This study assesses the total factor productivity, efficiency and its determinants in the hotel sector in the period 1999–2007, with the objective to analyze the management implications of these outcomes. The results show improvements in productivity due to innovation, with significant differences due to the geographic location, and a decrease in efficiency explained in terms of adaptation to supply. There are several factors determining the efficient leading hotels. First, the concentration market share to achieve efficiency gains. Second, a curvilinear (U) shape between efficiency and size of the hotel. Third, a higher degree of organizational autonomy is positively related to efficiency, but negatively related to the commitment to quality.

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate the effect of participation in business and economics education programs on the student's entrepreneurial intention in terms of perceptions of the desirability and personal feasibility of starting a business. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used to measure the student's entrepreneurial intention is the data envelopment analysis (DEA). This approach involves mathematical programming and as a new tool in this field has permitted enrichment of the results achieved. Findings – Results reveal that the explanatory factors for both types of students are different. This could be explained because the students choose one career or another according to their expectations of employment. In this sense, the student's entrepreneurial intention decreases in the business students when they progress in their studies and they are closer in contact with the business reality. However, the student's entrepreneurial intention increases in the case of business students when they choose a future work option different to work in public administration. Research limitations/implications – Although the work reaches conclusive findings, further research is required in a longitudinal way. Practical implications – The article provides new methodology and results in the field of entrepreneurship and employability in higher education in Spain. Originality/value – In the context of the theory of planned behavior, the article is innovative on a methodological level in arguing for “connected” perceptions of the desirability and personal feasibility of starting a business with an approach toward employability and enterprise development for students. The authors think that the understanding of the sources of “entrepreneurial intention” at the students' level is crucial for policymakers to develop appropriate educational polices to improve entrepreneurship performances.

Purpose: This study aims to present an approach for analyzing hypermarkets efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) in Spanish retailing. In particular, the influence of the Retail Trade Act of 1996, by means of which the Spanish state transferred authority to concede licenses for opening commercial establishments to the regions, is to be studied.Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on a DEA model that allows for the evaluation of categorical variables in DEA in cross‐section data.Findings: The findings suggest the existence of three different production frontiers in relation to the markets' regulation process where the hypermarkets operate; high, medium and low regulation. In the second place, the effect of the regulatory restrictions carried out by the autonomous communities is corrected in the second stage. This correction (once managerial inefficiencies have been eliminated) allows the hypermarkets operative in areas with low restrictions to be more efficient than those located in areas of greater regulation.Research limitations/implications: The generalization of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, because only one of the players in the distribution channel has been analyzed.Practical implications: The implications that can be derived from the analysis carried out could be of great interest to policy makers in Spain with regard to the influence of the Retail Trade Act of 1996.Originality/value: The paper uses the model mentioned as evaluation of the efficiency in relation to the environment or regulation carried out in the sector. The methodology proposed to analyze the impact of this environment variable is one of the main contributions of the work.

Purpose – The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of the European retailers. Design/methodology/approach – Applying a two-stage approach at individual and global levels, in this study the paper adopts the efficient frontier approach using the Malmquist index, based on DEA to measure productivity of European retailers. Findings – An efficiency and productivity evaluation process is developed incorporating non-parametric techniques in the European retail sector for the period of 1998-2006. The author proposes an integrated benchmarking framework illustrated in two stages. In the first stage, work is carried out in an individualized way at the country level identifying the firms that form the corresponding efficient frontier. In a second stage a benchmarking analysis is carried out starting from the selection of the best firms made in the first stage. In this case the firms belonging to different countries are compared against each other. The aim of this procedure is to seek out those best practices that will lead to improved performance throughout the whole sample. The results confirm that convergence/divergence in efficiency and productivity growth do not have the same behaviour patterns, concluding that some countries experienced improvements while others worsened. Individual scrutiny (benchmarks) in the second stage shows that there are four groups of firms that have allowed us to extract important managerial implications. Originality/value – The paper proposes an integrated benchmarking framework illustrated in two stages. With this methodology answers can be given to important questions such as, how efficient and productive is European retailing? What is the evolution of the productivity over time in Europe? Do different patterns of convergence/divergence of the efficiency exist among the analysed countries? What characteristics do the firms with the best managerial practices belonging to the European global frontier have?

In this current work we analyse the influence of factors potentially able to explain entrepreneurs’ self-confidence in their own business activity, in view of the repercussions that they may ultimately have on economic development. Specifically, we include a number of factors in the analysis presented here that can be considered traditional in the specialized literature, such as the regional and sectoral factors, along with an additional factor measuring the type of entrepreneur running the firm. This typology is defined on the basis of the entrepreneurs’ personal characteristics, and their way of managing the firm's resources. The authors used a cross-section (during 2001–2002) of 1314 firms, grouped in four sectors of activity, spatially distributed over 14 Argentine provinces, and considering seven models of entrepreneurial behaviour in the analysis. Our results, controlled by size, at the business level, and for the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, at the regional level, have been tested to be able to capture the significant effect that the entrepreneur type, the sector of activity and the regional location of the firm have in strengthening the entrepreneurs’ perception of the improvement in the economic situation of their firms.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact on Spanish retail firms' efficiency of the regulatory process experienced in the period 1994‐2002. In particular, the paper aims to study the influence of the Retail Trade Act of 1996, by means of which the Spanish state transferred authority to concede licenses for opening commercial establishments to the regions.Design/methodology/approach: The objectives have been achieved by non parametric methodology of analysis of efficiency at static and dynamic level (kernel density).Findings: The results confirm a decrease in firms' technical efficiency in the post‐regulatory period between 1996 and 2002. The different patterns of convergence/divergence in the distribution of technical efficiency depend on firm size. Small firms experience a process of divergence to lower efficiency levels from 1994 to 2002.Research limitations/implications: Perhaps more regional analysis is also needed. In this sense, it would be interesting to consider the region within which the firms operate, and hence take into account the differences in regulatory processes in each region by size or more precisely by outlet type.Practical implications: It is necessary to consider the implications that the regulatory processes can have for management in the environment of the retail industry.Originality/value: The analysis of the efficiency with features of density kernel. As well as the usage of stochastic kernel. This has enabled dynamic effects in the analysis.