Fabio Mazzola, Pietro Pizzuto and Giovanni Ruggieri
The purpose of this paper is to verifying the economic resilience of islands and, in particular, the role of the tourism sector in the reaction to the most recent economic crisis…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to verifying the economic resilience of islands and, in particular, the role of the tourism sector in the reaction to the most recent economic crisis. The analysis concerns insular contexts, such as the greater island regions in the Mediterranean basin.
Design/methodology/approach
Static and dynamic panel data techniques are used for a sample of 13 island economies over a period of 16 years.
Findings
Results show that the growth factors for regional islands are similar to the ones usually considered for other regions, but the tourism-led growth hypothesis is highly supported. Tourism demand more than supply plays a role together with accessibility. The crisis has reduced the importance of tourism supply, while tourism demand and accessibility have remained crucial for growth together with other traditional engines of growth.
Originality/value
To the best of authors’ knowledge, none of the current works has considered territorial determinants and tourism indicators inside the same framework analyzing growth in island economies by considering the changes occurred during the crisis explicitly.
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Martina Calzavara, Alessandro Persona, Fabio Sgarbossa and Valentina Visentin
In order-picking activities, the performance of the system can be influenced by different variables such as the order to be fulfilled, the distance to be covered or the experience…
Abstract
Purpose
In order-picking activities, the performance of the system can be influenced by different variables such as the order to be fulfilled, the distance to be covered or the experience of operators. Usually, this kind of activity is performed by operators rather than machines to assure flexibility. Consequently, their fatigue accumulation can decrease the performance of the overall system. The purpose of this paper is to define the kind of device to be used in an order-picking context, to obtain data which can be utilized for the evaluation of the level of fatigue and to improve the performance of the picking system.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a comparison between existing fatigue methods which can be applied in a picking context. In addition, an analysis of the physiological literature for the evaluation of a new device for the monitoring of fatigue level is carried on and its practical use is shown.
Findings
The proposed research identifies in the heart rate monitor the device that, thanks to its advantages, can be the best one to be used in an industrial context for monitoring the physical fatigue of operators.
Originality/value
This study considers the importance of human factors in picking activities such as physical fatigue of operators and the need to have validated tools to monitor and to define the level of fatigue accumulation in each activity of different rate and duration.
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Andrea Calabrò, Mariateresa Torchia, Hedi Yezza and Fabio Quarato
The aim of this paper is to develop and test a behavioral theory of chief executive officer (CEO) succession and its performance consequences in family firms. Building upon…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to develop and test a behavioral theory of chief executive officer (CEO) succession and its performance consequences in family firms. Building upon performance feedback and slack research, the study hypothesizes that the effect of selecting a non-family outsider CEO on post-succession firm performance is contingent upon pre-succession firm performance aspirations level and the available slack resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses are tested using a panel of 430 CEO successions in Italian family firms.
Findings
The findings show that a non-family outsider CEO is particularly valuable when performance resides far below aspiration levels, and there is a high availability of slack resources.
Originality/value
The study provides novel insights of the benefits and drawbacks of selecting non-family outsider CEOs offering behavioral-based theoretical explanations of performance consequences of CEO successions.
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Nicola Moscariello, Fabio La Rosa, Francesca Bernini and Pietro Fera
The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of two different financial reporting models (revenue-expense vs asset-liability) on several earnings attributes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the impact of two different financial reporting models (revenue-expense vs asset-liability) on several earnings attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis compares the earnings attributes of non-financial private firms using the Italian generally accepted accounting principles (Italian GAAP, based on a revenue-expense model) with those of the Italian non-financial private firms voluntarily adopting the international financial reporting standards (IFRS, based on the asset-liability model). To address major methodological concerns, the research design is based on a single-country analysis and on three different samples as follows: firms voluntarily adopting IFRS; a matched sample of Italian GAAP firms; Italian GAAP firms belonging to the Elite programme, and therefore, comparable to the IFRS adopters in terms of incentives towards financial reporting transparency.
Findings
The results show that firms reporting under a revenue-expense model are characterized by a stronger revenue-expense matching degree, along with higher earnings’ persistence, earnings’ predictability and conditional conservatism than firms adopting an asset-liability model. In addition, contrary to the expectations, Italian GAAP firms do not present smoother earnings and do not report greater abnormal accruals than IFRS adopters do. Overall, the findings suggest that the switch from a revenue-expense model to an asset-liability model negatively affects several earnings attributes of non-financial private companies, shedding new light on the drawbacks associated with the adoption of the IFRS accounting model.
Originality/value
This study addresses a theme characterized by sparse research efforts, adding new insights to the debate on the decline in the quality of earnings and on the drawbacks associated with the adoption of the IFRS accounting model.
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Daniel Magalhães Mucci, Fábio Frezatti and Diógenes de Souza Bido
This study aims to investigate the influence of budgeting design characteristics on perceived budgeting usefulness, based on the enabling-coercive framework.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of budgeting design characteristics on perceived budgeting usefulness, based on the enabling-coercive framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper develops a survey in one large publicly-listed Brazilian company that operates in the electric utility industry. The sample comprises 75 middle managers from different areas of this organization. This study uses structural equation modeling as the data analysis method.
Findings
The results indicate that internal and global transparencies determine middle managers’ perceptions of budgeting usefulness, while no relationship was found for repair capacity and flexibility characteristics. This paper shows that managers, when provided with global and internal transparencies and independently of their level discretion regarding target revisions or the reallocation of resources, perceive budgeting systems as being useful for decision-facilitating and decision-influencing roles.
Practical implications
The findings might be relevant for budgeting professionals to review or design the budgeting system in terms of dribbling potential flaws and increasing its use in the organization.
Originality/value
The study explores the multidimensionality of the enabling-coercive budgeting design construct. This study provides a theoretical contribution to the literature by showing that budget alignment, integration, learning and information sharing are relevant such that an organization could improve the assertiveness using budgeting systems. Besides, this paper provides an opposing view about the supposed relation between flexible budgeting design and budgeting usefulness. Frequently, some management directions are offered by the literature and no guarantee is provided in terms of the connection between the adoption and the usefulness of those mechanisms. Therefore, the findings shed more light on the practical developments in budgeting.
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Ilan Avrichir, Raquel Meneses and Agnaldo Antonio dos Santos
Although the concepts of family business, internationalization, and agency theory have received some attention in the relevant literature, these concepts and theories have been…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the concepts of family business, internationalization, and agency theory have received some attention in the relevant literature, these concepts and theories have been used independently. The purpose of this paper is to help close the gap between what is known and what needs to be known about the decision-making processes of internationalization of family managers (FM) and non-family managers (NFMs).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes the story of Busscar, a Brazilian firm that began internationalization under an FM and ended it under an NFM. The management transition took place suddenly, as the family CEO died in a tragic accident, and the company appointed an NFM to replace him virtually overnight. These circumstances, as well as the fact that Busscar accelerated its internationalization process after the transition only to go bankrupt a few years later makes this case critical.
Findings
The paper concludes that under NFMs, the speed and scope of the firm internationalization processes were accelerated and the financial risks were augmented, which is in line with the agency theory hypothesis and contradicts suggestions that NFMs tend to be more structured.
Research limitations/implications
Many researchers argue that it is important to professionalize the management of family firms. It is expected that an NFM leads to a more structured strategy. The study shows otherwise; changing the manager leads to opportunistic internationalization using emerging strategies rather than deliberate ones.
Originality/value
This study suggests that firms, networks, entrepreneurship, and ownership are not the only important variables. Manager origin (inside or outside the family) can change everything.
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The study aims to reveal the effects of transformational leadership on nonfamily employee international intrapreneurship with the mediating role of psychological empowerment.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to reveal the effects of transformational leadership on nonfamily employee international intrapreneurship with the mediating role of psychological empowerment.
Design/methodology/approach
The study sample consists of 379 employees at 132 family export and import firms in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. The data is analyzed by a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The paper reveals that transformational leadership had a positive and significant influence on nonfamily employee international intrapreneurship. The effect of transformational leadership on international intrapreneurship is strongly mediated by psychological empowerment.
Practical implications
Family firms would have to form the architecture and mechanisms for supporting the dedication of nonfamily international intrapreneurship actions with transformational leadership and psychological empowerment.
Originality/value
The paper grants the driving mechanism of the transformational leadership on nonfamily employee international intrapreneurship through the mediating role of employee psychological empowerment in the context of family businesses in an emerging market.