Firms

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting

Kinds of Firms

  • accounting firm
  • acquired firm
  • acquiring firm
  • american firm
  • asian firm
  • audit firm
  • auditing firm
  • australian firm
  • biotech firm
  • biotechnology firm
  • business firm
  • canadian firm
  • capital firm
  • chaebol firm
  • chinese firm
  • client firm
  • clothing firm
  • commercial firm
  • competing firm
  • competitive firm
  • constrained firm
  • consulting firm
  • control firm
  • different firm
  • distressed firm
  • diversified firm
  • domestic firm
  • dominant firm
  • downstream firm
  • efficient firm
  • electronics firm
  • engineering firm
  • entrepreneurial firm
  • equity firm
  • established firm
  • european firm
  • family firm
  • financial firm
  • financial services firm
  • finnish firm
  • focused firm
  • foreign firm
  • foreign-owned firm
  • german firm
  • global firm
  • heterogeneous firm
  • high technology firm
  • high-tech firm
  • high-technology firm
  • incumbent firm
  • individual firm
  • industrial firm
  • innovative firm
  • insurance firm
  • integrate firm
  • intensive firm
  • international firm
  • ipo firm
  • italian firm
  • italian manufacturing firm
  • japanese firm
  • knowledge-intensive firm
  • korean firm
  • large firm
  • larger firm
  • largest firm
  • law firm
  • leading firm
  • listed firm
  • local firm
  • manufacturing firm
  • many firm
  • medium-sized firm
  • member firm
  • multinational firm
  • multiproduct firm
  • nasdaq firm
  • national firm
  • new firm
  • non-financial firm
  • nonfamily firm
  • nonfinancial firm
  • one firm
  • other firm
  • parent firm
  • participating firm
  • pharmaceutical firm
  • private equity firm
  • private firm
  • processing firm
  • productive firm
  • professional service firm
  • professional services firm
  • profit-maximizing firm
  • profitable firm
  • public accounting firm
  • public firm
  • publicly traded firm
  • quality firm
  • regulated firm
  • relate firm
  • retail firm
  • rival firm
  • same firm
  • sample firm
  • service firm
  • services firm
  • single firm
  • small firm
  • small manufacturing firm
  • smaller firm
  • software firm
  • spanish firm
  • supplier firm
  • taiwanese firm
  • target firm
  • technology firm
  • traded firm
  • u.s. firm
  • uk firm
  • unconstrained firm
  • unlisted firm
  • upstream firm
  • us firm
  • venture capital firm
  • younger firm

  • Terms modified by Firms

  • firm ability
  • firm activity
  • firm adhesion
  • firm age
  • firm attribute
  • firm basis
  • firm behavior
  • firm behaviour
  • firm boundary
  • firm capability
  • firm capital structure
  • firm characteristic
  • firm choice
  • firm competitive advantage
  • firm competitiveness
  • firm conclusion
  • firm cost
  • firm decision
  • firm diagnosis
  • firm disclosure
  • firm earning
  • firm efficiency
  • firm evidence
  • firm financial performance
  • firm foundation
  • firm growth
  • firm heterogeneity
  • firm incentive
  • firm increase
  • firm innovation
  • firm investment
  • firm knowledge
  • firm lead
  • firm level
  • firm leverage
  • firm management
  • firm managers
  • firm market value
  • firm model
  • firm network
  • firm nodule
  • firm operations
  • firm owner
  • firm performance
  • firm performance relationship
  • firm perspective
  • firm productivity
  • firm profit
  • firm profitability
  • firm propensity
  • firm quality
  • firm reputation
  • firm resource
  • firm response
  • firm risk
  • firm share
  • firm shareholder
  • firm size
  • firm strategy
  • firm success
  • firm support
  • firm survival
  • firm texture
  • firm type
  • firm use
  • firm valuation
  • firm value

  • Selected Abstracts


    ON LABOUR DEMAND AND EQUILIBRIA OF THE FIRM,

    THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 5 2005
    ROBERT L. VIENNEAU
    This note considers a linear programming formulation of the problem of the firm. A neoclassical non-increasing labour demand function is derived from the solution of the linear program. Only a set of measure zero on this function, one or two points in the examples examined, provides equilibria of the representative firm. Equilibria of the representative firm are characterized by decisions of its managers that allow the same decisions to be made in successive periods. Hence, one can explain the quantity of labour that firms desire to hire either by a traditional neoclassical labour demand function or by equilibria of the firm, but generally not both. [source]


    THE EFFECTS OF UNCERTAINTY ON THE LEVERAGE OF NONFINANCIAL FIRMS

    ECONOMIC INQUIRY, Issue 2 2009
    CHRISTOPHER F. BAUM
    This paper investigates the link between the optimal level of nonfinancial firms' short-term leverage and macroeconomic and idiosyncratic sources of uncertainty. We develop a structural model of a firm's value maximization problem that predicts a negative relationship between uncertainty and optimal levels of borrowing. This proposition is tested using a panel of nonfinancial U.S. firms drawn from the COMPUSTAT quarterly database covering the period 1993,2003. The estimates confirm that as either form of uncertainty increases, firms decrease their levels of short-term leverage. This effect is stronger for macroeconomic uncertainty than for idiosyncratic uncertainty. (JEL C23, D8, D92, G32) [source]


    POLITICAL SELECTION OF FIRMS INTO PRIVATIZATION PROGRAMS.

    ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2010
    EVIDENCE FROM ROMANIAN COMPREHENSIVE DATA
    Exploiting a unique institutional feature of early Romanian privatization, when a group of firms was explicitly barred from privatization and another was partially privatized by management,employee buyouts, we test how politicians select firms into privatization programs. Using comprehensive firm data, we estimate the relation between preprivatization firm characteristics , the information known to politicians at the time of decision-making , and the effect of privatization on employment, efficiency, and wages. With the estimated coefficients we simulate the effect of privatization on non-privatizable and privatizable firms. We find that politicians expected privatization to increase employment in the privatizable group by 7%,10%, while to decrease it in the non-privatizable group by 10%,30%, depending on the first-stage estimation method, ordinary least squares with or without matching. We do not find such discrepancies in the expected change in firm efficiency; the simulated efficiency effect of privatization is large and positive for both groups of firms, and it is 52%,65% for non-privatizable and 41%,43% for privatizable firms. The analysis does not support the hypothesis that wages played an important role in privatization decisions. Our study suggests that employment concerns played the key role in selecting firms for privatization, even if efficiency gains had to be sacrificed. [source]


    INEQUALITY, INCOMPLETE CONTRACTS, AND THE SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF BUSINESS FIRMS,

    INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2010
    Thomas Gall
    This article analyzes the effects of intrafirm bargaining on the formation of firms in an economy with imperfect capital markets and contracting constraints. In equilibrium, wealth inequality induces a heterogeneous distribution of firm sizes, allowing for firms both too small and too large in terms of technical efficiency. The findings connect well to empirical facts such as the missing middle of firm-size distributions in developing countries. The model can encompass a nonmonotonic relationship between aggregate output and inequality. It turns out that an inflow of capital may indeed decrease output in absolute terms. [source]


    ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE, SKILL FORMATION, HUMAN CAPITAL MEASUREMENT: EVIDENCE FROM ITALIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 2 2010
    Gilberto Antonelli
    Abstract This paper emphasizes the role of labour demand as a determinant of human capital formation. After a section in which the alternative conceptions on the functioning of labour markets are presented and different ways of measuring human capital are compared, an applied analysis is carried out in which we provide a labour-demand-oriented measure of human capital, as defined by the amount of specific skills firms generate through work-based training (WBT) activities. By merging three rich firm-level datasets, we estimate the impact of a set of variables supposed to affect both the propensity to invest in WBT and the intensity of training within the Italian manufacturing industry over the period 2001,2005. Special attention is devoted to the variables characterizing within-firm organization of knowledge, organizational change and the formation of competence pipelines: among them, innovation, internationalization commitment, out-sourcing and new hirings. The estimates show that the effect of innovation on WBT is higher when the introduction of new technologies is supported by organizational innovations. When looking at the nature of WBT, we investigate the different determinants of the firms' propensity to provide both in-house and outside training. We measure training intensity in terms, respectively, of the number of provided training activities, private and total training costs and share of trainees. [source]


    THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS: A CRITICAL REVIEW

    JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 3 2009
    Esther Blanco
    Abstract New trends in studies on the governance of natural assets include substantial consideration of the role of voluntary initiatives. A traditional economic view states that there is a trade-off between being green and being competitive. According to that view, no voluntary environmental action is expected to occur. To undertake an in-depth analysis of the scope for voluntary action, this paper reviews empirical literature that analyzes the relationship between manufacturing firms' environmental initiatives or performance and economic results. This review moves beyond the general test of the ,pay to be green' hypothesis, preferring instead to systematize empirical results in more specific research questions. Empirical findings of the reviewed literature generally support that there is no penalty for being green. In addition, the typology of firms, the methods utilized for implementing environmental initiatives, the intensity of abatement efforts and stockholders' valuation of green firms have all been shown to have a sizeable influence on the actual economic results of environmental action or management. Consequently, the findings of this paper challenge the traditional strategic theory that predicts widespread free-riding; it holds major implications for environmental policy-making and environmental business decisions. [source]


    SUPPLY MANAGEMENT, SUPPLY FLEXIBILITY AND PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    JOURNAL OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
    YING LIAO
    Increasingly, the global market environment is becoming more turbulent, complex and uncertain. Literature has explored the importance of supply management and its direct impact on performance. However, the nature of strategic supply management and its impact on supply flexibility needs further clarification in the context of the use of supplier resources and supplier network coordination. This research presents a model of supply management, supply flexibility and supply chain performance. In this study, we examine the relationships between supply management and supply flexibility, and extend the concept of supply flexibility in terms of supplier flexibility and supply network flexibility on relevant supply chain performance measures. Data for the study were collected from 201 manufacturing firms, and the measurement scales of supply flexibility were tested and validated using structural equation modeling. The results indicate strong, positive and direct relationships between supply management practices and supply flexibility, and between supply flexibility and supply chain performance. Concluding theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. [source]


    STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN A NEW MIXED MARKET WITH LABOR-MANAGED AND PROFIT-MAXIMIZING FIRMS

    METROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2008
    Article first published online: 1 AUG 200, Kazuhiro Ohnishi
    ABSTRACT This paper examines a continuous-time mixed model of the strategic investment decisions of a labor-managed income-per-worker-maximizing firm and a profit-maximizing firm in a new mixed market and constructs a set of perfect equilibria of the continuous-time mixed model. The paper shows that there exists a particular equilibrium in which neither firm invests to its steady-state reaction curve. The paper also finds that the existence of the particular equilibrium depends on each firm's being able to respond quickly to its rival's investment and that the particular equilibrium is profitable for each firm. [source]


    COURNOT OLIGOPOLY UNDER STRATEGIC UNCERTAINTY WITH OPTIMISTIC AND PESSIMISTIC FIRMS

    METROECONOMICA, Issue 3 2005
    Fulvio Fontini
    ABSTRACT In this paper the Cournot oligopoly under uncertainty is analyzed by means of the Choquet Expected Utility (CEU) theory. Firms are supposed to be either optimistic (CEU maximizers who hold concave capacities) or pessimistic (convex capacities). Reaction functions, equilibrium quantities, prices and profits are derived and compared for different degrees of uncertainty and uncertainty attitude (optimism or pessimism). It is proved that optimists make higher profits than pessimists whenever uncertainty is sufficiently low. If it is high just optimists participate in the market making losses. An interpretation of the main results in terms of the market's level of maturity is provided. [source]


    DOLLARIZATION OF DEBT CONTRACTS: EVIDENCE FROM CHILEAN FIRMS

    THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 4 2009
    Miguel FUENTES
    F31; F49 This paper uses a new data set to estimate the causes and consequences of foreign currency debt in firms' balance sheets. The evidence from this sample of Chilean firms indicates that dollar-denominated debt increases with firms' size and degree of exposure to foreign competition. We find evidence that dollar-denominated debt combines with exchange rate movements to produce a negative balance-sheet effect that reduces firms' investment in periods of strong exchange rate depreciation. This negative balance-sheet effect is associated with long-term debt and appears to be nonlinear in the amount of real exchange rate depreciation. [source]


    STOCK MARKET VALUATIONS OF R&D AND ELECTRONICS FIRMS DURING TAIWAN'S RECENT ECONOMIC TRANSITION

    THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 1 2006
    CHAOSHIN CHIAO
    G12; O33 The objective of the present study is to investigate the market valuation of Research and Development (R&D) investments in the Taiwanese stock market from July 1988 to June 2002. The motivation stems from Taiwan's recent economic transition from a labor-intensive, then to a capital-intensive, and currently to a technology-based economy. The results support not only the existence, but also the persistence of R&D-associated mispricing. More importantly, it has become stronger as the electronics industry gradually dominates the economy. First, R&D-intensive stocks tend to outperform stocks with little or no R&D. Second, the R&D-intensity effect cannot fully be attributed to firm size. Third, the R&D-intensity effect is more pronounced for firms in the electronics industry after 1996. [source]


    TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: PARTNER SELECTION AND CONTRACT DESIGN WITH FOREIGN FIRMS IN THE INDIAN BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTORS

    THE DEVELOPING ECONOMIES, Issue 1 2001
    Shyama V. RAMANI
    First page of article [source]


    WHY MOST FIRMS CHOOSE LINEAR HEDGING STRATEGIES

    THE JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009
    Dennis Frestad
    Abstract I investigate the efficiency of alternative hedging strategies of nonfinancial firms facing hedgeable price risk, unhedgeable quantity risk, and financial contracting costs in low-profit events. The analysis suggests that variance-minimizing hedging strategies are very close in economic terms to optimal, value-maximizing hedging strategies for most firms. Furthermore, the marginal gains from shifting to nonlinear hedging strategies are often small enough to be neglected. These results illuminate some puzzling findings in survey studies of firms' hedging practices and suggest an alternative view on firms' selective hedging practices termed "cautious selective hedging." [source]


    THE DETERMINANTS OF INTERNATIONAL PATENTING FOR NINE AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY FIRMS,

    THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2010
    H. PHOEBE CHAN
    This paper examines international patent application decisions of nine agricultural biotechnology firms from 1990,2000 in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Patent Office, Japan and South Africa. The data reveal a low frequency of international applications despite an initial United States' application, indicating very low values for patents abroad. The results indicate that invention quality plays an important role in firms' decisions to patent abroad and that a single international application is a good predictor of multiple international applications. Further, significant country fixed effects suggest wide differences in business climates and patent enforcement among countries. [source]


    DYNAMIC PRICE DISCRIMINATION WITH ASYMMETRIC FIRMS,

    THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2008
    YONGMIN CHEN
    This paper considers variants of a dynamic duopoly model where one firm has a stronger market position than its competitor. Consumers' past purchases may reveal their different valuations for the two firms' products. Price discrimination based on purchase histories tends to benefit consumers if it does not cause the weaker firm to exit; otherwise it can harm consumers. The effect of price discrimination also depends on firms' cost differences, market competitiveness, and consumers' time horizon. The stronger firm may price below cost in the presence of consumer switching costs, with the purpose and effect of eliminating competition. [source]


    DESIGNING A MARKET STRUCTURE WHEN FIRMS COMPETE FOR THE RIGHT TO SERVE THE MARKET,

    THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2005
    Michel Mougeot
    In many industries, a regulator designs an auction to select ex-ante the firms that compete ex-post on the product market. This paper considers the optimal market structure when firms incur sunk costs before entering the market and when the government is not able to regulate firms in the market. We prove that a free entry equilibrium results in an excessive entry when the entry costs are private information. Then, we consider an auction mechanism selecting the firms allowed to serve the market and show that the optimal number of licences results in the socially optimal market structure. When all the potential candidates are actual bidders, the optimal number of firms in the market increases with the number of candidates and decreases with the social cost of public funds. When the market size is small, as the net profit in the market decreases with the number of selected firms, entry is endogenous. As increasing competition in the market reduces competition for the market, the optimal structure is more concentrated than in the previous case. [source]


    MULTIPLE BANKING RELATIONSHIPS AND OVER-LEVERAGE IN ITALIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

    THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL, Issue 2006
    STEFANIA COSCI
    The purpose of this paper is to shed more light on the determinants of the number of bank lending relationships. In particular we look at the link between over-leverage and the number of banking relationships for a sample of Italian manufacturing firms, distinguishing between firms with a main bank and firms without a main bank. The main result of the paper is that the number of banking relationships increases with over-leverage only for firms without a main bank. We argue that this result is consistent with the view that, when banks perform transaction lending, firms can increase their debt capacity by increasing the number of creditors, promising ex ante up to the full amount of available assets to each one of the creditors. [source]


    SUNK COSTS OF CAPITAL AND THE FORM OF ENTERPRISE: INVESTOR-OWNED FIRMS AND WORKER-OWNED FIRMS,

    ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2010
    Kazuhiko Mikami
    ABSTRACT,:,This paper examines implications of sunk costs of capital for efficient forms of enterprise. It is assumed that firm owners and outside traders are asymmetrically informed of venture risks, and that there are sunk costs associated with investment in physical and human capital. We then make an efficiency comparison between investor-owned and worker-owned firms. We find that the firm is efficient when it is owned by the input supplier (the investor or worker) who incurs large sunk costs. This is because such an input supplier can credibly signal to the other input supplier that he in fact has a safe project. An empirical study based on the Japanese manufacturing industry seems to support the theoretical result. [source]


    BANKING MARKET STRUCTURE, CREATION AND ACTIVITY OF FIRMS: EARLY EVIDENCE FOR COOPERATIVES IN THE ITALIAN CASE

    ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2009
    Francesca Gagliardi
    ABSTRACT,:,This paper investigates whether local differences in banking competition impact on the creation and activity of firms, with a special focus on cooperatives. The empirical analysis, implemented on a sample of Italian firms, reveals non-monotonic effects of bank market power on firm creation and activity. In regard to the former, a bell-shaped relationship is found for both cooperative and non-cooperative firms, suggesting that a moderately concentrated banking market favours firms' creation. A less homogeneous pattern characterizes firms' activity: a bell-shaped parabola is still found for non-cooperative firms, while a U-shaped relationship emerges for cooperatives, showing that active coops benefit from relatively more intense banking competition. [source]


    MORAL HAZARD AND LABOUR-MANAGED FIRMS IN ITALY AFTER THE LAW N. 142/2001

    ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2008
    Francesco REITO
    ABSTRACT,:,Instead of focusing on the difference between a labour-managed (LMF) and a profit maximizing firm (PMF) in terms of final out-come and occupation, this paper considers the actual possibility for a firm to be financed from outside. A simple case of moral hazard in the credit market is analyzed. A bank, for limited funds, can finance one of two potential firms, a LMF or a PMF, both with similar project size. The Italian case is taken into account: the law n. 142/2001 has equalized the position of workers and members of a LMF as (own) firm creditors during a liquidation. This has an effect on the structure of creditors priorities in case a firm goes bankrupt and, in particular, on money-lenders likelihood of getting their loans back. It is argued that, before the law, the LMF had in general an advantage on the PMF, from banks viewpoint, for it faced a lower moral hazard problem on effort contribution. After the law, even though the direct consequence seems to be a draw back in LMF credit-worthiness, the model shows that, on given conditions, this type of firm remains more competitive as a bank borrower. [source]


    PRIVATISATION AND TIMING IN A MIXED OLIGOPOLY WITH BOTH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC FIRMS,

    AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 4 2009
    JOHN S. HEYWOOD
    This paper models a mixed oligopoly with both a domestic and a foreign private firm and examines the resulting timing in the quantity setting game. We demonstrate that with a single simultaneous pre-game delay stage, the resulting endogenous timing has either the public firm leading or the two private firms leading. An alternative characterisation of the pre-game stage results in the single timing in which the two private firms lead and the public firm follows. For all timings that emerge endogenously, we show that privatisation will always lower domestic welfare but its influence on global welfare is ambiguous. [source]


    SOURCES OF PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN AUSTRALIAN TEXTILE AND CLOTHING FIRMS,

    AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 3 2007
    I.K.M. MOKHTARUL WADUD
    This paper estimates the sources of productivity growth in Australian textile and clothing firms based on the Business Longitudinal Survey (BLS) from 1995 to 1998. Productivity growth estimates have been obtained for each sub-category of textile and clothing firms. Sources of growth in multifactor productivity (MFP) are examined with growth in technical efficiency and scale effects based on estimates of stochastic frontier production functions. Separate estimates of output growth have been compared with the productivity growth estimates for each of the product categories. MFP improved in all clothing firms and declined in textile firms over 1997,1998 by four-digit level of Australia New Zealand Standard Industrial classification Scheme (ANZSIC). MFP declined in most major categories of both textile and clothing firms in 1995,1997. Changes in technical efficiency mostly dominated scale effects in the overall direction of MFPG in both textile and clothing firms. The findings of the study provide evidence for policies for improving the firms' operative performance in the ongoing liberalised regime. [source]


    LEARNING, EXTERNALITIES, AND THE SALE OF INVENTIONS TO FIRMS WITH CORRELATED VALUATIONS

    AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC PAPERS, Issue 4 2004
    JOHN T. KING
    I examine how an inventor's ability to learn affects the bargaining outcome when she attempts to sell a discovery to one of two oligopolistically competitive firms with correlated and private valuations. It is shown that learning gives the inventor an incentive to lower her proposed price to the first firm approached since being rejected would cause her to be pessimistic when dealing with the second firm. At the same time, however, the inventor would like to raise her proposed price since this pessimism is weaker if she is rejected upon making a high proposal. Another incentive to raise the proposal comes from the fact that learning increases the first firm's willingness to pay for the invention. Computational results suggest that the first effect dominates and thus the inventor lowers her proposal in the first round. When dealing with the second firm, it is shown that learning results in a lower equilibrium proposal and contracting with more types. Moreover, it is shown that the cost of lowering the proposed price outweighs the benefit of contracting with more types so that learning in general reduces the continuation value associated with contracting in the second round. [source]


    ASYMMETRIC MULTIPRODUCT FIRMS, PROFITABILITY AND WELFARE

    BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2009
    George Symeonidis
    L13; D43 ABSTRACT In a differentiated multiproduct Cournot duopoly with linear demand, industry profit usually falls (even though concentration rises) when the distribution of products across firms becomes more asymmetric, if the products are not very differentiated or the total number of products is large. Consumer surplus and overall welfare always fall as the degree of asymmetry increases. These results contrast with the conventional wisdom on the effects of firm heterogeneity and the links between concentration and industry profits. [source]


    Sustainable Development and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: A Dynamic and Sustainable View of the Firm

    CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2002
    Miguel A. Rodriguez
    Does the need for sustainable development hinder businesses' ability to create value? Is a firm's competitiveness negatively affected by considering that need? After quickly reviewing the main literature contributions on the relationship between business and society, and drawing from resource-based view of the firm and sustainable development literature, this paper presents a proposal for a dynamic and sustainable view of the firm. It shows how considering the changes introduced into the competitive landscape by sustainable development influences the way in which companies develop their resources, capabilities and activities, fostering the persistence of competitive advantages based on knowledge and innovation. [source]


    Clutch size in frugivorous insects as a function of host firmness: the case of the tephritid fly Anastrepha ludens

    ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 3 2003
    Francisco Díaz-Fleischer
    Abstract. 1.,Optimal clutch size theory predicts that individuals will oviposit the number of eggs that increases their fitness. In Anastrepha ludens Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae), females oviposit larger clutches in unripe (firm) fruits than in ripe (soft) fruits. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) Using fruit firmness as an indicator of fruit quality, A. ludens females vary the number of eggs per clutch every time they reach an oviposition decision. (2) Maximising offspring survival with respect to either unripe or ripe fruit requires placing large clutches in firm fruit and smaller clutches in soft fruit. 2.,Agar spheres were used as artificial hosts. Three agar concentrations resulted in three degrees of firmness. Mango fruits Mangifera indica L. served as natural hosts. Ripe and unripe fruits were used to test soft and firm host conditions respectively. Females laid significantly larger clutches in the firmer artificial hosts than in the softer hosts. They also laid significantly more eggs in artificial hosts without sugar than in hosts with sugar. Firm (unripe) mangoes also received significantly larger clutches than soft (ripe) mangoes. 3.,When an individual female was first presented with a firm artificial host, it laid a large clutch. If subsequently offered a soft host, the female laid a significantly smaller clutch. Finally, if again offered a firm host, clutch size was increased significantly. 4.,Possible trade-offs in offspring fitness were explored in ripe and unripe mangoes by measuring offspring egg-to-adult survival, pupal weight, mean adult longevity, and fecundity. Despite the fact that larval survival was greater in soft fruit than in firm fruit, parameters such as pupal weight, mean longevity, and fecundity of adults stemming from both fruit types did not differ significantly. 5.,A probable trade-off between high offspring mortality caused by host unsuitability and low offspring and adult mortality caused by parasitism and predation is discussed as the reason for the exploitation of sub-optimal hosts. [source]


    Managing the Transnational Law Firm: A Relational Analysis of Professional Systems, Embedded Actors, and Time,Space-Sensitive Governance

    ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2008
    James R. Faulconbridge
    Abstract This article argues that the relational approach can be particularly effective for addressing debates about the varieties of capitalism and the dynamics of institutional contexts. Using the case study of transnational law firms and data gathered through interviews with partners in London and New York, it makes two arguments. First, it suggests that the relational approach's focus on the behavior of key agents when new or different work practices are encountered helps explain the management of institutional heterogeneity by transnational corporations (TNCs). Such an approach reveals the peculiarities of professionals and professional service managers and how they affect the response of globalizing law firms when home- and host-country business practices diverge. Second, the article shows how relational approaches can help disaggregate descriptions of national institutional systems to reveal the importance of studying their constitutive practices. Understanding these microlevel variations, which is missed by macrolevel categories like Anglo-American, is essential for explaining how firms cope with institutional heterogeneity. The author therefore argues that a better understanding of the effects of TNCs on national business systems can be facilitated by further developing the actor- and practice-focused analyses promoted by relational approaches. [source]


    Economica Coase Lecture: Reference Points and the Theory of the Firm

    ECONOMICA, Issue 299 2008
    OLIVER HART
    I argue that it has been hard to make progress on Coase's theory of the firm agenda because of the difficulty of formalizing haggling costs. I propose an approach that tries to move things forward using the idea of aggrievement costs, and apply it to the question of whether a transaction should be placed inside a firm (in-house production) or in the market place (outsourcing). [source]


    Altruism and Agency in the Family Firm: Exploring the Role of Family, Kinship, and Ethnicity

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 6 2006
    Neri Karra
    This article examines the relationship between altruism and agency costs in family business through an in-depth case study of a family firm. We found that altruism reduced agency costs in the early stages of the business, but that agency problems increased as the venture became larger and more established. Moreover, we suggest that altruistic behavior need not be confined to family and close kin, but may extend through networks of distant kin and ethnic ties. We thus present a more complex view of the agency relationship in family business than is often portrayed in the existing literature. [source]


    Trends and Directions in the Development of a Strategic Management Theory of the Family Firm

    ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 5 2005
    James J. Chrisman
    This article provides a review of important trends in the strategic management approach to studying family firms: convergence in definitions, accumulating evidence that family involvement may affect performance, and the emergence of agency theory and the resource-based view of the firm as the leading theoretical perspectives. We conclude by discussing directions for future research and other promising approaches to inform the inquiry concerning family business. [source]