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The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent scientific literature on the determinants explaining the demand for index-insurance, the impact of index-insurance and the existing links between insurance and credit. In this meta-analysis, the authors identify key discoveries on the potential of index-insurance in enhancing credit supply for smallholders and thus farm productivity.

Following a systematic literature search in Scopus and Web of Science, relevant empirical articles were identified by using the following criteria search algorithm: “insurance” and (“weather” or “micro” or “area?based” or “rain*” or “livestock” or “index”), and ((“empiric*” or “experiment” or “trial” or “RCT” or “impact”) or (“credit” or “loan*” or “debt” or “finance”)). The authors identified 1,133 related papers, 110 of which were selected as closely matching the study criteria. After removing duplicates and analysing each document, 45 papers were included in the current analysis. The framework for addressing insurance and credit issues, in the paper, entails three subsequent themes, namely, adoption of insurance, impact of insurance and links between insurance and credit.

It is not confirmed yet that demand for insurance is indeed hump-shaped in risk aversion and the functional form of this relationship should be tested in more detail. This also holds for the magnitude of the effect of trust and education on actual demand. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent other risk mitigation strategies form complements or substitutes to index-insurance. Lastly, the interaction between basis risk and price is important to the design of index-insurance products. If basis risk and price elasticity are indeed highly correlated, products that diminish basis risk are crucial in increasing demand. On the impact of bundled products, e.g. combination of insurance and credit, limited empirical research has been conducted. For example, it is unknown to what extent credit suppliers would react to the insured status of farmers or what the preferences of farmers are when it comes to a mix of financial products. In addition, several researchers have suggested that microfinance institutions or banks could insure themselves against covariate risk, yet no empirical evidence about this insurance mechanism has been conducted so far.

The authors based the research on scientific literature uploaded in Scopus and Web of Science. Other potentially insightful grey literature was not included due to lack of accessibility. Given the research findings, there is plenty of opportunity for further research particularly with regard to the effects of bundled products, e.g. insurance plus credit, on demand for index-insurance, supply of credit, loan conditions and impact on farm productivity and farmers’ well-being.

Microfinance institutions, insurance companies, NGOs, research institutions and universities, particularly in developing countries, will be interested to learn about the systematic review of scientific research done in the area of insurance and credit for agriculture and the possibilities for application in their own practice of supplying these financial products.

A rigorous understanding of the potential of index-insurance and credit is essential for identifying the right mix of financial products that help smallholder farmers to increase farm productivity and their own well-being.

The paper is valuable due to its rigorous evaluation of existing theoretical and empirical research around issues explaining the degree of adoption and impact of index-insurance and that of bundled financial products (i.e. index-insurance plus credit). The paper has the potential to become essential reading for academics, practitioners and policy-makers interested in researching and putting in practice the best options leading to greater farm productivity and well-being in developing countries.

The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of human and structural capital on profitability of major airlines and examine whether region, capital ownership and control and strategic alliance play a clustering effect on profitability.

Using information from the top 30 airlines worldwide, in particular human and structural capital proxies, a linear model is regressed. Test of hypotheses were performed towards the identification of the influence emerged from variables, such as region, capital ownership and control and strategic alliances, on intellectual capital drivers and profitability.

Turnover is driven by human and structural capital factors, namely: employee expenses and benefits; size of board of directors; intangible assets; codeshare agreements; and passenger traffic. Airlines profitability does not depend on region, capital ownership and control or strategic alliance in which the company is integrated.

In spite of the limitations, we underline the range of time under analysis and the sample size. However, the current approach can be replicated over time and based in other rankings, structured on different metrics and approaches.

The empirical results provide both an understanding of how independent variables positively affect the performance of airlines and offer some explanation as to the relationship between key characteristics of firms and profitability.

The research adds value to the current literature by exploring the effects of new intellectual capital drivers on profitability of airlines firms. Focused on a sector that strongly contributes to improve the networking between nations, it provides a new and updated overview.

In this paper, we present a model to determine the interest cost of high‐yield (HY) bond financing. We first denmonstrate that, with a relatively high coupon rate, HY bonds have a significantly higher call risk than investment‐grade bonds, and the effective life of the bond is closer to the call deferment period. Consequently, the interest cost is more affected by the duration measure than by the years to maturity, or the call feature. Furthermore, the HY bond market is segmented by the purpose of the proceeds. The interest cost is, on average, 27 basis points higher if the fund is used to finance takeover activities. The third difference we show is that firms have to pay 11 basis points more in interest costs for every additional 1 million HY bond financing. We attribute this exception to the expected illiquidity of large‐issue HY bond in the secondary market when default risk premium increases. Furthermore, the HY bond interest cost is less sensitive to market uncertainty than the cost of treasury bonds, since bonds with high coupon rates have low price risk when the interest rate fluctuates.

Knight's Industrial Law Reports goes into a new style and format as Managerial Law This issue of KILR is restyled Managerial Law and it now appears on a continuous updating basis rather than as a monthly routine affair.

This chapter analyzes characteristics and changing patterns of marriage formation in Vietnam over the past 50 years, from various aspects including the motives underpinning marriage decision-making, the process of mate acquaintance, the criteria for mate selection, and marriage decision-making rights. The chapter is based on a review of data derived from the Vietnam Family Survey 2006 (MOCST et al., 2008) and the Vietnam Marriage Survey 2017 (Minh, 2021). It shows that the pattern of marriage formation in Vietnam has changed significantly in the past decades under the influence of various socio-economic and legal factors. Marriage is increasingly associated with the value of personal happiness. People today have many more opportunities to meet and get to know each other before marriage than older generations in the past. Adolescents spend more time getting to know their future spouse and have more options when choosing future partners before marriage. Marriage based on a partner’s individual qualities is preferred, gradually replacing mate selection based on family background. Parents’ power over their children’s marriage has decreased, while young people are becoming more and more independent in making decisions about their lives. In other words, today, it is the interests of the people involved in the marriage that matters, not only the interests of the family and kinship that determines marriages. However, despite these new marriage formation patterns, the belief that children’s marriage is an important affair for the whole family is still maintained. The general pattern is that there is a mix of personal factors and family circumstances regarding the marriage choices.

C'est avec une certaine joie et une satisfaction toute particulière que je vous souhaite la bienvenue à ce 36e Congrès qui se tient dans mon pays natal, pays qui est en même temps le siège de notre association. Ce dernier fait n'est pas un hasard puisque c'est précisément à Lugano qu'en 1959, à l'invitation des prof. Hunziker et Krapf, différents scientifiques du tourisme se sont retrouvés afin de promouvoir la recherche touristique d'après‐guerre. Depuis que notre association existe — et l'indication “36e Congrès” précise également l'âge de l'AIEST — nous nous sommes déjà rencontrés en Suisse, en 1958 et en 1960 et je me souviens qu'en 1960 déjà nous avons eu l'occasion d'apprécier la gastronomie du Château de Chillon, ou aura lieu notre banquet de clôture.

Considers the implications for budgeting and performance measurement of the emphasis on strategic management of human and information resources to obtain global competitive advantage. Summarizes relevant research, noting increasing use of economic value added, non‐financial measures and the balanced scorecard; and explaining Simons’ (1995) “levers of control” framework. Illustrates how this can be applied to the budgeting process, stressing the importance of interactive control systems which capture an integrated set of critical performance measures, and uses Skandia (insurance, Sweden) as an example. Lists the ten non‐financial performance metrics identified by Ernst & Young (1997) as important to investors and discusses the ten differences between budgeting in a traditional as opposed to a balanced scorecard environment put forward by Govindarajan and Shank (1992). Concludes that the need for multinationals to be flexible means that control and measurement systems must be aligned with strategic goals, taking account of national cultures, investors’ expectations and demands for employee empowerment.

Claims that, in Singapore, there is intense competition among local banks, hence increasing emphasis is being placed on offering a high quality customer service. Investigates how customers choose which banks to use, taking into account factors such as non‐verbal communication (including behavioural/interpersonal communication and environmental – deriving meaning from one’s surroundings); convenience; reputation; supply of information; and cosmetic factors such as the bank’s stationery. Uses a verbal questionnaire survey to examine the effect non‐verbal communication has on bank patrons’ attitudes. Evaluates banks’ businesslike approach, competency, friendliness, warmness, environment, electronic tellers, location and queueing. Makes a number of recommendations on how banks can improve their image and the service they offer.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relations among different knowledge management (KM) factors, such as human capital (HC), processes and information systems (IS) on organizational sustainable competitive advantage (CA), within the SMEs context.

Structured questionnaires were distributed to CEOs and managers of Portuguese organizations through an electronic survey. Partial least squares software was utilized to analyze the data.

The measurement model results identify and validate the dimensions of HC, processes and IS representing the KM construct. The structural model results demonstrate that HC and processes have a direct and significant impact on organizational CA, on the customer and financial dimensions, respectively. IS indirectly and significantly influence organizational CA, mediated by HC and processes.

The sample size includes mostly service business and SMEs. Other organizations sectors, such as industry, should be analyzed in order to develop a comparative cross-sectorial study.

This study establishes suggestions for managers to make legitimate decisions concerning investments on knowledge assets and organizational capabilities that can foster business growth and sustainable CA within a SMEs context.

The authors propose a mediation mechanism showing that the relationship between IS and sustainable CA is not direct, but it is mediated by HC and processes. This mechanism points out some critical issues for the strategic knowledge and intellectual capital assets, as a source of organizational CA.

This study aims to empirically investigate how organizations delivering services in business-to-business relations deal with the boundary paradox and knowledge asymmetry in value co-creation.

This study adopted a qualitative multiple case study strategy. Datas were gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews that were then analyzed through the content analysis.

The authors identified three mechanisms that organizations use to deal with the boundary paradox and two strategies to handle the knowledge asymmetry.

First, no opportunities were afforded to involve more participants. Second, owning to confidentiality reasons, not all organizations provided us documents to be analyzed.

The findings guide managers in balancing the use of contracts and trust in inter-firm collaborations and fostering the learning of customers. Also, insights to protect knowledge based on the paradox of openness in value co-creation.

This study’s findings address the gap in value co-creation literature concerning the lack of empirical studies.