Determinanten des Kundenwerts von Versicherungsnehmern

This paper discusses how the customer equity concept can be transformed to fit to insurance policy holders. The finding is that the equity of a policyholder can not be calculated in line with concepts of other classes of business, because the insurance industry shows special features in its core business. The stochastic characteristics of such a business must be integrated into the concept. These include its service nature and specific supervisory regulations for the capital investments as well as the distribution of profit. In terms of the insurance company, the following equity-determiners of a policyholder are important and should be part of the customer equity model: Firstly the equity of the customer with regard to the past, his future potential and his cross-selling equity as the monetary determiners. Secondly the equity which can be generated through word-of-mouth and customer information. The remaining determiners of the concept used in other branches of business, notably the equity of synergy, cooperation and loyality of a customer are already incorporated in the mentioned components.     

How do Migrants Choose Their Destination Country? An Analysis of Institutional Determinants

We analyze the effects of socio‐economic and institutional determinants, especially labor‐market institutions and features of social protection systems, on migrants’ location choices. Based on micro‐data for France, Germany, the UK, and the USA, we study migration to one of these four countries using a multinomial choice framework. Our estimates confirm conventional results regarding wages, networks, and unemployment rates. In addition, we find that there are indications of “insider–outsider effects” for union coverage and unemployment benefits, while employment protection does not have a clear‐cut impact on migration. Good education and health systems tend to attract migrants, while generous pension systems deter them.     

The 'magic formula' for linearly edge-reinforced random walks

Linearly edge-reinforced random walk on a finite graph is a mixture of reversible Markov chains with an explicitly known mixing measure. We give a new proof of this fact.     

Cause‐related marketing campaigns with luxury firms: An experimental study of campaign characteristics,attitudes, and donations

• Cause‐related marketing (CRM) partnerships between luxury firms and charitable organizations have grown in popularity, yet no study has examined such luxury CRM campaigns thus far. Using a fictitious campaign by the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and the Plan International Germany charity, the authors conducted an experimental CRM study among 281 actual luxury consumers. Realizing CRM campaigns in the luxury segment can be promising for luxury firms and charities. In particular, a CRM campaign works best when the donation magnitude is high (25% vs. 1%) and the price of the luxury service offering is moderate (€180 vs. €450). Furthermore, luxury campaigns enhance the attitudes of luxury customers toward charitable organizations, especially if they are unknown brands. Yet this study also offers a warning that luxury campaigns can be risky if consumers who have previously supported the charitable organization perceive the campaign as too high profile. Ultimately, this study reveals that CRM luxury campaigns play a major role for fundraising success.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Altruistic values,satisfaction and loyalty among first-time blood donors

This article is related to the recently initiated discussion on mechanisms of charitable giving and the lack of research on the mix of those mechanisms. On the basis of a comprehensive and interdisciplinary literature review in the area of blood donation management (1970–2010), the authors found that pure altruism, respectively altruistic values, is very often seen as the most important mechanism for giving blood the first time and, moreover, for building blood donor loyalty. This study argues that more knowledge on the mix of mechanisms in blood giving is needed. Therefore, this research examined the impact of altruistic values and the donors' satisfaction with the treatment on blood donor loyalty. Using survey data of the German Red Cross (N = 2149), the authors found that the impact of satisfaction with the treatment on blood donor loyalty is higher compared with altruistic values. Consequently and as one managerial implication, satisfaction measurement and management systems should be reflected more critically by blood donation centres in order to increase blood donations in the future. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Die Gestaltung von Gründungswettbewerben

Founding competitions have recently been very popular in the German-speaking world. They are considered as being important tools to foster an entrepreneurial culture. This paper addresses three important questions: (1) How should founding competitions be structured? (2) How can founders be motivated to submit promising concepts? (3) How can the participants be supported in the subsequent founding process? We provide a number of Hypotheses that can be used as a starting point for future empirical research in this area.     

The effect of air traffic delays on airline prices

A legislative change in takeoff and landing restrictions at LaGuardia Airport provides an opportunity to study the effect of an exogenous shock to product quality on prices in the airline industry. I test how the price response varies with the degree of competition in the market. I find that prices fall by $1.42 on average for each additional minute of flight delay, and that the price response is substantially larger in more competitive markets.     

Redistributive Taxation in the Era of Globalization

This paper analyzes the impact globalization has on voting for redistributive policies in an increasingly integrated world. It explains why tax competition has so far not led to a significant decline in redistributive taxation. The voting process is considered for the two alternatives of direct democracy and representative democracy. In both regimes, globalization pushes down the scope for redistribution, but this effect is mitigated with political representation, since the electorate votes strategically for a slightly more left-wing politician with stronger preferences for redistribution. Moreover, voting polarizes twice, with respect to governments' preferences for redistribution and to equilibrium tax rates.