Análisis de la relación entre la estrategia de diversificación y el desempeño de la empresa: el rol del ciclo económico

[EN] The relationship between corporate strategies and firm performance has been one of the key debates in the discipline of Strategic Management. There are studies that analyse the moderating role that certain variables may play in that relationship. These variables tend to refer to aspects within the firm or, at the very least, within the competitive environment in which a firm operates. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence on the part the general environment plays from an economic perspective is much less common, and focuses on large corporations and on periods of economic growth. Accordingly, using a panel of 1,828 Spanish manufacturing firms of different sizes, an analysis is conducted of the differences in Return On Assets (ROA), Growth in Sales (GS) and Labor Productivity (LP) between specialised firms, those with related diversification, and those with unrelated diversification, between 2002 and 2011, in which there was a period of growth alternated with another one of economic recession. Although some superiority is noted of related diversification and specialisation over unrelated diversification, the differences between strategies are less significant in periods of economic recession, and vary according to the dimension of performance considered. These results reveal the need to consider the economic cycle as a contingent factor that affects the impact corporate strategies have on firm performance.[ES] La relación entre las estrategias corporativas y el desempeño empresarial ha sido uno de los debates centrales en la disciplina de la dirección estratégica. Diversos estudios analizan el rol moderador que juegan diversas variables en esta relación. Dichas variables tienden a referirse a aspectos internos de la empresa o, si acaso, a aspectos del entorno competitivo en el que la empresa opera. Sin embargo, es más escasa la evidencia empírica sobre el rol que desempeña el entorno general y suele enfocarse en grandes empresas y en períodos de crecimiento económico. En consecuencia, utilizando un panel de 1.828 empresas manufactureras españolas de diferentes tamaños, se realiza un análisis de las diferencias de rentabilidad sobre activos, crecimiento de ventas y productividad laboral entre empresas especializadas, con diversificación relacionada y con diversificación no relacionada, entre los años 2002 y 2011, en los cuales hubo un período de crecimiento alternado con otro de recesión económica. Aunque se destaca cierta superioridad de la diversificación relacionada y la especialización sobre la diversificación no relacionada, las diferencias entre estrategias son menos significativas en los períodos de recesión económica y varían de acuerdo a la dimensión de desempeño considerada. Estos resultados revelan la necesidad de considerar el ciclo económico como un factor contingente que afecta el impacto que las estrategias corporativas tienen sobre el desempeño de la empresa.This paper has been supported by Project ECO2015-67434-R of Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) and for the Excellent Research Group “Strategor” of URJC-Bank of Santander

A Proposal for Compensation between TSOs for Cross Border Trades

The increasing amount of power exchanges in the European networks makes necessary to design a method for the allocation of the grid costs incurred by these exchanges. This paper presents a method that complies with the conditions required by the regulatory authorities and is technically sound. It calculates the compensation due to a grid using a differential method, while the contributions of the grid users are calculated by the Simplified Average Participation approachX Portuguese-Spanish Conference in Electrical EngineeringNo publicad

De la Econometría a la Economía social de Mercado: El legado de Emilio Fontela

La obra de Emilio Fontela, posiblemente el “economista español más conocido en el extranjero”, es muy extensa y amplia en la variedad de temas estudiados y analizados y de enfoques empleados en el ámbito de la Economía Aplicada. Entre sus más de 250 libros y artículos, referidos a cuestiones tan diversas como el desarrollo sostenible y la globalización, las posibilidades de la nanotecnología, nueva economía, fuentes de energía…, sus principales contribuciones científicas se han desarrollado en la investigación en el campo de la modelización econométrica y el análisis input-ouput y sistemas de contabilidad nacional. En estas materias el profesor Fontela desarrolló una ingente labor teórica y aplicada, contribuyendo al avance y perfeccionamiento de la investigación cuantitativa en economía, y colaboró estrechamente con economistas de la talla de los premios Nobel Wassily Leontief y Richard Stone, no al alcance de cualquier persona. Predicción y prospectiva fueron también dos ámbitos en los que el profesor Fontela presentaba un auténtico dominio. Precisamente este es un elemento diferenciador de la figura del profesor Fontela, siempre interesado por el futuro, algo que contrasta con el tópico del economista más orientado a explicar el pasado como justificación del presente que a explorar el futur

Tunable ring resonator filter for OFDM Transmission systems

A novel tunable filter is theoretically demonstrated. It is based on a ring resonator with an amplifier and a noise filter in the loop. This optoelectronic device has potential as a high-sensitivity receiver and as a tunable demultiplexer in OFDM transmission systems.Publicad

How much warmer is the Mediterranean becoming? : thirty-five years of satellite observations

Global warming particularly affects the oceans and seas. In the Mediterranean Sea, in situ oceanographic and meteorological records, together with the most recent satellite observations, show an estimated warming of between 0.6 °C and 1 °C over the last three decades. In this article we present the results of an analysis of a 35-year series of monthly thermal images in the western basins of the Mediterranean. The data indicate an intensification in the summer season: with the summers becoming longer and more intense and the months of June and July recording the highest rates of warming, with increases of 0.6 °C/decade

Recent warming in the Balearic Sea and Spanish Mediterranean coast. Towards an earlier and longer summer

This paper analyses recent changes in the temperature of the Balearic Sea and surrounding coastal areas. Monthly temperature data from several weather stations located around the Balearic basin have been used to obtain land temperatures during the period 1960-2010, and monthly thermal satellite images from the Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) covering the period 1985-2009 have been processed to obtain sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Balearic Sea. A rise in temperature has been observed since 1980 and increasingly in the last 25 years, with an average warming trend of 0.039 ºC/year on land for the period 1960-2010 and 0.026 ºC/year in SSTs for 1985-2009. The seasonal analysis showed that, in the last 25 years, higher trends were registered during the transition from spring to summer, with the highest warming rates in June (0.12 ºC/year on land and 0.08 ºC/year in SSTs). Results show a recent tendency towards earlier and longer summers both on land and sea

SST Comparison of AVHRR and MODIS Time Series in the Western Mediterranean Sea

La temperatura de la superficie del mar (SST) es un parámetro clave para comprender los procesos atmosféricos y oceánicos. Desde finales de la década de 1980, las imágenes de satélite infrarrojas se han utilizado para complementar los registros in situ para estudiar la variabilidad temporal y espacial de la SST. El radiómetro avanzado de muy alta resolución (AVHRR) del satélite de la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA) fue el primer sensor utilizado con éxito para calcular la SST después del desarrollo y validación del algoritmo de corrección atmosférica conocido como 'ventana dividida'. Más recientemente, el espectrorradiómetro de imágenes de resolución MODERADA (MODIS) a bordo de los satélites Terra y Aqua de la Administración Nacional de Aeronáutica y del Espacio (NASA), lanzados en 1999 y 2002, respectivamente, también proporciona productos SST que se pueden combinar con la serie AVHRR para completar el análisis de series de tiempo. Este artículo presenta una comparación de los datos mensuales de TSM derivados de ambos sensores, AVHRR y MODIS, en una serie de diez años (2000-2009) en las cuencas del Mediterráneo occidental. Los resultados mostraron una alta correlación (R2 = 0,99) entre los sensores cuando se compararon los valores promediados a escala regional. La SST obtenida de AVHRR fue ligeramente superior (+0,18 ° C ± 0,2 ° C, en promedio) que la SST de MODIS. Las series fueron más similares durante el invierno y la primavera (+0,09 ° C ± 0,1 ° C de enero a mayo) con una mayor diferencia de junio a diciembre (+0,24 ° C ± 0,2 ° C). El análisis comparativo mostró que los dos sensores se pueden utilizar en conjunto para estimar tendencias a largo plazo a escala regional. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is a key parameter for understanding atmospheric and oceanic processes. Since the late 1980s, infrared satellite images have been used to complement in situ records for studying the temporal and spatial variability of SST. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s satellite was the first sensor successfully used to compute SST following the development and validation of the atmospheric correction algorithm known as 'split-window'. More recently, the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively, also provides SST products which can be combined with AVHRR series to complete the analysis of time series. This paper presents a comparison of the monthly SST data derived from both sensors, AVHRR and MODIS, in a series of ten years (2000-2009) in the Western Mediterranean basins. The results showed a high correlation (R2 = 0.99) between the sensors when averaged values at the regional scale were compared. SST obtained from AVHRR were slightly higher (+0.18 °C ± 0.2 °C, on average) than SST from MODIS. The series were most similar during winter and spring (+0.09 °C ± 0.1 °C for January to May) with a greater difference from June to December (+0.24 °C ± 0.2 °C). The comparative analysis showed that the two sensors can be used jointly to estimate long-term trends at the regional scale

Who are diverse?: conceptualisations of cultural diversity in schools behind desks and at chalkface

This paper analyses the meanings and values attached to‘culturaldiversity’as a descriptive and interpretative category in the fieldof education in Spain, including its application to define differentgroups in elementary and primary schools there. It reports from acomparative study that considers the discursive production of‘cultural diversity’in Spanish academia together with thediscourse of teaching staff from three schools with specificprogrammes aimed at cultural diversity. Results attest to threedifferent uses of‘cultural diversity’: individualisation, differenceand inequalities, as well as two different assessments: enrichmentand problem. It also analyses how the discourse of teachers ismore complex than those of the academy, because, among otherreasons, they link diversity with situations produced by socialinequality, by the fact that many students are migrants, and by adifferent ethnic condition. In general, the academic discoursetends to present a more institutionalised, idealised and blindvision of social inequalit