Is the MPC's Voting Record Informative about Future UK Monetary Policy?

It is shown that the voting record of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England helps predict future policy rate changes. This result is robust to the inclusion of market participants’ expectations as measured by the slope of the term structure of money market rates and interest rate futures. Moreover, expectations seem to adjust to the information contained in the voting record, which suggests that publishing the minutes of MPC meetings increases the transparency of monetary policy.     

Cost–benefit analysis – evaluation model of cloud computing deployment for use in companies

The use of cloud computing services appears to offer significant cost advantages. The most frequently mentioned advantages include investment and operating costs saving, high elasticity of services as well as increased flexibility of certain business processes. On the other hand, the adoption of cloud computing in enterprise environments is non-trivial. Understanding the organizational benefits and drawbacks is far from straightforward. The adoption of cloud computing results in a considerable amount of organizational change that will affect employees. The aim of this contribution is to conduct and describe the evaluation model of cloud computing that would be applicable in business practice for evaluating the effectiveness of such investments. The target users of this model are primarily people in companies with decision-making power in the investment field. The appropriate starting point based on the multi-criteria evaluation was the cost–benefit analysis (CBA) approach for cloud computing (CC). A multi-method approach (systematic literature review, analysis of real cloud computing services, expert interview, case study) was applied in order to develop and evaluate the formal model. We found that our model fits the practical requirements and supports decision-making in cloud computing.     

Assessing R&D quality in rehabilitation technology development. The case of Roessingh Research and Development

This paper presents a framework for describing and evaluating the links between the design of the R&D function, its context and its performance. As a first step towards the development of a quality assurance system, this framework was used to assess R&D quality performance at a privatized R&D unit connected to a rehabilitation centre (Roessingh Research and Development). The results suggest that the framework is a useful instrument for managers to identify and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the R&D function, both with respect to its present, operational (quality) performance as well as its strategic flexibility, i.e. its readiness to adapt to, anticipate, or even create future (quality) performance requirements. The paper concludes with managerial implications with regard to the choice of an appropriate quality assurance system for Roessingh R&D, thus illustrating briefly how the framework can be used to apply ISO/BS quality standards (which are aimed at product development) in more fundamental R&D.     

New post‐ACA insurance data highlights health insurer spending on health care quality

Following the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), annual financial reports by commercial health insurers include more detailed information on a Supplemental Health Care Exhibit. In this new exhibit, insurers illustrate spending on the provision of medical services and associated expenses. These expenses, which were commonly reported as “claims adjustment” and “general administrative” expenses, can now be allocated to several new categories of expenses associated with combatting fraud and improving patient health care quality. This article illustrates that quality improvement expenses have increased significantly in the individual, small group, and large group markets following implementation of the ACA. Of the five types of quality expenses reported, the greatest proportion of spending has been toward the improvement of health outcomes and the most pronounced increase from 2011 to 2017 has been spending toward increased wellness and health promotion activities, which include activities such as wellness assessments and coaching programs for patients with chronic diseases. Given that the ACA was designed not only to broaden access to health insurance but also to improve health, analysis of the allocations to various types of quality improvement activities highlights the private market's contribution to improving the health of the US population.     

Betriebsunterbrechungsversicherung bei kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen

The business interruption caused by a property claim is an existential risk both for large industrial companies and for small to medium enterprises (SME). It is especially relevant for companies working on a more complex sales and production infrastructure. Statistics show that in case of a large property claim the cost of the accompanying business interruption claim frequently exceeds the property claim. In Germany, however, the share of companies opting for business interruption insurance is much smaller than those opting for property insurance. This is especially true for SME that can hardly cover the risk themselves. The goal of this paper is to analyze the insurance decision for a business interruption policy with a special focus on SME. As a database we use the results of a representative survey among 1802 German SME with up to 100 employees. Our results show that the decision for a business interruption policy is not only dependent on hard factors such as company size and industry, but also driven by the so-called “insurance mentality”, which includes risk aversion, insurance know-how and price-sensitivity.     

Estimates of real economic activity in Switzerland, 1886–1930

This paper uses annual data spanning 1870 to 1930 on a set of variables correlated with business conditions to construct an index of real economic activity in Switzerland. We extract an estimate of the common component of the data series using principal components analysis and the unobservable variables approach proposed by Stock and Watson (1989, 1991). The resulting index is similar to that constructed by Andrist et al. (2000) but displays more variation over time and is available for a longer time period. Moreover, it is less volatile and covers a longer time period in the 20th century than the estimate by Ritzmann-Blickenstorfer (1996).First version received: May 2002/Final version received: September 2004The views expressed in this paper are solely our own and are not necessarily shared by the institutions we are affiliated with. We thank the Editor and the anonymous referees for helpful comments (in particular for finding serious errors in the principal components analysis), and Jim Stock and Mark Watson for detailed explanations of their estimation strategy.     

Wenn die Gehirnfunktion nachlässt

Die alternde Gesellschaft - Aufgrund des demographischen Wandels rollt eine Lawine auf uns zu, die sich kaum noch aufhalten l?sst: Derzeit sind in Deutschland rund eine Million Menschen an Demenz erkrankt, 2050 wird sich die Zahl voraussichtlich verdoppelt haben – eine übersicht über die Grundlagen der krankhaften Vergesslichkeit.     

Consumer cosmopolitanism: Review and replication of the CYMYC scale

Extant marketing literature mainly focuses on explaining why consumers might prefer domestic products and refrain from buying foreign products but, however, is weak in explaining why consumers might intentionally opt for foreign products. Against this background, consumer cosmopolitanism has gained increasing attention as a potentially relevant consumer characteristic for explaining foreign product preference and choice. However, empirical evidence on the impact of consumer cosmopolitanism on consumption behavior remains scarce. This paper identifies the absence of an appropriate measurement instrument as a main reason for this lack of empirical studies by providing (a) a review of cosmopolitanism scales used in other research fields, and (b) a replication with extensions study of the CYMYC scale, the only consumer cosmopolitanism scale currently available. The findings highlight a need for a new scale to measure the consumer cosmopolitanism construct. To stimulate further research in this direction, the paper proposes a conceptual definition of consumer cosmopolitanism along with a nomological network to guide the scale development process.     

The Impact of Product-Country Image and Marketing Efforts on Retailer-Perceived Brand Equity: An Empirical Analysis

Although both product-country images (PCI) and firm assets such as brand equity have been extensively studied in separate contexts, we know very little about the combined performance effects of these two important constructs in international research. Extant research has investigated brand equity primarily from a consumer perspective, but rarely from the point of view of a retailer. Retailers represent the ultimate participants in the value chain selling the product to consumers. They have the ability to significantly influence consumers’ evaluations and purchase decisions. Based upon existing literature documenting the contributions of PCI and marketing activities on brand equity, this study extends these findings by investigating their effects on retailer-perceived brand equity (RPBE) and ultimate brand profitability performance. Results indicate that both marketing activities and PCI affect retailer-perceived brand equity with PCI also strongly and positively influencing brand profitability performance.