1,720,983 research outputs found
Environmental Practices and Insurance Companies. Evidence from Europe. D'Apolito Elisabetta, Capozza Claudia, Celestiano Kimberly.
No full textThis chapter focuses on a particular type of financial intermediary: insurance companies. The chapter aims to examine how insurance companies address climate risks and the transition to a sustainable economy. To this end, an empirical investigation has been conducted on a sample of 60 European-listed insurance companies, observed over the six-year period going from 2017 to 2022. The analysis carried out through a panel model investigates the relationship between the environmental performance of insurance companies and their main features, such as company’s solvency, economic performance and climate-related risks and opportunities, using sustainability indicators. The main findings of the analysis show that better economic performance of insurance companies is associated with better environmental performance, especially with performance related to companies’ emissions and environmental innovation. The insurance companies that develop new products/services to overcome the threats of climate change are associated with better environmental performance, except for those concerning the use of resources
The effect of rail travel time on airline fares: First evidence from the Italian passenger market
No full textThe empirical evidence shows that travel time is crucial for rail transport to be a competitor to air transport. However, there are no papers testing whether travel time has a direct effect on airline pricing. This paper is a step towards filling this gap. We test and quantify the effect of rail travel time on airline fares, using unique data at flight-level. We find that airlines design pricing strategies taking into consideration the travel time of competing rail transport service. Airlines are found to set, on average, higher fares as rail travel time increases. However, the competitive pressure induced by rail travel time is perceived by airlines only as the day of departure gets closer: from the 40th to the day before departure it increases while it gradually decreases as the departure date gets further away
Human capital and firms’ innovation: evidence from emerging economies
No full textWe explore the relationship between human capital and firms’ innovation in emerging economies. Most papers consider the formal knowledge developed in R&D laboratories as a major source of innovation. However, a critical portion of knowledge required for innovation resides in human resources and is created outside any formalised R&D activity. We consider that, to improve their technological capabilities, firms should invest in different forms of human capital, namely highly educated workforce and experienced managers, but also in strategic human resource (HR) practices aimed at developing human capital by increasing employees’ firm-specific technical skills and competences. Besides looking at the type of innovation outcomes, we place greater emphasis on the strategies of innovation development, as these should signal an improved firms’ ability, not just to innovate, but to put their own creative effort in the development of innovation. Our results contrast with the traditional view of firms in emerging economies as mainly relying on the external acquisition of innovations, by showing their actual ability to develop new technologies. In this respect, HR practices aimed at fostering employees’ learning and autonomy at work appear more important than the educational attainment of workers, whilst the experience of managers does not seem effective
Gender diversity in European firms and the R&D-innovation-productivity nexus
Full text linkIn this paper, we empirically explore whether gender diversity in European firms, measured at different organisational levels, contributes to enhancing their performance in terms of innovation and productivity. Particularly we propose a structural econometric framework that allows us to simultaneously account for gender diversity at the workforce and ownership level throughout different phases of the innovation process, from the decision to engage in R&D to productivity. Our results reveal that gender diversity is strongly related to firms’ performance, besides the traditional factors envisaged by the literature. However, some differences emerge according to the firms’ organisational levels. Indeed, workforce gender diversity seems to be relevant to all phases of the innovation process. By contrast, the positive influence of ownership gender diversity seems more narrowed as limited to the innovation development/implementation phase; moreover, increasing women’s participation beyond a certain threshold is negatively associated with firms’ productivity
Organizational changes and innovation: firm-level evidence from European countries
No full textIn this paper, we empirically explore the relationship between the implementation of major organisational changes and the technological innovation performance of firms in European countries. Indeed, firms adopting organisational innovations and devoting more resources to this aspect are supposed to be in a better position for generating and using new skills and technologies in a more efficient way. Despite this, up until now, firms’ organizational changes have received less attention in the empirical literature. Our results support that their role in the technological innovation process of firms may be crucial
One price for all? Price discrimination and market captivity: Evidence from the Italian city-pair markets
Full text linkThis paper tests whether, and to what extent, airlines exploit market captivity by using price discrimination strategies. The Italian passenger market is particularly fit for this purpose, given the high differentials in the degree of the inter-modal competition amongst domestic connections. Results show that, ceteris paribus, airlines adopt a different pricing behaviour depending on the degree of inter-modal market captivity. First, in highly con- centrated markets with respect to air competitors, airlines price higher when the inter-modal competition is limited. This proves that inter-modal market captivity strengthens the effect of market power. Second, the inter-temporal price discrimination leads to a J-shaped distribution of fares over time, which is more pronounced when the inter-modal competition is effective. This suggests that airlines need to adopt a pricing technique that allows for a greater market segmentation in order to compete successfully with high-speed rail transport and to extract a larger part of passengers’ surplus. These results are relevant in terms of transport-investment implications and competition policy. The indirect benefits that investments in rail infrastructure would yield through downward pressures on competing airline fares should be embedded in any cost-benefit analysis of high-speed networks investments and in any policy evaluation of measures that aim to reduce the territorial gaps in infrastructure endowment and accessibilit
Exploring energy transition in European firms: the role of policy instruments, demand-pull factors and cost-saving needs in driving energy-efficient and renewable energy innovations
No full textThe transition toward more efficient and sustainable energy systems relies on the introduction by firms of innovations aimed at reducing the energy-environmental impact. In this paper, controlling for firms’ technological capabilities and taking into account the role of specific policy instruments, demand-pull factors and firms’ cost-saving needs, we carry out an in-depth analysis of the drivers motivating firms’ decision to engage in two main types of energy innovations, energy-efficient and renewable energy innovations, as compared to other environmental technologies. The empirical evidence, provided by using firm-level data from the Community Innovation Survey for different European countries, highlights the key role of firms’ cost saving needs as a motivation driving the introduction of both types of energy innovations, as well as of governmental subsidies and public procurement though only for renewable energy innovations. The influence of demand-pull factors is instead transversal between energy innovations and other eco-innovations
The impact of open access on intra- and inter-modal rail competition. A national level analysis in Italy
Full text linkDuring 2012 the Italian passenger market has experienced the entry of a new operator, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) on the high speed rail (HSR) market segment, in competition with the incumbent Trenitalia. The Italian market is the first and most extensive case in Europe where two railway companies compete for HSR services on open access basis. In this paper we empirically explore the competitive effects of the newcomer’s entry in the passenger market tackling two issues. First, we study price and capacity effects of the stemming intra-modal competition. Second, we measure the impact of inter-modal competition by HSR on airline pricing behaviour. The results show that the two railway companies engage in strategic pricing, although to a different degree on different routes and that capacity and frequency are strategic variables. We also find that airlines significantly reduce fares when flights are in direct competition with HSR services
Micro-econometric analysis of innovative start-ups: the role of firm-specific factors and industry context in innovation propensity
No full textWe explore the innovation-enabling factors in young innovative companies (YICs) considering different elements of firm-specific absorptive capacity along with factors related to the industrial structure. Evidence from Italian YICs, known as innovative start-ups whose creation was prompted by the Start-up Act in 2012, shows that absorptive capacity factors matter with differences for product and process innovation. Moreover, the configuration of the industry context remarkably shape innovation, providing implications for policy-makers seeking to improve the national competitiveness by sustaining new ventures of high technological value
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