The Chilean wheat market and its price support mechanism : a spatial market integration analysis

This research investigates the spatial market integration of the Chilean wheat market in relation with its most representative international markets by using a vector error correction model (VECM) and how a price support policy, as a price band, affect it. The international market was characterized by two relevant wheat prices: PAN from Argentina and Hard Red Winter from the United States. The spatial market integration level, expressed in the error correction term (ECT), allowed concluding that there is a high integration degree among these markets with a variable influence of the price band mechanism mainly related with its estimation methodology. Moreover, this paper showed that Chile can be seen as price taker as long as the speed of its adjustment to international shocks, being these reactions faster than in the United States and Argentina. Finally, the results validated the "Law of the One Price", which assumes price equalization across all local markets in the long run.

Carbon Market Opportunities in Southern Mediterranean Countries. MEDPRO Technical Report No. 8/March 2012

To date, Southern Mediterranean countries have hosted a limited number of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). There are three challenges to the participation of middleincome countries in future carbon markets: the limited size of future demand for offsets or credits; restrictions on the use of CDM credits in Phase III of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme; and the lack of prompt preparation for the start of new market-based mechanisms. This study examines existing and emerging activities in Southern Mediterranean countries that could fit into new market based mechanisms. It explores options for the evolution of mechanisms and discusses the merits of post-2012 carbon funds in bridging the gap between the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol and the entry into force of a new international agreement.

'Seeing the market': Technical analysis in trading styles

Whilst financial markets are not strangers to academic and professional scrutiny, they still remain epistemologically contested. For individuals trying to profit by trading shares, this uncertainty is manifested in the varying trading styles which they are able to utilize. This paper examines one trading style commonly used by non-professional share traders-technical analysis. Using research data obtained from individuals who identify themselves as technical analysts, this paper seeks to explain the ways in which individuals understand and use the technique in an attempt to make trading profits. In particular, four distinct subcategories or ideal types of technical analysis can be identified, each providing an alternative perceptual form for participating in financial markets. Each of these types relies upon a particular method for seeing the market, these visualization techniques highlighting the existence of forms of professional vision (as originally identified by Goodwin (1994)) in the way the trading styles are comprehended and acted upon.

Drawing association rules between purchases and in-store behavior:an extension of the market basket analysis

Shopping behavior is often exclusively studied through consumer purchases, since they are an easily measurable ouput. Still, the observation of in-store physical behavior (paths, moves and actions) is crucial, as is the quantification of its impact on purchases. Using an innovative PDA tool to precisely record and time stamp consumer’s moves and gestures, we extend the classical Market Basket Analysis (MBA) by integrating this new kind of information. We draw associations not only from purchases but also from in-store consumer moves and actions. We compare results of our new method with classical MBA results and show a significant improvement.

Drawing association rules between purchases and in-store behaviour:an extension of the market basket analysis

Shopping behavior is often exclusively studied through consumer purchases, since they are an easily measurable ouput. Still, the observation of in-store physical behavior (path, moves and actions) is crucial, as is the quantification of its impact on purchases. Using an innovative PDA tool to precisely record and time stamp consumers' moves and actions, we extend the classical Market Basket Analysis (MBA) by integrating this new information: associations between product categories are measured not only from purchases but also from consumer physical behavior. We compare results of our new method with classical MBA results and show a significant improvement.

The Food Service Industry Environment: Market Volatility Analysis

In their dialogue entitled - The Food Service Industry Environment: Market Volatility Analysis - by Alex F. De Noble, Assistant Professor of Management, San Diego State University and Michael D. Olsen, Associate Professor and Director, Division of Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, De Noble and Olson preface the discussion by saying: “Hospitality executives, as a whole, do not believe they exist in a volatile environment and spend little time or effort in assessing how current and future activity in the environment will affect their success or failure. The authors highlight potential differences that may exist between executives' perceptions and objective indicators of environmental volatility within the hospitality industry and suggest that executives change these perceptions by incorporating the assumption of a much more dynamic environment into their future strategic planning efforts. Objective, empirical evidence of the dynamic nature of the hospitality environment is presented and compared to several studies pertaining to environmental perceptions of the industry.” That weighty thesis statement presumes that hospitality executives/managers do not fully comprehend the environment in which they operate. The authors provide a contrast, which conventional wisdom would seem to support and satisfy. “Broadly speaking, the operating environment of an organization is represented by its task domain,” say the authors. “This task domain consists of such elements as a firm's customers, suppliers, competitors, and regulatory groups.” These are dynamic actors and the underpinnings of change, say the authors by way of citation. “The most difficult aspect for management in this regard tends to be the development of a proper definition of the environment of their particular firm. Being able to precisely define who the customers, competitors, suppliers, and regulatory groups are within the environment of the firm is no easy task, yet is imperative if proper planning is to occur,” De Noble and Olson further contribute to support their thesis statement. The article is bloated, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, with tables both survey and empirically driven, to illustrate market volatility. One such table is the Bates and Eldredge outline; Table-6 in the article. “This comprehensive outline…should prove to be useful to most executives in expanding their perception of the environment of their firm,” say De Noble and Olson. “It is, however, only a suggested outline,” they advise. “…risk should be incorporated into every investment decision, especially in a volatile environment,” say the authors. De Noble and Olson close with an intriguing formula to gauge volatility in an environment.

The export performance of the 2004 EU enlargement economies since the 1990s : a constant market share analysis

This study focuses the export performance of the 2004 EU enlargement economies between 1990 and 2013. The long time span analysed allows to capture different stages in the relationship of these new members with the EU before and after accession. The study is based on the Constant Market Share methodology of decomposing an ex-post country’s export performance into different effects. Two different Constant Market Share Analysis (CMSA) were selected in order to disentangle, for the exports of the new members to the EU15, (i) the growth rate of exports and (ii) the growth rate of exports relatively to the world. Both approaches are applied to manufactured products first without disaggregating results by sectors and then grouping all products into two different classification of sectors: one considering the technological intensity of manufactured exports and another evaluating the specialization factors of the products exported. Results provide information not only on the ten economies’ export performance as a group but also individually considered and on the importance of each EU15 destination market to the export performance of these countries.

Analysis of the Market Potential of Syrian Organic Fruit and Vegetables for Exports to Germany

Syria has been a major producer and exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) in the Arabic region. Prior to 2011, Syrian FFV were mainly exported to the neighbouring countries, the Gulf States and Northern Africa as well as to Eastern European countries. Although the EU is potentially one of the most profitable markets of high quality FFV (such as organic ones) in the world, Syrian exports of FFV to Western European countries like Germany have been small. It could be a lucrative opportunity for Syrian growers and exporters of FFV to export organic products to markets such as Germany, where national production is limited to a few months due to climatic conditions. Yet, the organic sector in Syria is comparatively young and only a very small area of FFV is certified according to EU organic regulations. Up to the author’s knowledge, little was known about Syrian farmers’ attitudes towards organic FFV production. There was also no study so far that explored and analysed the determining factors for organic FFV adoption among Syrian farmers as well as the exports of these products to the EU markets. The overarching aim of the present dissertation focused on exploring and identifying the market potential of Syrian exports of organic FFV to Germany. The dissertation was therefore concerned with three main objectives: (i) to explore if German importers and wholesalers of organic FFV see market opportunities for Syrian organic products and what requirements in terms of quality and quantity they have, (ii) to determine the obstacles Syrian producers and exporters face when exporting agricultural products to Germany, and (iii) to investigate whether Syrian farmers of FFV can imagine converting their farms to organic production as well as the underlying reasons why they do so or not. A twofold methodological approach with expert interviews and a farmer survey were used in this dissertation to address the abovementioned objectives. While expert interviews were conducted with German and Syrian wholesalers of (organic) FFV in 2011 (9 interviews each), the farmer survey was administrated with 266 Syrian farmers of FFV in the main region for the production of FFV (i.e. the coastal region) from November 2012 till May 2013. For modelling farmers’ decisions to adopt organic farming, the Theory of Planned Behaviour as theoretical framework and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling as the main method for data analysis were used in this study. The findings of this dissertation yield implications for the different stakeholders (governmental institutions and NGOs, farmers, exporters, wholesalers, etc.) who are interested in prompting the Syrian export of organic products. Based on the empirical results and a literature review, an action plan to promote Syrian production and export of organic products was developed which can help in the post-war period in Syria at improving the organic sector.

Finding new opportunities in the Lisbon market through Whitaker consumer lifestyle segmentation

A sample of 445 consumers resident in distinct Lisbon areas was analyzed through direct observations in order to discover each lifestyle’s current proportion, applying the Whitaker Lifestyle™ Method. The findings of the conducted hypothesis tests on the population proportion unveil that Neo-Traditional and Modern Whitaker lifestyles have the significantly highest proportion, while the overall presence of different lifestyles varies across neighborhoods. The research further demonstrates the validity of Whitaker observation techniques, media consumption differences among lifestyles and the importance of style and aesthetics while segmenting consumers by lifestyles. Finally, market opportunities are provided for firms operating in Lisbon.

Analysis of multi-scale systemic risk in Brazil's financial market

This work analyzes whether the relationship between risk and returns predicted by the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is valid in the Brazilian stock market. The analysis is based on discrete wavelet decomposition on different time scales. This technique allows to analyze the relationship between different time horizons, since the short-term ones (2 to 4 days) up to the long-term ones (64 to 128 days). The results indicate that there is a negative or null relationship between systemic risk and returns for Brazil from 2004 to 2007. As the average excess return of a market portfolio in relation to a risk-free asset during that period was positive, it would be expected this relationship to be positive. That is, higher systematic risk should result in higher excess returns, which did not occur. Therefore, during that period, appropriate compensation for systemic risk was not observed in the Brazilian market. The scales that proved to be most significant to the risk-return relation were the first three, which corresponded to short-term time horizons. When treating differently, year-by-year, and consequently separating positive and negative premiums, some relevance is found, during some years, in the risk/return relation predicted by the CAPM. However, this pattern did not persist throughout the years. Therefore, there is not any evidence strong enough confirming that the asset pricing follows the model.

A comparative study of the credit card market dynamics in Mexico and Brazil

This research analyzes and compares the attractiveness of the Brazilian and Mexican credit card markets from a financial firm’s perspective. The market dynamics in Latin America’s two economic powerhouses are fleshed out with qualitative and quantitative data, using a strategic framework to structure the analysis. Since its adoption by both countries in 1956, credit card usage has experienced many years of double digit growth. However, penetration levels remain low compared with most developed countries. Brazil has a more developed credit card infrastructure, with more potential profit, and issuers might face fewer competitive challenges.  Alternatively, Mexico, is witnessing a more favorable economy, a friendlier business and regulatory environment, combined with fewer financial products that compete with the credit card. Therefore, this paper concludes that Brazil and Mexico both offer market opportunities for credit card companies that can navigate the different technological, demographic, macroeconomic, and regulatory shifts in each country.

Reversal of gender differences in Educational Attainment – historical analysis of the West German Case

Background information: During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, West Germany witnessed a reversal of gender differences in educational attainment, as females began to outperform males. Purpose: The main objective was to analyse which processes were behind the reversal of gender differences in educational attainment after 1945. The theoretical reflections and empirical evidence presented for the US context by DiPrete and Buchmann (Gender-specific trends in the value of education and the emerging gender gap in college completion, Demography 43: 1–24, 2006) and Buchmann, DiPrete, and McDaniel (Gender inequalities in education, Annual Review of Sociology 34: 319–37, 2008) are considered and applied to the West German context. It is suggested that the reversal of gender differences is a consequence of the change in female educational decisions, which are mainly related to labour market opportunities and not, as sometimes assumed, a consequence of a ‘boy’s crisis’. Sample: Several databases, such as the German General Social Survey, the German Socio-economic Panel and the German Life History Study, are employed for the longitudinal analysis of the educational and occupational careers of birth cohorts born in the twentieth century. Design and methods: Changing patterns of eligibility for university studies are analysed for successive birth cohorts and gender. Binary logistic regressions are employed for the statistical modelling of the individuals’ achievement, educational decision and likelihood for social mobility – reporting average marginal effects (AME). Results: The empirical results suggest that women’s better school achievement being constant across cohorts does not contribute to the explanation of the reversal of gender differences in higher education attainment, but the increase of benefits for higher education explains the changing educational decisions of women regarding their transition to higher education. Conclusions: The outperformance of females compared with males in higher education might have been initialised by several social changes, including the expansion of public employment, the growing demand for highly qualified female workers in welfare and service areas, the increasing returns of women’s increased education and training, and the improved opportunities for combining family and work outside the home. The historical data show that, in terms of (married) women’s increased labour market opportunities and female life-cycle labour force participation, the raising rates of women’s enrolment in higher education were – among other reasons – partly explained by their rising access to service class positions across birth cohorts, and the rise of their educational returns in terms of wages and long-term employment.

Minority enterprise in the clothing industry: an analysis of Asian jeans manufacturers in Birmingham

This thesis discusses and assesses the resources available to Asian entrepreneurs in the West Midlands' clothing industry and how they are used by these small businessmen in order to address opportunities in the market economy within the constraints imposed. The fashion industry is volatile and is dependent upon flexible firms which can respond quickly to shortrun production schedules. Small firms are best able to respond to this market environment. Production of jeans presents an interesting departure from the mainstream fashion industry. It is traditionally gared towards longrun production schedules where multinational enterprises have artificially diversified the market, promoting the 'right' brand name and have established control of the upper end of the market, whilst imports from Newly Developing Countries have catered for cheap copies at the lower end of the market. In recent years, a fashion element to jeans has emerged, thus opening a market gap for U.K. manufacturers to respond in the same way as for other fashion articles. A large immigrant population, previously serving the now declining factories and foundries of the West Midlands but, through redundancy, no longer a part of this employment sector, has ~5ponded to economic constraints and market opportunities by drawing on ethnic network resources for competitive access to labour, finance and contacts, to attack the emergent market gap. Two models of these Asian entrepreneurs are developed. One being somecne who has professionally and actively tackled the market gap and become established. These entrepreneurs are usually educated and have personal experience in business and were amongst the first to perceive opportunities to enter the industry, actively utilising their ethnicity as a resource upon which to draw for favorable access to cheap, flexible labour and capital. The second model is composed of later entrants to jeans manufacturing. They have less formal education and experience and have been pushed into self-employment by constraints of unemployment. Their ethnicity is passively used as a resource. They are more likely confined to the marginal activity of 'cut make and trim' and have little opportunity to increase profit margins, become estalished or expand.