A Conceptual Framework of Reverse Logistics Impact on Firm Performance

This study aims to examine the reverse logistics factors that impact upon firm performance. We review reverse logistics factors under three research streams: (a) resource-based view of the firm, including: Firm strategy, Operations management, and Customer loyalty (b) relational theory, including: Supply chain efficiency, Supply chain collaboration, and institutional theory, including: Government support and Cultural alignment. We measured firm performance with 5 measures: profitability, cost, innovativeness, perceived competitive advantage, and perceived customer satisfaction. We discuss implications for research, policy and practice

Searching for the Profit in Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in the Corporate Evaluation of Environmental Opportunities

The concept of pollution prevention, or "P2," signifies a new, proactive environmental mindset that targets the causes, rather than the consequences, of polluting activity. While anecdotal evidence suggests that P2 opportunities exist and that many have been pursued, there is also the perception that the pace of P2 is far too slow. To explore that claim—and to shed light on barriers to P2 innovation—this paper presents case studies of industrial P2 projects that were in some way unsuccessful. While based on a very limited sample, the evidence contradicts the view that firms suffer from organizational weaknesses that make them unable to appreciate the financial benefits of P2 investments. Instead, the projects foundered because of significant unresolved technical difficulties, marketing challenges, and regulatory barriers. Based on evidence from the cases, the paper concludes with a discussion of environmental policy reforms likely to promote P2 innovation..

An earnings-return model for strategic market planning / BEBR No. 869

Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-39).Few models currently exist which aid managers in their strategic market planning. The models or frameworks which do exist have a variety of shortcomings, a major one being an inadequate linkage to a business organization's dominant goals for existence -- earnings and return on investment. This paper develops a planning model based on a firm's present levels of earnings and return designed to provide a partial foundation on which its managers can base their strategic market planning. Depending upon the firm's placement in the model, different organizational objectives and strategies exist for improving future performance

ESTABLISHING LINKAGES BETWEEN ECONOMIC THEORY AND ENTERPRISE BUDGETING FOR TEACHING AND EXTENSION PROGRAMS

Accounting techniques of farm enterprise budgeting are rarely linked to the axioms of static production theory and to capital theory. This paper illustrates how certain linkages may be established. Particular attention is given to handling problems of scale economies, optimal output levels, replacement of durable inputs, inflation, and technological change. Estimates in an illustrative budget are linked to specific points on average cost curves. Budgeting for representative farm situations is compared to budgeting for specific situations.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Do reorganization costs matter for efficiency ? Evidence from a bankruptcy reform in Colombia

The authors study the effect of reorganization costs on the efficiency of bankruptcy laws. They develop a simple model that predicts that in a regime with high costs, the law fails to achieve the efficient outcome of liquidating unviable businesses and reorganizing viable ones. The authors test the model using the Colombian bankruptcy reform of 1999. Using data from 1,924 firms filing for bankruptcy between 1996 and 2003, they find that the pre-reform reorganization proceeding was so inefficient that it failed to separate economically viable firms from inefficient ones. In contrast, by substantially lowering reorganization costs, the reform improved the selection of viable firms into reorganization. In this sense, the new law increased the efficiency of the bankruptcy system in Colombia.Banks&Banking Reform,Corporate Law,Small Scale Enterprise,Microfinance,Economic Theory&Research

Form of ownership and financial constraints : panel data evidence from leverage and investment equations

The authors analyze whether form of ownership affects the substitutability of internal and external sources of finance. In particular, they test whether financial constraints are more severe for independent firms, and whether members of large national business groups suffer different constraints than subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations. The results for leverage and investment equations estimated for a panel of Italian companies suggest that: a) independent firms face more severe financial constraints than other firms do; and b) members of national groups and subsidiaries of multinational corporations are not oversensitive to cash flow in their investment decisions. But leverage equations suggest interesting differences between the two groups. In particular, agency costs arising from the conflict between managers and shareholders are more important for subsidiaries of multinational corporations.Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Microfinance,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Small Scale Enterprise,Microfinance

Technology and Service Quality in the Banking Industry: An Empirical Study of Various Factors in Electronic Banking Services

Technology-based self service has greatly changed the way that service Firms and consumers interact and are raising a host of research and practice issues relating to the delivery of e-service which has become increasingly important not only in determining the success or failure of electronic commerce but also in providing consumers with a superior experience with respect to the interactive flow of information. The purpose of this research study was to establish the relationship between technology and service quality in the banking industry in Nigeria. The research was carried out through a cross sectional smvey design which questioned respondents one e-banking services. The population of study mainly constituted of customers of Oceanic bank within Lagos metropolis and its environs. The respondents of the study were customers of banks using e-banking services (internet banking, mobile banking and AIM). The sample in this study consisted of 120 respondents who are users of thee-banking services. The data collected was analyzed by use of frequency, percentage, means and correlation analysis. The findings revealed that secure services as the most important dimension, followed by convenient location of AIM, efficiency (not need to wait, ability to set up accounts so that the customer can perform transactions immediately, accurately of records, user friendly, ease of user, complaint satisfaction, accurate transactions and operation in 24 h)