Translating satisfaction determination from health care to the automotive industry

This study is based on the case of BMW, and aims to improve the determination of perceived consumer satisfaction in the automotive industry by transferring existing knowledge from the health care sector. A literature analysis of the health care sector and the automotive industry was conducted to identify the common concepts of determining satisfaction. These were the service encounter, situational factors, and sociodemographics. The practical application was tested by analyzing a contemporary survey from BMW. Based on the findings, managers responsible for customer satisfaction in after-sales services in the automotive industry could improve measurement of customer satisfaction.     

When to Use Loose or Tight Alliance Networks for Innovation? Empirical Evidence

This study examines the impact of different degrees of organizational coupling among the members of innovation alliance project networks on the commercial performance of collaborative innovations. Specifically, we study how type of innovation (modular vs. architectural innovation) moderates this relationship. Using data from 664 product innovation networks from five different industries in the United States, we find that the degree of organizational coupling among innovation network members significantly affects the commercial performance of collaborative innovations and that the type of innovation has a significant moderating effect. More specifically, the impact on commercial innovation performance of organizational coupling is positive for modular innovations and negative for architectural innovations.     

How long does celebrity meaning transfer last? Delayed effects and the moderating roles of brand experience,celebrity liking,and age

Extending previous research on celebrity endorsements, the study investigates whether the meaning of celebrities is transferred to endorsed brands and how transfer effects develop over time. Additionally, the moderating roles of brand experience, celebrity liking, and consumers’ age are investigated. The hypothesized effects are modeled using a propositional learning approach with an experimental repeated-measures design (panel data). Results confirm the assumed meaning transfer effect. In addition, the effects appear to be substantially stronger after about a week indicating some type of sleeper effect. Furthermore, the effects increase with increasing brand experience and celebrity liking. Adolescent consumers are not differently affected when compared to adults and controlled for the differing levels of brand experience. Results are discussed in light of propositional learning theory. Future areas of research are proposed.     

The Value of Collusion with Endogenous Capacity and Demand Uncertainty

Collusion has often been alleged in industries where long‐lived capacity investments are important. This article develops a computational duopoly model with capacity investments, demand shocks and either competitive or collusive pricing. It shows that allowing for endogenous capacity investments can sometimes make collusion less valuable than competition and that it can change the normal relationships between the profitability of collusion and both the discount rate and industry‐wide demand shocks.     

AVB und Beratungspflichten – Markt – und Produktdisposition

Although insurers over services, they are no advisers/consultants. Nevertheless, the jurisdiction has already established an pre-contractual insurers duty to l advise insureds under the validity of the old VVG according to general civil law rules. Article 6 VVG standardizes such duties for the first time and aims to guarantee customers proper advice/consultancy particularly before the contract ends to prevent lapses in coverage. Therewith some considerable questions referring to concurrent laws concerning the law of the general terms and conditions, which aim to guarantee reliable and transparent information for customers in a quite similar way, arise. The author discusses this problem of concurrent laws and develops criteria which show which law is applicable on what occasion. As a result, a possibly contradictory pre-contractual double review is avoided.     

Fine‐Tuning of Health Insurance Regulation – Unhealthy Consequences for an Individual Insurer

This paper sheds light on some unexpected consequences of health insurance regulation that may pose a big challenge to insurers' risk management. Because mandated uniform contributions to health insurance trigger risk‐selection efforts, risk adjustment (RA) schemes become necessary. A good deal of research into the optimal RA formula has been performed. A recent proposal in Switzerland has been to add ‘Hospitalization exceeding three days during the previous year’ as an indicator of high risk. Applying the new formula to an individual Swiss health insurer, its payments into the RA scheme are predicted to increase substantially, reaching up to 13% of premium income. Its mistake had been to implement Managed Care successfully, resulting in low rates of hospitalization. The expected risk management response is to extend hospital stays beyond three days, contrary to stated policy objectives.     

Internationalization and business tax revenue—evidence from Germany

The ongoing internationalization of business activity fuels concerns that governments may lose their ability to tax business income. By using data on sixteen German states from 1970 to 2005, we estimate the impact of internationalization, measured by trade volumes and stocks of foreign direct investment, on business tax revenues. We control for the impact of internationalization on business profits. Surprisingly, we find strong and robust evidence for a positive impact of internationalization on tax revenue. An increase in the internationalization indicator of ten percent increases tax revenue by over three percent. This counterintuitive result may be explained by higher tax avoidance activity of purely national firms or by legal provisions in the tax law which can be used as tax loopholes in the case of domestic transactions as opposed to cross-border transactions.