Based on data from 7 , 350 Cameroonian companies created between 19 90 and 2008, we study the link between the characteristics of indebtedness for young companies during their creation and survival period of up to three years, from three to five years , and beyond five years. We complement our quantitative analysis with semi - dire ctive interviews of Cameroonian entrepreneurs to deepen our study. Our results are manifold . We show that access to bank loan s during the creation phase , as well as the volume of loan s or, to some exten t , the debt ratio improve the probability of survival during the early years , but this effect fades away rapidly . The i nterviews shed light on the motivations of entrepreneurs , particularly o f those with very small businesses. Finally , our work reveal s the antecedent role of their social capital t hat facilitates their access to bank loan s , and , therefore , the probability of company survival.
The main challenge of microfinance institutions and social economy firms remains their survival, and to meet this challenge, MFIs need to be compet-itive. The poor performance of MFIs is usually attributed to their decision-making and operational processes. The governance of MFIs is therefore identified as one of their main risks. Despite this, governance is still little explored in these organiza-tions and empirical studies find a weak relationship between classical governance mechanisms and MFI performance, especially for the MFIs situated in Africa (Thrikawala et al. in Asian J Financ Account 5(1):160–182, 2013a). In this study, we examine whether the effect of governance mechanisms on the performance of MFIs differs according to their legal status in the Cameroonian context. On the one hand, our empirical results show that there is a significant relationship between some specific governance mechanisms and MFIs’ performance. On the other hand, adjusting the governance mechanisms according to the MFIs’ legal status improves their efficiency. The analysis of the impact of the governance mechanisms on the performance of MFIs requires not only an approach that is specific to this sector but also an approach that is adapted to their legal status. Moreover, from a managerial point of view, it would be desirable to adjust the governance mechanisms, depending on the legal status of the MFIs, to make them more efficient from the social as well as the financial standpoint.
Le tourisme lié à l’agriculture, encore appelé agritourisme, constitue actuellement une activité très dynamique mais relativement peu documentée. L’article remet en question l’approche dominante actuelle de l’agritourisme, jugée trop restrictive, en s’appuyant sur les sciences de gestion ainsi que sur des données de terrain. Il propose une nouvelle approche théorique ne se limitant plus au tourisme à la ferme et appelée « agritourisme intégré », en phase avec le développement durable. Il livre des recommandations pratiques à destination des territoires qui souhaiteraient développer cet agritourisme intégré.
Ideally, the price of a service should take into account the cost structure, the perceived value to customers and the competition. Apparently, the only method satisfying these properties which is valid even for non-homogeneous services was proposed by Debély et al. (2008) and Fragnière et al. (2008). However, this method has a major drawback: to be able to construct the model, one must be familiar with operations research. In this paper, we develop a generic model that requires only data and where no modelling is needed. This permits even non-specialists to use this powerful method.
This paper analyzes optimal prevention in a situation of multiple, possibly correlated risks. We focus on probability reduction (self-protection) so that correlation becomes endogenous. If prevention concerns only one risk, introducing a second exogenous risk increases the level of prevention expenditures, even if correlation is negative. If prevention expenditures may be invested for both risks, a substitution effect arises. Under non-increasing returns on self-protection, we find that increased dependence increases aggregate prevention expenditures, but not necessarily prevention expenditures for each risk due to differences in prevention efficiency. Similar results are found when considering changes in the severity of losses. Consequently, the comparative statics emphasize global effects versus allocation effects. Our results have strong policy implications, considering the numerous mandatory safety measures introduced by governments over the past years.
Le tourisme de découverte économique propose de nouvelles expériences de consommation. Caractériser la visite d’entreprise comme une situation d’hospitalité offre à la littérature en marketing expérientiel un nouveau champ d’investigation, qui permet d’étudier les dimensions du concept d’hospitalité autant qu’il d’appréhende les réponses des visiteurs à l’hospitalité/inhospitalité perçue. Dans cette recherche, nous examinons, de manière exploratoire, les diverses facettes mises en exergue par Brotherton (2006) et par Cova et Giannelloni (2015). Nous postulons que l’hospitalité d’entreprise est aussi un moment d’interaction culturelle identitaire et de création de lien entre le personnel et le visiteur. Par réciprocité, le visiteur manifeste gratitude et admiration à l’égard du personnel qui fait le don d’une passion et transmet un savoir-faire, enrichissant ainsi l’expérience de visite et justifiant les prix pratiqués.
This paper empirically assesses how financial risk aversion reacts to a change in individuals’ wealth and health and to the introduction of both financial and health risks using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Individuals in our sample exhibit financial risk aversion decreasing both in wealth and health. Financial risk aversion is also found to increase in the presence of both background financial and health risks. Interestingly, the sensitivity of financial risk aversion to wealth, respectively to health, is shown to depend on the presence of a financial background risk, respectively health background risk, but in opposite directions. Such findings can help to better understand various economic decisions in a risky environment.
Abstract. This paper analyzes governance and ownership structure and their impact s on dividend policy in emerging markets during financial crises . Our results provide strong evidence of the significant role of corporate ownership structure and board characteristics in explaining the behavior of dividend policy mainly during crisis periods. We show that firms with a higher proportion of institutional shareholders pursue higher dividend payout ratios. This study is of particular interest for business managers in their choice of strategies to be adopted in respect for dividend policy during cr isis periods.
In this paper, we test for scope effects in Contingent Valuation applying different distributional assumptions for WTP, a non-parametric estimation and an estimation based on an open-ended format. Mean WTP is sensitive to the distributional assumption, but so is the scope effect. The nonparametric model, without conditions on the distribution, is the best able to identify scope effects. More sophisticated models, such as the spike model, and open-ended follow-up question give more information about individual WTP and are thus more powerful in revealing scope effects. For small sample size, a non-parametric analysis, a spike model or an open-ended format may therefore be better than the classical parametric dichotomous choice analysis to identify scope effects.
