Governing ‘Sustainable Urban Development’ Through Self‐Build Groups and Co‐Housing: The Cases of Hamburg and Gothenburg

This article critically examines the governing of ‘sustainable urban development’ through self‐build cohousing groups in Gothenburg and Hamburg. The two case cities have been selected because both are currently involved in major urban restructuring, and have launched programmes to support self‐build groups and cohousing as part of their emphasis on promoting urban sustainable development through this process. Departing from a theoretical discussion on advanced liberal urban governance, focusing in particular on the contemporary discourse on sustainable urban development, we examine the interaction between political institutions, civil society and private actors in the construction of cohousing as a perceived novel and alternative form of housing that may contribute to fulfilling certain sustainability goals. Questions centre on the socio‐political contextualization of cohousing; concepts of sustainability; strategies of, and relations between, different actors in promoting cohousing; gentrification and segregation; and inclusion and exclusion. In conclusion we argue that, while self‐build groups can provide pockets of cohousing as an alternative to dominant forms of housing, the economic and political logics of advanced liberal urban development make even such a modest target difficult, particularly when it comes to making such housing affordable.     

Termination notice of mobile network operator customers after a tariff switch: An empirical study of postpaid subscribers in Germany

Proactive subscriber churn management strategies of mobile network operators (MNOs) require that steps are taken to keep customers before they hand over a formal notice of termination to their provider. Therefore, several studies have analyzed how MNO customers who gave a termination announcement differ from individuals who did not communicate this message. However, no work has examined such differences among subscribers who recently switched to another tariff of their MNO. Therefore, this paper explores socio-demographic, service consumption and tariff change differences between contract cancellation “announcers” and “non-announcers” in a sample of 1810 postpaid customers who had changed their rate plan not long ago. Cancellation announcers were more likely to be males who decreased their mobile voice consumption after their tariff switch, had already attempted to churn in the past, had moved from an unmetered to a metered rate type, paid higher monthly bill amounts and received no discounts on their current rate plan that was introduced on the market some time ago. Among subscribers who gave a termination notice, early (late) cancellation announcers were more likely to be older (younger) customers with a growing (shrinking) SMS consumption after their tariff switch, had not attempted (had already tried) to leave their current MNO in the past, and were in a rate plan that was (not) recently introduced. The findings contribute to the literature on mobile customer retention and have implications for practitioners and scholars.     

Regional differences in residential demand for very high bandwidth broadband internet in 2025

The future demand for data and the role of gigabit networks are central issues in the context of Next Generation Access (NGA) network roll-out. Based on a generic model, which allows to predict unconstrained future broadband demand in different regions and countries, the authors compare the results for Germany, the UK and the Flemish region, and discuss reasons for the different outcomes. The generic market potential model thereby allows to project the future demand for bandwidth from residential customers on the basis of applications and their bandwidth needs, user profiles and population structure on a household level. Despite a general trend towards an increasing need for broadband, there are clear differences. On the one hand, these point to the relevance of socio-demographic factors for broadband adoption. On the other hand, the relatively high proportion of refusals shows that there is still a need for further educational work on the part of public authorities and providers. Finally, it has to be stated, that our forecast relies on the assumption that connectivity and thus that the availability of area-wide gigabit capable broadband access does not represent a bottleneck.     

Do price-earnings ratios explain investment decisions better than Tobin’s q? Evidence from German firm-level data

This article tests the additional information content of price-earnings ratios, with respect to Tobin’s q, in explaining firms’ investment behaviour. While Tobin’s q describes the expected future earnings related to those projected by the book value, the price-earnings ratio compares future growth of earnings based on the projection of current earnings. In other words, a high price-earnings ratio might indicate that investors are willing to rely on future earnings growth, even though current earnings are low. By using an unbalanced panel of about 500 listed firms from Germany over the period 1987–2007, we find that including the price-earnings ratio in the investment equation does not change the explanatory power of Tobin’s q. Most notably, the price-earnings ratio exerts a positive and significant impact on investment. These results are robust to the inclusion of a measure of the firm’s internal funds and of fixed effects and also to the use of different estimators.     

Ecosystem services and neoliberal governmentality – German style

The ecosystem services concept and its political applications have been characterised by many scholars as manifestations of a neoliberal governmentality. However, the notion of ecosystem services can be linked to quite different policies and may thus lead to contradictory outcomes, depending on the context. It is largely unknown how policy-making in the field of nature conservation and landscape management in Germany will be influenced by the growing salience of the ecosystem services concept. The present study aims to close this gap by analysing the recent project “Natural Capital Germany – TEEB DE”. The objective is to examine the problematisations and rationalities of governing produced so far in the context of TEEB-DE and to assess them in the light of different ‘arts of government’. The most important finding is that the TEEB-DE discourse includes a relatively coherent neoliberal subdiscourse in terms of problematisations of governing, whereas with regard to rationalities it appears to be more polyphonic. The increased recognition of the ecosystem services concept in Germany as epitomised by TEEB-DE has so far not generated a consistent programme of neoliberal policy proposals. This is because TEEB-DE ties in with previous discourses in Germany that were mainly characterised by sovereign and disciplinary governmentalities, and interweaves them with the neoliberal framework of ecosystem services and natural capital.     

IS THERE A CURSE OF RELOCATION? ANALYSING THE CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN OFFSHORING AND THE INNOVATION PERFORMANCE OF (SMALL) FIRMS

We analyse the empirical link between offshoring activities and different dimensions of innovation performance at the firm‐level. In order to identify causal effects running from offshoring to innovation, we use a quasi‐experimental comparison group approach by means of (conditional) difference‐in‐difference estimations applied to German establishment‐level data for firms that conducted offshoring activities in the period 2007–13. We find that the international relocation of business functions has a negative impact on the firms’ propensity to be innovative in terms of product and process innovations as well as product improvements. While for larger firms the reduction in process innovations is most striking, potentially due to a lack of resources, stagnation in expertise and a reduction in intra‐organizational learning‐by‐doing associated with the relocation of some business activities, for small and medium‐sized enterprises we particularly observe a reduction in product innovations after the offshoring activity has taken place. When interpreting this ‘pessimistic’ picture on the link between offshoring and the innovation performance of firms, the reader should note that our findings for German establishments have to be assessed through the lens of a global economy in economic recession after 2008, which may have intensified the negative impact of offshoring on the firms’ innovation performance.     

SAVINGS IN TIMES OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE: LESSONS FROM THE GERMAN EXPERIENCE

Pension reforms in many developed countries make individuals shoulder a bigger share of longevity and income risks. The desired response is that individuals accumulate private assets for retirement. Whether this actually takes place, is of paramount relevance for scientists and policy makers. We take Germany as an example: Twenty years of pension reform have transformed the monolithic German pension system into a multipillar system. Formerly generous public pension benefits are gradually being reduced, whereas substantial incentives are granted to occupational and private saving schemes. Has this transition worked out? We survey the reform steps and households’ reactions: How did individuals adjust their labor market behavior? How did private and occupational pension plans take off? How do behavioral adjustments vary in the population? Most Germans adapted to the new situation. Both actual and expected retirement decisions changed and the share of households without supplementary pensions decreased from 73% to 39% in little more than a decade. This is a remarkable success. Nonetheless, households with low education, low income and less financial education did neither adjust their retirement behavior nor pick up supplementary pension plans and are thus likely to face difficulties in bridging the gap arising in future pension income.     

Labour market forecasting in Germany: is disaggregation useful?

This paper examines whether labour market forecasts can be improved by using disaggregated information. We construct vector-autoregressive models for employment by sector in order to produce out-of-sample forecasts of aggregate employment. Forecast accuracy is compared to univariate models by using Clark/West tests. In an application to German data, it is evident that disaggregation significantly improves the employment forecast. Moreover, using fluctuation-window tests we find that disaggregation yields superior results especially in phases with strong and sustained employment changes.     

The management of an ageing workforce: organisational policies in Germany and Britain

Demographic change as well as pressure from the European Union and national government are forcing organisations to change age‐discriminatory HRM approaches. Based on a qualitative analysis of eight British and German organisations, we found that commitment, scope, coverage and implementation of age management differ due to country‐specific institutions, particularly government, in nudging employers and unions to preferred age practices. This confirms the path dependency concept suggested by institutional theory. Nevertheless, we also found that industry‐specific factors mediate the implementation of age management, leading to some convergence across countries. This indicates that organisations deviate from the institutional path to implement practices that they deem important.     

The Dortmund Case — On the Enactment of an Urban Economic Imaginary

Launched in the year 2000, the so‐called Dortmund Project was a 10‐year local development initiative aimed at creating 70,000 new jobs and redeveloping the old industrial sites in Dortmund, a city in the Ruhr area of Germany. The project's proclaimed vision of a ‘new Dortmund’ is seen as a part of a new imaginary. This article uses a praxeological perspective to work out the enactment practices in this imaginary, viewing them as various nexuses of doings and sayings. In doing so, it stresses the relevance of the production and influence of different reports in this process and seeks to offer an insight into the complexity of the setting in which this imaginary was enacted.