Internationalisation, cultural distance and country characteristics: a Bayesian analysis of SME's financial performance

Relying on the accounting data of a panel of 403 Italian manufacturing SMEs collected over a period of 5 years, we find results suggesting that multinationality per se does not impact on the economic performance of international small and medium sized firms. It is the characteristics of the country selected i.e. the political hazard, the financial stability and the economic performance that significantly influence SMEs financial performance. The management implication for small and medium sized firms selecting and entering new geographic markets is significant, since our results show that for SMEs it is the market selection process that really matters and not the degree of multinationality

MAR-Mediated Dystrophin Expression in Mesoangioblasts for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Cell Therapy

A cornerstone of autologous cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the engineering of suitable cells to express dystrophin in a stable fashion upon differentiation to muscle fibers. Most viral transduction methods are typically restricted to the expression of truncated recombinant dystrophin derivatives and by the risk of insertional mutagenesis, while non-viral vectors often suffer from inefficient transfer, expression and/or silencing

Global Welfare Implications of Carbon Border Taxes

This paper presents a simple, basic model to compute the welfare consequences of the introduction of a tariff on the CO2 content of imported goods in a country that already imposes a domestic carbon tax. The main finding is that the introduction of a carbon import tariff increases global welfare (and not just the welfare of the importing country) if there is no (or insufficient) pricing of carbon abroad. A higher domestic price of carbon justifies a higher import tariff. Moreover, a higher relative intensity of carbon abroad increases the desirability of high import tariff imposed by the home country because a border tax shifts production to the importing country, which in this case leads to lower environmental costs. If both instruments are used to maximise global welfare, the optimal domestic price for carbon should be higher than the external effects (assuming that there is no carbon pricing in the rest of the world) and the optimal tariff rate would be somewhat lower than the domestic carbon price. If the importing country has a fixed ceiling on emissions instead of a constant carbon price (as provided under the EU's Emissions Trading System), an import tariff is always beneficial from a global point of view and its imposition lowers the price of domestic allowances, but less than proportionally

Franchise Business Development Model: Theoretical Considerations

Franchising is not a popular business development form in Lithuania. Only 0.02% of all Lithuanian companies use franchising for business development, while in most of the developed countries franchise is recognized as a convenient business expansion form. So, what factors determine such differences in the use of franchising? Analysis of related literature showed, that mainly researchers analyse some aspects of franchising, however there is no systematized analysis which covers all the main franchise development elements. Therefore, the aim of this article is to systematize franchise business development phases, main elements and factors, influencing this process and to propose a theoretical franchise system development model. Thus, theoretical considerations about the main phases and elements of franchise system development as well as advantages and disadvantages of the system are analysed in the article. These theoretical considerations are generalized in theoretical franchise system development model, which shows, that development of franchise business consists of particular steps, starting from favourable conditions for the system to emerge; intention and ability of franchisor to form franchise based on his business; the establishment and initial development of franchise system; and its further functioning. The article does not test the model and even does not discuss the operationalization of it. Operationalization of the model as well as empirical evidence is presented by the authors in the forthcoming articles

International trade and domestic competition: Evidence from Belgium

We investigate the effect of domestic market competition on firm-level export intensity. We employ a comprehensive dataset of Belgian firms from 2005–2008, when the fall in the number of firms engaged in trade was accompanied by a growing amount of transactions. The resulting increase in the domestic concentration of Belgian firms has sparked numerous debates, since the direction of causality between domestic market structure and export performance is unclear. We apply the fractional logit estimator and control for both self-selection and simultaneity bias. We find that a positive linkage exists between the level of competition and export intensity

Ketahanan Sumberdaya Genetik Jagung Sulawesi Tenggara terhadap Cekaman Kekeringan pada Berbagai Fase Vegetatif

Maize crops experiencing water stress can experience cell damage, loss of turgor, closed stomata, plant leaf roll then wilt. Germination and vegetative growth are thought to be a very sensitive phases in relation to the availability of water, because it can influence subsequent growth processes. This study aimed to determine the potential tolerance of Southeast Sulawesi\u27s maize genotypes to drought stress at different vegetative growth phases. This study was based on completely randomized design (CRD) with factorial pattern consisting of two factors: the first factor composed of 9 local maize genotypes of Southeast Sulawesi and 1 national variety (cv. Arjuna), while the second factor was drought stress at different vegetative growth phases, consisting of four levels ie: C0 = plants irrigated with 100 % water availability during the growth phase, C1 = Stress for 5 days , at 21-26 days old (vegetative phase), C2 = Stress for 5 days starting at panicle emergence (early flowering stage), and C3 = Stress for 5 days starting 2 weeks after silking. Research results showed that Genotype (G) treatment significantly influenced all observed growth variables (at age 21 and 42 days after planting, DAP), except for the variable of number of leaf, age 21 DAP. However, water stress treatment (C) only significantly affected plant height variable, at the age of 42 DAP. In general, G6 and G7 genotypes tended to have a higher crop and trunk diameter than the other genotypes. Contrary, G3 genotype tended to have shorter crop and smaller stem diameter than the other genotypes. There are indications that the drought stress treatment (C) significantly inhibited the growth of maize crops

Prevalence and clinical significance of collateral findings detected by chest computed tomography in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation

Aims Chest computed tomography (CT) scanning is increasingly used as an imaging technique in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation. Chest CT scans visualize organs other than the heart and collateral findings may be identified incidentally. Our study aims to assess the prevalence and clinical relevance of such collateral findings in patients undergoing AF ablation. Methods and results One hundred and seventy-three patients (127 males, age 59 +/- 10 years) underwent chest CT scan for image integration in AF ablation. Collateral findings from visualized thoracic and upper abdominal organs were collected. Findings that required further investigations or treatment according to current guidelines were considered as clinically significant. A total of 164 collateral findings were identified in 97 (56%) patients, and most patients showed abnormalities of the lungs (67 patients, 39%). Forty-nine (28%) patients had clinically significant findings needing further investigation and 17 (10%) of them required specific treatments, including three cases (1.7%) of lung malignancy. Conclusions Chest CT images acquired for integration in AF ablation should be read thoroughly as they may serve as a screening tool for otherwise unrecognized clinically significant conditions of the heart, lungs, or other visualized organs

The Growing Culture Of A Minimally Fluoroscopic Approach In Electrophysiology Lab

Most of interventional procedures in cardiology are carried out under fluoroscopic imaging guidance. Besides other peri-interventional risks, radiation exposure should be considered for its stochastic (inducing malignancy) and deterministic effects on health (tissue reactions like erythema, hair loss and cataracts). In this article we analized the radiation risk from cardiovascular imaging to both patients and medical staff and discusses how customize the X-ray system and how to implement shielding measures in the cath lab. Finally, we reviewed the most recent developments and the latest findings in catheter navigation and 3D electronatomical mapping systems that may help to reduce patient and operator exposure

The Roles of Fiscal Rules, Fiscal Councils and Fiscal Union in EU Integration

EU-level fiscal rules have not been able to prevent the large-scale accumulation of government debt in many eurozone countries. One explanation was major flaws in the rules. Some of these flaws have now been corrected. But the failure of the rules depended also on fundamental problems of time inconsistency. The same time-inconsistency problems that the rules were designed to address also apply to the rules themselves. Fiscal councils may be subject to less of such problems than rules. Still it is unlikely that a monetary union where bail-outs of governments are part of the system is viable in the long run. The sustainability of the euro may require a restoration of the no-bail-out clause and a strengthening of the banking union in ways that would allow it to cope with the financial repercussions that could arise from allowing government bankruptcies