Business Administration

This paper addresses the need of finding new ways of measuring the environmental and economic consequences of farming. The aim of this study is to inquire into the impacts that excessive intensifi-cation has on productivity and environmental costs in the long term and additionally, to explore empirically the trend of these two indicators over time. The contribution of this paper is to perform an empirical study of the trends of productivity and environmental costs of farming in the long-term. To this end, this paper performs a panel data analysis of productivity and environmental costs on a farm accounting database across European regions over the 1989e2009 period. The models proposed take (i) farm output per hectare as indicator of productivity, and (ii) expenditures on energy, pesticides and fertilisers per hectare as proxy indicators of environmental costs. Results provide empirical evidence that the regions under study have a negative trend of productivity and a positive trend of environmental costs over the time frame mentioned. These results correlate negatively with both, economic and environmental sustainability of farms. Arguably, this is aggravated in the latter due to hidden environmental costs valued at zero in traditional accounting.

The aim of this research is twofold: (a) to inquire into the methodological foundations of boundary setting for improved sustainability reporting and (b) to explore current corporate practice in this area, with a particular emphasis on environmental indicators. The paper contends that the boundaries of significant sustainability indicators should encompass all entities over which there is sustainability control, together with indirect impacts arising from activities across the supply chain, and not merely direct impacts caused by entities within boundaries based on financial control. The paper explores, through an empirical study of the sustainability reports disclosed by some of the top FT500 companies, how corporations are setting environmental boundaries in practice. Results show a lack of ambition in the practice of setting organizational and operational boundaries. Most reporting entities define organizational boundaries restricted to financial control, and most of the indirect environmental impacts sought remain undisclosed.

Resumen: Los trabajos alrededor del absentismo de los estudiantes en las aulas universitarias no han sido uno de los objetivos preferentes de los autores en materia de investigación educativa. Habitualmente se ha hecho una aproximación a los datos disponibles de absentismo como una variable interviniente o como una variable propia del proceso educativo, pero no como una variable dependiente en el sentido estricto del término.

a la seva reunió de 25 de maig de 2007, va crear una comissió per analitzar les causes de l'absentisme dels estudiants a les aules. L'encàrrec d'aquest informe neix de la percepció que, a la Facultat de Ciències Econòmiques i Empresarials de la UB, el grau d'absentisme a les aules és important. La comissió formada per la Dra. Pilar Aparicio Chueca; la Sra. Núria Font, administradora del centre; la Dra. Amelia Díaz Álvarez; la Dra. Glòria Rubert Adelantado; el Dr. Joan Guardia i Olmos; el Dr. Joaquim Soler Vilanova; el Dr. Ernest Pons Fanals i presidida pel Dr. Xavier M. Triadó va poder iniciar els seus treballs el 23 de novembre de 2007.

1. Presentación 2. El marketing como análisis de la realidad 3. La necesidad, base de toda demanda 4. El producto como corazón del plan de marketing 5. Técnicas de análisis de mercado 6. Identificación del producto deportivo 7. Diferenciación del producto como centro de estrategia

Resumen: Este trabajo analiza los perfiles de los grupos de investigación de una universidad pública de gran dimensión, con el fin de identificar los factores que hacen ser mejores a unos grupos que a otros, desde el punto de vista de sus resultados.