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on Project, Program and Portfolio Management |
| By: | Sander Hoogendoorn (University of Amsterdam); Simon C. Parker (University of Western Ontario, Richard Ivey School of Business); Mirjam van Praag (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the impact of diversity in cognitive ability among members of a team on their performance. We conduct a large field experiment in which teams start up and manage real companies under identical circumstances. Exogenous variation in - otherwise random - team composition is imposed by assigning individuals to teams based on their measured cognitive abilities. The setting is one of business management practices in the longer run where tasks are diverse and involve complex decision-making. We propose a model in which greater ability dispersion generates greater knowledge for a team, but also increases the costs of monitoring necessitated by moral hazard. Consistent with the predictions of our model, we find that team performance as measured in terms of sales, profits and profits per share first increases, and then decreases, with ability dispersion. Teams with a moderate degree of ability dispersion also experience fewer dismissals due to few er shirking members in those teams. |
| Keywords: | Ability dispersion; team performance; field experiment; entrepreneurship; knowledge pooling; moral hazard |
| JEL: | C93 D83 J24 L25 L26 M13 M54 |
| Date: | 2012–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:uvatin:20120130&r=ppm |
| By: | Mads Greaker, Per Espen Stoknes, Knut H. Alfsen and Torgeir Ericson (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | Agenda 21 required countries to develop and regularly update a national set of indicators for sustainable development. Several countries now have such sets also including separate indicators for climate change. Some of these indicators typically report global concentration of green house gases in the atmosphere or time series for global temperatures. While such indicators may give the public information about the state of the global climate, they do not provide a benchmark which makes it possible for the public to evaluate the climate policy of their government. With Kantian ethics as our point of departure, we propose a benchmark for national climate policy. The benchmark is that each nation state should act as if a global treaty on climate change were in place. This would require each nation state to carry out all green house gas mitigation projects below a certain cost. Furthermore, it would require each nation to keep their national green house gas emissions including acquisitions of emission permits from other countries within a certain limit. Both measures are relatively easy to track and can thus serve as indicators. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable development indicators; Climate Policy; Climate Agreements |
| JEL: | Q54 Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:718&r=ppm |
| By: | Myriam Ben Saad (USTV UFR SEG - Université Sud-Toulon-Var - UFR Sciences économiques et de gestion - Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Suite aux travaux des économistes Harrod et Domar, le concept d'aide publique au développement prend une nouvelle tournure vers les années 60, notion clé qui devient imminente dans les économies en développement et revient ainsi sur le devant de la scène, donnant sens et dynamisme aux principales finalités de l'aide dans le sommet du Millénaire. La présente étude se propose de mener une réflexion sur l'impact de l'aide publique au développement (APD) sur la croissance et sur la réduction de la pauvreté, en lien notamment avec les effets de l'APD sur la santé et l'éducation. En d'autres termes, sous quelles conditions l'APD a-t-elle un impact significatif sur le Pib/tête ? Nous focaliserons notre mémoire sur l'Afrique subsaharienne et plus particulièrement sur les effets de l'APD au Ghana, région faisant figure de pôle de dynamisme dans une sous-région vulnérable et instable. |
| Keywords: | aide publique au développement, OMD, croissance, pauvreté, éducation, santé |
| Date: | 2012–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:dumas-00762127&r=ppm |
| By: | Neil Lee; Andrés Rodríguez-Pose |
| Abstract: | One of the key benefits of cities is that they allow the exchange of knowledge and information between economic actors. This may have two effects: it may create the conditions for entirely new innovations to emerge, and it may allow firms to learn innovations from those nearby. Yet few studies have considered the impact of an urban location on whether innovations are original or learnt. This paper tests these hypotheses using large-scale survey evidence for over 1,600 UK SMEs. We show that while urban firms tend to be both product and process innovators, urban firms are disproportionately likely to introduce process innovations which are only new to the firm, rather than entirely original. Instead, the urban advantage in product innovation appears to come from a combination of the effects. The results highlight a need for a nuanced view of the link between cities and innovation. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Cities, SMEs, Learning, United Kingdom |
| JEL: | O31 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2012–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1223&r=ppm |