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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the association between drug consumption and unemployment. This paper also studies the differential association between these variables in both the pre- and current-crisis periods. The results are compared in an attempt to verify that the population of users is more vulnerable in terms of how likely they are to get and hold down a job in the labour market.

Matching methods and microdata from the Survey on Alcohol and Drugs in Spain, EDADES are used. The use of these methods on the estimates carried out prove to be particularly effective in reducing treatment-selection bias. The authors’ interest is also to analyse the differential association between the interest variables in both the pre- and current-crisis periods. For this purpose, the authors also use the differences-in-differences (DID) estimation method between the two periods to check if the impact of drug use on unemployment depends on the economic context. The estimations are compared in an attempt to verify that the population of users is less likely to attain and hold down a job in the labour market than non-drug users.

The results obtained in the current study are consistent with the hypothesis that drug use decreases an individual’s capacity and availability when he or she is trying to enter the labour market. In both 2007 and 2013, drug users were more likely to be unemployed, regardless of the type of drug. Differences in the probability of being unemployed intensify during an economic crisis. In light of these results, it is possible to conclude that the negative effect of drug consumption on an individual’s employability is increased during periods of economic recession.

The study presented here has some limitations. Firstly, cross-sectional data were used to examine the causal relationship between consumption and employment. In this sense, the results are susceptible to bias. The unavailability of longitudinal data on the same individual made it impossible for the researchers to consider periods of abstinence, the duration of periods of consumption and how this consumption affected an individual’s productivity and his or her working situation. Another limitation is that certain relevant unemployment variables may have been omitted. Among the variables that affect an individual’s labour participation is the existence of sources of income as an alternative to market salaries. With state subsidies, income from illegal activities and money sent by family or friends, an individual may decide not to work. This problem could be mitigated if omitted variables operate in a similar way throughout both of the periods examined.

Given the results obtained in this paper, the authors believe that public policy conclusions should be mainly concerned with the importance of implementing proactive employment policies, along with family support programmes and a greater role for primary care among the people with the highest risks of exclusion. Health treatment should go jointly with measures that make it easier for individuals to enter the workforce. These steps would only be possible with an improved level of education and more complete professional profiles, to increase motivation when individuals seek employment.

This study could make various contributions to the existing body of evidence. In the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to document the effect of the economic crisis on the employability of the drug-using population in contrast with the general population. Moreover, a methodology is presented that provides an alternative to those used in earlier studies, in terms of reducing treatment-selection bias. At the same time, the use of a DID estimation method between pre- and current-crisis periods allow us to check if the impact of drugs consumption on unemployment depends on the economic context.

Many of the papers that analyse human resource management (HRM) in merger and acquisition (M&A) processes focus on the last two stages (integration and implementation). Then, the purpose of this paper is to propose an HRM model for the first stage of the process (planning) with four key factors: the due diligence process, the integration plan, the communication plan and the learning plan.

From the theoretical model, the authors analyse a case study of a multinational company that operates in the mechanical engineering sector.

The results show the special importance of HRM in the success of the M&A process. And, the main actions implemented in human resources (HRs) contributing to the success of this process are identified.

Subsequent investigations could conduct similar analyses for the rest of the stages of the M&A process (integration and implementation), with the objective of presenting a complete HRM model in M&A processes.

The case study allows researchers to learn from professionals and business leaders while also offering a theoretical model that can help managers make decisions and improve the management of these processes.

The main contribution of this study has been to observe how HRs are managed in the planning stage of M&As.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a human resource management model for the integration stage of mergers and acquisitions (M/A) process with four key factors: leadership and integration team; change and restructuring process; human resources (HR) resistance; valuable HR retention.

The authors analyze a case study of a multinational company that operates in the mechanical engineering sector.

The results show the special importance of human resource management in the success of the merger and acquisition process. And, the main actions implemented in HR contributing to the success of this process are identified.

Subsequent investigations could conduct similar analyses for the planning and implementation stages of the merger and acquisition process, with the objective of presenting a complete HR management model in merger and acquisition processes.

The case study allows researchers to learn from professionals and business leaders while also offering a theoretical model that can help managers make decisions and improve the management of these processes.

The main contribution of this study has been to observe how HR are managed in the integration stage of M/A.

Mobile phone network third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) modes are the most commonly used modes in many developing countries. This study aims to assess the impact of these network modes and other mobile phone attributes on their retail prices in Pakistan, the fifth most populous and developing country.

This study has been conducted in Punjab province, which shares about 53% of the Pakistan’s population. Hedonic price analysis was carried out on all new mobile phone attributes sold in Punjab’s markets at the retail level. Various econometric tests, that is, Ramsey regression equation specification error, Breusch–Pagan/Cook–Weisberg and variance inflation factor, were calculated to check the robustness of the results.

Results of this study indicated that the mobile phone prices were significantly higher for the sets having 4G network mode than the 3G mode. In addition to this, other mobile phone attributes that significantly influenced their prices were brand, weight, camera, random access memory (RAM), memory size, operating system, battery capacity and display size.

This study has implications for mobile phone sales and marketing strategies of the manufacturers, importers, retailers and others involved in the mobile phone business in developing countries like Pakistan. Mobile phone manufacturers/importers can increase their profits by producing/importing the 4G enabled devices.

Although many studies in the literature estimated the implicit price of mobile phone attributes, none of these had explicitly assessed the impact of network mode generation of mobile phones on their prices.

This study evaluates the correlations between the universities' type of property (public, private associative and private corporate), institutional seniority (<20, 20–45 and >45 years) and the presence and position in national and international university rankings.

It considers 90 Peruvian universities certified by SUNEDU (public agency for the accreditation of universities in Peru). According to their presence in 20 university rankings (yes/no) and the position (tertiles) in two world rankings: Webometrics and SIR Iberoamericano, four universities participated in 10 or more rankings and only 16 (18%) in six or more.

The private corporate universities were the least old (p < 0.01). No association was found with the type of property both in the presence in rankings and in the positioning (p > 0.05), except in one where there was less participation of public institutions. Long-lived universities had higher participation and better positioning in rankings than those with less seniority (p < 0.01). The presence and better positioning in university rankings depend on institutional seniority and not on the type of ownership in Peruvian licensed universities.

This research highlights the lack of equity in several international rankings for the evaluation of the quality of universities, in the respect that most of them give priority to aspects related to institutional seniority and size. At the same time, the results of younger and smaller institutions are not put into perspective.

This paper aims to explore how to quantify the social value generated by higher education from a social accounting perspective. The proposed approach is integrated social value (ISV) analysis, a social accounting model that considers both the economic value and the social value created by an organisation for its stakeholders.

The ISV analysis has been applied to Pompeu Fabra University, following a participatory action research process with representatives of the university and its stakeholders.

The final ISV includes not only the social value created through the university’s economic activity – captured by economic and financial accounting indicators – but also the specific social value created for the different stakeholders by means of non-market relationships, which were monetised through the use of indicators and financial proxies.

Like other social accounting methodologies, ISV analysis suffers from some limitations regarding data availability and economic pricing, that partly will be resolved with maturation of the methodology and increasing standardisation.

By using appropriate proxies, the non-market value of the university can be monetised and integrated with university’s market value. The social value results become a valuable tool for developing useful indicators for internal management and external communication.

The process of measuring the social value created by universities provides a way to meet the rising demands for greater accountability and transparency and facilitates engagement with stakeholders on how these institutions are contributing to a sustainable society.

ISV is a recently proposed social accounting model that combines an organisation’s economic and social results into a single concept of value creation and thus contributes to advance the field of social accounting.

This study provides a new look at the late 19th-century university issue in Spain. Loss of self-government among universities and the state’s centralization brought a conflict between science and religion to the fore in the process of the secularization of knowledge.

We first delve into the anti-Darwinian framework associated with the scientific professionalization process, focusing on the case of the jurist Antonio Hernández Fajarnés (1851–1909). Secondly, we study the idea of the university that emerged from the Ateneo de Madrid, analyzing key speeches from the jurist Francisco Fernández de Henestrosa (1855–s.d.) given in 1887/88 and from the pharmacist José Rodríguez Carracido (1856–1928).

The study concludes that the Restoration Era in Spain was characterized by a generalized desire – shared by neo-Scholastics, conservatives and liberal rationalists – to improve the public university system. In this context, French influence was no doubt decisive; however, the Humboldtian university idea had already begun to have notable influence.

This article analyzes sources yet unknown to international research, such as the Ateneo de Madrid debates and Spanish university rectors’ inaugural speeches. It opens up a critical examination of the so-called displacement of educational principles in Spain toward a state-centered system of doctrinal moderantismo as opposed to the nation-centered system of the Cádiz liberalism. At the same time, it identifies key pockets of resistance relative to Spanish university transformation toward increased methodological secularization.