Relationship-Specificity, Spatial Clustering and Production to Order Choice

We study the determinants of the firm-level choice to produce following an order placed by a downstream firm (production to order) or to produce in advance. We rationalize this choice through a simple theoretical model and apply it to a firm-level empirical analysis. Relying on a large dataset of Italian manufacturing firms, we show that two main variables affect this choice: the extent of spatial clustering of the industry, and the degree of product complexity and relationship-specificity of the goods that are traded. The sign of the impact of clustering on the choice of producing to order crucially depends on product complexity. If product complexity is high, production to order prevails when firms are clustered together. On the contrary, clustering is associated to production in advance for sectors where goods are standardized.

Supplier-Buyer Proximity and Production to Order Choice

We study the determinants of the firm-level choice to produce following an order placed by a downstream firm (production to order) or to produce in advance. We rationalize this choice through a simple theoretical model and apply it to a firm-level empirical analysis. Relying on a large panel of Italian manufacturing firms, we show that two main variables affect this choice: the distance between the supplier and the buyer and the degree of product differentiation in downstream industries where products are sold. The impact of proximity on the choice of producing to order crucially depends on the degree of product differentiation in downstream markets. We find that, in industries where average product differentiation is high, production to order prevails if the supplier is located close to the buyer. On the contrary, proximity is associated to production in advance in homogeneous sectors. We also find that, if suppliers are located in a different country from that of the buyers, they will tend to produce to order if product differentiation in downstream industries is low, and produce in advance if product differentiation is high. We also narrow the scope of our analysis to analyze the determinants of production to order originating from the same province where the supplier is located.Industrial Districts; Networks; Production to Order; Relationship-Specific Investments

Explaining the Size Distribution of Plants: An Approach Based on Civic Capital

We show that the distribution of plant size within narrowly defined industries is affected by the variation in the stock of civic capital that occurs at the provincial level. Data on plant size come from the 2001 Italian Census of Manufacturing and Services. Civic capital turns out to have a positive effect on both the average and the standard deviation of the plant size distribution. This effect is stronger in labor-intensive industries. The potential endogeneity of current civic capital is addressed by instrumenting it with historical variables. Our interpretation for these results is that civic capital is associated with reduced opportunistic behavior, which improves intra-firm cooperation and hampers the incidence of principal-agent problems, thus allowing plants to operate on a larger scale.

Foreign ownership, firm performance, and the geography of civic capital

It is well established in the literature that foreign affiliates are subject to a series of governance and assimilation costs that deteriorate their performance. This is particularly relevant for firms which have been recently acquired by foreign investors. We employ the variation in civic capital across Italian provinces as an exogenous determinant of these governance costs. We derive the testable implication that there should be a clean evidence of a negative effect of foreign ownership on performance in areas where civic capital is low. As the level of local civic capital increases, this reduces the scope for internal transaction costs, and makes the governance of foreign affiliates easier, and their performance better. We take this prediction to the data and find confirmation of our conceptual framework. Our analysis underlines the importance of the geographic heterogeneity of informal institutions when analyzing the effect of foreign ownership on firm performance.

Explaining the Size Distribution of Plants: An Approach Based on Civic Capital

We show that the distribution of plant size within narrowly defined industries is affected by the variation in the stock of civic capital that occurs at the provincial level. Data on plant size come from the 2001 Italian Census of Manufacturing and Services. Civic capital turns out to have a positive effect on both the average and the standard deviation of the plant size distribution. This effect is stronger in labor-intensive industries. The potential endogeneity of current civic capital is addressed by instrumenting it with historical variables. Our interpretation for these results is that civic capital is associated with reduced opportunistic behavior, which improves intra-firm cooperation and hampers the incidence of principal-agent problems, thus allowing plants to operate on a larger scal

Relationship-Specificity, Spatial Clustering and Production to Order Choice

We study the determinants of the firm-level choice to produce following an order placed by a downstream firm (production to order) or to produce in advance. We rationalize this choice through a simple theoretical model and apply it to a firm-level empirical analysis. Relying on a large dataset of Italian manufacturing firms, we show that two main variables affect this choice: the extent of spatial clustering of the industry, and the degree of product complexity and relationship-specificity of the goods that are traded. The sign of the impact of clustering on the choice of producing to order crucially depends on product complexity. If product complexity is high, production to order prevails when firms are clustered together. On the contrary, clustering is associated to production in advance for sectors where goods are standardized

Uncharged tRNA Activates GCN2 by Displacing the Protein Kinase Moiety from a Bipartite tRNA-Binding Domain

Protein kinase GCN2 regulates translation in amino acid–starved cells by phosphorylating eIF2. GCN2 contains a regulatory domain related to histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HisRS) postulated to bind multiple deacylated tRNAs as a general sensor of starvation. In accordance with this model, GCN2 bound several deacylated tRNAs with similar affinities, and aminoacylation of tRNAPhe weakened its interaction with GCN2. Unexpectedly, the C-terminal ribosome binding segment of GCN2 (C-term) was required in addition to the HisRS domain for strong tRNA binding. A combined HisRS+C-term segment bound to the isolated protein kinase (PK) domain in vitro, and tRNA impeded this interaction. An activating mutation (GCN2c-E803V) that weakens PK–C-term association greatly enhanced tRNA binding by GCN2. These results provide strong evidence that tRNA stimulates the GCN2 kinase moiety by preventing an inhibitory interaction with the bipartite tRNA binding domain

Simulation of Chlorine Decay in Water Distribution Networks Using EPANET – Case Study

Deterioration of water quality in distribution networks has a great impact on human health and public acceptance of tap water reaching them. Residual chlorine should be maintained through network pipes to prevent contamination and microbial regrowth. This paper investigates the ability of EPANET 2.0, a free software developed by United States Environment Protection Agency (USEPA), to simulate residual chlorine decay through water networks, taking water-age analyses into consideration, and assesses the feasibility of using it as a measuring and controlling tool to estimate and predict chlorine concentration at different water network points. A study was performed on drinking water network of 6th of October city, where field measurements were done, while data required as program inputs were taken from the daily records of the 6th of October and El-Shaikh Zayed WTPs. The network model was calibrated to minimize error in program results. Errors were evaluated using statistical analyses. The calculated concentrations by the calibrated model were very close to the actual concentrations measured in field at different sampling points for different sampling days. Moreover, EPANET showed that for the water network concerned in this study, chlorine concentrations at network extremities did not recede 0.5 mg/l, the minimum allowable limit established in the Egyptian Code of Practice (ECP), even for those points having water age greater than 24 hours. Keywords: chlorine decay, water quality, water distribution networks, EPANET, water-ag