Análisis de eficiencia por programas en el sector de la economía social: el caso del Principado de Asturias

El presente trabajo evalúa la eficiencia del Sector de la Economía Social (SES) en Asturias, para lo cual se seleccionó el método no paramétrico del Análisis Envolvente de Datos (Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA) propuesto por Charnes et al. (1978). A partir de los datos extraídos de la cuentas anuales de una muestra de 397 empresas para el bienio 2004-2005, compuesta por sociedades cooperativas y laborales dada su relevancia en el SES asturiano, se aplicó la técnica DEA a un modelo de rendimiento basado en la cuenta de resultados de explotación bajo orientación output, utilizando para ello la metodología por programas propuesta por Charnes et al. (1981) de acuerdo a la tipología de formas societarias, implementando adicionalmente en una segunda fase de la investigación un estudio para evaluar los principales factores determinantes del rendimiento de dichas entidades en el periodo objeto de estudio

Econometric analysis of the performance of cooperatives and investor owned firms in the European dairy industry

Keywords: Cooperatives, IOFs, European dairy industry, logistic regression, stochastic frontier analysis, inter- and intra-firm efficiency, catch-up component, data envelopment analysis, hyperbolic technical efficiency, overall efficiency, scale efficiency, bootstrapping. In this study we measure the performance of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in the European dairy processing industry. Comparing the performance between cooperatives and investor-owned firms requires accounting for differences in their mission and objectives. Traditionally, cooperatives were established by farmers to gain access to markets, balance market powers and have a secured and sustainable income. Generally, there is a consensus in the economic literature that a cooperative can be defined as a (members)user-owned and (members)user-controlled organization that aims to benefit its (members)user. Cooperatives are transaction oriented, the members provide themselves with services they could not secure otherwise. In addition member are owners and determine the mission and strategy of cooperatives equally as the owners of the cooperative enterprise. Our study takes into account the consequences of members’ strategies for the cooperatives’ organizational structure and subsequently the significance of structure on (technical and economical) efficiencies. Although the theoretical literature emphasizes the difference in economic behavior between cooperatives and IOFs, the empirical studies have failed to follow up with theoretical approaches. The failure of the empirical studies to apply the models proposed by the theoretical literature seems to be due to either the inaccessibility of data, the inability to take into account the interests of all the various types of members and stakeholders of the cooperative, or the difficulty in testing the various hypotheses in practice. An empirical analysis of differences in financial indicators between IOFs and cooperatives in six European countries shows that cooperatives are less profitable but operationally more efficient, they have higher material costs and lower debts than IOFs. Furthermore, cooperatives display a substantially greater variation in financial indicators than IOFs. Stochastic Frontier Analysis is used to measure and compare the efficiency and production technology of cooperatives and IOFs. Cooperatives are found to have a more productive technology than IOFs, but they use their production potential less efficiently. A further empirical analysis of technical efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis shows that explicit accounting for the objectives of cooperatives generates different outcomes compared with treating cooperatives as if they were IOFs. The results of the empirical analyses in this study promote the conclusion that measuring the performance of cooperatives as if they were IOFs produces misleading insights about the cooperatives’ performance suggesting performance suggesting that cooperatives’ performance is influenced by their organizational characteristics and members objectives. <br/

Agricultural Research Division 107th Annual Report 1993

It is a pleasure to provide the 107th Annual Report of the UNL Agricultural Research Division (ARD). This report contains lists of current faculty; active research projects; refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters published; theses and dissertations written; germplasm/cultivars released; and awards received by faculty. Also included are brief descriptions of accomplishments from selected research projects and the financial report for the period July 1, 1992, to June 30,1993. This report was compiled in compliance with the intent of the law of the State of Nebraska that established the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station on March 31, 1887. Foreword ... 5 Administration ... 6 … Administrative Personnel ... 6 … Organizational Chart ... 7 … Administrative Units ... 8 … IANR Research Facilities ... 9 Research Highlights ... 10 Faculty ... 18 … Agricultural/Natural Resources Departments ... 18 … College of Human Resources and Family Sciences ... 23 … Off-Campus Research Centers ... 24 Faculty Awards and Recognition ... 26 Research Projects ... 28 Publications ... 40 Variety and Germplasm Releases ... 64 Research Expenditures ... 6

Agricultural Research Division 107th Annual Report 1993

It is a pleasure to provide the 107th Annual Report of the UNL Agricultural Research Division (ARD). This report contains lists of current faculty; active research projects; refereed journal articles, books, and book chapters published; theses and dissertations written; germplasm/cultivars released; and awards received by faculty. Also included are brief descriptions of accomplishments from selected research projects and the financial report for the period July 1, 1992, to June 30,1993. This report was compiled in compliance with the intent of the law of the State of Nebraska that established the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station on March 31, 1887. Foreword ... 5 Administration ... 6 … Administrative Personnel ... 6 … Organizational Chart ... 7 … Administrative Units ... 8 … IANR Research Facilities ... 9 Research Highlights ... 10 Faculty ... 18 … Agricultural/Natural Resources Departments ... 18 … College of Human Resources and Family Sciences ... 23 … Off-Campus Research Centers ... 24 Faculty Awards and Recognition ... 26 Research Projects ... 28 Publications ... 40 Variety and Germplasm Releases ... 64 Research Expenditures ... 6

Análisis de la gestión de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación en el sector del aceite de oliva ecológico

[ES] Esta tesis doctoral analiza el grado de aprovechamiento de las Tecnologías de la Información y de la Comunicación (TIC) por parte de las empresas del sector oleícola ecológico español, al objeto de mejorar la comercialización en el mercado interior y la participación en los mercados internacionales. Del estudio realizado se infiere un escaso e inadecuado uso de las TIC para la mejora comercial, tanto en el mercado interior como en el exterior. Además, esta investigación pone de manifiesto la existencia de importantes problemas estructurales, que pueden ser la base de esta escasa utilización de las TIC. Por otro lado, haciendo uso del método DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), comprobamos que la utilización del comercio electrónico y la participación en el comercio exterior son factores que influyen positivamente en el grado de eficiencia de las empresas de este sector.[EN]This Ph.D. thesis examines the extent to which Spanish organic olive oil sector companies make use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve their sales on the domestic market and their presence on internationaJ markets. The study conducted indicates that these companies make scant and inadequate use of JCT to improve their commercial position, both at home and abroad. Moreover, it has brought to light important structuraJ problems that could be the reason for this poor use of ICT EquaJJy, using data enveJopment anaJysis (DEA), it has shown that engaging in electronic business and in foreign trade are positive factors for corporate efficiency in this sector.Tesis Univ. Jaén. Departamento de Organización de Empresas, Marketing y Sociología, leída el 18 de julio de 201

The extent of Kuwaiti Islamic banks restrict the use of Islamic financing tools in their financial operations: a field study

This research aims to identify the extent to of Kuwaiti Islamic banks adhere to the use of Islamic financing tools in their financial operations. The study population consists of all (5) banks listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. As for the study sample, (100) respondents were selected from Financial managers, accountants, and workers in finance and investment departments work in these banks. The questionnaire was used as a tool for collecting primary data. The results showed that Kuwaiti Islamic banks adhere to the use of Islamic financing tools represented in Murabaha, Musharaka and Mudaraba in their financial operations to a high degree. The study recommended that Kuwaiti Islamic banks should be encouraged to play a more role in Murabaha operations and find appropriate solutions to technical obstacles and culture-related procedures that prevent the provision of Islamic financing through Murabaha

At cold war’s end: complexity, causes, and counterfactuals

What caused the Cold War to end? In the following I examine the puzzle of the fast and peaceful conclusion of the bipolar superpower standoff, and point out the problems this creates for the study of International Relations (IR). I discuss prevailing explanations and point out their gaps, and offer the framework of complexity theory as a suitable complement to overcome the blind spots in IR’s reductionist methodologies. I argue that uncertainty and unpredictability are rooted in an international system that is best viewed as non-linear. My analysis of the end of the Cold War proceeds with counterfactual investigations of leaders’ foreign policy choices. This helps produce a more fine-grained understanding of the manifold, dense interactive causal effects that abound in the international arena. I find that various choices made by four key international leaders in the 1980s – Ronald Reagan, George Shultz, Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush – contributed to the rapid and unexpected end of the Cold War in various ways. While such leadership effects need to be offset against the wider structural context within which politicians operate, it is mistaken to exclude individual leaders and their key associates from the study of IR. I conclude that deterministic analyses fail to account for the independent causal wellspring provided by reflexive, conscious human agency. Complexity theory and counterfactuals can help identify the scope and limits of leaders’ influence on international affairs

SBE16 Brazil & Portugal - Sustainable Urban Communities towards a Nearly Zero Impact Built Environment

Vol. IThe organizers of SBE 16 Brazil & Portugal were challenged to promote discussions and the development of solutions for an important and, at the same time, very ambitious topic ? Sustainable Urban Communities towards a Nearly Zero Impact Built Environment. This is the main focus of the international conference SBE16 Brazil & Portugal; the only event of the SBE16/17 conference series being held in Latin America, more precisely, in Vitória (Espírito Santo), Brazil, from the 7th until the 9th of September 2016. The conference offered a unique opportunity to bring together researchers from all over the world to share evidence-based knowledge in the field and succeeded to achieve its goals since many contributions from various parts of the planet were received, addressing a tiny part of the problem or trying to perform the difficult task of making the sum of the parts a coherent whole.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SBE16 Brazil & Portugal - Sustainable Urban Communities towards a Nearly Zero Impact Built Environment

Vol. IThe organizers of SBE 16 Brazil & Portugal were challenged to promote discussions and the development of solutions for an important and, at the same time, very ambitious topic ? Sustainable Urban Communities towards a Nearly Zero Impact Built Environment. This is the main focus of the international conference SBE16 Brazil & Portugal; the only event of the SBE16/17 conference series being held in Latin America, more precisely, in Vitória (Espírito Santo), Brazil, from the 7th until the 9th of September 2016. The conference offered a unique opportunity to bring together researchers from all over the world to share evidence-based knowledge in the field and succeeded to achieve its goals since many contributions from various parts of the planet were received, addressing a tiny part of the problem or trying to perform the difficult task of making the sum of the parts a coherent whole.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio