Spinoffs and Entrepreneurial Talent

Spinoffs firms are an important source of industry dynamics and innovation. While an emerging body of literature identifies strategic disagreements and ideas as determinants of spinoffs, neither of them can completely explain the spinoff process. Mere disagreements or brilliant flashes of ideas do not always lead to spinoffs. This study brings individual level determinants at the forefront in spinoff formation. Based on insights from the occupational choice theory, we argue that spinoff process is a distinctive class of entrepreneurial entrants and entrepreneurial talent is a major determinant in formation of spinoffs. Entrepreneurial talent modulates the impact of strategic disagreements and ideas on the decision to spiSpinoffs, Entrepreneurship, Occupational choice, Disagreements

Market dynamics and policy reforms in the EU olive oil industry: An exploratory assessment

Available information indicates that the future competitive scenario for EU olive oil will be shaped by the market dynamics and business strategies, and the ongoing agricultural and trade policy reforms (CAP reform, WTO Doha Round negotiations, regional and bilateral trade agreements). Based on this premise, the purpose of this contribution is to present an overall evaluation of the market change and policy reform processes affecting the EU olive oil sector, pointing out the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that can be associated to their present and expected evolution. The analysis is performed with a systemic approach to market and policy changes, under the general hypothesis that these are governed by a series of economic and regulatory factors on which there is little empirical evidence or which still are subject of public debate whose outcomes are not clear. It is also assumed that while some of these factors act on a global level, others may vary across countries and even within countries amongst different players, which means that there is a wide spectrum of possible strategies and courses of action for the future. The information used is gathered through a combination of secondary sources and primary data from consultations with a representative group of key informants in olive oil policy and markets.Globalisation, market dynamics, business strategies, agricultural and trade policy reform, EU olive oil, SWOT analysis, Agribusiness,

Blood-Flow Modelling Along and Trough a Braided Multi-Layer Metallic Stent

In this work we study the hemodynamics in a stented artery connected either to a collateral artery or to an aneurysmal sac. The blood flow is driven by the pressure drop. Our aim is to characterize the flow-rate and the pressure in the contiguous zone to the main artery: using boundary layer theory we construct a homogenized first order approximation with respect to epsilon, the size of the stent's wires. This provides an explicit expression of the velocity profile through and along the stent. The profile depends only on the input/output pressure data of the problem and some homogenized constant quantities: it is explicit. In the collateral artery this gives the flow-rate. In the case of the aneurysm, it shows that : (i) the zeroth order term of the pressure in the sac equals the averaged pressure along the stent in the main artery, (ii) the presence of the stent inverses the rotation of the vortex. Extending the tools set up in [Bonnetier et al, Adv. Math. Fluids, 2009, Milisic, Meth. Apl. Ann., 2009] we prove rigorously that our asymptotic approximation is first order accurate with respect to . We derive then new implicit interface conditions that our approximation formally satisfies, generalizing our analysis to other possible geometrical configurations. In the last part we provide numerical results that illustrate and validate the theoretical approach

Heuristics for constructing while loops

AbstractWe discuss the stepwise construction of iterative programs from specifications, represented by relations. We make an effort to isolate, in the construction of an iterative program, those decisions that are dictated by correctness preservation concerns, from decisions that the programmer is free to make at will

Organizational Synergy, Dissonance and Spinoffs

Spinoff firms are exceptional performers across industries. The causes for the emergence of spinoff firms are widely investigated in the literature. However, the role of teams for spinoffs has received little scholarly attention. On one hand, talented individuals may find it necessary to team up with others to utilize complementary knowledge and generate synergies. On the other hand, some types of team production environments may have dissonance and motivate individuals to leave the team. The present study demonstrates that organizational synergies and dissonance can be incorporated into appropriate specifications of team production functions. This framework explains the necessity to form a team, stability of teams, and the emergence of different types of spinoffs depending on specific organizational arrangements.Organizational synergy, Production functions, Spinoffs

An exploration of international challenges facing wine sector in Spain

International competitiveness of Spanish and European wines is faced by growing supply, decreasing domestic demand, declining public support, and rising competition from New World producers. Resolving the wine competitiveness crisis will require restructuring processes in production and innovative strategies in trade, particularly external trade. The purpose of this paper is to explore main current and future developments affecting the global wine market and their implications from a Spanish expert viewpoint. After identifying the world wine market’s main features and conditioning regulatory factors, a prospective analysis of international trade and its expected effects on export strategies of the Spanish wine operators is carried out, using a two-stage surveying process accomplished with a representative expert group from different professional backgrounds. Broadly, results indicate that while several tendencies experienced over the last decade will be maintained and/or intensified during the coming years, the major drivers of wine trade and competitiveness will increasingly relate to the role of emerging consumer countries, quality and demand-driven attributes, product differentiation and promotional marketing.wine markets, export prospects, export strategies, Spain., Agricultural and Food Policy,

Program Repair by Stepwise Correctness Enhancement

Relative correctness is the property of a program to be more-correct than another with respect to a given specification. Whereas the traditional definition of (absolute) correctness divides candidate program into two classes (correct, and incorrect), relative correctness arranges candidate programs on the richer structure of a partial ordering. In other venues we discuss the impact of relative correctness on program derivation, and on program verification. In this paper, we discuss the impact of relative correctness on program testing; specifically, we argue that when we remove a fault from a program, we ought to test the new program for relative correctness over the old program, rather than for absolute correctness. We present analytical arguments to support our position, as well as an empirical argument in the form of a small program whose faults are removed in a stepwise manner as its relative correctness rises with each fault removal until we obtain a correct program.Comment: In Proceedings PrePost 2016, arXiv:1605.0809