Differences in ERP use and value across Iberian Manufacturing and Services SMEs

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system literature reports very little research on post-adoption stages, that is, actual usage and value. Even fewer studies focus on the specificities of an industry analysis. Based on the Technology-Organizational-Environment (TOE) framework and the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory, we develop a research model to measure and examine determinants of ERP use and value and their impact in the Iberian region (Portugal and Spain) across Manufacturing and Services industries in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The empirical test was conducted through structural equation modelling, using data from 261 firms in the peninsula in the Manufacturing and Service industries. Results show that amongst ERP use determinants, Training is the most important determinant for Service firms and Compatibility for Manufacturing firms. Firm size, Analytics, and Collaboration contribute to ERP Value in both industries, with Analytics being more important for the Service industry. The paper provides insight into which determinants contribute to ERP use and ERP value in Iberian Manufacturing and Services SMEs, offering managerial and academic implications.

Trading the differences in expectations between the CDS and bond markets

This paper uses the framework developed by Vrugt (2010) to extract the recovery rate and term-structure of risk-neutral default probabilities implied in the cross-section of Portuguese sovereign bonds outstanding between March and August 2011. During this period the expectations on the recovery rate remain firmly anchored around 50 percent while the instantaneous default probability increases steadily from 6 to above 30 percent. These parameters are then used to calculate the fair-value of a 5-year and 10- year CDS contract. A credit-risk-neutral strategy is developed from the difference between the market price of a CDS of the same tenors and the fair-value calculated, yielding a sharpe ratio of 3.2