Showing papers by "IE University published in 2006"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply the strategic logic of the Bartlett and Ghoshal typology to the realm of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to international organizational strategy and find that institutional pressures, rather than strategic analysis of social issues and stakeholders, are guiding decision-making with respect to CSR.
Abstract: What is the relationship of global and local (country-specific) corporate social responsibility (CSR) to international organizational strategy? Applying the strategic logic of the Bartlett and Ghoshal typology to the realm of CSR, multinational firms should respond to pressures for integration and responsiveness from salient stakeholders. However, an institutional logic would suggest that multinational firms will simply replicate the existing product-market organizational strategy (multidomestic, transnational, global) in their management of CSR. These alternative approaches are tested with a survey instrument sent to MNEs operating in Mexico. The results of this study are consistent with the proposition that institutional pressures, rather than strategic analysis of social issues and stakeholders, are guiding decision-making with respect to CSR. We develop implications for MNE management and research, as well as public policy.
745 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between group boundary spanners' work group identification and effective (i.e., harmonious and productive) intergroup relations in 53 work groups in five health care organizations.
Abstract: We examined the relationship between group boundary spanners' work group identification and effective (i. E., harmonious and productive) intergroup relations in 53 work groups in five health care organizations. The data suggest this relationship was moderated by boundary spanners' levels of organizational identification, thus supporting a dual identity model. Limited support was found for the moderating effect of intergroup contact. Finally, if boundary spanners displayed frequent intergroup contact and identified highly with their organization, group identification was most strongly related to effective intergroup relations.
333 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extended the arguments surrounding carbon lock-in elaborated in Unruh (Energy Policy 28 (2000) 817; 30 (2002) 317) to countries currently undergoing industrialization.
301 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a better understanding of the factors that affect the occurrence of new venture failure has been proposed, given the importance and prevalence of new ventures failure, which is a paramount research objective.
Abstract: Given the importance and prevalence of new venture failure, having a better understanding of the factors that affect its occurrence is a paramount research objective. In view of the increased focus...
137 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of trait affect in job search and found that job seekers high in positive affectivity find a job because they achieve job search clarity and, in turn, look for a job intensely.
126 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a new framework for intertemporal portfolio choice when the covariance matrix of returns is stochastic, which allows to derive optimal portfolio implications for economies in which the degree of correlation across different industries, countries, and asset classes is time-varying.
Abstract: We develop a new framework for intertemporal portfolio choice when the covariance matrix of returns is stochastic. An important contribution of this framework is that it allows to derive optimal portfolio implications for economies in which the degree of correlation across different industries, countries, and asset classes is time-varying and stochastic. In this setting, markets are incomplete and optimal portfolios include distinct hedging components against both stochastic volatility and correlation risk. The model gives rise to simple optimal portfolio solutions that are available in closed-form. We use these solutions to investigate, in several concrete applications, the properties of the optimal portfolios. We find that the hedging demand is typically four to five times larger than in univariate models and it includes an economically significant correlation hedging component, which tends to increase with the persistence of variance covariance shocks, the strength of leverage effects and the dimension of the investment opportunity set. These findings persist also in the discrete-time portfolio problem with short-selling or VaR constraints.
124 citations
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: The high permeability in the fracture network and the low equivalent porous volume result in early breakthrough of the injected fluids as discussed by the authors, which usually result in a lower hydrocarbon recovery rate.
Abstract: A considerable portion of the world's hydrocarbon endowment is in carbonate reservoirs. Carbonate reservoirs usually exhibit low porosity and may be fractured. These two characteristics along with oil-to-mixed wet rock properties usually result in lowered hydrocarbon recovery rates. When enhanced oil recovery (EOR) strategies are pursued, the injected fluids will likely flow through the fracture network and bypass the oil in the rock matrix. The high permeability in the fracture network and the low equivalent porous volume result in early breakthrough of the injected fluids. Infill drilling programs and well conformance strategies—mostly gas and water shutoff—have been effectively used to mitigate the early breakthrough and increase oil recovery. In most cases, however, 40 to 50% of the original oil in place (OOIP) is not produced.
123 citations
TL;DR: The authors empirically examined the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) on the voluntary disclosure of information security activities by corporations and found that SOX is having a positive impact on such disclosure.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored the link between learning capability and the improvement of business performance by comparing how the main dimensions of learning capability (stocks of knowledge and flows of learning) impact on performance, in terms of both non-financial and financial performance.
Abstract: It is widely recognized that the development of learning capability is key to achieve a durable competitive advantage. However, the analysis of the relevance of learning capability to improve business performance and, thus, the organizational competence has been insufficiently developed in literature. Based on data from 111 Spanish companies, this article explores the link between learning capability and the improvement of business performance by comparing how the main dimensions of learning capability—stocks of knowledge and flows of learning—impact on performance, in terms of both non-financial and financial performance. The results show that those organizations with the highest levels in their knowledge stocks and learning flows obtain a superior performance.
106 citations
TL;DR: The lack of academic interest in studying accounting in religious institutions is rather perplexing, given the prominence of such institutions in most historical and contemporary societies, both spiritually and economically as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Research on the relationship between accounting and religion or religious institutions is remarkably sparse. The lack of academic interest in studying accounting in religious institutions is rather perplexing, given the prominence of such institutions in most historical and contemporary societies, both spiritually and economically. In this introductory article, we first address research with a historical focus and then move on to study research on accounting and contemporary religious institutions. Our review of the literature indicates that research in this area remains at an embryonic state and that studies included in this special issue may contribute to the literature on the sacred–profane divide as well as on forms of accounting and accountability. We conclude by identifying a number of research areas that may attract the attention of scholars in the fields of accounting and accounting history.
90 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an agent-based model (ABM) using distributed artificial intelligence (DAI) concepts drawn from the general methodology of social simulation is developed to understand more fully the dynamics of the process of technological change, its role in sustainable development, and assess the implications of this dynamic approach to techno-environmental policy.
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16 Jan 2006TL;DR: In this article, a survey of roles and roles in corporate power structures is presented, with a focus on the "infinite job" solo: executive dilemmas, roles and actions.
Abstract: Figures Tables Introduction Part I. Contingencies and Roles in Structuring Corporate Power: 1. Contingencies of corporate power structures 2. Managing the 'infinite job' solo: executive dilemmas, roles and actions 3. Roles and relationships as parameters of corporate power structures Part II. Small Numbers at the Top: 4. Professional duos 5. Trios and bigger executive constellations 6. United careers of small numbers at the top Conclusion Bibliography Appendix.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look for evolutionary policy responses to lock-in, a persistent state that creates systemic market and policy barriers to technological alternatives, and argue that combining the virtues of these tools into a new policy tool, named prospective voluntary agreement, can help facilitate an escape from techno-institutional lockin.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the ongoing transformation of the Chinese state is empowering the country's leaders to influence the non-market environment of business as well, and that this route of influence has the potential of being at least as important as changes in relative market prices.
Abstract: The principal analytical lens through which Western decision makers and commentators have viewed China’s rapid rise in the international economy is the country’s impact on global market prices. China is already the world’s fourth largest trading nation and has the world’s biggest labour force, and the prospect of a possible consumer base of over a million people makes it the most attractive emerging market. Because of this economic might, in both production and consumption, China has begun to shape prices for a large array of goods and services. While analysts disagree about the specifics, no-one fundamentally disputes that this ‘China Price’ effect exerts considerable influence over current international economic dynamics. This article’s main thesis is that the ongoing transformation of the Chinese state is empowering the country’s leaders to influence the non-market environment of business as well, and that this route of influence has the potential of being at least as important as changes in relative market prices. A series of domestic institutional reforms have provided Chinese policy makers with the tools to shape the rules and standards that underlie international markets and the terms of competition within them. We show that the particular importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a driver of China’s economic development amplifies the effects of ongoing domestic institutional capacity building. Having established itself as a global ‘product maker’, the next round of competition could see China establish itself as a potent ‘rule maker’ in the global economy. Indeed, evidence is mounting that Chinese policy makers are beginning to deploy their expanding regulatory capabilities to set clear market rules at home and leverage the Chinese market to export them internationally. While China’s already impressive domestic market plays a critical role in this strategy, market size alone is insufficient. We argue that China’s ability to influence international market rules depends on policy makers’ ability to employ new regulatory capabilities that are the result of a political transformation initiated more than two decades ago. Through a series of administrative reforms, China has constructed a fledgling regulatory state that gives policy makers new
TL;DR: Several methods to select variables that are subsequently used in discriminant analysis are proposed and analysed and it is found that they obtain significantly better results than the stepwise, backward or forward methods used by classic statistical packages.
31 Dec 2006
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare the aproximación between the traditional and the nueva version of the contabilidad debate, in the context of the field of Historia de la Contabilidad.
Abstract: Existe un debate en historia de la contabilidad acerca de las distintas formas como los materiales historicos deben ser recopilados, interpretados, analizados y, finalmente, sobre la forma como los mismos deben ser redactados. En cierta manera, el centro de este debate descansa en torno a la eternal polemica acerca de la “objetividad/subjetividad” de la investigacion historica. Asi, mientras que la corriente mas ortodoxa sostiene la idea de una interpretacion objetiva de la historia, el enfoque alternativo defiende una interpretacion de caracter critico. En este articulo, nosotros pretendemos hacer una valoracion del debate entre los enfoques tradicional y de nueva historia de la contabilidad. En concreto, pretendemos contrastar la aproximacion tradicional y de nueva historia de la contabilidad en torno a cuatro dimensiones: que es lo que cuenta como contabilidad, el debate entre origenes y genealogias, los distintos papeles y roles que se atribuyen a la contabilidad, y las fuentes de historia de la contabilidad. En este articulo examinamos las diferencias entre la historia tradicional de la contabilidad y la nueva historia en torno a cada una de estas dimensiones, concluyendo que a pesar de las posiciones tan diversas que sostienen, las dos aproximaciones han contribuido sustancialmente a elevar el rigor investigador en historia de la contabilidad, asi como a fortalecer el programa de investigacion en esta disciplina.
TL;DR: For example, this article found that the welfare state%u2019s tax-based social transfers and coordinated wage bargaining have not harmed either employment or GDP, and even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.
Abstract: How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Western Europe, relative to industrialized Pacific Rim countries? Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Protectionist labor-market policies such as employee protection laws seem to have become more costly since about 1980, not through overall employment effects, but through the net human-capital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations in core sectors may also have reduced GDP, though here the evidence is less robust. By contrast, high general tax levels have shed the negative influence they might have had in the 1960s and 1970s. Similarly, other institutions closer to the core of the welfare state have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. The welfare state%u2019s tax-based social transfers and coordinated wage bargaining have not harmed either employment or GDP. Even unemployment benefits do not have robustly negative effects.
TL;DR: The authors found that firms with higher ex ante uncertainty choose a placing contract and that the hotness of the IPO market increases the probability of placings, while large and multinational firms usually choose a public offer whereas there is some evidence that very small issues choose placing.
Abstract: UK firms going public have a choice between public offers and placings. This choice has important implications in terms of who bears the risk of the issue failing and of its costs. We find that firms with higher ex ante uncertainty choose a placing contract. Highly reputable sponsors and creditor screening serve as signals of firm quality, enabling such firms to choose a public offer. Large and multinational firms usually choose a public offer whereas there is some evidence that very small issues choose a placing. Finally, the ‘hotness’ of the IPO market increases the probability of placings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study delegated portfolio management when the manager's ability to short-sell is restricted and find that the risk-averse manager's effort is an increasing function of her share in the portfolio's return.
Abstract: In this paper we study delegated portfolio management when the manager’s ability to short-sell is restricted. Contrary to previous results, we show that under moral hazard, linear performance-adjusted contracts do provide portfolio managers with incentives to gather information. We find that the risk-averse manager’s effort is an increasing function of her share in the portfolio’s return. This result affects the risk-averse investor’s choice of contracts. Unlike previous results, the purely risk-sharing contract is now shown to be suboptimal. Using numerical methods we show that under the optimal linear contract, the manager’s share in the portfolio return is higher than what it is under a purely risk sharing contract. Additionally, this deviation is shown to be: (i) increasing in the manager’s risk aversion and (ii) larger for tighter short-selling restrictions. As the constraint is relaxed the deviation converges to zero.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose an eclectic approach and give a clearer answer to the question of how labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Europe, and they show that the welfare state's tax-based social transfers and even unemployment benefits have not clearly harmed employment or GDP.
Abstract: How have labor market institutions and welfare-state transfers affected jobs and productivity in Europe? Many studies have tackled this question, with mixed results. This paper proposes an eclectic approach and gives a clearer answer to the issue. Orthodox criticisms of European government institutions are right in some cases and wrong in others. Labor-market policies such as employment protection laws have become more costly since 1980 through their humancapital cost of protecting senior male workers at the expense of women and youth. Product-market regulations may have reduced GDP, though the evidence is less robust. However, high taxes have shed the negative influence they had in the 1960s and 1970s, and other welfare-state institutions have caused no net harm to European jobs and growth. Coordinated wage bargaining has saved jobs with no cost in productivity. The welfare state’s tax-based social transfers and even unemployment benefits have not clearly harmed employment or GDP.
TL;DR: This paper showed that under moral hazard, linear performance-adjusted contracts do provide portfolio managers with incentives to gather information and that the risk-averse manager's effort is an increasing function of her share in the portfolio's return.
Abstract: In this paper we study delegated portfolio management when the manager's ability to short-sell is restricted. Contrary to previous results, we show that under moral hazard, linear performance-adjusted contracts do provide portfolio managers with incentives to gather information. We find that the risk-averse manager's effort is an increasing function of her share in the portfolio's return. This result affects the risk-averse investor's choice of contracts. Unlike previous results, the purely risk-sharing contract is now shown to be suboptimal. Using numerical methods we show that under the optimal linear contract, the manager's share in the portfolio return is higher than what it is under a purely risk sharing contract. Additionally, this deviation is shown to be: (i) increasing in the manager's risk aversion and (ii) larger for tighter short-selling restrictions. As the constraint is relaxed the deviation converges to zero.
TL;DR: This article found that women entrepreneurs with dependent children placed more emphasis on independence as a measure of success than other types of entrepreneurs, and that family factors and especially parental status played a key role in shaping fundamentally different perceptions of entrepreneurial success amongst different types of women entrepreneurs.
Abstract: Our study examines to what extent female and male entrepreneurs differ in the way they perceive and assess entrepreneurial success, measured by extrinsic or intrinsic dimensions. Our results indicate a number of similarities between men and women entrepreneurs but also reveal interesting gender-based differences related to family status. Rather than assuming that women entrepreneurs are a homogeneous group, we found that family factors, and especially parental status, play a key role in shaping fundamentally different perceptions of entrepreneurial success amongst different types of women entrepreneurs. In particular, women entrepreneurs with dependent children placed more emphasis on independence as a measure of success than other types of entrepreneurs.
TL;DR: In contrast to the relatively competitive settings that witnessed the emergence of cost systems in Anglo-American settings, the focal countries of this chapter featured inter alia the imposing role of religious and social philosophers' ideas on society as well as distinctive degrees of state intervention in the economy as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Historical research has shown the influence of environmental contexts on the design and functioning of management accounting systems. In contrast to the relatively competitive settings that witnessed the emergence of cost systems in Anglo-American settings, the focal countries of this chapter featured inter alia the imposing role of religious and social philosophers’ ideas on society as well as distinctive degrees of state intervention in the economy. In these contexts, firms implemented costing practices at patterns that differ from those reported for Anglo-American organizations. In particular, the studies reviewed in this chapter question traditional contentions that double-entry bookkeeping spread from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries and that cost calculations have been implemented only since the advent of the British Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, the emergence of costing practices in the focal countries of this chapter reveals extensive reliance on the notion of public good rather than on the idea of profit. Finally, the findings of this chapter to some extent question the conventional wisdom stating that standards applied first to raw materials and only later to the labour force. The chapter also outlines some suggestions for future research in these settings.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed what factors affect the dominance of diversified versus specialized firms and showed that market concentration and the degree of variability in the diversification pattern of firms in the industry are negatively associated with the overall extent of activities accounted by specialized firms across the 720 industries in their study.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze successful strategies used by Canadian and Latin American business groups and firms to increase the satisfaction of their minority shareholders and to limit the incentives of the controlling shareholders to abuse them.
Abstract: Most companies in the world are owned by families, and a majority of them are registered in countries where the legal protection of minority shareholders is weak. Is family control the consequence of the lack of investor protection? It is known that agency problems among owners actually increase in family-ownership situations, so family control by itself may not be an efficient substitute for the legal protection of minority investors. In this article we analyze successful strategies used by Canadian and Latin American business groups and firms to increase the satisfaction of their minority shareholders and to limit the incentives of the controlling shareholders to abuse them, and predict the outcomes of that protection. From these experiences we are able to suggest some conditions that are required in order for family control to be an effective response to the lack of legal investor protection.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze successful strategies used by non-US business groups and firms to increase the satisfaction of their minority shareholders and to limit the incentives of the controlling shareholders to abuse them, and predict the outcomes of that protection.
01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, an exploración of the area of gobierno electronico a nivel municipal in España has been conducted, with the goal of identifying the nivell de desarrollo de los servicios de gobiernos electronico in el entorno municipal en Espana.
Abstract: Este estudio se centra en el area de gobierno electronico a nivel municipal. La investigacion realizada ha tenido por objetivo la identificacion del nivel de desarrollo de los servicios de gobierno electronico en el entorno municipal en Espana. Los resultados muestran que la mayoria de las ciudades espanolas no tienen un crecimiento sostenible y por fases en el ambito de estrategia de Gobierno Electronico. El estudio resalta la necesidad de una estrategia a largo plazo en la implantacion del Gobierno Electronico municipal de forma que se cree una arquitectura digital sostenible.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that organizations undertake both types of learning facilitators, but considering that informal facilitators may act as potential moderators of the effects of formal ones, they have focused on one comprehensive informal facilitator, the learning climate, and four formal facilitators: environmental scanning, strategic planning, performance measurement, and information technologies.
Abstract: Organizations need to put in practice the most favourable conditions to facilitate learning capability. There are not clear answers about how these facilitators support and develop a learning capability. The different ways of thinking about learning in organizations distinguish two kinds of learning facilitators: formal and informal facilitators. In this paper, we suggest that organizations undertake both types of learning facilitators, but considering that informal facilitators may act as potential moderators of the effects of formal ones. We have focused on one comprehensive informal facilitator, the learning climate, and four formal facilitators: environmental scanning, strategic planning, performance measurement, and information technologies. The proposed hypotheses are tested through the analysis of surveys collected from Spanish Companies and using a structural equation model (SEM). Results show that learning climate may act as a strengthener moderator of the effects of scanning and IT on learning capability. Implications, limitations and future research are discussed.
22 Mar 2006
TL;DR: The STEP Research Project as discussed by the authors investigates antecedents and outcomes of Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices, which is based on the concept of transgenerational entrepreneurship, which refers to a family's mindset and capabilities to continue entrepreneurship.
Abstract: Recent family business literature has witnessed an upsurge of interest in developing a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial function of the family in social and economic wealth creation (Habbershon & Pistrui, 2002). As a result of this increased interest, recent studies have acknowledged that families have a dominant impact on business world wide (Stafford, 2001; Morck & Yeung, 2003), that they control between 60 and 90 percent of businesses in nearly every nation (INFERA, 2003), and they contribute more than 70% of private jobs (Shanker & Astrachan, 1996), and most likely function as the largest single source of start-up capital (Steier, 2001). Despite these advances, there is still an absence of research and validation of the family's entrepreneurial contribution to sustainable wealth creation. The overlap of family business studies and entrepreneurship has been traditionally described through a " common denominator " approach aimed at finding common subjects such as small business management, entrepreneurial couples, lifestyle start-ups, founders and founder's culture, transition and succession, and some corporate entrepreneurship themes (Dyer & Handler, 1994; Hoy & Vesper, 1994). We believe, however, that it is necessary to establish a true nexus between entrepreneurship theory and family business studies in order to fully understand the role and influence of the family in the entrepreneurial process and, therefore, the part they play in the entrepreneurial infrastructure of countries. To this end, the role of the family and of family-related influences on wealth creation have to be placed at center stage. One of the drivers in this convergence of thinking around the role of the family have been recent works adopting the concept of " familiness " These studies have demonstrated that the way to avoid the dichotomizing and, thereby, minimizing approach to investigating the impact of family is to create research models which assess family influence as a systemic variable within the resources and capabilities of the family group. The " familiness " approach has also been acknowledged as an appropriate framework for exploring how families find advantage, and for exploring the relationship of that advantage This conceptual paper is part of a wider project (" The STEP Research Project ") aimed at investigating antecedents and outcomes of Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices. In order to pursue research around the constructs of family and entrepreneurship, we introduce the conceptual framework of " transgenerational entrepreneurship ". Transgenerational Entrepreneurship refers to a family's mindset and capabilities to continue …
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how the managerial beliefs that executives hold about their followers relate to their perceived leadership style among a sample of 76 Presidents and CEO´s of Spain largest firms.
Abstract: Transformational leadership predicts follower's satisfaction and performance beyond traditional forms of leadership. However, little is known about the beliefs system associated with transformational leaders. Taking a cognitive perspective, we examined how the managerial beliefs that executives hold about their followers relate to their perceived leadership style among a sample of 76 Presidents and CEO´s of Spain largest firms. The results support the idea that executives with a learning orientation are more likely to report a transformational leadership style; whereas executives with a performance goal orientation are more likely to report a transactional leadership style. We also found that self-rated transformational leaders hold stronger Theory Y beliefs than self-rated transactional leaders. Furthermore, we found that these mental associations are held to a stronger degree for executives with graduate degrees of formal education. These results are discussed in terms of their significance for transformational leadership theory and leadership development.