Ucits were a series of directives issued by the European Commission whose aim was the facilitation of cross-border marketing and selling of collective investment schemes. This regulatory framework has recently gained popularity as an investment vehicle for hedge fund strategies. This trend can be explained in part by customers shying away from direct investments into hedge funds and their lack of transparency. For some, the importance of Ucits is inevitable and the competition will grow over time. For others, the constraints imposed by the Ucits regulatory environment will prevent these investment vehicles from seriously competing with hedge funds. In this chapter, we analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the Ucits framework. In particular, we study the different solutions that are proposed and analyze how adequate they are to offer hedge fund-like returns. For each strategy or hedge fund style, we then emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of the Alternative Ucits solution.
The idea of a global carbon price has been a recurrent theme in debates on international climate policy. Discarded at the Conference of Parties (COP) of Copenhagen in 2009, it remained part of deliberations for a climate agreement in subsequent years. Unfortunately, there is still much misunderstanding about the reasons for implementing a global carbon price. As a result, ideological and political resistance against it prospers. Here we present the main arguments in favor of a carbon price to stimulate a fair and well-informed discussion about climate policy instruments. This includes arguments that have received surprisingly little attention so far. It is stressed that a main reason to use carbon pricing is environmental effectiveness, so not only economic efficiency (including the special case of cost-effectiveness). In addition, we provide ideas on how to implement a uniform global carbon price, whether using a carbon tax or emissions trading.
There is mounting interest on all aspects related to management innovation, as evidence shows firms relying on this source of innovation are better set to cope with market competition. HRM function is deemed to play a fundamental role in securing innovative organizational activities. Yet, much research is needed to disentangle the relationship between the HRM function and this source of innovation. We contend that manufacturing firms differ in innovation intensity and HRM role in pursuing innovation activities. Drawing on original survey data from three disparate manufacturing industries, chemical, renewable energy and biotechnology, this work analyzes the relationship between HRM practices and management innovation activities, and the effect that these interplay has on the firm’s innovation. Finally, the paper presents the conclusions obtained, the limitations of the study and future lines of research.
Attracting talent is a critical way for firms to remain competitive. One of the key mechanisms is the way firms attract professionals by actively leveraging employer branding. Although scholars have suggested that a purposively designed and well publicized system of human resource (HR) best practices can impact positively on a firm’s employer branding and, as a result of it, its ability to attract applicants, little empirical research has investigated this relationship. This paper analyzes HR practices in 94 organizations for attraction of talent by means of investing on their employer branding. Results show that an attractive employer branding is positively related to the deployment of a system of best HR practices specifically designed to attract newcomers and the visibility of such system of best practices.
We examine if online information search trends reflect public interest in purchasing hotel rooms. We introduce the trends into univariate forecasting models and conventional structural models of room night stays and occupancy rates. We also examine the association between the trends and hotel REIT stock returns. We find that on a monthly frequency, search trends are significantly reflective of future room night stays and occupancy rates after controlling for known determinants of these variables. Inclusion the trends significantly improve the weekly forecasts of the performance fundamentals.
This article analyses founding family influence on pay-out policies for Swiss listed firms over the period 2003–2010. We hypothesise that family firms have different incentives and characteristics that affect pay-out decisions and propose three possible explanations: agency theory, reputation building and family income needs. Our results show that founding family firms display significantly higher dividend pay-outs relative to companies with other ownership structures. We also examine specific family characteristics and document that a family's stake, active involvement and generation play an important role in determining pay-out policies. Our findings appear to be consistent with the family income hypothesis and to some extent with reputational concerns.
Cet article s'intéresse à une forme de tourisme assez marginale mais très dynamique : le tourisme lié à l'agriculture. A partir d'observations de terrain et d’un éclairage marketing original complétant l’apport d’autres sciences sociales, l'article remet en question l'approche actuelle de l'agritourisme jugée trop restrictive. Il propose une nouvelle approche qui prend en compte l'ensemble du territoire et non plus seulement les seules offres émanant des exploitations agricoles. Cela permet aux territoires d'envisager de nouveaux développements et conduit à des avancées théoriques et pratiques : une approche élargie au développement durable et des recommandations aux territoires concernés.
This paper suggests a tentative conceptual framework to study the internationalization of foreign/OECD - based SMEs (Small and Medium - sized Enterprises) attracted by fast growing emerging markets, such as China and Southeast Asia, and the supportive role of global cities as market gate focal points providing a wide range of financial and non - financial services facilitat ing emerging market entry. In other words, the hypothesis is that a number of global cities (about 75 cities are classified and ranked as such worldwide) play an important business intermediation role, including vis - à - vis distant and difficult regional eme rging markets. This proposed research is to bring up added value to the study of global cities, which has been envisaged so far exclusively in terms of their global growth as contributed by transnational corporations. The existing literature reveals that t he business intermediation role of global cities has been studied in terms of service s provided to transnational corporations and their affiliates, which tend to concentrate their regional offices and other business coordinating logistics and management in such cities. Th e proposed research suggests that a series of global cities should be also envi saged not necessarily in terms of direct presence and density of SME operations, but at least in terms of providing a wide range of supportive services enabling foreign/OECD - based SMEs to approach, test and penetrate new markets in neighbor emerging econom ies. The conceptual framework proposed in this paper has been tested i n East Asia in the case of Tokyo, and is curr ently leading to a new research project 2015 - 17 with a focus on Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore.
Wann, wo und wie man am besten internationalisiert ist für viele Schweizer Unternehmen auch heute noch nicht vollends geklärt. Zwar profitiert die Schweiz von vielen Vorteilen, wie der hohen Produkt-und Servicequalität, der geographisch günstigen Lage zu mehreren bedeutenden Nachbarmärktensowie von der Sprachenvielfalt im Lande, doch können Internationalisierungsentscheidungen enorme und nicht immer profitable Komplexität mit sich bringen. Was daher richtig verstanden werden muss, ist der eigene Entscheidungsansatz bei der ersten und weiteren Internationalisierung. Internationale Märkte, Kunden und Technologien sind oft nur schwer deut-und vorhersagbar, da es hier viele unbekannte Faktoren sowie Dynamiken über die Zeit gibt. Doch kann man zumindest die eigeneEntscheidungslogik reflektieren, um auszuschließen, dass diese ungewollte Nebeneffekte mit sich bringt. Um hier Transparenz zu gewährleisten, wurden in der akademischen Entrepreneurship-Forschung zwei sich ergänzende Konzepte vorgeschlagen –Effectuation und Kausallogik– die bei Unternehmern in Situation von Unsicherheit Anwendung finden. Auch empirisch wurden diese Ansätze fundiert untersucht und bestätigt, nicht jedoch bis dato auf Schweizer Unternehmerin KMU, die erstmalig oder weiter internationalisieren wollen. Mit dieser Studie will die Hochschule für Wirtschaft Freiburg (HSW-FR) und insbesondere das Institut für Entrepreneurship & KMU einen Beitrag leisten, um Schweizerische KMUs in ihren Internationalisierungsbemühungen zu unterstützen, relevante Aspekte aufzuarbeiten und somit helfen, den Internationalisierungserfolg zu sichern. Für Rückfragen und weiteren Dialog stehen wir jederzeit gerne zur Verfügung.
