Marta Fernández Barcala

Training in Small Business Retailing: Testing Human Capital Theory.

Analyses the training demand in the retail sector based on the study of a representative sample of small‐sized retailers. By means of probit models a set of hypotheses developed from the basic assumptions of the human capital theory are tested. Four models of training demand are considered: probability of attending a training course in the near future, probability of having attended in the past, probability of being willing to follow multimedia and correspondence courses, and probability of repeating the experience of attending another training course in the near future. In particular, we determined how the retailer’s age, sex, educational level and the business sector, location and size, the quality of training previously received, the suitability of the costs and scheduling of the training courses, among other variables, significantly influence the probability of small‐sized retailers attending training courses.

Quality assurance mechanisms in agrifood: the case of the Spanish fresh meat sector

The largest fresh meat brand names in Spain are analysed here to study how quality is signalled in the agricultural and food industries and how the underlying quality-assurance organisations work. We obtain two main results. First, organisational form varies according to the specialisation of the brand name. Geographical indicators, which focus on achieving high organoleptic product attributes, rely on market contracting with individual producers because it provides stronger incentives for sustained quality improvement. In contrast, private brands rely more on hierarchy, taking advantage of its superiority in solving coordination problems. Second, the seemingly redundant coexistence of several quality indicators for a given product is explained in efficiency terms. Multiple brands are shown to be complementary, given their specialisation in guaranteeing different attributes of the product.

Training in retailing: a guide for improving the supply of courses

Aims to provide the entities and institutions that train retailers with a series of recommendations to improve the quality of the courses they organise and give, especially concerning the aspects where those actually receiving training detect the greatest shortcomings. Hence, the perceptions of the individuals attending the courses as well as the importance they give to each of the aspects considered to be relevant for evaluating the quality of training received have been analysed. To this end, a measurement instrument based on the SERVPERF scale has been developed and, according to the quality evaluations obtained, the retailers have been classified into homogeneous groups. Evaluating the quality of the training received, grouping the retailers, and detecting significant differences among the groups will enable the bodies organising and/or giving courses to diversify their offerings in terms of the characteristics of those receiving training. They will also be able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of these courses at an overall level as well as for each of the groups. Likewise, clues can be found to improve aspects of the training courses to which due attention may not be being paid at the present time.

¿Cómo organizar una cadena hotelera?La elección de la forma de gobierno

Resumen Este trabajo analiza la racionalidad economica de la multiplicidad de mecanismos de gobierno observados en las cadenas hoteleras. En primer lugar, se describe dicha variedad en funcion del control que cada solucion permite ejercer a la cadena sobre los activos clave del negocio hotelero: desde el control maximo que ofrecen los hoteles en propiedad hasta el minimo proporcionado por la franquicia. En segundo lugar, apoyandonos en la Economia de los Costes de Transaccion, la Teoria de la Agencia y en la Teoria de Recursos y Capacidades, se analizan los factores determinantes de la seleccion del mecanismo de gobierno para cada hotel. Los resultados obtenidos, a partir de una muestra de 376 hoteles, indican que los establecimientos de mas tamano y los que estan agrupados suelen ser explotados en propiedad por las cadenas, lo que pone de relieve las ventajas de la integracion para mantener bajo control los establecimientos mas emblematicos y complejos y la importancia de los costes de control de los responsables de cada establecimiento. Tambien las marcas con mayor riesgo de expropiacion estan mas integradas.