1,720,995 research outputs found
A cross-cultural study on countries' environmental performance: The influence of religion
No full textAlthough numerous scientific studies have extensively analyzed religion's impact on environmental performance at the firm level, the literature on environmental effects at a country level is relatively poor. This paper aims to fill this gap by studying how the dimensions of national culture, including religion, impact a country's sustainability performance in 96 countries. We apply Geert Hofstede's cross-cultural dimensions and evaluate countries' sustainability performance using the EPI indicator, which provides a comprehensive environmental overview, including indicators such as climate change, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality. Additionally, to provide a more comprehensive framework for the sustainability performance of countries, we conducted a comparative analysis using the SDG index scores encompassing 1056 country-year observations. Our findings suggest that the impact on a country's environmental performance varies according to the cultural dimension, mainly, the Christian religion positively influences national sustainability performance
The mobile telecommunications industry: The competition under the hypothesis of price discrimination strategy
No full textIn the telecommunications industry, mobile telephony plays an important rule, since it is the sector with an high technological growth rate. The main factors that have been characterizing the mobile telephony industry during the last years are an exponential growth of traffic demand and the evolution from a market monopoly to full competition with the consequent growth of competitive pressure. We aim to describe the complex competitive environment of network interconnection in the mobile telecommunications market. In particular, we analyse the strategy of price discrimination based on the possibility for the mobile networks to set different retail prices with regard to calls made on-net or off-net. This strategy can involve a different impact on profit and on market share due to several variables, such as the brand loyalty, the demand elasticity of consumers and the degree of substitutability among networks
Pricing strategies in the mobile telecommunications industry
No full textMobile telephone is an example extremely successful of telecommunications service that has got a very high penetration rate. Nowadays, the competition in the mobile telephone sector is based on the possibility to build market share, by keeping the rival's subscribers. In order to pursue this goal, for some years, the mobile networks have chosen a price discrimination between on net and off net calls. The main aim of this paper is the analysis of the impact of this strategy in relation to an important parameter, such as the brand loyalty. Moreover, this paper analyses the hypothesis of non-reciprocal access pricing. In fact, the actual interconnection negotiations are based on the reciprocity of the access charge. This paper relaxes this assumption in order to show the effects on profits and on market shares deriving from the possibility for the incumbent or follower network to set an higher access charge
Traffic management of video on demand: An analysis of investments for improving the end user's quality of experience
Full text linkThe current escalation in user demand for web contents, particularly Video on Demand (VoD), is causing a continuing increase in both the types of web traffic and the volumes of data transmitted. The greater demand arises from the new means of communication employed by individuals and companies, as well as the development of readily usable applications distributed by ‘app stores’. In this paper, we suggest that the stakeholders of a VoD framework, the Content Providers (CPs) and the Internet Service Providers (telcos/ISPs), should guarantee a solid Quality of Experience (QoE) to the end user through two potential investments: either in ultra-broadband (UBB) or in the technologies for the acceleration of web content, known as the Content Delivery Network (CDN) and Transparent
Internet Caching (TIC). The aim of the paper is to analyse these investments in terms of providers' profits. The base hypothesis is that the investments are subsidized by the CPs, which, in recent years, have indeed been directing a large part of their revenues towards investments in network infrastructure
Interchange flows between mobile telephone networks: Asymmetry and discrimination
No full textOver the last decade, the development of mobile telecommunications has reached a very high rate of growth in most industrialised countries and, in particular, in Italy. The increasing volume of mobile phone calls and the relative growing number of carriers are transforming mobile telecommunications from that of a traditional monopoly and instead into a market with growing competitive pressures. The older scenario of telecommunication mobile services formed by a state monopoly carrier is changing into one in which there are different competitive companies that offer mobile telecommunication services.
In this paper we will. analyse, through our simulation modelling, the relationship between market share and profit resulting from a strategy of price discrimination. In particular, the policy of price discrimination in the mobile telephone market is based on the possibility for the carriers to set different retail prices with regard to calls made on net or off net
New regulatory policies in Italy: Impact on financial results, on liquidity and profitability of natural gas retail companies
No full textDuring the three-year period 2007-2009, the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas has issued numerous measures concerning the retail market of natural gas. The same period was characterized by a deep economic and financial crisis involving the industrial sector and, in particular, the energy companies. This paper aims to analyse the combined effect of the new regulatory measures and of the economic crisis on the business performance of natural gas retail companies. To that aim, the balance sheets were analysed for a sample of 111 companies and the profitability, financial and liquidity indicators were calculated. A cluster analysis was then performed utilising the most important performance indexes. The firms within each cluster were analysed with respect to the main company characteristics
The Wholesale Competition in the International Telecommunications Systems
No full textIn the last ten years, the international telecommunications industry has undergone important changes from both the
legislative (regulatory reforms) and the technological points of view. The liberalization of the telecommunications
market has, consequently, affected the dynamics of the bilateral agreements between international carriers. In
this paper, the international wholesale market in which carriers compete over the tariffs in order to increase their
market share is analyzed. In particular, this paper examines the interactions between fixed telephony TLC carriers
belonging to various countries and analyzes the possible strategic choices of the market leader induced by changes
in competitor behavior
Simulation in the mobile rielephony market: Price discrimination strategy under asymmetrical conditions
No full textIn the following paper we propose a competitive model in the mobile telephony market that can be integrated in various simulation environments. The main factors that have been characterizing the mobile telephony industry during the last years are an exponential growth of traffic demand and the evolution from a market monopoly to full competition with the consequent growth of competitive pressure. We aim to formalize the complex competitive environment of network interconnection under a price discrimination hypothesis. The policy of price discrimination in the niobile telephone market is based on the possibility for the carriers to set different retail prices with regard to calls made on-net or off-net. An other important hypothesis is the asymmetry of networks market shares; such asymmetry is due to the incumbent network brand loyalty. Through a simulation program, from our hypotheses we have realised a mobile telephone model development, validation and testing
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