Risk taking under transition: An empirical comparison between Chinese,western-, and eastern-German managers

Even after 10 years, countries under transition are still on their way to becoming developed, internationally competitive countries. At this stage it is helpful for business cooperation to know whether managers in countries undergoing transition are behaving like socialists or Western managers, or somewhere in between. Many joint ventures and other alliances between Western companies and companies in countries in transition are seeking to establish new markets with new products or new technologies (i.e., new processes). They are risky because the returns are uncertain. Understanding the risk attitudes of managers in countries in transition can explain different investment behavior and provide vital information for installing the right incentives. This study compares the risk attitudes of Chinese, eastern, and western German managers. Chinese managers' risk attitudes seem to be more similar to the attitudes of western German managers than to those of their counterparts in eastern Germany. Some of the reasons and consequences are discussed in this article. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A New Kind of Arctic Power? Russia's Policy Discourses and Diplomatic Practices in the Circumpolar North

The aim of this article is to examine what the geopolitics of the Arctic look like as seen from the largest Arctic state. How are narratives about the development of the region received, reworked and produced in a Russian context? We find that Russian policy actors distance themselves from discourses of Arctic conflict and geopolitical competition, and examine how this approach may serve some of Russia's key interests in the region. We further argue that the key tension in the Arctic region is not along the conflict/cooperation axis, but rather lies in the tricky process of delineating between international cooperation and national sovereignty in tackling Arctic problems. In attempting to illustrate the various voices, ideas and interests that shape Russia's policy understanding of the Arctic and its challenges and opportunities, we draw upon a media analysis and a set of qualitative interviews with representatives of the five Arctic states.     

Perspective on models in theoretical and practical traditions of knowledge: the example of Otto engine animations

Nineteen informants (n?=?19) were asked to study and comment two computer animations of the Otto combustion engine. One animation was non-interactive and realistic in the sense of depicting a physical engine. The other animation was more idealised, interactive and synchronised with a dynamic PV-graph. The informants represented practical and theoretical traditions of knowledge: science students and teachers at upper secondary school level; vocational students and teachers in vehicle mechanics at upper secondary school level, and; MSc and PhD students in vehicle system engineering. The aim was to explore how they interpreted the animations against the background of their different traditions of knowledge and their experience of physical engines and models of engines. A key finding was that the PhD students saw the interactive animation as a familiar and useful model of engines, whereas the vehicle mechanics teachers saw it as a poor representation of reality. A general conclusion was that there is a variety of competent ways to interpret a model, depending on the tradition of knowledge.     

FISCAL INDULGENCE IN CENTRAL EUROPE: LOSS OF THE EXTERNAL ANCHOR?

In recent years, fiscal performance in Central Europe has steadily deteriorated, in contrast to the improvement in the Baltics. This paper explores the determinants of such differences among countries on the path to European Union (EU) accession. Regression estimates suggest that economic and institutional fundamentals do not provide a full explanation. An alternative explanation lies in the political economy of the accession process, and a game‐theoretic model illustrates why a country with a stronger bargaining position might have an incentive to deviate from convergence to the Maastricht criteria. The model generates alternative fiscal policy regimes – allowing for regime shifts – depending on country characteristics and EU policies.     

“This is who i am”: Identity expressiveness and the theory of planned behavior

This paper explores the role of self‐identity expressiveness and social identity expressiveness in the context of Multimedia Messaging (MMS) adoption. An extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) including a wider array of identity and social influences is developed and tested. As hypothesized, self‐identity expressiveness and social identity expressiveness prove to be significant determinants of intentions to use. Moreover, the extended TPB model explains 62% of the variance in usage intentions. The paper also investigates the relationship between self identity expressiveness and attitude and between social identity expressiveness and subjective norm. The study results indicate that the concept of subjective norm alone is insufficient to capture the rich universe of identity and social influences driving behavioral intentions. Implications for marketing managers and scholars are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Building social capital in networks

This paper explores the re-emerging concept of social capital in business networks. Spanning a multitude of disciplines and different contexts, the construct remains ill defined and its measurement imprecise, yet researchers in both the developed and transitional economies are increasingly finding it necessary to draw upon social capital as a means of explaining behavior within embedded social networks. We encourage and indeed implore researchers to continue to explore the construct and its impact on the performance of business networks.     

Entrepreneurship: Origins and returns

We examine the origins and outcome of entrepreneurship on the basis of exceptionally comprehensive Norwegian matched worker-firm-owner data. In contrast to most existing studies, our notion of entrepreneurship not only comprises self-employment, but also employment in partly self-owned limited liability companies. Based on this extended entrepreneurship concept, we find that entrepreneurship tends to be profitable. It also raises income variability, but the most successful quartile gains much more than the least successful quartile loses. Key determinants of the decision to become an entrepreneur are occupational qualifications, family resources, gender, and work environments. Individual unemployment encourages, while aggregate unemployment discourages, entrepreneurship.     

Local Political Leadership: Nordic Style

In a context where changes brought about by globalization and Europeanization, and where local governments increasingly operate in a governance mode, different countries place increasing stress on the importance of strong local leadership. This article reviews local political leadership in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Outside of a few major (mainly capital) cities, local government in the Nordic area remains small scale and frequently rural, is strongly partisan, yet relies on a strong tradition of consensual, corporatist style of decision‐making. Furthermore, this social democratic consensus places a stress on the continued production and delivery of high quality welfare state services. This domestic environment produces a style of local leadership which is essentially collective in nature and in which the strong mayor concept is alien. The article reviews the experience of local political leadership in the four Nordic countries and concludes that, though there is some small country variation and without many examples of strong mayors, local political leaders play an important role, especially in managing and maintaining the consensual style of politics. Mondialisation et européanisation créent des changements qui, à l'instar des gouvernements locaux, opèrent de plus en plus selon un mode de gouvernance, poussant plusieurs pays à faire une place plus importante à une forte autorité locale. L'article étudie l'autorité politique locale au Danemark, en Finlande, en Norvège et en Suède. A l'exception de quelques rares grandes villes (essentiellement les capitales), un gouvernement local dans les pays nordiques garde une échelle réduite et souvent un caractère rural, tout en étant fortement partisan même s'il s'appuie sur une solide tradition décisionnelle consensuelle de type syndical. Par ailleurs, ce consensus social démocratique agit sur la poursuite et la qualité de la fourniture de prestations dans le cadre de l'État‐providence. Cet environnement national génère un style d'autorité locale de nature principalement collective, qui exclut toute notion de pouvoir propre au maire. L'article étudie les formes d'autorité politique locale dans les quatre pays scandinaves concluant que, malgré quelques légères variations nationales et la quasi‐absence de maires puissants, les leaders politiques locaux jouent un rôle important, en particulier dans la gestion et la préservation d'un style politique consensuel.