Search results

This research addresses how companies develop a process of transformation to a more family responsible behaviour and the role that women play in this process. This paper aims to propose a model in which a female workforce is seen as contributing to the development of the family responsible firm. The model includes two paths for transformation, the supportive work–family culture and the managerial strategy for work–family using a mediation model. The analysis was performed in a sample of 1,048 Spanish firms.

The hypotheses are tested using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) mediated regression technique, the Sobel’s test (1982) and a bootstrap re-sampling with 5,000 and 10,000 iterations to determine the significance of the mediation.

The results confirm the impact of the proportion of women in the workforce on organizational culture and managerial strategy, factors that lead to a real increase in the accessibility of work–family policies. The mediation effect is total.

Limitations stemming from the survey used and from the cross-sectional data.

The role of women, the culture and managers in promoting work–family policies appears clear. The need for the active reinforcement of the supportive work–family culture in companies and managerial strategy, diffusion, planning and involvement are all key factors in the development of work–family policies.

Governments and society as a whole should urge firms to use all means at their disposal to guarantee the formal adoption of work–family policies.

Research that analyses the way in which work–family culture and the managerial strategy for work–family generate change does not usually incorporate the female component of the labour force as an explanatory element.

This paper examines the impact of technological alliance announcements in a nonfavorable environment, using event study methodology that includes robust tests to allow heteroskedasticity across firms and over time. The study is based on Spanish data, and focuses on the fact that Spanish market conditions do not favor firms that are deciding whether to enter a technological alliance. The paper is extended to analyze different features of alliances. Results suggest no stock market reaction on the day of the announcement, and a negative reaction on the days that follow. Our results also show that the stock market exacts no penalty on joint venture alliances, alliances involving public entities, alliances between Spanish firms, or alliances between competitors. The common feature revealed in these subgroups is the pursuit of security, a phenomenon that is consistent with the study environment.

The aim of this paper is to determine whether firms that have received quality awards (understood as an indicator of the implementation of quality systems) obtain higher profitability than those that have not.

The study was performed on a sample of Spanish firms that received TQM prizes at the national or regional level between 1997 and 2003 and a sample of control firms for drawing comparisons.

The work suggests that pioneer firms that applied this innovation are those that achieved profitability, especially when the model resembles in cases where the EFQM model.

The study may provide firms and institutions with some useful guidelines for the planning of future actions to promote the adoption of these management systems.

The paper analyses whether the results are influenced by factors such as the time when the award is achieved, the sector to which the firm belongs, or the nature of the award.

Terrorism, an important component of Political risk as a possible determinant of ADRs (American Depository Receipts) returns have received little attention in academic literature. To address this issue and examine whether political risk is a major determinant of ADR returns of emerging market countries, this paper empirically examines market valuation of Indian ADRs around acts of terrorism. Using a sample of 52 such events in the sample period Jan 2003‐Dec 2003 we empirically analyze returns of Indian ADRs. The results from our study indicate a marginally negative significant effect, failing to indicate that event of terrorist attacks severely affect the Indian ADRs listed on the US stock market. This may be explained by a combined effect of; (a) the optimism of US investors towards emerging markets, and (b) market participants becoming more resilient and making informed choices around the “general” events of terrorism.

Using data from business reorganization processes under Act 1116 of 2006 in Colombia during the period 2008 to 2018, a model for predicting the success of these processes is proposed. The paper aims to validate the model in two different periods. The first one, in 2019, characterized by stability, and the second one, in 2020, characterized by the uncertainty generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A set of five financial variables comprising indebtedness, profitability and solvency proxies, firm age, macroeconomic conditions, and industry and regional dummies are used as independent variables in a logit model to predict the failure of reorganization processes. In addition, an out-of-sample analysis is carried out for the 2019 and 2020 periods.

The results show a high predictive power of the estimated model. Even the results of the out-of-sample analysis are satisfactory during the unstable pandemic period. However, industry and regional effects add no predictive power for 2020, probably due to subsidies for economic activity and the relaxation of insolvency legislation in Colombia during that year.

In a context of global reform in insolvency laws, the consistent predictive ability shown by the model, even during periods of uncertainty, can guide regulatory changes to ensure the survival of companies entering into reorganization processes, and reduce the observed high failure rate.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the simultaneous implementation of an integrated management system (IMS) in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and its impact on costs.

Based on a case study, the paper presents and analyzes the implementation of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 management system (MS) standards. The organization analyzed is an SME of the heating and air conditioning sector that had no MSs implemented (common in the sector) and decided to implement an IMS based on both function-specific MS standards (MSSs) and also achieving the separated certification. The analysis of expected and real costs is also presented.

The results show that a simultaneous integration is possible and the cost analysis evidences the improvement of the organization’s efficiency. The certificates for both MSSs were also achieved. These findings help in confirming theoretical statement posed in the literature of the integration of MSs: integration strategy, methodology and level. The organization values this integrated implementation as very positive internally and externally, as this is one of the first organizations of the sector implementing and integrating the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

Although studies analyzing empirically the integration of MSs have been widely published in recent years, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers analyzing the implementation of an IMS directly and analyzing its costs. In addition, this paper provides evidence that those organizations implementing integration later than others, can learn from the beginners’ experience.