The challenge of constructing regional advantages in peripheral areas: The case of marine biotechnology in Tromsø, Norway

The idea of constructing regional advantage (CRA) has recently been emphasized by scholars as a new way for firms to gain competitiveness in a globalizing learning economy. The rationale behind the idea is that advantages in a regional industry can be constructed by proactive public–private partnership. This article uses, and examines the relevance of, the CRA framework in analysing the development and functioning of the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø, which is a fairly peripheral region in Norway. Despite the fact that much effort has been put into education and R&D at the University of Tromsø and related research institutes, and the fact that many public policy tools have intended to create a blooming marine biotechnology industry in the area, the results have so far been meagre. This article explains the rather weak results in terms of the number of firms and jobs in the marine biotechnology industry in Tromsø as being due to a lack of synthetic knowledge on how to industrialize research results and little spillover of market knowledge. With regard to more general theoretical lessons linked to the CRA framework, this article argues for seeing the concept of related variety in a broader industrial and geographical sense in peripheral regions.     

A CYCLING METHOD FOR CONSTRUCTING INPUT–OUTPUT TABLE TIME SERIES FROM INCOMPLETE DATA

There are a number of approaches for constructing time series of input–output tables. Some authors generate an initial estimate for a base year, and then serially estimate tables for subsequent years using the balanced prior-year table as an initial estimate. Others first generate a series of initial estimates for the entire period, and then balance tables in parallel. Current serial methods are affected by sudden leaps in the magnitude of table elements, which occur straight after a period of data unavailability. Current parallel methods require two complete tables for base and final years in the same classification, and therefore do not work under misaligned or incomplete data. We present a new method for constructing input–output table time series that overcomes these problems by averaging over alternate forward and backward sweeps across the time series period. We also solve the problem of hysteresis causing forecast and backcast table estimates to differ.     

Adaptive resilience and the competition between retail and service agglomeration formats: an international perspective

This paper investigates the competitive relationship between dominant urban agglomeration formats (traditional ‘evolved’ town centres and ‘created’ shopping malls) and the drivers of competiveness in the form of key agglomeration resources (accessibility, parking condition, tenant mix, atmosphere). Based on a consumer survey (n, 2,161) across three distinctive European capital cities, covariance-based structural equation modelling reveals remarkably limited differences between formats in terms of the investigated drivers of competitiveness. Positive relationships of patronage towards both formats in all cities and the significant difference in why respondents patronise them suggest a partly complementary existence of the two types of agglomeration. We explain this apparent complementarity through the theory of adaptive resilience that has seen evolved agglomeration formats develop to provide a differentiated offer and consumer attraction compared with enclosed malls.     

The Influence of Retail Management’s Use of Social Power on Corporate Ethical Values,Employee Commitment,and Performance

Recent cases in retailing reflect that ethics have a major impact on brands and performance, in turn, demonstrating that brand owners, employees, and consumers focus on ethical values. In this study, we analyze how various sources of social power affect corporate ethical values, retailer’s commitment to the retail organization, and ultimately sales and service quality. Multi-source data based on a sample of 225 retailers indicated a strong link between power, ethics, and commitment and that these affected output performance.     

Imposing regional monotonicity on translog stochastic production frontiers with a simple three-step procedure

We show that the monotonicity condition is conceptually important in Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Despite its importance, most empirical studies do not impose monotonicity—probably because existing approaches are rather complex and laborious. Therefore, we propose a three-step procedure that is much simpler than existing approaches. We demonstrate how monotonicity of a translog function can be imposed regionally at a connected set (region) of input quantities. Our method can be applied not only to impose monotonicity on translog production frontiers but also to impose other restrictions on cost, distance, or profit frontiers.     

Wirtschaftswissenschaften: zu wenig Pluralität der Methoden und Forschungsrichtungen?

The authors discuss the merits of including pluralist methods, theories and paradigms into the traditionally mainstream. They also evaluate the progress made by German faculties in this regard. The pluralism debate is in itself plural. There are numerous international and Germany specific dimensions and associated critiques of mainstream economics. Different approaches to economic policy must be organised in a manner which guarantees theoretical and paradigmatic pluralism — on which economic policy proposals ought to be based. Another view focuses on the educational effect and states that the mental frames of economics students are subject to manipulation; the foundation of their thinking is narrowed and recontextualised in an emotionally and politically highly charged semantic environment.     

The structure of occupational inequality

Quality & Quantity - By examining the interrelationships among the requirements, resources, and rewards associated with occupational positions, we have attempted to construct a preliminary...