Search

Small family-owned companies are the most common type of European business structure and are characterised by their orientation to long-term goals. Therefore, they can play an important role in the launching of businesses related to sustainable growth. However, access to finance is difficult for start-ups. Mutual Guarantee Institutions (MGIs) mitigate this problem by facilitating long-term guaranteed loans, but they must assume responsibility for default losses. This paper analyses, as of the end of 2018, the loan default of the portfolio of guarantees formalised by Spanish MGIs with new companies between 2003 and 2012, a period including both economic growth and recession. The objective is to identify the annual evolution and the average global cost of default, as well as the differences in said portfolios according to the purpose of the loan, company size and economic activity. The analysis was developed while considering two scenarios: one determinist, using a ratio method and another stochastic, using an analysis of variance. We found differences in the distribution of defaults for the variables company size and sector of activity. The findings provide relevant information for managers and Public Administrations to improve the distribution of guarantees between Spanish MGIs and public institutions, and their coverage of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) loan defaults., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

Composite indicators are a remarkably useful tool in policy ana- lysis and public communication for assessing phenomena, such as Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE), that cannot be expressed by means of a simple indicator. The objective of this study is to pro- pose and compare three MCA-DEA models from a “Benefit of Doubt” (BoD) approach in order to build KBE Composite Indicators. To show the effectiveness of the models, this paper proposes a case study of 36 European countries to assess the degree of development of KBE. The results revealed differences with respect to the optimal weights assigned to the sub-indica- tors, the discriminating power, the operability, and the participa- tory nature of the models. Model 1 yielded high scores for every country and low discriminating power. Model 2 favored the most efficient countries in terms of KBE and allows for the incorpor- ation of expert knowledge, thereby giving flexibility to the pro- cess. Model 3 made it possible to construct composite indicators from an optimal balance approach and yielded low results overall. These results demonstrate the necessity to analyze the different choices for measuring KBE in order to determine which indicator is more suitable for each context., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

Sustainable Rural Development is essential to maintain active local communities and avoid depopulation and degradation of rural areas. Proper assessment of development in these territories is necessary to improve decision-making and to inform public policy, while ensuring biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services supply. Rural areas include high ecological value systems but the vulnerability of environmental components in development indicators has not been sufficiently pinpointed. The main objective of this work was to propose a new sustainable rural development composite indicator (nSRDI) while considering an environmental dimension indicator based on ecosystem services vulnerability and social and economic dimension indicators established using a sequentially Benefit of the Doubt-Data Envelopment Analysis (BoD-DEA) model. It aimed also to test effects of weighting methods on nSRDI. The composite indicator was applied to 10 regions (comarcas) in the Huesca province, Spain, producing a ranking of regions accordingly. The indicator was further tested through the analysis of the effect of an equal and optimum weighting method on scores and rankings of regions. Results showed substantial differences in nSRDI scores/rankings when vulnerability was added to the process, suggesting that the environmental dimension and the perspective from which it is conceived and applied matters when addressing sustainable rural development., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

The planning of protected rural areas is usually defined by institutional decision-makers without considering the preferences of the local communities that live on the land, which frequently leads to conflicts in land management. This paper proposes a voting method based on the Borda count to rank the management goals of a protected rural area. The method was applied in a Spanish-Portuguese reserve called Iberian Plateau with the aim of collecting the preferences of institutional decision-makers (government and scientists) and rural landowners (farmers and businesspersons). Regarding the conservation and development objectives, the results show differences in spatial planning when only the preferences of institutional decision-makers are taken into consideration, as opposed to when the preferences of landowners are included within the analysis., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the application of Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approaches exclusively to water-related freshwater ecosystem services. MCDM analysis has been useful in solving conflicts and it works well in this framework, given the serious conflicts historically associated with water use and the protection of freshwater ecosystems around the world. In this study, we present a review of 150 papers that proposed the use of MCDM-based methods for the social, economic, or ecological planning and management of water ecosystem services over the period 2000–2020. The analysis accounts for six elements: ecosystem service type, method, participation, biogeographical realm, waterbody type, and problem to solve. A Chi-square test was used to identify dependence between these elements. Studies involving the participation of stakeholder groups adopted an integrated approach to analysing sustainable water management, considering provisioning, regulating, and cultural services. However, such studies have been in decline since 2015, in favour of non-participatory studies that were strictly focused on ecological and provisioning issues. Although this reflects greater concern for the health of freshwater ecosystems, it is a long way removed from the essence of ecosystem services, which entails an integrated approach to the interrelationships between hydrology, landscapes, ecology, and humans., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

Composite indicators are a remarkably useful tool in policy analysis and public communication for assessing phenomena, such as Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE), that cannot be expressed by means of a simple indicator. The objective of this study is to propose and compare three MCA-DEA models from a “Benefit of Doubt” (BoD) approach in order to build KBE Composite Indicators. To show the effectiveness of the models, this paper proposes a case study of 36 European countries to assess the degree of development of KBE. The results revealed differences with respect to the optimal weights assigned to the sub-indicators, the discriminating power, the operability, and the participatory nature of the models. Model 1 yielded high scores for every country and low discriminating power. Model 2 favored the most efficient countries in terms of KBE and allows for the incorporation of expert knowledge, thereby giving flexibility to the process. Model 3 made it possible to construct composite indicators from an optimal balance approach and yielded low results overall. These results demonstrate the necessity to analyze the different choices for measuring KBE in order to determine which indicator is more suitable for each context.

Investment in natural capital is increasingly necessary and urgent considering the increasing loss of global bio- diversity and the associated social and economic losses. Ecosystem services are tools for quantifying the stock of natural capital and there is great concern about their assessment and valuation. However, there remains a substantial gap between the large amount of information available about ecosystem services and the infor- mation required to support decisions and this undermines the efficiency of their management. Multi-criteria analysis techniques can be very useful to efficiently develop decision-making processes to properly channel investment and optimize the costs associated with conservation. This paper proposes an innovative mixed methodology for multi-criteria analysis to assign priorities to ecosystem services in protected areas in terms of importance and vulnerability. The model was applied by a group of experts to prioritize 20 ecosystem services in the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park. In order to collect and analyze the individual valuations, a mixed method of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Goal Programming (GP) was used, and to aggregate the valuation criteria, a Joint Relevance Index (JRI) was used, which presents the relative importance of each service in an aggregated way. The results show that conservation policies should be primarily directed towards lifecycle maintenance and water conditions. Depending on the vulnerability of the services, conservation poli- cies should be channeled towards provisioning services related to wild animals and wild plants. Considering the relative importance of services in the park, priority should be oriented to lifecycle maintenance, water conditions and intellectual interaction with the environment., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

In this paper, we propose a sequentially participative model for planning in transboundary protected areas based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process, Goal Programming and Monte Carlo simulation. The model was developed with two scenarios: one determinist and another with simulations that provide a multi-level ranking of the most relevant goals according stakeholders’ preferences to establish priorities in the planning of protected areas. Moreover, the proposed methodology is capable of identifying conflicts, providing a comparison between the most likely priorities and the most consistent group priorities associated with each planning goal. The model was tested in a Portuguese-Spanish Reserve called Meseta Ibérica and it permitted the identification of the highest conflicts in conservation, agroforestry, local development, fire prevention, wildlife conservation and certification of local products. Moreover, it found strong intercountry conflicts related to development and planning goals associated with governance at the most specific level., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

MCDM methods are useful to obtain information and generate knowledge useful for decision-making processes in multidisciplinary contexts. Particularly, when conflicts occur, knowledge is the key to start negotiation processes between stakeholders in order to achieve consensual solutions. The planning of protected areas is complex due to many competing uses of natural resources and the involvement of a large number of stakeholders. For the last ten years, participative MCDM methodologies have been carried out efficiently to reduce conflicts and allow to formalize stakeholder’s participation in the policy development processes. In this paper, we propose a MCDM participative methodology in three levels that seeks to define management plans in protected areas. This method allows for the definition of management plans based on three levels of criteria that define the use of the natural area and provide a ranking of the main goals according to the stakeholders’ priorities. The model was tested in two Spanish protected areas: Parque Natural de Lago de Sanabria y alrededores and Parque Natural de los Arribes del Duero. Firstly, the individual preferences of the most representative stakeholder groups were collected (Farmers, Business owners, Government and Scientists) and analyzed using two multi-criteria methods: AHP and GP. Moreover, a conflict index between stakeholders’ groups was calculated. Results showed that conservation and development goals are the most preferred to consider for the planning of these areas. Furthermore, the most serious disagreement was found between farmers and scientists and between farmers and government about the wildlife conservation., Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, TRUE, pub

This paper presents the application of a voting method based on the Bordacount to the participative management of a transboundary protected area. The method was carried out in a Spanish-Portuguese reserve in order to figure out the primary management goals while having into account the preferences of four groups of stakeholders: scientists, public authorities, farmers and local companies.The first results showthat the primary management goals in the reserve should be oriented towards the conservation (water and wildlife conservation) and towards local development (cattle raising and forestry). On the other hand, the goals related to theuse and governance should receive less attention in the management plan of the reserve.

This paper propose a management model for improve the governance of protected areas from an institutional perspective. The good governance in protected areas is based in seven principles: Legitimacy, Inclusiveness, Accountability, Performance, Equity, Connectivity and Institutional sustainability. This proposal is based on an overview of work at the institutional framework level and incorporates factors that affect to the efficiency of governance and improve it. A collaborative multi-criteria method is proposed to improve the good governance and ensure the Institutional Sustainability dimension, by integrating the stakeholder preferences in decision making. This model allows for obtain priorities on the management objectives of the stakeholders in a protected area and identify equivalences with IUCN protection categories using a multi-criteria outranking technique. It also presents an application in the Albufera Natural Park in Valencia, a strongly man-modified wetland located in Eastern Spain. This holistic approach allows ensure the incorporation of elements associated with the institutional sustainability that are not sufficiently represented in the governance in protected areas and to lay the theoretical basis for improve the governance for the global network of protected areas. The application of the model in the Albufera Natural Park has identified the V-Protected Lanscape / Seascape IUCN category as the equivalent international protection category. The results obtained by the park staff and other stakeholders have no major discrepancies. This suggests that this protection category seems well adapted to the social context of this protected area, moreover, the V protection category usually fits well to ecosystems strongly modified by human activities as is the case of the Albufera of Valencia. This model achieves improve two subdimensions of the Institutional Sustainability in the governance of protected areas: the Institutional Resilience, with a flexible inte, Depto. de Economía Financiera y Actuarial y Estadística, Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, FALSE, pub