Search results for "Organization"
showing 10 items of 4550 documents
Public Purchasing and Eco-labelling Schemes: Making the Connection and Reinforcing Policy Coherence
2004
Many governments have promoted eco-labelling schemes as an accurate information-based policy to regulate environmental problems. This paper argues that governments should integrate eco-labelling into their purchasing decisions, both to benefit the environment directly and to reinforce ecolabelling programs as a means to influence private purchasers. Both effects could be quite significant given that governments are large purchasers of goods and services. After reviewing the main barriers and potentialities for greening procurement markets, we explore several ways by which green public procurement can promote the overall diffusion of eco-labelled products. JEL codes: H57; Q 28
Predicting failure in the U.S. banking sector: An extreme gradient boosting approach
2019
Abstract Banks play a central role in developed economies. Consequently, systemic banking crises destabilize financial markets and hamper global economic growth. In this study, extreme gradient boosting was used to predict bank failure in the U.S. banking sector. Key variables were identified to anticipate and prevent bank defaults. The data, which spanned the period 2001 to 2015, consisted of annual series of 30 financial ratios for 156 U.S. national commercial banks. Identifying leading indicators of bank failure is vital to help regulators and bank managers act swiftly before distressed financial institutions reach the point of no return. The findings indicate that lower values for retai…
Evaluating the Change Process for Business Risk Auditing: Legitimacy Experiences of non-Big 4 Auditors
2017
SUMMARY The business risk auditing (BRA) approach was developed in the late 1990s and partly incorporated into audit standards in the early 2000s. As such, BRA was a significant innovation in audit methodology. In our interview study, we examine the experiences of 38 non-Big 4 auditors toward the theorization and diffusion of BRA. We use the widely recognized framework from Greenwood, Suddaby, and Hinings (2002), emphasizing the importance of legitimacy within an organizational field, to evaluate the change process toward BRA. First, we observe that the theorization of the new concept of BRA was often of limited success as many non-Big 4 auditors found it to be too complex and remained unco…
The Rise in Inequality after Pandemics: Can Fiscal Support Play a Mitigating Role?
2021
Abstract Major epidemics of the last two decades (SARS, H1N1, MERS, Ebola, and Zika) have been followed by increases in inequality [Furceri et al. (2020), COVID Economics, 12, 138–157]. In this article, we show that the extent of fiscal consolidation in the years following the onset of these pandemics has played an important role in determining the extent of the increase in inequality. Episodes marked by extreme austerity—measured using either the government’s fiscal balance, health expenditures, or redistribution—have been associated with an increase in the Gini measure of inequality three times as large as in episodes where fiscal policy has been more supportive. We survey the evidence th…
Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers: Evidence from the British Retail Sector
2011
This paper discusses the impact of foreign-ownership presence on the productivity performance of British-owned domestic retailers. In particular, we analyse the existence of productivity spillovers, in the form of knowledge transfer, by using establishment-level data from the Annual Respondents Database over the period 1997–2003. The results confirm the presence of such spillovers and highlight their positive and significant impact on the productivity of domestic firms, although these spillovers are mostly confined to the region in which foreign subsidiaries locate. There is also evidence that the productivity benefit from regional foreign direct investment spillovers increases with the abs…
Previous experience, experimentation and export survival : Evidence from firm-product-destination level data
2021
This paper explores the role of a firm's product and/or market export experience and experimentation for survival of new product-destination export spells, using firm-level Spanish customs data over the period 1997-2015. Previous research has documented a positive impact of experience on export survival. This paper contributes to the extant literature by unravelling the distinct effect on export survival of ongoing accumulated experience (i.e., from the start of a product-destination export spell), previous product and/or destination-market experience and experimentation (repetition of product-destination relationships). We find that 60% of new product-country export spells end during their…
Aspetti economici e commerciali dell'arancia di Ribera
2010
The Sicily is the first region for orange cultivation in Italy. This sector, throughout the ages, has been characterized by a decrease of the invested areas and by a reduction of the fresh product’s demand; in the meantime, the competitiveness of the new producer countries is increased for a better commercial organization and for lower production costs. The aim of the paper is to improve the knowledge of orange cultivation in Ribera area, in the province of Agrigento (Sicily). It is carried out a microeconomic analysis on a sample of 20 farms to determine profitability of orange cultivation by means of various economic indicators (production costs, profits, net incomes). The business survey…
Simultaneity between strategic variables: Production, innovation, and product differentiation
1995
This paper aims to analyze the existence of simultaneous effects among the variables production, product differentiation, and innovation. Microeconomic data from a sample of 2,160 firms are used as a base. Empirical results show that a positive correlation exists from innovation to product differentiation, thus showing that it is in the process of production itself, through technical improvements, where product differentiation is determined. On the other hand, no positive effect exists from product differentiation to innovation, i.e., once technical improvements have been established, firms exchange the barriers to entry created by brand image for the real barriers established by innovation…
Outside‐in Politicization of EU–Western Africa Relations: What Role for Civil Society Organizations?
2021
This article explores the empirical relevance of researching outside-in politicization processes in European studies. To this end, it examines to what extent and how civil society organizations (CSOs) have contributed to the politicization of EU policies towards Western Africa in two cases: the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements and the EU's engagement with the G5 Sahel. CSOs were strongly engaged in the trade negotiations, while they were largely excluded from the G5 Sahel process. In both cases this was due to CSOs' own initiatives, or the absence thereof, with these strongly linked to being either invited or discouraged by official actors. The article argues that authority tr…
Ambidexterity in micro and small firms: Can competitive intelligence compensate for size constraints?
2021
Ambidexterity has been linked to firm structures that are typical of organizations with a larger size. However, further research is needed to analyze whether the effect of firm size on ambidexterity is contingent on other aspects. We argue that micro and small firms that have developed some competitive intelligence routines (CIRs) may foster ambidextrous behavior and compensate for the limitations arising from a smaller size and lack of resources. We test our proposal on a sample of 200 firms in the furniture sector. Our results show that CIRs compensate for size constraints in that size is no longer a relevant variable to increase ambidextrous behavior in firms that achieve higher levels i…