Nuria Bajo Davó

From Cooperative to Hybrid Organization: Internationalization, Financing and Crisis

The fundamental basis of a cooperative is cooperation among its members to generate positive economic and social results. As cooperatives are social organizations, they are based on moral and ethical values, such as solidarity among partners, equity, democracy, and social responsibility. To survive as an economic organization a cooperative must add value to the economy, thus leading to the generation of profits.1

Dynamic strategic groups' analysis and identification of mobility barriers in the European mobile phone industry

This paper studies the dynamic aspects of strategic groups in the European mobile phone industry. We study the evolution of the groups between the years 2006 and 2011, i.e., before and during the economic crisis. We also attempt to identify those competitive variables which act as mobility barriers in the industry. The results reveal that although the number of groups remains the same, some of these groups change in their internal composition and characterisation. A low level of firm mobility is found. Mobility was higher between similar groups than between dissimilar ones. The main mobility barriers between groups are the size and the economies of scale. The mobile operators have not changed their strategy throughout the periods, and consequently the economic decline has not influenced their generic competitive strategies.

Financially Diversified Portfolios with Alternative Investments: The Impact of Life Settlements

This study investigates whether the inclusion of life settlement (LS) funds in the formation of diversified portfolios contributes significantly to the mitigation of market risk and enhances portfolio performance. The authors construct efficient portfolios from approximations based on Markowitz’s portfolio theory by using LS funds in combination with fixed income and equity funds, gold, energy, and agricultural commodities. With nine funds representative of seven international financial markets, they find that LS funds are an effective approach to investment diversification, given their low correlation with the other proposed assets. Specifically, their results suggest that LS funds provide the largest diversification and risk-reduction benefit in combination with fixed income, equity, and commodities funds. The benefit is reduced, however, when the exchange rate effect is considered.