Simultaneous versus sequential knowledge transfer in an organization

This paper studies an organizational knowledge sharing process which requires costly “teaching” and “learning” efforts on the part of the sender and receiver, respectively. The process is a team problem in which the principal rewards successful sharing by optimally rewarding performance. In this setting we compare two modes of knowledge transfer with regard to efficiency. The first is sequential in which the sender precommits to teaching and the receiver acts as a follower. The second is simultaneous where each agent simultaneously exerts effort. A key result is that the sequential mode dominates when teaching and learning are complements, but the simultaneous mode dominates if teaching and learning are substitutes.     

Rahmenbedingungen, Charakteristika und Konsequenzen freiwilliger Unternehmenspublizit?t – State of the Art und neue Perspektiven der empirischen Forschung

Die freiwillige Unternehmenspublizit?t dient vor allem der Information der Investoren zum Abbau von Informationsasymmetrien und einer Minderung von Prinzipal-Agent-Konflikten. Vor diesem Hintergrund analysiert der vorliegende Beitrag Befunde zu den mit einer Ver?ffentlichung einhergehenden Kapitalmarktkonsequenzen. Dabei werden gezielt bisherige Erkenntnisse für den deutschen Kapitalmarkt berücksichtigt. Zur Systematisierung der Ergebnisse werden die Studien anhand eines aus drei Komponenten (Rahmenbedingungen, Charakteristika und Konsequenzen) bestehenden konzeptionellen Bezugsrahmens geordnet. Es zeigt sich, dass internationale Studien meist zwei oder sogar drei Komponenten der freiwilligen Publizit?t gleichzeitig berücksichtigen und so umfassendere Aussagen treffen k?nnen, w?hrend für den deutschen Kontext Nachholbedarf zu konstatieren ist. Darüber hinaus werden weitere Forschungsfelder aufgezeigt, die bis dato auch international wenig Beachtung gefunden haben, obgleich sie zunehmend an Relevanz gewinnen.     

Austrian economics behind the iron curtain: The rebirth of an intellectual tradition

This article documents the spread of the Austrian school of economics in central and eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Extensive research based on interviews, fieldwork and archival analysis records the development of distinct epistemic communities throughout the region and the subsequent networks that have emerged to unite them. In doing so, we provide a rare history of ‘centre-right’ political ideas in eastern Europe, a chronology of the development and influence of libertarianism, cursory intellectual biographies of neglected Austrian economists and empirical evidence that contributes to the epistemic communities approach to the study of idea diffusion. The findings support the view that the policy reforms during the transition process were built on neoclassical orthodoxy rather than ‘neoliberalism’ or ‘market fundamentalism’ but point to a fast-growing epistemic community that has had increasingly significant policy influence.     

Decision-making in sequential projects: expected time-to-build and probability of failure

The main purpose of this paper is to account for the two most basic options in the context of a sequential investment project, the option to adjust investment speed and the exit option. Current models of sequential investment ignore the role of a minimal investment rate that must be sustained as long as the project is not abandoned. In most real projects, a positive minimal investment rate provides an incentive for (irreversible) exit from the project. On the other hand, the minimal investment rate still leaves room for adjustment of the investment speed. Therefore, models with realistic (non-extreme) assumptions about the minimal investment should account for both, the exit option and the option to adjust investment speed. In this paper we set up the equations for this dual-option scenario in a continuous (PDE) framework. The resulting model is characterized by the presence of two thresholds describing the optimal decision-making. We provide a robust numerical procedure for the determination of both thresholds. Our analysis reveals that the minimal investment rate creates an endogenous incentive for fast completion that complements the corresponding exogenous incentives. This ??incentive-enhancement effect?? of the minimal investment rate is reflected by the fundamental statistical characteristics of the sequential project. As a direct consequence of this effect, an increase of the minimal investment rate will always lead to a reduction of the expected time-to-build. Another, striking consequence is that the minimal investment rate can also have a positive effect on the probability of failure (default-risk). This effect occurs under the condition of a low exogenous incentive for fast completion, represented e.g. by poor market expectations for the product to be developed.     

The influence of cause-related marketing on consumer choice: Does one good turn deserve another?

Are consumers more likely to select brands offered by companies that engage in cause-related marketing (CRM)? Somewhat surprisingly, little evidence exists that directly addresses this issue. Accordingly, the present examination investigates whether and when CRM efforts influence consumer choice. The results from several studies indicate that information regarding a company’s support of social causes can affect choice. However, CRM’s influence on choice is found to depend on the perceived motivation underlying the company’s CRM efforts as well as whether consumers must trade off company sponsorship of causes for lower performance or higher price. The results also indicate that CRM cues affect choice primarily through compensatory strategies involving trade-offs rather than through noncompensatory strategies. Implications of the current findings for existing theory are discussed along with directions for future research.     

Iterative pricing for planning foreign trade

In many industrialized countries there exist large idle production capacities. Conceivably, these might be used for increased economic aid to developing countries and for the stimulation of trade with incompletely convertible currency territories. Concurrently, a stimulation of the economic development of the industrialized countries might be achieved. In developing countries, there may be need for using available export resources in an efficient way to obtain required imports. In the Soviet sphere of influence, there is the problem of how the state foreign trade monopolies should allocate available export quantities and scarce convertible currencies, so as to obtain required import quantities. Related problems were encountered by Western boards of trade after the war in allocating import and export licences. This paper deals with the problem how to attain efficient allocations in foreign trade with the help of modern electronic computational technique. The computational system may be developed to account for inter-industry relations and industrial investments in order to achieve a high rate of economic growth. Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles on foreign trade planning scheduled to appear inEconomics of Planning, 1963. The author wants to express his sincere gratitude to Professors Gunnar Myrdal, G?ran Ohlin, Ragnar Frisch and Aron Yakovlevich Boyarskij for generous scientific support and criticism; to Dr. Ketternath Bhagwandin, Gunnar Ehrling, and Lars Nilsson for advice in connection with the computer program and for the generous grant of computing time by the Swedish Board for Computing Machinery.