La subcontratación de servicios y su impacto sobre el rendimiento en el marco del proyecto internacional HPM

Texto completo descargado desde TeseoLos elevados niveles de competencia alcanzados en la economía global están propiciando en todo el mundo que las empresas analicen la manera de optimizar sus procesos de fabricación al máximo. Una vía para ello consiste en acudir a la subcontratación ya que ha sido señalada como uno de los factores clave para la mejora del rendimiento financiero de las compañías. Por otra parte, las empresas manufactureras están incorporando cada vez más servicios en sus actividades y productos. Las actividades de servicio pueden llegar a representar hasta el 75% de los costes totales de una empresa manufacturera y un 50% o más del valor añadido. Consideramos que esto, unido a lo comentado, es lo que permite a algunos autores señalar que, la subcontratación de servicios empresariales dentro de la cadena de suministro, se está convirtiendo en un elemento de gran importancia dentro de la adquisición de recursos externos. La subcontratación de servicios es precisamente el núcleo central de nuestra de Tesis Doctoral. Ello ha sido analizado desde diferentes perspectivas que se agrupan en dos bloques. Por una parte, en el primer bloque de esta tesis nos centramos en los efectos financieros que la subcontratación de servicios tiene en las empresas. En este contexto trataremos de responder dos cuestiones de investigación. La primera de ellas es discernir si las diferentes estrategias de subcontratación de servicios influyen en el rendimiento financiero de las empresas (objetivo 1). Es decir, si el cómo, y no solo el cuanto se subcontrata, tiene efectos financieros en las empresas, y de qué tipo serian. La segunda cuestión que abordaremos en este primer bloque es la determinación de la relación entre el nivel de subcontratación de servicios y el rendimiento financiero. ¿Es de tipo lineal o curvilínea? (objetivo 2). En el segundo bloque de esta tesis tratamos de resolver cuestiones de investigación relacionadas con un caso especial de subcontratación de servicios. Concretamente nos centramos en la subcontratación de servicios logísticos. Ello se debe a que la subcontratación de servicios logísticos se encuentra entre las actividades más frecuentemente subcontratadas. En relación a este tipo de subcontratación de servicios son los objetivos que nos planteamos. El primero de ellos persigue realizar una propuesta de indicadores que permita medir el rendimiento de la subcontratación de servicios logísticos independientemente del sector al que pertenezca la empresa que subcontrata, tomando en consideración tanto aspectos operativos como financieros y que aporten una métrica clara de cada indicador (objetivo 3). Ello es considerado un tema de gran importancia. El segundo de los objetivos de este bloque es establecer, de forma empírica y para la subcontratación de servicios logísticos, los patrones de interacción que se muestran efectivos en la relación entre el cliente y el proveedor en subcontratación de servicios logísticos (objetivo 4), ya que se considera un determinante importante de los resultados, existiendo una escasez de trabajos empíricos en esta área. El estudio empírico desarrollado en este bloque se enmarca dentro del proyecto Internacional High Performance Manufacturing (HPM) (Fabricación de Alto Rendimiento). Los principales resultados muestran que, por un parte, la estrategia de subcontratación de servicios es determinante para los rendimientos financieros y que la relación entre estas dos variables es de forma curvilinea. Por otra se ha propuesto un sistema de evaluación del éxito para la subcontratación de servicios logísticos y se ha confirmado que los patrones de interacción testados influyen en el éxito del proceso y los resultados del mismo

Could the ease of doing business be considered a predictor of countries' socio-economic wealth? An empirical analysis using pls-sem

The wealth of nations differs significantly due to different factors. One of the reasons identified by previous studies is the level of entrepreneurship promotion by governments. This aspect has scarcely been studied empirically to date. Therefore, this paper sheds some light on this regard through building a construct out of ten Ease of Doing Business Index (EDBI) measures developed by the World Bank and relating it with a construct shaped by two measures of socio-economic wealth (SEW), namely gross domestic product and the Human Development Index. To this end, we conduct a structural equation model analysis using partial least squares (PLS-SEM) method with a 2018 database comprising secondary data from 190 countries. As the main contribution of this study, the results show that good performance in the EDBI ranking predicts good performance in the SEW ranking. Additionally, this study is pioneer in the use of these rankings to build composite constructs (latent variables) and relate them. For these reasons, our findings are useful for both academia and governments responsible for promoting entrepreneurship, as this latter is identified as the key enabler of economic development

Success Factors in Peer-to-Business (P2B) Crowdlending: A Predictive Approach

Peer-to-Business (P2B) crowdlending is gaining importance among companies seeking funding. However, not all projects get the same take-up by the crowd. Thus, this study aims to determine the key factors that drive non-professional investors to choose a given loan in an online environment. To this purpose, we have analyzed 243 crowdlending campaigns on October.eu platform. We have obtained a series of variables from the analyzed loans using logistic regression. Results indicate that loan amount, loan term and overall credit rating are the key predictors of non-professional lender P2B crowdlending success. These findings may be useful for predicting whether the crowd will subscribe to a loan request or not. This information would help businesses to modify specific loan characteristics (if possible) to make their loans more attractive or could even lead companies to consider a different financial option. It could also help platforms select and adapt project parameters to secure their success

Bail-In: a sustainable mechanism for rescuing banks

Until the Great Recession, rescuing banks with taxpayers’ money had been the preferred way to deal with banking crises. The dramatic effects of these practices on the real economy highlighted that bailouts are not a sustainable method to resolve troubled banks going forward. As a result, a new regulatory framework has been proposed, forcing the financial industry to move from “bailout” to “bail-in.” Understanding the implications of such a change is key to ensuring the success of these new banking rules. This article aims to build up a comprehensive and unbiased set of research articles in order to draw conclusions about the current status of the academic literature in the field of capital and loss absorption requirements. A research agenda on the topic is also proposed. The methodological approach undertaken is based on ProKnow-C (Knowledge Development Process-Constructivist). We also contribute to the development of Proknow-C methodology by adding a cross-reference extension to the original framework. The results of our analysis point out that further research has to be undertaken on the subject of loss absorption requirements

Relationship Amongst Technology Use, Work Overload, and Psychological Detachment from Work

Permanent connection to the work world as a result of new technologies raises the possibility of workday extensions and excessive workloads. The present study addresses the relationship between technology and psychological detachment from work resulting from work overload. Participants were 313 professionals from the health sector who responded to three instruments used in similar studies. Through PLS-SEM, regression and dependence analyses were developed, and through the bootstrapping method, significance of factor loadings, path coefficients and variances were examined. Results of the study corroborate a negative effect of technology use on psychological detachment from work and a positive correlation between technology and work overload. Additionally, there is a significant indirect effect of technology on psychological detachment from work as a result of work overload. Findings extend the literature related to the stressor-detachment model, and support the idea that workers who are often connected to their jobs by technological tools are less likely to reach adequate psychological detachment levels. Implications for the academic community and practitioners are discusse

Fuzzy Logic and Its Uses in Finance: A Systematic Review Exploring Its Potential to Deal with Banking Crises

The major success of fuzzy logic in the field of remote control opened the door to its application in many other fields, including finance. However, there has not been an updated and comprehensive literature review on the uses of fuzzy logic in the financial field. For that reason, this study attempts to critically examine fuzzy logic as an effective, useful method to be applied to financial research and, particularly, to the management of banking crises. The data sources were Web of Science and Scopus, followed by an assessment of the records according to pre-established criteria and an arrangement of the information in two main axes: financial markets and corporate finance. A major finding of this analysis is that fuzzy logic has not yet been used to address banking crises or as an alternative to ensure the resolvability of banks while minimizing the impact on the real economy. Therefore, we consider this article relevant for supervisory and regulatory bodies, as well as for banks and academic researchers, since it opens the door to several new research axes on banking crisis analyses using artificial intelligence techniques

BIM: a technology acceptance model in Peru

The purpose of this paper is to empirically study factors that facilitate the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) among practitioners using the unified theory of technology acceptance model (TAM). The factors identified in the TAM were examined using a quantitative approach. The empirical investigation has been conducted using a survey questionnaire. The data set has been obtained from 73 architects and engineers in Peru. Results show that Perceived Usefulness (PU) is the most important determinant of Behavioural Intention (BI), while Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) is found to have no significant effect on BI. The findings provide an excellent backdrop in the development of policy and a roadmap for BIM implementation in Peru. The original contribution and value of the paper is the use of TAM to provide empirical evidence on factors that facilitate BIM adoption in Peru

Is Gastronomy A Relevant Factor for Sustainable Tourism? An Empirical Analysis of Spain Country Brand

Tourism has become a fundamental industry for the economic growth of many countries. Due to this, there is growing competitiveness among the different destinations to attract as many tourists as possible. As a result, disciplines such as marketing have developed tools to differentiate some destinations from others and concepts such as place branding and country brand have emerged. One of the key factors forming the country brand is gastronomy, as food tourism is one way to reduce the growing problem of sustainability in tourism, as it impacts different aspects of the country’s environment. However, there is a great lack of scientific works that relate both variables. In this paper, we propose to establish that, in the case of Spain, tourists’ perception of Spanish gastronomy is a key element of its country brand. To do that, this study relies on the use of Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM) using a 496 cases data set

Determinants of the outcomes of services outsourcing: an empirical study of transport services.

The purpose of our study is to examine whether the design and management of the interfaces and interaction processes between customer and provider in services outsourcing are determinants of the results achieved by the outsourcing company. Following the conceptual framework initiated in the study by Wynstra et al. [11], this study focuses on transport services and hypothesized relationships are tested using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) statistical technique. The primary data used was obtained from a survey in three different countries (Germany, Japan and Spain), and from manufacturing companies in the electronics, automotive and machinery sectors. Among other things, the results show that both the structural dimensions of interaction (the organization's resources that it must commit) and the process dimensions of interaction (that consider the dynamic nature of the relationships), are important for obtaining adequate performance from transport services outsourcing.Spanish National Program of Industrial Design and Production DPI 2009 11148PAIDI Excellence Projects P08-SEJ0384

Graduates’ satisfaction with the training received in the Master of Advanced Studies in Business Administration

Al objeto de conocer el nivel de satisfacción de los egresados con la formación recibida en el Máster de Estudios Avanzados en Dirección de Empresas, que se imparte en la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales de la Universidad de Sevilla, se ha realizado un estudio descriptivo de carácter transversal. Para ello se ha hecho uso de un cuestionario, al que han contestado los egresados que han culminado sus estudios hace al menos un año. Del análisis de los resultados se ha constatado, entre otras cuestiones, que, en opinión del alumnado: 1) el Máster contribuye en grados diferentes a la mejora de la formación investigadora y de la profesional, así como al acceso al mundo laboral y a las posibilidades de promoción profesional; 2) parece necesario mejorar en la capacitación de las competencias para llevarlas al nivel de lo que los alumnos han expresado como necesario en el plano práctico, identificándose aquellas competencias que deben priorizarse; 3) la mayoría de los alumnos están satisfechos de haber realizado el Máster, aunque la valoración dada al mismo parece demandar mejoras. Se han recibido propuestas realizadas al respecto por los egresados, que se han pasado a la coordinación del Máster con el objetivo de contribuir a la mejora continua del Título.In order to know the level of graduates´ satisfaction related to the training received in the Master of Advanced Studies in Business Administration, taught at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Seville, it was made a cross-descriptive study using a questionnaire, replied by graduates who finished their studies, at least, one year ago. The result analysis shows, among other things, that in the graduates´ opinion: 1) the Master studies contributes in different levels to improve professional and research training, as well as gaining access to employment and having career opportunities, 2) it seems necessary to improve the competence training to bring them to the necessary level in professional skills, identifying those that should be improved as a priority, 3) most of the students are satisfied with the completion of this Master, but the results obtained seems to demand improvements, which are shown in this paper. Graduates have made proposals in this regard, that were passed to the coordination of the Master with the aim of contributing to the continuous improvement of Title