EVIDENCE ON THE ROLE OF OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE ON FIRMS’ INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE

Based on the Knowledge Production Function framework given by Griliches (1979), we slightly modify it so that the innovative output depends upon a set of factors related to the firm internal characteristics and are influenced by the environment. Specifically, regarding the firm internal determinants the effect of the concentration of the ownership, the composition of the boards of directors and the effect of the nature of the ownership (foreign and public) are analyzed. Additionally, in order to capture the determinants of the environment in which the firm operates other variables concerning the internationalization of market, the agglomeration economies and the regional knowledge externalities are also considered. In order to assess the impact of these determinants on the number of patents and models of use awarded by the firm, the discreteness of the latter variable has to be taken into account. We apply Poisson and Negative Binomial models for a more comprehensive evaluation of the hypothesis in a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms. The results show patenting activity is positively favoured by being located in an environment with a high innovative activity, due to the existence of knowledge spillovers and agglomeration economies.Knowledge production function, patents, R&D, ownership, regions

FIRM COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF SURVIVAL - THE SPANISH CASE

This paper, based on the ideas of Jovanovic’s theory (1982), analyses the impact of the main strategies determining the competitive behaviour of firms on their survival rate. We consider those strategies related both to product and price differentiation. Among the former ones, one may think of the specific differentiation due to advertisement and patent expenses or the technological differentiation based on R&D expenses or new production processes. Among the strategies of the second group, some are based on capital accumulation, or advantages of fixed costs such as scale economies or absolute cost advantages thanks to production techniques introduced by experience of by process innovations. The use of these strategies in a set of Spanish manufacturing firms (1990-2001) is analyzed. Firstly, several non-parametric tests for equality of survival functions are computed to check the diversity of survival rates across different competitive characteristics of firms. Secondly, a duration model based on a hazard rate model is estimated to study the impact of the main competitive strategies on firm survival. We find that several aspects on the competitive advantage of the firms play an important role in the likelihood of firm survival. Finally, we also conclude that there exists a different competitive strategy having into account two different size groups of firms.

Ownership Structure and Innovation: Is There a Real Link?

This work intends to analyse the influence that several aspects internal to the firm have on the firms? innovative output. Although the theoretical model is based in the literature on innovation, it pays special attention on the impact of ownership structure, as stated by the theory of the agent. We test different hypothesis related to variables which explain how the ownership structure adopted by a firm can lead into different innovative efforts, a topic which has barely been studied so far. We are especially interested in considering the type of control in the firm (national or international), the group of control in the decision making process (owner or contracted managers) and the financing structure. The analysis is made for a sample of Spanish firms given by the Survey of Entrepreneurial Strategies, an annual survey that provides information on Spanish manufacturing firms from 1990 to 1999.

Rpd3L and Hda1 histone deacetylases facilitate repair of broken forks by promoting sister chromatid cohesion

Genome stability involves accurate replication and DNA repair. Broken replication forks, such as those encountering a nick, lead to double strand breaks (DSBs), which are preferentially repaired by sister-chromatid recombination (SCR). To decipher the role of chromatin in eukaryotic DSB repair, here we analyze a collection of yeast chromatin-modifying mutants using a previously developed system for the molecular analysis of repair of replication-born DSBs by SCR based on a mini-HO site. We confirm the candidates through FLP-based systems based on a mutated version of the FLP flipase that causes nicks on either the leading or lagging DNA strands. We demonstrate that Rpd3L and Hda1 histone deacetylase (HDAC) complexes contribute to the repair of replication-born DSBs by facilitating cohesin loading, with no effect on other types of homology-dependent repair, thus preventing genome instability. We conclude that histone deacetylation favors general sister chromatid cohesion as a necessary step in SCR

Revisión de las metodologías en la enseñanza de ELE en EE.UU

El siguiente trabajo analiza algunos aspectos del actual sistema educativo de Estados Unidos y las metodologías usadas para impartir el idioma de español como segunda lengua en un colegio de inmersión lingüística. Basándose en dichas metodologías se diseña una unidad didáctica que permita al alumnado aprender aspectos de la cultura española y del idioma.Grado en Educación Primari

Una modelización para los accidentes de trabajo en España y Andalucía

El aumento de la siniestralidad laboral en los últimos años ha coincidido, de una parte, con un período de crecimiento económico y, de otra de una serie de factores entre los que se encuentra el cambio normativo producido en el año 1995, tras la aprobación de la Ley 31/1995 de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales. En este trabajo se analiza el comportamiento de las series anuales: accidentes de trabajo en España (1977 – 2002) y accidentes de trabajo en Andalucía (1985 – 2002), se realizan previsiones futuras y se discute sobre la influencia de la Ley 31/1995 de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales. Y además, se observan simultáneamente un grupo de variables, con el objeto de analizar posibles relaciones y su evolución conjunta.The increase of accidents at work in recent years has coincided, on the one hand, with a period of economic growth and, on the other hand, with a series of factors including the regulatory change developed in 1995, after the passing of Law 31/1995 on the Labour Risk Prevention. In this work, the performance of annual series of data is analysed: work accidents in Spain (1977-2002) and work accidents in Andalusia (1985-2002); future projections are made and the influence of Law 31/1995 on the Labour Risk Prevention is debated. Furthermore, a group of variables are observed simultaneously in order to analyse possible relations and their co-evolution

Changing family models in Spain: the impact of the sociodemographic factors

Abstract During the last few decades, there has been an increasing international recognition of the studies related to the analysis of the family models change, the focus being the determinants of the female employment and the problems related to the work family balance (Lewis, 2001; Petit & Hook, 2005Saraceno, Crompton & Lyonette, 20062008; Pfau-Effinger, 2012). The majority of these studies have been focused on the analysis of the work-family balance problems as well as the effectiveness of the family and gender policies in order to encourage female employment (Korpi et al., 2013). In Spain, special attention has been given to the family policies implemented, the employability of women and on the role of the father in the family (Flaquer et al., 2015; Meil, 2015); however, there has been far less emphasis on the analysis of the family cultural models (González and Jurado, 2012; Crespi and Moreno, 2016). The purpose of this paper is to present some of the first results on the influence of the socio-demographic factors on the expectations and attitudes about the family models. This study offers an analytical reflection upon the foundation of the determinants of the family ambivalence in Spain from the cultural and the institutional dimension. This study shows the Spanish family models of preferences following the Pfau-Effinger (2004) classification of the famiy living arrangements. The reason for this study is twofold; on the one hand, there is confirmed the scarcity of studies that have focused their attention on this objective in Spain; on the other hand, the studies carried out in the international context have confirmed the analytical effectiveness of researching on the attitude and value changes to explain the meaning and trends of the family changes. There is also presented some preliminary results that have been obtained from the multinomial analysis related to the influence of the socio-demographic factors on the family model chosen by the individuals in Spain (father and mother working full time; mother part-time father full-time; mother not at work father full-time; mother and father part-time). 3 The database used has been the International Social Survey Programme: Family and Changing Gender Roles IV- ISSP 2012-. Spain is the only country of South Europe that has participated in the survey. For this reason it has been considered as a representative case study.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Modelling the Degree of Emotional Concern: COVID-19 Response in Social Media

The massive impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has left no one indifferent, becoming an unprecedented challenge. The use of protections such as sanitary masks has become increasingly common, restrictions in our daily lives, such as social distancing or confinements, have had serious consequences on the economy and our welfare state. Although the measures imposed throughout the world follow the same pattern, they have been applied with different criteria depending on the country. Over extended periods of time, people tend to change their perception of an event and its magnitude, or in other words, they stop being so concerned despite the seriousness of the matter. In this paper, we introduce a new metric to quantify the degree of emotional concern of people being affected by a topic, and we confirm how populations from different countries follow this trend of downplaying the effect of the pandemic and reach a state of indifference. To do this, we propose a method to analyze the social media stream over time extracting the different emotional states from the Russel Circumplex plane and computing the shifting created by the tragic event—the pandemic. We complete this metric by incorporating searching behavior to reflect not only push contents but also pull inquiries. The resulting metric establishes a relationship between the pandemic and the emotional response by defining the degree of Emotional Concern. Although the method can be applied to any location with a significant and varied amount of geo-localized social media streams, the scope of this paper covers the most representative cities in Europe

Ownership structure and innovation: Is there a real link

This work focuses on the study of the relationship between ownership and control structure of the company and its innovative activity. Its aim consists of analysing the role that may be played by determinants within the company related to ownership structure when the decision to incur research and development activities is taken as well as on the output of this innovative process. Among these determinants we may think of issues such as who owns the firm and how the control of decision-making is distributed, the nature of this control and the level of concentration of ownership, among others. The study is carried out for the year 2001 using a representative sample of Spanish manufacturing industries.ownership and control structure, agency theory, research and development