Gustavo A. Barboza and Sandra R. Trejos
Free trade reform promotes and consolidates businesses’ orientation to international markets. Using a sample of twenty Latin American countries, this study finds support for the…
Abstract
Free trade reform promotes and consolidates businesses’ orientation to international markets. Using a sample of twenty Latin American countries, this study finds support for the hypothesis that higher revealed trade openness implies faster economic growth. However, at low output growth levels, increased revealed trade openness does not translate to faster output growth. Why more trade does not necessarily imply faster growth at all levels of revealed trade openness growth remains a conundrum. Failure to derive faster economic growth may compromise the prospects for sustainable trade reforms and thus the consolidation of new business ventures as engines for further growth.
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Gustavo Barboza, Valerien Pede and Sergio Madero
The purpose of this paper is to model the role that stakeholders, and especially social responsible consumers play in the process of finding a win–win solution to control…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to model the role that stakeholders, and especially social responsible consumers play in the process of finding a win–win solution to control production related negative externalities. In this regard, when information asymmetries are present and consumers become knowledgeable about them, consumers with d-preferences for corporate social responsibility (CSR) type of products becomes the driver of the firm strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
To accomplish the goals of this paper, the authors proceed to develop a series of theoretical models wherein the social gains and costs of alternative modes of intervention are illustrated. The authors begin with a standard Pigouvian tax model and construct a stakeholder equivalent tax model and finalize the analysis with consumers acting in a shared social responsible behavior with firms as the optimal solution model.
Findings
The authors show that proactive disclosure of information asymmetries regarding negative externalities develops a shared social responsibility between consumers and firms. Market-based solutions to the externality problem are achieved under this setting. This solution is preferred to a Pigouvian tax and to a stakeholder equivalent tax. It is concluded that shared social responsibility is the result of the interaction of consumers with d-preferences and the reaction of a socially responsible “firm” willing, and the authors are able to incorporate these preferences as drivers for its strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this paper is in its theoretical nature and specific applications to one case, that of negative externalities in production processes. The implication of this is that the model herein developed needs to be put to the empirical test.
Social implications
The overall social implications indicate that active reduction of information asymmetries is welfare improving and preferred to government intervention.
Originality/value
This paper is original as it makes use of economic principles to develop a parsimonious model to demonstrate that proactive actions of a firm in response to consumers and stakeholders demands leads to an overall social welfare improvement when negative externalities deriving from production are incorporated into the decision making process of both consumers and firms. These decisions prove superior to government regulations.
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This paper’s main objective is to expand the demand-driven strategic field by developing a model where endogenization of consumers’ preferences for clean(er) products becomes the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper’s main objective is to expand the demand-driven strategic field by developing a model where endogenization of consumers’ preferences for clean(er) products becomes the driver of the firm green corporate social responsible (GCSR) profit maximization behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The model proposes that in undifferentiated markets, firms using a conventional technology manage production-related negative externalities via information asymmetries. In turn, when consumer socially responsible individuals (CnSR) discover the nature of the information asymmetries, they then reveal their preferences. The building block of the model is that CnSR derive value both from intrinsic as well as extrinsic product features, and derive negative satisfaction from the production negative externalities. In turn, CnSR preferences offer a higher willingness to pay for a combined intrinsic (private good and direct utility) and extrinsic (public good and feel good–do good utility) product.
Findings
The model demonstrates that the firm’s GCSR behavior is a technological-driven process directly affecting the extrinsic component of the product through the development of a safe technology, and exclusively targeting CnSR type of consumers. The corollary of the model is that for the firm pursuing a GCSR behavior, the development of a competitive advantage with higher firm performance leads to profit maximization when exclusively serving the GCSR segment of the market. Thus, GCSR is the result of unusual innovation efforts.
Originality/value
This paper presents a model that expands the field of strategic management through the demand-driven incorporation and respective modeling. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first model to explicitly develop this relationship in this format.
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Gustavo Barboza, Laura Gavinelli, Valerien Pede, Alice Mazzucchelli and Angelo Di Gregorio
The purpose is to detect the nonlinearity wholesale rice price formation process in Italy in the 1995–2017 period.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose is to detect the nonlinearity wholesale rice price formation process in Italy in the 1995–2017 period.
Design/methodology/approach
A nonlinear smooth transition autoregressive (STAR)-type dynamics model is used.
Findings
Wholesale rice prices are significantly affected by variations in the international price of rice as well as variations in Arborio price.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations include policy recommendations for the production and commercialization of rice in Italy.
Practical implications
Understanding rice pricing dynamics and nonlinearity behavior is pivotal for the survival of the entire European and Italian rice supply chain.
Originality/value
In the extant literature, no evidence exists on non-linearity of rice prices in Italy.
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Gustavo Barboza and Alessandro Capocchi
This paper aims to investigate the impact of knowledge spillover effects (KSE) on employment levels using a sample of 245 Italian Innovative startup companies created as a result…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of knowledge spillover effects (KSE) on employment levels using a sample of 245 Italian Innovative startup companies created as a result of the legislative changes of Law Decree 179/12 introduced in Italy in 2012.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a parsimonious model with the employment level as the dependent variable. The paper tests for the impact that the measures of industry competition, specialization and diversity have on the level of employment in the Innovative Startup sector in Italy. The data uses a sample of 245 firms, across 20 geographic regions in Italy for three economic sectors at the 2-Dig NAICS classification.
Findings
The empirical results provide evidence in favor of regional specialization as the main force to create and transfer knowledge resulting in increased employment; while higher levels of competition and a more diverse regional production bases result in lower firm employment levels. Employment levels for these firms are also time-dependent, and thus mainly determined at the time of the firm’s creation. This study also found a lack of technological convergence across regions, that are inherent regional differences are not bridged by knowledge spillover effects.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is based on a sample of Italian Innovative Startups and consequently, further research with a potentially larger sample and, perhaps, a sample across countries could also shed some light on the issues relating to KSE and their effects on employment generation and firm formation.
Practical implications
From a practical point of view, the results indicate that regional disparity and limited transmission of KSE across regions remain an impediment to the flow of knowledge. This in turn may limit the development of entrepreneurial activities and further development of new firms. Practical implications regarding knowledge management indicate that firms face time and spatial challenges when developing, transferring and acquiring knowledge. In sum, the evidence points out in favor of existent and persistent regional heterogeneity in terms of economic and technological specialization as sources of employment.
Originality/value
This research adds to the empirical evidence focusing on the effects of knowledge spillover effects in the Innovative Startup segment of the economy. This research highlights the applicability of knowledge spillover effects accounting for levels of industry competition, specialization and diversity. We also provide a measure of cluster formation and concentration at the sectoral and regional levels. Thus, the research provides a better understanding under which conditions knowledge is more likely to have positive or negative effects on employment generation.
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Andreza Portella Ribeiro, Ana Maria Graciano Figueiredo, José Osman dos Santos, Elizabeth Sonoda Keiko Dantas, Marycel Elena Barboza Cotrim, Paulo Alves de Lima Ferreira, Elvis Joacir de França, Gustavo Silveira Graudenz, Michel Michaelovitch de Mahiques, Rubens Cesar Lopes Figueira and Julio Cesar de Faria Alvim Wasserman
– The purpose of this paper is to validate and apply enrichment diagrams (EDs) to determine metal and as enrichment and contamination in the sediments of Sepetiba Bay.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to validate and apply enrichment diagrams (EDs) to determine metal and as enrichment and contamination in the sediments of Sepetiba Bay.
Design/methodology/approach
Through inducted coupled plasma – optical emission spectrophotometry, total element (As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) concentrations were assessed for the construction of EDs and comparison with enrichment factors (EFs) in 65 samples collected in Sepetiba Bay.
Findings
Based on the EDs, it was observed that the sediments around the urban area of Sepetiba and ItaguaíHarbor were contaminated with Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn. These contaminants were expected due to the urban and industrial discharges into the bay and the activities at ItaguaíHarbor.
Originality/value
The ED was successful regarding its ability to evaluate inorganic contamination in Sepetiba Bay. In addition, this method was able to define a proper background sample for calculating EFs.
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Gustavo Tenorio Reis, Joaquim Rubens Fontes-Filho and Mariana Lima Bandeira
This study aims to show how configurations of the institutional environment, client expectations and fiduciary duty influence private equity (PE) managers in integrating…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to show how configurations of the institutional environment, client expectations and fiduciary duty influence private equity (PE) managers in integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects into the investment decision-making process.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design combined bibliographic and documentary analysis (including the regulatory framework and secondary sector data) with a phenomenological approach, supported by interviews with managers of PE firms and content analysis.
Findings
The findings revealed the impact of the sociocultural environment on the adoption of ESG practices in investment decisions, the perception of international pressures to embrace ESG principles that differ from national needs, and the diversification of strategies implemented due to excessive regulation.
Originality/value
The study’s uniqueness lies in both the phenomenological approach used to comprehend how concerns about ESG practices influence PE fund investment decisions and the identification of factors not typically emphasized in the literature as moderators of this decision-making process.