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The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of the firms' external environment on their export intensity. More specifically, it assesses whether domestic market characteristics such as domestic demand and general export environment related to tradability across borders affect firms' export intensity.

The authors use a sample of 29,266 firms from nine European countries, for the period of 2010–2016, and test several estimation methods (random effects models, Tobit models, and Heckman's selection models).

Results show that external factors such as domestic demand and ease of trade across borders are important determinants of firms' export intensity. Moreover, results reveal that firm's internal characteristics such as age, size and productivity also play an import role.

Studies about the influence of the firms' external environment on firms' export intensity are scarce because most of them are confined to a single country context. In this way, the present study contributes to the body of knowledge on the influence that external factors can have on firms' export performance by analyzing firms from nine European countries, which has important policy implications.

This study examines the influence of firm's international trade activities on the relationship between debt and firm's performance.

This study is based on a sample of 8,343 Portuguese manufacturing firms between 2010 and 2017 and resorts to a random effects model.

Results suggest that international engagement can have a moderating effect on the relationship between debt and a company's performance. In fact, results indicate that the impact of debt on performance is less negative for companies involved in international trade activities (either importing, exporting or both) than for purely domestic firms. Furthermore, results also suggest that the level of international involvement is relevant; importing activities are those that contribute most toward a positive impact.

The work extends the existing literature by considering various types of international trade activities.

The present study seeks to assess whether the firm's location and agglomeration economies affect the firm's export propensity.

This work is based on a sample of 20,234 Portuguese manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and resort to the estimation of a probit model.

Empirical results show that the location and agglomeration economies have an important role in determining the firm's export propensity. In particular, the study concludes that SMEs located in coastal areas or close to the border are more likely to export. Furthermore, the study also concludes that specialization economies are an important driver of small and medium-sized firms' export propensity while export spillovers are particularly relevant for micro firms. However, urbanization, measured through firms density in NUTS3 region, negatively affects firms' export propensity, which may be due to high congestion costs in the regions with a high firms density.

This study focus on the determinants of the decision to export or the export propensity, particularly the external factors such as the firm's location and agglomeration economies. This is a relatively neglected topic in the literature that has focused on the determinants of export intensity.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature on the relationship between debt and firms’ performance, by focusing on the influence of the institutional framework on this relationship and on the role of macroeconomic variables in explaining performance.

The present work is based on a large sample of 48,840 manufacturing firms from nine European countries covering the 2008–2013 period and uses a fixed effects model.

Results show that the impact of debt on a firm’s performance depends on the measure of debt (short-term debt positively affects a firm’s performance, whereas long-term debt presents a negative relationship) and that the institutional framework is indeed affecting the relationship between debt and a firm’s performance: the positive effect of debt on a firm’s performance tends to be higher the greater the “efficiency of the legal system” and the greater the “credit market regulation.” Macroeconomic variables also play a key role in explaining performance.

Unlike most of the existing studies, which focus only on the relationship between debt and firms’ performance in a single country, the present work uses a sample of firms from nine countries with the purpose of filling a research gap and bringing new empirical evidence to this research area.

This paper develops a moral hazard model applied to a multinational firm’s decision between foreign direct investment and international subcontracting. We compare the results of the moral hazard model, characterised by the fact that the multinational firm cannot control the operations performed by the subcontractor firm, with the traditional model of symmetric information. We conclude that the uncertainty associated with the subcontractor firm’s behaviour, despite increasing the multinational firm’s preference to engage in foreign direct investment, does not change its optimal decision, which is to subcontract. The exception occurs when the subsidiary stands as more efficient than the subcontractor firm.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

After opening its first store on Porto's main commercial street in 1994, the fashion accessories specialist Parfois soon began its expansion into Portuguese shopping centers, offering a wide range of products from shoes and hats to jewellery, handbags and purses. Less than 20 years later and the company not only has stores in Portugal, Spain and France, but also in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Canary Islands, Mozambique, Russia, Romania, Jordan, Oman and Angola – and that is by no means an exhaustive list of countries “conquered” by this relatively small European retail brand. Rapid expansion has been helped by the company's strategy of being willing to open own stores in the western European markets, where it feels comfortable, and letting partners assume the investment risk elsewhere.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to digest format.

Both franchising and internationalisation are important subjects of study, but in the existent literature little attention has been given to these two topics combined. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the internationalisation through franchising, using as a case study the internationalisation process of Parfois, a specialised retail brand based in northern Portugal, and operating in the fashion accessories business.

A case study approach was adopted based on information collected from various sources, including the company's website, the World Bank database, some news reports about Parfois, and also from interviews with those responsible for the internationalisation of Parfois.

The authors have identified a clear pattern in the internationalisation process: the firm is willing to open its own stores in the European market, where it feels comfortable, allowing franchisees to assume the investment risk in other world regions, with particular relevance for the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

In the international competitive market, it is important for other retail brands to understand how a relatively small retail brand, based in a depressed European zone, is able to expand worldwide. Furthermore, the lack of existing literature about internationalisation through franchising in specialised retailing companies adds value to this study.

In analyzing the state's political economic management of ethnic diversity in Trinidad, with specific reference to the case of the indigenous Santa Rosa Carib Community, the author sets forth an outline of the “political economy of tradition”: (1) the politics and economics of the state associating economic values with particular cultural representations and (2) legislated recognition and financial rewards for groups engaged in public cultural display. How the Caribs themselves manage this process, and the contradictions introduced by forms of state sponsorship that led the Caribs to become incorporated as a limited liability company, are also issues central to this study.

This case should be paired with textbook chapters that cover the important roles of leadership, staffing and corporate culture in the strategy implementation effort. The case can also be used to review textbook chapters covering competitive and industry analysis, differentiation strategies, goal setting and financial analysis. In advanced courses, readings on leadership and corporate social responsibility should be assigned to inform debates regarding Vasu’s style and his commitment to creating shared value. Alternatively, instructors in retail management courses could assign readings that investigate the linkages of human resource management, service quality and other behaviors to optimal supermarket performance.

The authors revised this case and Teaching Noes from an MBA student case writing project in Fall 2017. The student conducted focus groups with Pacific Market’s consumers, worked with Vasu and his consultant, Tom Scott, a former CEO of a local grocery chain, supplemented with secondary industry research and demographic information about the cities of Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. Meetings to develop the company mission statement and long-term goals took place over Fall 2017. Tom provided the operating information and trade area analysis used in the case, and Vasu provided financial statements and background information.

After a career as a turnaround specialist for Silicon Valley high-tech startups, Vasudev Narayanan (Vasu) acquired Pacific Market, a two-store chain in Sonoma County, California, in 2013. By Fall 2017, rival local chains had expanded, online vendors threatened in-store shopping, the Amazon-Whole Foods combination threatened disruption, and consumers increasingly insisted on “buying local.” Vasu aimed to grow revenues 50 percent by 2020, and fund Good Karma Foundation, a charity in his native India. Strategies to achieve these objectives included infrastructure investments, employee profit sharing, changing the mix of products and amenities or finding a buyer for the operation.

The Pacific Market case is intended for undergraduate or MBA-level strategic management courses. The case pairs well with coverage of how leaders approach the strategy implementation effort, a topic typically introduced toward the end of the course. The case gives students practice in applying strategy formulation concepts and frameworks, e.g. PESTEL analysis, Porter’s industry forces, key industry drivers, strategic group mapping, SWOT analysis, corporate social responsibility and financial ratio analysis. Instructors might also use this case to cover similar material in retail management courses. The case is highly suitable as a written assignment for an examination and/or for team presentations.

Building on theories of adolescent learning, including cognitive, personal, social, and moral development, this chapter considers how using media literacy techniques to analyze a children’s television program can create wide-awake, active learners while dissecting media messages. By analyzing children’s television for its portrayal of race and ethnicity, this chapter will explore the role media play in children's understanding of people and cultures outside of their own. A textual analysis of episodes of Maya & Miguel, the chapter describes the depiction of several cultures found represented on the program including White, Asian, African, Dominican, and Mexican and how race, ethnicity, and culture is framed in the television program.

Some theories suggest that television is a primary tool in the socialization of children. Children are attracted to the animation in cartoons, the colors, the movement and the easy-to-follow simplicity of the dialogue. Given the impressionable nature of children, it is possible that they begin to act out the biased nature of the cartoons they watch. Thus, considering their vulnerability, information literacy is relevant to discerning media messages. In this way, information literacy converges with media literacy and visual literacy. Guiding children to interrogate what they view is critically important especially when they are at an age where they can be easily influenced by misinformation or dominant messages. Additionally, the volume of information is steadily increasing in the 21st century as are the modes for accessing, creating and manipulating information. Thus, this work will demonstrate how promoting participatory learning by objectively viewing media and exercising reflective thinking will be important components of children’s education in this millennium.