Structure Variables (structure + variable)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Exploring the Role of Industry Structure in New Venture Internationalization

ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2007
Stephanie A. Fernhaber
While we have gained considerable knowledge since the late 1980s regarding the phenomena of international new ventures, less is known about the influence of industry structure on these ventures. In the present paper, we draw on literature from industrial economics, international business and entrepreneurship to identify industry structure variables that fit within the theoretical framework of international new ventures. We then offer propositions as to how the identified industry structure variables individually and jointly influence the likelihood of new venture internationalization. [source]


Determinants of Adoption of Protected Designation of Origin Label: Evidence from the French Brie Cheese Industry

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2010
Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache
D2; L13; L15; Q13 Abstract This paper investigates empirically the determinants of agro-food firms' adoption of the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) label. A unique dataset containing firm-level cost and production information on the French Brie cheese is used, covering the period 1980,2000. The Brie cheese data are especially relevant as PDO Brie producers have coexisted with other non-PDO producers since 1981. To evaluate the producers' incentive to opt for PDO certification, we use a structural switching regression model which incorporates cost and production structure variables. Results show that PDO certification is less attractive the higher the costs of raw materials and the greater the size of the company. PDO Brie cheese production costs are estimated to be on average 40% higher than those for non-PDO Brie. The PDO production process could be technically inefficient when compared with the unconstrained non-PDO manufacturing; yet, PDO producers benefit from a price premium on their product which offsets their higher production cost. [source]


How Does the Gender of Parents Matter?

JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 1 2010
Timothy J. Biblarz
Claims that children need both a mother and father presume that women and men parent differently in ways crucial to development but generally rely on studies that conflate gender with other family structure variables. We analyze findings from studies with designs that mitigate these problems by comparing 2-parent families with same or different sex coparents and single-mother with single-father families. Strengths typically associated with married mother-father families appear to the same extent in families with 2 mothers and potentially in those with 2 fathers. Average differences favor women over men, but parenting skills are not dichotomous or exclusive. The gender of parents correlates in novel ways with parent-child relationships but has minor significance for children's psychological adjustment and social success. [source]


The use of term structure information in the hedging of mortgage-backed securities

THE JOURNAL OF FUTURES MARKETS, Issue 7 2005
Jason Fink
This article examines the importance of term structure variables in the hedging of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) with Treasury futures. Koutmos, G., Kroner, K., and Pericli, A. (1998) find that the optimal hedge ratio is time varying; we determine the effect of yield levels and slopes on this variation. As these variables are closely tied with mortgage refinancing, intuition suggests them to be relevant determinants of the hedge ratio. It was found that a properly specified model of the time varying hedge ratio that excludes the level and slope of the yield curve from the information set would provide similar out-of-sample hedging results to a model in which term structure information is included. Thus, both the level of interest rates and the slope of the yield curve are unimportant variables in determining the empirically optimal hedge ratio between MBS and Treasury futures contracts. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 25:661,678, 2005 [source]


Bird Community Composition in a Shaded Coffee Agro-ecological Matrix in Puebla, Mexico: The Effects of Landscape Heterogeneity at Multiple Spatial Scales

BIOTROPICA, Issue 2 2010
Eurídice Leyequién
ABSTRACT This study examined the importance of habitat heterogeneity on the avian community composition, and investigated the scale at which species abundances respond to habitat variables. The study was conducted within a diverse landscape matrix of a shaded coffee region in Mexico. To detect at which characteristic spatial scale different species and foraging guilds respond most strongly we analyzed the effect of plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables at different spatial extent (i.e., different kilometer radii) on species composition and foraging guilds. We used redundancy analysis to identify species,environment correlations, and to identify predictor variables that best explained the bird community structure, quantified the influence of plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables on the bird community composition. In addition, we used the 4th-corner method to detect significant relationships between the dietary guilds and plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables. We recorded 12,335 individuals of 181 bird species; 105 bird species were recorded foraging within the shaded coffee plantations. We found that plot- and landscape-level variables significantly explained the bird community composition best across all scales, and were significantly correlated with the abundance of the dietary guilds. In contrast, patch-level variables were less important. Habitat composition variables (i.e., coffee, forest and agricultural area) were among the most important predictors. Canopy structure was more important than other vegetation structure variables in explaining dietary guild structure. Hence, the maintenance of a heterogeneous landscape with a high-quality matrix within an agro-ecological region enhances bird conservation. Abstract in Spanish is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp [source]