II. Allgemeine und angewandte Statistik

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Einflussfaktoren auf die Bereitschaft von Privatkunden, Ökostrom nachzufragen

The present study investigates impacts of attitudinal and perceptual characteristics of residential electricity consumers on their intention to use a green power tariff/supplier in the future. The work rests on a standardized telephone survey of 267 household electricity consumers of a German power supplier. Multivariate Partial Least Squares analysis indicates that, regardless of a person’s level of actual power consumption in the recent past, the intention to use green electricity is significantly higher among customers who have a positive general attitude towards environmental protection measures and who report an endorsing valuation of green power by their close social contacts. In a subsample of participants with a low actual electricity consumption in the year preceding the survey the intention to use green energy is significantly positively affected by the weight an individual attaches to electricity prices in one’s own supplier selection decisions and the person’s belief that one’s present power company takes over social responsibility. In contrast, in the subgroup of respondents with a high actual electricity consumption customers’ intention to use green energy is significantly enhanced by the degree of perceived dissimilarity among power company offerings. The findings are used to derive suggestions for green energy marketing measures of power companies and future energy consumer research.     

Bringing the brand to life: Structural conditions of brand-consistent employee behavior

Continuous brand success can be realized only if the brand promise that is communicated through mass media campaigns is lived up to by customer contact employees. In fact, discrepancies in brand experience may lead to customer confusion and dissatisfaction. However, what does that mean to brand managers? A survey among marketing managers shows that a reorganization of brand management routines is needed in order to bring the brand to life: informal management techniques and employee empowerment are required instead of formal management activities. In this article, we elaborate first steps for the implementation and maintenance of behavioral branding considering findings of our survey as well as implications from management focus groups and best practice examples.     

Privatisierung der Autobahnen—Soll der Bund sein Tafelsilber verkaufen?

Gegenw?rtig wird der Verkauf des deutschen Autobahnnetzes diskutiert. Mit den Privatisierungserl?sen k?nnte ein erheblicher Teil der Verschuldung des Bundes abgebaut werden. Ist die traditionelle staatliche Bereitstellung noch gerechtfertigt? Wie weit sollte eine Autobahnprivatisierung gehen? Henrik Armbrecht, 30, Dipl.-Volkswirt, Sebastian Badura, 27, Dipl.-Verkehrswirtschaftler, und Torsten Marner, 34, Dipl.-Volkswirt, sind wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter am Institut für Verkehrswissenschaft an der Universit?t Münster.     

Forecasting real estate prices in Germany: the role of consumer confidence

The aim of the paper is to analyse the forecasting ability of various potential predictors for real estate prices in Germany over the short term. In the wake of the financial crisis, real estate prices in Germany started to increase markedly and still did so by the end of 2013. Despite a number of fundamental reasons, e.g. favourable lending conditions and Germany’s rapid return to economic growth, this provoked a discussion on whether consumers have too gloomy expectations regarding real estate prices in future. To capture the role of expectations for predicting real estate prices, in our forecast evaluation, we put special emphasis on various components of consumer confidence. Using single indicator models, we find that households’ perceived financial situations as well as their intended consumption/saving plans serve as valuable real estate price predictors.     

Is inflation targeting feasible in Poland?

In this paper we analyze whether inflation targeting is feasible in Poland. There are at least three prerequisites for successful inflation targeting: 1) central bank independence, 2) a high degree of central bank accountability, transparency, and communication to the public, and 3) a predictable and stable relationship between inflation and the instruments of monetary policy. While the first two prerequisites are relatively easy to analyze, the third criterion requires formal statistical analysis, which we undertake in this paper. The first two prerequisites for targeting are found to be met in Poland, and the empirical analysis shows some evidence of significant relationships between inflation and monetary instruments in Poland. Hence inflation targeting appears feasible in Poland.     

Mitkunden als wertschöpfer — creating community value

Dienstleistungen werden h?ufig in und für Gruppen erbracht. Insbesondere Kunden von Erlebnisdienstleistungen sind auch vor oder nach dem Konsum eine relativ enge und oft homogene Interaktionsgemeinschaft bzw. Community. Communities bieten je nach Dienstleistungs- und Kundenart eine wichtige Quelle von Wertsch?pfung im Sinne eines wahrgenommenen Wertes für den Kunden. Durch Kooperation von Kunden untereinander und mit dem Dienstleistungsunternehmen generieren sie nachfrageseitige Netzeffekte. Dieser Beitrag untersucht auf der Basis einer empirischen Analyse wie, d. h. über welche Mechanismen und Funktionen, Communities Wert für den Kunden generieren k?nnen. Es zeigt sich unter anderem, dass Koh?renz, Sozialit?t und Koh?sion positiv auf die Entstehung von wahrgenommenem Kundenwert von Communities wirken.     

The Impact of European Works Councils on Management Decision-Making in UK and US-based Multinationals: A Case Study Comparison

The operation of European Works Councils (EWCs) is taking management and employee representatives in MNCs into uncharted territory. In particular, for companies headquartered in Anglo‐Saxon economies there is little domestic tradition of statutory employee consultation. Drawing on comparative case studies, this article investigates the impact of EWCs on the process and outcomes of corporate‐level management decision‐making in UK and US‐based MNCs. Variation in EWC impact arises from the interaction of structural factors, such as business focus, management organisation and pre‐existing industrial relations arrangements, and agency factors, including management policy and the cohesion of employee representatives.