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Given its complexity, the study of local development can be approached from different perspectives. This paper presents a proposal for the study of local development models at the level of their conception (discursive level) and their implementation (level of practices or strategies). Two theoretical models have been identified in the literature, the economic-competitive and the social-sustainable, the former being hegemonic. The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities of alternatives to this model and to investigate the importance of governance mechanisms and the territorial context in shaping the translation of these theoretical models to the cases studied. To this end, case study research is presented, using a qualitative approach that combines the use of interviews with key actors and the use of documents to analyse the role of these factors in the articulation of the discursive level and the local development strategies implemented. The results point to the predominance of the economic-competitive model, with variations resulting from the particular configuration of actors, spaces of interaction and local structures of interest exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces papers published within the issue, including one on the quality of life in European Union countries from 2007 to 2011, another on the probability of job loss before and after the economic downturn in Spain and the impact of competition from China on unemployment in Spain.

Despite a cascade of corruption scandals over the last decade, the role of political corruption has yet to be accounted for in the scholarship on Spanish urban entrepreneurialism. This is an omission that extends to the broader literature on the topic as well. This paper looks at the theoretical causes of this neglect and explores ways of integrating corruption into the study of urban entrepreneurialism. To do so, it offers a systematic analysis of the role of clientelism in the political economy of Spanish inter‐urban competition. Contrary to the existing literature, which at best explains away corruption as a logical outgrowth of intensified competition for real estate capital, this paper argues that corruption is rooted in a political structure that precedes the emergence of urban entrepreneurialism. This structure is identified as an "iron triangle", a complex of colluding interests formed by the state, the real estate industry, and political parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enrich the explanation of the interplay between internal and external – or district shared – exploration and exploitation capabilities as antecedents of a firm’s radical and incremental innovation. Previous studies do not differentiate between exploration and exploitation in district shared capabilities and how they interact with internal capabilities.Design/methodology/approach The paper uses hierarchical regression analysis to test the quadratic and moderating effects in a sample of 1,019 Spanish firms.Findings Results show an increasingly positive effect on radical innovation of exploration capabilities, enhanced by shared capabilities in exploration. In the case of incremental innovation, the study finds evidence of an increasingly positive influence of exploitation capabilities and a concave relationship of exploration capabilities. Moreover, shared exploitation capabilities weaken the effect of internal exploitation capabilities and also have a direct effect on incremental innovation. Therefore, the two capabilities are interchangeable in the effect they have on incremental innovation.Practical implications Depending on the firm’s innovation strategy, intra-district firms should develop specific capabilities and/or concentrate on adopting the shared capabilities in the destination.Originality/value The study furthers the understanding of the relationship between exploration and radical innovation, and between exploitation and incremental innovation, which is more complex than previously depicted. The study also differentiates between exploration and exploitation in shared capabilities, enriching understanding of the competitiveness of district firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically investigates whether changes in product market competition affect firm boundaries. Exploiting regulation-induced shocks to entry barriers and differences in regulation enforcement across cities to obtain exogenous variation in competition, we establish a negative causal effect of competition (through reduced entry barriers and a larger number of rival firms) on vertical integration in the setting of the Spanish local television industry between 1995 and 2002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents fresh evidence on the interaction between industrial property rights (patents) and competition, and their joint effect on firms’ innovation. We use panel data of Spanish manufacturing firms for 1990–2006, as well as external information on European Patent Office and US Patent Office patent counts. We construct a new synthetic measure of competition and estimate the impact of patents on this measure at the industry level. Then, the effect of industry-wide competition and patenting on firms’ innovation is estimated at the firm level. Our results suggest that patents reduce the level of competition in the industry, whereas the effect of competition on innovation varies with the type of innovation indicator. Thus, by lowering competition, patents in an industry exert an indirect effect on innovation besides their direct effect. In addition, interaction effects between patents and competition indicate that patents soften the impact of competition changes on firms’ innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain has a reference price system (RPS) for off-patent medicines since 1997. In addition, from 2012, Andalusia is running a series of tenders for procuring off-patent medicines dispensed by community pharmacies, for those medicines included in the system of homogenous clusters within the national reference price system. Such tenders offer additional savings to the regional payer - in the form of rebates ("economic improvements") from companies winning the tender. This paper estimates that the regional savings were between €43 M to €54 M over the period of study (April - September 2015). The paper also estimates that Spain could have made between 14 and 17 times higher savings than the national reference pricing system savings, had the Andalusian-type tender been implemented at national level over the same period of study. Based on our analysis, we have four remarks. First, the national RPS in Spain is not generating enough price competition for off-patent products dispensed in primary care pharmacies. Second, tenders can be a useful way to generate competition and financial savings in the off-patent market. Third, tenders can lead to discounts offered by medicine providers being redistributed from pharmacies to payers. And fourth, before implementing a national tender in Spain, several key issues need to be addressed to ensure it provides the right incentives both in the short and long run., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This paper attempts to link the concepts of accessibility and the firm's conduct in the regional retail market in Spain. We use a database that includes sale price, service station location, level of traffic and type of road. We show that accessibility has two main effects on final prices. The accessibility of own-brand gas stations increased their prices while the accessibility of rival gas stations causes price reductions. If we include the value of time, then no rational consumer should travel further than his nearest petrol station in search of lower prices. Finally, our paper shows that service stations can establish a dominant position if consumers do not have access to other retailers within a 17-min radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last fifteen years, and especially following the economic crisis, the Southern European states have introduced a large number of reforms, on the one hand, to increase their competitiveness and encourage economic development and, on the other, to rationalize the «state's side» of the welfare state, so as to reduce their public spending, as required by the austerity policies. Justice is certainly one of the state sectors which has been deeply impacted by the reforms adopted in response to the influences exercised by European Council, Commission's Directorate-general for competition, Troika, European Court of Human Rights, and European judicial networks. The paper, which focuses on labour justice in Portugal, Spain, and Italy, analyses, from a quantitative point of view, the effects of this long «season of reforms» both at the macro (national) and meso level (judicial districts). This choice is driven by the desire to compare three states characterized by a high internal and external independence of the judiciary -- the so-called Southern European Model -- and, at the same time, to highlight the impact of different levels of organizational autonomy enjoyed by the local territories. The fundamental hypothesis of this paper is that the reforms introduced in recent years -- both on the supply and demand side of justice -- have, on the whole, increased the efficiency of the judicial systems, but have not been able to reduce the inequalities, in terms of citizens' opportunities to access to justice. The article, which fills a gap in the literature on these topics, discusses the variables that may explain the persistence of the territorial differences and proposes to re-define the very way of conceiving and practicing the governance not only of the justice systems, but of all the public structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Empresa y Humanismo is the property of Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra, S.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Longer and Heavier Vehicles (LHVs) could enhance the competitiveness of countries due to savings in transportation costs. However, the impact that this measure might have on the regional economic and on the transportation network remains unknown, since there is no methodology available to assess it. In this paper, we develop a new methodology based on a Random Utility-Based Multiregional Input-output Model and a road transport network model to assess the impact of allowing LHVs. We applied it to the case of Spain, and we found that allowing LHVs would produce both direct and indirect effects. Real GDP and employment are expected to grow in all the regions, but some of them -the most competitive, most peripheral, and most transport-intensive- will benefit much more than other regions. We also found that the measure would lead to a reduction of vehicles in the network and a reduction of emissions too. The approach designed in this paper provides broad guidance to national governments and other transport-related parties to quantify the impacts of transport policies such as this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct payments are meant to support EU farmers being the main component of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and receiving special attention during the new 2014-2020 reform. First introduced in 1992 after MacSharry reform and known as coupled payments (payments per hectare and animal head), they were designed to support farmers income. In 2003, the decoupled payments focused at encouraging farmers have been introduced in order to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the EU agriculture. In Spain, in 2006 the new changes in the Single Payment Scheme (SPS) were introduced, at the beginning according to the regime of partial decoupling. In 2012, the coupled payments were integrated under the SPS or transformed into additional payment. The aim of this paper is to analyze the application of direct payments, as the main support tool for EU farmers based on Spain experience. In this context, the authors have used secondary data provided by the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain (MAGRAMA) concerning the amount of allocated direct payments in Spain, number of beneficiaries and their distribution by territorial aspect. So far, the distribution of direct payments in Spain, similarly to other member states, is unequal, as a result of CAP development, diversity of production and the use of historical references to fix the decoupled payments per farm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period 1997-2011, import competition from China multiplied by five in the Spanish manufacturing sector. In this paper we analyze whether this severe increase in import competition from China is associated with a higher probability of becoming unemployed in the Spanish manufacturing sector. Linking industry-level data on imports with the working histories of 141,000 manufacturing workers, we show that import competition from China is positively associated with the probability of becoming unemployed. In particular, a standard deviation increase in import competition from China raises the probability of becoming unemployed between 0.8 and 3.5 % points, which represents between a 9 % and a 44 % increase relative to the unconditional probability of becoming unemployed. In contrast, we do not find any effect of import competition from China on manufacturing wages. Also, our estimations show that there is weak evidence of a positive association between a higher import competition from China and the probability of switching to an employment outside the manufacturing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence on the effect of recessions and expansions on the productivity growth rate of productivity leaders and followers. We use data of a representative sample of the Spanish manufacturing sector for the period 1991 and 2005. These data allow us to estimate firm level productivity for a relatively long period of time and provide us with firm level perception of the business cycle. We find that productivity tends to converge in recessions because, in these periods, the productivity growth of followers is higher than the productivity growth of leaders. This fact is consistent with theoretical models of managerial incentives and competition. A recession can be seen as an exogenous increase in competition that reduces demand and poses a threat of liquidation. This threat is higher for followers and is high enough to create asymmetric incentives to become more productive. We test the robustness of our results to sample selection and different productivity measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been extensively used in Spain for the procurement of light rail systems. This paper analyses five projects that have been in operation for more than five years. The authors examine the reasoning behind the selection of the PPP projects, risk-sharing mechanisms, competition among private providers, and overall cost-effectiveness. The paper demonstrates a need for more rigorous assessments of the merits of PPP projects before they are initiated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to research on integrated and sustainability reporting at higher-education institutions in the context of voluntary reporting by focusing on an innovative Spanish university. It examines the developments for the implementation of sustainability and integrated reporting at this university by critically analysing what, why, who and how the new models of reporting have been implemented. The paper provides a case study using documentary analysis and qualitative data based on semi-structured interviews. The results show that the report is mainly focused on social and sustainability values and can not be considered an integrated report that connects all the capitals creating value. The key driver has been stakeholders' interests, represented by the university's social council, aiming at increasing competitiveness and achieve third mission objectives. The paper contributes by pointing out the challenges and principal issues of the process of implementation. An important issue for successful implementation is introducing it as a managerial and accountability tool, and linking it to the organisation's strategic objectives. This can be used for learning processes at other universities that want to follow this path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of access and egress time to train stations and airports on modal competition in the Madrid-Barcelona corridor, (Spain), where a new high speed train started to operate in the year 2008. The analysis is based on the estimation of a Nested Logit model that uses a mixed revealed/stated preference data set that provides information on travellers' behaviour in the available modes. We obtained the value of the different components of the travel time, as well as the willingness to pay for other service attributes. We then analysed demand response to different policies that consider variation in access time to train stations and airports and other attributes. The results highlight the important role that access time to terminals may play in terms of modal competition between rail and plane for interurban travel passengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the educational level and diversity of a firm's top management team (TMT), moderated by strategic consensus, influence its innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach -- Using Poisson regression analysis, the proposed models were tested on 97 innovative Spanish firms selected from the Dun and Bradstreet database of 2000. Findings -- Results show that a higher educational level in the TMT has a positive and direct effect on innovation performance, while functional diversity and diversity in TMT tenure have a direct and negative effect. However, in a situation of strategic consensus in the TMT, the relationship between functional diversity and innovation is positive. Originality/value -- The paper makes several contributions to previous research. First, few studies have considered the influence of the characteristics and composition of the TMT on the organization's innovation performance. Second, this paper responds to the calls of researchers to enrich the upper echelon theory by considering strategic consensus as a process of interaction between the members of the TMT that modifies the relationship between TMT diversity and the firm's innovation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Globalisation as a competitive marketing strategy can only offer a limited explanation for the behaviour of organisations. This is particularly applicable in the case of business and marketing strategies for small and medium-sized organisations in the retail sector. Terms such as "localisation" have been coined by researchers but the concept is yet to receive a valid interpretation as a marketing strategy from the perspective of the small retailer. This paper seeks first, to understand how "localisation" impacts on the business practices and marketing strategy of small retailers in Spain and Scotland. Second, the results should help lessen the gap between the concepts of globalisation and the localisation. Design/methodology/approach - This explorative, comparative qualitative paper explores business practices and marketing strategies by small retail business owners in Seville (Spain) and Perth (UK) and the role of localisation, using three key themes - place, people and promotion. Findings - This paper suggests that place attractiveness, word-of-mouth customer-to-customer marketing, customer service beyond simple product advice, community embeddedness and informal but meaningful interpersonal relations between shop owner and customers are some of the key pillars of the "localisation" strategic marketing approach pursued by small retailers in Perth and Seville. This indicates a counterbalance to globalisation. Originality/value - The pursuit of a deliberate localisation approach by small retailers may be key to their sustainable competitiveness in the knowledge that these elements would not be easily replicated by larger or global retailers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore and to explain the influence of representative variables of human capital and structural capital on the creation of business value. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory analysis was initially performed on the degree to which firms actually used human and structural capital indicators, through a survey sent out to Spanish firms with a staff of 25 employees or more. Subsequently, by means of an explanatory analysis, the relationship was studied between the use made of the aforementioned indicators and a set of variables selected as representative of value creation. The information on value creation was taken from the Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos (SABI-AMADEUS) database. Moreover, in an attempt to corroborate the results of this explanatory analysis, a further independent variable was simultaneously introduced taken from the financial statements held on the same database and applied to the same sample of firms; known as the value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC), it analyses value creation efficiency. Findings – The explanatory analysis of multiple lineal correlations and regressions allows us to confirm the positive relation that exists between the use of human and structural capital indicators, and value creation measured by sales growth. Simultaneously, higher levels of the VAIC, in particular for the component that refers to the sum of the coefficient of human capital and structural capital, are also related to improvements in competitiveness reflected through an increase in sales figures. Research limitations/implications – Despite having identified a relation between intellectual capital and value creation, the study finds no evidence of a significant relationship between the use of human capital and structural capital indicators and dependent variables other than sales growth, such as return on assets (ROA) or productivity. The authors would have preferred to have obtained information from a larger number of firms, which would perhaps have contributed to finding new significant relations. This limitation suggests that further research is needed, such as carrying out large-scale longitudinal studies using panel data analysis. Originality/value – This analysis has a dual perspective based on observations taken from a survey and economic-financial analysis. It is a novel study in the Spanish context given that the analysis of aspects related to intellectual capital have on numerous occasions centred on large and/or quoted firms in that country, solely using information taken from secondary sources (databases). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the key features of manufacturing price-setting behaviour in Spain using an extensive micro Producer Price Index data set. The main focus is placed on the impact on the frequency of price adjustment of some explanatory variables, including the cost structure, degree of market competition, demand conditions and inflationary pressures. All these factors are found to explain cross industry heterogeneity in price stickiness. A comparison of consumer and producer price-setting practices is also presented to ascertain the role of the retail sector in explaining price stickiness. We find some evidence that producer prices are more flexible than consumer prices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of relational capability compared to that of internal capability on outsourcing, and the influence of relational capability as a moderating variable between outsourcing and internal capabilities. The paper aims to integrate the internal and relational perspectives in a single model of strategic evaluation. Design/methodology/approach - This work analyses the outsourcing process in a representative sample of firms operating in a region of Spain. To accomplish the research objectives, a personal survey was conducted using a questionnaire to evaluate 13 activities of the order distribution process in the supply chain. Findings - The results indicate that internal capabilities have a negative effect on outsourcing while relational capabilities have a positive effect. They also show that, the greater the relational capabilities of an operation are, the less significant the relationship between internal capabilities and outsourcing will be. Practical implications - Firstly, by using the proposed model, companies can evaluate their internal and relational strategies and compare them to the sector averages at a given moment. Secondly, they can detect opportunities to improve competitiveness and develop relational capabilities for some of the activities that they wish to outsource. This work helps identify which process activities to outsource and which type of relationship should be maintained to develop a set of capabilities. Originality/value - This paper provides a comprehensive application of a theoretical framework in a new model of strategic evaluation of outsourcing. Another innovation of this work is the introduction of relational capabilities as a variable moderating the relationship between internal capabilities and outsourcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to report on how foresight methods are being used to address a "wicked problem" for the global furniture industry: "What are we going to do in the furniture industry in high cost countries (HCC) to maintain our future competitiveness with respect to the competition coming from low cost countries?" Design/methodology/approach - This study explores one sectorial initiative, CEFFOR® (Furniture Foresight Centre, headquarters in Valencia, Spain), that attempts to mitigate the negative impact of globalisation on the competitiveness of the furniture industry in HCCs, by creating a vision of a preferable future through the use of a set of qualitative foresight tools (structural analysis, morphological analysis/field anomaly relaxation, and cross impact analysis) involving a worldwide expert panel. Findings - This paper examines the set-up phase of the CEFFOR initiative, and describes the main elements of the morphological space developed to profile possible future configurations of the global furniture industry. Future papers will report on further model development and the subsequent take-up of this work. Practical implications - The approach used could be adapted to a variety of other industrial sectors. While this study examines a traditional industrial sector, there is no conceptual limitation on its use in other sectors, although such adaptation should clearly remain alert to the unique aspects of any industry. Originality/value - The novelty of this initiative is the application of a normative foresight approach in a traditional industrial sector in order to generate a shared vision of a sustainable future, and to integrate this foresight approach with an existing business intelligence system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper aims to examine whether order and scale of market entry influence a new product's market and financial performance, and how marketing and R&D resources strengthen or weaken these effects. Design/methodology/approach — Through a mail survey, data were collected on a sample of 136 product launches by Spanish manufacturing firms. A moderated hierarchical regression analysis enabled the assessment of the relevance of order and scale as well as their interactions with marketing and R&D resources to explain a product's competitive position. Moreover, a mediation analysis allowed us to determine whether market entry strategy (indirectly) affects financial performance. Findings — The analyses show that pioneering firms and those entering the market with a full-scale launch achieve advantages in terms of competitive position, and that this variable mediates the relationship of order and scale with profitability. The empirical results also reveal that such advantages are conditioned by the availability of marketing and R&D resources. Practical implications — The decisions regarding order and scale of market entry are contingent. Managers involved in the planning of a new product launch should be knowledgeable about their firm's resources and capabilities before determining when and how to enter the market. Originality/value — Many papers study the effects of order-of-entry on market share, but other dimensions of a new product launch strategy, such as scale, have largely been ignored. The research examines the effects of both variables on competitive position and profitability. This is also one of the first studies that explores the moderating effect exerted by resources and capabilities in the launch strategy-performance relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Maritime History is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we propose that the ownership structure in the cooperative form acts as an environmental buffer. It is a mechanism to obtain stronger linkages with suppliers by internalizing them, and in this way, obtaining fundamental resources. Using this strategy, the cooperative form can isolate itself from adverse environments and from competition from other organizational forms. Although cooperatives have higher survival probability in any economic context, in rival ideological environments they have less support than other organizational forms. To test these ideas, we have chosen data from the Spanish olive oil milling industry for 1944–98. During this period, Spain changed from a dictatorial to a democratic regime and from a self-subsistence economy in the post civil-war period to a broad liberal international economy. The results show that, whereas other organizational forms are affected by economic and ideological influences, the cooperative form isolates itself by changing the competition level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of transport in the spatial organization of food processing firms in Spain. A framework is developed through the analysis of the various mechanisms by which transport affects firms, and the identification of key elements and recent trends in spatial firm organization. Empirical evidence from interviews suggests that with modern logistic strategies transport is becoming more important. In a time-based competitive environment, transport plays an important role in efforts to reduce delivery times, and increase reliability and flexibility in deliveries, as well as customer responsiveness. Not only does transport influence firms' location decisions, but also by adjusting to transport improvements firms are found to reconfigure their spatial organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Did the rise of Chinese import competition in the early 2000s affect banks' credit supply policies? Using bank-firm-level data on the universe of Spanish corporate loans, we find that banks rebalanced their loan portfolios away from firms facing Chinese import competition and toward profitable firms in nonexposed sectors. Banks supplied more credit also to the construction sector, albeit independently of firms' profitability. This was not due to banks' exposure to the housing boom. Rather, the geographical concentration of the manufacturing industries competing with China left local banks with few alternatives other than local construction firms to rebalance their loan portfolios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose In this study, entrepreneurial internationalization in renewable energy industry as a high-tech and emerging industry was explored. The focus of this study is on firm level factors to understand how and why these companies entered the international markets and what are their challenges and difficulties in this process. To answer these questions, two main streams of literature were used: international entrepreneurship (IE) and sustainable entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approach Case study methodology is selected for this research. Because this subject is new and empirical researches in renewable energy industry are scarce, a method to gather research and in-depth data was adopted. Following suggestions by Eisenhardt (1989), a multiple-case design method was used with nine cases of entrepreneurial companies in renewable energy industry from Spain.Findings Results show that in renewable energy industry firms, resources and capabilities such as need for funding and rapid commercialization are key factors that encourage companies to enter the international market. However, having access to the technological knowledge cannot be a compelling reason for internationalization of renewable energy companies from Spain. Moreover, the interaction between the large and small firms is an important factor that facilitates the process of internationalization.Research limitations/implications In this study, the focus was only on firm level factors, whereas other levels of analysis such as entrepreneur, environment, policy scheme and industrial factors need further attention in future studies. Moreover, this study is only limited to Spanish companies, and future studies can be replicated in other context.Practical implications Findings of the study have significant theoretical and empirical implications. First of all, it explains the entrepreneurial internationalization by taking advantage of sustainable entrepreneurship literature. In addition, empirical results of this study are significantly important for entrepreneurs to implement effective internationalization strategy to survive. Findings of this study can help policy makers for designing a supportive scheme for further development of this industry in the international markets.Originality/value This paper explores the entrepreneurial internationalization of renewable energy companies as an emerging industry by taking advantage of two streams of literature: international entrepreneurship and sustainable entrepreneurship. The results show the phenomenon of early internationalization in pre-commercialization phase. These findings put emphasis on interaction between large and small firms in process of internationalization in this specific industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which engineers can influence the competitive behavior of bidders in best value or multiattribute construction auctions, in which both the (dollar) bid and technical nonprice criteria are scored according to a scoring rule. From a sample of Spanish construction auctions with a variety of bid scoring rules, it is found that bidders are influenced by the auction rules in significant and predictable ways. The bid score weighting, bid scoring formula, and abnormally low bids criterion are variables likely to influence the competitiveness of bidders in terms of both their aggressive/conservative bidding and concentration/dispersion of bids. Revealing the influence of the bid scoring rules and their magnitude on bidders' competitive behavior opens the door for the engineer to condition bidder competitive behavior in such a way as to provide the balance needed to achieve the owner's desired strategic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contribution of national institutions to the competitive transformation of big commercial banks in late industrializing countries through the analysis of the Spanish case. The paper uses a comparative historical analysis to establish that strategic coordination between the state and large banks is a structural feature of the banking sector but may be articulated differently depending on the balance of power between states, banks and industry, the preferences of these actors, and their resources. Using evidence from Spain since the late 1970s, the paper argues that in this country, state-bank coordination was articulated as a non-hierarchical system of negotiated interactions and mutual exchanges of benefits between small groups of decision-makers at the government, the central bank, and big banks. Under the Spanish model, large banks contributed to the fulfillment of public policy objectives to develop the central bank's capacity to conduct monetary policy, strengthen supervision of the banking system, and modernize the financial sector. In exchange, big banks benefited from a favorable regulation that enabled them to restructure, consolidate the leadership of a new generation of bankers, and reach the efficiency frontier of their industry. The paper contributes to the literature of institutionalism by questioning the traditional dichotomy between market and strategic coordination. It also contributes to the literature of competitiveness by stimulating debate about the role of the state in supporting the transformation of big business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between market competitive pressure and firms' innovation using panel data of Spanish manufacturing firms for 1990-2006. We depart from standard measures of competition, and construct variables capturing the fundamentals of competitive pressure (product substitutability, market size and entry costs) to test the theoretical predictions of Vives [2008, The Journal of Industrial Economics] for free entry. Our results line up favourably with these predictions. We obtain that greater product substitutability and higher costs of entry lead to more process innovation but less product innovation, whereas market enlargement spurs both product and process innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of RAE: Revista de Administração de Empresas is the property of Fundacao Getulio Vargas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors describe the intensity and orientation of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in four Spanish industries and explore the relationship that exists between both concepts and an independent measurement of reputation for CSR (CSRR). The results demonstrate that the CSR reporting is especially relevant and useful in the finance industry. Finance companies report significantly more CSR information than most industries in Spain, and this reporting is more closely linked to their CSRR than the CSR reporting of basic, consumer goods and services industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically analyzes the Spanish privatization model of urban water management implemented over the last three decades. The high concentration of private participation in the industry, the absence of competition, and regulatory deficiencies appear to have put the interests of water customers at risk. Improvement of governance is not guaranteed simply by changing water-system management from public to private. In Spain, an array of institutional reforms are needed to rationalize a change in management structure for this service, reorganize technical operations, improve the administrative framework, increase transparency, and promote citizen participation. This paper moves beyond the simple public–private controversy and contributes to the literature by using fieldwork conducted by the authors to assess private participation in the management of urban water services in Spain; by identifying gaps in the privatization processes as well as failures in the industry; and, above all, by proposing reforms to Spain's institutional and regulatory frameworks for the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses to what extent the rejection of the investment dynamics implied by the Euler equation model with quadratic and symmetric adjustment costs can be attributed to the fact that the investment behavior of some firms in some periods is financially constrained by the availability of internal funds. I use a hierarchy of finance model which assumes that internally generated finance for investment is available at a lower cost than external finance, and implies the existence of distinct financial regimes depending on the firm’s financial policy. I estimate the empirical investment equation derived from the model using GMM, taking into account the endogeneity of the selection and allowing for debt finance, imperfect competition and the existence of a possible measurement error in the user cost of capital. The empirical results suggest that the Euler equation model is not seriously misspecified for a sub-sample of firms pursuing a particular financial policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The sharing of practices that enable the flow and the distribution of tacit knowledge and other ways of proprietary knowledge are essential requisites for promoting an innovation system. Objectives: In this paper a diagnosis of the Spanish Science and Technology System is offered by using the normalized protocol for responsible partnering proposed by EIRMA. Methods/Approach: The triple helix model has been used to identify the agents that take part in the system. The grounded theory has also been applied to analyse interactions and interviews with seven key agents in the system. Results: The lack of common objectives among the main partners in the system is the most important weakness; the New Acts developed in the last three years is a strength that allows the different agents of the system to share objectives. The economic crisis is a threat for the performance of research within the university context and becomes at the same time an opportunity to establish closer relationships. Conclusions: Universities, firms and governments must synchronise their work to accomplish a common objective: produce high levels of innovation that aim to enhance the competitiveness of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of internationalisation of higher education can be seen as fluctuating between two main discourses: economic competition and academic internationalisation (Bolsman & Miller 2008). Within the former type of discourse, internationalisation is constructed as a means to generate income, in competition with other institutions, through the provision of research and teaching services of a high quality to as many 'clients' as possible. From the point of view of academic internationalism, internationalisation is represented as a joint enterprise by institutions from different countries for the advancement of human knowledge and intercultural understanding. In this paper we aim to explore the views of the teaching staff of two bilingual universities in Spain in connection with the process of internationalisation of their institution, placing a special emphasis on its impact on language policy. The sample for this study was made up of 173 university teaching staff who completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to express their views on issues such as internationalisation at higher education institutions, academic mobility and their attitudes towards multilingualism. The participants belonged to two officially bilingual universities in Spain, namely the University of Lleida (UdL) and the University of the Basque Country (UBC). Variables such as the sociolinguistic context, gender, mother tongue and age were considered when scrutinising the participants' answers with a view to drawing a picture of internationalisation which included opinions on academic mobility and multilingualism from the teaching staff's perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health tourism is growing rapidly in recent years, positioning itself as an alternative to traditional tourism being health resorts the main representatives of this tourist segment. Health resorts like any other tourist services company should seek customer satisfaction in order to survive. In this sense, quality management becomes part of business strategy allowing health resorts to differentiate themselves and gain competitive advantages that allow them to be competitive. This paper presents the results of the empirical study conducted in 29 of the 33 health resorts nationally certified with the mark "Q for Quality Tourist". The objective is to analyze the motivations that lead to health resorts to implement and certify the Quality Management System based on the UNE 186001:2009 (health resorts) of the mark Q for Quality Tourist. Conducted a thorough theoretical review, the methodology consists in performing a descriptive analysis of the motivations, a factor analysis in order to determine the structure of their motivations, and group health resorts in order to analyze these groups to establish the profile thereof by cluster analysis. The results show that the most important motivations that drive to the seaside health resorts to introduce a quality management system are internal motivations, differences detected in this study with findings in other academic research in industrial enterprises. The structure of motivation in this sector is made up of three groups: external market reasons, external demands reasons and internal reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper extends the research on the relation between financial performance and corporate social responsibility in two respects. First, it develops a model of strategic competition that includes consumer perceptions with respect to firm social performance. It is shown that in the presence of a positive valuation of social responsibility practices by consumers, a firm that endorses this responsible behaviour may obtain a better strategic position in the market, along with higher margin, demand, and profit. Second, the model's predictions are tested with a sample of Spanish banking firms. The empirical analysis confirms that consumers significantly value other features apart from price in making deposit and mortgage decisions, particularly a financial institution's social responsibility. A more disaggregated analysis shows first, that not every CSR dimension has relevance for consumers and second, that customers equally value activities that can have a direct impact on their well-being (e.g., culture and leisure), as well as other activities that can be viewed more generally as public goods (e.g., heritage and the environment). These conclusions are of interest in the debate about a firm's social or ethical activities. It is shown that, provided that consumers value corporate social responsibility activities, firms can improve both their competitive position in the market and their profits by behaving in a socially responsible manner. Therefore, the design and implementation of corporate social responsibility practices could confer upon firms an initial competitive advantage over their competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism firms are increasingly integrated in value chains that often operate across many different countries. As a result, the concepts and the methodology of the global value chains begin to be applied to the tourism industry. This paper aims to explore the applicability of this methodological approach for a specific service industry, such as tourism. It pays particular attention to the impact of different patterns of governance within global tourism value chains on the possible forms of upgrading. First, a set of regional case studies carried out on this subject leads us to identify the main patterns of governance in the Andalusian tourism industry. Secondly, an empirical analysis allows us to consider in which way upgrading can vary according to the governance patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on an analysis of the tourism competitiveness of residential destinations on the Spanish coast, applying Porter's competitive advantage theory. This analysis is conducted with a hypothesis test using a structural equation model based on Porter's competitive diamond. The paper shows that by analysing a range of variables, it is possible to develop attributes related to competitiveness which constitute Porter's diamond model, confirming that this theory is appropriate for explaining the tourism development processes in residential tourism destinations on the Spanish coast. The results show how the competitive difference between destinations in such a specific geographical area is based mainly on small details belonging to the advanced factors of the competitive advantage theory. Finally, there is cause for concern in the fact that the supporting and related sectors determinant has a negative influence on competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to assess the influence of strategic capabilities on the business strategy-performance relationship among retail businesses in Argentina, Peru, and the USA. Design/methodology/approach - Zahra and Covin's self-reported scale was amended and utilized to categorize businesses along Porter's typology. Strategic capability scales were adopted from DeSarbo and associates. Self-reporting scales to assess relative competitive and objective performance in the present study were adopted from Ramanujam and Venkatraman. A survey containing these scales was administered to 277 attendees at a retail trade show in the USA. The survey - translated into Spanish - was distributed by mail and completed by 136 retailers in Peru and 163 retailers in Argentina. Findings - Links were assessed among strategic capabilities, generic business strategies, and performance in retail businesses in Argentina, Peru and the USA. Support was found for links between the focus strategy and both marketing and linking capabilities, between the differentiation strategy and technology capabilities, and between the cost leadership strategy and management capabilities. The low cost-differentiation combination strategy was associated with high performance in strategic groups whose businesses possess strong management and technology capabilities. These findings highlight the importance of developing strategy-specific capabilities as a foundation for superior performance. Research limitations/implications - This study relied on self-reported assessments of competitive strategy, organizational capabilities, and performance. It utilized cluster analysis, assessed only retailers, and considered only three nations. Originality/value - Extant strategic group research highlights the link between group membership and firm performance. The present study reinforces previous research. In addition, the presence of organization-specific strategic capabilities helps to explain why some businesses outperform others in the same strategic group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do prices in Spain's regions fail to converge? The prime suspects for this puzzling result are differences in regional barriers to entry in retail distribution. This paper develops a Cournot-Nash model of imperfect competition to illustrate the effect of barriers on prices. A unique data set—derived from an extensive analysis of competition policies in Spain—provides evidence that barriers to entry increase regional prices. The evidence also suggests that, consistent with the model's predictions, barriers to entry raise prices up to a point, and thus indicate that barriers have a threshold effect on prices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper proposes a new method for addressing the short-term optimal operation of a generation company, fully adapted to represent the characteristics of the new competitive markets. We propose an efficient and highly accurate novel method for next-day price forecasting. We model the functional time series with a linear autoregressive functional model which formulates the relationships between each daily function of prices and the functions of previous days. For the optimization problem (formulated within the framework of nonsmooth analysis using Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle), we propose a new method that uses diverse mathematical techniques (the Shooting Method, Euler’s Method, the Cyclic Coordinate Descent Method). These techniques are well known for the case of functions, but are adapted here to the case of functionals and are efficiently combined to provide a novel contribution. Finally, the paper presents the results of applying our method to a price-taker company in the Spanish electricity market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this paper is to examine the sensitivity of total factor productivity (TFP) to foreign competition in the case of a European country. Using the Olley and Pakes method, we calculate the TFP of Spanish manufacturing firms and study the impact of EU tariffs and the presence of foreign products and imports on TFP at the firm level. Applying the System-GMM method, we find that TFP is negatively impacted by European tariffs, whereas competition in the form of the increased presence of foreign products in the domestic market and firm imports leads to improvements in the TFP. Moreover, these two effects are complementary. We also find evidence of important asymmetries among firms depending on their involvement in foreign markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port workers services have been usually heavily regulated and reserved exclusively for a special kind of workers, dockworkers, which seems to have been the cause of serious inefficiencies worldwide. During the eighties, law reforms have been introduced to solve this problem. In this paper we analyze and decompose efficiency in cargo handling operations in 19 Spanish ports from 1990 to 1998. The method chosen is that of the parametric estimation of both allocative and technical inefficiency using panel data and a quadratic cost function. Results show that although inefficiency has decreased overall, there has been over utilization of labor regarding capital, and technical inefficiency. This supports the need of further consideration of other aspects including competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]