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This paper aims to analyse the differences in financial performance portfolios between sustainable and non-sustainable firms through the use of portfolio theory and OptQuest algorithms from 2007 to 2013.

The sample consists of 1,078 firms from 15 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. A maximisation weighted ratio is estimated by applying OptQuest algorithms to measure the portfolio performance considering a fuzzy Jensen’s alpha and the percentage of the portfolio’s performance that exceeds the market.

The results show a similar financial performance in sustainable portfolios (SP) and non-SP, but considering the uncertainty, the performance in sustainable firms was better than that of non-sustainable ones. Uncertainty was reduced, as it passed the beginning of the crisis from 2008-2009 to 2012-2013.

The main limitation is the different assessments of sustainability indexes in each of the countries.

The results help investors assess their decisions in an uncertain economic environment and allocate their investment in not only financial terms but also social character.

Countries with higher financial performances in SP show the efficiency in their legal environmental regulations. On the other hand, the degree of uncertainty is lower in the SP than non-SP, suggesting that sustainable firms in financial crisis could be more responsible in social claims such as good working conditions.

This study contributes to existing research in two ways. First, the paper studies corporate social responsibility by different continents and countries in an uncertain economic timespan. For this, the legal, cultural and socioeconomic divergences and convergences were explored. Second, the research presented an analysis of the financial performance differences between sustainable and non-SP by applying a hybrid methodology with fuzzy regression and OptQuest algorithms.

This research aims to analyse the variables related to the purchase intention of COVID-19 rapid tests in Monterrey, Mexico's metropolitan area.

The chosen method was probit regression. The results show that purchase intention depends on the consumer's perceived value and the perception of having a potential contagion and/or presenting symptoms related to the virus. Regarding limitations, the sampling method used in this investigation is a nonprobabilistic convenience approach delivered through a digital platform, which may not be the first option in other contexts.

The findings indicate that the probability of the purchase intention of rapid COVID tests increases when consumers perceive symptoms of the disease and when they have higher education or are female rather than concerning price or income, as suggested by classical demand theory.

Probabilistic sampling was impossible due to the difficulty of collecting surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, a nonprobabilistic sample of a representative random selection of different zip codes from the responses received was considered.

The originality of the paper is its contribution to consumer behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Latin American context.

The study aims to examine the impact of intellectual and social capital in funding businesses.

The study made use of fixed-effects panel data models with a sample of 142 countries from the five continents during the period 1998–2018.

It was found that human capital (HC), relational capital, structural capital and social capital play a role in investors’ decisions to fund a business. The study revealed that investors’ funding decisions in low human development index countries are based mainly on education, while those in high human development index countries are based mainly on the creativity component of HC and on relational, structural and social capital.

The study needs to be replicated using firm-level data within each country. Moreover, the search for new proxies for intellectual and social capital (although the list of variables is exhaustive) both at the country and firm level, constitutes an interesting avenue for future research.

Countries should pay attention to intellectual and social capital to encourage business activity. In particular, low human development countries should strengthen HC, such as the school enrollment rate, with early entrepreneurial training and increase research and development investments, while high human development countries should continue to foster strategic alliances, protect intellectual property and maintain or increase the level of trust in the country.

The study contributes to literature by being the first to explore such a variety of intellectual and social capital variables from a country-level perspective.

El estudio tiene como objetivo examinar el impacto del capital intelectual y social en la financiación de las empresas.

Utilizamos modelos de datos de panel de efectos fijos con una muestra de 142 países de los cinco continentes durante el periodo 1998-2018.

Encontramos que el capital humano (CH), el capital relacional, el capital estructural y el capital social juegan un papel en las decisiones de los inversionistas para financiar un negocio. Encontramos que las decisiones de financiamiento de los inversionistas en los países con bajo índice de desarrollo humano se basan principalmente en la educación, mientras que las de los países con alto índice de desarrollo humano se basan principalmente en el componente de creatividad del CH y en el capital relacional, estructural y social.

Sugerimos replicar el estudio utilizando datos a nivel de empresa dentro de cada país. Por otra parte, la búsqueda de nuevos indicadores de capital intelectual y social (aunque nuestra lista de variables es exhaustiva) tanto a nivel de país como de empresa, constituye una vía interesante para futuras investigaciones.

Los países deben prestar atención al capital intelectual y social para fomentar la actividad empresarial. En particular, los países con bajo desarrollo humano deberían fortalecer el CH, como la tasa de matriculación escolar, con una formación empresarial temprana y aumentar las inversiones en investigación y desarrollo, mientras que los países con un alto nivel de desarrollo humano deberían seguir fomentando las alianzas estratégicas, proteger la propiedad intelectual y mantener o aumentar el nivel de confianza en el país.

El estudio contribuye a la literatura al ser el primero en explorar tal variedad de variables de capital intelectual y social desde una perspectiva a nivel de país.

This chapter aims to analyze whether member countries of the Pacific Alliance agreement showed economic and financial convergence during the 2010–2016 period. The sample consists of four Latin American countries that are members of the Alianza del Pacífico (Pacific Alliance): Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. We use an economic convergence index (ECI) to classify the degree of the countries’ convergence regarding a given monetary area, considering the size of their economy, and compute three criteria: (1) nominal variables (used to define the Maastricht criteria), which are inflation, long-term interest rates, public debt, fiscal deficit as percentages of gross domestic product (GDP), and exchange rate volatility; (2) real and cyclical variables such as real GDP growth, gap between real GDP and potential GDP, unemployment, current account balance as a percentage of GDP, and short-term interest rates; and (3) a conditional combination that unequally weights nominal and real variables. We also use correlation analysis to compare coefficients. The results can be analyzed in the medium term in terms of descriptive statistics of their real and nominal variables, convergence indexes, and correlation analysis. The results show that the countries of the Pacific Alliance under study are converging in terms of nominal variables such as interest rate, exchange rate, fiscal deficits, and government debt. Also it can be observed that convergence occurs in real and weighted variables, although to a lesser magnitude. In relation to real variables related to GDP growth and foreign trade, these variables adjust less quickly than nominal ones.

This study aims to determine the ranking of the 81 provinces at the NUTS-3 level in Turkey with respect to the personal satisfaction and public services satisfaction by applying Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods to the Life Satisfaction Survey Results.

Fuzzy TOPSIS, Fuzzy MULTIMOORA and Fuzzy ARAS are implemented to assess life satisfaction of the individuals who lived in provinces, based on Life Satisfaction Survey 2013 for Turkey’s national comparison. In the solution process, 14 indicators for personal satisfaction and 38 indicators for public services satisfaction were considered.

The results showed that personal health satisfaction, earnings from work satisfaction and monthly income satisfaction are the most important criteria in terms of personal satisfaction. Also, healthcare services satisfaction, judicial services satisfaction and education services satisfaction have the highest importance in terms of public services satisfaction. The final ranking of the 81 provinces is obtained by considered methods. According to the ranking results, there is no significant difference between the east and the west part of Turkey in terms of personal satisfaction, whereas there is a distinct difference between them in terms of satisfaction with public services.

This study is the first research for evaluating the ranking of the provinces at the NUTS-3 level in Turkey according to the Life Satisfaction Survey 2013 results considering 14 indicators for personal satisfaction and 38 indicators for public services satisfaction by using FMCDM approaches that have not been applied before.