This paper unveils one of the secrets of success of the Greek shipping industry: informal networking of families of entrepreneurs with long strong ties imbued in mutual trust and immersed in 'love for the sea' tradition that allow Greek shipping firms to address the peculiarities and specificity...

In this paper we investigate the link between corporate diversification relatedness and economic performance, through the resource plasticity channel. To investigate this, we estimate a dynamic panel on a data set of 2,396 diversified firms from the euro area over the 2010-2017 period. Our...

The internal rate of return (IRR) is often used by managers and practitioners for investment decisions. Unfortunately, it has serious flaws: among others, (i) multiple real-valued IRRs may arise, (ii) complex-valued IRRs may arise, (iii) the IRR is, in general, incompatible with the net present...

Aim: Investment decisions in shipping are notoriously difficult. The key reason is that freight rates are highly volatile and often unpredictable. The energy shipping sector is most challenging. The paper formulates an investment decision rationale in energy shipping and provides insights as to...

Digitalization is one of the key drivers of accelerated change in our everyday lives, both on an economic and social level. With solutions enabled through ICT technologies, we are more connected than ever on the global scale. In this next chapter of globalization, we currently experience...

The paper complements entry mode research by dealing with the choice of alternative modes of governance in the specific case of foreign R&D and its impact on a parent firm's performance. Firstly, we identify the factors that determine whether a firm locates abroad any R&D activities, and, if it...

There are four areas of conflict of interest between the goals of democratically elected representatives in promoting regional technological innovation, and the goals of the senior managers of global corporations. These four conflicts involve:1. a conflict over information flows between...

The paper analyzes whether the political regime of a country influences its involvement in international trade. Firstly, we develop a theoretical model that predicts that autocracies trade less than democracies. Secondly, we test the predictions of the model empirically using a panel of more...

This paper examines whether a country's economic reforms are affected by reforms adopted by other countries. A simple model of economic reforms is developed to motivate the econometric work. Unsurprisingly, the model predicts that reforms are more likely when factors of production are...

It has been argued that procedural formalism undermines economic efficiency by fostering rent-seeking and corruption. We challenge this view by arguing that a number of judicial procedures foster economic growth by increasing the predictability of court decisions, which leads to more...