ICT RESOURCES & CAPABILITIES, ECONOMIC CRISIS AND CRM ADOPTION

Firms are implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems not for reducing their operational costs and increasing their efficiency, as it happens with other kinds of information systems, but in order to offer better services to their customers and build better relationships with them. This fact stems from CRM’s customer facing nature, which is there to improve the relationship a firm has with its most valuable asset: the customers. However, there is limited research about the factors that lead firms to adopt CRM systems. This paper aims to contribute to filling this research gap, by investigating the effects of a wide range of factors on CRM adoption by firms; these factors include firm’s ICT resources and capabilities, and also the effects of a major disruption in the environment: economic crisis leading to recession. Our main theoretical foundation is the Technology, Organization, Environment (TOE) theory of technological innovation adoption. Based on data from 363 Greek firms CRM adoption models have been estimated, which indicate that the sophistication of firm’s ICT technological resources has a strong positive effect on CRM adoption, alongside two ICT capabilities: ICT strategic planning, and the rapid internal implementation of various interconnections/integrations of existing applications to achieve interoperability. Human capital, innovativeness and use of ‘organic’ forms of work organization (such as horizontal teamwork) are also important factors that affect positively CRM adoption. On the contrary, the effects of the economic crisis (decrease of domestic demand for products/services from businesses, individual customers and the public sector, reduction of credit limits by banks and non-payment or late payment by customers) do not have impact on CRM systems adoption

ICT and Non-ICT investments: short and long run macro dynamics

In this paper, we model business investment distinguishing between ICT (communication equipment, hardware and software) and Non-ICT (machinery and equipment, and nonresidential buildings) components and taking into account asset specific characteristics potentially affecting the reactivity of capital accumulation over the business cycle. Business investment and ICT and Non-ICT assets are estimated within a VECM model to test, in a unique framework, the assumptions of the flexible accelerator model (Clark, 1944, and Koyck, 1954) and of the neoclassical model of Hall and Jorgenson (1967), as well as how financial constraints and uncertainty influence investment behaviour (Hall and Lerner, 2010, and Bloom, 2007). Our findings suggest that the long-run relationship with standard macro determinants (output and user cost) is verified for aggregate business capital stock as well as for individual Non-ICT assets but not for ICT. In the short run, liquidity is a key determinant of investment behaviour independently of the asset type. In the long-run, uncertainty significantly affects ICT. Finally, the results of the counterfactual exercises over the latest Italian recession support the idea that ICT is a key policy variable to foster the economic recovery

Nonparametric approach to evaluation of economic and social development in the EU28 member states by DEA efficiency

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology is used in this study for a comparison of the dynamic efficiency of European countries over the last decade. Moreover, efficiency analysis is used to determine where resources are distributed efficiently and/or were used efficiently/inefficiently under factors of competitiveness extracted from factor analysis. DEA measures numerical grades of the efficiency of economic processes within evaluated countries and, therefore, it becomes a suitable tool for setting an efficient/inefficient position of each country. Most importantly, the DEA technique is applied to all (28) European Union (EU) countries to evaluate their technical and technological efficiency within the selected factors of competitiveness based on country competitiveness index in the 2000-2017 reference period. The main aim of the paper is to measure efficiency changes over the reference period and to analyze the level of productivity in individual countries based on the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). Empirical results confirm significant disparities among European countries and selected periods 2000-2007, 2008-2011, and 2012-2017. Finally, the study offers a comprehensive comparison and discussion of results obtained by MPI that indicate the EU countries in which policy-making authorities should aim to stimulate national development and provide more quality of life to the EU citizens.Web of Science122art. no. 7

Essays on Economic Inequalities

This work relates to income inequalities studied from two different perspectives: ICT innovation (Chapter 1-2) and bargaining among social groups (Chapter 3-4). ICT innovation affects the number of jobs but also the structure of the labor market, with important consequences on income distribution. ICT innovation could destroy more jobs than it creates, for the first time since the beginning of industrialization; meanwhile the advanced ICT softwares are reducing that professions typically associated with the middle class, in favor of those that lies to the extremes of pays. On the other hand, the ability of each social group to attract resources is a second source of movements in income distribution; in particular, bargaining can take place within each company (firms versus trade-unions) and within the government (political parties competing to impose welfare regime). In Chapter 1 we estimate the effect of internet revolution on the number of jobs. The fourth industrial revolution, which began with the rise of internet technology, is now seeing the development of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence software. One consequence of such development is the ever-more serious risk posed for jobs. Chapter 1 shall examine this phenomenon in three steps; first, we shall empirically show that productivity growth over the last two decades was led by ICT; secondly, we shall discuss whether these productivity gains have affected the structure of employment by examining the data coming from 16 OECD countries and how such outcomes may be linked to innovation in ICT. Finally, a forecasting logistic model on the evolution of employment will be provided, projecting that by 2040-50 unemployment and atypical forms of work will affect 60% of the workforce in most of the countries observed. In Chapter 2 we observe the structure of job market over the last 25 years in order to find which professions have expanded and which ones have reduced and then we link this outcome to middle class thinning and the consequent income inequality growth. The underlying hypothesis is that ICT innovations are changing job structures, at least in the most industrialized countries. Firstly, this chapter takes the studies of Acemoglu and Autor (2010) and Goos et al. (2009) as a starting point and then updates their results for 16 European countries. The outcome we have found is an accentuation of the dynamics already observed in the literature. On the one hand, the number of non-routine jobs has increased while routine ones (both skilled and non-skilled) have become fewer; on the other hand, while the number of both low-paid and high-paid jobs has risen, those with average compensation have fallen almost everywhere. The consequence is a progressive thinning of the middle class and a change in income distribution among Western populations. Secondly, Chapter 2 links these findings with the recent intensification of the populist phenomenon. We shall be discussing an original theory, consistent both with the literature and with the empirical evidence, which describes the populist origins and its future prospects. In Chapter 3 shift our consideration to the social dynamic of inequalities. Income inequalities increase and decrease according to the capability of each social group in appropriating the national added value. The final outcome of this partition may be seen reflected on the price level. The lasting debate about the origins of inflation has determined two opposing approaches: monetarism and bargaining. The aim of Chapter 3 is to put these aspects together in an innovative synthesis. To investigate this item, we used an Input-Output (IO) approach and we developed an original mathematical process to define the real price index variations. After that, we tested this theoretical definition with an empirical study on Italian inflation over 30 years where we elaborated 31 official I-O tables compiled by the Italian statistics bureau (ISTAT). By this verified definition, inflation is strictly due to the level of wages and profits. This level, in turn, depends both on monetary government intervention (monetarist approach) and on collective bargaining among trade-unions and stakeholders (classic bargaining approach). Finally, by this model, theoretical implications are derived and summed up in six different settings ceteris paribus. Finally, in Chapter 4 we link income inequalities to Health Systems in a European perspective. With a sociological slant, we compare European countries in the context of neoliberal era, focusing on healthy life years for elderly (HLY65+). Firstly, we outline the theoretical state of the art in the literature on health inequalities, stressing the important relationship that links health inequalities to geographic area. In the second part of Chapter 4 we observe data relating to the changes of HLY65+ in the European member states and we correlate these results with the income inequality measured by the Gini index. The last part of Chapter 4 advance some comments on health inequalities in the context of the neoliberal era and in relation to geographic place and welfare policies

Essays in International Trade and Quality with Applications to Greek Firms

In the present thesis I investigate the relationship between product quality, innovation, and credit constraints in the case of Greek exporting firms. To this end, I develop a simple theoretical framework in which firms choose their product quality considering their credit constraints and the level of their innovative activities. The model predicts that the relationship between product quality and innovation at the firm level is positive when the firm’s innovation expenditures are above a cut-off point that depends on the firm’s level of credit constraints, but it is negative when its innovation expenditures are below this threshold. To test this prediction, I use a unique combined dataset for Greek exporting firms. I infer unobserved product quality at the firm level applying the estimation strategy put forward by Piveteau and Smagghue (2019). With the quality estimates at hand, using data on firm-level R&D expenditure and credit constraints, I find that, consistent with the theoretical model, the relationship between product quality and innovation is positive for low-credit and medium-credit constrained Greek exporters, but is negative for the highly financially-constrained firms

The propensity to pay dividends among Nigerian listed companies

This study examined the disappearing dividend phenomenon in the Nigerian market from 2003 to 2012. It also investigated the impact of financial crisis on the payout decisions. The dividend pattern was explained using descriptive analysis. Panel logistic regression was employed to explain the determinants of the choice "to pay" or "not to pay" dividends while multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of four mutually exclusive payout choices. Findings indicate a reduction in the proportion of dividend payers and the amount of dividends paid in the latter years. Determinants of the choice "to pay" or "not to pay" include foreign ownership, retained earnings to total equity, profitability, cash flow and past dividends. Thus, the study supports the clientele effect, free cash flow hypothesis and dividend smoothing hypothesis in explaining the decision "to pay" or "not to pay" dividends. However, the implication stated in the catering theory is not supported in the binomial model. Multinomial estimates revealed that firms alter their payout decisions in line with the necessity to maintain financial flexibility and to mitigate going concern risks during the crisis. Firms with higher leverage and lower cash flows have a higher likelihood to omit dividends during the crisis. Thus, free cash flow and transaction costs hypothesis became relevant during crisis. Clientele effect which was supported in the pre-crisis period became insignificant during the crisis. Catering theory became relevant during crisis as investor's demand for dividends have a positive impact on dividend- increase decisions. In consistency with dividend smoothing hypothesis, results indicate that some firms endeavour to maintain their dividend levels despite the crisis. Profitability as a characteristic of a dividend payer is significant in the crisis and the non-crisis periods. The study found no evidence in support of the implication stated in the life cycle theor