This study explores how the corporate entrepreneurship (CE) of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) evolves under varying conditions of state ownership and control, laws and norms, and competence in the market. For this purpose, we present a longitudinal case study focused on the Spanish postal operator Correos using qualitative archival data and interviews. Our results indicate that the willingness and capacity of an SOE to act entrepreneurially depends critically on its degree of autonomy from the state and on the extent to which its legal and market environments increase its dynamism, complexity, and hostility. We also show that the development of CE in an SOE may lead to improved service quality, operational efficiency, and business specialization; facilitate its market positioning; and foster its sustainability through the exploration and exploitation of strategic alliances that can increase its business scope.

In this article, we examine the statistical properties of the time series corresponding to the number of national and international visitors in Spain using fractional integration. This methodology allows us to examine the degree of persistence of the series, and thus, infer some conclusions about the nature of the shocks. According to the results reported in this work, seasonality matters in both cases, being more important in international tourism. Moreover, we observe significant differences in the degree of persistence between national and international tourism. Although both series seem to be mean reverting, with shocks having a transitory nature, higher orders of integration are observed in the case of the international arrivals.

PurposeUsing data from 1820 onwards in a group of seven countries, namely, Australia, Chile, Denmark, France, the UK, Italy and the USA, the authors investigate if there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between the two variables (GDP and population).Design/methodology/approachUsing fractional integration and cointegration methods, this paper deals with the analysis of the relationship between GDP and population using historical data.FindingsThe authors’ results show first that the two series are highly persistent, presenting orders of integration close to or above 1 in practically all cases. Testing cointegration between the two variables, the results are quite variable depending on the methodology and the bandwidth numbers used, but if cointegration takes places, it only occurs in the cases of France, Italy and the UK.Research limitations/implicationsThe fact that the orders of integration of all series is close to 1 indicate high levels of persistence with shocks having permanent effects and requiring strong measures to recover the original trends.Practical implicationsAny shock affecting the series will have a permanent nature, persisting forever.Originality/valueUpdated time series techniques based on concepts such as fractional integration and cointegration are used.

This article presents empirical evidence about the contribution of family controlled business groups as highly efficient alternatives to the large verticallyintegrated and professionally managed corporation in specific institutional and marketenvironments. This hypothesis is tested with a singular case study, SEUR, in the Spanish transport services sector. SEUR is one of the most prominent Spanish courier companies. It was founded during Franco´s dictatorship, expanded in democratic times, and adapted to the financial challenges of the late globalization during the end of the 20 th century with imagination, and the maintenance of old, traditional values based on personal trust and family ties.

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