Wachstums- und Verschuldungseffekte einer kreditfinanzierten öffentlichen Investitionsoffensive

Wirtschaftsdienst - Öffentliche Investitionen stehen ganz oben auf der wirtschaftspolitischen Agenda in Deutschland. Simulationen mit dem makroökonomischen Mehrländermodell NiGEM...     

Internationalization of cluster initiatives in Russia: empirical evidence

In the last few years, Russia has supported the establishment of cluster initiatives to strengthen economic development, open channels for knowledge transfer, raise the national technology base, and integrate domestic manufacturing more prominently into global value chains. This paper studies 25 pilot cluster initiatives which received financial support within the national programme. The analysis shows that privately funded initiatives tend to use the cluster format as an efficient way to organize economic activities. Publicly funded cluster initiatives, in contrast, are more likely to engage in R&D partnerships with institutes in technologically advanced regions, such as Western Europe or South-East Asia, and thereby act as transfer channels to strengthen the region’s technology base. Also, industries that build on analytical knowledge are more likely to engage in partnerships than industries that use local and tacit knowledge. Still, the cluster management organizations struggle greatly to appoint adequately skilled staff and to cope with limited financial resources, as these are the biggest barriers for cluster internationalization, while cultural differences and geographical distance were of much less importance.     

Representation as a driver of internationalization: The case of a singular Russian SME

This exploratory research focuses on an unconventional practice in a Russian small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME). While studying the decision-making process of the entrepreneur and executives of this firm, we noted some differences with extant theories. This article aims to shed light on the influence of the SME entrepreneur’s representation of internationalization on his decisions in a foreign context. The results support the assumption that the representation plays a role in guiding strategic decisions and mobilizing subordinates to support the strategic orientation defined by the leader. In particular, we will see that a very favorable representation of internationalization can lead to unexpected success abroad.     

Towards constructing the meaning of “aggressive hospitality”

ABSTRACT

“Aggressive hospitality” is an emergent phenomenon that is yet to be understood in the tourism field. This phenomenon involves social interaction between hosts and guests that imitates a hospitable encounter, but at the same time fails to demonstrate some characteristic(s) inherent to hospitable behavior. The underlying forces of the phenomenon are traced back to imperialism, high tourism dependence of the developing regions, staged authenticity, and the mutual gaze. The study focuses on two cruise destinations in the Caribbean region and utilizes over 1200 online reviews to construct the meaning of the phenomenon. Theoretical insights and practical implications are provided based on the findings.     

Corporate risk exposures,disclosure, and derivatives use: A longitudinal study

We conduct firm and industry-level examinations of key market risk exposures deemed material by managers over the period 2002–2016. We find that risk exposures have expanded in line with firms’ growth and globalization and that managers strategically select disclosure formats in recognition of firms’ demand for capital market access and need to protect proprietary information. Currency derivatives use has surpassed that of interest rate derivatives and, conditioned on a firm having the associated risk exposure, commodity derivatives use is the highest. Finally, we find large increases in risk exposures concurrent with the initiation of derivatives use.     

Economic complexity,product space network and Quebec's global competitiveness

This exploratory study uncovers how the economic complexity of local production and global connectivity contribute to a subnational region's competitiveness and sustainable development. Addressing the knowledge generation and exchange processes orchestrated by global value chains, we demonstrate that the composition of a subnational region's product space network does not necessarily replicate the same configuration of the country-level network. By applying social network analysis (SNA) techniques, we analyze the structural features of Quebec's product space network and compare the complexity indices of the province's advantageous sectors with those of Canada. Finally, we conclude with policy insights for sustainable development and suggest future research directions.     

Collective management of residential housing in Russia: The importance of being social

Homeowners associations (HOAs) implement collective management in residential housing. We assess the performance of such associations in Russia by using the stochastic frontier technique. Cultural traits enabling tenants to make proper use of the HOA decision-making procedures are essential for resolving the collective action problem and ensure accountability of governing bodies and outside contractors. Such “technical civic competence” has a stronger impact on HOA performance than more conventional forms of social capital which rise in their significance when HOA governance breaks down and informal grassroots alternatives are mobilized instead. Massive and indiscriminate “supply-led” introduction of collective management in residential housing without matching cultural and institutional prerequisites could be counterproductive. Flexibility, freedom of choice, and market development are required to avert the failures of HOAs commonly observed in Russia.     

Choices and Best Practice in Corporate Risk Management Disclosure

For over a decade, the SEC has required corporations to disclose in their 10‐K filings the nature and extent of their risk exposures using one or more of the following three methods: (1) sensitivity analysis; (2) the so‐called “tabular” format; and (3) value‐at‐risk (VaR). After discussing the significant differences in the type and level of information revealed by each method, this article presents the findings of a study that examines how corporate choices of disclosure method vary with firm‐specific and industry characteristics. While sensitivity analysis has been the “middle of the road” chosen by the majority of companies, there have also been significant minorities adopting the tabular and VaR methods. Those companies that have chosen the tabular method—in the authors' view, the most revealing of the three methods—have also had the largest interest rate and commodity exposures as well as the greatest demand for external financing. The propensity of companies to use VaR, the least revealing method, has been associated with larger size, perhaps reflecting scale economies in risk management, greater use of derivatives, and competitiveness concerns about revealing proprietary information.     

The no-choice option and dual response choice designs

Choice set designs that include a constant or no-choice option have increased efficiency, better mimic consumer choices, and allow one to model changes in market size. However, when the no-choice option is selected no information is obtained on the relative attractiveness of the available alternatives. One potential solution to this problem is to use a dual response format in which respondents first choose among a set of available alternatives in a forced-choice task and then choose among the available alternatives and a no-choice option. This paper uses a simulation to demonstrate and confirm the possible gains in efficiency of dual response over traditional choice-based conjoint tasks when there are different proportions choosing the no-choice option. Next, two choice-based conjoint analysis studies find little systematic violation of IIA with the addition/deletion of a no-choice option. Further analysis supports the hypothesis that selection of the no-choice option is more closely related to choice set attractiveness than to decision difficulty. Finally, validation evidence is presented. Our findings show that researchers can employ the dual response approach, taking advantages of the increased power of estimation, without concern for systematically biasing the resulting parameter estimates. Hence, we argue this is a valuable approach when there is the possibility of a large number of no-choices and preference heterogeneity.