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International audience; This paper investigates the effects of e-procurement on firm corruption to secure public contracts, highlighting the moderating roles of the quality of governance institutions and supranational support in that relationship. Taking transaction cost economics as our theoretical lens, and building on a sample of 8,373 firms in 72 countries from 2008 to 2019, we find that the adoption of an e-procurement system in fact reduces firm corruption. However, this effect is only unveiled once one accounts in the analysis for the quality of country-level governance institutions, which also makes the relationship stronger. We also find an eprocurement system only to effectively address firm corruption when it benefits from supranational support. The study contributes to the ongoing academic debate on the impact of digitalization on corruption.

This paper analyzes the impact of terrorism hazard on the performance of private participation infrastructure projects. Applying transaction cost theory, we hypothesize that terrorism hazard has a negative relationship with infrastructure project completion, and that host government accountability and investor experience with terrorism hazard have opposing impacts on this relationship. Host government accountability, we argue, produces higher indirect costs of managing terrorism hazard, which reduces investor confidence, and reinforces the negative relationship between terrorism hazard and the probability of satisfactory project completion. Conversely, investor’s experience with terrorism hazard increases investor confidence and hence partially mitigates the negative consequences of terrorism hazard which hamper project completion. Hence, the impact of terrorism is weakened for projects led by firms from higher terrorism hazard countries. We find support for our hypotheses using a sample of 5,083 projects in 135 countries from 2002 to 2017.

This paper investigates the impact of within-country linguistic diversity on the performance of private participation infrastructure projects. In view of the relevance of language heterogeneity in Asia, we first test a sample of 2921 projects in 7 countries in this region from 1990 to 2013. The findings indicate that higher linguistic diversity is associated with a lower likelihood of project success, and that this negative effect is weakened when the project is greenfield. In contrast, we find no significant effect for projects that include government ownership. Subsequently, we explore the differences between domestic versus foreign projects, as well as a larger sample of countries worldwide. The study contributes to the current debate in the literature by pointing out that within-country linguistic diversity can be a threat to private participation projects, offering useful managerial recommendations on how to reduce this threat.

Freezing and thawing of Bos indicus embryos affect their quality for embryo transfer. The objective of this study was to compare the levels of reactive oxygen species between Bos indicus and Bos taurus embryos produced in vivo, before and after conventional freezing, as well as to analyze damage caused by apoptosis and lipid peroxidation. Bos indicus has higher levels of reactive oxygen species than Bos taurus embryos, both fresh (14.32 ± 1.41 auf vs 8.07 ± 1.15 auf (arbitrary units of fluorescence), P

How does related or unrelated geographic diversification affect future related or unrelated product diversification of exporting firms, and vice-versa? This question addresses an unresolved debate, and it is important for firms in developing countries that seek to expand their product and geographical markets. Our study contributes to a current debate by highlighting the relevance of the temporal sequence and the relatedness of international diversification. Expanding the classic transaction costs and the resource-based explanations, we argue that organizational learning as well as organizational and sales (in-)efficiencies (notably through resource and product cannibalization, negative transfer and coordination costs) affect the interrelationships between product and geographic diversification. Using a panel dataset of over 14,000 firm-year observations from exporters based in Colombia, we find that (1) related geographic diversification tends to increase future product diversification; (2) related product diversification tends to decrease future geographic diversification; and (3) unrelated product diversification tends to increase future geographic diversification.

This empirical study aims to minimize the travel time of motor vehicles on one of the most important avenues in Celaya City, Guanajuato, Mexico, by means of the optimal synchronization of existing traffic lights. In the optimization process, the following three factors are considered with 3 evaluation levels each: traffic light cycle times; the synchrony defined as staggered, parallel and actual; and the speed limit. The response variables to consider were the average time in the system, the fuel consumption and the greenhouse effect gas (CO2) emissions. Different experiments were performed using the simulation model developed in the PTV-VISSIM software, which represents the vehicle traffic system. The obtained results for the different proposed scenarios allow proper levels to be determined for vehicle traffic system operation to improve mobility, reduce contamination rates and decrease fuel consumption for different motor vehicles using the avenue. As a result, it was possible to establish a methodology that combines microsimulation and design of experiments to program traffic lights and define the operating conditions of a complex vehicular flow system.

In this paper, we investigate how differences in policy risk levels between the home and the host country affect private participation projects. While traditionally distance has been associated with obstacles and challenges adversely affecting investments, a recent body of literature emphasizes the potential positive effects of distance. Drawing on a sample of 3971 projects from 1990 to 2013 in 21 Latin American host countries from 47 home countries, we find a strong positive effect for higher distance in absolute terms. However, our results also show that distance in nominal terms has no significant effect, pointing to a potentially confounding effect between positive and negative distance.

Firms learn from their previous experience, transfom routines into knowledge and thus develop capabilities. This holds for the market- and the non-market environment likewise. Experience is therefore useful to deal with policy risk arising from potential discretional and opportunistic behavior of political authorities, such as governments. We argue that firms can not only learn from the intensity of experience dealing with policy risk, but also from the exposure to a more diverse range of policy risk across different political environments. Testing a sample of 164 Spanish multinational firms, we find that the positive impact of diversity of experiences on the scope of internationalization is more important than the intensity of experience. Moreover, we also find a moderating impact between both types of experience. Overall, our findings emphasize the multi-faceted nature of experience and the need to disentangle the impact and interrelationships of its different components.

Celaya is among the most diversified cities in the manufacturing sector of auto parts, metalworking, chemical, petrochemical, and agroindustry. It stands out as an important center of merchandise distribution, which is why the population of the city has increased in recent years, this has generated an accelerated urban development, expanding the network of streets, avenues and the implementation of road axes that interconnect a large part of the city, forcing the population to use motor vehicles to move within them. It is necessary to create initiatives to reduce the current mobility problems due to the excessive use of motor vehicles. For this reason, “Bikeway system designs in the city of Celaya through a micro-simulation approach” is proposed, which will allow an increase in mobility and displacement of cyclists in a safe and efficient way, and will motivate those who use motor vehicles to replace their vehicles for the bicycle. This micro simulated design was made with the help of PTV Vissim® software; generating simulation scenarios on main avenues, Mexico-Japon, Tecnologico, Irrigacion, Francisco Juarez, Torres Landa, Constituyentes and Boulevard Adolfo Lopez Mateos, for their level of vehicular flow, the environmental impact was measured and as a result the proposal was obtained for a bikeway that consider the intersection and union with the most important roads in the city. The main objective of the research was achieved, which is the reduction of emissions, waiting time and fuel consumption by increasing the number of users of the bikeway. If 15% of people who use motor vehicles to move in the city replaced it by bicycle, there would be reductions in the levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in 3.14%, of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in 9.94% and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 7.12%, timeout at the intersections would be reduced by 3.54%, and fuel consumption levels would lower by 5.3%.

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) are a commonplace in contemporary organizations, and an already established topic of research in international management. While we have a good understanding of advantages and challenges associated with this ubiquitous form of work groups, this special issue aims to contribute to theory development by focusing on key drivers that influence the success of GVTs, along with ways for mitigating their challenges. We briefly review current knowledge on GVTs and propose a structuring framework that can help with both organizing what we know about GVTs, and with guiding the conversation on where the research on this topic might focus next. We then introduce four special issue articles that illustrate avenues for generating new empirical evidence towards uncovering key characteristics and dynamics underlying GVTs complexities, providing useful insights for both theory development and managerial practice.

This paper studies the impact of formal education on entrepreneurship rates. We propose that different levels of education not only vary between each other in terms of their impact, but also according to whether we analysis either formal or informal entrepreneurship. Our results show that tertiary education increases formal entrepreneurship as a consequence of the higher self-confidence, lower perceived risk and enhanced human capital. At the same time, tertiary education also has a negative effect on informal entrepreneurship as it increases awareness of and sensitivity to the possible negative repercussions of this kind of activities. In addition, we show that the impact of secondary education on formal entrepreneurship is positive as well, although in this case the effect on informal entrepreneurship is not significant. Even though secondary education also increases awareness of the potential negative repercussions of informal entrepreneurship, this effect is counteracted by a lack of management skills., Spanish Ministryof Economy and Competitiveness (Ref. EDU2012-39080-C07-06) and Caja de Burgos

Starting in 1995, the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project conducted a comprehensive study of cultural values and leadership ideals in 62 countries. According to GLOBE, Turkey belongs to the Middle Eastern cluster. However, in the past 23 years, Turkey has undergone dramatic social, economic, and political changes that may have affected societal culture and leadership preferences. With the goal to explore the impact of these changes, this study surveys 237 Turkish managers. Results show that four cultural dimensions shifted down one level in their bands. Moreover, compared to 1995, participants indicate higher preference for autonomous and participative leadership.

We argue that the relationship between geographic export diversification and firm performance follows an S-curve relationship if export intensity is low and an inverted U-shape if export intensity is high. The S-shape curve occurs because firms have weaker incentives to deploy the resources needed for succeeding in foreign markets if they generate relatively low revenues in export markets compared to their domestic market. Firms highly committed to export markets, in contrast, face stronger incentives to accelerate their learning curve, which results in an inverted U-shape relationship. We examine our hypotheses using a panel of longitudinal archival data with over 2000 firm-year observations, which cover all of the possible export destination countries served by large Brazil-based exporters from 2001 to 2010. Our results imply that the degree of export intensity changes the cost-benefit relationship of geographic export diversification.

This paper investigates how firms' political capabilities and countries' political structures affect firms' lobbying decision. We use a cross-country, firm-level dataset that covers more than 22,013 firms in 46 countries to discover that a firm's individual- and collective-level political capabilities are positively associated with lobbying. In contrast, the degree of checks and balances among bureaucrats in a country's political market is negatively associated with the firm's possibility of lobbying. Finally, we also find that the positive role of a firm's political capabilities in lobbying is mitigated by the degree of checks and balances among bureaucrats. This study contributes to the literature of corporate political activities by filling the research gaps (1) as considering both horizontal and vertical checks and balances among bureaucrats in political markets, and (2) as simultaneously considering firms' individual and collective political capabilities, by taking one more conceptual step on the literature of contingent dynamic capabilities and lobbying.

We posit that the investments in political connections made by a firm in an emerging market will impact differently its propensity to introduce radical and incremental innovations. In addition, we argue that this effect will be moderated by alternate non-market firm strategies, such as bribery. Using a dataset of more than 9000 firms in 30 emerging economies from Eastern Europe and Central Asia we find that political connections increase the probability of radical innovation but have no significant impact on incremental innovation. Moreover, larger bribing reduces the positive impact of political connections on radical innovation. Our results confirm the importance of political connections for firm activities, but also caution firms on their heterogeneous impact on various types of innovations, and their detrimental interplay with other non-market strategies.

Background Hypoparathyroidism is one of the most frequent complications of neck surgery. The treatment is currently medical; however this involves several complications secondary to high doses of calcium and vitamin D, thus making parathyroid allotransplantation a good management option. Material and methods Patients with hypoparathyroidism were selected in the April-December period of 2011 in the general surgical clinic. They were between 16 and 65 years, and ingested high doses of calcium. The donors were patients with primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism, and the transplants were performed in relation to blood group and human leucocyte antigen. Results Five parathyroid allografts were performed. All the patients had iatrogenic hypoparathyroidism, all women with a mean age of 49.8 years. The graft was implanted under local anaesthesia in the non-dominant forearm. Four of the patients are so far considered functional due to the increase in paratohormone, and demonstrating its function by scintigraphy with sestamibi. One of the patients showed no increase in paratohormone or imaging studies that demonstrate its functionality. After a two year follow-up the graft remains functional but with oral calcium intake at a lower dose than before transplantation. None of the patients had immunosuppression side effects. Conclusions In this study, allogeneic unrelated living parathyroid transplant with an immunosuppressive regimen of six months has proven to be a safe alternative treatment to improve quality of life by decreasing the excessive calcium intake and improving physical activity with adequate graft survival at 24 months follow-up.

Political risk not only constitutes a threat for multinational enterprises but can also be a source of opportunities. Exposure to and accumulated experience dealing with political risk allows firms to better implement a wide set of political actions such as negotiation of entry conditions, lobbying, litigation, campaign contributions and coalition formation, leading to preferential conditions, reduced environmental uncertainty, reduced transaction costs and increased long-term sustainability to the firm. These advantages facilitate investments in countries with higher and more diverse levels of risk and make political risk to be positively associated with the firm's scope of internationalization. This effect is not homogeneous across firms. Drawing from a sample of 164 Spanish companies with investments in 119 countries, we find that the impact is greater for companies in industrial sectors that are the object of greater governmental regulation than it is for firms in non-regulated manufacturing or service sectors, with less frequent interactions with home and host-country institutions.

The present study analyzes the relationship between the political risk assumed by Spanish multinational enterprises in their internationalization strategies and their performance over a five-year period, from 2000 to 2005. Significant evidence is obtained of a positive and simultaneous relationship between political risk and performance through the use of simultaneous equations applied to a sample of 164 firms. These results are consistent with the premises of the Prospect Theory and with the traditional financial and economic theory grounded in risk aversion. They also explain the proactive use of political risk, to the extent that greater risk results in greater performance, which in turn contributes the amount of resources that are needed to undertake investments in countries with greater risk.

Resumen Introduccion Las Unidades de Cirugia Mayor Ambulatoria (UCMA) cada dia cobran mas relevancia precisando una correcta gestion. Uno de los principales parametros a mejorar en la politica de gestion hospitalaria es el indice de cancelaciones sobre procesos electivos. Material y metodo Disenamos un estudio retrospectivo observacional, seleccionando todos los pacientes intervenidos en nuestra UCMA desde 1995 hasta 2009: un total de 16.934 pacientes. Analizamos las intervenciones quirurgicas canceladas el dia anterior a la intervencion y las cancelaciones en el dia de la intervencion. Resultados Un total de 701 pacientes (4,1%) sufrieron la cancelacion de la intervencion quirurgica programada. En 343 pacientes (2%) la cancelacion se produjo el dia anterior a la intervencion y en 358 pacientes (2,1%) la cancelacion se produjo el dia de la intervencion. Causas de la cancelacion enfermedad aguda intercurrente 180 pacientes (25,7%), decision personal del paciente 126 (18%), no comparecencia del paciente 28 (4%), preparacion incorrecta del paciente 190 (27,1%), falta de recursos 177 (25,2%). Distribuyendo las causas de cancelacion segun la posibilidad de prevencion, 369 cancelaciones (52,6%) podrian ser evitables, 43 (6,2%) potencialmente evitables, 177 (25,2%) dificilmente evitables y 112 (16%) inevitables. Conclusiones Mas de la mitad de las cancelaciones podrian haber sido evitadas. Recomendamos mejoras en la sustitucion de pacientes ya programados. Serian necesarias campanas de informacion para incrementar el conocimiento de la poblacion sobre el coste real de los servicios de salud. Tambien seria necesaria la implementacion de medidas mejorando la seleccion-evaluacion de pacientes con protocolos/unidades de evaluacion preoperatoria.

The aim of this work was to study the degree of hydrolysis and changes in the apparent viscosity of casein suspensions as a result of various enzymes addition. Suspensions with 3, 12 and 15 g/100 mL of casein, at pH 5.2, 6.0 and 6.5 were prepared in buffer solutions. Previous standardization; plant (papain and bromelain) and animal (chymosin) enzymes were added to hydrolize the casein suspensions. A control with no enzyme addition was used. The rheological behaviour was determined using a rotational rheometer (Haake RV20), with a cone and plate geometry. The Casson and the power law equations were applied to the data. The degree of hydrolysis was a function of the enzyme, pH and casein concentration, presenting chymosin the highest values. All enzymes showed the highest activity at acidic pH. Also, some substrate inhibition was observed. All samples behaved as non-Newtonian, shear-thinning systems with a yield stress value. In all cases, a significant increase in the viscosity was observed when shifting from 3 to 12 g/100 mL. Further increase in concentration caused an opposite effect. Changes in pH of the casein suspensions affected the viscosity, presenting maximum values at pH 6.0. The Casson equation fitted the results better than the power law model.

This study examines the effect of institutions on the strategy of international diversification and on the relationships between political risk and the scope of internationalisation. Drawing on the Uppsala model but also on diversification and portfolio theory, I examine the behaviour of Spanish Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Using negative binomial regression on a sample of 166 MNEs, I find that firms only partially follow the Uppsala model and that political capabilities play a key role in their internationalisation strategy. An interesting debate arises over the convenience of the reliance that firms show on corrupted host countries in both the short and the long term. A positive relationship between liquidity, size and unrelated diversification with the scope of internationalisation is also demonstrated, while a negative one is discovered for the age of the company with the dependent variable.

Pathogenic diversity and cultural control of Sclerotium rolfsii are two fields of knowledge not well understood. In this work, two onion isolates of S. rolfsii from the States of Morelos and Guanajuato, Mexico were inoculated to 51 plant species and disease severity levels were determined. Subsequently, 12 out of 51 plant species were selected for the determination of pathogenic reaction to 20 isolates of S. rolfsii from different regions of Mexico. Onion isolates from Morelos and Guanajuato produced variable levels of disease severity for half of the plants tested. Five plant species were susceptible or highly susceptible to all isolates. The remaining plants tested showed differential reactions to individual isolates, ranging from highly resistant to highly susceptible. Three organic soil amendments alone or combined with solarization were tested for control of S. rolfsii on microplots containing onion seedlings in naturally infested soil. A combination of solarization and incorporation of Parthenium hysterophorus into soil was effective in reducing damage and sclerotial numbers of S. rolfsii. However, the amendment alone was associated with increased damage and high sclerotial populations.

Resumen Introduccion El estudio muestra la gestion de calidad que se lleva a cabo en una unidad de cirugia ambulatoria multidisciplinaria mediante la monitorizacion de determinados indicadores. Material y metodos Mediante el analisis de las bases de datos de la unidad de cirugia ambulatoria y los datos proporcionados por la administracion del hospital, se han estudiado 9 indicadores: a) ingresos inmediatos; b) ingresos tardios; c) relacion de intervenciones suspendidas o canceladas; d) morbilidad mayor; e) morbilidad menor; f) infeccion de herida; g) estado del enfermo a las 24 h de la intervencion; h) grado de satisfaccion, e i) indices de sustitucion. Las bases de datos con mas de 8.000 pacientes se han creado con el programa Stat View 5.0.1. Se ha llevado a cabo un estudio estadistico descriptivo. Resultados a) Ingresos inmediatos: 2,2%; b) ingresos tardios: 0,55%; c) intervenciones suspendidas o canceladas: 1,9%/1,6%; d) morbilidad mayor: 0,025%; e) morbilidad menor: 11,3%; f) infeccion de herida: 1,3%; g) estado del enfermo a las 24 h: excelente o bueno en el 98,6%; h) grado de satisfaccion: 84,4%, e i) indice de sustitucion global del hospital en 2003: 16,3%. El analisis de estos indicadores a lo largo del tiempo permite observar una mejora de los porcentajes de ingresos no deseados, un incremento de las intervenciones suspendidas, una estabilizacion de la morbilidad, una mejora del estado del enfermo y del grado de satisfaccion, y un lento incremento de los indices de sustitucion. Conclusiones La validez de los indicadores empleados esta en funcion de su capacidad para inducir modificaciones tendentes a su correccion. Los indicadores con mayor utilidad para la monitorizacion son: cancelacion de procedimientos; acontecimientos adversos; ingresos no deseados, y grado de satisfaccion de los pacientes.