haider, Zulfiqar

    2015-11-01

    Using a theoretical model, this paper argues that as firm productivity increases, there is a decrease in firm-level pollution intensity. However, as productivity increases, firms tend to increase their aggregate output, which requires the use of additional resources that increase pollution. Hence, an increase in productivity results in two opposing effects where increased productivity may in fact increase pollution created by a firm. We describe the joint effect of these two mechanisms on pollution emissions as the "productivity dilemma" of pollution emission. Based on firm-level data from China, we also empirically test this productivity dilemma hypothesis. Our empirical results suggest that, in general, firm productivity has a positive and statistically significant impact on pollution emission in China. However, the impact of productivity on pollution becomes negative when we control for increases in firm output. The empirical evidence also confirms the positive influence of productivity on output, which suggests that the main determinant of pollution is the firm's output. The empirical results provide evidence of the existence of, what we describe as, the productivity dilemma of pollution emission.

  19. Life Cycle Characteristics of Small Professional Service Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Masurel, E.; van Montfort, C.A.G.M.

    2006-01-01

    Our study of professional services firms clearly revealed that firms change over the course of their life cycles. During the first three stages, diversification in sales, the differentiation in labor force, and the level of labor productivity increase. In the last stage, diversification in sales,

  20. 76 FR 61660 - Cost Accounting Standards: Clarification of the Exemption From Cost Accounting Standards for Firm...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-05

    ... Accounting Standards: Clarification of the Exemption From Cost Accounting Standards for Firm-Fixed-Price... Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Cost Accounting Standards Board. ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS...

  1. Competitive market for multiple firms and economic crisis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Yong

    2010-09-01

    The origin of economic crises is a key problem for economics. We present a model of long-run competitive markets to show that the multiplicity of behaviors in an economic system, over a long time scale, emerge as statistical regularities (perfectly competitive markets obey Bose-Einstein statistics and purely monopolistic-competitive markets obey Boltzmann statistics) and that how interaction among firms influences the evolutionary of competitive markets. It has been widely accepted that perfect competition is most efficient. Our study shows that the perfectly competitive system, as an extreme case of competitive markets, is most efficient but not stable, and gives rise to economic crises as society reaches full employment. In the economic crisis revealed by our model, many firms condense (collapse) into the lowest supply level (zero supply, namely, bankruptcy status), in analogy to Bose-Einstein condensation. This curious phenomenon arises because perfect competition (homogeneous competitions) equals symmetric (indistinguishable) investment direction, a fact abhorred by nature. Therefore, we urge the promotion of monopolistic competition (heterogeneous competitions) rather than perfect competition. To provide early warning of economic crises, we introduce a resolving index of investment, which approaches zero in the run-up to an economic crisis. On the other hand, our model discloses, as a profound conclusion, that the technological level for a long-run social or economic system is proportional to the freedom (disorder) of this system; in other words, technology equals the entropy of system. As an application of this concept, we give a possible answer to the Needham question: “Why was it that despite the immense achievements of traditional China it had been in Europe and not in China that the scientific and industrial revolutions occurred?”

  2. A Comparative Analysis of the Entrepreneurial Orientation/Growth Relationship in Service Firms and Manufacturing Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rigtering, J.P. Coen; Kraus, Sascha; Eggers, Fabian

    2014-01-01

    This article builds on the recently increasingly mentioned notion that entrepreneurship in the service sector is a worthwhile, but clearly underresearched topic. Using a sample of 1,612 small- and medium-size enterprises from the four German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland......, and Liechtenstein, and using structural equation modeling, this article finds that service firms have a significantly higher entrepreneurial orientation (EO) than manufacturing firms – both on the overall level as well as for each of the three sub-categories proactiveness, innovativeness, and risk...

  3. Firm size and export performance: some empirical evidence

    OpenAIRE

    Owen Gabbitas; Paul Gretton

    2003-01-01

    This paper uses firm level data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Business Longitudinal Survey to help fill the information gap about the characteristics of successful exporters. This study suggests that the main influences on export performance of Australian manufacturing firms may lie with a range of ‘firm-specific’ factors other than size or domestic market share. These potentially include: kind of activity, product design and quality, marketing expertise and the moti...

  4. Employment policies at the plant level : job and worker flows for heterogeneous labour in Norway

    OpenAIRE

    Salvanes, Kjell Gunnar

    1999-01-01

    Despite the large degree of plant-specific heterogeneity in turnover patterns recently found in the gross job and worker literature, very little is known about the sources of the heterogeneity in plant level employment policies. The present paper, studies in detail the employment management policies for heterogeneous plants and for heterogeneous labour, using a matched worker-employer data set for Norway. Within an econometric framework, I find that the job and worker flows above ...

  5. Positioning and Priorities of Growth Management in Construction Industrialization: Chinese Firm-Level Empirical Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jingxiao Zhang

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to quantitatively evaluate the growth phase, position, and priorities of the industrialization policy management of the construction industry at firm level. The goal is to integrate quantitative dynamics into the policy-making process for sustainable policy development in future China. This research proposes an integrated framework, including growth management model and industrial policy evaluation method, to identify the challenges of construction industrialization and policy management. The research applies the mixed system method, which includes entropy method and average score method, to analyze the growth stage and major impact indexes targeting 327 survey samples. The empirical results show that the proposed conceptual framework and policy evaluation method could effectively determine the growth position and directions of the construction industrialization. For verification purpose, the study uses the local industry data from Shaanxi Province, China. The calculation results substantiate that the construction industry is in the middle section of the third growth phase. The comparison of the results from statistical methods shows that the local construction industry still needs substantial effort in policy management to improve its sustainable industrialization level. As countermeasures, the policy priorities should concentrate on: (1 enhancing effective cooperation among universities, research institutions and enterprises; (2 improving actions towards technology transfer into productivity; and (3 encouraging market acceptance of construction industrialization. This research complements the existing literature of policy evaluation of construction industrialization. Moreover, it provides theoretical and operational steps on industry policy evaluation and growth management framework, with accurate and ample data analysis on firm-level survey. Researchers and policy makers can use this research for further

  6. Strategic Orientation in the Globalization of Software Firms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dedrick, Jason; Kraemer, Kenneth L.; Carmel, Erran; Dunkle, Debora

    In the search for profits, software firms are globalizing their development activities. Some firms achieve greater profits by becoming more efficient, whereas others do so by reaching new markets; some do both. This paper creates an a priori typology of strategies based on the extent to which firms are focused on operational improvement or market access, have a dual focus or are unfocused. We find that firms with these strategies differ in degree of internationalization, organization of offshoring and performance outcomes related to offshoring. Market-oriented firms receive a greater proportion of their total revenue from sales outside the U.S., showing a greater international orientation. They keep more of their offshore development in-house via captive operations. They also are most likely to report increased non-U.S. sales as a result of offshoring. On the other hand, operations-oriented firms have lower levels of international sales, are more likely to go offshore via outsourced software development, and achieve greater costs savings and labor force flexibility as a result of offshoring. Operations-oriented firms also face more obstacles in offshoring, perhaps because of their reliance on outsourcing. Dual focus firms generally achieve some of the best of both strategies, whereas unfocused firms achieve lower cost benefits.

  7. Do family CEOs impact firm value? An empirical analysis of Indian family firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lakshmi Kalyanaraman

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We study the association between family CEO and firm value on a sample of 288 family firms during the 6-year period, from 2009 to 2014. The sample is drawn from domestic private companies belonging to non-financial services sector included in the NSE CNX 500 index. We find that family CEO has no significant association with firm value, when the family is not the majority shareholder. Family shareholding has positive relationship with firm value, but does not moderate the relationship of family CEO with firm value. We show that family CEO and firm value are negatively related when the family does not hold majority equity stake in the family firm. While family shareholding has no significant relationship with firm value, it has a negative interaction effect on the relationship between family CEO and firm value. The research findings have important implications for family firms as well as the nonfamily investors in the family firms.

  8. Firm Size as Moderator to Non-Linear Leverage-Performance Relation: An Emerging Market Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umar Farooq

    2017-08-01

    such losses are more prominent for small size firms. Results also show that the leverage-performance relation is nonlinear for medium and large size firms. However, these firms are not targeting optimal level and overleveraging that ultimately decrease their profits. So, financial managers of small size firms should avoid debt financing while for large and medium size firms, managers need to adjust their debt ratio to its optimal level.

  9. A topological proof of chaos for two nonlinear heterogeneous triopoly game models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pireddu, Marina, E-mail: marina.pireddu@unimib.it [Department of Mathematics and Applications, University of Milano-Bicocca, U5 Building, Via Cozzi 55, 20125 Milano (Italy)

    2016-08-15

    We rigorously prove the existence of chaotic dynamics for two nonlinear Cournot triopoly game models with heterogeneous players, for which in the existing literature the presence of complex phenomena and strange attractors has been shown via numerical simulations. In the first model that we analyze, costs are linear but the demand function is isoelastic, while, in the second model, the demand function is linear and production costs are quadratic. As concerns the decisional mechanisms adopted by the firms, in both models one firm adopts a myopic adjustment mechanism, considering the marginal profit of the last period; the second firm maximizes its own expected profit under the assumption that the competitors' production levels will not vary with respect to the previous period; the third firm acts adaptively, changing its output proportionally to the difference between its own output in the previous period and the naive expectation value. The topological method we employ in our analysis is the so-called “Stretching Along the Paths” technique, based on the Poincaré-Miranda Theorem and the properties of the cutting surfaces, which allows to prove the existence of a semi-conjugacy between the system under consideration and the Bernoulli shift, so that the former inherits from the latter several crucial chaotic features, among which a positive topological entropy.

  10. Innovation strategies in Latin American firms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vargas, F.

    2016-07-01

    During the last fifteen years, several Latin American countries have launched new policies to spur the structural transformation of their economies. In parallel, the availability of R&D and innovation statistics is greater than ever before. However, most of the new policies have been backed by the use of simple aggregated R&D and innovation indicators. This work will use a unique dataset of IS from several LA economies to produce a detailed analysis of innovation strategies of LA firms. These results will facilitate a more comprehensive comparison of innovation performance between LA countries and a richer benchmark analysis with economies from the EU. Furthermore, it will allow to measure the explanatory power of industry and country conditions in the heterogeneity of innovation strategies and to test the pertinence of the OECD sector-based technological classifications in the LA context. During the last fifteen years, several Latin American countries have launched new policies to spur the structural transformation of their economies. In parallel, the availability of R&D and innovation statistics is greater than ever before. However, most of the new policies have been backed by the use of simple aggregated R&D and innovation indicators. This work will use a unique dataset of IS from several LA economies to produce a detailed analysis of innovation strategies of LA firms. These results will facilitate a more comprehensive comparison of innovation performance between LA countries and a richer benchmark analysis with economies from the EU. Furthermore, it will allow to measure the explanatory power of industry and country conditions in the heterogeneity of innovation strategies and to test the pertinence of the OECD sector-based technological classifications in the LA context. (Author)

  11. Operating Efficiency Evaluation of China Listed Automotive Firms: 2012–2016

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huichen Jiang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available As one of the important pillar industries in China, the automotive industry (i.e., the traditional vehicle and the new energy vehicle (NEV sub-industries plays a significant role in the national economy and social development. In this paper, by using the fixed assets, intangible assets, the operating expenses, and the number of employee as inputs and the operating income as output, we conduct efficiency evaluations based on data envelopment analysis (DEA and Malmquist models, and measure the efficiency of listed automotive firms with the panel data of 77 listed A-share firms spanning from 2012 to 2016, statically and dynamically. The results show that the five-year average Malmquist indices of all the listed firms slightly decreased due to the decline of the technical change and the improvement of the efficiency change. We subdivide the automotive industry into the traditional vehicle and NEV industries, and find that the NEV industry performed better than the traditional one. We combine the industry development and efficiency evaluation, and believe that the NEV will be a new driving force of the economy.

  12. Estimation of cost-effectiveness of the Finnish electricity distribution utilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria; Svento, Rauli

    2008-01-01

    This paper examines the cost-effectiveness of Finnish electricity distribution utilities. We estimate several panel data stochastic frontier specifications using both Cobb-Douglas and Translog model specifications. The conventional models are extended in order to model observed heterogeneity explicitly in the cost frontier models. The true fixed effects model has been used as a representative of the models which account for unobserved heterogeneity and extended conventional random effect models have been used in analysing the impact of observed heterogeneity. A comparison between the conventional random effects model and models where heterogeneity component is entered either into the mean or into the variance of the inefficiency term shows that relative efficiency scores diminish when heterogeneity is added to the analysis. The true fixed effects model on the other hand gives clearly smaller inefficiency scores than random effects models. In the paper we also show that the relative inefficiency scores and rankings are not sensitive to the cost function specification. Our analysis points out the importance of the efficient use of the existing distribution network. The economies of scale results suggest that firms could reduce their operating costs by using networks more efficiently. According to our results average size firms which have high load factors are the most efficient ones. All firms have unused capacities so that they can improve cost-effectiveness rather by increasing the average distributed volumes than by mergers

  13. Estimation of cost-effectiveness of the Finnish electricity distribution utilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria; Svento, Rauli [Department of Economics, University of Oulu (Finland)

    2008-03-15

    This paper examines the cost-effectiveness of Finnish electricity distribution utilities. We estimate several panel data stochastic frontier specifications using both Cobb-Douglas and Translog model specifications. The conventional models are extended in order to model observed heterogeneity explicitly in the cost frontier models. The true fixed effects model has been used as a representative of the models which account for unobserved heterogeneity and extended conventional random effect models have been used in analysing the impact of observed heterogeneity. A comparison between the conventional random effects model and models where heterogeneity component is entered either into the mean or into the variance of the inefficiency term shows that relative efficiency scores diminish when heterogeneity is added to the analysis. The true fixed effects model on the other hand gives clearly smaller inefficiency scores than random effects models. In the paper we also show that the relative inefficiency scores and rankings are not sensitive to the cost function specification. Our analysis points out the importance of the efficient use of the existing distribution network. The economies of scale results suggest that firms could reduce their operating costs by using networks more efficiently. According to our results average size firms which have high load factors are the most efficient ones. All firms have unused capacities so that they can improve cost-effectiveness rather by increasing the average distributed volumes than by mergers. (author)

  14. Intra-industry trade with multinational firms

    OpenAIRE

    Egger, H; Egger, P; Greenaway, D

    2007-01-01

    Recent developments, including the analysis of firm-level adjustment to falling trade costs, have contributed to a revival of interest in intra-industry trade (IIT). Most empirical work still relies on the standard Grubel–Lloyd measure. This however refers only to international trade, disregarding income flows stimulated by repatriated profits of multinational firms. Given the overwhelming importance of the latter, this is a major shortcoming. This paper provides a guide to measurement and es...

  15. Firms' innovation benefiting from networking and institutional support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schøtt, Thomas; Jensen, Kent Wickstrøm

    2016-01-01

    Firms' networking for innovation is embedded in institutions of society, where national policies are increasingly designed to provide institutional support for firms' networking and thereby benefit innovation. But, globally, what are the quantitative and qualitative effects of institutional support...... for networking and, in turn, for innovation? 68 countries with 18,880 firms were surveyed in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, enabling generalization to the firms in the countries around the world. Two-level modeling shows that firms' networking benefits both process and product innovation. Institutional...... support does not significantly affect quantity of networking, but greatly enhances quality of networking in the sense that support for networking in a country enhances the benefits of networking for both process and product innovation. Contrasting low and high support for networking leads to estimating...

  16. Benefits in behavioral health carve-out plans of Fortune 500 firms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merrick, E L; Garnick, D W; Horgan, C M; Goldin, D; Hodgkin, D; Sciegaj, M

    2001-07-01

    This study examined the prevalence and nature of behavioral health carve-out contracts among Fortune 500 firms in 1997. A survey was conducted of 498 companies that were listed as Fortune 500 firms in 1994 or 1995. A total of 336 firms (68 percent) responded to the survey. Univariate analyses were used to analyze prevalence, types, and amounts of covered services, cost sharing, and benefit limits. A total of 132 firms reported contracting with managed behavioral health organizations; 124 firms answered benefits questions about covered services, cost-sharing levels, and annual and lifetime limits. Most of the plans covered a broad range of services. Cost sharing was typically required, and for inpatient care it was often substantial. Fifteen percent of the firms offered mental health benefits that were below the limits defined in this study as minimal benefit levels, and 34 percent offered substance abuse treatment benefits that fell below minimal levels. The most generous mental health benefits and substance abuse treatment benefits, defined as no limits or a lifetime limit only of $1 million or more, were offered by 31 percent and 20 percent of the firms, respectively. The carve-out contracts of the Fortune 500 firms in this study typically covered a wide range of services, and the benefits appeared generous relative to those reported for other integrated and carve-out plans. However, these benefits generally did not reach the level of parity with typical medical benefits, nor did they fully protect enrollees from the risk of catastrophic expenditures.

  17. An Empirical Analysis of Cash Flow and Investment Fluctuations Using Firm-Level Panel Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdul Ghafar Ismail

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Since the pioneering work of Gurley and Shaw (1955, the attempt has been done to justify money as a primary focal point of macroeconomic theorizing. However, other researchers argue that variables such as financial development and indicators are also important to be linked with macroeconomic performance. Here, if money can be thought as means of production and consumer goods as the ultimate end toward which production is directed, and then capital also occupies a position that is both logically and temporarily intermediate between original means and ultimate ends. This temporarily intermediate status of capital is not in serious dispute, but its significance for macroeconomic theorizing is rarely recognized. The firms’ decision to acquire funds through debt and equity financings affects the capital structure, and, in the firm’s balance sheet, the impact of capital appears to influence the inventory investment. Hence, the significance of capital structure –induced inventory distortions in the context of firm-level is the basis for our article. The sample for our analysis is compiled from the balance sheets of listed syaria firms in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange for the period 1995-2000.

  18. How EPC firms can enter the nuclear renaissance

    OpenAIRE

    Locatelli, Giorgio; Mancini, Mauro

    2012-01-01

    the so called “nuclear renaissance” is creating a millionaire market for new nuclear reactors. Few firms have the capabilities to work in this complex and highly demanding market, whereas many other are investigating the option to enter. Quite surprising the international scientific literature provides information regarding the high-level governmental aspects of nuclear power programs in different countries while the analysis at firm level is almost inexistent. Moreover the usual business mod...

  19. Chaotic dynamics in nonlinear duopoly Stackelberg game with heterogeneous players

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Yue; Peng, Yu; Lu, Qian; Wu, Xue

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, a nonlinear duopoly Stackelberg game of competition on output is concerned. In consideration of the effects of difference between plan products and actual products, the two heterogeneous players always adopt suitable strategies which can improve their benefits most. In general, status of each firm is unequal. As the firms take strategies sequentially and produce simultaneously, complex behaviors are brought about. Numerical simulation presents period doubling bifurcation, maximal Lyapunov exponent and chaos. Moreover, an appropriate method of chaos controlling is applied and fractal dimension is analyzed as well.

  20. The Dispersion of Employees' Wage Increases and Firm Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grund, Christian; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.

    does not induce any monetary incentives. Evidence from unique Danish linked employer employee data shows that large dispersion of wage growth within firms is generally connected with low firm performance. The results are mainly driven by white collar rather than blue collar workers.......In this contribution, we examine the interrelation between intra-firm wage increases and firm performance. Previous studies have focused on the dispersion of wages in order to examine for the empirical dominance of positive monetary incentives effects compared to adverse effects due to fairness...... considerations. We argue that the dispersion of wage increases rather than wage levels is a crucial measure for monetary incentives in firms. The larger the dispersion of wage increases the higher the amount of monetary incentives in firms. In contrast, huge wage inequality without any promotion possibilities...

  1. Evolutionary technology adoption in an oligopoly market with forward-looking firms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lamantia, F.; Radi, D.

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we propose an evolutionary oligopoly game of technology adoption in a market with isoelastic demand and two possible (linear) production technologies. While one technology is characterized by lower marginal costs, the magnitude of fixed costs entails that a technology does not necessarily dominate the other. Firms are forward-looking as they assess the profitability of employing either technology according to the corresponding expected profits. The dynamics of the system is studied through a piecewise-smooth map, for which we present a local stability analysis of equilibria and show the occurrence of smooth and border collision bifurcations. Global analysis of the model is also presented to show the coexistence of attractors and its economic significance. This investigation reveals that firms can fail to learn to adopt the more efficient technology.

  2. A research on determination of input levels used in fair value measurement hierarchy by firms listed in Borsa Istanbul

    OpenAIRE

    Gokgoz, Ahmet; Senturk, Fatih

    2015-01-01

    With the coming into force of TFRS 13 Fair Value Measurement Standard, the inputs which firms use for determination of fair value measurement are classified into three levels and hierarchy of determination of fair value is constituted. This standard requires increasing level 1 inputs and decreasing level 3 inputs in determination of fair value. With this study fair value measurement levels (hierarchy) which are used in determination of fair value are described within the scope of TFRS 13 Fair...

  3. Analyzing and Predicting Micro-Location Patterns of Software Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jan Kinne

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available While the effects of non-geographic aggregation on statistical inference are well studied in economics, research on the effects of geographic aggregation on regression analysis is rather scarce. This knowledge gap, together with the use of aggregated spatial units in previous firm location studies, results in a lack of understanding of firm location determinants at the microgeographic level. Suitable data for microgeographic location analysis has become available only recently through the emergence of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI, especially the OpenStreetMap (OSM project, and the increasing availability of official (open geodata. In this paper, we use a comprehensive dataset of three million street-level geocoded firm observations to explore the location pattern of software firms in an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA. Based on the ESDA results, we develop a software firm location prediction model using Poisson regression and OSM data. Our findings offer novel insights into the mode of operation of the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP in the context of a microgeographic location analysis: We find that non-aggregated data can be used to detect information on location determinants, which are superimposed when aggregated spatial units are analyzed, and that some findings of previous firm location studies are not robust at the microgeographic level. However, we also conclude that the lack of high-resolution geodata on socio-economic population characteristics causes systematic prediction errors, especially in cities with diverse and segregated populations.

  4. Pengaruh Family Control, Firm Size, Firm Risk, Dan Firm Life Cycle Terhadap Profitabilitas Dan Nilai Perusahaan Sektor Industri Barang Konsumsi

    OpenAIRE

    Servin, Servin

    2014-01-01

    This study aims to examine the effect of family control, firm size, firm risk, and firm lifecycle towards profitability and firm's value. Sampels were taken from 27 consumer goodscompanies, listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange, ranging from 2010 – 2012. The hypotheseswere tested using multiple regression analysis. In this study, profitability was measured byROA (Return on Asset) and firm's value was measured by Tobin's q. The result were, familycontrol and life cycle stage-growth had negative i...

  5. Managerial capacity in the innovation process and firm profitability

    OpenAIRE

    Giovanni Cerulli; Bianca Potì

    2013-01-01

    This paper studies at firm level the relation between managerial capacity in doing innovation and profitability. Moving along the intersection between the evolutionary/neo-Schumpeterian theory and the Resource-Based-View of the firm, we prove econometrically that managerial efficiency in mastering the production of innovation is an important determinant of firm innovative performance and market success, and that it complements traditional Schumpeterian drivers. By using a Stochastic Frontier ...

  6. Firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives : A theory of organizational choice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herbst, Patrick; Prüfer, Jens

    We formalize the difference between profit-maximizing firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identify optimal organizational choice in a model of quality provision. Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however, depends on the competitive environment, the

  7. Diversification patterns in the growth of firms : evidence from Italian manufacturing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castaldi, C.; Milakovic, M.; Secchi, A.

    2003-01-01

    We present empirical evidence on diversification patterns in Italian manufacturing firms and detect a robust relationship between firm size and diversification levels, with an elasticity of diversification that does not depend on firm size and is well below unity. Diversification does not lead to

  8. Optimal Routing for Heterogeneous Fixed Fleets of Multicompartment Vehicles

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Qian; Ji, Qingkai; Chiu, Chun-Hung

    2014-01-01

    We present a metaheuristic called the reactive guided tabu search (RGTS) to solve the heterogeneous fleet multicompartment vehicle routing problem (MCVRP), where a single vehicle is required for cotransporting multiple customer orders. MCVRP is commonly found in delivery of fashion apparel, petroleum distribution, food distribution, and waste collection. In searching the optimum solution of MCVRP, we need to handle a large amount of local optima in the solution spaces. To overcome this proble...

  9. The effects of innovation on firm performance of supporting industries in Hanoi, Vietnam

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tuan, N.; Nhan, N.; Giang, P.; Ngoc, N.

    2016-07-01

    Innovation, including product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation within a firm, is considered as one of essential component for surviving and growing. These innovation activities create value and competitive advantages for successful organizations; therefore, understanding the organization’s overall innovation is the first and foremost to understand the role of innovation on firm performance. The objective of this research is to explore two parts: the impacts of innovation on the different aspect of innovation performance, then their effects to firm performance (production, market, and financial performance). This study uses primary data from questionnaire survey. The questionnaire involves 4 parts including general information, innovation activities; innovative performance, and firm performance. This research focuses on firms in supporting industries of mechanics, electronics, motorbike and automobile. These firms are in a list of companies (known as The Excellent Vietnamese Companies in Northern and Central Vietnam) established by JETRO and VCCI. There are 150 firms in this list. The questionnaire survey was administered to directors, CEO of those firms during April and May, 2014. Out of the 150 questionnaires sent out, 118 were valid, accounting for 78.7% of the true response rate. Analysis methodologies of reliability, factor analysis and regression are utilized in this paper. The result demonstrated there are positive effects of process, marketing, and organizational innovations on firm performance in supporting firms. More specifically, the higher the level of innovation activities is, the greater the innovative performance is, which means the larger level of Process, organization and marketing innovation activities are, the higher level of innovative performance are likely to be. Secondly, the higher level of Process, organization and marketing innovative performance, the better level of firm performances is likely to be. To sum up, in

  10. Firms, Nonprofits, and Cooperatives : A Theory of Organizational Choice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herbst, P.; Prüfer, J.

    2007-01-01

    Abstract This paper formalizes the difference between firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identifies optimal organizational choice. In a model of quality provision, we find a clear ranking of quality produced: Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however,

  11. Division of Labor, Transaction Cost, Emergence of the Firm and Firm Size

    OpenAIRE

    Pak-Wai Liu; Xiaokai Yang

    1999-01-01

    In this paper a general equilibrium model is constructed to explain the emergence of firms and change in firm size by the tradeoff between economies of specialization and transaction cost. We show that firms emerge from the development of division of labor if the transaction efficiency for labor is smaller than that for intermediate goods. Given the emergence of firms, change in the average size of firms (average employment) will depend on the change in transaction efficiency for intermediate...

  12. A Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Partial Fixed-Point Imaging System Using a Field- Programmable Gate Array-Application-Specific Integrated Circuit Hybrid Heterogeneous Parallel Acceleration Technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Chen; Li, Bingyi; Chen, Liang; Wei, Chunpeng; Xie, Yizhuang; Chen, He; Yu, Wenyue

    2017-06-24

    With the development of satellite load technology and very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit technology, onboard real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems have become a solution for allowing rapid response to disasters. A key goal of the onboard SAR imaging system design is to achieve high real-time processing performance with severe size, weight, and power consumption constraints. In this paper, we analyse the computational burden of the commonly used chirp scaling (CS) SAR imaging algorithm. To reduce the system hardware cost, we propose a partial fixed-point processing scheme. The fast Fourier transform (FFT), which is the most computation-sensitive operation in the CS algorithm, is processed with fixed-point, while other operations are processed with single precision floating-point. With the proposed fixed-point processing error propagation model, the fixed-point processing word length is determined. The fidelity and accuracy relative to conventional ground-based software processors is verified by evaluating both the point target imaging quality and the actual scene imaging quality. As a proof of concept, a field- programmable gate array-application-specific integrated circuit (FPGA-ASIC) hybrid heterogeneous parallel accelerating architecture is designed and realized. The customized fixed-point FFT is implemented using the 130 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology as a co-processor of the Xilinx xc6vlx760t FPGA. A single processing board requires 12 s and consumes 21 W to focus a 50-km swath width, 5-m resolution stripmap SAR raw data with a granularity of 16,384 × 16,384.

  13. A Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar Partial Fixed-Point Imaging System Using a Field- Programmable Gate Array−Application-Specific Integrated Circuit Hybrid Heterogeneous Parallel Acceleration Technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Yang

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available With the development of satellite load technology and very large scale integrated (VLSI circuit technology, onboard real-time synthetic aperture radar (SAR imaging systems have become a solution for allowing rapid response to disasters. A key goal of the onboard SAR imaging system design is to achieve high real-time processing performance with severe size, weight, and power consumption constraints. In this paper, we analyse the computational burden of the commonly used chirp scaling (CS SAR imaging algorithm. To reduce the system hardware cost, we propose a partial fixed-point processing scheme. The fast Fourier transform (FFT, which is the most computation-sensitive operation in the CS algorithm, is processed with fixed-point, while other operations are processed with single precision floating-point. With the proposed fixed-point processing error propagation model, the fixed-point processing word length is determined. The fidelity and accuracy relative to conventional ground-based software processors is verified by evaluating both the point target imaging quality and the actual scene imaging quality. As a proof of concept, a field- programmable gate array−application-specific integrated circuit (FPGA-ASIC hybrid heterogeneous parallel accelerating architecture is designed and realized. The customized fixed-point FFT is implemented using the 130 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS technology as a co-processor of the Xilinx xc6vlx760t FPGA. A single processing board requires 12 s and consumes 21 W to focus a 50-km swath width, 5-m resolution stripmap SAR raw data with a granularity of 16,384 × 16,384.

  14. Default Risk and Firm Value of Shipping & Logistics Firms in Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyun Jung Nam

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available As shipping and logistics industry is one of the core industries in Korea, the volume was ranked in the fifth highest in the world. However, shipping and logistics industry of Korea has suffered from default risk since Global Financial Crisis in 2008. This study examines the relationship between the default risk, as measured by the Altman K-Score, and firm value, as measured by the Return on Assets (ROA, of shipping and logistics firms in Korea and compares the impact of default risk on firm value between good financial health firms and poor financial health firms. As the trends of KScores over a ten-year periods, shipping and logistics firms in Korea register weak-to-moderate financial healthy rage. We find that Altman K-Score is significantly linked with firm value and also higher performing firms as measured by the ROA exhibit higher financial health as measured by KScore. Although nine years have been passed since Global Financial Crisis 2008, Korean shipping and logistics industry is still under the financial depression. This study proposes that systematic financial alert system of Korean shipping and logistics industry should be required to decrease default risk reflecting significance of Korean economy.

  15. License and entry strategies for an outside innovator in duopoly with combination of royalty and fixed fee under vertical differentiation

    OpenAIRE

    Hattori, Masahiko; Tanaka, Yasuhito

    2017-01-01

    We consider a choice of options for an innovating firm in duopoly under vertical differentiation to enter the market with or without licensing its technology for producing a higher quality good to the incumbent firm using a combination of a royalty per output and a fixed license fee, or to license its technology without entry. With general distribution function of consumers' taste parameter and cost function we will show that when the innovating firm licenses its technology to the incumbent f...

  16. IMPACT OF CAPITAL STRUCTURE POLICY ON VALUE OF THE FIRM – A STUDY ON SOME SELECTED CORPORATE MANUFACTURING FIRMS UNDER DHAKA STOCK EXCHANGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jahirul HOQUE

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The study is about capital structure policy and its impacts on value of the firm. The outcome of this study was both the primary and secondary data. The study was based on opinions survey of 80 respondents of the 20 manufacturing corporate firms, enlisted under Dhaka Stock Exchange. The empirical analysis of the study was limited to a period of five years ranging 2008-2012. The major findings of the study are: (i the most important determinant of capital structure policy as rated by the respondents have been financial risk , profitability, availability of fund, productivity, liquidity, operating risk, growth rate, proper timing, corporate tax, stability of sales/ investment etc, (ii the study reveals that in terms of the average positions of capital structure and financial structure during 2008-2012, Beximco pharma has ranked first followed by Square pharma, Apex Adelchi, DESCO, ACI ltd, Titas gas, Bata shoe,Aftab automobile, Reneata pharma, Square textile ltd etc,(iii as regards the value of the firm during the study period, Titas gas has obtained first rank followed by Square pharma, DESCO, Beximco pharma, BATBC, ACI, Reneta pharma, Apex Tennary, Apex Adelchi, Bata shoe and so on.(iv this study has portrayed that the independent variables namely capital structure (CS, debt to equity (DER & debt to asset (DR, fixed assets to total assets(Tangibility, earnings before interest and taxes to interest charges(ICR, financial leverage multiplier(FLM have influenced value of the firm(VF to the extent of 79.1 percent significantly. Therefore, it is recommended that the relevant firm’s authority should take proper measures in order to improve the independent variables having positive influence on value of the firms.

  17. Human Resource Management With Small Firms; Facts And Explanations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J.M.P. de Kok (Jan); L.M. Uhlaner (Lorraine); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    2003-01-01

    textabstractThis study examines determinants of the formalization of HRM practices with small firms. We derive five hypotheses that identify possible determinants of the level of formalization, including firm size, family business, the availability of an HRM department or HRM manager, and the

  18. Firms, Nonprofits, and Cooperatives : A Theory of Organizational Choice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Herbst, P.; Prüfer, J.

    2007-01-01

    This paper formalizes the difference between firms, nonprofits, and cooperatives and identifies optimal organizational choice. In a model of quality provision, we find a clear ranking of quality produced: Firms provide lowest and nonprofits highest levels of quality. Efficiency, however, depends on

  19. Knowledge Capital, Intangible Assets, and Leverage: Evidence from U.S. Agricultural Biotechnology Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Sporleder, Thomas L.; Moss, Leeann E.

    2004-01-01

    Agricultural biotechnology firms are high technology companies. Firms in general, and high technology firms in particular, are a set of both assets in place and growth opportunities. This has important implications for managerial decision-making. Knowledge capital motivates exploitation of growth options, which affects firm cash flow. In turn, the level and volatility of firm cash flow influences firm financing decisions. Previous studies suggest that knowledge capital can influence both the ...

  20. Heterogeneous IP Ecosystem enabling Reuse (HIER)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-03-22

    HIER project, DARPA also established additional concepts in the formation of the Common Heterogeneous Integration and IP Reuse Strategies (CHIPS...would need a major change to  business model to offer  Hard  or Soft IP – So CHIPS program can be a better fit to these firms • DoD‐Contractor IP pricing

  1. A Simple Method to Estimate Large Fixed Effects Models Applied to Wage Determinants and Matching

    OpenAIRE

    Mittag, Nikolas

    2016-01-01

    Models with high dimensional sets of fixed effects are frequently used to examine, among others, linked employer-employee data, student outcomes and migration. Estimating these models is computationally difficult, so simplifying assumptions that are likely to cause bias are often invoked to make computation feasible and specification tests are rarely conducted. I present a simple method to estimate large two-way fixed effects (TWFE) and worker-firm match effect models without additional assum...

  2. Technical efficiency of FDI firms in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vu Hoang Duong

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The study examines technical efficiency of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI firms in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector by applying stochastic production frontier model and making use of cross-sectional data in the period 2009-2013. The average level of technical efficiency of FDI firms is about 60% and it is higher than that of domestic firms (including private firms and state-owned firms. In addition, the study also analyses correlation between technical efficiency of FDI firms and other factors. It finds that there are positive correlations between FDI technical efficiency and net revenue per labour, firm’s age or export activities in 2013. However, the study is unable to find evidence of a relationship between FDI technical efficiency and infrastructure or firm’s investment activities.

  3. Monetary Policy Transmission and Firms’ Investment: Evidence From the Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arslan Majeed

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the effects of monetary policy on firms’ business fixed investment spending through the interest rate and broad credit channels of monetary policy transmission mechanism in Pakistan. Due to the problem of endogeneity, Generalized Method of Moments (GMM two step estimation technique is applied on neo-classical investment model by using disaggregated firm level data of manufacturing sector of Pakistan over the period 1974-2010. The results suggest the relevance of both the interest rate and broad credit channels in Pakistan. Firms’ investment found to be negatively affected by the monetary contraction while positively influenced by cash flow and the sales. Small firms explored to be more sensitive to the monetary tightening as compared to large firms indicating that monetary policy exerts heterogeneous effects. Results highlight the importance of considering the financial conditions of the firms in formulation of monetary policy.

  4. Thermodynamics of firms' growth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zambrano, Eduardo; Hernando, Alberto; Hernando, Ricardo; Plastino, Angelo

    2015-01-01

    The distribution of firms' growth and firms' sizes is a topic under intense scrutiny. In this paper, we show that a thermodynamic model based on the maximum entropy principle, with dynamical prior information, can be constructed that adequately describes the dynamics and distribution of firms' growth. Our theoretical framework is tested against a comprehensive database of Spanish firms, which covers, to a very large extent, Spain's economic activity, with a total of 1 155 142 firms evolving along a full decade. We show that the empirical exponent of Pareto's law, a rule often observed in the rank distribution of large-size firms, is explained by the capacity of economic system for creating/destroying firms, and that can be used to measure the health of a capitalist-based economy. Indeed, our model predicts that when the exponent is larger than 1, creation of firms is favoured; when it is smaller than 1, destruction of firms is favoured instead; and when it equals 1 (matching Zipf's law), the system is in a full macroeconomic equilibrium, entailing ‘free’ creation and/or destruction of firms. For medium and smaller firm sizes, the dynamical regime changes, the whole distribution can no longer be fitted to a single simple analytical form and numerical prediction is required. Our model constitutes the basis for a full predictive framework regarding the economic evolution of an ensemble of firms. Such a structure can be potentially used to develop simulations and test hypothetical scenarios, such as economic crisis or the response to specific policy measures. PMID:26510828

  5. The determinants of firm exit in the French food industries

    OpenAIRE

    Blanchard, Pierre; Mathieu, Claude

    2012-01-01

    A semi-parametric approach is used to estimate firm propensity to exit. The unobserved individual productivity of a firm is first estimated using the Ackerberg et al. (2006) approach and then introduced as a determinant of firm exit in conjunction with other variables that may serve as barriers to exit, including the firm’s level of sunk costs and the industry concentration. Using an unbalanced panel of data for 5,849 firms in French food industries from 1996 to 2002, we find a signifi...

  6. Procurement with specialized firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boone, Jan; Schottmuller, C.

    2016-01-01

    We analyze optimal procurement mechanisms when firms are specialized. The procurement agency has incomplete information concerning the firms' cost functions and values high quality as well as low price. Lower type firms are cheaper (more expensive) than higher type firms when providing low (high)

  7. Essays on Firm Behavior in Developing Economies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abeberese, Ama Baafra

    The performance of firms is central to growth in developing economies. A burgeoning literature within development economics seeks to understand the behavior of firms in developing countries and the constraints to their performance. This dissertation explores two types of constraints---infrastructure-related constraints and trade-related constraints---faced by manufacturing firms in developing countries. Despite the widely acknowledged importance of infrastructure for economic growth, there has been relatively little research on how infrastructure affects the decisions of firms. Electricity, in particular, is commonly cited by firms in developing countries as a major obstacle to their performance. In the first two chapters, I analyze the responses of firms to two types of electricity constraints, namely electricity prices and electricity shortages. Chapter 1 provides evidence on how electricity prices affect a firm's industry choice and productivity growth using data on Indian manufacturing firms. I construct an instrument for electricity price as the interaction between the price of coal paid by power utilities, which is arguably exogenous to firm characteristics, and the initial share of thermal generation in a state's total electricity generation capacity. I find that, in response to an exogenous increase in electricity price, firms reduce their electricity consumption and switch to industries with less electricity-intensive production processes. I also find that firm output, machine intensity and labor productivity decline with an increase in electricity price. In addition to these level effects, I show that firm output and productivity growth rates are negatively affected by high electricity prices. These results suggest that electricity constraints faced by firms may limit a country's growth by leading firms to operate in industries with fewer productivity-enhancing opportunities. Chapter 2 examines the impact of electricity shortages on firm investment. I

  8. What drives firm profitability? A multilevel approach to the Spanish agri-food sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zouaghi, F.; Sánchez-García, M.; Hirsch, S.

    2017-01-01

    Strategic management research has demonstrated the importance of firm- and industry structure as drivers of firm profitability. However, less is known about how firms´ geographical locations affect profitability. Applying a multi-level approach of hierarchical linear modeling we estimated firm-, industry-, and region-specific effects on profitability of 3,273 agri-food firms operating in different Spanish districts over the time span 2006-2013. The results reveal the dominance of firm-specific effects which contribute up to 48.8% to variance in firm profitability while the contribution of industry effects (0.8-4.2%), geographical location (0.1-1.8%), and year effects (0.1-2.5%) is rather small. Moreover, firm size, risk, and innovative activity turn out as significant profit drivers at the firm level. Although firm-effects outweigh industry- and region-specific factors, the results indicate that industry concentration as well as regional education and unemployment influence profitability. In addition, proximity to technological institutes as well as the degree of urbanization of the region in which a firm operates can be drivers of profitability. Hence, despite the superiority of firm effects the results indicate that agri-food managers should also consider possible advantages from location-based resources in order to ensure competitiveness.

  9. What drives firm profitability? A multilevel approach to the Spanish agri-food sector

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zouaghi, F.; Sánchez-García, M.; Hirsch, S.

    2017-07-01

    Strategic management research has demonstrated the importance of firm- and industry structure as drivers of firm profitability. However, less is known about how firms´ geographical locations affect profitability. Applying a multi-level approach of hierarchical linear modeling we estimated firm-, industry-, and region-specific effects on profitability of 3,273 agri-food firms operating in different Spanish districts over the time span 2006-2013. The results reveal the dominance of firm-specific effects which contribute up to 48.8% to variance in firm profitability while the contribution of industry effects (0.8-4.2%), geographical location (0.1-1.8%), and year effects (0.1-2.5%) is rather small. Moreover, firm size, risk, and innovative activity turn out as significant profit drivers at the firm level. Although firm-effects outweigh industry- and region-specific factors, the results indicate that industry concentration as well as regional education and unemployment influence profitability. In addition, proximity to technological institutes as well as the degree of urbanization of the region in which a firm operates can be drivers of profitability. Hence, despite the superiority of firm effects the results indicate that agri-food managers should also consider possible advantages from location-based resources in order to ensure competitiveness.

  10. Incentives and cooperation in firms: Field evidence

    OpenAIRE

    Berger, Johannes; Herbertz, Claus; Sliwka, Dirk

    2011-01-01

    We empirically investigate the impact of incentive scheme structure on the degree of cooperation in firms using a unique and representative data set. Combining employee survey data with detailed firm level information on the relative importance of individual, team, and company performance for compensation, we find a significant positive relation between the intensity of team incentives and several survey measures of cooperation. Moreover, higher powered team incentives are associated with low...

  11. Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange

    OpenAIRE

    Javed, Attiya Y.; Iqbal, Robina

    2007-01-01

    We investigated whether differences in quality of firm-level corporate governance can explain the firm-level performance in a cross-section of companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. Therefore, we analysed the relationship between firm-level value as measured by Tobin’s Q and total Corporate Governance Index (CGI) and three sub-indices: Board, Shareholdings and Ownership, and Disclosures and Transparency for a sample of 50 firms. The results indicate that corporate gover...

  12. Founder Control, Ownership Structure and Firm Value: Evidence from Entrepreneurial Listed Firms in China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lijun Xia

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available In emerging markets, the deviation between the ultimate controlling shareholders' voting rights and their cash flow rights (hereafter “DVC” in the listed firms is quite prevalent. DVC could be introduced due to the ultimate controlling shareholders' opportunistic incentives, as well as by their incentives to improve firm efficiency. This study uses 229 listed firms ultimately controlled by individuals or families (hereafter “entrepreneurial firms” for 2004 in China, to investigate the effect of DVC on firm value and to determine whether it is different between founder and non-founder controlled firms. We find that DVC has a positive effect on firm value for founder controlled firms. This result implies that investors believe that their interests are better protected by founder controlled firms than by non-founder controlled firms.

  13. Heterogeneity in Wage Setting Behavior in a New-Keynesian Model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eijffinger, S.C.W.; Grajales Olarte, A.; Uras, R.B.

    2015-01-01

    In this paper we estimate a New-Keynesian DSGE model with heterogeneity in price and wage setting behavior. In a recent study, Coibion and Gorodnichenko (2011) develop a DSGE model, in which firms follow four different types of price setting schemes: sticky prices, sticky information, rule of thumb,

  14. Firm Traits and Web Based Disclosures in Top Nigerian Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bello Ayuba

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The use of the internet as a medium of dissemination of information to stakeholders is increasingly gaining grounds. This study extends existing literature on web disclosures by investigating the characteristics that predict the extent of web-based disclosures. In this study, corporate websites of top Nigerian firms are used as sources of data, while a regression analysis is employed to examine the extent of prediction. Results indicate that the firm size and industry type are significant determinants of web disclosures. However, other firm traits such as ownership dispersion and financial performance do not significantly explain the extent of internet disclosures. The study recommends that a regulatory template for corporate web disclosures be put in place by government regardless of the size or industry classification of the firm. This is with a view to considerably reduce agency conflicts arising from information asymmetry in publicly listed firms in Nigeria.

  15. KNOWLEDGE CAPITAL, INTANGIBLE ASSETS, AND LEVERAGE: EVIDENCE FROM U.S. AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY FIRMS

    OpenAIRE

    Sporleder, Thomas L.; Moss, Leeann E.; Nickels, Lori A.

    2002-01-01

    Firms in general, and high technology firms such as biotechnology firms in particular, are both a set of assets in place and growth opportunities. This has important implications for managerial decision-making. Knowledge capital motivates exploitation of growth options, which affects firm cash flow. In turn, the level and volatility of firm cash flow influences firm financing decisions. Previous studies suggest that knowledge capital can influence both the location and capital structure of fi...

  16. Efficiency effects of quality of service and environmental factors. Experience from Norwegian electricity distribution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Growitsch, Christian [WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut fuer Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH, Bad Honnef (Germany). Dept. of Energy Markets and Energy Regulation; Jamasb, Tooraj [Edinburgh Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Economics; Wetzel, Heike [Cologne Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Economics

    2010-08-15

    Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms (observable heterogeneity) and factors that are not identifiable (unobserved heterogeneity) on measured cost and quality performance of firms. This paper analyses the effect of geographic and weather factors and unobserved heterogeneity on a set of 128 Norwegian electricity distribution utilities for the 2001-2004 period. We utilize data on almost 100 geographic and weather variables to identify real economic inefficiency while controlling for observable and unobserved heterogeneity. We use the factor analysis technique to reduce the number of environmental factors into few composite variables and to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. We then estimate the established stochastic frontier models of Battese and Coelli (1992; 1995) and the recent true fixed effects models of Greene (2004; 2005) without and with environmental variables. In the former models some composite environmental variables have a significant effect on the performance of utilities. These effects vanish in the true fixed effects models. However, the latter models capture the entire unobserved heterogeneity and therefore show significantly higher average efficiency scores. (orig.)

  17. A note on unionized firms' incentive to integrate vertically

    OpenAIRE

    Grandner, Thomas

    2000-01-01

    In this paper I analyze a vertically structured monopolized market with unionized firms. I compare two types of contracts: vertical integration and franchising. With franchising and wage bargaining at the firm level the union in the downstream firm is either very powerful or has no bargaining power at all, depending on the specific time structure of the model. These arguments could make integration preferable for the profit owners even if integration is accompanied by small transaction costs....

  18. Firm Productivity and Infrastructure Costs in East Africa

    OpenAIRE

    Iimi, Atsushi; Humphrey, Richard Martin; Melibaeva, Sevara

    2015-01-01

    Infrastructure is an important driving force for economic growth. It reduces trade and transaction costs and stimulates the productivity of the economy. Africa has been lagging behind in the global manufacturing market. Among others, infrastructure is an important constraint in many African countries. Using firm-level data for East Africa, the paper reexamines the relationship between firm ...

  19. The effects of innovation on firm performance of supporting industries in Hanoi, Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nham Tuan

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Innovation, including product, process, marketing, and organizational innovation within a firm, is considered as one of essential component for surviving and growing. These innovation activities create value and competitive advantages for successful organizations; therefore, understanding the organization’s overall innovation is the first and foremost to understand the role of innovation on firm performance. The objective of this research is to explore two parts: the impacts of innovation on the different aspect of innovation performance, then their effects to firm performance (production, market, and financial performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data from questionnaire survey. The questionnaire involves 4 parts including general information, innovation activities; innovative performance, and firm performance. This research focuses on firms in supporting industries of mechanics, electronics, motorbike and automobile. These firms are in a list of companies (known as The Excellent Vietnamese Companies in Northern and Central Vietnam established by JETRO and VCCI. There are 150 firms in this list. The questionnaire survey was administered to directors, CEO of those firms during April and May, 2014. Out of the 150 questionnaires sent out, 118 were valid, accounting for 78.7% of the true response rate. Analysis methodologies of reliability, factor analysis and regression are utilized in this paper. Findings: The result demonstrated there are positive effects of process, marketing, and organizational innovations on firm performance in supporting firms. More specifically, the higher the level of innovation activities is, the greater the innovative performance is, which means the larger level of Process, organization and marketing innovation activities are, the higher level of innovative performance are likely to be. Secondly, the higher level of Process, organization and marketing innovative performance, the

  20. Firm size and taxes

    OpenAIRE

    Chongvilaivan, Aekapol; Jinjarak, Yothin

    2010-01-01

    The scale dependence in firm growth (smaller firms grow faster) is systematically reflected in the size distribution. This paper studies whether taxes affect the equilibrium firm size distribution in a cross-country context. The main finding is that the empirical association between firm growth and corporate tax (VAT) is positive (negative), with notable differences in the response of manufacturing firms and that of the others. We draw implications for recent debate on the impact of taxes and...

  1. Aggregate fluctuations and the cross-sectional dynamics of firm growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holly, Sean; Petrella, Ivan; Santoro, Emiliano

    2013-01-01

    The paper explores time variation in the distribution of firm level growth of total sales. Three novel results are reported. First, firms on the left-hand side of the distribution, i.e. firms that are growing more slowly or declining, are typically more responsive to aggregate shocks than those...... fluctuations. Financial frictions emerge as a mechanism that is capable of accounting for these facts....

  2. Cyclicality and Firm Size in Private Firm Defaults

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Thais Lærkholm; Lando, David; Medhat, Mamdouh

    2017-01-01

    The Basel II/III and CRD IV Accords reduce capital charges on bank loans to smaller firms by assuming that the default probabilities of smaller firms are less sensitive to macroeconomic cycles. We test this assumption in a default intensity framework using a large sample of bank loans to private...

  3. THE INFLUENCE OF FIRMS STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE DEGREE OF AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES ENJOYED AMONGST FIRMS IN THE LAGOS REGION, NIGERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FAGBOHUNKA Adejompo

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Agglomeration economies is a potent tool in socio-economic revamping, rejuvenation and sustenance of regions, this is as a result of the impulse it transmitted through the multiplier effect it is capable of generated. Therefore, this paper underscores the influence of firms structural characteristics on the degree of agglomeration economies enjoyed amongst firms, using the Lagos region as a case study. The first stage in the collection of primary data involves the reconnaissance survey, thereafter one hundred and three questionnaire were administered in twelve industrial estates; one questionnaire in each of the firm. The paper reveals the following structural characteristics as germane to industrial enterprise; age of firms, areal plant size (m², capacity utilization (in percentage, and Labour size and firms investment. The paper has also found out those agglomeration economies enjoyed ranges from transportation, labour, power supply, to joint water supply. The Roy’s Largest Root test employed to test for the significance of the canonical correlations at 0.05 significant levels shows the calculated F-value 3.5247 and the tabulated F-value 2.90. This suggests that the degree of agglomeration economies enjoyed by firms is significantly explained by the size and structural characteristics of the firms. The paper therefore recommends more and active government participation in the industrial scene, given the necessary support for the expansion of firm’s structural characteristics which will lead to increase agglomeration economies enjoyed by these firms.

  4. Panel Data Models of New Firm Formation in New England

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jitendra Parajuli

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the impact of the determinants of new firm formation in New England at the county level from 1999 to 2009. Based on the Spatial Durbin panel model that accounts for spillover effects, it is found that population density and human capital positively affect single-unit firm births within a county and its neighbors. Population growth rate also exerts a significant positive impact on new firm formation, but most of the effect is from spatial spillovers. On the contrary, the ratio of large to small firm in terms of employment size and unemployment rate negatively influence single-unit firm births both within counties and among neighbors. However, there is no significant impact of local financial capital and personal income growth on new firm formation.

  5. Demographic variability and heterogeneity among individuals within and among clonal bacteria strains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jouvet, Lionel; Rodriguez-Rojas, Alexandro; Steiner, Ulrich

    2018-01-01

    to accurately decompose the drivers of heterogeneity among individuals as genetically fixed or selectively neutral. Rather than working on wild populations we present here data from a simple bacterial system in the lab, Escherichia coli. Our system, based on cutting-edge microfluidic techniques, provides high...... control over the genotype and the environment. It therefore allows to unambiguously decompose and quantify fixed genetic variability and dynamic stochastic variability among individuals. We show that within clonal individual variability (dynamic heterogeneity) in lifespan and lifetime reproduction...

  6. Female Directors and Firm Performance: Evidence from UK Listed Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Pasaribu, Pananda

    2017-01-01

    The impact of female directors on firm performance has lacked consistency in the previously conducted empirical studies, which may be due to the endogeneity problem, or certain characteristics (i.e. governance, industry, competition). This study examines the relationship between female directors and firm performance by addressing those problems. This study analyses all non-financial UK listed firms during the period 2004-2012 and employs several econometric models. The regression results indi...

  7. Do Firms Believe in Interest Rate Parity?

    OpenAIRE

    Matthew R. McBrady; Sandra Mortal; Michael J. Schill

    2010-01-01

    Using a broad sample of international corporate bond offerings, we provide evidence that corporate borrowers make opportunistic currency choices, in that they denominate the currency of their bonds in a manner that is inconsistent with a belief in either covered or uncovered interest rate parity. Using firm-level tests, we identify a number of characteristics of firms that engage in opportunistic behavior. We observe that large issuers located in developed markets with investment-grade rating...

  8. Incorporating Employee Heterogeneity into Default Rules for Retirement Plan Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goda, Gopi Shah; Manchester, Colleen Flaherty

    2013-01-01

    We study the effect of incorporating heterogeneity into default rules by examining the choice between retirement plans at a firm that transitioned from a defined benefit (DB) to a defined contribution (DC) plan. The default plan for existing employees varied discontinuously depending on their age. Employing regression discontinuity techniques,…

  9. Firms as liquidity providers: Evidence from the 2007-2008 financial crisis

    OpenAIRE

    García-Appendini, Emilia; Montoriol-Garriga, Judit

    2013-01-01

    Using a supplier-client matched sample, we study the effect of the 2007-2008 financial crisis on between-firm liquidity provision. Consistent with a causal effect of a negative shock to bank credit, we find that firms with high pre-crisis liquidity levels increased the trade credit extended to other corporations and subsequently experienced better performance as compared to ex-ante cash-poor firms. Trade credit taken by constrained firms increased during this period. These findings are consis...

  10. Markets for Technology and the Importance of Firm-Specific Search for Innovation Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sofka, Wolfgang; Grimpe, Christoph

    Firms rely increasingly on external knowledge, e.g. from universities, to improve their innovation performance. Existing research models the acquisition of knowledge either as a firm-specific search or a purchase on markets for technology. The former implies that a firm chooses and develops...... relationships with knowledge sources while the latter suggests a transaction governed by markets. We argue that both mechanisms increase a firm’s innovation performance but that they are interrelated. While on the firm level firm-specific search and acquisitions on markets for technology complement each other......, the costs of firm-specific search are only justified in underdeveloped markets. Otherwise, market transactions provide higher efficiency and flexibility. This negative cross-level interaction effect is stronger the more knowledge in an industry is covered by markets for technology. We test and support...

  11. Performance of Patenting Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Erik Strøjer; Smith, Valdemar; Nielsen, Anders Østergaard

    2000-01-01

    Most countries focus on industries with high technology and the governments grant subsidies to innovating firms. However, there has been remarkable few studies of the performance of innovative firms or industries. This study examines the performance of patent active firms compared to the non-patenting...... firms within the manufacturing sector in Denmark. Performance is measured both by growth in employment as well as in the return on equity and profit share in turnover. The results suggest that differences in performance of patenting and non-patenting firms are very small, which questions the political...

  12. A Firm Level Study of Information Technology Productivity in Europe Using Financial and Market Based Measures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan Peslak

    2004-05-01

    Full Text Available For many years, business has invested significant resources in information technology, hardware, software, and manpower. The Productivity Paradox is the seeming lack of productivity gains despite the increased investment in IT. For many years the existence of a Productivity Paradox has been the subject of research interest. Conflicting results have been obtained from a variety of data sets. Until this time however there has been no study that has investigated European companies’ use of information technology and its impact on productivity. The objective of this study was to investigate information technology productivity with a new data set from a European published source, and measuring productivity using both market and financial based measures. Results of the study indicated that information technology did have a consistent positive impact on firm level productivity in Europe for the years 1996, 1997, and 1998. Both market and financial based productivity measures provided consistent positive significant returns with regard to IT productivity. The major contribution of the study is that it provides an analysis of the impact of European information technology on firm and economic productivity.

  13. When Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Collaborations Co-Occur

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schleimer, Stephanie Christine; Sculman, Arthur D.

    2011-01-01

    There is evidence that intra-firm collaboration and inter-firm collaboration are important for new service development (NSD) and new product development (NPD) success. However, evidence of the contributions of each to innovative outcomes is inconsistent. This inconsistency is associated with the ...

  14. Participation of firms in the skills development levy system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GJ Lee

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Skills development levies are increasingly being utilised to increase enterprise provided training in developing economies. South Africa is one such example. The impact of such incentive systems on the bottom-line of firms is a vital consideration in such programs. Particularly important are the economic conditions under which the incentive will stimulate participation by organisations. The transaction costs of participation must be taken into account: while a levy-grant system clearly creates a prima-facie incentive, it may be prohibitively expensive for some firms to enter the grant disbursement systems. Accordingly, through a simple model of the incentives for firms, the participation level of the firm under various types of levy systems is assessed. Non-monetary considerations are also considered. The implications for participation by firms, along with managerial and policy implications, are discussed.

  15. A firm-level dataset for analyzing entry, exit, employment and R&D expenditures in the UK: 1997-2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ugur, Mehmet; Trushin, Eshref; Solomon, Edna

    2016-09-01

    This data article is related to the research article entitled "Inverted-U relationship between R&D intensity and survival: Evidence on scale and complementarity effects in UK data" (Ugur et al., In press) [1]. It describes the trends in R&D expenditures, employment of R&D personnel and firm entry and exit rates in the UK from 1998 to 2012. We also provide statistics on net employment creation and net R&D investments due to firm entry and exits. In addition, we compute the correlation coefficients between entry and exit rates at the two digit industry level so as to examine whether the correlations are contemporaneous or inter-temporal. Finally, we provide information about the underlying dataset to which secure access is available through UK Data Service Archive 7716 at http://dx.doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-7716-1.

  16. The Relationship between Corporate Governance Indicators and Firm Value: A Case Study of Karachi Stock Exchange

    OpenAIRE

    Attiya Y. Javed; Robina Iqbal

    2007-01-01

    We investigated whether differences in quality of firm-level corporate governance can explain the firm-level performance in a cross-section of companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange. Therefore, we analysed the relationship between firm-level value as measured by Tobins Q and total Corporate Governance Index (CGI) and three sub-indices : Board, Shareholdings and Ownership, and Disclosures and Transparency for a sample of 50 firms. The results indicate that corporate governance does matter ...

  17. Fixed assets revaluation in Spain: Theoretical and practical issues

    OpenAIRE

    Aguilella Ribes, Rosario

    2014-01-01

    Treball Final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs acadèmic 2013-2014 This final degree project focuses on the valuation of non financial fixed assets by Spanish listed firms, which must prepare their individual and consolidated financial statements following different sets of standards: the Spanish PGC for the individual statements and the IASs-IFRSs adopted by the EU for the consolidated accounts. Therefore, these companies have two choices as regards the revaluation o...

  18. Innovation Forms and Firm Export Performance: Empirical Evidence from ECA Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrzej Cieślik

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The main objective of this paper is to verify empirically the relationship between various forms of innovation and export performance of firms from European and Central Asian (ECA countries. Research Design & Methods: In our empirical approach we refer to the self-selection hypothesis derived from the Melitz (2003 model which proposed the existence of a positive relationship between firm productivity and the probability of exporting. We argue that innovation activities should be regarded as a key element that can increase the level of firm productivity. We focus our analysis on four forms of innovation activities: product, process, marketing, organizational and managerial innovation. The empirical implementation of our analytical framework is based on the probit model, applied to the fifth edition of the BEEPS firm level dataset covering 2011-2014. Findings: Our empirical results indicate that the probability of exporting is positively related to both product and process innovations. The marketing and managerial innovations do not seem to affect positively export performance of firms from ECA countries. Implications & Recommendations: It is recommended to develop innovation supporting mechanisms that would target both product and process innovations rather than other forms of innovation in the ECA countries. Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in the use of the multi-country firm level dataset that allows distinguishing between various forms of innovations in the ECA countries.

  19. Environmental Compliance by Firms in the Manufacturing Sector in Mexico

    OpenAIRE

    Lata Gangadharan

    2003-01-01

    To date, little empirical evidence exists to help regulators understand why some firms comply even when there is little financial incentive to do so and others continually violate environmental regulations. This paper examines data on compliance with environmental regulations within the manufacturing sector in Mexico. The probability of complying depends, among other factors, on the kind of management practices of the firm and the level of environmental training. Some firms in the manufacturi...

  20. New technologies, workplace organisation and the age structure of the workforce: Firm-level evidence

    OpenAIRE

    Patrick Aubert; Eve Caroli; Muriel Roger

    2005-01-01

    This paper investigates the relationships between new technologies, innovative workplace practices and the age structure of the workforce in a sample of French manufacturing firms. We find evidence that the wage-bill share of older workers is lower in innovative firms and that the opposite holds for younger workers. This age bias affects both men and women. It is also evidenced within occupational groups, thus suggesting that skills do not completely protect workers against the labour-market ...

  1. ARE SMALL-FIRM CLUSTERS EMERGENT PHENOMENA? EVIDENCE FROM ZIMBABWE’S SMALL FURNITURE- MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Godfrey MUPONDA

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons behind the rapid growth and apparent dynamism of Zimbabwe’s small-firm industrial clusters. The hypothesis behind the study was that these small-firm clusters are emergent phenomena. The study analysed the capital utilisation techniques of small firms located in a large industrial cluster in order to determine the factors that lead to the collective efficiency of such firms. The study found that, in comparison with large, stock exchange-listed firms, the cluster environment enables the small firm to operate from a relatively small capital base and also to use its capital more efficiently in creating revenues and profits. The individual firm does not have to invest its capital in a large assets base as this is done by a specialised group of firms within the cluster. Thus, the cluster has the characteristics of an emergent phenomenon.

  2. Volatility of sales, expectation errors, and inventory investment : Firm level evidence

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bo, H

    2001-01-01

    This paper tests whether demand uncertainty, which is measured by the volatility of sales, affects inventory investment based on the accelerator buffer stock inventory model. Using a panel of Dutch listed firms in the period 1984-1996, we find that the estimated coefficient of the speed parameter of

  3. Entry Mode and Performance of Nordic Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wulff, Jesper

    2015-01-01

    including the proposed moderating effect, on average, yield higher post-entry performance. This study sheds light on inconsistent results found in previous research investigating the impact of international experience and has practical implications for managerial decision-making.......This study investigates whether the relationship between mode of international market entry and non-location bound international experience is weaker for firms that are large or have a high foreign to total sales ratio, labeled multinational experience. Empirical evidence based on 250 foreign...... market entries made by Norwegian, Danish and Swedish firms suggests that the association between equity mode choice and non-location bound international experience diminishes in the presence of higher levels of multinational experience. Furthermore, firms whose entry mode choice is predicted by the model...

  4. The effect of firm characteristics and the propensity to export decision in food industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seyed Hamid Khodadad Hosseini

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effects of firm and management team’s characteristics to develop food industry. The proposed study considers four factors associated with firms and 9 factors, which are related to management team’s characteristics. There were 50 firms in food industry in province of Tehran, Iran and the study has been accomplished among all 50 existing firms. For each firm, between 2-3 questionnaires were distributed among experts in each firm. Cronbach alpha has been calculated as 0.879, which is well above the minimum acceptable level. The results indicate that management knowledge about export market was number one important factor followed by the level of technology used, competitive advantage, believe in being profitable.

  5. Joint sparsity based heterogeneous data-level fusion for target detection and estimation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Ruixin; Zulch, Peter; Distasio, Marcello; Blasch, Erik; Shen, Dan; Chen, Genshe

    2017-05-01

    Typical surveillance systems employ decision- or feature-level fusion approaches to integrate heterogeneous sensor data, which are sub-optimal and incur information loss. In this paper, we investigate data-level heterogeneous sensor fusion. Since the sensors monitor the common targets of interest, whose states can be determined by only a few parameters, it is reasonable to assume that the measurement domain has a low intrinsic dimensionality. For heterogeneous sensor data, we develop a joint-sparse data-level fusion (JSDLF) approach based on the emerging joint sparse signal recovery techniques by discretizing the target state space. This approach is applied to fuse signals from multiple distributed radio frequency (RF) signal sensors and a video camera for joint target detection and state estimation. The JSDLF approach is data-driven and requires minimum prior information, since there is no need to know the time-varying RF signal amplitudes, or the image intensity of the targets. It can handle non-linearity in the sensor data due to state space discretization and the use of frequency/pixel selection matrices. Furthermore, for a multi-target case with J targets, the JSDLF approach only requires discretization in a single-target state space, instead of discretization in a J-target state space, as in the case of the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) or the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that the proposed JSDLF approach achieves excellent performance with near real-time accurate target position and velocity estimates.

  6. Demystifying the role of a state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from the manufacturing sector in Malaysia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amran Rasli

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this research is to examine the role of state ownership in corporate governance and firm performance. We employed ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares regressions to analyze the effects of state ownership on firm performance. We go beyond existing research on state ownership by carefully disentangle investment objectives of state-controlled financial institutions. Such state ownership can be classified as profit-oriented and non-profit-oriented, in which the former consider return on investment to be the primary investment objective, whereas the latter prioritizes socio-economic development. We found that profit-oriented state ownership is an effective corporate governance mechanism and provides political patronage to the firm in the form of firm’s specific resources and credit financing. Although nonprofit-oriented state ownership firms also receive similar political patronage, they tend to be associated with inefficiencies such as the free-rider problems, bureaucracies and political intervention in firm management. We conclude that state ownership consists of heterogeneous entities with respect to corporate governance and firm performance.

  7. A Firm-Specific Analysis of the Exchange-Rate Exposure of Dutch Firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A. de Jong (Abe); J. Ligterink; V. Macrae

    2002-01-01

    textabstractWe examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50% of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a

  8. HETEROGENEITY IN PLASMA HOMOVANILLIC ACID LEVELS IN SCHIZOPHRENIFORM DISORDER

    OpenAIRE

    Pradhan, N.; Harihar, C.; Das, P.; Andrade, C.

    1992-01-01

    Plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA) levels were estimated in 20 cases of schizophreniform disorder, 14 cases of schizophrenia ‘on medication’ and 17 cases of schizophrenia ‘off medication’. A bimodal distribution of pHVA was seen in schizophreniform disorder subjects, suggesting heterogenous groups in terms of dopaminergic function. No significant difference in the pHVA values was seen in the 3 groups, nor was there a relationship between the severity of the illness and the pHVA values; these res...

  9. How do Managerial Successions Shape Corporate Financial Policies in Family Firms?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Amore, Mario Daniele; Minichilli, Alessandro; Corbetta, Guido

    2011-01-01

    Despite recent evidence on the importance of chief executive officer (CEO) successions in family firms, we still know little about the differences in corporate strategies entailed by family and professional managers around transition. We investigate the consequences of managerial successions...... financing: the increase in debt is particularly pronounced for young firms, firms with a high level of investment, and firms in which the controlling family maintains a dominant representation on the board of directors. Examining the importance of financial flexibility, we find that the increase in debt...

  10. Does Nature of Financial Institutions Matter to Firm Growth in Transition Economies?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abubakr SAEED

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available Drawing on firm-level data set on transition economies, this paper investigates the relationship between financial institutions and firm growth. The paper focuses in perspective of growth, how the impact of various sources of external finance varies across firm size. Primarily, it is shown a differential impact of institutions on firm growth, precisely, in terms of employment and sale, growth augments by equity market, local banks, foreign banks, state-owned banks, trade credit and leasing, while informal lending abates growth. In particular, the results suggest that local banks and trade credit improve sale growth of small and medium firms, while these financial institutions are insignificant for large firms. By contrast, state owned banks and informal institutions constrain employment growth of small firms. It is confirmed that irrespective of firm size lease financing exerts statistically significant positive impact on firm growth. Moreover, financial system differences across the regions play vital role in firm growth-finance relationship.

  11. Essays on Family Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, Haoyong

    2012-01-01

    The dissertation examines corporate performance and capital structure of family firms, contributing to the limited empirical research on family firms. Family firms are prevalent in national economies all over the world. It is the prevalence that makes family firms receive increasing attentions from academia. The dissertation consists of an introduction and three chapters. Each chapter is an independent paper. The first chapter is a joint work with Professor Morten Bennedsen and...

  12. Determinants of environmental audit frequency: the role of firm organizational structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Earnhart, Dietrich; Leonard, J Mark

    2013-10-15

    This study empirically examines the extent of environmental management practiced by US chemical manufacturing facilities, as reflected in the number of environmental internal audits conducted annually. As its focus, this study analyzes the effects of firm-level organizational structure on facility-level environmental management practices. For this empirical analysis, the study exploits unique data from a survey distributed to all U.S. chemical manufacturing permitted to discharge wastewater in 2001; the data reflect internal audits conducted during the years 1999-2001. Empirical results reveal differences in auditing behavior based on whether facilities are owned by publicly held or non-publicly held firms, owned by U.S.-based or non-U.S.-based firms, and owned by larger or smaller firms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Bridging Models and Business: Understanding heterogeneity in hidden drivers of customer purchase behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    E. Korkmaz (Evsen)

    2014-01-01

    markdownabstract__Abstract__ Recent years have seen many advances in quantitative models in the marketing literature. Even though these advances enable model building for a better understanding of customer purchase behavior and customer heterogeneity such that firms develop optimal targeting and

  14. Global Sourcing and Firm Selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kohler, Wilhelm; Smolka, Marcel

    2014-01-01

    We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms.......We analyze the sourcing strategies of firms active in the Spanish manufacturing sector. We show that firms that select strategies of vertical integration and of foreign sourcing ex post tend to have been more productive, ex ante, than other firms....

  15. Whom do new firms hire?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahl, Michael S.; Klepper, Steven

    2015-01-01

    Using the matched employer-employee data set for Denmark and information on the founders of new firms, we analyze the hiring choices of all new firms that entered from 2003 to 2010. We develop a theoretical model in which the quality of a firm’s employees determines its average cost, a firm......, and firm size influence the wages firms pay to their early hires. We find that beginning with the time of entry, larger firms consistently pay higher wages to their new hires. These are firms with greater survival prospects at the time of entry based on the pre-entry backgrounds of their founders...

  16. Labor reallocation and firm growth: Benchmarking transition countries against mature market economies

    OpenAIRE

    Mitra, Pradeep; Muravyev, Alexander; Schaffer, Mark E.

    2014-01-01

    This paper uses firm-level survey data to study labor reallocation and firm growth in the transition countries over 1996 - 2005, including benchmarking against developed market economies. The data shows rapid growth of the new private sector and of the micro- and small-firm sectors, with the size distribution of firms moving towards the pattern observed in comparable surveys of developed market economies. Throughout, the regional patterns suggest greater convergence in the transition countrie...

  17. Ownership Structure and Publicness of Firms: A Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wisnu Untoro

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available There has been an extensive body of literature studying the link between ownership structure and firm performance. Some of them focus on the performance difference across ownership types (i.e. state vs foreign vs private domestic. On the other hand, some studies stress ownership structure on the fraction of ownership based on agency theory (i.e. majority versus minority and its derivatives (e.g. ultimate ownership, cross listing. However, an important element has not been explored while discussing ownership structure of firms which is the concept of publicness of firms. Publicness is important to explain to which extent an organization is related with governmental institutions. In fact, there are many engagements of firms with governmental bodies (e.g. deposit and lending from and to public organization. In this present paper, I provide a comprehensive literature review on the intersection between publicness level of firms and ownership structure. Going deeper, I also provide a literature review on the measurement of publicness and postulate a model to link between these two and firm performance as a venue for future studies.

  18. Firm behavior, environmental externalities and public policy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Curtis, Earnest Markell, IV

    This dissertation consists of three essays which examine environmental policy, employer mandates and energy consumption. The essays explore how firms respond to government policies such as environmental regulation and employer mandates. Understanding how firms adjust to government policies is crucial to law makers attempting to design optimal policies that maximize net benefits to society. The first essay, titled Who Loses under Power Plant Cap-and-Trade Programs tests how a major cap-and-trade program, known as the NOx Budget Trading Program (NBP), affected labor markets in the region where it was implemented. The cap-and-trade program dramatically decreased levels of NOx emissions and added substantial costs to energy producers. Using a triple-differences approach that takes advantage of the geographic and time variation of the program as well as variation in industry energy-intensity levels, I examine how employment dynamics changed in manufacturing industries whose production process requires high levels of energy. After accounting for a variety of flexible state, county and industry trends, I find that employment in the manufacturing sector dropped by 1.7% as a result of the NBP. Young workers experienced the largest employment declines and earnings of newly hired workers fell after the regulation began. Employment declines are shown to have occurred primarily through decreased hiring rates rather than increased separation rates, thus mitigating the impact on incumbent workers. The second essay, titled Evaluating Workplace Mandates with Flows versus Stocks: An Application to California Paid Family Leave uses an underexploited data set to examine the impact of the California Paid Family Leave program on employment outcomes for young women. Most papers on mandated benefits examine labor outcomes by looking at earnings and employment levels of all workers. Examining these levels will be imprecise if the impacts of the program develop over time and firms are wary

  19. Gender diversity and firm performance : evidence from Norway 2010-2014

    OpenAIRE

    Muscher, Natalia

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate the impact of gender diversity in firms on firm performance using data from Norwegian firms and municipalities. Gender diversity is measured using three regional gender equality indicators measuring the ratio between men and women’s share in the labour force, the level of gender balanced business structures and the gender distribution among leaders. The first two indicators are used as proxies for gender diversity at the employe...

  20. Do Private Firms Outperform SOE Firms after Going Public in China Given their Different Governance Characteristics?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenghui Tong

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the characteristics of board structure that affect Chinese public firm’s financial performance. Using a sample of 871 firms with 699 observations of previously private firms and 1,914 observations of previously state-owned enterprise (SOE firms, we investigate the differences in corporate governance between publicly listed firms that used to be pure private firms before going public and listed firms that used to be SOEs before their initial public offerings (IPOs. Our main finding is that previously private firms outperform previously SOE firms in China after IPOs. In the wake of becoming listed firms, previously SOE firms might be faced with difficulties adjusting to professional business practices to build and extend competitive advantages. In addition, favorable policies and assistance from the government to the SOE firms might have triggered complacency, especially in early years after getting listed. On the other hand, professional savvy and acumen, combined with efficiency and favorable business climate created by the government have probably led the previously private firms to improve their values stronger and faster.

  1. Does firm performance affect board independence?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi Wang

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper seeks to shed some light on the antecedents of board independence. Specifically, it attempts to test the conceptual frameworks which make different predictions about the effect of firm performance on the level of board independence. The results provide support for the perspective that appointing more independent members to the boards may merely represent firms’ attempts to comply with institutional pressures. It is found that higher blockholder shareholdings lead to lower independence on the board, and audit and remuneration committees. Moreover, larger firms have relatively more independent directors sitting on nomination and remuneration committees.

  2. Ontology-Based Model Of Firm Competitiveness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deliyska, Boryana; Stoenchev, Nikolay

    2010-10-01

    Competitiveness is important characteristics of each business organization (firm, company, corporation etc). It is of great significance for the organization existence and defines evaluation criteria of business success at microeconomical level. Each criterium comprises set of indicators with specific weight coefficients. In the work an ontology-based model of firm competitiveness is presented as a set of several mutually connected ontologies. It would be useful for knowledge structuring, standardization and sharing among experts and software engineers who develop application in the domain. Then the assessment of the competitiveness of various business organizations could be generated more effectively.

  3. From the financial crisis to the real economy: using firm-level data to identify transmission channels

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Claessens, C.A.M.F.; Tong, H.; Wei, S-J.

    2012-01-01

    Using accounting data for 7722 non-financial firms in 42 countries, we examine how the 2007-2009 crisis affected firm performance and how various linkages propagated shocks across borders. We isolate and compare effects from changes in business cycle, international trade, and external financing

  4. Eco-Technology Licensing under Emission Tax: Royalty vs. Fixed-Fee

    OpenAIRE

    Seung-Leul Kim; Sang-Ho Lee

    2014-01-01

    This article considers the licensing strategies of eco-technology when an innovator provides pollution abatement goods to oligopolistic polluting firms that produce consumption goods and emit environmental pollutants. In the presence of emission tax, two types of licensing contracts, royalty and fixed-fee, are examined to analyze market equilibrium and to compare their welfare consequences. We show that an eco-innovator provides a non-exclusive license under a royalty contract while it might ...

  5. Firm-specific factors and financial performance of firms in the Czech Republic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pathirawasam Chandrapala

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study is to investigate the role of internal factors in generating financial performance of firms in the Czech Republic. The paper examines the impact of firm specific factors on company financial performance of 974 firms in the Czech Republic over the period 2005 to 2008, using data in the Albertina database. Pooled and panel cross-sectional time series techniques are used for the data analysis. Return on Assets (ROA is the dependent variable of the model and eight firm specific factors are introduced as the explanatory variables. Using Return on Assets as the dependent variable, it is established that the firm size, sales growth and capital turnover are having significant positive impact on financial performance of firms. At the same time, debt ratio and inventory reflect significant negative impact on financial performance of firms. Overall explanatory powers of the two models are low and further research is necessary to increase the statistical power of the model. The results from the present study may be very encouraging and useful for managers as well as investors to plan investment and operational activities to achieve profitability objectives more efficiently and effectively. The findings have important managerial implications.

  6. Exuberance in China's renewable energy investment: Rationality, capital structure and implications with firm level evidence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Dayong; Cao, Hong; Zou, Peijiang

    2016-01-01

    The new century has witnessed phenomenal worldwide growth in renewable energy investments. China has been especially remarkable, surpassing both the US and the EU in 2013. Some recent facts, however, have raised the question of whether exuberant investment in China’s renewable energy sector is rational. This paper aims to contribute to the literature and to the debate in two ways. First, it tests the over-investment hypothesis based on the main stream finance methodology; second, it analyzes the role of capital structure in the performance of China's renewable energy firms. Empirical results show that overinvestment in the renewable energy sector exists. The problem is more significant in the biomass and wind sector. Capital structure is found to be more important to downstream firms, indicating that policy makers may provide support that enables these firms to finance their investments through corporate bonds, commercial credit, or long-terms debts. - Highlights: •We test the over-investment hypothesis of renewable energy firms in China. •The role of capital structure is also empirically investigated. •We find irrational investment and confirm the role of financing structure. •The results are sensitive to the main business sectors and industrial line.

  7. Tentative job analysis for a high-level, fixed-site, nuclear security officer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, K.G.; Trujillo, A.A.

    1977-10-01

    A tentative job analysis for a high-level, fixed-site, nuclear security officer is presented. The primary objective of the report is to provide a framework for evaluating the functions of a security officer in physical protection systems. Several job requirements related to duties, basic skills, personal contacts, supervision, working conditions, and decision making are presented. Individual character traits desirable in security officers are described

  8. Heterogeneity in plasma homovanillic Acid levels in schizophreniform disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pradhan, N; Harihar, C; Das, P; Andrade, C

    1992-04-01

    Plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA) levels were estimated in 20 cases of schizophreniform disorder, 14 cases of schizophrenia 'on medication' and 17 cases of schizophrenia 'off medication'. A bimodal distribution of pHVA was seen in schizophreniform disorder subjects, suggesting heterogenous groups in terms of dopaminergic function. No significant difference in the pHVA values was seen in the 3 groups, nor was there a relationship between the severity of the illness and the pHVA values; these results suggest plasticity of the dopaminergic system to neuroleptics.

  9. International Pricing Strategies for Born-Global Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Neubert

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to understand how born global firms develop their international pricing strategies, practices, and models. It aims to expand the study of international entrepreneurship and born global firms by including a broader and deeper range of pricing aspects than is normally found in the international entrepreneurship and pricing literature. The paper opted for a multiple case-study research design using different sources of evidence, including four in-depth interviews with CEOs of born global firms. The case-study firms were selected using a purposive selection method. The theoretical framework of Ingenbleek, Frambach & Verhallen is used. The results suggest that successful leaders act as ‘integrating forces’ on two levels: by applying a structured and disciplined price-setting process with regular reviews and by mediating between corporate financial goals and the local market reality. The results support the claim that policy makers should offer insights, training and financial support to give promising born global firms the possibility to select the most efficient international pricing models and strategies. The results are relevant for entrepreneurs to understand the importance of efficient price-modelling processes and the influence of the different price strategies and price models on financial results and sales revenues.

  10. The Relationship between Offshoring Strategies and Firm Performance: Impact of innovation, absorptive capacity and firm size

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.W. Roza-van Vuren (Marja)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractHow do offshoring strategies impact firm performance? And how are innovation, absorptive capacity and firm size influencing this relationship? This research investigates how firms of varying size, well-established firms and growing firms may profit from relocating business activities to

  11. Improving the firm's environmental conduct

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Thorbjørn; Koed Madsen, Tage

    2001-01-01

    lead to strategic advantage and, thus, economic gains at the firm level. In view of the great importance of this claim, the purpose of the present article was to apply resource-based insights in order to develop this reasoning further and provide an empirical test of three hypotheses related...

  12. Economies of scale and firm size optimum in rural water supply

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sauer, Johannes

    2005-11-01

    This article is focused on modeling and analyzing the cost structure of water-supplying companies. A cross-sectional data set was collected with respect to water firms in rural areas of former East and West Germany. The empirical data are analyzed by applying a symmetric generalized McFadden (SGM) functional form. This flexible functional form allows for testing the concavity required by microeconomic theory as well as the global imposition of such curvature restrictions without any loss of flexibility. The original specification of the SGM cost function is modified to incorporate fixed factors of water production and supply as, for example, groundwater intake or the number of connections supplied. The estimated flexible and global curvature correct cost function is then used to derive scale elasticities as well as the optimal firm size. The results show that no water supplier in the sample produces at constant returns to scale. The optimal firm size was found to be on average about three times larger than the existing one. These findings deliver evidence for the hypothesis that the legally set supplying areas, oriented at public administrative criteria as well as local characteristics of water resources, are economically inefficient. Hence structural inefficiency in the rural water sector is confirmed to be policy induced.

  13. Using environmental heterogeneity to plan for sea-level rise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunter, Elizabeth A; Nibbelink, Nathan P

    2017-12-01

    Environmental heterogeneity is increasingly being used to select conservation areas that will provide for future biodiversity under a variety of climate scenarios. This approach, termed conserving nature's stage (CNS), assumes environmental features respond to climate change more slowly than biological communities, but will CNS be effective if the stage were to change as rapidly as the climate? We tested the effectiveness of using CNS to select sites in salt marshes for conservation in coastal Georgia (U.S.A.), where environmental features will change rapidly as sea level rises. We calculated species diversity based on distributions of 7 bird species with a variety of niches in Georgia salt marshes. Environmental heterogeneity was assessed across six landscape gradients (e.g., elevation, salinity, and patch area). We used 2 approaches to select sites with high environmental heterogeneity: site complementarity (environmental diversity [ED]) and local environmental heterogeneity (environmental richness [ER]). Sites selected based on ER predicted present-day species diversity better than randomly selected sites (up to an 8.1% improvement), were resilient to areal loss from SLR (1.0% average areal loss by 2050 compared with 0.9% loss of randomly selected sites), and provided habitat to a threatened species (0.63 average occupancy compared with 0.6 average occupancy of randomly selected sites). Sites selected based on ED predicted species diversity no better or worse than random and were not resilient to SLR (2.9% average areal loss by 2050). Despite the discrepancy between the 2 approaches, CNS is a viable strategy for conservation site selection in salt marshes because the ER approach was successful. It has potential for application in other coastal areas where SLR will affect environmental features, but its performance may depend on the magnitude of geological changes caused by SLR. Our results indicate that conservation planners that had heretofore excluded low

  14. Firm-Specific Learning and the Nature of the Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Thorbjørn

    2007-01-01

    that a conjoint research program, encompassing both transaction costs and capabilities, must be developed and tested empirically. Cet article discute les limites d'une explication de l'existence de la firme fondée exclusivement sur les coûts de transaction en indiquant quelques facteurs additionnels susceptibles...... d'intervenir. Un modèle heuristique simple montre que les effets d'apprentissage spécifiques à la firme peuvent surmonter les coûts de surveillance des employés et expliquer l'existence de la firme même en l'absence de coûts de transaction liés au mode d'organisation de marché. Une comparaison de l......'importance relative des explications fondées sur les coûts de transaction et celles fondées sur les compétences en ce qui concerne l'existence de la firme montre qu'il n'y a aucune raison a priori de supposer la suprématie d'un type d'explication à l'autre. Nous soutenons qu'un programme de recherche conjoint...

  15. Scale and technological factors in the diversification structure of business firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Castaldi, C; Milakovic, M; Secchi, A

    We present empirical evidence on diversification patterns in Italian manufacturing firms, where we observe a robust relationship between firm size and diversification levels. The overall findings support the 'resource-' and 'competence-based' theories of corporate diversification. In addition, we

  16. Stakeholder Governance, Competition and Firm Value

    OpenAIRE

    Allen, Franklin; Carletti, Elena; Marquez, Robert

    2014-01-01

    In many countries, the legal system or social norms ensure that firms are stakeholder oriented. We analyze the advantages and disadvantages of stakeholder-oriented firms that are concerned with employees and suppliers compared to shareholder-oriented firms in a model of imperfect competition. Stakeholder firms are more (less) valuable than shareholder firms when marginal cost uncertainty is greater (less) than demand uncertainty. With globalization shareholder firms and stakeholder firms ofte...

  17. Evaluation of person-level heterogeneity of treatment effects in published multiperson N-of-1 studies: systematic review and reanalysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raman, Gowri; Balk, Ethan M; Lai, Lana; Shi, Jennifer; Chan, Jeffrey; Lutz, Jennifer S; Dubois, Robert W; Kravitz, Richard L; Kent, David M

    2018-05-26

    Individual patients with the same condition may respond differently to similar treatments. Our aim is to summarise the reporting of person-level heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE) in multiperson N-of-1 studies and to examine the evidence for person-level HTE through reanalysis. Systematic review and reanalysis of multiperson N-of-1 studies. Medline, Cochrane Controlled Trials, EMBASE, Web of Science and review of references through August 2017 for N-of-1 studies published in English. N-of-1 studies of pharmacological interventions with at least two subjects. Citation screening and data extractions were performed in duplicate. We performed statistical reanalysis testing for person-level HTE on all studies presenting person-level data. We identified 62 multiperson N-of-1 studies with at least two subjects. Statistical tests examining HTE were described in only 13 (21%), of which only two (3%) tested person-level HTE. Only 25 studies (40%) provided person-level data sufficient to reanalyse person-level HTE. Reanalysis using a fixed effect linear model identified statistically significant person-level HTE in 8 of the 13 studies (62%) reporting person-level treatment effects and in 8 of the 14 studies (57%) reporting person-level outcomes. Our analysis suggests that person-level HTE is common and often substantial. Reviewed studies had incomplete information on person-level treatment effects and their variation. Improved assessment and reporting of person-level treatment effects in multiperson N-of-1 studies are needed. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  18. Corporate Governance Provisions, Family Involvement, and Firm Performance in Publicly Traded Family Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Esra Memili

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This study examines the moderation effects of corporate governance provisions on the link between family involvement (i.e., family ownership and family management in publicly-traded firms and firm performance by drawing upon agency theory, with a focus on principal-principal agency issues, and the extant family governance literature. We develop and test the hypotheses on 386 of the S&P 500 firms longitudinally. Findings support the hypotheses suggesting the moderation effects of the use of provisions (a protecting controlling owners in terms of their sustainability of controlling status, and (b protecting management legally on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family ownership and firm performance. We also found support for the moderation effects of provisions (c protecting controlling owners in terms of their voting rights, (d protecting noncontrolling owners, and (e protecting management monetarily on the inverted U-shaped relationship between family management and firm performance. By this, our study provides empirical support for the principal-principal agency perspective on the corporate governance in publicly-traded family firms. As such, it suggests new avenues of research for both the corporate governance literature, as well as for the theory of the family firm. Our study also offers insights to policy directed toward monitoring the actions of large shareholders such as family and enhancing the overall shareholder value in publicly-traded family firms.

  19. Nitrogen fixed by wheat plants as affected by nitrogen fertilizer levels and Non-symbiotic bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Soliman, S; Aly, S S.M.; Gadalla, A M [Soils and Water Dept., Atomic Energy Authority, Cairo (Egypt); Abou Seeda, M [Soils and Water Dept., National Res. Centre, Cairo (Egypt)

    1995-10-01

    Inorganic nitrogen is required for all egyptian soils for wheat. Free living and N 2-fixing microorganisms are able associate closely related with the roots of geraminacae. Pot experiment studies were carried out to examine the response of wheat plants to inoculation with Azospirillum Brasilense and Azotobacter Chroococcum, single or in combination, under various levels of ammonium sulfate interaction between both the inoculants increased straw or grain yield as well as N-uptake by wheat plants with increasing N levels. Results showed that grains of wheat plants derived over 19,24 and 15% of its N content from the atmospheric - N 2 (Ndfa) with application of 25,50 and 75 mg N kg-1 soil in the presence of + Azospirillum + azotobacter. The final amount of N 2-fixers. The highest values of N 2-fixed were observed with mixed inoculants followed by inoculation with Azospirillum and then azotobacter. The recovery of applied ammonium sulfate-N was markedly increased by inoculation with combined inoculants, but less in uninoculated treatments. Seeds inoculated with non-symbiotic fixing bacteria could be saved about 25 kg N without much affecting the grain yield. i fig., 4 tabs.

  20. Nitrogen fixed by wheat plants as affected by nitrogen fertilizer levels and Non-symbiotic bacteria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soliman, S.; Aly, S.S.M.; Gadalla, A.M.; Abou Seeda, M.

    1995-01-01

    Inorganic nitrogen is required for all egyptian soils for wheat. Free living and N 2-fixing microorganisms are able associate closely related with the roots of geraminacae. Pot experiment studies were carried out to examine the response of wheat plants to inoculation with Azospirillum Brasilense and Azotobacter Chroococcum, single or in combination, under various levels of ammonium sulfate interaction between both the inoculants increased straw or grain yield as well as N-uptake by wheat plants with increasing N levels. Results showed that grains of wheat plants derived over 19,24 and 15% of its N content from the atmospheric - N 2 (Ndfa) with application of 25,50 and 75 mg N kg-1 soil in the presence of + Azospirillum + azotobacter. The final amount of N 2-fixers. The highest values of N 2-fixed were observed with mixed inoculants followed by inoculation with Azospirillum and then azotobacter. The recovery of applied ammonium sulfate-N was markedly increased by inoculation with combined inoculants, but less in uninoculated treatments. Seeds inoculated with non-symbiotic fixing bacteria could be saved about 25 kg N without much affecting the grain yield. i fig., 4 tabs

  1. Coping with the Crisis: Recent Evolution in Danish Firms' International Trade Involvement, 2000-2010

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abreha, Kaleb Girma; Smeets, Valerie Anne Rolande; Warzynski, Frederic Michel Patrick

    of products exported and markets served) and scale of exporting activities; considerable dominance of multi-product and multi-destination firms; existence of carry-along trade; the prevalence of core and peripheral products in exports; a small role of economy-wide entry and exit of firms and products......Using a highly disaggregated firm-product-destination level data from Denmark, we document salient features of Danish international production in the recent decade. These include systematic variation in export participation of firms across industries; positive correlation between the scope (number......, and a sizable role of firm-level adding and dropping of products and product-destination combinations as a margin of trade adjustment. Finally, we show that firms responded to the latest economic shock mainly by adjusting the scale of exports and imports. At the same time, changing their products and product-destination...

  2. The Dispersion of Employees' Wage Increase and Firm Performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grund, Christian; Westergård-Nielsen, Niels Chr.

    2008-01-01

    than the dispersion of wage levels. It is reasonable to expect greater dispersion of wage increases to be associated with higher monetary incentives, but also with increased perceptions of unfairness. The authors' analysis of linked employer-employee data from Denmark for the years 1992-97 shows......Previous studies examining intra-firm wage dispersion and firm performance have focused on wage levels. The authors of this study argue that for purposes of comparing wage dispersion's positive incentive effects with its adverse morale effects, the dispersion of wage increases is more revealing...

  3. Heterogeneous Epidemic Model for Assessing Data Dissemination in Opportunistic Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rozanova, Liudmila; Alekseev, Vadim; Temerev, Alexander

    2014-01-01

    that amount of data transferred between network nodes possesses a Pareto distribution, implying scale-free properties. In this context, more heterogeneity in susceptibility means the less severe epidemic progression, and, on the contrary, more heterogeneity in infectivity leads to more severe epidemics...... — assuming that the other parameter (either heterogeneity or susceptibility) stays fixed. The results are general enough to be useful for estimating the epidemic progression with no significant acquired immunity — in the cases where Pareto distribution holds....

  4. Second Thoughts on the Exporter Productivity Premium

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    2012-01-01

    and empirical representations of firm productivity. Instead of marginal productivity we examine in both models the theoretical equivalent of empirically observable productivity (value-added per employee). Given the presence of fixed export costs or heterogeneous mark-ups and trade costs, the observable...

  5. Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amina Buallay

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to measure the impact of Corporate Governance on Firm performance of listed companies in Saudi stock exchange. The study methodology was a pooled data collected from the Saudi stock exchange (TADAUWL for the period from 2012 to 2014. The study sample is 171 listed companies. The study independent variable is Corporate Governance principals. The dependent variable is Firm performance which was measured using ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q. The study also utilized five control variables in order to help measuring the relationship between Corporate Governance and Firm Performance. In conclusion, the study found that the governance level was 61.4% in Saudi stock exchange which is considered high compared to previous studies. The results of the study test indicate that there is no significant impact for corporate governance adoption on firm's operational and financial performance in the listed companies in Saudi stock exchange. By testing the Tobin's Q model the study also concluded that there’s no significant impact for ownership of the largest shareholder and independency of Board of Directors on firm's market performance. Significant impact was found for the ownership and the size of the Board of Directors on firm's performance.

  6. Firming Up Inequality

    OpenAIRE

    Jae Song; David J. Price; Fatih Guvenen; Nicholas Bloom; Till von Wachter

    2015-01-01

    Earnings inequality in the United States has increased rapidly over the last three decades, but little is known about the role of firms in this trend. For example, how much of the rise in earnings inequality can be attributed to rising dispersion between firms in the average wages they pay, and how much is due to rising wage dispersion among workers within firms? Similarly, how did rising inequality affect the wage earnings of different types of workers working for the same employer—men vs. w...

  7. A firm-specific exposure analyis of the exchange-rate exposure of Dutch firms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, A.; Ligterink, J.; Macrae, V.

    2006-01-01

    We examine the relationship between exchange-rate changes and stock returns for a sample of Dutch firms over 1994-1998. We find that over 50 per cent of the firms are significantly exposed to exchange-rate risk. Furthermore, all firms with significant exchange-rate exposure benefit from a

  8. Initial capital structure of portuguese innovative firms : the role of nascent entrepreneurs' human capital

    OpenAIRE

    Couto, Eduardo; Bilau, José

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study is to analyse whether the human capital of the nascent entrepreneur influences the initial capital structure of Portuguese innovative firms. The research model used includes a dependent binary variable devised to check the initial capital structure, two groups of independent variables referring to the human capital and a group of control variables. The results obtained through logistic regression show that "heterogeneity of professional experience" positively influences ...

  9. COEXISTENCE OF PRIVATE FIRMS AND OPEN SOURCE FIRMS UNDER SPILLOVERS AND CONSUMER BIAS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murat YILMAZ

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Open source technologies have been an important divergence from the private produc- tion, and some markets have accommodated both open source firms and private firms. We explore the conditions under which such a coexistence of both type of firms can be seen. Through a simple and tractable game theoretical model, with spillovers on the open source production and positive consumer bias for the privately produced good, we analyze the conditions for which, in the equilibrium, a private firm and an open source firm share the market. We find that for large enough consumer bias, the two types cannot coexist, however when the consumer bias is relatively low and the spillover effect is not too strong, then we get a coexistence result.

  10. The impact of individual-level heterogeneity on estimated infectious disease burden: a simulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, Scott A; Devleesschauwer, Brecht; Wallinga, Jacco

    2016-12-08

    Disease burden is not evenly distributed within a population; this uneven distribution can be due to individual heterogeneity in progression rates between disease stages. Composite measures of disease burden that are based on disease progression models, such as the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), are widely used to quantify the current and future burden of infectious diseases. Our goal was to investigate to what extent ignoring the presence of heterogeneity could bias DALY computation. Simulations using individual-based models for hypothetical infectious diseases with short and long natural histories were run assuming either "population-averaged" progression probabilities between disease stages, or progression probabilities that were influenced by an a priori defined individual-level frailty (i.e., heterogeneity in disease risk) distribution, and DALYs were calculated. Under the assumption of heterogeneity in transition rates and increasing frailty with age, the short natural history disease model predicted 14% fewer DALYs compared with the homogenous population assumption. Simulations of a long natural history disease indicated that assuming homogeneity in transition rates when heterogeneity was present could overestimate total DALYs, in the present case by 4% (95% quantile interval: 1-8%). The consequences of ignoring population heterogeneity should be considered when defining transition parameters for natural history models and when interpreting the resulting disease burden estimates.

  11. Appraisal of Information Technology Requirements in Quantity Surveying Firms in Northern Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. U. Datti

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available A worrisome trend in the adoption of emerging technologies for competitive advantages and improved productivities by QSs have been observed in that there is overwhelming evidence that there is an increasing usage of IT in quantity surveying firms but little or no noticeable benefits on the practice. It however becomes pertinent to ask then, that despite the increases adoption of computing and telecommunication technologies, why isn’t there any noticeable change due to the impacts of IT in the Nigerian Construction Industry with particular reference to Quantity Surveying practices. The study appraised the requirement of IT in quantity surveying practice in Nigeria. It examined the position of IT in quantity surveying firms in terms of its requirement and analyzed IT requirements-based problem constraining quantity surveying firms. The study is a survey research designed to obtain information on information technology in QS firms. A self-administered questionnaire was employed to quantity surveyors in consulting firms for responses. Responses were returned and analyzed using severity index and later ranked in order of importance. The results indicate a high level of computerization of professional services among the firms with greater number of their computers being networked. However, despite high level of networking of available computers, sharing of printers and other scarce tools/technologies are not established. Compared to developed countries such as Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and USA, the position of IT requirements in QS firms in Nigeria can be said to be at basic level with organization possessing and applying basic IT tools and technologies (e.g. scanners, digital cameras, dvd/cd-rom, general purpose software, QS application software, chat programs etc. in their daily operation and processes. While most firms are progressing toward intermediate level by possessing intermediate IT tools and technologies (e.g. teleconferencing

  12. Organizational learning capability, firm innovativeness, and firm performance: A meta-analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schlägel, Christopher; Reichel, Lisa-Marie; Richter, Nicole Franziska

    In the last twenty years a growing number of empirical studies tested the association be-tween organizational learning capability (OLC) and various economic outcomes. While these studies have provided a better understanding of these relationships, the literature is characterized by the use...... different measures. Based on 53 studies (13,663 firms), we (a) provide a systematic overview of the most commonly used OLC measures, (b) use meta-analytic techniques to highlight the relevance of OLC for firm innovativeness (ruc = .39) and firm perfor-mance (ruc = .41), and (c) explore the unique and common...

  13. Earnings Management and CSR Disclosure. Family vs. Non-Family Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giovanna Gavana

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Building on Institutional theory and Signaling theory, integrated with the socioemotional wealth (SEW approach, we studied the effect of earnings management (EM practices on a firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR disclosure behavior. In so doing, we analyzed a sample of 226 non-financial, family and non-family listed firms for the period, 2006–2015. Our results suggest that family firms, in instances of downward earnings management, are more prone to diverting attention from these practices by means of CSR disclosure, compared to non-family firms, although the level of family ownership exerts a moderating effect. Moreover, we found that a firm’s visibility, in terms of size, significantly enhances this behavior and that the effect is higher for family firms.

  14. Homogeneity of Continuum Model of an Unsteady State Fixed Bed Reactor for Lean CH4 Oxidation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Subagjo

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the homogeneity of the continuum model of a fixed bed reactor operated in steady state and unsteady state systems for lean CH4 oxidation is investigated. The steady-state fixed bed reactor system was operated under once-through direction, while the unsteady-state fixed bed reactor system was operated under flow reversal. The governing equations consisting of mass and energy balances were solved using the FlexPDE software package, version 6. The model selection is indispensable for an effective calculation since the simulation of a reverse flow reactor is time-consuming. The homogeneous and heterogeneous models for steady state operation gave similar conversions and temperature profiles, with a deviation of 0.12 to 0.14%. For reverse flow operation, the deviations of the continuum models of thepseudo-homogeneous and heterogeneous models were in the range of 25-65%. It is suggested that pseudo-homogeneous models can be applied to steady state systems, whereas heterogeneous models have to be applied to unsteady state systems.

  15. Quantifying geological uncertainty for flow and transport modeling in multi-modal heterogeneous formations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feyen, Luc; Caers, Jef

    2006-06-01

    In this work, we address the problem of characterizing the heterogeneity and uncertainty of hydraulic properties for complex geological settings. Hereby, we distinguish between two scales of heterogeneity, namely the hydrofacies structure and the intrafacies variability of the hydraulic properties. We employ multiple-point geostatistics to characterize the hydrofacies architecture. The multiple-point statistics are borrowed from a training image that is designed to reflect the prior geological conceptualization. The intrafacies variability of the hydraulic properties is represented using conventional two-point correlation methods, more precisely, spatial covariance models under a multi-Gaussian spatial law. We address the different levels and sources of uncertainty in characterizing the subsurface heterogeneity, and explore their effect on groundwater flow and transport predictions. Typically, uncertainty is assessed by way of many images, termed realizations, of a fixed statistical model. However, in many cases, sampling from a fixed stochastic model does not adequately represent the space of uncertainty. It neglects the uncertainty related to the selection of the stochastic model and the estimation of its input parameters. We acknowledge the uncertainty inherent in the definition of the prior conceptual model of aquifer architecture and in the estimation of global statistics, anisotropy, and correlation scales. Spatial bootstrap is used to assess the uncertainty of the unknown statistical parameters. As an illustrative example, we employ a synthetic field that represents a fluvial setting consisting of an interconnected network of channel sands embedded within finer-grained floodplain material. For this highly non-stationary setting we quantify the groundwater flow and transport model prediction uncertainty for various levels of hydrogeological uncertainty. Results indicate the importance of accurately describing the facies geometry, especially for transport

  16. A social network model of supply chain management in formal and informal inter-firm engagement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lokhman Hakim Osman

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background: This research looks into the different effects of firms' network structural positions in an upstream supply network upon the firms' level of relational capital outcomes.  Previous research has largely focus on the context of decentralized network structure.  However, the supply network is a centralized network because of the existence of the focal firm.  The existence of the focal firm may influence the impact of relational capital outcomes.  Methods: The objective of this research is to determine the type of network structural positions required to obtain reasonable relational capital outcome in upstream supply network.  Results and conclusions: This study found that, network structural positions i.e. betweeness centrality contributed to firms' level of relational capital influence. In conclusion, firms, embedded in upstream supply network benefits differently in terms of relational capital through different degree of embeddedness.  Firms' resources should be re-aligned to match the benefits with the different network structural positions.

  17. Foreign Direct Investment and the Survival of Domestic Private Firms in Viet Nam

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kokko, Ari; Thang, Tran Toan

    2014-01-01

    Foreign direct investment (FDI) may benefit local firms in the host country through various kinds of spillovers, but it may also raise competition and result in the crowding out of domestic firms. Using detailed firm-level data for the period 2001–2008, this paper examines the aggregate effect...... significantly, while downstream FDI may reduce the hazard. The presence of SOEs has a direct negative effect on the survival odds of local private firms in the same industry, but there is also an indirect impact on the exit hazard from FDI. Local firms are more vulnerable to foreign entry in sectors with high...

  18. Resource specialization, customer orientation, and firm performance: an empirical investigation of valuable resources

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Hans Eibe

    2011-01-01

    This study contributes to the strategic marketing research by empirically investigating the role of customer orientation in explaining how firms leverage their specialized but vulnerable resources. The aim is thus to explore a subset of the means by which resources become valuable to the firm...... – the first criterion for a strategic resource. Hypotheses are developed and tested using CEO questionnaire responses from a sample of manufacturing firms and census accounting data. The results show that there is a strong link between industry-specific resources and return on assets for firms with high...... levels of customer orientation. We also report that firm-specific resources are unrelated to firm performance and that a customer orientation – investigated in isolation, may be detrimental to firm performance. Research and managerial implications are discussed....

  19. The Effectiveness and Economic Efficiency in the Context of Performance Management at the Firm Level

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihaela-Cristina ONICA

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Considering that firm performance is incomplete without addressing associated risk to fulfill it, the main objective of this research is to underline the management contribution to the performance and risk of the analyzed enterprise. A detailed financial situation analysis, which are employing annual financial analysis procedures, underling the performance and risks influencing factors, are considering one starting point for addressing the issue. The introduced variables are insuring a whole vision of firm activity and an appropriate strategy for results significance.

  20. Social security and firm performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lee, Sangheon; Torm, Nina

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates how social security provision - a key determinant of formality - impacts on small and medium-sized firm performance in Viet Nam. Based on enterprise census data covering all registered firms from 2006 to 2011, the authors find that firms which increase their social...... security coverage by 10 per cent experience a revenue gain of 1.4-2.0 per cent per worker and a profit gain of up to 1.8 per cent, depending on the survival time of the firm. However, given the time lag between 'investment' (in social security contributions) and returns (enhanced firm performance...

  1. Polymer-based 2D/3D wafer level heterogeneous integration for SSL module

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Yuan, C.; Wei, J.; Ye, H.; Koh, S.; Harianto, S.; Nieuwenhof, M.A. van den; Zhang, G.Q.

    2012-01-01

    This paper demonstrates a heterogeneous integration of solid state lighting (SSL) module, including light source (LED) and driver/control components. Such integration has been realized by the polymer-based reconfigured wafer level package technologies and such structure has been prototyped and

  2. Compatibility of Firm Positioning Strategy and Website Content: Highest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evla MUTLU KESİCİ

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Corporate websites are essential platforms through which firms introduce their goods and services on B2B and B2C level, express financial information for the stakeholders and share corporate values, purposes and activities. Due to its facilities, websites take part in firm positioning strategy. Accordingly this study aims to understand the innovation oriented positioning through corporate websites. The method applied in this study has been adapted from the 2QCV2Q Model developed by Mich and Franch (2000 to evaluate websites and top 30 firms with the highest Research and Development expenditures listed in Turkishtime (2015 have been analyzed. Within this context, this study presents a revised and updated method for the assessments of websites through positioning strategy framework. Findings indicate no direct relationship between website evaluation and R&D expenditure, though some common weaknesses have been put forward, such as information about management of the firms. Besides, publicly traded firms are recognized to facilitate websites more efficiently than non-publicly traded firms. Study contribute to both academia and practitioners as putting forward a new approach for 2QCV2Q Model and indicating the similarities and differences among the corporate websites through positioning perspective.

  3. Evidence for a Significant Level of Extrinsic Anisotropy Due to Heterogeneities in the Mantle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alder, C.; Bodin, T.; Ricard, Y. R.; Capdeville, Y.; Debayle, E.; Montagner, J. P.

    2017-12-01

    Observations of seismic anisotropy are used as a proxy for lattice-preferred orientation (LPO) of anisotropic minerals in the Earth's mantle. In this way, it provides important constraints on the geometry of mantle deformation. However, in addition to LPO, small-scale heterogeneities that cannot be resolved by long-period seismic waves may also produce anisotropy. The observed (i.e. apparent) anisotropy is then a combination of an intrinsic and an extrinsic component. Assuming the Earth's mantle exhibits petrological inhomogeneities at all scales, tomographic models built from long-period seismic waves may thus display extrinsic anisotropy. Here, we investigate the relation between the amplitude of seismic heterogeneities and the level of induced S-wave radial anisotropy as seen by long-period seismic waves. We generate some simple 1D and 2D isotropic models that exhibit a power spectrum of heterogeneities as what is expected for the Earth's mantle, i.e. varying as 1/k, with k the wavenumber of these heterogeneities. The 1D toy models correspond to simple layered media. In the 2D case, our models depict marble-cake patterns in which an anomaly in S-wave velocity has been advected within convective cells. The long-wavelength equivalents of these models are computed using upscaling relations that link properties of a rapidly varying elastic medium to properties of the effective, i.e. apparent, medium as seen by long-period waves. The resulting homogenized media exhibit extrinsic anisotropy and represent what would be observed in tomography. In the 1D case, we analytically show that the level of anisotropy increases with the square of the amplitude of heterogeneities. This relation is numerically verified for both 1D and 2D media. In addition, we predict that 10 % of chemical heterogeneities in 2D marble-cake models can induce more than 3.9 % of extrinsic radial S-wave anisotropy. We thus predict that a non-negligible part of the observed anisotropy in tomographic

  4. Family firm research – A review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Cheng

    2014-09-01

    Part I of the article discusses the fundaments of family firms: the prevalence of and the agency conflicts within family firms. Part II summarizes the findings of recent U.S. family firm studies. It reviews the evidence on the family firm premium (how, which, and when family firms are associated with a valuation premium, the manifestation of the agency conflict between majority and minority shareholders in family firms, earnings quality and corporate disclosure, and the determinants of family ownership and control. Part III discusses the prevalence and characteristics of Chinese family firms and reviews the findings of related studies. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research.

  5. Retirement and Fixed Costs to Work: An Empirical Analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kolodziejczyk, Christophe

    In this paper we study consumption around the age of retirement. We consider a model where consumption and leisure are non-separable and retirement is endogenous. We consider the case where non-separabilities come from the existence of fixed costs to work. We show that the existence of unobserved...... heterogeneity related to these non-separabilities will lead to biases of the OLS estimators of structural parameters of demand systems conditioned on retirement. These estimates give bounds to the true fixed costs. We estimate the model with French data and compute the bounds of these structural parameters...

  6. Ownership Structure, Earnings Management and Investment Opportunity Set: Evidence from Mexican Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan M. San Martin-Reyna

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the influence of ownership, board of directors, and financial leverage on companies’ performance when these either face, or do not face, profitable growth opportunities. Towards that end we examined a sample of 83 listed Mexican firms during the period 2005-2011. The results confirm the relevance of debt and board of directors in terms of firm market value by showing a negative relationship between performance and both, board of directors and leverage, in the presence of growth opportunities. In contrast, the relationship between debt and performance becomes positive when firms have no profitable investment projects. The results also demonstrate that the relevance of controlling shareholders on firm value is different when firms have or not growth opportunities. Therefore, our results show that ownership structure, composition and size of board and the level of leverage play a dual role on performance (increase or decrease the firm value and determinewhether the firms have profitable investment projects.

  7. Relational Capital Quality and Client Loyalty: Firm-Level Evidence from Pharmaceuticals, Pakistan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mubarik, Shujaat; Chandran, V. G. R.; Devadason, Evelyn S.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study aims to examine the influence of relational capital quality on client loyalty, comprising both behavioral and attitudinal, in the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: The partial least squares technique is used to test the relationship using a sample of 111 pharmaceutical firms. We applied a…

  8. Temperature Dependence in Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Nucleation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGraw R. L.; Winkler, P. M.; Wagner, P. E.

    2017-08-01

    Heterogeneous nucleation on stable (sub-2 nm) nuclei aids the formation of atmospheric cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) by circumventing or reducing vapor pressure barriers that would otherwise limit condensation and new particle growth. Aerosol and cloud formation depend largely on the interaction between a condensing liquid and the nucleating site. A new paper published this year reports the first direct experimental determination of contact angles as well as contact line curvature and other geometric properties of a spherical cap nucleus at nanometer scale using measurements from the Vienna Size Analyzing Nucleus Counter (SANC) (Winkler et al., 2016). For water nucleating heterogeneously on silver oxide nanoparticles we find contact angles around 15 degrees compared to around 90 degrees for the macroscopically measured equilibrium angle for water on bulk silver. The small microscopic contact angles can be attributed via the generalized Young equation to a negative line tension that becomes increasingly dominant with increasing curvature of the contact line. These results enable a consistent theoretical description of heterogeneous nucleation and provide firm insight to the wetting of nanosized objects.

  9. Labour productivity in Europe: allocative efficiency of labour or performance of firms?

    OpenAIRE

    A. Berthou.; C. Sandoz.

    2014-01-01

    This paper examines the impact of allocative efficiency of labour in firms and of individual firm performance on labour productivity at the sector level for several European countries. It uses data recently collected by the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet).

  10. The environmental actions of firms: examining the role of spillovers, networks and absorptive capacity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albornoz, Facundo; Cole, Matthew A; Elliott, Robert J R; Ercolani, Marco G

    2014-12-15

    In the light of climate uncertainty and growing concern for the natural environment, an increasingly important aspect of global business is the environmental behaviour of firms. In this paper we consider the factors that influence firms' environmental actions (EAs). Our study of Argentinean firms concentrates on measures of environmental spillovers, informal and formal networks and absorptive capacity by testing four related hypotheses. We find that foreign-owned firms, large firms and those with a greater capacity to assimilate new environmental technologies are more likely to adopt EAs. We also show that formal and informal networks aid the adoption of EAs in the presence of traditional firm-level spillovers. Finally, we show that foreign-owned firms have different motives to domestic firms for undertaking EAs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Optimal Routing for Heterogeneous Fixed Fleets of Multicompartment Vehicles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qian Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a metaheuristic called the reactive guided tabu search (RGTS to solve the heterogeneous fleet multicompartment vehicle routing problem (MCVRP, where a single vehicle is required for cotransporting multiple customer orders. MCVRP is commonly found in delivery of fashion apparel, petroleum distribution, food distribution, and waste collection. In searching the optimum solution of MCVRP, we need to handle a large amount of local optima in the solution spaces. To overcome this problem, we design three guiding mechanisms in which the search history is used to guide the search. The three mechanisms are experimentally demonstrated to be more efficient than the ones which only apply the known distance information. Armed with the guiding mechanisms and the well-known reactive mechanism, the RGTS can produce remarkable solutions in a reasonable computation time.

  12. Preliminary level 2 specification for the nested, fixed-depth sampling system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    BOGER, R.M.

    1999-01-01

    This preliminary Level 2 Component Specification establishes the performance, design, development, and test requirements for the in-tank sampling system which will support the BNFL contract in the final disposal of Hanford's High Level Wastes (HLW) and Low Activity Wastes (LAW). The PHMC will provide Low Activity Wastes (LAW) tank wastes for final treatment by BNFL from double-shell feed tanks. Concerns about the inability of the baseline ''grab'' sampling to provide large volume samples within time constraints has led to the development of a nested, fixed-depth sampling system. This sampling system will provide large volume? representative samples without the environmental, radiation exposure, and sample volume Impacts of the current base-line ''grab'' sampling method. This preliminary Level 2 Component Specification is not a general specification for tank sampling, but is based on a ''record of decision'', AGA (HNF-SD-TWR-AGA-001 ), the System Specification for the Double Shell Tank System (HNF-SD-WM-TRD-O07), and the BNFL privatization contract

  13. Connected Firms and Investor Myopia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ginglinger, Edith; Hébert, Camille; Renneboog, Luc

    2017-01-01

    Conglomerates, multinational corporations and business groups are non-exclusive forms of complex firms. Often organized as corporate networks, complex firms control a myriad of firms connected through ownership links. We investigate whether parent-subsidiary links within corporate networks enhance

  14. Organizational heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frenkel, Svetlana; Kirzhner, Valery; Korol, Abraham

    2012-01-01

    Genomes of higher eukaryotes are mosaics of segments with various structural, functional, and evolutionary properties. The availability of whole-genome sequences allows the investigation of their structure as "texts" using different statistical and computational methods. One such method, referred to as Compositional Spectra (CS) analysis, is based on scoring the occurrences of fixed-length oligonucleotides (k-mers) in the target DNA sequence. CS analysis allows generating species- or region-specific characteristics of the genome, regardless of their length and the presence of coding DNA. In this study, we consider the heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes as a joint effect of regional variation in sequence organization superimposed on the differences in nucleotide composition. We estimated compositional and organizational heterogeneity of genome and chromosome sequences separately and found that both heterogeneity types vary widely among genomes as well as among chromosomes in all investigated taxonomic groups. The high correspondence of heterogeneity scores obtained on three genome fractions, coding, repetitive, and the remaining part of the noncoding DNA (the genome dark matter--GDM) allows the assumption that CS-heterogeneity may have functional relevance to genome regulation. Of special interest for such interpretation is the fact that natural GDM sequences display the highest deviation from the corresponding reshuffled sequences.

  15. Organizational heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Svetlana Frenkel

    Full Text Available Genomes of higher eukaryotes are mosaics of segments with various structural, functional, and evolutionary properties. The availability of whole-genome sequences allows the investigation of their structure as "texts" using different statistical and computational methods. One such method, referred to as Compositional Spectra (CS analysis, is based on scoring the occurrences of fixed-length oligonucleotides (k-mers in the target DNA sequence. CS analysis allows generating species- or region-specific characteristics of the genome, regardless of their length and the presence of coding DNA. In this study, we consider the heterogeneity of vertebrate genomes as a joint effect of regional variation in sequence organization superimposed on the differences in nucleotide composition. We estimated compositional and organizational heterogeneity of genome and chromosome sequences separately and found that both heterogeneity types vary widely among genomes as well as among chromosomes in all investigated taxonomic groups. The high correspondence of heterogeneity scores obtained on three genome fractions, coding, repetitive, and the remaining part of the noncoding DNA (the genome dark matter--GDM allows the assumption that CS-heterogeneity may have functional relevance to genome regulation. Of special interest for such interpretation is the fact that natural GDM sequences display the highest deviation from the corresponding reshuffled sequences.

  16. Gender diversity and innovation in manufacturing and service firms

    OpenAIRE

    Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958-; Parra, Maria Dolores; Teruel, Mercedes

    2015-01-01

    Traditionally, researchers have considered the innovation process as being gender neutral. However, recently some studies have begun to take gender diversity into account as a determinant of firms’ innovation. This paper aims to analyse how the effect of gender diversity on innovation output at firm level is sensitive to team size. Using the Spanish PITEC (Panel de Innovación Tecnológica) from 2007 to 2012 for innovative manufacturing and service firms, we estimate...

  17. Multibusiness firms and performance in Italy. What role does relatedness play?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maurizio La Rocca

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper evaluates the effect of diversification strategy on corporate value for a sample of Italian companies. It accounts for both the level of diversification and relatedness components. Empirical analyses show a U-shaped curvilinear relationship between diversification and value. In contrast to the mainstream literature, our results highlight that related diversification has a negative effect, while unrelated diversification is a value-creating strategy. JEL classification: L25, M10, Keywords: Product diversification, Multi-business firm, Relatedness, Firm performance, Firm value

  18. Inference from concave stochastic frontiers and the covariance of firm efficiency measures across firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dashti, Imad

    2003-01-01

    This paper uses a Bayesian stochastic frontier model to obtain confidence intervals on firm efficiency measures of electric utilities rather than the point estimates reported in most previous studies. Results reveal that the stochastic frontier model yields imprecise measures of firm efficiency. However, the application produces much more precise inference on pairwise efficiency comparisons of firms due to a sometimes strong positive covariance of efficiency measures across firms. In addition, we examine the sensitivity to functional form by repeating the analysis for Cobb-Douglas, translog and Fourier frontiers, with and without imposing monotonicity and concavity

  19. Employment in Disequilibrium: a Disaggregated Approach on a Panel of French Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Brigitte Dormont

    1989-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to understand disequilibrium phenomena at a disaggregated level. By using data on French firms, we carry out the estimation of labor demand model with two regimes, which correspond to the Keynesian and classical hypotheses. The results enable us to characterize classical firms as being particularly good performers: they have more rapid growth, younger productive plant and higher productivity gains and profitability. Classical firms stand out, with respect to their...

  20. Macroeconomic shocks and firms' labor adjustment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksson, Tor

    2013-01-01

    This article discusses some recent research which aims at producing evidence on how firms adjust their employment in response to output shocks using micro-level data and with a particular focus on the relationship between worker and job flows. The evidence presented is mainly based on Danish data...

  1. Gender Segregation Small Firms

    OpenAIRE

    Kenneth R Troske; William J Carrington

    1992-01-01

    This paper studies interfirm gender segregation in a unique sample of small employers. We focus on small firms because previous research on interfirm segregation has studied only large firms and because it is easier to link the demographic characteristics of employers and employees in small firms. This latter feature permits an assessment of the role of employer discrimination in creating gender segregation. Our first finding is that interfirm segregation is prevalent among small employers. I...

  2. Public support to firm level innovation: an evaluation of the FONTEC Program

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Maffioli

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Os governos latino-americanos recorrem frequentemente aos Fundos de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (FDT para apoiar financeiramente as atividades inovadoras das empresas. Neste estudo analisamos a eficácia do um FDT chileno, o programa FONTEC. Constatamos que os subsídios do FONTEC provocaram um aumento dos investimentos inovadores das empresas em ativos intangíveis (principalmente P&D, além de melhorarem as articulações entre atores no sistema de inovação. Entretanto, embora não tenhamos detectado indícios de crowding out (inibição, tampouco encontramos quaisquer evidências de aumento do financiamento privado da inovação devido aos subsídios (crowding in. Em termos de adicionalidade de resultados (output additionality, o FONTEC de fato aumentou a geração de emprego e a produtividade das empresas beneficiárias. As conclusões quanto a habilidades foram mais mistas, mas isso pode ter sido afetado pela baixa qualidade da variável habilidades na enquete.Latin American Governments have frequently adopted Technology Development Funds (TDF to provide financial support for innovation activities of firms. In this paper, we analyzed the effectiveness of a Chilean TDF, the FONTEC program. We found that FONTEC’s subsidies increased firm innovation investments in intangible assets (in particular R&D and they also improved the linkages among actors in the innovation system. However, although we did not find any evidence of crowding-out effects, neither did we find any evidence of the leveraging of private financing for innovation (crowding-in. In terms of output additionality, FONTEC did significantly increase the employment and productivity of beneficiary firms. The findings with regards to skills are more mixed, but this could be affected by the poor quality of the skills variable in the survey.

  3. The Impact of Start-up Grants on Firm Performance in Estonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siret Vildo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available As in economic theory start-up enterprises have been seen as important sources of growth, the government support measures to enterprises have been a common practice around the world for decades. As the governmental support to enterprises is often of a considerable amount of money there is a need to assess its efficiency. In the present article we study the impact of Estonian start-up grants distributed in 2002 and 2003 on various indicators of firm performance with econometric methods, namely propensity score matching. We use the data from the Estonian Business Register in order to study the impact of start-up grants on various economic indicators like the number of employees, turnover, equity, fixed assets and firm survival. The results showed that the start-up grants proved to affect positively the number of employed people and turnover, yet the impact on productivity was negative. One implication of the study is that it is difficult to achieve different goals to the same extent with a single governmental grant

  4. How small firms contrast with large firms regarding perceptions, practices, and needs in the U.S

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urs Buehlmann; Matthew Bumgardner; Michael. Sperber

    2013-01-01

    As many larger secondary woodworking firms have moved production offshore and been adversely impacted by the recent housing downturn, smaller firms have become important to driving U.S. hardwood demand. This study compared and contrasted small and large firms on a number of factors to help determine the unique characteristics of small firms and to provide insights into...

  5. Racial Bias in the Manager-Employee Relationship: An Analysis of Quits, Dismissals, and Promotions at a Large Retail Firm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giuliano, Laura; Levine, David I.; Leonard, Jonathan

    2011-01-01

    Using data from a large U.S. retail firm, we examine how racial matches between managers and their employees affect rates of employee quits, dismissals, and promotions. We exploit changes in management at hundreds of stores to estimate hazard models with store fixed effects that control for all unobserved differences across store locations. We…

  6. Efficiency effects of observed and unobserved heterogeneity: Evidence from Norwegian electricity distribution networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Growitsch, Christian; Jamasb, Tooraj; Wetzel, Heike

    2012-01-01

    Since the 1990s, efficiency and benchmarking analysis has increasingly been used in network utilities research and regulation. A recurrent concern is the effect of observable environmental factors that are beyond the influence of firms and unobserved factors that are not identifiable on measured cost and quality performance of firms. This paper analyses the effect of observed geographic and weather factors and unobserved heterogeneity on a set of 128 Norwegian electricity distribution utilities for the 2001–2004 period. We utilise data on 78 geographic and weather variables to identify real economic inefficiency while controlling for observed and unobserved heterogeneity. We use the Factor Analysis technique to reduce the number of environmental factors into few composite variables and to avoid the problem of multicollinearity. In order to identify firm-specific inefficiency, we then estimate a pooled version of the established stochastic frontier model of Aigner et al. (1977) and the recent true random effects model of Greene (2004; 2005a,b) without and with environmental variables. The results indicate that the observed environmental factors have a rather limited influence on the utilities' average efficiency and the efficiency rankings. Moreover, the difference between the average efficiency scores and the efficiency rankings among the pooled and the true random effects models imply that the type of SFA model used is highly influencing the efficiency estimates.

  7. Collaborative Communities of Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2011-01-01

    and developing strategic initiatives that aid the community as a whole. We discuss the facilitator role of the shared services provider, contrasting it with the coordinator role found in other multi-firm organizations, and we show how shared services providers function by describing three examples...... is an organizational model called the collaborative community of firms. This chapter addresses an important organizational role in a collaborative community, that of the shared services provider. The shared services provider acts as a facilitator in the community, helping member firms collaborate with one another...... of collaborative communities of firms from different sectors: the U.S.-based Blade.org and two Denmark-based communities, the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis and MG50. Implications for the theory and practice of organization design are discussed....

  8. Firm-level determinants of energy and carbon intensity in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao, Jing; Karplus, Valerie J.

    2014-01-01

    In recent years, China's leaders have sought to coordinate official energy intensity reduction targets with new targets for carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) intensity reduction. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2006–2010) included for the first time a binding target for energy intensity, while a binding target for CO 2 intensity was included later in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). Using panel data for a sample of industrial firms in China covering 2005 to 2009, we investigate the drivers of energy intensity reduction (measured in terms of direct primary energy use and electricity use) and associated CO 2 intensity reduction. Rising electricity prices were associated with decreases in electricity intensity and increases in primary energy intensity, consistent with a substitution effect. Overall, we find that energy intensity reduction by industrial firms during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan translated into more than proportional CO 2 intensity reduction because reducing coal use—in direct industrial use as well as in the power sector—was a dominant abatement strategy. If similar dynamics characterize the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), the national 17 percent CO 2 intensity reduction target may not be difficult to meet—and the 16 percent energy intensity reduction target may result in significantly greater CO 2 intensity reduction. - Highlights: • We describe China's Eleventh Five-Year Plan energy policies. • We examine the drivers of energy, electricity and carbon intensity reduction. • Higher electricity prices correlated with reductions in industrial electricity intensity. • Energy intensity reduction efforts were effective at reducing carbon intensity

  9. 7 CFR 51.893 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.893 Section 51.893 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Table Grapes (European or Vinifera Type) 1 Definitions § 51.893 Firm. Firm means...

  10. A firm's activity in social media and its relationship with corporate reputation, firm size and firm performance

    OpenAIRE

    Mäkinen, Hanna

    2015-01-01

    The significance of social media has increased greatly in the past few years, leading companies to increase their social media activity and also increase their interest in knowing whether it is genuinely worth being active on social media, including knowing the potential advantages. This study aims to examine the relationship between social media activity and three variables: reputation, firm size and firm performance. The study analyzes the relationships between the constru...

  11. Investigating the Nonlinear Relationship between Working Capital and Profitability: a Case of Pakistan Textile Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashfaq Habib

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This study analyzes the impact of working capital (WCR on operating profit of Pakistan textile firms from 2009 to 2016. The nonlinear relationship has been found between working capital and operating profit, which indicates that an optimal level of working capital exists in the textile firms of Pakistan. The firms are seeking the optimal working capital, where WCR (4.78% of sales in generalized method of movement is used. Further, the study reveals that in the firms which maintain the positive working capital, it has a significant negative infl uence on the profitability, while in the firms with negative working capital, it has a significant positive infl uence on their profitability. The study also ascertains that cash holding level is an important factor for efficient working capital management.

  12. Creativity and Entrepreneurship: A Regional Analysis of New Firm Formation

    OpenAIRE

    Lee, Sam Youl; Florida, Richard; Ács, Zoltán J.

    2004-01-01

    Understanding the factors that promote or mitigate new firm birth is crucial to regional economic development efforts, since a high level of new firm creation significantly contributes to regional economic vitality and is a major signal of a dynamic economy. The literature suggest that various factors such as unemployment, population density/growth, industrial structure, human capital, the availability of financing, and entrepreneurial characteristics significantly influence regional variatio...

  13. A Hybrid Dynamic Programming for Solving Fixed Cost Transportation with Discounted Mechanism

    OpenAIRE

    Farhad Ghassemi Tari

    2016-01-01

    The problem of allocating different types of vehicles for transporting a set of products from a manufacturer to its depots/cross docks, in an existing transportation network, to minimize the total transportation costs, is considered. The distribution network involves a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, with a variable transportation cost and a fixed cost in which a discount mechanism is applied on the fixed part of the transportation costs. It is assumed that the number of available vehicles i...

  14. INTERNATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND PERFORMANCE BASED ROMANIAN ENTREPRENEURIAL AND TRADITIONAL FIRM CLUSTERS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FEDER Emoke - Szidonia

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The micro, small and medium-sized firms (SMEs present a key interest at European level due to their potential positive influence on regional, national and firm level competitiveness. At a certain moment in time, internationalisation became an expected and even unavoidable strategy in firms’ future development, growth and evolution. From theoretical perspective, an integrative complementarily approach is adopted concerning the dominant paradigm of stage models from incremental internationalisation theory and the emergent paradigm of international entrepreneurship theory. Several researcher calls for empirical testing of different theoretical frameworks and international firms. Therefore, the first aim of the quantitative study is to empirically prove, the existence of various internationalisation behaviour configuration based clusters, like sporadic and traditional international firms, born-again global and born global firms, within the framework of Romanian SMEs. Secondly, within the research framework the study propose to assess different distinguishing internationalisation behavioural characteristics and patterns for the delimited clusters, in terms of foreign market scope, internationalisation pace and rhythm, initial and current entry modes, international product portfolio and commitment. Thirdly, internationalisation cluster membership and patterns differential influence and contribution is analysed on firm level international business performance, as internationalisation degree, financial and marketing measures. The framework was tested on a transversal sample consisting of 140 Romanian internationalised SMEs. Findings are especially useful for entrepreneurs and SME managers presenting various decisional possibilities and options on internationalisation behaviours and performance. These emphasize the importance of internationalisation scope, pace, object and opportunity seeking, along with positive influence on performance, indifferent

  15. Determinants of Working Capital Investment: A Study of Malaysian Public Listed Firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaista Wasiuzzaman

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper examines the determinants of the level of investment in net operating working capital by firms in Malaysia. Data from 192 companies spanning a period of 8 years (2000- 2007 are analysed using the OLS regression technique for this purpose. The study finds that in times of economic expansion, younger and smaller firms with less tangible assets, low leverage, high immediate sales growth, high operating cash flows, less volatile revenues and low levels of asymmetric information are likely to have the highest investments inoperating working capital. Board characteristics, namely size and the independence of the board, are not found to have any significant influence on the working capital investment of firms.

  16. Factors Affecting Corporate Cash Holding of Non-Financial Firms in Pakistan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atif Kafayat

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The previous researches explore the question of why firms hold cash. But there are few researches done in developing countries like Pakistan. The need for cash is characterized by its policies of firms regarding capital structure, working capital requirements, cash flow management, dividend payments, and asset management. In this paper, the impact of these factors is normally analyzed under the framework of Tradeoff theory, Pecking Order Theory and Free Cash Flow Theory. This paper focuses on determining the level of corporate cash holdings of non-financial Pakistani firms, and cash holding requirement among different industries. The data is set for period of 2008- 2012 by using the data of 40companies and 6 industries. The findings of the study support the theories. Which show that firm size, net working capital, leverage, Capital Expenditure and Dividend significantly affect the cash holdings of non-financial firms in Pakistan.

  17. External relationships and marketing practices in Serbian firms: The intangible capital perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitić Sanja

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents selected results of research on intangible capital in Serbian firms. The results are part of a broader research project, based on a survey of a sample of Serbian firms. The focus of the project is the various forms of intangible capital, and in this paper we analyse whether and to what degree firms build up their brand capital and increase marketing competencies, and what kind of external relationships they experience. The results provide the first insight into the development of the marketing resources of Serbian firms and show that this element of intangibles is gradually improving but still is at a low level. We find significant differences in the use of marketing resources between firms in regard to their size, international market experience, and ownership type. A more significant development of brand capital, external relationships, and marketing innovations and competencies is found in larger firms, firms with considerable international business experience compared to firms primarily oriented to the domestic market, and in foreign-owned firms. After identifying the strengths and weaknesses of marketing practices in Serbian enterprises we suggest some measures for overcoming the analyzed constraints in order to improve firms’ market positioning, especially in foreign markets.[Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 179062

  18. State ownership and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mei Yu

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available While the relationship between state ownership and firm performance has been widely researched, the empirical evidence has provided mixed results. This study applies panel data regression techniques to 10,639 firm-year observations of non-financial Chinese listed firms during 2003–2010 to examine the relationship between state ownership and firm performance. The results show that state ownership has a U-shaped relationship with firm performance. The Split Share Structure Reform in 2005–2006 played a positive role in enhancing the relationship between state ownership and firm profitability ratios. Although state ownership decreased significantly after 2006, it remains high in strategically important industry sectors such as the oil, natural gas and mining sector and the publishing, broadcasting and media sector. The findings reveal that a higher level of state ownership is superior to a dispersed ownership structure due to the benefits of government support and political connections. The Split Share Structure Reform made previously non-tradable shares legally tradable, improving corporate governance and reducing the negative effect of non-tradable state shares.

  19. 7 CFR 51.1551 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1551 Section 51.1551 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Potatoes 1 Definitions § 51.1551 Firm. Firm means that the potato is not shriveled...

  20. 7 CFR 51.696 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.696 Section 51.696 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... § 51.696 Firm. Firm as applied to common oranges, means that the fruit is not soft, or noticeably...

  1. 7 CFR 51.1353 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1353 Section 51.1353 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Pears for Canning Definitions § 51.1353 Firm. Firm means that the pear is fairly solid and...

  2. 7 CFR 51.1006 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1006 Section 51.1006 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Persian (Tahiti) Limes Definitions § 51.1006 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft or...

  3. 7 CFR 51.1824 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1824 Section 51.1824 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Tangerines Definitions § 51.1824 Firm. Firm means that the flesh is not soft...

  4. 7 CFR 51.765 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.765 Section 51.765 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing... Standards for Grades of Florida Grapefruit Definitions § 51.765 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft...

  5. 40 CFR 745.89 - Firm certification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Firm certification. 745.89 Section 745... § 745.89 Firm certification. (a) Initial certification. (1) Firms that perform renovations for compensation must apply to EPA for certification to perform renovations or dust sampling. To apply, a firm must...

  6. Strategic innovation: An empirical study on hotel firms operating in Antalya region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatma Nur Iplik

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Strategic innovation is an issue that is frequently debated by the recent studies. The contemporary organizations almost in all industries seek to increase their strategic innovation capabilities in order to possess a sustainable competitive advantage. Similarly, in the hospitality industry strategic innovation is an essential instrument of gaining competitive advantage in the marketplaces. In modern days of hospitality and tourism, satisfying consurmers with providing only accommodation and catering services is not sustainable since demand is becoming diversified and rivals are offering new services. Thus, strategic innovation may assist hotel firms in meeting new demand and expanding the range of services they offer. Therefore, the purposes of this paper are to measure the level of strategic innovation of hotel firms, and to reveal the obstacles to strategic innovation activities. The paper will also examine the importance of strategic innovation for hotel firms. To this end, a questionnaire was developed and employed to middle and top level executives of hotel firms operating in Antalya province. Results show that hotel firms primarily innovate to improve service quality and to satisfy guests. It was also found that the most important obstacle to innovation is cost of innovation activities.

  7. Board of directors’ composition and performance in French CAC 40 listed firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Ahmadi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Reflecting investor expectations, most prior corporate governance research attempt to find a relationship between boards of directors’ composition and firm financial performance. Specifically, we try to examine the relationship between the boards’ size, board independence, CEO duality and gender diversity and two measurements of performance in listed companies in CAC 40, namely return on assets (ROA and return of equities (ROE. We found evidence provide that board characteristics were positively correlated to the firm’ performance. However, our results show a significant association between ROE, ROA and the board of directors’ composition. We find significant negative association between financial information and equity-based management compensation. On the other hand, the presence of independent directors on the board seems to affect, positively, the level of financial performance of CAC 40 firms. Likewise, the stewardship theory assumption, the CEO duality is very high and is significantly associated with a higher level of firm performance. The results show that there was a significant relationship between board gender diversity and firm performance from our samples CAC 40 companies. In addition, we find significant negative impact of leverage on the financial performance for CAC 40 firms.

  8. Employee benefits in multinational firms: Empirical evidence for Romania and Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caran Margareta

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper aims to analyze post-employment benefits provided by multinational firms, focusing on retirement advantages and pension systems in Romania and Serbia from a comparative empirical perspective. Economic literature highlights the essential role played by pension schemes in assuring a proper level of income after retirement, thus reducing poverty and increasing productivity, with significant positive implications upon overall economic activity. our research is based on developing several double-log fixed and random effects models, as well as a dynamic and distributed lags model, using a panel structure over the 2005- 2013 period and a complex set of indicators (national accounts - GDP total and per capita; labor market - employment, unemployment, productivity, earnings; secondary and tertiary education; pension specific data - general beneficiaries, old age and survivor pensioners, total and by gender, and pension expenses as percentage of GDP. The results show that pensions represent an incentive for employees leading to an increase in resource productivity. At the same time, old age pensions are positively shaping economic growth and employment for the two countries considered, significantly reducing the poverty rate for pensioners. Nevertheless, the two pensions systems are modelled by the economic activity, educational background of employees, as well as by the level of net earnings.

  9. Assembly-level analysis of heterogeneous Th–Pu PWR fuel

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zainuddin, Nurjuanis Zara; Parks, Geoffrey T.; Shwageraus, Eugene

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • We directly compare homogeneous and heterogeneous Th–Pu fuel. • Examine whether there is an increase in Pu incineration in the latter. • Homogeneous fuel was able to achieve much higher Pu incineration. • In the heterogeneous case, U-233 breeding is faster (larger power fraction), thus decreasing incineration of Pu. - Abstract: This study compares homogeneous and heterogeneous thorium–plutonium (Th–Pu) fuel assemblies (with high Pu content – 20 wt%), and examines whether there is an increase in Pu incineration in the latter. A seed-blanket configuration based on the Radkowsky thorium reactor concept is used for the heterogeneous assembly. This separates the thorium blanket from the uranium seed, or in this case a plutonium seed. The seed supplies neutrons to the subcritical thorium blanket which encourages the in situ breeding and burning of "2"3"3U, allowing the fuel to stay critical for longer, extending burnup of the fuel. While past work on Th–Pu seed-blanket units shows superior Pu incineration compared to conventional U–Pu mixed oxide fuel, there is no literature to date that directly compares the performance of homogeneous and heterogeneous Th–Pu assembly configurations. Use of exactly the same fuel loading for both configurations allows the effects of spatial separation to be fully understood. It was found that the homogeneous fuel with and without burnable poisons was able to achieve much higher Pu incinerations than the heterogeneous fuel configurations, while still attaining a reasonably high discharge burnup. This is because in the heterogeneous cases, "2"3"3U breeding is faster, thereby contributing to a much larger fraction of total power produced by the assembly. In contrast, "2"3"3U build-up is slower in the homogeneous case and therefore Pu burning is greater. This "2"3"3U begins to contribute a significant fraction of power produced only towards the end of life, thus extending criticality, allowing more Pu to

  10. The impact of firm and industry characteristics on small firms' capital structure

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Degryse, H.A.; de Goeij, P. C.; Kappert, P.

    2012-01-01

    We study the impact of firm and industry characteristics on small firms’ capital structure, employing a proprietary database containing financial statements of Dutch small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from 2003 to 2005. The firm characteristics suggest that the capital structure decision is

  11. Leverage, Growth Opportunities and Firm Investment: The Case of Manufacturing Firms in China

    OpenAIRE

    Di Sheng; Shuyang Hou

    2014-01-01

    This paper examined the impact of financial leverage on investment decisions offirms using the panel data of publicly traded Chinese firms. We collected data for511 manufacturing companies during the period from 2005 to 2013 to do theresearch. The data shows that financial leverage is negatively correlated with afirm’s investment. Moreover, after we categorized the data into two types: 1)high-growth firms and 2) low-growth firms, it demonstrated that such negativecorrelation is significant fo...

  12. 7 CFR 51.634 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.634 Section 51.634 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards, Inspections, Marketing...) Definitions § 51.634 Firm. Firm means that the fruit is not soft, or noticeably wilted or flabby, and the skin...

  13. H∞ Consensus for Multiagent Systems with Heterogeneous Time-Varying Delays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beibei Wang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available We apply the linear matrix inequality method to consensus and H∞ consensus problems of the single integrator multiagent system with heterogeneous delays in directed networks. To overcome the difficulty caused by heterogeneous time-varying delays, we rewrite the multiagent system into a partially reduced-order system and an integral system. As a result, a particular Lyapunov function is constructed to derive sufficient conditions for consensus of multiagent systems with fixed (switched topologies. We also apply this method to the H∞ consensus of multiagent systems with disturbances and heterogeneous delays. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results.

  14. Electric energy costs and firm productivity in the countries of the Pacific Alliance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camacho, Anamaria

    This paper explores the relation between energy as an input of production and firm-level productivity for Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, all country members of the Pacific Alliance economic bloc. The empirical literature, has explored the impact of infrastructure on productivity; however there is limited analysis on the impact of particular infrastructure variables, such as energy, on productivity at the firm level in Latin America. Therefore, this study conducts a quantitative assessment of the responsiveness of productivity to energy cost and quality for Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. For this, the empirical strategy is to estimate a Cobb-Douglas production function using the World Bank's Enterprise Survey to obtain comparable measures of output and inputs of production. This approach provides estimates of input factor elasticities for all of the factors of production including energy. The results indicate that electric energy costs explain cross-country differences in firm level productivity. For the particular case of Colombia, the country exhibits the lowest capital and labor productivity of the PA, and firm output is highly responsive to changes in energy use. As a result, the evidence suggests that policies reducing electric energy costs are an efficient alternative to increase firm performance, particularly in the case of Colombia.

  15. Managerial Cognitive Moral Development and the Firm's Owners' Salience: Empirical Evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martynov, Aleksey; Logachev, Sergey

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we study the agency relationship between the firm's owners and managers. We apply the theory of Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) to answer the question: What factors affect salience of the interests of the firm's owners to the managers? Using a sample of Russian managers, we found that higher levels of CMD weaken the relationship…

  16. Experiences of Emerging Economy Firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Experiences of Emerging Economy Firms investigates the different elements of the experiences of emerging economy firms and sheds essential light on a large variety of aspects associated with their functioning in both home and host contexts. For example, firms must be able to overcome the liability...... of foreign and emerging issues when they expand their activities in various contexts, enter, exit, and re-enter overseas markets; they have to overcome institutional barriers, adapt the cultural challenges in foreign markets, undergo the impact of large multinational firms from developed economies...

  17. Markup heterogeneity, export status ans the establishment of the euro

    OpenAIRE

    Guillou , Sarah; Nesta , Lionel

    2015-01-01

    We investigate the effects of the establishment of the euro on the markups of French manufacturing firms. Merging firm-level census data with customs data, we estimate time-varying firm-specific markups and distinguish between eurozone exporters from other firms between 1995 and 2007. We find that the establishment of the euro has had a pronounced pro-competitive impact by reducing firm markups by 14 percentage points. By reducing export costs, the euro represented an opp...

  18. Rent sharing as a driver of the glass ceiling effect

    OpenAIRE

    Matano, Alessia; Naticchioni, Paolo

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we show that rent sharing plays a role in accounting for the glass ceiling effect. We make use of a unique employer-employee panel database for Italy from 1996 to 2003, which allows controlling for observed individual and firm heterogeneity and for collective bargaining. Moreover, by means of IV quantile fixed effects estimates we can cope with unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity. We then go on to discuss the possible related explanations.

  19. 7 CFR 51.1156 - Firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Firm. 51.1156 Section 51.1156 Agriculture Regulations... Standards for Grades of Florida Oranges and Tangelos Definitions § 51.1156 Firm. Firm as applied to common... oranges of the Mandarin group (Satsumas, King, Mandarin), “firm” means that the fruit is not extremely...

  20. A welfare ranking of multilateral reductions in real and tariff trade barriers when firms are heterogenous

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schröder, Philipp; Sørensen, Allan

    Trade liberalization comes about through reductions in various types of trade costs. This paper introduces, apart from real variable (i.e. iceberg) and fixed export costs, two partially redistributed tariffs into a Melitz (2003) model. We present comparable results for welfare effects and changes...... to the most preferred mode of liberalization as the fraction of tariffs wasted moves from zero to unity. Apart from a situation with no tariff redistribution, reductions in iceberg trade costs are preferred to reductions in real fixed trade costs which again are preferred to cuts in unit tariffs....

  1. Technology Licensing and Firm Innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moreira, Solon

    acquisition. The findings indicate that technology licensing is positively related to the number of inventions produced by the licensee in the years subsequent to the licensing deal. Subsequently, I investigate the moderating effect that organizational slack and myopia have on this main relationship....... The findings also suggest that high levels of Organizational Slack (available financial resources) strengthen the positive effect of licensing on innovation. However, higher levels of Organizational Myopia (the extent to which a firm draws on its own knowledge) can decrease the main effect of licensing....

  2. Firm-Size Wage Gaps along the Formal-Informal Divide: Theory and Evidence

    OpenAIRE

    Balkan, Binnur; Tumen, Semih

    2015-01-01

    Observationally equivalent workers are paid higher wages in larger firms. This fact is often named as the “firm-size wage gap” and is regarded as a key empirical puzzle. Using micro-level data from Turkey, we document a new stylized fact : the firm-size wage gap is more pronounced for informal (unregistered) jobs than for formal (registered) jobs. To explain this fact, we develop a two-stage wage-posting game with market imperfections and segmented markets, the solution to which produces wage...

  3. 10 CFR 603.1230 - Commercial firm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Commercial firm. 603.1230 Section 603.1230 Energy... Used in this Part § 603.1230 Commercial firm. A for-profit firm or segment of a for-profit firm (e.g., a division or other business unit) that does a substantial portion of its business in the commercial...

  4. Gender differences in business success of German start-up firms

    OpenAIRE

    Gottschalk, Sandra; Niefert, Michaela

    2011-01-01

    Many studies found that women-owned firms underperform when comparing performance indicators at an aggregate level. The performance gap might be attributed to gender differences in personal and firm characteristics affecting performance. However, previous studies were not able to entirely explain female underperformance in this way. There are two theoretical perspectives on the causes of female underperformance. Liberal feminist theory suggests that women lack access to relevant resources lik...

  5. Does internationalisation of technology determine technological diversification in large firms?

    OpenAIRE

    Christian Le Bas; Pari Patel

    2005-01-01

    The purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship between technological diversification and internationalisation of technology for large multinational firms, operating at the world technological frontier. More precisely we address the question as to whether internationalisation determines diversification. The analysis is based on a rich database of the European patenting activity of 345 large multinational firms with the highest levels of patenting over two periods of time (1988-1990 an...

  6. Environmental investment and firm performance: A network approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bostian, Moriah; Färe, Rolf; Grosskopf, Shawna; Lundgren, Tommy

    2016-01-01

    This study examines the role of investment in environmental production practices for both environmental performance and energy efficiency over time. We employ a network DEA approach that links successive production technologies through intertemporal investment decisions with a period by period estimation. This allows us to estimate energy efficiency and environmental performance separately, as well as productivity change and its associated decompositions into efficiency change and technology change. Incorporating a network model also allows us to account for both short-term environmental management practices and long-term environmental investments in each of our productivity measures. We apply this framework to a panel of detailed plant-level production data for Swedish manufacturing firms covering the years 2002–2008. - Highlights: • We use a network DEA model to account for intertemporal environmental investment decisionsin measures of firm productivity. • We apply our network technology model to a panel of firms in Sweden's pulp and paperindustry for the years 2002 - 2008. • We model environmental investments and expenditures separately from other productionoriented inputs. • We find evidence of positive relationships between energy efficiency, environmental performance, and firm productivity.

  7. Balancing organizational and professional commitments in Professional Service Firm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Frances; Becker, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Due to their potential to positively influence sales quality and performance and reduce employee turnover in service organizations, HR practices targeting employee commitment have received considerable attention in the HRM literature in recent years. Parallel to this, there has been increasing...... financial investment firms. Our findings suggest that in professional service firms, HR practices encourage high levels of organizational commitment primarily and most often through their influence on professional commitment and that HR practices related to flexible work design are essential in creating...

  8. Firm-level perspectives on State-Business Relations in Africa

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Charles, Goodluck; Jeppesen, Søren; Kamau, Paul

    2017-01-01

    Experiences from developed and emerging economies inform us that close state–business relations (SBRs) are crucial for economic development and structural transformation. Based on the positive experiences from other parts of the world, most African governments have begun processes to establish...... collaborative SBRs. Amongst other initiatives, these processes include amendments to existing laws to facilitate public–private interaction, direct support to existing business associations (BAs). This article draws on an analysis of survey data from 210 local firms, complemented with qualitative data from...... and requirements of local businesses and that BAs in these countries are poorly organised. In spite of initiatives taken by the states and other actors, including an increase in the number of formal relations between state and businesses, it is difficult to conclude whether SBRs are collaborative or collusive...

  9. Firm, Country and Macroeconomic Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Turkish Banking Sector

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuri Baltacı

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This study explores the significance of firm-specific, country, and macroeconomic factors in explaining variation in leverage using a sample of banks from Turkish banking sector. The analysis is based on quarterly firm-level data from Turkish banking sector in 2002–2012. We aims to contribute to the empirical capital structure literature in the following ways. Our first contribution comes from assessing the importance of firm-specific factors, country-level factors and industrial factors for capital structure decisions in Turkish banking sector. Second, we employ appropriate and advanced dynamic panel data estimators, Blundell and Bond’s (1998 generalized methods of moment’s estimators (GMM System. We find that leverage is significantly and positively associated with average industry leverage, firm size and GDP growth. We find also that leverage is significantly and negatively associated with tangibility, profitability, inflation and financial risk. The regression results for leverage are both theoretically and empirically plausible for banks in Turkey. Moreover, tangibility, profitability and GDP growth are consistent with the predictions of the pecking order theory, while firm size is consistent with the predictions of the trade-off theory. Our findings suggest that the capital structures of financial and non-financial firms are ultimately determined by the same drivers.

  10. The Identity of Ownership on Firm Internationalization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strandskov, Jesper; Madsen, Tage Koed; Pedersen, Bent

    2016-01-01

    The paper develops an integrative ownership-internationalization model that explores the influences of various owner types (i.e. investor-owned firms, family-owned firms, employee-owned firms, cooperative–owned firms, and state-owned firms) on firm internationalization. Based on a comparative...... analysis of the various owner types, we discuss how each owner group’s main objectives, risk behavior and provision of resources influence their internationalization strategies and decisions (i.e. scale, scope and speed decisions)....

  11. Physical-Mathematical Model for Fixed-Bed Solid Fuel Gasification Process Simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Slyusarskiy Konstantin V.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Phycial-mathmatical model for fixed-bed coal gasification process simulation is proposed. The heterogeneous carbon oxidation chemical reactions were simulated via Arrhenius equation while homogeneous reactions in gas phase were calculated using Gibbs free energy minimization procedure. The syngas component concentration field and fuel conversion distribution as well as syngas final temperature and composition were defined for fixed bed gasification of T-grade coal of Kuznetskiy deposit. The optimal fuel residence time and gasifyer specific productivity were defined. The prevail reactions in oxidizing and reduction zones together with its height were defined.

  12. Risk-taking behavior in private family firms: the role of the non-family CEO

    OpenAIRE

    Huybrechts, Jolien; Voordeckers, Wim; Lybaert, Nadine; Vandemaele, Sigrid

    2011-01-01

    This paper studies the risk-taking behavior of private family firms in general as well as variations in risk-taking behavior among the group of family firms. We use the agency perspective to theoretically argue that the usually high degree of coupling of ownership and management causes family firms to be on average less risk-taking than non-family firms. The introduction of a non-family CEO who usually has no or only limited legal ownership will have a positive influence on the level of risk-...

  13. Human capital and wages in exporting firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Munch, Jakob Roland; Skaksen, Jan Rose

    2008-01-01

    This paper studies the link between the education level of workers, export performance and wages. We argue that firms may escape intense competition in international markets by using high skilled workers to differentiate their products. This story is consistent with our empirical results. Using...

  14. Post-implementation of MFRS 8 “Operating Segment” among listed firms in Malaysia

    OpenAIRE

    Johari Jalila

    2017-01-01

    This study examined the level of disclosure among Malaysian listed firms with respect to segment reporting under new accounting standard MFRS 8 (IFRS 8). It also aimed to determine how these firms defined the chief operating decision maker (CODM) during the disclosure of segment information. Study results showed that the way firms disclosed segment information tended to vary between companies, since disclosure was dependent on company management purposes and business activities. The results a...

  15. The Power Asymmetry and Non-Competitive Behaviour of Firms at Consumer Markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulyana Vladimirovna Karagezyan

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The specific features of formation of the market economy in Russia caused not only development of the competitive environment, but also fixing of the model of noncompetitive behavior of enterprises. In a contradiction of the economic theory in which one of necessary conditions of “survival” of the companies is improvement of quality of goods, in the real economy consumers often face acquisition of low-quality goods. This article is devoted to an urgent problem of studying the model of noncompetitive behavior of firms in Russia. The purpose of this study is the explanation of the reasons of noncompetitive behavior of the enterprises in the Russian markets. On the basis of data of Federal service on supervision in the sphere of consumer protection, the dominating violations, as well as the markets most subjected to noncompetitive behavior of firms were revealed. Key characteristics of noncompetitive behavior are decline in the quality of production, violation of the consumer rights, using illegal tactics. As a result of this analysis we have made the following conclusions: violations of the rights of the consumer are expressed in realization of low-quality and unsafe products, refusal of providing necessary information on terms of transaction, imposing of additional services. The reasons of noncompetitive behavior of the companies include prevailing of the sovereignty of the producer over the consumer’s sovereignty; accumulation of the power of firms in a services sector and retail trade, a manipulative information and existence of information asymmetry between consumers and the companies. Overcoming the noncompetitive behavior of firm will become possible when power and information asymmetry decreases at the consumer markets.

  16. Factors Stimulating Internationalisation of Firms: An Attempted Holistic Synthesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magdalena Belniak

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this paper is the critical and synthetic analysis of internationalisation process factors, with reference to business management. It presents a systematic review of the most important relational ideas in regard to factors of firm-level internationalisation. The text includes the synthesis of previous academic studies and results of empirical researches on internationalisation factors. The motives for going international are explained in reference to external and internal factors. Different definitions of understanding external factors of internationalisation of firms are discussed, among them (i framework factors (market, cost, governmental, competitive and additional factors, (ii conditioning factors (factor and demand conditions, related and supporting industries, firm strategy, structure and rivalry as well as (iii general environment factors (economic environment, demographic environment, political and legal environment, technological, natural and socio-cultural environment. Internal factors of internationalisation are mostly rooted in the resource-based view. Motives for going international mainly depend on top management team, international resources and firms specifics. The paper underlines that there are numerous factors, both external and internal, which influence international activities of firms. Despite the fact that the decision to internationalize is focused on specific motives and goals, the role of managers is crucial.

  17. Gibrat's Law and the Firm Size / Firm Growth Relationship in Italian Services

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R. Piergiovanni; E. Santarelli (Enrico); L. Klomp (Luuk); A.R. Thurik (Roy)

    2002-01-01

    textabstractSeveral surveys on intra-industry dynamics have recently reached the conclusion from a large body of evidence that Gibrat's Law does not hold, i.e., the main finding is that firm growth decreases with firm size. However, almost all of these studies have been based on manufacturing. In

  18. Energy efficiency determinants: An empirical analysis of Spanish innovative firms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Costa-Campi, María Teresa; García-Quevedo, José; Segarra, Agustí

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines the extent to which innovative Spanish firms pursue improvements in energy efficiency (EE) as an objective of innovation. The increase in energy consumption and its impact on greenhouse gas emissions justifies the greater attention being paid to energy efficiency and especially to industrial EE. The ability of manufacturing companies to innovate and improve their EE has a substantial influence on attaining objectives regarding climate change mitigation. Despite the effort to design more efficient energy policies, the EE determinants in manufacturing firms have been little studied in the empirical literature. From an exhaustive sample of Spanish manufacturing firms and using a logit model, we examine the energy efficiency determinants for those firms that have innovated. To carry out the econometric analysis, we use panel data from the Community Innovation Survey for the period 2008–2011. Our empirical results underline the role of size among the characteristics of firms that facilitate energy efficiency innovation. Regarding company behaviour, firms that consider the reduction of environmental impacts to be an important objective of innovation and that have introduced organisational innovations are more likely to innovate with the objective of increasing energy efficiency. -- Highlights: •Drivers of innovation in energy efficiency at firm-level are examined. •Tangible investments have a greater influence on energy efficiency than R&D. •Environmental and energy efficiency innovation objectives are complementary. •Organisational innovation favors energy efficiency innovation. •Public policies should be implemented to improve firms’ energy efficiency

  19. How does Innovative Potential and Collaborative Capacity Contribute to a Firms Innovativeness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rai, Sudhanshu

    In this paper I ask the basic question highlighted in the title, how does innovative potential and collaborative capacity contribute to a firm’s innovativeness? To address this central question I draw on innovative potential and collaborative capacity as a dynamic notion evaluates the data from...... India. This paper tries to create a framework creating a sustainable environment for ICT Innovation. To do that I argue that innovative potential and collaborative capacity provide a constellation of inputs to the firm to address both internal and external challenges. For instance while innovative...... potential works at a project or an individual level while collaborative capacity is seen to work at a firm or perhaps at the inter firm level. This does not mean IP acts only at the locus stated. I conjecture that IP/CC interact with each other at defferent levels, where each takes turn in driving...

  20. Upgrading to lead firm position via international acquisition: learning from the global biomass power plant industry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Ulrich Elmer; Fold, Niels; Hansen, Teis

    2016-01-01

    This article examines the case of a Chinese firm that has upgraded to lead firm position in the global biomass power plant industry mainly through acquisitions of technological frontier firms in Denmark. Sustaining the lead firm position was, however, challenged by difficulties in developing...... innovative capability. Drawing on the literature on (i) firm-level technological capability and (ii) knowledge transfer in international acquisitions, we explain the reasons for insufficient innovative capability building. Based on these empirical findings, we suggest maintaining the existing upgrading...