http://hdl.handle.net/10366/4202 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:35:00 GMT 2026-04-21T22:35:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170370 This work aims to study the efficiency of Spanish police forces in the 2001–2006 period, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Several Malmquist indices are also estimated in order to detect and explain the dynamic variations in efficiency for each of the 52 Spanish provinces into which the territory of Spain is divided. To measure police efficiency, we have considered both solved crimes—those offences against property, public safety, the person, and sexual liberty and indemnity—and the number of police members. In addition, in order to avoid biases in the analysis, and according to the results of a truncated regression, we have considered several exogenous variables which negatively influence police efficiency, such as area, immigration rate and youth index. The findings obtained point out that the average police efficiency for the period analysed reaches 86%, showing optimal behaviour in 55% of the police stations analysed. Additionally, 45% of them increase their productivity yearly. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170370 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170368 This work aims to study the relationship between crime rate and police efficiency in a number of countries worldwide in the 1998–2006 period, controlling for other variables such as probability of being arrested, probability of being con- victed, population density, literacy rate, GDP per capita, unemployment rate and foreign direct investment. On average, police efficiency for the period studied is 84 %. The mean efficiency ratio ranges from 0.82 to 0.87. The upper limit corre- sponds to 2004, and the lower limit is found in the years 1998, 2000 and 2002. The results obtained show the inverse relationship between police efficiency and the crime rate while a direct relationship is obtained for the variable literacy. Similar findings were obtained in our robustness analysis, in which police efficiency neg- atively affects other measures of delinquency levels, such as the UN victimization survey variable. Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170368 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170363 [EN]Globalization has led to a new paradigm where the traditional industries, such as agriculture, employ vanguard technologies to broaden its possibilities into what is known as smart farming and the agri-food industry 4.0. This industry needs to adapt to the current market through an efficient use of resources while being environmentally friendly. The most commonly used approaches for analyzing efficiency and sustainability on farms are production efficiency based analyses, such as Data Envelopment Analysis and Stochastic Frontier Analysis, since they allow to see how efficient the outputs are generated regardless of the units of measurement of the inputs. This work presents a real scenario for making farms more profitable and sustainable through the analysis of the Data Envelopment Analysis and the application of the Internet of Things and Edge Computing. What makes this model interesting is that it allows monitoring the ambient conditions with real-time data from the different sensors that have been installed on the farm, minimizing costs and gaining robustness in the transmission of the data to the cloud with Edge Computing, and then to have a complete overview in terms of monthly resource efficiency through the Data Envelopment Analysis. The results show that including the costs of edge and non-edge data transfer have an impact on the efficiency. This small-scale study set the basis for a future test with many farms simultaneously. Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170363 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170361 This work aims to study the efficacy and effectiveness of Spanish police forces concerning major crimes—differentiating those against property, public safety, the person, and sexual liberty and indemnity—in the 2001–2006 period, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). To study their efficacy we will consider both operational efficacy, defined as the ratio between solved crimes and tasks, and goals efficacy, intended to show the effect of operational efficacy on the level of crime in the subsequent year, which is measured by the annual variation in major crimes. The analysis of the effectiveness of Spanish police forces attempts to measure the impact of goals efficacy on how people perceive local security. To determine their effectiveness we will also consider the tourism variation index, population and economic activity and their influence on the variation in the number of crimes. The results show that the average operational effectiveness of police during the period analysed reaches 96%, with optimal behaviour in 19% of the stations analysed. Additionally, our findings show that the average goals effectiveness is 89% and the average effectiveness turns out to be 89%. Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170361 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170358 As solar photovoltaics in buildings reaches maturity, grid integration and economic yield are topics of greater interest. The traditional design of photovoltaic installations has considered the optimal orientation of photovoltaic modules to be that which yields the maximum annual energy production. The influence of the consumption patterns and the hourly variable electricity prices implies that this traditional optimal design might not be the most profitable. Using a full-year dataset for a residential installation, alternative installations using canopies and modules attached to the façades are simulated. By evaluating the energy balances for different annual consumptions, it is found that the canopy and façade installations offer better self-consumption of the PV produced energy, reflected in a 9% higher self-consumption degree using modules on façades and a 5% higher self-consumption degree using canopies. The economic evaluation under the new electricity tariffs in Spain shows a better profit for PV self-consumption, reducing the time of return on investment by more than 2 years. The analysis of different alternatives for an industrial PV allowed us to identify several benefits for these orientations which are confirmed after a full year of operation, such as an increase of up to 59% in annual energy production over the optimal-producing orientation. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170358 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170355 [EN]Demand charges are widely used for commercial and industrial consumers. These costs are often not well known, let alone the effects that PV can have on them. This work proposes a methodology to assess the effect of PV on reducing these charges and to optimise the power to be contracted, using techniques taken from exploratory data analysis. This methodology is applied to five case studies of industrial consumers from different sectors in Spain, finding savings between 5 % and 11 % of demand charges in industries with continuous operation and up to 28 % in cases of discontinuous operation. These savings can be even greater if the maximum power that can be contracted is lower than the optimum. The demand charges in Spain consist of a fixed part proportional to the contracted power and a variable part depending on the power peaks exceeding it. Since for the variable part the coincident and non-coincident models coexist, a comparison is made between the two models, finding that in the general case PV users can achieve higher savings with the coincident model. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170355 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170344 [ES]En la actualidad estamos viviendo una época de cambios sustanciales derivados de la disrupción creada por las nuevas tecnologías. Muestra de esta situación la encontramos en la importancia creciente, especialmente en términos económicos, de lo que se ha denominado como “activos digitales”. Este artículo pretende ofrecer una visión realista de la situación actual desde el punto de vista tanto contable como de calificación jurídica de estos activos, con una especial referencia a los tokens no fungibles (NFTs), con la pretensión de incentivar el necesario debate sobre la pertinencia de que estas nuevas realidades se contemplen desde un enfoque pluridisciplinar.[EN]We are currently living in an era of substantial changes derived from the disruption created by new technologies. An example of this situation can be found in the growing importance, especially in economic terms, of the knows as “digital assets”. This article aims to offer a realistic view of the current situation from the point of view of both accounting and the legal classification of these assets, with special reference to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with the purpose of encouraging the necessary debate on the relevance of considering these new realities from a multidisciplinary approach. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170344 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170343 [EN]Study techniques most commonly used by students are usually the least effective for learning. Therefore, a sample of undergraduate students was trained in the use of Elaborative Interrogation (EI), a more powerful strategy. However, there are no clear guidelines on how to implement this technique, and there are contrasting results on its effectiveness. The present study aimed at analyzing the effectiveness of EI in undergraduate students performance. A pre-test post-test design was used with 3 within-participants conditions: control, self-generated EI, and externally-generated EI. The effects that training and type and quality of EI implementation had on students’ comprehension (at textbase and situation model levels) were investigated. Results suggest that the EI technique may be useful to improve undergraduates learning, but only in very specific situations. Otherwise, it may even hinder performance compared to traditional study techniques. Some insights are offered to better understand how the EI strategy works. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/170343 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169350 [EN]This paper performs a structural threshold regression analysis to test the existence of critical diversification levels in a study of the moderating effect of diversification strategies on performance. The method is applied to a novel panel dataset comprising a sample of Spanish multinational companies from non-financial sectors in 2006–2011. The results reveal that a critical level of geographic diversification is needed to influence positively the product diversification-performance relationship. Moreover, the geographic diversification-performance relationship is not influenced by the level of product diversification. Our results are relevant for understanding the complexity of these strategies. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169350 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169348 [EN]This paper aims to analyse the behaviours related to the decoupling of the disclosed information on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability, deepening these practices’ knowledge within family businesses. For this purpose, we defined decoupling as a gap between social responsibility performance (internal actions) and disclosures (external actions). For a sample of 33,809 observations for the period 2011–2019, corresponding to 5029 companies, 19% being family firms, our empirical evidence supports that family firms present a less wide gap between performance and disclosure, confirming the prevalence of socioemotional wealth dimensions in the decision-making of these companies. In firms without controlled shareholders, the quality of nonfinancial reporting could be understood as ambiguous, understanding that the most useful CSR information is found in the reports of family-owned companies. Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169348 2021-03-16T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169251 [EN]Purpose: Sustainability assurance has become essential for enhancing the credibility of sustainability disclosures. However, without harmonized standards, critical literature highlights the risk of managerial capture and questions the effectiveness of assurance in promoting accountability. This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity serves as a governance mechanism that reduces the risk of capture and whether a critical mass of female directors is necessary to exert a monitoring role. Design/methodology/approach: Using 2,267 assurance statements from European-listed firms (2018–2022), the authors develop an index of managerial capture based on whether assurance reports evaluate compliance with established reporting principles. A higher score indicates a more comprehensive verification process and, consequently, a lower risk of managerial capture. To complement this measure, the authors assess the tone of the assurance statements, where an overly optimistic tone serves as an additional indicator of managerial capture. The monitoring role of board gender diversity is analyzed using panel data regression models and a difference-in-differences approach to account for the influence of board gender diversity regulations. Findings: The results show that a critical mass of female directors (exceeding 30%) reduces the risk of managerial capture, and that gender-balanced boards (with 40%–60% female representation) are the most effective in monitoring this risk. Moreover, board gender diversity regulations further strengthen the oversight role of female directors. Originality/value: This study advances the field of sustainability assurance by proposing a governance mechanism that minimizes the risk of managerial capture and illustrates the potential of natural language processing techniques for analyzing sustainability disclosures. It also demonstrates that gender-balanced boards and gender diversity regulations enhance corporate accountability. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169251 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169250 [EN]Sustainability assurance practice remains highly fragmented, resulting in considerable variation in assurance outcomes. Using adataset of 1465 assurance reports (2018–2022), this study investigates the relationship between the level of assurance profession-alism reflected in assurance reports and idiosyncratic risk in carbon-intensive firms. Assurance professionalism is defined as thepresence in assurance reports of explicit evaluations of qualitative dimensions of sustainability disclosures, including balance,materiality, completeness, reliability and accuracy. Our findings reveal that firms with higher levels of assurance professional-ism exhibit lower idiosyncratic risk. In the context of carbon assurance, this effect depends on both the proportion of emissionsassured and the level of assurance obtained. Moreover, higher assurance professionalism enhances firms' resilience to risksarising from climate transition shocks. Finally, the effects of assurance professionalism are more pronounced in voluntary as-surance settings. This study contributes to ongoing debates on the heterogeneity of assurance practices and the role of assurancemechanisms in fostering accountability. Wed, 13 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169250 2025-08-13T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169185 This study reveals how the level of leader-member exchange (LMX) in 267 individual stores in a Spanish fashion retail chain is associated to store-level performance estimated through two indicators commonly used in this industry: labour productivity and service quality ratings. We also appraise the moderating role played by the organizational form (company ownership vs. franchising) of individual stores in the relationship between LMX and store performance. We have used multivariate analyses to study the research questions, with a panel dataset of quarterly store-level data for the period January 2022–December 2023. The relationship between LMX and labour productivity is positive and significant, and franchising increases it. However, franchising reduces the positive and significant relationship between LMX and service quality ratings. The results are robust across our numerous specifications. Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169185 2026-01-05T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169071 [[EN] The misalignment between the external risks a company faces, such as natural disasters or macroeconomic shocks, and the supply chain risk mitigation efforts it undertakes has received limited attention, particularly from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Using contingency theory as a theoretical underpinning, this research introduces a novel fit measure, the risk mitigation deficit (RMD), to capture this misalignment. It then examines the impact of RMD on operational risk (OR), which refers to the failure of the supply chain to achieve key objectives such as cost efficiency, quality, and sustainability. SMEs face unique challenges, as risk mitigation efforts are resource-intensive, requiring careful alignment of mitigation measures with risk exposure. This study contributes by analyzing data from 213 SMEs in the Spanish agri-food supply chain. The results suggest that both upstream and in-house RMD positively influence output OR, while downstream RMD shows no such relationship. Similarly, upstream RMD does not appear to influence input OR. A robustness test examining the effect of mere risk mitigation effort (RME) on OR confirmed that RMD possesses explanatory power over OR that RME alone does not. These findings underscore that a one-size-fits-all approach to supply chain risk management (SCRM) is ineffective, especially for resource-constrained SMEs. Instead, tailored, context-specific solutions are needed to help SMEs efficiently balance risk profiles and mitigation efforts. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/169071 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/168566 [EN] Traditionally, resilience in family firms has been studied ex post, analyzing outcomes after a crisis. However, the ex ante perspective—the active process of building resilience—remains largely unexplored. This is crucial for family-owned SMEs given their limited resources. To address this gap, we propose a model breaking down resilience into two dimensions: risk management formalization and intensity of resilience practices. We hypothesize that formalization positively impacts intensity. Furthermore, drawing on the socioemotional approach, we anticipate family SMEs will show less formalized but more intense resilience processes than non-family counterparts. The model was validated with 196 Spanish SMEs operating in the agri-food value chain. Results confirm formalization drives resilience practices, and family SMEs are more proactive in implementing them. Notably, the expected negative effect of being a family SME on formalization didn’t materialize in our sample. Our conclusions enrich understanding of how the family firm’s socioemotional wealth shapes its resilience approach. This study emphasizes the need for multidimensional approaches to characterize resilience, offering a more comprehensive view of its interconnection with other business characteristics. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/168566 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10366/168504 [EN] Growing dependence on suppliers for production and innovation, together with increasing consumer demands, has prompted recent discussions of the importance of purchasing–marketing functional integration. However, empirical studies are needed to understand how to manage this interface within a new product development (NPD) context. This study, grounded in information processing theory, proposes a new model to classify integrating mechanisms as either information-sharing forums or optimizers. This model further postulates the greater capacity of optimizer mechanisms for improving NPD commercial and financial performance, as well as speed. The empirical results, obtained from a sample of 141 firms, show that forums only improve NPD speed, whereas optimizer mechanisms evoke better commercial and financial performance. This study therefore highlights the potential of different integrating mechanisms and contributes to the on-going debate about the very concept of functional integration itself. Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10366/168504 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z