Does the foreign sector help forecast domestic variables in DSGE models?

This paper evaluates the forecasting performances of several small open-economy DSGE models relative to a closed-economy benchmark using a long span of data for Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. We find that opening the model economy usually does not improve the quality of point and density forecasts for key domestic variables, and can even cause it to deteriorate. We show that this result can be attributed largely to an increase in the forecast error due to the more sophisticated structure of the extended setup, which is not compensated for by a better model specification. This claim is based on a Monte Carlo experiment in which an open-economy model fails to beat its closed-economy benchmark consistently even if the former is the true data generating process.     

Are the ‘Big Six’ ‘big’ in Belgium?

Studies in the United States, Europe and Australia have shown that the market for audit services is highly concentrated and largely dominated by the same ‘Big Six’ international audit firms. This paper measures the degree of concentration in the Belgian audit market through an empirical study of the number of professionally qualified auditors employed by each audit firm and some characteristics of their clients. Our calculations show that the concentration ratios, however measured, are low when compared with other countries, possibly due to the low value attached to the certification of financial statements by a professionally qualified auditor. This lack of importance can be explained by characteristics of the Belgian environment (e.g. a relatively passive capital market, dominated by a few large holding companies) which may induce companies to chose cheaper (domestic) audit firms. We also calculate Spearman rank correlations between the rankings of the audit firms based upon the different audit firm revenue proxies. All the correlations show it is of no importance which measure is used to rank audit firms.     

Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship

What is social entrepreneurship? In, particular, what’s so social about it? Understanding what social entrepreneurship is enables researchers to study the phenomenon and policy-makers to design measures to encourage it. However, such an understanding is lacking partly because there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship as yet. In this paper, we suggest a definition of social entrepreneurship that intuitively accords with what is generally accepted as entrepreneurship and that captures the way in which entrepreneurship may be altruistic. Based on this we provide a taxonomy of social entrepreneurship and identify a number of real cases from Asia illustrating the different forms it could take.     

Letter to the Editor: ‘On Quantile-based Asymmetric Family of Distributions: Properties and Inference’

We show that the family of asymmetric distributions studied in a recent publication in the International Statistical Review is equivalent to the family of two-piece distributions. Moreover, we show that the location-scale asymmetric family proposed in that publication is non-identifiable (overparameterised), and it coincides with the family of two-piece distributions after removing the redundant parameters.     

‘Recession push’ and ‘prosperity pull’ entrepreneurship in a rural developing context

In this paper, the ‘recession push’ and the ‘prosperity pull’ hypotheses are used to analyse the effect of growing non-farm wage employment on entrepreneurship in a rural developing context. Data are collected in a rural household survey in 110 communes in central Vietnam which includes subjective owner assessments of reasons for starting non-farm businesses. This way it is possible to separately test the two hypotheses by distinguishing opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs. We use clustered probit regression analyses and control for possible endogeneity in order to predict participation in entrepreneurship. The results show that better access to non-farm wage employment increases the likelihood of becoming an opportunity entrepreneur but has no effect on necessity entrepreneurship. This, therefore, supports the ‘prosperity pull’ hypothesis but not the ‘recession push’ hypothesis. The growing non-farm economy is likely to accelerate the emergence of opportunity entrepreneurship in rural areas. However, necessity entrepreneurs are suffering from a lack of individual and household assets which pushes them into entrepreneurship regardless of non-farm job opportunities in the surrounding area.     

Employment equity policy frames in the literature: ‘good practice’ versus ‘bad idea’

Work organisations considering policies against racial or ethnic discrimination and for recognising diversity can find many different and often conflicting recommendations in the literature, in particular regarding the aim of proportional representation of different ethnic groups. To better understand this controversy, this paper rigorously examines three key theories from a frame-critical and business ethics perspective. It introduces a fundamental threefold conceptualisation of ‘employment equity policy’ (EEP) as a catch-all term for related concepts such as ‘affirmative action’, ‘equal opportunities policy’ and ‘diversity management’, distinguishing between three different organisational goals: equal treatment, equal results and individual recognition. The analysis suggests that different authors emphasise some ‘facts’ rather than others and strategically interpret the limited available empirical research to support their policy positions, mixing both classical and newer ethical reasoning. In the ‘good practice’ frame, human resource management practitioners are urged to take ‘positive action’, to monitor the ethnic composition of the workforce and to formulate target figures to increase the representation of discriminated groups. In the opposing ‘bad idea’ frame, organisations are seriously advised against EEPs with ‘hard’ numerical goals: these policies supposedly are unnecessary and ineffective and have negative unintended consequences. The article draws implications from these findings for future research and practice in the field of EEPs.     

In defense of ‘eco’ in innovation ecosystem

Innovation ecosystem is an increasingly popular but all too often ambiguously utilized concept across academia, policy and business. In their recent well-argued critique of the concept, Oh et al. (2016) called it a “flawed analogy” that is potentially dangerous for its lack of rigor. In this letter, we reflect on this critique and examine pathways to resolve some of the issues pointed out. We suggest that, at its best, the ecosystem analogy combines salient features from natural ecology to inform the design of system-level innovation management activities. This requires a great deal of conceptual and empirical rigor, and we outline a number of ideas for future research in this regard.     

‘‘Peace’’ perceptions of Special Education Students in North Cyprus: a metaphorical approach

Recently, the peace education as a field has received world-wide attention from scholars, educators and policymakers. In Europe, awareness-raising activities supported by individuals and organizations has paid off and led to successful implementation of peace curriculum into education. Considerable amount of studies reveals that the peace education activities in schools contributed to the realisation of the importance of peaceful and sustainable future. However, peace education is a long neglected subject among the scholars in North Cyprus. Unfortunately, there is no single study focussing on peace education and its necessity in North Cyprus. In this regard, the aim of this study is to investigate how Special Education Students in North Cyprus perceive the concept of ‘‘peace’’. Also, the possible ways of implementing ‘peace education’ into curriculum are scrutinized. In order to fulfil the research aim, qualitative data collected from 158 Special Education teacher candidates. The findings reveal that majority of the participants believes that ‘peace education’ should be taught in schools. At this point, collected data also indicate that governmental initiatives need to be taken in order to raise awareness among students and teachers about ‘peace education’.

     

Symmetry and Bates’ rule in Ornstein–Uhlenbeck stochastic volatility models

We find necessary and sufficient conditions for the market symmetry property, introduced by Fajardo and Mordecki (Quant Finance 6(3):219–227, 2006), to hold in the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck stochastic volatility model, henceforth OU–SV. In particular, we address the non-Gaussian OU–SV model proposed by Barndorff-Nielsen and Shephard (J R Stat Soc B 63(Part 2):167–241, 2001). Also, we prove the Bates’ rule for these models.     

‘Intended’ and ‘implemented’ HRM: the missing linchpin in strategic human resource management research

We argue that inconclusive findings in the SHRM literature regarding the relationship between HRM systems and organizational performance may result primarily from methodological weaknesses and a failure of researchers to distinguish between HR practices intended by the organizations and those actually implemented. Rather than relying upon a single respondent per organization as is the norm, we contrast reports of both managers and non-managers from inside and outside HR departments to highlight differences between intended and implemented HRM. The findings, arrived at with the help of 195 interviews, 508 questionnaire responses and several company documents, support our expectation: implemented HRM may be substantially different from intended HRM; consistent implementation increases employee satisfaction with HRM, which is positively related to organizational performance. The current study thus highlights new factors that require attention in developing HR–performance analyses and also suggests that a mere imitation of HRM in the hopes of improving organizational performance creates no value. It is crucial that HR departments and managers remain committed and supportive to the development of effective HRM systems by focusing upon actual ‘implementation’ within their organizations.     

Response to the Letter to the Editor on ‘On Quantile-based Asymmetric Family of Distributions: Properties and Inference’

Rubio (2020) points out an identification problem for the four-parameter family of two-piece asymmetric densities introduced by Nassiri & Loris (2013). This implies that statistical inference for that family is problematic. Establishing probabilistic properties for this four-parameter family however still makes sense. For the three-parameter family, there is no identification problem. The main contribution in Gijbels et al. (2019a) is to provide asymptotic results for maximum likelihood and method-of-moments estimators for all members of the three-parameter quantile-based asymmetric family of distributions.     

Airlines’ strategic interactions and airport pricing in a dynamic bottleneck model of congestion

This paper analyzes efficient pricing at a congested airport dominated by a single firm. Unlike much of the previous literature, we combine a dynamic bottleneck model of congestion and a vertical structure model that explicitly considers the role of airlines and passengers. We show that a Stackelberg leader interacting with a competitive fringe partially internalizes congestion, and that there are various toll regimes that induce the welfare maximizing outcome, widening the set of choices for regulators. In particular, charging the congestion toll that would apply for fully competitive carriers and that ignores any internalization, to both the leader and the fringe, yields the first-best outcome.     

‘Ideational power’ as a resource in union struggle

Contributing to our understanding of ideas as power resources in union struggle, this article analyses a labour dispute in Israel's shipping industry. The article follows the union's foregrounding of a specific idea of the state contained within the collective understanding of Israel's history, by which the union legitimised its position in the dispute and significantly influenced a government decision. The article therefore suggests that ideas can be an important power resource, particularly when other power resources are lacking but that this power resource is dependent on the specific ideational context: effective foregrounded ideas draw on a shared narrative that enables political actors to claim the moral high ground, while accusing their adversaries of failing to fulfil their moral obligations as understood via the frame of that shared narrative.     

Geographic ‘clustering’ in the German opto electronics industry

The dynamics of industrial clustering and its implications for regional development present important challenges for research in economic geography. Awareness of the potential economic and innovative benefits from the geographic ‘clustering’ of firms in related industries is longstanding. In turn, the means of aiding and promoting such clustering forms an important focus for government agencies and other support organizations. This paper aims to explore these issues by drawing on empirical evidence from the opto–electronics industry in Germany.

In sum, the paper argues that, indeed, there appears to be geographic clustering in the opto–electronics industry in Germany, notably in the region of Thuringia, around Jena, and in the Munich area. The contrasting experiences of Jena and Munich suggest, however, that geographic clustering in high–technology industry does not necessarily lead to R&D collaboration and innovation. Further, in–depth research is required to determine the conditions under which geographic clustering is beneficial to innovation.     

Cross-cultural competence in the context of NGOs: bridging the gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’

Abstract

International human resource management research in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is scarce and it predominantly focuses on the recruitment and retention of volunteers. The context of NGOs is different from conventional for-profit international business settings with different kinds of challenges, especially in terms of providing appropriate training on managing multi-cultural teams and working with local project partners and communities. The literature also tends to focus on expatriate perspective and not on a host country perspective. We address this gap by examining how project managers and hosts experience cross-cultural issues on overseas assignments. We study volunteer project managers leading international and local youth volunteers during the Raleigh International programme in Malaysia. We use a qualitative methodology and data collected at 3 case locations via participant observation during 120 days contact with the respondents as well as interviews and surveys. We propose the CPACE (Curiosity, Passion, Adaptability, Communication and Empathy) framework describing competences needed in cross-cultural encounters and based on respondents’ actions as well as their words and it is relevant to a NGO context. The framework is intended to lay the foundation for future research and in particular to demonstrate the need for cross-cultural competence to be more grounded in particular contexts.     

‘PERSON’波森

Q:我是一名刚回国的MBA,目前MBA在国内是否好找工作? A:作为人才顾问公司,我们每天收到很多简历,其中不乏有良好留学背景,学成回国的海归。这些人年龄多集中在27岁到35岁之间,其中有些人在出国前有着良好的工作背景。可是,他们许多人在满怀希望寻求新的职业生涯的时候却屡屡受挫。 调查显示,在过去的20年     

乐在‘永不言败’

古训云:知足者常乐。普通老百姓遵此古训为人处事,确实能在清淡的生活中找到自慰、自乐的感觉,有利于形成达观、宽容、谦让、朴实的民风。那么,可否将此古训用到现代企业的管理工作中呢?这就引出了如下一段议论。 企业管理是一种竞争性、风险性极强的工作,企业的每一项管理成果都要经过艰难曲折的竞争过程才能获得。管理者的最大乐趣,就在于经过自己顽强的拼搏和扎实的积累,获得一个又一个预期的或出乎意料的管理成果。因此,笔者认为:在企业管理工作中,永不满足、不断进取的“不知足”精神是成功的源泉,只有“不知足”的企业家所管理的企业才有可能“长盛”,只有“不知足”的成功企业家才能得到真正的“长乐”。     

‘丑小鸭’变成‘白天鹅’——再访颜陵毛纺厂

山东省颜陵毛纺厂真正名扬四方的日子恐怕是1991年1月31日。那一天,该厂作为全省产品质量不合格的代表被拉到省政府去曝光。一日之内,谁不知道颜陵毛纺厂是个“丑小鸭”。 三年过去了,记者再访颜陵,想