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Economic Recession (economic + recession)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	60%
Humanities and Social Sciences	26%

Selected Abstracts

Contrasting Strategic Response to Economic Recession in Start-Up versus Established Software Firms,

JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2009
Scott Latham
Economic recessions represent a period of greatly reduced environmental munificence that threatens the survival of all firms. This is especially the case for smaller, start-up firms, which have been shown to fail at a much higher rate compared with their larger, more established peers. This study surveyed 137 software executives regarding their strategic response to the most recent economic downturn (2001,2003). I draw upon Hofer's framework for turnaround strategies to develop hypotheses to explore how smaller, start-up firms adjust their strategies in response to economic recession. The results suggest that start-up organizations are much more inclined to pursue revenue-generating strategies as a means to weathering recession rather than cost reductions, which tended to be the preferred strategy of larger firms. [source]

European Food Marketing: Understanding Consumer Wants , The Starting Point in Adding Value to Basic Food Products La commercialisation des aliments en Europe : comprendre des désirs des consommateurs , point de départ pour ajouter de la valeur aux produits alimentaires de base Lebensmittelhandel in Europa: Das Verständnis der Kundenwünsche ist Voraussetzung für zusätzliche Wertschöpfung bei Grundnahrungsmitteln

EUROCHOICES, Issue 3 2009
David Hughes
Summary European Food Marketing: Understanding Consumer Wants , The Starting Point in Adding Value to Basic Food Products European consumers have been in sombre mood as they battle to make ends meet in an economic recession. Yet, for many countries, the past 50 years or so has been a halcyon period of economic growth and, in real terms, declining food prices. Apart from lower food prices, attributes of convenience, health, pleasure and more esoteric social elements such as animal welfare-friendliness and environmental sustainability are increasingly important to consumers in their food choices. With higher household incomes has come an increasingly segmented food market, as businesses seek to differentiate their products from competitors to earn a premium above the basic commodity price. In an increasingly competitive European and global market, whether the firm is small or large, the first step in successful product differentiation requires an insightful understanding of the drivers of consumer purchase and consumption behaviour. These have fundamental commercial importance in the marketing strategy of any business. Yet, a surprising number of businesses in the food and beverage industry know very little about who buys and consumes their products. In the 21st century, the primacy of consumers and citizens will be substantially more ,front and centre' than in the previous 50 years of production-driven agricultural and food policy. Les consommateurs européens font grise mine depuis qu'ils peinent à joindre les deux bouts dans un contexte de récession économique. Pourtant, dans de nombreux pays, les cinquante dernières années ont formé une période en or de croissance économique et de baisse des prix alimentaires en termes réels. Outre des prix plus bas, les consommateurs accordent, dans leurs choix alimentaires, une importance de plus en plus grande à des attributs en termes de commodité, de santé, de plaisir et d'éléments sociaux plus ésotériques comme le bon traitement des animaux et la durabilité environnementale. La hausse des revenus des ménages a entraîné une segmentation accrue des marchés des produits alimentaires car les entreprises cherchent à différencier leurs produits de ceux de leurs concurrents pour obtenir une prime en sus du prix du produit classique. Dans un marché européen et mondial de plus en plus concurrentiel, que l'entreprise soit petite ou grande, la première étape d'une différentiation de produit réussie consiste à bien comprendre les motivations des consommateurs en termes d'achat et leur comportement en terme de consommation. Ces considérations ont une importance commerciale primordiale dans la stratégie de commercialisation de toute entreprise. Pourtant, un nombre surprenant de firmes de l'industrie des aliments et boissons savent très peu de chose sur les clients qui achètent et consomment leurs produits. Au vingt-et-unième siècle, la primauté des consommateurs et des citoyens sera nettement plus ,,frontale et centrale" qu'elle ne l'était dans les cinquante dernières années durant lesquelles la politique agricole et alimentaire était axée sur la production. Gedrückte Stimmung hat sich unter den europäischen Verbrauchern breit gemacht, da sie in der Rezession über die Runden kommen müssen. Dabei konnten viele Länder in den vergangenen etwa 50 Jahren auf eine glückliche Zeit wirtschaftlichen Wachstums und real rückläufiger Lebensmittelpreise blicken. Einmal abgesehen von den geringeren Lebensmittelpreisen, richtet der Verbraucher sein Hauptaugenmerk bei der Auswahl seiner Lebensmittel zunehmend auf Kriterien wie Verbraucherfreundlichkeit, Gesundheit, Genuss sowie esoterischere soziale Elemente wie Tierschutzfreundlichkeit und Umweltverträglichkeit. Höhere Haushaltseinkommen führten zu einem immer stärker segmentierten Lebensmittelmarkt, da die Unternehmen danach streben, ihre Produkte von denen der Konkurrenz abzuheben, um einen Aufschlag auf den Grundwarenpreis zu erzielen. Ob es sich nun um ein kleines oder großes Unternehmen handelt: Auf einem zunehmend wettbewerbsorientierten europäischen Markt und Weltmarkt und auf dem Weg hin zu einer erfolgreichen Produktdifferenzierung ist es zunächst einmal erforderlich, die Triebfedern für die Kaufentscheidung und das Konsumverhalten des Verbrauchers zu verstehen. Diese spielen eine wichtige wirtschaftliche Rolle in der Marketingstrategie eines jeden Unternehmens. Dennoch wissen erstaunlich viele Unternehmen aus der Lebensmittel- und Getränkeindustrie nur sehr wenig darüber, wer ihre Produkte kauft und konsumiert. Im 21. Jahrhundert werden die Wünsche der Verbraucher und Bürger wesentlich stärker Vorrang haben als dies in den vergangenen 50 Jahren produktionsorientierter Agrar- und Lebensmittelpolitik der Fall war. [source]

A Multistage Model of Loans and the Role of Relationships

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009
Sugato Chakravarty
We develop a multistage model of the loan granting process to understand the contradictory findings of the existing literature on bank-borrower relationships, credit availability, and loan rates. Upon estimating our model with the 1993, 1998, and 2003 versions of the Survey of Small Business Finances data set, we find that relationships matter in a borrower's decision whether to apply for a loan and in the loan approval/rejection decision by the financial institution. However, the effect of relationships on loan rates depends on the prevailing economic climate. While firms with preexisting relationships obtain credit at lower rates during periods of economic expansion, loan rates are not negatively correlated with preexisting relationships during periods of economic recession. [source]

Governing Elites, External Events and Pro-democratic Opposition in Hong Kong (1986,2002)

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2003
Ming Sing
While China has been the most important constraint on Hong Kong's democratization, another neglected constraint has been the limited mobilization power of the pro-democracy opposition in both civil and political society for most of the period from 1984 to 2002. The mobilization power of the pro-democracy opposition, mediated by their degree of internal unity and ability to capitalize on external political opportunities, affected its overall bargaining power vis-à-vis the Chinese and British government over democratization in different phases. The self-censorship among Hong Kong's media, plus economic recession since the Handover, further sapped the mobilization and bargaining power of pro-democratic forces. [source]

Combating deceptive advertisements and labelling on food products , an exploratory study on the perceptions of teachers

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 3 2003
Wai-ling Theresa Lai Yeung
People are becoming more health conscious nowadays, but most of them are not able to adopt a lifestyle with adequate physical exercise and a healthier eating pattern. Many attempt to compensate by taking ,health foods'. Despite the recent economic recession, the functional food market expands rapidly in Asian countries. Recent statistics indicate a huge increase in weight loss and functional food product advertising expenditure in Hong Kong and other Asian countries. In a massive survey conducted by the Hong Kong Consumer Council, it was found that 85% of the medicines, health food and therapies sampled contain questionable claims and misleading messages (Consumer Council, 1999). In fact, young people do not understand much about modern food processing, in particular those present in low energy and functional foods, and they know very little about the modern food marketing strategies. The situation is detrimental to consumer welfare especially to the younger generation. This study attempts to reflect critically on the implications of these issues for the health and well-being of young people in Hong Kong. It explores directions for designing relevant and effective education programmes to empower young people in understanding food advertising strategies and making informed decisions on food choice. The paper will begin with a critical review on the current situation in Hong Kong. An interview survey on preservice and in-service teachers' perception towards misleading food advertising and labelling will then be reported. The situations at schools will be defined and problems faced by teachers in providing relevant consumer education programmes to students will be identified. Finally, the study will look to the future, with a view to developing students' critical skills in evaluating claims offered in food advertisements. [source]

Chipping Away at the Fortress: Unions, Immigration and the Transnational Labour Market

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2000
Gamze Avci
Conventional wisdom holds that in liberal industrialized countries, times of economic recession and high unemployment create pressures for restrictive immigration legislation, proposals which will be supported by trade unions as a means of safeguarding their interests. Drawing on a case study of British trade union opposition to the 1996 Asylum and Immigration Act, this article argues that trade unions, which traditional interpretation suggests support such protectionist measures, are actually at the forefront of opposition to them. We suggest that the increased transnationalization of labour markets, combined with the particular nature of the legislative response, had led unions to adopt this apparently paradoxical position. [source]

Operational Improvement: The Key to Value Creation in Private Equity

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 3 2009
Gary Matthews
With credit tightening having reduced the availability of leverage and intensified the competition for new deals, the economic recession has caused many companies in private equity firm portfolios to under-perform. These changes are forcing the private equity firms to depend even more on their ability to improve operating performance to achieve their investment goals and generate attractive returns. But few PE firms have proved capable of achieving such improvements in portfolio companies consistently over time. In this paper, the authors discuss several ways that private equity firms use their operating expertise to drive value in their portfolio companies. They also examine the analytical framework used by some PE firms when assessing and prioritizing the many operational initiatives that could be undertaken within a newly acquired company. Part of that examination involves a detailed look at how private equity firms assemble an attractive mix of operational improvement projects in their initial 100-day plans. Finally, the authors explore one of the challenges faced by private equity firms when attempting to implement operational enhancements in newly acquired companies: bringing about change without alienating company management. The real-world application of this approach is demonstrated with a case study that shows how one private equity buyer put its operational skills into practice to help create value within a mid-sized portfolio company. [source]

Contrasting Strategic Response to Economic Recession in Start-Up versus Established Software Firms,

Development of Low-Firing B-Fluxed Stoneware Tiles

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 11 2009
Alessandro F. Gualtieri
In a global period of economic recession, innovation is a key requisite to get over this critical phase and prompt an upturn in the economy. Even the market of traditional ceramics is in a stalemate and producers desperately seek for new ideas which may supersede the long-used stoneware tiles. This paper presents the full characterization of a new potential class of ceramics named low-temperature stoneware tiles, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The body formulation and the firing process are both covered by an Italian Patent. This innovative product exhibits technological and esthetical features analogous to those of the traditional stoneware tile bodies but is fired at a maximum temperature of 950°C, about 250°C lower than the firing temperature of stoneware tiles. This is possible thanks to the addition of a B-rich frit to the mixture composed of quartz, feldspars, and clays. The frit acts as a low-temperature flux and promotes the melting of the feldspars. Within the fired body, the residual phases are quartz and feldspars. The newly formed phases can be ,-spodumene if Li is present in the frit or spinel if Mg is present in the natural materials. The best body formulations have been characterized with mineralogical, microscopic, and technological methods. The major weakness of these ceramic bodies is their unresistance to acids. The chemical nature of the sintered matrix, with a high content of alkalies and B, triggers off the tendency of the ceramic body to react in contact with acidic solutions. Another penalty factor is the cost of the B-rich frit used in the formulation of the ceramic mixture which increases the overall cost of the ceramic body. [source]

Energy consumption and economic growth: causality relationship for Nigeria

OPEC ENERGY REVIEW, Issue 1 2010
Suleiman Sa'ad
In this paper, cointegration and causality between energy consumption and gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria over the period 1971,2006 were analysed. The study used vector error correction models to test the relationships. The results of these tests showed the existence of cointegration as well as unidirectional causality-running from GDP to energy in Nigeria. The conclusion from these results was that decline in GDP or economic recession may have an adverse effects on energy consumption in Nigeria. However, energy conservation policies could be effectively implemented without any negative consequence on the growth of GDP in Nigeria. [source]

Regional inequalities in Greece,

PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2000
George Petrakos
Regional inequalities; Greece; convergence Abstract. This article examines regional inequalities in Greece, on the basis of ,-convergence and ,-convergence analysis and shows that they were reduced in the 1970s and the 1980s. Regression analysis indicates that regional inequalities have a pro-cyclical character, increasing in periods of economic expansion and decreasing in periods of economic recession. It also indicates that the structure of local industry, the process of EU integration, the quality of human capital and the existence of resources suitable for the development of tourism are among the factors affecting regional growth. [source]

Changes in mental disorder distribution among suicide attempters in mid-west area of Kanagawa

PSYCHIATRY AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES, Issue 2 2005
ATSUSHI ICHIMURA md
Abstract, To clarify changes in mental disorder distribution in suicide attempters, a comparison was made between the period when an economic recession started (1992, 1993) and the period when the recession became serious (2000). The subjects were 212 suicide attempters admitted to the Emergency Medical Center of Tokai University Hospital during a 2-year period between 1992 and 1993 (group A) and 255 suicide attempters admitted during a 1-year period between January and December 2000 (group B). Mental disorders were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (10th revision; ICD-10). Distribution was compared between groups A and B and significant differences were observed in mental disorder distribution (P < 0.001). The percentages of subjects with depression, those with neurotic disorders, and those with other disorders were higher in group B than in group A. Conversely, the percentage of subjects with schizophrenia was lower in group B than in group A. Mental disorder distribution in suicide attempters significantly changed. However, it was not certain that this change was related to the economic recession and increased unemployment in Japan. [source]

ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS: UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING THE "SILENT TSUNAMI"

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2009
David Himmelgreen
The food riots and demonstrations that occurred in more than 50 countries in 2008 signaled the oncoming global economic recession. Skyrocketing food and fuel prices spurred on violence in poorer countries where there is no social safety net and in places impacted by food insecurity and malnutrition. Today, while the prices for some food staples have retracted a little, the deepening economic recession poses a threat in wealthier nations including the United States and members of the European Union. For example, the shuttering fall in the U.S. stock market in October 2008 resulted in the loss of billions of dollars not only to individual investors but also to states and local municipalities. In this environment, there is a potentially grave threat to the social safety net in the United States including food assistance programs. The World Food Program (WFP) has cited the increase in world food prices as the biggest challenge in its 45-year history, calling the impact a "silent tsunami" that threatened to plunge millions into hunger. In this volume, practicing and applied anthropologists examine the current global food crisis in a variety of settings including Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, and the United States. Further, they use a variety of theoretical orientations and methodological approaches to understand the chronic nature of food insecurity and the ways in which global food policies and economic restructuring have resulted in increasing food inequities across the globe. Throughout this volume, the authors make suggestions for combating the global food crisis through the application of anthropological principles and practices. [source]

Split Bond Ratings and Information Opacity Premiums

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2010
Miles Livingston
This paper examines the relationship between split bond ratings and bond yields at the notch level for newly issued corporate bonds. We find that split rated bonds average a 7-basis-point yield premium over nonsplit rated bonds of similar credit risk. The yield premium increases from 5 basis points for one-notch splits to 15 (20) basis points for two-notch (three-notch) splits. These findings indicate that investors demand higher yields for split rated bonds to compensate for the information opacity of such bonds. In addition, the yield premium for split rated bonds is higher during economic recessions, indicating investors are more risk averse during economic downturns. Consequently, split ratings impose higher borrowing costs for firms, especially during economic downturns. [source]