Revisiting corporate universities: Strategic choices shaping performance in telecom.

Corporate universities (CUs) have evolved significantly over the past century, yet empirical studies examining their impact on corporate performance are notably sparse. This study addresses this gap by applying two alternative quasi-experimental designs - Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Synthetic Control Group (SCG), to assess CU's strategic value. By examining 18 listed European telecom companies and 80 Spanish corporations across various industries during the 2004 to 2018 time span, this paper presents a comparative analysis of CU implementation effects within different corporate environments. Our findings indicate that CU establishment is a strategic choice for better corporate performance, identity, and strategy rather than an isolated educational investment. The results offer a better understanding of CU's strategic role, especially in sectors characterized by rapid technological change and the need for strategic human capital development. This study contributes to both empirical knowledge and methodology, proposing innovative ways to explore the effects of strategic decisions like CUs on corporate performance, and enhancing the dialogue between strategic human resource management and corporate investors in the scholarly and managerial domains.

They are not all the same: Determinants of attendance across different sectors in a stadium.

Previous research inspecting the demand for tickets for professional sports has mostly used aggregate data in their estimations. In a nutshell, it implies that all fans would be driven by the same determinants. In this research, we test whether this hypothesis holds. We analyse all first-tier Brazilian League home matches of both Flamengo and Fluminense at the iconic stadium Maracanã (Brazil) from 2014 to 2019. Ordinary Least Square regressions model individual equations for each sector for comparing their determinants. Our empirical results offer evidence that ticket price and Uncertainty of Outcome have different impact on demand for tickets according to the sector. Further research is encouraged to inspect whether similar behavior is detected in other settings.

Football Fans' Emotions: Uncertainty Against Brand Perception.

Football is an industry driven by emotions. Fans experience many different emotions related to their teams. This paper aims to inspect how emotions impact attendance at football matches, examining whether football fans prefer to watch highly competitive matches or matches between good teams with star-players. The paper also considers behavioral and emotional differences of match spectators when brand-teams play away or at home. Importantly, we are also looking for the effects that the expectations of these emotions have on the tickets' price mechanism. We use data from three seasons of the Brazilian State championship with information on more than 1,100 matches. The OLS estimator with the moderation marginal effects allows for analysis of a brand-team playing with different levels of uncertainty over the outcomes measured by the relative level of the divisions of rivals. We look for the difference between the marginal contribution of the brand-team and the uncertainty of outcomes that might change under some conditions. The analysis is performed later using two subsamples and, finally, we address the problem of endogeneity in price using an instrumental variable. From our results, the main findings are: first, that the price of tickets does not much affect the demand when a brand-team is playing. In case of competitive matches between non-brand-teams, price behavior correlates to the rationality of the demand curve having a negative impact. The fact that price is not relevant for matches with the brand-team comes to corroborate the idea that fans are driven more by emotions than by economic reasoning; second, the phenomena of highly competitive matches does not work when a brand-team is playing against a small one; and third, the effect of a brand-team playing is relatively more important than the uncertainty of outcome. The last two findings mean that the satisfaction of watching star-players or big-teams is stronger than the emotion brought by a competitive match.

Ziram, a pesticide associated with increased risk for Parkinson's disease, differentially affects the presynaptic function of aminergic and glutamatergic nerve terminals at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction.

Multiple populations of aminergic neurons are affected in Parkinson's disease (PD), with serotonergic and noradrenergic loci responsible for some non-motor symptoms. Environmental toxins, such as the dithiocarbamate fungicide ziram, significantly increase the risk of developing PD and the attendant spectrum of both motor and non-motor symptoms. The mechanisms by which ziram and other environmental toxins increase the risk of PD, and the potential effects of these toxins on aminergic neurons, remain unclear. To determine the relative effects of ziram on the synaptic function of aminergic versus non-aminergic neurons, we used live-imaging at the Drosophila melanogaster larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ). In contrast to nearly all other studies of this model synapse, we imaged presynaptic function at both glutamatergic Type Ib and aminergic Type II boutons, the latter responsible for storage and release of octopamine, the invertebrate equivalent of noradrenalin. To quantify the kinetics of exo- and endo-cytosis, we employed an acid-sensitive form of GFP fused to the Drosophila vesicular monoamine transporter (DVMAT-pHluorin). Additional genetic probes were used to visualize intracellular calcium flux (GCaMP) and voltage changes (ArcLight). We find that at glutamatergic Type Ib terminals, exposure to ziram increases exocytosis and inhibits endocytosis. By contrast, at octopaminergic Type II terminals, ziram has no detectable effect on exocytosis and dramatically inhibits endocytosis. In contrast to other reports on the neuronal effects of ziram, these effects do not appear to result from perturbation of the Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) or calcium homeostasis. Unexpectedly, ziram also caused spontaneous and synchronized bursts of calcium influx (measured by GCaMP) and electrical activity (measured by ArcLight) at aminergic Type II, but not glutamatergic Type Ib, nerve terminals. These events are sensitive to both tetrodotoxin and cadmium chloride, and thus appear to represent spontaneous depolarizations followed by calcium influx into Type II terminals. We speculate that the differential effects of ziram on Type II versus Type Ib terminals may be relevant to the specific sensitivity of aminergic neurons in PD, and suggest that changes in neuronal excitability could contribute to the increased risk for PD caused by exposure to ziram. We also suggest that the fly NMJ will be useful to explore the synaptic effects of other pesticides associated with an increased risk of PD.

Influencia de los torneos en la generación de ingresos / Influence of championships in the revenues generation

El objetivo del estudio ha sido investigar de qué manera cada campeonato afecta la generación de ingresos de los clubes de fútbol. Se ha analizado el desempeño deportivo de 28 equipos brasileños durante cinco temporadas (2010-14) en los siguientes torneos: Campeonato Brasileiro, Copa do Brasil, Campeonatos Estaduais, Copa Libertadores y Copa Sudamericana. Se ha llevado a cabo una regresión lineal con dados en panel y efectos fijos. El éxito en la temporada anterior ha sido medido por variables retardadas. Como resultado, se evidencia que el modelo explica 65.1% de los ingresos totales. Además, se observa que la Liga de la temporada anterior, la Copa y la Libertadores actuales son los únicos torneos que afectan estadísticamente la generación de ingresos. Se concluye que la importancia y el formato de los torneos influyen de manera distinta en la recaudación de los clubes de fútbol en Brasil

The aim of this paper was research how each kind of tournament affects the revenues generation in football clubs. We have analysed the sports performance of 28 Brazilian football clubs during five seasons (2010-14). We have studied the five most important tournaments there: Brazilian League, Brazilian Cup, State Championships, Libertadores Cup and South American Cup. We have carried out a linear regression in a panel data with football clubs fixed effects. The lagged variables of each tournament were employed to examine if the previous sports performance could improve the next revenues. The model explains 65.1% of the total revenues. In addition, the lagged performance in a League and the current performance in a Cup and Libertadores were the tournaments that statistically affect the revenues generation. We conclude that the importance and the competitive format have different impacts in the revenues generation on Brazilian football clubs

Objetivos financieros y deportivos en la eficiencia del fútbol europeo / Financial and sport objectives in the efficiency of european football

El objetivo del presente estudio es medir la eficiencia de los principales equipos europeos considerando los objetivos financieros y deportivos, por lo que se utilizan el beneficio y el coeficiente UEFA como outputs. Un modelo alternativo es presentado bajo la premisa de la maximización de los resultados deportivos y la minimización de las pérdidas financieras. Los resultados muestran un amplio margen de mejora, especialmente en la gestión financiera

The goal of this study is to measure the efficiency of the major European football teams under financial and win objectives using profits and UEFA coefficient as outputs. An alternative model is presented maximizing wins and minimizing financial losses. Results show much room for improvement, especially in financial management

Synergistic effects on dopamine cell death in a Drosophila model of chronic toxin exposure.

The neurodegenerative effects of Parkinson's disease (PD) are marked by a selective loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Epidemiological studies suggest that chronic exposure to the pesticide paraquat may increase the risk for PD and DA cell loss. However, combined exposure with additional fungicide(s) including maneb and/or ziram may be required for pathogenesis. To explore potential pathogenic mechanisms, we have developed a Drosophila model of chronic paraquat exposure. We find that while chronic paraquat exposure alone decreased organismal survival and motor function, combined chronic exposure to both paraquat and maneb was required for DA cell death in the fly. To initiate mechanistic studies of this interaction, we used additional genetic reagents to target the ubiquitin proteasome system, which has been implicated in some rare familial forms of PD and the toxic effects of ziram. Genetic inhibition of E1 ubiquitin ligase, but not the proteasome itself, increased DA cell death in combination with maneb but not paraquat. These studies establish a model for long-term exposure to multiple pesticides, and support the idea that pesticide interactions relevant to PD may involve inhibition of protein ubiquitination.