Search

The article presents the discussion on tobacco epidemic remaining the most preventable health threat. Topics include governments around the world continue to pursue important measures such as smoke-free laws, increases in excise taxes on tobacco products, graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging; and state-market-society relationships held by governments in tobacco-producing countries.

Policy PointsThe commercial determinants of health (CDoH) concept, which currently focuses on markets that harm health, should be expanded to refer to the interface between commerce and health, which can sometimes have positive public health consequences.The regulatory stances framework helps us classify public health preferences for regulating specific markets related to CDoH, based on the intended effects of regulations on market size. The regulatory stances a jurisdiction can adopt can be classified as ranging from prohibitionist through contractionist, permissive, and expansionist, to universalist.The regulatory stances framework increases the usefulness of the CDoH concept by expanding the conversation beyond negative determinants of health and providing a fuller view of the tools at the disposal of society to alter markets and improve health. Context: The effects of commerce on the public health are omnipresent. The commercial determinants of health (CDoH) represent a burgeoning area of scholarly debate and activist policymaking to redress markets that adversely affect public health. The CDoH debate is a logical extension of the tobacco control movement, but, to its detriment, the CDoH conversation remains primarily focused policies and proposals that are analogous to historical tobacco control strategies. Methods: This paper argues that for the CDoH to develop further and broaden its appeal, it should expand to cover markets with conditional and positive impacts on health. To explain and order this conversation, a comparative framework for regulatory policy is introduced: the regulatory stances. The regulatory stances classify a regulatory policy based on the intended effect of policy on the size of a market in the future relative to the present. Findings: Some markets that interface between commerce and health do not inherently harm health. Regulatory policy toward these markets should be different in intent than regulatory policy for markets with negative health effects. Conclusions: By using the regulatory stances framework to encompass markets that have positive or conditional effects on health as well as those that have adverse health effects, the CDoH conversation can shift away from the exclusive focus on strategies to shrink markets with adverse health impacts to consider a wider array of policy options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it is aimed to examine the determinants of the industrial production index, which is necessary for a sustainable growth. Even though the share of the industrial sector in the total output is around 20%, it is still significant as a precursor to the gross domestic product. When the literature on the industrial production index is examined, it is seen that the factors affecting the industrial production index and the analysis methods differ from each other. In this study, the leading indicators that effects the industrial production index are examined with the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) Model using monthly data between 2007 and 2020 in the Turkish Economy. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that the variables of electricity consumption and manufacturing industry capacity utilization rate are significant in explaining the industrial production index in the long run. The leading variable that is most effective in explaining the industrial production index in the long run is electricity consumption. Accordingly, 1% increase in electricity consumption will increase the industrial production index by 1.2%. The fact that the error correction coefficient is significant and negative in the short- term model indicates that if there is a deviation from the long-term equilibrium value in the industrial production index, the system will reach equilibrium in approximately 3.5 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we analyze the role of colocation between research and development (R&D) and manufacturing for global technology development by multinational enterprises (MNEs). The extant literature suggests that the main strategic role of colocated R&D units is to locally adapt existing products and processes. However, data from 146 foreign R&D units of Sweden's 17 largest manufacturing MNEs in 2013 show that they instead mainly develop new technology, not only for the local and regional markets, but to a large extent for the global market. A likely explanation is that colocation positively contributes to joint problem-solving and transfer of tacit knowledge between production and R&D personnel, all of which is necessary in new product development, especially in industries characterized by complex products and systems and rapid technological change. A theoretical implication is that depending on industry characteristics, internal cross-functional linkages between R&D and manufacturing can be more critical than external supply- and demand-side factors when it comes to influence where R&D units are located globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, physician assistants (PAs), advanced practice nurses, and physicians are fi nancially involved with healthcare product manufacturers. Although the relationships themselves might not be illegal, when the transaction infl uences the healthcare provider's medical decision-making, patients can be harmed and the healthcare provider and manufacturer can face accusations of violating federal and state law. In 2019, the federal government recouped $2.6 billion from healthcare fraud and abuse by healthcare stakeholders. PAs' and NPs' behaviors violating the Anti- Kickback Statute (AKS) and False Claims Act (FCA) were partially responsible for the reported amount. To increase the transparency of the fi nancial relationships between healthcare providers and healthcare manufacturers, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, under statutory obligation, created the Open Payments program, which will begin reporting PAs' and advanced practice nurses' fi nancial relationships with manufacturers in 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Public health policy development is subject to a range of stakeholders presenting their arguments to influence opinion on the best options for policy action. This paper compares stakeholders' positions in the discourse networks of two pricing policy debates in the United Kingdom: minimum unit pricing for alcohol (MUP) and the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL). Design Discourse analysis was combined with network visualization to create representations of stakeholders' positions across the two policy debates as they were represented in 11 national UK newspapers. Setting: United Kingdom. Observations: For the MUP debate 1924 statements by 152 people from 87 organizations were coded from 348 articles. For the SDIL debate 3883 statements by 214 people from 175 organizations were coded from 511 articles. Measurements Network analysis techniques were used to identify robust argumentative similarities and maximize the identification of network structures. Network measures of size, connectedness and cohesion were used to compare discourse networks. Findings The networks for both pricing debates involve a similar range of stakeholder types and form clusters representing policy discourse coalitions. The SDIL network is larger than the MUP network, particularly the proponents' cluster, with more than three times as many stakeholders. Both networks have tight clusters of manufacturers, think‐tanks and commercial analysts in the opponents' coalition. Public health stakeholders appear in both networks, but no health charity or advocacy group is common to both. Conclusion: A comparison of the discourse in the UK press during the policy development processes for minimum unit pricing for alcohol and the soft drinks industry levy suggests greater cross‐sector collaboration among policy opponents than proponents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Little is known about the association between industry payments and medical device selection.Objective: To examine the association between payments from device manufacturers to physicians and device selection for patients undergoing first-time implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D).Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study, patients who received a first-time ICD or CRT-D device from any of the 4 major manufacturers (January 1, 2016-December 31, 2018) were identified. The data from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry ICD Registry was linked with the Open Payments Program's payment data. Patients were categorized into 4 groups (A, B, C, and D) corresponding to the manufacturer from which the physician who performed the implantation received the largest payment. For each patient group, the proportion of patients who received a device from the manufacturer that provided the largest payment to the physician who performed implantation was determined. Within each group, the absolute difference in proportional use of devices between the manufacturer that made the highest payment and the proportion of devices from the same manufacturer in the entire study cohort (expected prevalence) was calculated.Exposures: Manufacturers' payments to physicians who performed an ICD or CRT-D implantation.Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome of the study was the manufacturer of the device used for the implantation.Results: Over a 3-year period, 145 900 patients (median age, 65 years; 29.6% women) received ICD or CRT-D devices from the 4 manufacturers implanted by 4435 physicians at 1763 facilities. Among these physicians, 4152 (94%) received payments from device manufacturers ranging from $2 to $323 559 with a median payment of $1211 (interquartile range, $390-$3702). Between 38.5% and 54.7% of patients received devices from the manufacturers that had provided physicians with the largest payments. Patients were substantially more likely to receive devices made by the manufacturer that provided the largest payment to the physician who performed implantation than they were from each other individual manufacturer. The absolute differences in proportional use from the expected prevalence were 22.4% (95% CI, 21.9%-22.9%) for manufacturer A; 14.5% (95% CI, 14.0%-15.0%) for manufacturer B; 18.8% (95% CI, 18.2%-19.4%) for manufacturer C; and 30.6% (95% CI, 30.0%-31.2%) for manufacturer D.Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, a large proportion of ICD or CRT-D implantations were performed by physicians who received payments from device manufacturers. Patients were more likely to receive ICD or CRT-D devices from the manufacturer that provided the highest total payment to the physician who performed an ICD or CRT-D implantation than each other manufacturer individually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Faster drug development times get new therapies to patients sooner and financially benefit drug developers by shortening the time between investment and returns and increasing the time on the market with intellectual property protection. The result is enhanced incentives to innovate. We provide a real-world example of the financial gains from quicker development using recent estimates of drug development costs, returns, and estimates of time reductions from an alternative early-stage drug development paradigm. Methods: We utilized data obtained from a drug development and manufacturing services organization to estimate the reduction in development time for drug sponsors from using an integrated platform of formulation development, real-time manufacturing, and clinical testing for 19 completed drug product development projects covering three key drug development activities (transitioning from first-in-human to proof-of-concept [FIH-PoC], modified release formulation development [MR], and enhanced solubility formulation development [ES]). A traditional drug development paradigm was taken as the base case and financial impacts of the alternative development program were determined relative to the base case. Findings: The total after-tax financial benefits of shorter development times from integrating formulation development, real-time manufacturing, and clinical testing when applied across a broad portfolio of investigational drugs ranged from $230.5 million to $290.1 million, $196.4 million to $247.5 million, and $102.6 million to $275.5 million, per approved new drug for FIH-PoC, MR, and ES applications, respectively (2018 dollars). Implications: For the data we examined, this integrated development model yielded substantial financial benefits over traditional drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the economy becomes more globalised and competitive, firms are manufacturing goods in a wider variety of locations. This may be to reduce costs by moving to a low cost country or to place production closer to potential customers. What is often lacking in these facility location decisions is a holistic assessment of the costs associated with production location decisions. Too often the assessment is focused only on a limited set of cost factors (e.g. direct manufacturing and shipping) and does not take into account the dynamic nature of some costs. To address these limitations a comprehensive cost model to assess the cost of procuring goods from alternative locations is presented. A methodology is detailed for monetising many costs associated with international procurement. An illustrative case study analysing the procurement of goods from two locations in Mexico and one in the US is detailed. Results of the case show that the non-direct manufacturing costs associated with procurement (e.g. inventory holding costs and shipping) can be greater than direct manufacturing costs. The effects of fuel and labour cost sensitivity on the alternative locations are also detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product extension services (PESs) are becoming an important new source of profit for servitised manufacturers. Configuring correct and valid PESs out of available service components thus becomes a critical activity to respond to diverse customer needs. However, PES configuration is a rather difficult knowledge-intensive task. In this paper, an ontology-based approach to representing PES configuration knowledge and developing a PES configuration system is presented, with the aim of enabling effective and efficient configuration by sharing and reusing knowledge unambiguously. First, meta-ontologies which include service sub-ontology, product sub-ontology and customer sub-ontology are built for the generic PES configuration domain. Then, configuration knowledge in the specific domain is derived by re-using or inheriting the concepts and relations in these meta-ontologies. Structural knowledge in domain-specific ontologies is further represented in OWL, an ontology language, while rule knowledge is formalised in SWRL, a rule language based on OWL. Finally, actual configuration reasoning processes are performed with the support of a rule engine, namely JESS, by mapping OWL-based structural knowledge and SWRL-based rule knowledge to JESS facts and JESS rules, respectively. The proposed approach is demonstrated by an example of configurable PESs called a ‘building solution’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: To evaluate the patterns of financial transaction between industry and urologists in the first 5 years of reporting in the Open Payments Program (OPP) by comparing transactions over time, between academic and nonacademic urologists, and by provider characteristics among academic urologists.Methods: The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services OPP database was queried for General Payments to urologists from 2014-2018. Faculty at ACGME-accredited urology training programs were identified and characterized via publicly available websites. Industry transfers were analyzed by year, practice setting (academic vs nonacademic), provider characteristics, and AUA section. Payment nature and individual corporate contributions were also summarized.Results: A total of 12,521 urologists - representing 75% of the urology workforce in any given year - received $168 million from industry over the study period. There was no significant trend in payments by year (P = .162). Urologists received a median of $1602 over the study period, though 14% received >$10,000. Payment varied significantly by practice setting (P <.001), with nonacademic urologists receiving more but smaller payments than academic urologists. Among academic urologists, gender (P <.001), department chair status (P <.001), fellowship training (P <.001), and subspecialty (P <.001) were significantly associated with amount of payment from industry. Annual payments from industry varied significantly by AUA section.Conclusion: Reporting of physician-industry transactions has not led to a sustained decline in transactions with urologists. Significant differences in industry interaction exist between academic and nonacademic urologists, and values transferred to academic urologists varied by gender, chair status, subspecialty, and AUA section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify whether institutions with strong conflicts of interest (COI) policies receive less industry payments than those with weaker policies. While industry-physician interactions can have collaborative benefits, financial COI can undermine preservation of the integrity of professional judgment and public trust. To address this concern, academic institutions have adopted COI policies. It is unclear whether the strength of COI policy correlates with industry payments in urology.Materials and Methods: 131 US academic urology programs were surveyed on their COI policies, and graded according to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) criteria. Strength of COI policy was compared against industry payments in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments database.Results: Fifty-seven programs responded to the survey, for a total response rate of 44%. There was no difference between COI policy groups on total hospital payments (P = .05), total department payments (P = .28), or dollars per payment (P = .57). On correlation analysis, there was a weak but statistically nonsignificant correlation between AMSA Industry Policy Survey Score and Open Payments payments (ρ = -0.14, P = .32).Conclusion: Strength of conflicts of interest policy in academic urology did not correlate to industry payments within the Open Payments database. Establishment of strong COI policy may create offsetting factors that mitigate the intended effects of the policy. Further studies will be required to develop the evidence base for policy design and implementation across various specialties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of the firm raise conflicting arguments about how complementarities between two or more components affect firms' knowledge and production boundaries. Traditional arguments in the boundaries of the firm literature suggest that firms will tend to produce sets of complementary components internally, while more recent modularity studies argue that firms can outsource to gain flexibility. We resolve these views by examining concurrent sourcing, which arises when firms both make and buy the same components. We argue that concurrent sourcing of complementary components becomes more common in two cases: when firms have relevant knowledge about the components in conjunction with suppliers (interfirm expertise) and, perhaps more surprisingly, within the firm (within-firm shared expertise). The results suggest that firms often need to make in order to know, but can partially outsource if they possess sufficient expertise. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transaction cost economics, neoclassical economics, and the firm capabilities literatures propose theories of the firm that typically depict firm boundaries determined by a dichotomous choice: the make or buy decision. However, none of these theories presents a satisfying explanation as to why firms would concurrently source, i.e., simultaneously make and buy the same good. This study combines these organizational economics theories and compares when firms make, buy, and concurrently source through surveying small manufacturing firms. Support was shown for aspects of all three theories, with evidence indicating that concurrent sourcing is a distinctly different choice, rather existing along a make/buy continuum. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the application of reverse supply chains in manufacturing processes. The author discusses the flow of product returns as a concern for manufacturers. It is noted that cost efficient supply chains are typically slow, causing a lengthy delay in returns. The most influential product characteristic for supply chain design is marginal value of time, which can be viewed as a measure of clockspeed. Responsive reverse supply chains are best applied to products with high marginal value of time, while efficient reverse supply chains are appropriate for products with low marginal value of time. Although the flow of returned products can be a sizeable asset stream for many companies, most of the asset value is lost in the reverse supply chain.

In the last 20 years, the United States has made stunning progress reducing the rate of adult smoking. However, the smallest reduction is among older adults. Compared to younger smokers, older smokers are more likely to be lower socioeconomic status (SES), have several tobacco related comorbidities, and are less likely to be treated for tobacco addiction yet, in tobacco policy, they are not considered a marginalized group. The tobacco industry's interest in older smokers contrasts with the lack of interest shown by tobacco control. A double whammy is a set of two bad events or situations that have an effect at the same time. The purposes of this article are to use the health disparity paradigm to (a) discuss the "double whammy" of marginalization by tobacco control and valuation by the tobacco industry on the health of older smokers and (b) provide strategies to promote health equity for older smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To understand the extent of the alcohol industry's financial dependence on drinking above government low‐risk guidelines in England. Design Scenario modelling using descriptive analyses of pooled data from the 2013 and 2014 waves of two nationally representative surveys: the Health Survey for England (HSE) and the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF). We estimated the proportion of alcohol sales revenue accounted for by drinkers above guideline levels, and how this varies between different beverage and retailer types. We then estimated the impact on sales revenue if the entire population reduced their drinking to within guideline levels, as well as the average price increases necessary to compensate for such a loss of revenue. Setting England. Participants: A total of 16 872 individual (HSE) and 9975 household (LCF) survey respondents. Measurements Transaction‐level estimates of volume of alcohol purchased and price paid by beverage type and trade sector. Findings Those drinking above guideline levels are estimated to account for 68% of total alcohol sales revenue in 2013/14: 81% of off‐trade revenue and 60% of on‐trade revenue. This represents 77% of beer, 70% of cider, 66% of wine and 50% of spirits sales value. The heaviest drinking 4% of the population account for 30% of all consumption and 23% of all industry revenue. If all consumers reduced their drinking to within guideline levels, alcohol sales revenue could decline by 38% (£13 billion). To mitigate this loss, average prices paid would have to rise substantially—for example, by £2.64 for a pint of on‐trade beer or £12.25 for a 70 cl bottle of off‐trade spirits. Conclusions: In England, the alcohol industry appears to be highly financially dependent upon heavy drinking, and might face significant financial losses were consumers to drink within guideline levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Majority of the increase in global energy consumption is from China; hence, studying energy issues, especially in China’s manufacturing industry (CMI), is worthwhile and of much interest in the academic field. Based on the translog cost function, we develop a research framework to study the rebound effect of CMI. Considering the effect of asymmetric energy price, we augment the energy-cost function with asymmetric influence constraint of energy price. Again, we add time series data of CMI’s capital, labor, energy, and mid-input to the model to calculate the direct rebound effect of CMI. We find that the rebound effect of CMI is 44.2%, and CMI still has large energy-conservation potentials. Based on the results of this study, some policy recommendations are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently developed flexible manufacturing technologies (FMT) offer managers new strategic opportunities. After summarizing the literature on organization level technology and manufacturing strategy, FMT organization is described and compared to mass production organization on several key dimensions. Propositions are offered to guide future research and management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to understand when and why manufacturers might convert from on independent salesforce to a direct salesforce. On the basis of hypotheses developed from channel distributor theory and ecological theory of organizational change, the authors estimate a model of a firm's intention to "go direct" with survey data from 243 manufacturers currently using manufacturers' representatives. Results indicate considerable inertia in the manufacturer/agent relationship arid suggest some reasons for the stability of those arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on three strategies for realizing economic benefits from the multiproduct firm: vertical integration, related diversification, and unrelated diversification. The paper identifies economic benefits of the strategies and links them with the organizational control requirements necessary to realize these benefits. Organizational and environmental constraints that can inhibit the realization of these benefits also are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many business firms use formulas based on fully allocated unit cost to determine the selling prices for their products. But is it wise to rely on costs alone? What is the proper role of costs in pricing decisions? By use of an example of a toy manufacturer and of a company producing abrasive grains, at least two significant generalizations are developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital goods spending is a vital element in the structure and movement of the nation's economy. The following article reviews the development of a new and impressively accurate study in this vital field. In addition, the outlook for capital spending in the 1960s is reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses industrialization in the U.S. in the post World War II period. Industrialization is recognized as a switch from a specialization of nonmanufacturing industries to manufacturing. A study of 48 states in the U.S. was conducted to determine the number of production workers in manufacturing, value added by manufacture, manufacturing production workers as a percentage of the population, and value added by manufacture per capita. It was determined that a high degree of correlation exists between value added by manufacture and employment of production workers in the states evaluated.

The article reports on the impact Fair Trade Laws have had on competition in the field of marketing in the U.S. The author focuses on interpreting the price maintenance laws using the concepts of economic theory. The author uses a cost curve analysis of a group of hypothetical coffee manufacturers to illustrate the impact production costs have on profitability. Costs associated with the supply chain utilized by the coffee manufacturers are also illustrated by way of graphic methods. The author alleges that retailers as well as manufacturers are affected by Fair Trade Laws. He uses concepts from the books "The Economics of Imperfect Competition," by Joan Robinson and "The Theory of Monopolistic Competition," by Edward Chamberlin to further his argument.

This article examines the relationship between the presence of foreign affiliates and product upgrading by Turkish manufacturing firms. The analysis suggests that Turkish firms in sectors and regions more likely to supply foreign affiliates tend to introduce more complex products, where complexity is captured using a measure developed by Hidalgo and Hausmann ( ). This finding is robust to controlling for omitted variables, sample selection and potential simultaneity bias. It is also in line with the view that inflows of foreign direct investment stimulate upgrading of indigenous production capabilities in host countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present recent empirical results concerning offshoring and backshoring of manufacturing from and to Sweden, to increase the understanding of manufacturing relocation in an international context. In particular, extent, geographies, type of production, drivers, and benefits of moving manufacturing in both directions are investigated.Design/methodology/approach The study is based on survey data from 373 manufacturing plants. The same set of questions is used for both offshoring and backshoring between 2010 and 2015, which allows similarities and differences in decision-making and results between the two relocation directions to be identified.Findings There are many significant differences between offshoring and backshoring projects. Labour cost is the dominating factor in offshoring, as driver and benefit, while backshoring is related to many drivers and benefits, such as quality, lead-time, flexibility, access to skills and knowledge, access to technology, and proximity to R&D. This is also reflected in the type of production that is relocated; labour-intensive production is offshored and complex production is backshored.Research limitations/implications Plants that have both offshored and backshored think and act differently than plants that have only offshored or backshored, which is why it is important to distinguish between these plant types in the context of manufacturing relocations.Practical implications The experience of Swedish manufacturing plants reported here can be used as a point of reference for internal manufacturing operations.Originality/value The survey design allows a unique comparison between offshoring and backshoring activity. Since Swedish firms in general have been quite active in rearranging their manufacturing footprint and have experience from movements in both directions, it is an appropriate geographical area to study in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skip-lot sampling plans have been widely used in industries to reduce the inspection efforts on products that have an excellent quality history. These skip-lot sampling schemes are economically advantageous and useful to minimize the cost of the inspection of the final lots. Also, the skip-lot concept is sound and useful in the design of sampling plans. In this paper, we propose a designing methodology to determine the optimal parameters of a skip-lot sampling plan of type SkSP-2 when the quality characteristic under study follows a normal distribution. The optimal plan parameters are determined to minimize the average sample number subject to satisfying the producer's and consumer's risks simultaneously at the acceptable and limiting quality levels, respectively. An optimization problem is formulated in order to construct tables for determining the optimal parameters of the proposed sampling plan for both known and unknown standard deviation cases and the results are compared with the variables single sampling plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how the development of social capital can promote buyer’s bi-directional (inflow and outflow) information sharing. The authors examined buyers’ perceptional differences in information sharing: when they receive information from suppliers and when they provide information to suppliers, and how such inequivalent perception in information sharing can be resolved by the level of social capital and its’ sub-dimensions.Design/methodology/approach Theoretical model and the hypotheses were developed through literature review. Data were collected from Korean manufacturers in supply chains and structural equation modelling was used for analysis.Findings The results show that each dimension of social capital has a different effect on bi-directional information sharing. For the information inflow, all of the facets of social capital were significant; for the information outflow, however, only relational capital was significant. That is, with cognitive and structural capital, buyers perceive that they can receive appropriate information from suppliers yet be reluctant to provide information to suppliers.Practical implications Given that relational capital is essential for the balanced information sharing in buyer-supplier relationship, firms should pay attention to having social interactions with partners to promote trust in the relationship for efficacy in information sharing.Originality/value This is one of the first studies to explore the role of social capital in facilitating equivalent information sharing. This study develops a framework that social capital can provide valuable guidance in achieving equivalency of bi-directional information sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the footprint of anthropogenic activities has become particularly challenging in today's globalized markets, where a large number of economic transactions taking place across the globe need to be disentangled before the most critical sectors are identified. In this work, we present an approach to quantify the eco-efficiency of economic activities that combines multi-regional environmentally-extended input-output tables and data envelopment analysis. We employ this method to assess the European Union manufacturing sectors in terms of three inputs -global warming potential, potential acidifying equivalent and tropospheric ozone forming potential- and one output (economic wealth), following both production and consumption-based accounting approaches. Our approach classifies economic sectors as efficient and inefficient, and for the latter it provides improvement targets that if attained would make them efficient. We find that there is a significant mismatch at the sectorial level between both accounting schemes, each providing complementary information for policy-making. In the production-based case, targets allow identifying sectors and pollutants requiring more stringent regulations and/or higher investments in cleaner technologies. Conversely, the consumption-based accounting allows identifying the ultimate sources of impact, an insight that can assist in the selection of alternative “cleaner” suppliers via eco-labelling of products/services and proper taxation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding what drives the capital flows has important policy implications for countries in managing the direction and magnitude of such flows. This paper empirically investigates the main drivers of capital flows into the fast‐growing BRICS countries, in the backdrop of their growing inward capital flows. Employing a fully balanced panel for the period 1995–2015, we focus on, among others, the hitherto commonly untested variables: sovereign credit ratings, economic freedom and ease of doing business ranking of these countries. In searching for the relevant interaction and causality among the drivers of capital flows, we employ the panel Granger causality test to arrive at the policy implications. The results suggest that market size is a significant driver of capital flows. In addition to infrastructure, economic freedom in the host countries, ease of doing business ranking and sovereign credit ratings are the main drivers in the long‐run growth of capital flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]