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In recent years, entire industries and their participants have been affected by disruptive technologies, resulting in dramatic market changes and challenges to firm’s business logic and thus their business models (BMs). Firms from mature industries are increasingly realizing that BMs that worked successfully for years have become insufficient to stay on track in today’s “move fast and break things” economy. Firms must scrutinize the core logic that informs how they do business, which means exploring novel ways to engage customers and get them to pay. This can lead to a complete renewal of existing BMs or innovating completely new BMs.
BMs have emerged as a popular object of research within the last decade. Despite the popularity of the BM, the theoretical and empirical foundation underlying the concept is still weak. In particular, the innovation process for BMs has been developed and implemented in firms, but understanding of the mechanisms behind it is still lacking. Business model innovation (BMI) is a complex and challenging management task that requires more than just novel ideas. Systematic studies to generate a better understanding of BMI and support incumbents with appropriate concepts to improve BMI development are in short supply. Further, there is a lack of knowledge about appropriate research practices for studying BMI and generating valid data sets in order to meet expectations in both practice and academia.
This paper-based dissertation aims to contribute to research practice in the field of BM and BMI and foster better understanding of the BM concept and BMI processes in incumbent firms from mature industries. The overall dissertation presents three main results. The first result is a new perspective, or the systems thinking view, on the BM and BMI. With the systems thinking view, the fuzzy BM concept is clearly structured and a BMI framework is proposed. The second result is a new research strategy for studying BMI. After analyzing current research practice in the areas of BMs and BMI, it is obvious that there is a need for better research on BMs and BMI in terms of accuracy, transparency, and practical orientation. Thus, the action case study approach combined with abductive methodology is proposed and proven in the research setting of this thesis. The third result stems from three action case studies in incumbent firms from mature industries employed to study how BMI occurs in practice. The new insights and knowledge gained from the action case studies help to explain BMI in such industries and increase understanding of the core of these processes.
By studying these issues, the articles complied in this thesis contribute conceptually and empirically to the recently consolidated but still increasing literature on the BM and BMI. The conclusions and implications made are intended to foster further research and improve managerial practices for achieving BMI in a dramatically changing business environment.
Since spring 2014 the relations between the EU and Russia are stuck in an Ice Age. From a Western point of view, especially the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the intervention in the conflict in Ukraine are responsible. The EU has frozen their relations to Russia and applied sanctions against it. Russia reacted in the same way. Can this vicious circle be broken without betraying the values of the EU? This book presents the analysis and ideas of social scientists from Germany, Poland and Russia. The reasons for this crisis are seen quite differently but all try to find a way out of the current confrontation.
This cumulative dissertation contains four self-contained articles which are related to EU regional policy and its structural funds as the overall research topic. In particular, the thesis addresses the question if EU regional policy interventions can at all be scientifically justified and legitimated on theoretical and empirical grounds from an economics point of view. The first two articles of the thesis (“The EU structural funds as a means to hamper migration” and “Internal migration and EU regional policy transfer payments: a panel data analysis for 28 EU member countries”) enter into one particular aspect of the debate regarding the justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. They theoretically and empirically analyse as to whether regional policy or the market force of the free flow of labour (migration) in the internal European market is the better instrument to improve and harmonise the living and working conditions of EU citizens. Based on neoclassical market failure theory, the first paper argues that the structural funds of the EU are inhibiting internal migration, which is one of the key measures in achieving convergence among the nations in the single European market. It becomes clear that European regional policy aiming at economic growth and cohesion among the member states cannot be justified and legitimated if the structural funds hamper instead of promote migration. The second paper, however, shows that the empirical evidence on the migration and regional policy nexus is not unambiguous, i.e. different empirical investigations show that EU structural funds hamper and promote EU internal migration. Hence, the question of the scientific justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy cannot be readily and unambiguously answered on empirical grounds. This finding is unsatisfying but is in line with previous theoretical and empirical literature. That is why, I take a step back and reconsider the theoretical beginnings of the thesis, which took for granted neoclassical market failure theory as the starting point for the positive explanation as well as the normative justification and legitimisation of EU regional policy. The third article of the thesis (“EU regional policy: theoretical foundations and policy conclusions revisited”) deals with the theoretical explanation and legitimisation of EU regional policy as well as the policy recommendations given to EU regional policymakers deduced from neoclassical market failure theory. The article elucidates that neoclassical market failure is a normative concept, which justifies and legitimates EU regional policy based on a political and thus subjective goal or value-judgement. It can neither be used, therefore, to give a scientifically positive explanation of the structural funds nor to obtain objective and practically applicable policy instruments. Given this critique of neoclassical market failure theory, the third paper consequently calls into question the widely prevalent explanation and justification of EU regional policy given in static neoclassical equilibrium economics. It argues that an evolutionary non-equilibrium economics perspective on EU regional policy is much more appropriate to provide a realistic understanding of one of the largest policies conducted by the EU. However, this does neither mean that evolutionary economic theory can be unreservedly seen as the panacea to positively explain EU regional policy nor to derive objective policy instruments for EU regional policymakers. This issue is discussed in the fourth article of the thesis (“Market failure vs. system failure as a rationale for economic policy? A critique from an evolutionary perspective”). This article reconsiders the explanation of economic policy from an evolutionary economics perspective. It contrasts the neoclassical equilibrium notions of market and government failure with the dominant evolutionary neo-Schumpeterian and Austrian-Hayekian perceptions. Based on this comparison, the paper criticises the fact that neoclassical failure reasoning still prevails in non-equilibrium evolutionary economics when economic policy issues are examined. This is surprising, since proponents of evolutionary economics usually view their approach as incompatible with its neoclassical counterpart. The paper therefore argues that in order to prevent the otherwise fruitful and more realistic evolutionary approach from undermining its own criticism of neoclassical economics and to create a consistent as well as objective evolutionary policy framework, it is necessary to eliminate the equilibrium spirit. Taken together, the main finding of this thesis is that European regional policy and its structural funds can neither theoretically nor empirically be justified and legitimated from an economics point of view. Moreover, the thesis finds that the prevalent positive and instrumental explanation of EU regional policy given in the literature needs to be reconsidered, because these theories can neither scientifically explain the emergence and development of this policy nor are they appropriate to derive objective and scientific policy instruments for EU regional policymakers.
It is the intention of this study to contribute to further rethinking and innovating in the Microcredit business which stands at a turning point – after around 40 years of practice it is endangered to fail as a tool for economic development and to become a doubtful finance product with a random scope instead. So far, a positive impact of Microfinance on the improvement of the lives of the poor could not be confirmed. Over-indebtment of borrowers due to the pre-dominance of consumption Microcredits has become a widespread problem. Furthermore, a rising number of abusive and commercially excessive practices have been reported.
In fact, the Microfinance sector appears to suffer from a major underlying deficit: there does not exist a coherent and transparent understanding of its meaning and objectives so that Microfinance providers worldwide follow their own approaches of Microfinance which tend to differ considerably from each other.
In this sense the study aims at consolidating the multi-faced and very often confusingly different Microcredit profiles that exist nowadays. Subsequently, in this study, the Microfinance spectrum will be narrowed to one clear-cut objective, in fact away from the mere monetary business transactions to poor people it has gradually been reduced to back towards a tool for economic development as originally envisaged by its pioneers.
Hence, the fundamental research question of this study is whether, and under which conditions, Microfinance may attain a positive economic impact leading to an improvement of the living of the poor.
The study is structured in five parts: the three main parts (II.-IV.) are surrounded by an introduction (I.) and conclusion (V.). In part II., the Microfinance sector is analysed critically aiming to identify the challenges persisting as well as their root causes. In the third part, a change to the macroeconomic perspective is undertaken in oder to learn about the potential and requirements of small-scale finance to enhance economic development, particularly within the economic context of less developed countries. By consolidating the insights gained in part IV., the elements of a new concept of Microfinance with the objecitve to achieve economic development of its borrowers are elaborated.
Microfinance is a rather sensitive business the great fundamental idea of which is easily corruptible and, additionally, the recipients of which are predestined victims of abuse due to their limited knowledge in finance. It therefore needs to be practiced responsibly, but also according to clear cut definitions of its meaning and objectives all institutions active in the sector should be devoted to comply with. This is especially relevant as the demand for Microfinance services is expected to rise further within the years coming. For example, the recent refugee migration movement towards Europe entails a vast potential for Microfinance to enable these people to make a new start into economic life. This goes to show that Microfinance may no longer mainly be associated with a less developed economic context, but that it will gain importance as a financial instrument in the developed economies, too.
Selbstverständnis und Image der Unternehmensberatung, das Bewerbern, Mitarbeitern und Kunden gleichermaßen Wissensvorsprung durch Ballung der besten Köpfe verspricht, scheinen sowohl für den Berater als auch den Kunden einen Erfolgsfaktor einzunehmen. Die Karriere des Unternehmensberaters wird im Vergleich zu anderen Branchen durch eine starke Formalisierung anhand von Kompetenzen und Entwicklungspfaden begleitet. Talentgewinnung und -entwicklung sind dabei Kernaufgaben des Personalmanagements, das gerade aufgrund seiner kompetenzbasierten Instrumente und formalistischen Strukturen als Erfolgsfaktor gilt. Die Analyse der Autorin setzt beim Personalmanagement der Unternehmensberatung an. Auffällig erscheinen dabei zunächst ähnliche Strukturen und Instrumente zur Talentidentifikation und -entwicklung, die für eine gesamte Branche charakteristisch sind. Speziell für Professional Service Firms ist der Mitarbeiter die entscheidende ökonomische Größe in der Leistungserbringung. Der Kunde beurteilt die Unternehmensleistung im Zusammenspiel mit seinem Kontakt zum Mitarbeiter, der maßgeblich für die Leistungserbringung und Qualitätssicherung verantwortlich ist. Der Analysefokus liegt deshalb im Personalmanagement von Unternehmensberatungen als Teil der Professional Service Firms und wird vor dem Hintergrund systemtheoretischer Überlegungen beleuchtet. Eckpfeiler des Systems zeigen sich insbesondere in Form von branchenüblichen Rekrutierungsstrategien, der formalistischen Leistungsbeurteilung, dem vergleichsweise steilen Karriereverlauf sowie anhand überdurchschnittlicher Gehälter. Hat die Unternehmensberatung die Qualifizierung und Entwicklung ihrer Mitarbeiter zum Erfolgsfaktor gemacht? Die Autorin analysiert, ob das Personalmanagement und seine Verfahren berechtigterweise als Erfolgsfaktor einer Branche gelten, welche Faktoren den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg der Branche beeinflussen und welche Grenzen die Nutzenanalyse in Bezug auf die Beratungsleistung erfährt. ?
Die schulische Berufswahlvorbereitung versäumt es, Jugendliche auf die Wahl des Ausbildungsbetriebs vorzubereiten. Sie thematisiert nur die Berufswahl, obwohl die Entscheidung für eine betriebliche Ausbildung immer auch die Entscheidung für einen Ausbildungsbetrieb voraussetzt. Für die Ausbildungszufriedenheit und den -erfolg ist diese Betriebswahl zentral. Angesichts des Mismatchs am Ausbildungsmarkt ist das Thema hochrelevant.
Aus welchen Gründen entscheiden sich Jugendliche für einen Ausbildungsbetrieb? Diese Frage untersucht die vorliegende Arbeit aus prospektiver Sicht in narrativen Einzelinterviews mit 52 Schülerinnen und Schülern der 9. und 10. Klassenstufen verschiedener Schultypen und aus retrospektiver Sicht in vier multipel eingebetteten Mehrfallstudien mit 17 Auszubildenden aus vier Betrieben und in acht Berufen – jeweils in Brandenburg und Berlin. Theoretisch nähert sich diese Arbeit dem Thema über psychologische, soziologische und wirtschaftswissenschaftliche sowie interdisziplinäre Berufswahltheorien an, dem operativen Modell der Betriebswahl sowie dem hier neu entwickelten Modell der Ausbildungswahl als Entscheidungsprozess, das die beiden Wahlkomponenten Betrieb und Beruf vereint.
Drei zentrale Erkenntnisse kennzeichnen das Ergebnis der vorliegenden Arbeit:
1. Jugendliche beschäftigen sich mit der Wahl des Ausbildungsbetriebs und berücksichtigen vor allem emotionale Gründe. Diese variieren von Person zu Person.
2. Wichtigste Entscheidungsgründe für den Ausbildungsbetrieb sind der persönliche Eindruck, die inhaltliche Solidität, der Ort, das Betriebsklima, Kontakte ins Unternehmen, Perspektiven und die Bezahlung.
3. Jugendliche mit Mittlerem Schulabschluss achten besonders auf die Perspektiven nach Ausbildungsende.
Die wenigen anderen Studien zur Entscheidung für den Ausbildungsbetrieb gehen auf den am häufigsten genannten Entscheidungsgrund persönlicher Eindruck nicht ein. Auch kommen sie zu uneinheitlichen Schlüssen, für welche Personengruppe der Entscheidungsgrund Perspektiven besonders relevant ist. Es bedarf zusätzlicher Studien, um die Ergebnisse zu überprüfen und ihre statistische Verteilung in größeren Bevölkerungsgruppen zu untersuchen sowie eine belastbare, ganzheitliche Theorie zur Ausbildungswahl zu entwickeln.
I examine the determinants of both perceived inflation and unemployment in one single survey and include Big Five traits in the analysis. This is the first survey on this topic in Germany. My sample consists of 1771 students from different fields and levels. Using PhD students’ estimates as a reference, I create categories for underestimation and overestimation of both variables. Multinomial logit regressions show that females overestimate both variables. Education and news consumption reduce misestimation. A higher level of Neuroticism is related with a higher probability to overestimate unemployment. Overstating (understating) one indicator is associated with overstating (understating) the other.
The positive aspects of open innovation projects are widely discussed in innovation management research and practice by means of case studies and best practices. However, enterprises, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also face miscellaneous challenges in open innovation practice, leading to uncertainty and even renunciation of open innovation project participation. Thus, it is essential for SMEs to find the right balance between possible positive effects and negative consequences - the latter being the less studied "dark sides" of open innovation. However, appropriate methods of finding this balance are still lacking. In this article, we discuss the assessment of open innovation project participation by presenting a weighing and decision process framework as a conceivable solution approach. The framework includes an internal, external, and integrated analysis as well as a recommendation and decision phase. Piece by piece, we investigate the current situation and the innovation goals of the enterprise as an initial point for a decision for or against engaging in open innovation. Furthermore, we discuss the development of a software tool that automatically applies this framework and allows self-assessment by SMEs.
This article addresses security and privacy issues associated with storing data in public cloud services. It presents an architecture based on a novel secure cloud gateway that allows client systems to store sensitive data in a semi-trusted multi-cloud environment while providing confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. This proxy system implements a space-efficient, computationally-secure threshold secret sharing scheme to store shares of a secret in several distinct cloud datastores. Moreover, the system integrates a comprehensive set of security measures and cryptographic protocols to mitigate threats induced by cloud computing. Performance in practice and code quality of the implementation are analyzed in extensive experiments and measurements. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Background: Cloud computing promises to essentially improve healthcare delivery performance. However, shifting sensitive medical records to third-party cloud providers could create an adoption hurdle because of security and privacy concerns. Methods: We empirically investigate our research question by a survey with over 260 full responses. For the setting with a high confidentiality assurance, we base on a recent multi-cloud architecture which provides very high confidentiality assurance through a secret-sharing mechanism: Health information is cryptographically encoded and distributed in a way that no single and no small group of cloud providers is able to decode it.
Zwecks Erklärung von komplexen Finanzierungsentscheidungen multinationaler Unternehmen mit besonderem Bezug zum Euroraum werden bisherige Ansätze im Bereich „Finance“ erweitert und empirisch belegt. Die Analyse beschränkt sich hier nicht ausschließlich auf die Kapitalstruktur (Eigen- und Fremdkapital), sondern ebenfalls auf die strukturellen Verhältnisse von Innen- und Außenfinanzierung. Damit wird einerseits der Forschungsstrang „Corporate Finance“ fortgeführt andererseits mit einem Cashflow basierten Ansatz erweitert. In Anlehnung an das theoretische Modell zur optimalen Finanzierungsstruktur (Innen- und Außenfinanzierung) werden auf eigener Datenbasis periodenspezifische Entwicklungen der Unternehmensfinanzierung im internationalen Kontext analysiert.
Die besonderen Auswirkungen der globalen Finanzkrise auf börsennotierte Unternehmen aus Deutschland, Frankreich und Italien werden hier mit einem neuen Ansatz empirisch untersucht. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die Folgen der globalen Finanzkrise für die Kapitalbeschaffung multinationaler Unternehmen, zunächst allein auf Basis der Kapitalstruktur scheinbar geringere Veränderungen verursachten, unter Berücksichtigung der Finanzierungsstruktur jedoch weitreichende Dynamiken zum Vorschein kamen. Demnach unterliegen die Finanzierungsvolumina und die entsprechenden Finanzierungsquoten im Krisenverlauf enormen Schwankungen, die vielschichtige Herausforderungen für das internationale Finanzmanagement verdeutlichen.
Konzessionen (auch: Zugeständnisse) spielen in Einkäufer-Zulieferer-Verhandlungen eine entscheidende Rolle, weil die beteiligten Verhandlungsparteien in der Regel nur über Konzessionen, das heißt über eine Abfolge von entgegenkommenden Angeboten, zu einem von beiden Seiten akzeptierten Verhandlungsergebnis kommen. Da Verhandelnde mit der Abgabe von eigenen Konzessionen jedoch einen Teil ihrer individuellen Verhandlungsmasse hergeben und durch Konzessionen des Gegenübers einen Teil zu ihrer Verhandlungsmasse dazu gewinnen können, beeinflussen Konzessionen maßgeblich die Verhandlungsperformance von Verhandelnden. Diese wiederum hat nachweislich einen Einfluss auf die Profitabilität von Unternehmen.
Vor diesem Hintergrund ist es sowohl für die Verhandlungsforschung als auch für die Verhandlungspraxis von Interesse, zu untersuchen, wann und wie Verhandelnde Konzessionen in Verhandlungen machen sollten, um die eigene Verhandlungsperformance zu optimieren. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Untersuchung widmet sich die Autorin dieser Fragestellung, indem sie erstens (1) untersucht, ob Verhandelnde die erste Konzession in einer Verhandlung machen sollten, zweitens (2) analysiert, nach welchem Konzessionsmuster Verhandelnde verhandeln sollten und drittens (3) die Vorteilhaftigkeit der Abgabe von Konzessionen in Form von Paketangeboten in Verhandlungen mit mehreren Verhandlungsgegenständen (z. B. Preis, Menge und Lieferkonditionen) ermittelt. Mit der Bearbeitung dieser Teilfragestellungen schließt die Autorin zum einen Lücken in der Verhandlungsforschung und zum anderen leitet sie relevante Implikationen für ein systematisches Konzessionsmanagement in der Verhandlungspraxis ab.
Buyer-seller negotiations have significant impact on a company’s profitability, which makes practitioners aim at maximizing their performance. One lever for increasing bargaining performance is to pursue a clearly defined aspiration, i.e. one’s most desired outcome. In this context, the author explores the role of such aspirations in the three negotiation phases: preparation, bargaining, and striking a deal. She investigates determinants of aspirations, unintended consequences such as unethical bargaining behavior, and the consequences of overly ambitious aspirations. As a result, she does not only close existing gaps in negotiation research, but also derives valuable implications for practitioners
In some countries including Germany unemployed workers can increase their income by working a few hours per week. The intention is to keep unemployed job seekers attached to the labour market and to increase their job-finding probabilities. To analyze the unemployment dynamics of job seekers with and without marginal employment, we consider an inflow sample into unemployment and estimate multivariate duration models. While we do not find any significant impact on the job finding probability in a model with homogeneous effects, models allowing for time-varying coefficients indicate a decreased job finding probability of marginal employment at the beginning of the unemployment spell and an increased job finding probability for the long-term unemployed. Our results suggest that job seekers with marginal employment find more stable post-unemployment jobs, and we find some evidence that the relationship between marginal employment and wages and employment stability varies with respect to skill levels, sector and labor market tightness. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
This paper studies the effectiveness of building height limits as a policy to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It shows that building height limits lead to urban sprawl and higher emissions from commuting. On the other hand, aggregate housing consumption may decrease, which reduces emissions from residential energy use. A numerical model is used to evaluate whether total GHG emissions may be lower under building height restrictions. Welfare is not concave in the strictness of building height limits, so either no limit or a very strict one (depending on the strength of the externality) might maximize welfare. The paper discusses several extensions, such as congestion, endogenous transport mode choice, migration, and urban heat island effect. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
This article studies the effect of child care provision on family structure. We present a model of a marriage market with positive assortative matching, where in equilibrium, the poorest women stay single. Couples have to decide on the number of children and spousal specialization in home production of public goods and child care. We then study how child care provision affects the equilibrium. Due to specialization in home production, the incentive to use child care is smaller for married mothers than for single mothers. We show that this increases the number of single mothers and the divorce rate. Using survey data from Germany, we present suggestive empirical evidence consistent with this finding. (JEL codes: J12 and J13).
Previous research on open innovation (OI) has primarily focused on the organisational level of R&D intensive industries. With this paper, we contribute to research on the individual level of analysis by analysing specific perspectives in the context of creative industries. Our study is based on 36 interviews with Haute cuisine chefs in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland listed in the 2012 Michelin Guide. Building on the OI capability concept, our results demonstrate that chefs use absorptive and desorptive capacity (AC, DC) as means to generate and market culinary innovations, respectively. Moreover, we found that chefs almost exclusively rely on their own inventive and innovative capabilities in the early stages of the culinary innovation process. In subsequent phases, however, chefs increasingly integrate other sources such as employees, suppliers, and guests. Our study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, we research the individual level within the OI process, and second, we provide insight into OI practices in the creative industries.
This article is a response to calls in prior research that we need more longitudinal analyses to better understand the foundations of PSM and related prosocial values. There is wide agreement that it is crucial for theory building but also for tailoring hiring practices and human resource development programs to sort out whether PSM-related values are stable or developable. The article summarizes existent theoretical expectations, which turn out to be partially conflicting, and tests them against multiple waves of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study which covers a time period of 16 years. It finds that PSM-related values of public employees are stable rather than dynamic but tend to increase with age and decrease with organizational membership. The article also examines cohort effects, which have been neglected in prior work, and finds moderate evidence that there are differences between those born during the Second World War and later generations.
Many countries support business start-ups to spur economic growth and reduce unemployment with different programmes. Evaluation studies of such programmes commonly rely on the conditional independence assumption (CIA), allowing a causal interpretation of the results only if all relevant variables affecting participation and success are accounted for. While the entrepreneurship literature has emphasised the important role of personality traits as predictors for start-up decisions and business success, these variables were neglected in evaluation studies so far due to data limitations. In this paper, we evaluate a new start-up subsidy for unemployed individuals in Germany using propensity score matching under the CIA. Having access to rich administrative-survey data allows us to incorporate usually unobserved personality measures in the evaluation and investigate their impact on the estimated effects. We find strong positive effects on labour market reintegration and earned income for the new programme. Most importantly, results including and excluding individuals׳ personalities do not differ significantly, implying that concerns about potential overestimation of programme effects in the absence of personality measures might be less justified if the set of other control variables is rich enough.
Situated at the intersection of the literatures on speculative storage and non-renewable commodity scarcity, this paper considers whether changes in persistence have occurred in long-run U.S. prices of the energy commodities crude oil, natural gas and bituminous coal. We allow for a structural break when testing for a break in persistence to avoid a change in the stochastic properties of prices being confounded by an unaccounted-for deterministic shift in the price series. We find that coal prices are trend stationary throughout their evolution and that oil prices change from stationarity to non-stationarity in the decade between the late 1960s to late 1970s. The result on gas prices is ambiguous. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for a possible structural shift when testing for breaks in persistence, while being robust to the exact date of the structural break. Based on our analysis we caution against viewing long-run energy commodity prices as being non-stationary and conclude in favor of modeling commodity market fundamentals as stationary, meaning that speculative storage will tend to have a dampening effect on prices. We also cannot reject that long-run prices of coal and, with some hesitation, gas follow a Hotelling-type rule. In contrast, we reject the Hotelling rule for oil prices since the late 1960s/early 1970s. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Air pollution poses one of the greatest human health threats in the twenty-first century, accounting for an estimated 7 million premature deaths annually. In the light of this, global efforts to promote clean air are ever more important and should feature among the key priorities on the agenda of the international community. The universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted in September 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, offers an important opportunity to tackle air pollution at a global scale. Stressing the importance of air pollution as a human health hazard, this article examines to what extent air quality is covered by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and provides an analysis of the added value of the 2030 Agenda vis-a-vis existing international regulatory instruments addressing air pollution. Even though the SDGs do not include a stand-alone goal on air quality, the article concludes that the 2030 Agenda, by establishing clean air as an integral element of the principle of sustainable development, not only constitutes an important contribution to international (hard) law focusing on the atmosphere, but also sets out a much needed complementary pathway of tackling the issue in the absence of a global agreement on air pollution.
We conduct experiments based on the oligopoly model by Kreps and Scheinkman (1983) to assess the impact of demand side concentration on market outcomes. Both buyers and sellers in our markets are humans. The number of firms is fixed at three in all treatments. Only the number of buyers is varied and total demand is split equally among them. We observe that firms set lower prices in markets with only few buyers, namely one or two. Price dispersion is higher in markets with few buyers. Aggregate demand withholding decreases with the number of buyers. This results in lower profits for firms and higher profits for buyers in markets with few buyers. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Nonparametric efficiency analysis has become a widely applied technique to support industrial bench-marking as well as a variety of incentive-based regulation policies. In practice such exercises are often plagued by incomplete knowledge about the correct specifications of inputs and outputs. Simar and Wilson (Commun Stat Simul Comput 30(1): 159-184, 2001) and Schubert and Simar (J Prod Anal 36(1): 55-69, 2011) propose restriction tests to support such specification decisions for cross-section data. However, the typical oligopolized market structure pertinent to regulation contexts often leads to low numbers of cross-section observations, rendering reliable estimation based on these tests practically unfeasible. This small-sample problem could often be avoided with the use of panel data, which would in any case require an extension of the cross-section restriction tests to handle panel data. In this paper we derive these tests. We prove the consistency of the proposed method and apply it to a sample of US natural gas transmission companies from 2003 through 2007. We find that the total quantity of natural gas delivered and natural gas delivered in peak periods measure essentially the same output. Therefore only one needs to be included. We also show that the length of mains as a measure of transportation service is non-redundant and therefore must be included.
Public organizations involved in marine management are increasingly confronted with coordination challenges in marine governance. This study examines why and how the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) reorganized its formal coordination structures between the areas of fisheries management and marine environmental management The findings indicate that organizing efficient and, at the same time, legitimate coordination structures between different areas of marine governance is a "wicked" organizational problem with no ultimate and single optimal solution. In contrast to the assumptions of classical organization and management theory, the study finds that the reorganization of formal coordination structures is not necessarily driven for reasons of efficiency and perceived coordination problems. Instead, public marine management organizations also change their organizational structures to live up to external expectations to adopt modern management concepts, such as the Ecosystem Approach to Management (EAM). However, the study indicates that the adoption of the EAM has stimulated coordination and integration efforts in the research and advisory activities of the IMR. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Europa im Rathaus
(2016)
Seit den 90er Jahren gehen von der europäischen Integration zunehmend Rückwirkungen auf die subnationalen Ebenen aus. In der Folge kann eine Vervielfachung der kommunalen EU-bezogenen Tätigkeiten sowie die Einrichtung spezieller Koordinierungsstellen beobachtet werden. Aufbauend auf einer Befragung unter allen deutschen Großstädten und anhand von Experteninterviews in Bremerhaven, Dresden und Bochum widmet sich dieses Buch der Ausgestaltung der kommunalen EU-Arbeit in der Praxis. Im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung steht die Frage nach dem Mehrwert einer zentralen EU-Stelle in der Stadtverwaltung.
The 2008-2010 food crisis might have been a harbinger of fundamental climate-induced food crises with geopolitical implications. Heat-wave-induced yield losses in Russia and resulting export restrictions led to increases in market prices for wheat across the Middle East, likely contributing to the Arab Spring. With ongoing climate change, temperatures and temperature variability will rise, leading to higher uncertainty in yields for major nutritional crops. Here we investigate which countries are most vulnerable to teleconnected supply-shocks, i.e. where diets strongly rely on the import of wheat, maize, or rice, and where a large share of the population is living in poverty. We find that the Middle East is most sensitive to teleconnected supply shocks in wheat, Central America to supply shocks in maize, and Western Africa to supply shocks in rice. Weighing with poverty levels, Sub-Saharan Africa is most affected. Altogether, a simultaneous 10% reduction in exports of wheat, rice, and maize would reduce caloric intake of 55 million people living in poverty by about 5%. Export bans in major producing regions would put up to 200 million people below the poverty line at risk, 90% of which live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that a region-specific combination of national increases in agricultural productivity and diversification of trade partners and diets can effectively decrease future food security risks.
Ramsey meets Thünen
(2016)
Land taxes can increase production in the manufacturing sector and enhance land conservation at the same time, which can lead to overall macroeconomic growth. Existing research emphasizes the non-distorting properties of land taxes (when fixed factors are taxed) as well as growth-enhancing impacts (when asset portfolios are shifted to reproducible capital). This paper furthers the neoclassical perspective on land taxes by endogenizing land allocation decisions in a multi-sector growth model. Based on von Thünen’s observation, agricultural land is created from wilderness through conversion and cultivation, both of which are associated with costs. In the steady state of our general equilibrium model, land taxes not only may reduce land consumption (associated with environmental benefits) but may also affect overall economic output, while leaving wages and interest rates unaffected. When labor productivity is higher in the manufacturing than in the agricultural sector and agricultural and manufactured goods are substitutes (or the economy is open to world trade), land taxes increase aggregate economic output. There is a complex interplay of conservation policy, technological change and land taxes, depending on consumer preferences, sectoral labor productivities and openness-to-trade. Our model introduces a new perspective on land taxes in current policy debates on development, tax reforms as well as forest conservation.
Many organizations use business process models for documenting their business operations. In recent years, the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. However, BPMN is complex: The specification offers a huge variety of different elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN usage from the perspective of practitioners are still missing. We close this gap by analyzing a large set of BPMN 2.0 process models from practice. We found that particularly representational choices for splits and joins, the correct use of message flow, the proper decomposition of models, and the consistent labeling appear to be connected with quality issues. Based on our findings we give five recommendations how these issues can be avoided in the future. The work summarized in this extended abstract has been published in [LMG16].
Many organizations use business process models to document business operations and formalize business requirements in software-engineering projects. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), a specification by the Object Management Group, has evolved into the leading standard for process modeling. One challenge is BPMN's complexity: it offers a huge variety of elements and often several representational choices for the same semantics. This raises the question of how well modelers can deal with these choices. Empirical insights into BPMN use from the practitioners' perspective are still missing. To close this gap, researchers analyzed 585 BPMN 2.0 process models from six companies. They found that split and join representations, message flow, the lack of proper model decomposition, and labeling related to quality issues. They give five specific recommendations on how to avoid these issues.
This article is a response to calls in prior research that we need more longitudi-nal analyses to better understand the foundations of PSM and related prosocial values. There is wide agreement that it is crucial for theory-building but also for tailoring hiring practices and human resource development programs to sort out whether PSM-related values are stable or developable. The article summarizes existent theoretical expecta-tions, which turn out to be partially conflicting, and tests them against multiple waves of data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study which covers a time period of sixteen years. It finds that PSM-related values of public employees are stable rather than dynamic but tend to increase with age and decrease with organizational member-ship. The article also examines cohort effects, which have been neglected in prior work, and finds moderate evidence that there are differences between those born during the Second World War and later generations.
Ökonomen wie Wirtschaftspolitiker berufen sich auf die Neutralitätstheorie des Geldes, wenn sie eine Entpolitisierung der Geldpolitik fordern. Sowohl die Theorie der Geldneutralität als auch das Paradigma der Entpolitisierung der Geldpolitik sind jedoch problematisch. Die politökonomischen Entwicklungen nach der globalen Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise 2007/2008 und die jüngsten Kontroversen über die Rolle und Bedeutung von Geld haben dies deutlich vor Augen geführt. Die vorliegende Arbeit diskutiert zunächst die konzeptionellen Grundlagen und theoretischen Modelle der Geldneutralität. Anschließend werden die zentralen theoretischen Annahmen und Aussagen der Neutralitätstheorie aus einer kritischen heterodoxen Perspektive hinterfragt. Es wird argumentiert, dass Geld eine nicht-neutrale Produktionskraft ist, die weder ökonomisch noch sozial neutral ist. Die Bedingungen, unter denen Geld verfügbar ist und zirkuliert, sind richtungsweisend für die ökonomische Entwicklung. Daher kann es auch kein neutrales Geld oder gar eine apolitische Geldpolitik geben.
Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Politik der Zentralbankunabhängigkeit (ZBU) am Beispiel der Türkei. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit stehen theoretische und empirische Fragen und Probleme, die sich im Zusammenhang mit der ZBU stellen und anhand der türkischen Geldpolitik diskutiert werden. Ein zentrales Ziel der Arbeit besteht darin, zu untersuchen, ob und inwiefern die türkische Zentralbank nach Erlangung der de jure institutionellen Unabhängigkeit tatsächlich als unabhängig und entpolitisiert eingestuft werden kann. Um diese Forschungsfrage zu beantworten, werden die institutionellen Bedingungen, die Ziele und die Regeln, nach denen sich die türkische Geldpolitik richtet, geklärt. Anschließend wird empirisch überprüft, ob die geldpolitische Praxis der CBRT sich an dem offiziell vorgegebenen Regelwerk orientiert. Die Hauptthese dieser Arbeit lautet, dass die formelle Unabhängigkeit der CBRT und die regelorientierte Geldpolitik nicht mit einer Entpolitisierung der Geldpolitik in der Türkei gleichzusetzen ist. Als Alternative schlägt die vorliegende Studie vor, den institutionellen Status der CBRT als einen der relativen Autonomie zu untersuchen. Auch eine de jure unabhängige Zentralbank kann sich nicht von politischen Eingriffen abkoppeln, wie das Fallbeispiel Türkei zeigen wird.
Diese empirische Studie untersucht den Einfluss der Staatsform auf den Einsatz und das Ausmaß von Wirtschaftssanktionen unter Verwendung von Regressionsanalysen. Die Ergebnisse deuten auf ein friedliches Wirtschaftsverhältnis zwischen den Demokratien hin. Die bisherige Forschung hat den demokratischen Wirtschaftsfrieden mithilfe der institutionellen Theorie erklärt, die das Sanktionsverhalten auf ein rationalistisches Kosten-Nutzen-Kalkül zurückführt. Demgegenüber vertritt die konstruktivistische Theorie die Auffassung, dass die friedvollere Konfliktbewältigung unter Demokratien auf die Ausbildung einer gemeinsamen Identität, sowie auf gemeinsame Werte und Normen zurückzuführen sei.
Traineeprogramme können im öffentlichen Dienst zur Rekrutierung und Ausbildung von Nachwuchskräften dienen. Solche Programme werden, im Gegensatz zur Privatwirtschaft, wo diese schon seit einigen Jahrzehnten Anwendung finden, im deutschen öffentlichen Dienst erst seit einigen Jahren durchgeführt. Eine erste empirische Erhebung zeigt nun, dass Traineeprogramme im öffentlichen Sektor gut geeignet sind, um Nachwuchskräfte auszubilden und in der Organisation zu sozialisieren. Als entscheidende Einflussfaktoren konnten eine klare Struktur des Programms, ein effektives off-the-job Training, bereichsübergreifende Projektarbeit, der Umfang der Betreuung der Trainees und der Einsatz der jeweiligen Behördenleitung für das Programm identifiziert werden. Deutlich wurde auch, dass während der Einführung eines Traineeprogramms die Trainee-Betreuer entsprechend vorbereitet werden müssen und in den Behörden Akzeptanz für diese neue Form der Nachwuchsgewinnung geschaffen werden muss (Change Management). Die Ergebnisse zeigen jedoch ebenso, dass sich solche Programme nicht zur Personalentwicklung bereits Beschäftigter eignen.
We analyze the link between R&D, innovation, and productivity in MSMEs with a special focus on micro firms with fewer than 10 employees; usually constituting the majority of firms in industrialized economies. Using the German KfW SME-panel, we examine to what extent micro firms are different from other firms in terms of innovativeness. We find that while firms engage in innovative activities with smaller probability, the smaller they are, for those firms that do make such investment, R&D intensity is larger the smaller firms are. For all MSMEs, the predicted R&D intensity is positively correlated with the probability of reporting innovation, with a larger effect size for product than for process innovations. Moreover, micro firms benefit in a comparable way from innovation processes as larger firms, as they are similarly able to increase their labor productivity. Overall, the link between R&D, innovation, and productivity in micro firms does not largely differ from their larger counterparts. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
We compare dictator and impunity games. In impunity games, responders can reject offers but to no payoff consequence to proposers. Because proposers act under impunity, we should expect the same behavior across games, but experimentally observed behavior varies. Responders indeed exercise the rejection option. This threat psychologically influences proposers. Some proposers avoid rejection by offering nothing. Others raise offers, but only when they receive feedback from responders. Responders lose this influence in the absence of feedback. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
This article introduces the concept of sustainability-rooted anticonsumption (SRAC), which refers to consumers' anticonsumption practices of voluntary simplicity in living and, on a smaller level, collaborative consumption and boycotting with the goal of supporting sustainable economic development. The SRAC measurement approach is validated based on three empirical studies. Results of a representative German sample (Study 2) reveal that SRAC is predominantly negatively linked to consumer overconsumption dispositions. Exemplary, voluntary simplification and boycott intention may result in declining levels of indebtedness. Study 3 shows that psychosocial well-being is positively related to SRAC and overconsumption. However, a simplified lifestyle and a greater willingness to boycott are not necessarily associated with psychosocial well-being. This article provides insights for practitioners and policymakers to leverage existing SRAC values via “new” business models (sharing offers) or to influence the existing level of consciousness to effectively pave the way for solid progress in the sustainability movement.
Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit Führungsverhalten im öffentlichen Sektor sowie mit Einflussfaktoren auf dieses Führungsverhalten. Hierzu wurde eine Taxonomie, bestehend aus sechs Metakategorien von Führungsverhalten, entwickelt. Die Metakategorien umfassen Aufgaben-, Beziehungs-, Veränderungs-, Außen-, Ethik- und Sachbearbeitungsorientierung. Eine Analyse von Umfragedaten, die für diese Arbeit bei Mitarbeitern und unteren Führungskräften dreier Behörden erhoben wurden, zeigt, dass diese Taxonomie sehr gut geeignet ist, die Führungsrealität in der öffentlichen Verwaltung abzubilden.
Eine deskriptive Auswertung der Daten zeigt außerdem, dass es eine relativ große Differenz zwischen der Selbsteinschätzung der Führungskräfte und der Fremdeinschätzung durch ihre Mitarbeiter gibt. Diese Differenz ist bei der Beziehungs- und Veränderungsorientierung besonders hoch.
Der deskriptiven Auswertung schließt sich eine Analyse von Einflussfaktoren auf das Führungsverhalten an. Die Einflussfaktoren können den vier Kategorien "Charakteristika und Eigenschaften der Führungskräfte", "Erwartungen und Interesse von Vorgesetzten", "Charakteristika und Einstellungen von Geführten" und "Managementinstrumente und -rahmenbedingungen" zugeordnet werden.
Eine Analyse mit Hilfe von hierarchischen linearen Modellen zeigt, dass vor allem die Führungsmotivation und die Managementorientierung der Führungskräfte, die Gemeinwohlorientierung und die Art der Aufgabe der Geführten sowie die strategische Führungskräfteauswahl und die Leistungsmessung durch die Führungskräfte anhand konkreter Ziele einen Einfluss auf das Führungsverhalten haben.
Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit ergänzen die Literatur zu Führungsverhalten im öffentlichen Sektor um die Perspektive der Einflussfaktoren auf das Führungsverhalten und leisten zusätzlich mit Hilfe der verwendeten Taxonomie einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Diskussion von Führungsverhalten in der Public-Management-Forschung. Darüber hinaus bieten die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse der Verwaltungspraxis Hinweise zu relevanten Einflussfaktoren auf das Führungsverhalten sowie auf beachtliche Differenzen zwischen Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmung des Führungsverhaltens.
Gregor Imelauer untersucht, wie vor dem Hintergrund von Globalisierung, Digitalisierung und Hyperspezialisierung eine wettbewerbsfähige HR-Organisation aussehen kann. Er zeigt, wie sich die Personalauswahl als einer der personalwirtschaftlichen Kernprozesse intelligent sourcen lässt, so dass nicht nur Kostenkriterien, sondern auch langfristig-strategische Implikationen Berücksichtigung finden. Grundlage der Untersuchung bilden 15 Interviews mit Top-Managern aus dem Personalwesen deutscher Großunternehmen sowie mit namhaften Organisationsberatern. Der Autor erarbeitet kritische Erfolgsfaktoren und konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen für das Sourcing personalwirtschaftlicher Prozesse und eine Personalarbeit im Netzwerk.
Ivo Lormes zeigt, dass der Kommunalisierungstrend in der
Energieversorgung als Indikator eines zukunftsgerichteten Zeitalterskommunal(-energie-)wirtschaftlicher Betätigung gedeutet werden kann.
Die sich dabei manifestierende neue Qualität institutioneller Arrangements interpretiert er als Indiz für eine ‚Gewährleistungskommune 2.0‘. Neben einer Analyse der seit 2005 in Deutschland erfolgten Stadtwerke-Gründungen werden in seinem Buch erstmals die im Rahmen dieser Kommunalisierungen ablaufenden politischen Prozesse fallstudienvergleichend untersucht. Dadurch wird eine systematische Ermittlung der Einflussfaktoren zu der Frage ermöglicht, warum manche Kommunen ihre Energieversorgung kommunalisieren und andere nicht.
This article contributes to the debate on the use of performance information in the context of public sector performance management. Based on case studies, the authors analyze the appropriateness of the performance information provided in the newly established performance budgets of municipalities in Germany and Italy. They also examine the interest of politicians and senior managers in using such information for decision-making and monitoring within the municipal budget cycle. They find that the use of performance information is generally quite modest, and that the interest of different local actors varies to a great extent. Politicians are generally less interested in such information than top managers, particularly chief financial officers. The results are discussed by applying a theoretical framework based on institutional and legitimacy theories, and are compared with the literature on performance information use.