The Magic of the Personal Touch: Field Experimental Evidence on Money and Appreciation as Gifts*

In this paper, we use two field experiments in professional settings to explore the effort levels of individuals in response to gifts. We extend the literature by looking at non‐financial gifts that signal worker appreciation and gifts that combine financial and non‐financial elements with or without a personal touch. We find that while money and appreciation are individually effective, these only work well together when they are combined with a personal touch. This suggests that responses to gifts are sensitive to the presentation of the gift as well as to interpersonal elements; these are factors that have so far been largely ignored in the literature but are easy to incorporate into existing principal–agent models.     

How personal and organizational drivers impact on SME international performance: The mediating role of organizational innovation

This article develops and tests a conceptual model to identify the impact of internal drivers (personal and organizational) on the international performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm and its capability extensions, it is argued that the effect of drivers is mediated by organizational innovation. To test the proposed theoretical model, we collected data from 120 exporting SMEs in Portugal. Results show that the indirect mediating effect of innovation is particularly relevant with regard to the organizational driver-performance link. Insights contribute to research on the importance of innovation for capability and resource deployment during internationalization.     

Auswirkungen der Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe

The authors analyse how the market transparency unit for fuels in Germany affects both supplier and consumer behaviour. The number of price changes has increased, mainly due to increasing price cuts, as has the spread between the lowest and the highest price of the day — both indicators of intensified competition. The concern that the introduction of the market transparency unit would facilitate collusion appears not to be warranted. In contrast, competition has intensified and consumers are increasingly making use of the price differences. The analysis also reveals that consumers purchased more gasoline in times of low prices (so-called price valleys) in 2015 than they did in 2012. The change in consumer behaviour is an indicator that at least some drivers tend to use fuel price comparison apps fed by data from the market transparency unit.     

Television Advertising and Beef Demand: Bayesian Inference in a Random Effects Tobit Model

A number of recent empirical studies have generated skepticism about the effectiveness of generic advertising for beef. One of these studies, Jensen and Schroeter (1992), examines data collected from a panel of households in a carefully designed experimental test of television advertising. The present paper undertakes a reexamination of the Jensen and Schroeter data with two significant improvements in method. First, the analysis disaggregates beef purchases into three product types (ground beef steaks and roasts) and assesses advertising's impact on the demand for each type separately. Second, the present analysis uses an improved econometric method: Bayesian inference in a random effects Tobit model. Inference is based on simulations of a posterior distribution using Gibbs sampling and data augmentation. As far as advertising's effects are concerned, the results of this analysis reaffirm the Jensen and Schroeter finding: The experimental television advertising campaign was not effective in increasing household purchases of beef. Plusieurs études empiriques récentes ont soulevé le doute quant à l'efficacité de la publicité générique sur le b?uf. Celle de Jensen et Schroeder (JS), notamment, portait sur les données recueillies auprès d'un groupe de ménages dans le cadre d'une expérience bien conçue sur la publicitéà la télévision. Les auteurs réexaminent les données de cette étude en apportant deux améliorations majeures à la méthode utilisée. En premier lieu, leur analyse désagrège les achats de b?uf en trois (viande hachée, biftecks et rôtis) et évalue l'impact de la publicité sur la demande de chaque produit. Deuxièmement, l'analyse repose sur une meilleure méthode économétrique, à savoir l'inférence bayésienne dans un modèle Tobit à effets aléatoires. L'inférence s'appuie sur la simulation d'une distribution postérieure par échantillonnage de Gibb et enrichissement des données. En ce qui concerne l'incidence de la publicité, cette nouvelle analyse confirme les constatations de l'etude JS, soit que la campagne expérimental de publicitéà la télévision n'entraîne pas une hausse des achats de b?uf par les ménages.     

Versteigerungserlöse aus CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Zertifikaten im Spannungsfeld zwischen Bund und Ländern

Die Co₂-Emissionsrechte im Europ?ischen Emissionshandelssystem werden, nachdem sie zun?chst vorwiegend kostenlos verteilt wurden, ab 2013 zunehmend versteigert. Dies führt auch unter Berücksichtigung von Steuerausf?llen durch sinkende Gewinne der Unternehmen zu Einnahmen, die sinnvoll verteilt werden sollten. Klimaschutz- und Anpassungsma?nahmen sind auf verschiedenen Ebenen anzusiedeln.     

Why does the effect of new business formation differ across regions?

We investigate regional differences in the effect of new business formation on employment growth in West Germany. We find an inverse U-shaped relationship between the level of start-up activity and employment change. The main variables that shape the employment effects of new businesses in a region are population density, the share of medium-skilled workers, the amount of innovation activities as measured by the proportion of research and development (R&D) employees, and an entrepreneurial character of the regional technological regime. In contrast, a high share of small-business employment has a negative influence on the employment effect of start-ups. Other indicators for education, innovation activity, and labor productivity do not prove to be statistically significant.     

Co-creation on a global scale: How customers impact firms’ internationalization strategies

The importance of customers in international strategy has largely been neglected or relegated to the simple and rather passive role of a buyer. In this article, we suggest a different approach and identify the potential impact of co-creation activities. We provide several examples of how customers are more actively involved in global value creation and thereby impact firms’ international posture.     

Inflation Developments in the Euro Area Since the Onset of the Pandemic

There is hope that the Russian war on Ukraine could expedite the energy transition in Europe leading to a new and more environmentally sustainable steady state.

     

Pamela Walker Laird. Pull: Networking and Success since Benjamin Franklin. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2006. xiv + 439 pp. ISBN 0-674-01907-5, $29.95 (paper).

Success is as much about whom you know as it is about what youknow and how you perform. Networks, mentors, and role modelsplay pivotal roles in corporate climbing and entrepreneurship.Although the business lexicon only recently incorporated theseterms into its vocabulary, Pamela Laird convincingly arguesthat these forms of social capital, which she calls pull, havealways helped determine success. Moreover, because they existprimarily among individuals who see each other as belongingto the same cohort, success