Procedia Economics and Finance最新文献

Venture capital (VC) may be defined as a support to entrepreneurial talents and appetite by turning ideas and basic science into products and services which are expected to envy the world. Venture capital funds are able to build companies from the simplest form to mature organizations. Venture capital investors generally actively engage with management of the company by typically taking place on the board. Through the due diligence process the venture capital firms concentrate on the founders, the management team, the concept, the marketplace, the revenue model, the value-added potential of the firm, the amount of capital needed to heal the business and whether all these fit to the fund's objectives. Over the next three to eight years, the venture firm works with the founding entrepreneur/s to grow the company. Once a company funded by venture capital matures and becomes successful, venture funds generally exit by taking it public through an initial public offering (IPO) or by selling it to big companies. This allows the venture funds to be free from the previous investment and invest in the next generation of companies. United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, China and India have the most developed markets for venture capital environment. The size of the venture capital market is nowadays about $50 billion and the United States has the most funds for venture capital of $33.1 billion in 2013. Venture capital firms may invest in promising firms in stages of seed, first round, second round or later. The median investment amounts in the United States in 2013 are $0.5 million for seed, $2.5 million for first round, $5.7 million for second round and $10 for later stage. The most attractive sector for venture capital is information technology for the United States, Israel and Canada, invested over $10 billion in 2013, while the most attractive sector is consumer products for Europe, China and India, invested over $4.8 billion in 2013.

According to the literature, one of the most obvious and immediately perceptible limitations in tourism concerns the intangibility of the product/service provided, defined as the inability to assess objectively the tangible and intangible aspects of a tourist destination if not having visited it before, making – actually – uncertain the selection process of the interest variables. This means that when we decide to visit a destination we have to rely on a set of images, descriptions, videos and information from which we extrapolate a mix of probably interesting elements able convince us and bring us towards the chosen place. For this purpose, is it possible to consider the search for a particular gastronomic product – presumably already experienced anywhere else – as a factor that could partially break down the intangibility of the destination? It is clear that the methods of territory tourist attraction don’t work exclusively through the traditional communication levers but, in recent years, there are many alternative forms that allow the development of destinations. Among the most diffused ones, we can certainly consider food and beverage events, which – more and more – are closely linked to other concepts today extremely popular, like the streetfood and craft beers. We are witnessing a rediscovery of traditional food values, together with the discovery of a new market segment dedicated to craft beer, which today is experiencing one of the maximum growth periods, reaching to touch quota 1000 in Italy, between microbreweries, brewpubs and beer firm. The matching with the streetfood is the piece that makes up the puzzle of this new model of tourism management. The objective of the study is to investigate about the economic value generated by these events, by measuring what are the material and immaterial benefits of which an area can benefit when it becomes the venue of these events.

The purpose of this study is to investigates the impact of tourism on biodiversity loss in a sample of 141 countries. In the analysis, we measure tourism using the numbers of international tourist arrivals, while biodiversity loss is proxy using the numbers of threatened species – birds, fishes, mammals and plants. We also include GDP per capita, population growth, protected areas, and crop production, which act as the control variables. We find that using robust standard error estimator the number of international tourist arrivals, population growth rate, protected areas and crop production increases the numbers of threatened species, while GDP per capita reduces the numbers of threatened species. One policy implication of this study is that since businesses in the tourism industry depend on the very existence of biodiversity, then biodiversity conservation should become the essential factor for business sustainability.

The study on customer complaining behaviour has received significant attention over the past decades. Generally, customers expect a fair treatment for the investments made in a relationship with the organisation. Hence, perceived unfairness will create an impression that they have been betrayed, and thus motivate them to complain as a way of expressing dissatisfaction. In extreme cases, they might opt for aggressive complaining to compensate unfairness. In this study, the term aggressive complaining will be replaced by customer voice retaliation (CVR). Based on previous literatures, a framework was developed to measure CVR which consist of three constructs. The aim of this study is to verify the construct for a new CVR framework. Rasch analysis was used to examine reliability for both respondents and items. It should give us the list of items that should be included in measuring the CVR constructs. Sample used for the study were 27 for pre-testing, and 66 for the pilot study. Respondents consisted of subscribers who had experienced dissatisfaction, and had to some extent performed complaining behaviour. From the pre-test analysis, item polarity indicates that all items were measuring in the same direction. Similarly, the summary statistic from the pilot study indicated that item reliability and item separation was 0.95 and 4.39 respectively, while for person reliability and person separation was 0.95 and 4.6 respectively. However, the result from the pilot test for model Unidimensionality suggested the existence of a secondary dimension which was a possible contributor to multicollinearity problem. This indicates that items for measuring CVR needs to be reviewed and instrument construct validity call for further refinement.

Using the exchange rate as a nominal anchor is very successful for taking control of inflationary expectations. The countries in the MENA region switching to a more flexible exchange rate regime will mitigate the effects of external shock. Establishing Monetary Union emerges as an alternative of flexible exchange rate and inflation targeting preference for the MENA countries. As take in to account the whole findings, we cannot mention the existence of a co-ordination between all of MENA countries in terms of inflation, growth, monetary expansion and budget performance. Therefore we can say that monetary union is an inappropriate choice of exchange for countries of the region and MENA region has not complied with OCA criteria yet.

This article examines the causal relationship between the energy consumption, electricity consumption and GDP in Russia by using time series data from 1990-2011 implying the Toda and Yamamoto approach, which is revised form of the Granger (1969) causality test (Econ. 66 (1995) 225). The maximum order of integration was determined by using PP and ADF unit root tests. The Toda and Yamamoto test is applied regardless of whether the series are I(0), I(1), or I(2), mutually cointegrated or non-cointegrated. The variables were estimated at level in the unrestricted lag-augmented VAR. The AIC, SC and LR lag criteria were used to determine the optimal lag length. The diagnostics tests were performed at the optimum lag selected by estimating the variables at level and confirmed the stability of the unrestricted VAR model. The empirical evidence showed that there exists a the bi-directional causality from electricity consumption to GDP that implies the validity of feedback hypothesis but no causality was found for GDP and energy consumption supporting the neutrality hypothesis. The estimated results confirmed that both the economic growth and electricity consumption empirically support each other and have a mutual and complementary relationship. But on another hand the energy sector of Russia has no impact on the economic growth for a period 1990-2011. Furthermore, if the Government of Russia devises policies to promote the access of energy and higher level of consumption, economic growth will not be affected.

In this paper, we investigate the impact of trade liberalization on tax structure in a panel 97 developing countries for the period 1993-2012. Our empirical results, based on the fixed-effect estimator, reveal that trade liberalization in the form of trade openness did not seem to have a strong impact on major tax sources of developing countries. Instead, trade liberalization in the form of tariff reduction seems to have a contribution to tax structure in these countries.

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between institutions and macro-economic performance in terms of developing countries. For this purpose, for a period covering the years 2000-2011 through the use of 23 institutional structure variables in the study, the relationship between the institutional structure and macro-economic performance is investigated in sampling countries where 38 developing countries take place by using the ‘Panel Data Analysis’ method. The results of the analysis reveals that institutional structure indicators such as the integrity of the law system, regulations on trade barriers, restriction of foreign investments, the share of the private sector in the banking system and employment-dismissal variables have a positive effect on the macro-economic performance of the developing countries. On the other hand, according to the analysis results, variables such as judiciary independence, government expenditures, transfers and subsidies, civil freedoms, the black market exchange rate, collective bargaining and military tutelage (political stability) have been seen to have a negative impact on the macro-economic performances of developing countries.

Notably, brand experience has attracted attention in marketing management as marketers realize the importance how consumers experience brands is critical in developing marketing strategies for goods and services. However, there is too little emphasis on designing a customer journey that enhances the entire customer brand experience. The purpose of this study to investigate antecedents of brand experience within national automotive industry. This study develops PADI model and argues on how their model can help academicians and practitioners truly understand customers feel and provide service experiences that engage and delight them. In order to truly understand the customer brand experience, a holistic view of all interactions at all touch points, that is, during search, purchase, consumption and post-consumption. Besides that, it provides a better understanding of brand experience which facilitates the potential development of richer customer relationships. By doing so, it could be a competitive advantage for practitioners as consumers seek emotional attachment with the car brand. This valuable insight helps practitioners to exploit social media capturing potential consumers. This study empirically contributes towards developing a more valid and reliable brand experience's factor which is useful for decision making at the management level. Failure to capture potential consumers might influence national producers to bear the increased costs associated with managing the brand as an assets that drive every strategic and investments decision. The originality of this research lies on the measurement scale of brand experience that makes a difference to customers during the national car consumption.

Being the propulsion of industries, automotive industry is of great importance all over the world. This paper is written to elaborate on the decline of car export trend in Iran in recent years. The current research has been done in Iran Khodro Industrial Group which is one of the leading car manufacturers in Iran. It aims at examining the competitiveness of the products of this industrial group in international markets, prioritizing factors and offering solutions to remove the present obstacles. The results of the current research indicates that the obstacles of exporting the products of Iran Khodro Industrial Group based on their priorities are as followed: government, chances, research and development (R&D), related and supporting industries, demand conditions, absorbing, firm strategy, structure and rivalry, factor conditions of Iran Khodro Industrial Group.