Quines empreses han aguantat millor la crisi, les empreses familiars o les no familiars?

En aquest estudi es porta a terme un anàlisi comparatiu sobre l’evolució de l’estructura econòmica i financera que presenten les empreses familiars i no familiars de Catalunya en un context d’intensa crisi econòmica. La seva finalitat és poder donar resposta a dos qüestions principals: identificar les característiques diferencials de l’EF respecte a l’EnF i comprovar si aquestes característiques diferencials han permès a les EF aguantar millor la crisi econòmica

The influence of the CEO in listed family businesses

Purpose: Our objective is to analyze the influence that the type of CEO has on the management of listed family businesses in Spain, distinguishing between whether the CEO is a family member or not. The study mainly focuses on his/her influence on levels of profitability. Design/methodology: During de period from, 2012 to 2016, with data coming from Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis System (SABI) database. To analyze the effects of the CEOs on family businesses, we carried out two kinds of analyses. First, a univariate analysis that allowed us to identify differences regarding profitability, financial structure, growth, and dividend payout policies, and secondly, a linear regression model to see the influence—as well as the effect and significance—that variables, including the type CEO, had on profitability. Findings: Our results show the existence of a double effect on the profitability of family businesses of having an outside CEO. First, there is a statistically significant negative effect that is derived from the non-family CEOs’ increased propensity to take on debt, and secondly, there is a positive causal effect on businesses’ profitability that has to do with the different management styles that outside CEOs bring to the table, as they are more focused on profits. The results support the importance of having non-family CEOs in listed family businesses in Spain. Research limitations/implications: Our study focused on family businesses listed on the Spanish stock market, which means that the number of companies that were analyzed was reduced and the results cannot be extended to other kinds of businesses. However, this fact did enable us to get more high-quality data and focus on a specific field that was appropriate for considering the problem we proposed. Originality/value: While many studies have compared the performance of family businesses with that of non-family businesses, few have considered that family businesses are not homogeneous and that they have different management styles. And, These styles are determined by the type of CEO that is leading the company; this fact is analyzed empirically in this article.This work was supported by The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Research Project ECO2016-79392-P; and the Institute of Social and Territorial Development (INDEST)

Productivity and value added distribution in family-owned businesses

Objective: Identify similarities and/or differences in the distribution of Value Added characterizing family businesses as opposed to non-family held firms, and analyse productivity by linking the distribution of the wealth generated by the company to a variety of related agents or stakeholders (employees, providers of loan capital, and shareholders). Design/methodology: A data series consisting of VA distribution in a sample of 8,609 Spanish companies, of which 5,109 are family firms and another 3,500 companies which are not, for the period comprising 2008 to 2013 was employed for this study. The data from the financial statements pertaining to these companies was taken from the SABI system (a privately-funded database analysing the financials of Spanish and Portuguese firms, operated by INFORMA, SA), selecting only those companies that employ standardized financial reporting practices. Findings and results: The work shows the existence of significant differences between family and non-family businesses in the distribution of value added among the different stakeholders. Given that, although both types of company spend most of the value added to remunerate staff, the family company spends a higher proportion thereof on self-financing as compared to non-family businesses, which spend a higher percentage on the remuneration of firm ownership. On the other hand, the lower labour productivity of family businesses is apparent, a result that can be explained both by the lower staff monetary remuneration, as well as the use of production technologies that are also less capital-intensive. Limitations: The study included only medium and large companies. These are companies that report financial statements offering more disaggregated data (through use of the standard forms). This owes to the legal requirement of these companies to file a cash flow statement, a necessary source for deriving information on dividends paid by the company. Added value: This is the first study in which the workings of added value are used to analyse the presence of measurable management differences in a large sample of companies using family ownership as the main criteria for differentiation

Allocating educational resources through happiness maximization and traditional CSP approach

This is an electronic version of the paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Software and Data Technologies, held in Sofia on 2009An instance of an Educational Resources Allocation (ERA) problem is the distribution of a set of students in different laboratories. This can be a complex and dynamic problem if non-quantitative considerations (i.e. how close the final allocation is to the student preferences or desires) are involved in the decision process. Traditionally, different approaches based on Constraint-Satisfaction techniques and Multi-agent negotiation have been applied to the general problem of Resource Allocation. This paper shows how a Multi-agent approach can be used to model and simulate the assignment of sets of students to several predefined laboratories, by using their preferences to guide the allocation process. This approach aims at finding new solutions that try to satisfy individual student needs with no knowledge about the general allocation problem. The paper shows some experimental results and a comparison, between a CSP-based solution modeled in CHOCO, a CSP Java-based library, and a Multi-agent model implemented using MASON, a multi-agent simulation platform.This work has been supported by research projects TIN2007-65989 and TIN2007-64718. We also thank IBM for its support to the Linux Reference Cente

The impact of veterinary medicine and animal husbandry on the biophysical characteristics of soils in neotropical agroecosystems

Los agroecosistemas neotropicales son áreas importantes en el escenario mundial en términos de producción ganadera. Por lo tanto, una buena conservación de sus suelos es crucial para garantizar la inocuidad de los alimentos y reducir el impacto de los procesos de degradación de la tierra. La conservación de los suelos neotropicales utilizados para las actividades agropecuarias podría obtenerse utilizando la medicina veterinaria y adoptando nuevos sistemas de pastoreo en los últimos decenios. Se realizó una amplia revisión bibliográfica que ilustra las cuestiones actuales de los agroecosistemas neotropicales, la importancia de sus propiedades del suelo, destacando el papel que desempeñan los escarabajos peloteros dentro de la edafofauna, y los efectos de las prácticas antiparasitarias más comunes, así como algunas alternativas naturales. Por último, presentamos los sistemas de pastoreo adoptados comúnmente y cómo están afectando a las propiedades del suelo y al bienestar de los animales. La conversión de bosques en tierras agrícolas y de pastoreo está alterando la calidad bioquímica de los suelos. Además, el uso de la ivermectina está reduciendo peligrosamente la cantidad total de escarabajos peloteros que son un elemento clave en los procesos de reciclaje de nutrientes. La aplicación de nuevos sistemas de pastoreo (por ejemplo, Voisin, Savory) está fragmentando progresivamente el hábitat de muchas especies. No obstante, también hay algunos beneficios en este tipo de prácticas y se están probando algunas alternativas naturales a los antihelmínticos.The neotropical agroecosystems are important areas in the global scene in terms of livestock production. Therefore, a good conservation of their soils is crucial in order to both guarantee food safety and reduce the impact of land degradation processes. Conservation of neotropical soils used for farming activities could be obtained using veterinary medicine and adopting new grazing systems in the last decades. A wide bibliographical review was carried out which illustrates current issues in neotropical agroecosystems, the importance of their soil properties highlighting the role played by dung beetles within the edaphofauna, and the effects of the most common anti-parasitic practices as well as some natural alternatives. Finally, we present commonly adopted grazing systems and how they are affecting soil properties and animal welfare. The conversion of forest into agricultural and pasture land is altering the biochemical quality of soils. Furthermore, the use of ivermectin is dangerously reducing the total amount of dung beetles that are a key element in nutrient recycling processes. The implementation of new grazing systems (e.g., Voisin, Savory) is progressively fragmenting the habitat of many species. Nevertheless, there are also some benefits in this kind of practices and some natural alternatives to anthelmintics are being tested.• Comisión Europea, IRSES FP7. Proyecto de investigación EcoDrypeerReviewe

TOURISTS’ MEANING OF SUSTAINABILITY AS A TOOL FOR SEGMENTATION. A BIOSPHERE RESERVE CASE STUDY

This paper provides empirical evidence on the potential use of the meaning of sustainability for the tourist in segmentation studies. The analysis has been applied to a nature destination, specifically, in the “Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas” Biosphere Reserve. In the first place, this research identifies, through a cluster analysis, three segments of tourists based on what the tourist considers sustainability to be (level of knowledge and commitment, as well as its implications for the destination), analyzing for each segment their sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables and their willingness to pay to improve the sustainability of destinations. The results show that it is possible to identify one or several segments of demand that show different levels of commitment, attitude, knowledge and/or behavior towards sustainability and calculate the amount of money that each segment is willing to pay to visit a more sustainable destination. This research shows, however, that more than 70% of those surveyed are not willing to pay more to achieve a more sustainable destination, the reasons being very diverse, but, in any case, no significant differences being identified between the segments with respect to this question. The study concludes by discussing the potential of using the meaning of sustainability for the tourist as an important segmentation tool, aimed at facilitating the change towards a more sustainable tourism behavior, and allowing the design of pro-sustainable strategies and policies in tourist destinations

SPOC: A widely distributed domain associated with cancer, apoptosis and transcription

BACKGROUND: The Split ends (Spen) family are large proteins characterised by N-terminal RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) and a conserved SPOC (Spen paralog and ortholog C-terminal) domain. The aim of this study is to characterize the family at the sequence level. RESULTS: We describe undetected members of the Spen family in other lineages (Plasmodium and Plants) and localise SPOC in a new domain context, in a family that is common to all eukaryotes using profile-based sequence searches and structural prediction methods. CONCLUSIONS: The widely distributed DIO (Death inducer-obliterator) family is related to cancer and apoptosis and offers new clues about SPOC domain functionality

Hydroxytyrosol Supplementation Modifies Plasma Levels of Tissue Inhibitor of Metallopeptidase 1 in Women with Breast Cancer

The etiology of breast cancer can be very different. Most antineoplastic drugs are not selective against tumor cells and also affect normal cells, leading to a wide variety of adverse reactions such as the production of free radicals by altering the redox state of the organisms. Therefore, the objective of this study was to elucidate if hydroxytyrosol (HT) (an antioxidant present in extra virgin olive oil) has a chemomodulatory effect when combined with the chemotherapeutic drugs epirubicin and cyclophosphamide followed by taxanes in breast cancer patients. Changes in plasma levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) throughout the chemotherapy treatment were studied. Both molecules are involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, neoangiogenesis, and metastasis in breast cancer patients. Women with breast cancer were divided into two groups: a group of patients receiving a dietary supplement of HT and a control group of patients receiving placebo. The results showed that the plasma levels of TIMP-1 in the group of patients receiving HT were significantly lower than those levels found in the control group after the epirubicin-cyclophosphamide chemotherapy.This research was funded by Junta de Andalucía, Spain, Servicio Andaluz de Salud: Subvenciones para la financiacion de la Investigación, Desarrollo, e Innovación Biomédica en Ciencias de la Salud en Biomedicina, Grant number PI-0695-2012

Evaluación Económica y Financiera de los Canales de Distribución y Comercialización de Ayurveda Company S.A.S.

Trabajo de InvestigaciónAnálisis económico y financiero de la compañía Ayurveda Company S.A.S. en sus canales de distribución con recomendaciones.INTRODUCCIÓN 1. FUNDAMENTOS TEÓRICOS 2. DIAGNÓSTICO DE LA SITUACIÓN ACTUAL 3. PROPUESTA DE INVESTIGACIÓN BIBLIOGRAFÍA ANEXOSEspecializaciónEspecialista en Análisis y Administración Financier