European Natural Gas Markets: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Review of Industrial Organization - Recent natural gas price dynamics in Europe show convergence to the extent that locational price differentials approached transport tariffs, and hence, arbitrage...     

Stakeholder theory and practice in Europe and North America: The key to success lies in a marketing approach

Corporate reputation in Europe and North America is increasingly seen as a function of how firms treat their stakeholders. In the United States, stakeholder theory has been touted as a paradigm of good management; yet despite enlightened stakeholder practice at home, US firms continue to run into problems in Europe. Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and GE have, in one way or another, all been caught off guard when doing business in Europe. This paper suggests that some of the stakeholder relations difficulties encountered by US corporations in Europe can be explained by fundamental cultural and philosophical differences between these regions that affect how stakeholders are viewed and how relations with those groups are managed. In this paper, we examine the historical and socio-political forces influencing stakeholder theory in the US and northern Europe and then use a business-to-business marketing approach to show how US firms might develop an approach to stakeholder relations that fits the northern European environment.     

Absorptive capacity and openness of small biopharmaceutical firms – a European Union–United States comparison

The complementarities between internal capabilities and external linkages have been widely acknowledged in the open innovation literature, yet little is known about the extent to which internal capabilities affect firms' openness within different institutional contexts. This paper therefore empirically explores the relationship between absorptive capacity (ACAP) and openness in the United States and European biopharmaceutical sectors. Based on analysis of data from a large‐scale international survey of 349 biopharmaceutical firms in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the results suggest that exploratory openness depends more strongly on the research and development (R&D) aspect of firms' potential absorptive capacity, whereas exploitative openness is more conditional on firms' realized absorptive capacity (RACAP). The results also highlight the major differences between firms' openness and ACAP in the United States and Europe – in the United States, firms' skill levels prove more significant in contributing to firms' engagement with exploratory relationships, whereas in Europe, continuity of R&D proves more important. Engagement with exploitative relationships, however, is more conditional on firms' RACAP in Europe only.     

Does the growth of mobile markets cause the demise of fixed networks? – Evidence from the European Union

The increasing usage of mobile communication and the declining demand for fixed line telephony in Europe make the analysis of substitutional effects between fixed and mobile networks a key aspect for future telecommunication regulation. Using a unique dataset which contains information on all 27 European Union members from 2003 to 2009, we analyze substitutability between fixed and mobile telecommunication services in Europe by applying dynamic panel data techniques. We find strong empirical evidence for substitution from fixed to cellular networks throughout Europe. In addition, the paper reveals resulting policy implications.     

The War on Europe’s Waterfront — Repertoires of Power in the Port Transport Industry

When the European Commission proposed a Directive On Market Access to Port Services in February 2001, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a declaration of war on Europe’s waterfront. To protect established terms and conditions of employment in the port transport industry, the ITF developed a strategy of internationalization that required dock workers to engage in a new politics of scale wrought by globalization. A new repertoire of collective action — based on more effective union articulation (i.e. stronger interrelationships between the workplace, national and international levels of organization) combined with the activities of new labour networks that connected port workers at the trans‐national corporation, port range and pan‐European levels — enabled dockers to sink the Directive in the European Parliament in November 2003. The dockers’ victory will not be lost on other European unions or indeed other global union federations, although their success will doubtless prove more difficult for other occupational groups to emulate.     

Erdgas für Europa: Die ewiGAS<Subscript>2008</Subscript> Prognose

Europe’s growing dependency on imports of natural gas poses two major questions: where will future supply come from and how it will get to the major consumption areas in Western Europe. Applying the global gas supply model MAGELAN and the European dispatch model TIGER, the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI) compiled its ewiGAS₂₀₀₈ forecast to answer these questions. The main results of the analysis of the future supply situation of Europe show that natural gas imports from Russia and the Middle East will see the largest increases. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) will gain importance globally, but to a much smaller extent in Europe than in other markets of the world. As the majority of import capacity increases are projected to take place on pipeline routes from North Africa and Iran, LNG imports to Europe will only grow relatively slower than total imports. Sensitivity analyses show that political or technical restrictions on additional exports from Russia and/or the Middle East do not endanger gas supply to Europe in the long-term, although they may significantly raise supply costs in extreme cases.     

Organic farming policy networks in Europe: Context,actors and variation

Despite most having developed under the umbrella of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), national-level organic farming policy networks in Europe vary. The aim of this paper is to explore the reasons for this variation. Quantitative network analyses were carried out in five ‘old’ and five ‘new’ EU member states and in Switzerland. To examine the patterns of influence on these 11 policy networks, the cases are compared in two stages. First, we examine the factors co-varying with the size and density of the networks and then we apply a most similar system – most different outcome research design. We identify the political environment as the main factor affecting size and density of organic farming policy networks in Europe. The distribution of power between organic farming organizations and agricultural ministries is influenced by state involvement and by the resources available to organic farming policy actors.     

Regulation and investment behaviour in the telecommunications sector: policies and patterns in US and Europe

This paper reports the results of the quantitative analysis of international experience of the relationship between infrastructure investment in the deployment of capacity that can carry large volumes of voice and data traffic and regulatory policy changes in the telecommunications sectors. It looks at the relationship between infrastructure investment for these infrastructure assets and the access pricing régimes for local exchange carriers in the United States and Europe. It then looks at the relationship between various aspects of regulatory and institutional policy changes in Europe and how they affect access prices.The paper finds that a lower access price promotes greater deployment of digital technology among US incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). Based on this finding, it suggests that it is in the ILECs interest to have access to their networks encouraged.The European data for interconnection are recent and far reaching conclusions are not feasible, but the findings, however, suggest that competition has worked by facilitating new entry through decreasing interconnection prices, although path dependencies, of existing and traditional concepts, in the mindsets of operators as well as regulators, may account for these findings.     

The new competition for land: Food,energy, and climate change

The paper addresses the new competition for land arising from growing and changing demand for food when combined with increasing global demand for transport energy, under conditions of declining petro-chemical resources and the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The paper starts from the premise of a ‘food, energy and environment trilemma’ (Tilman et al., 2009), where all demands to expand the area of cultivated land present high risks of increasing the carbon footprint of agriculture. Having reviewed the main drivers of demand for food and for liquid transport fuels, the paper weighs the controversies surrounding biofuels arising from food-price spikes, the demand for land, and consequent direct and indirect land-use change. It suggests that we need a more complex, and geographically differentiated, analysis of the interactions between direct and indirect land-use change. The paper then reviews evidence of land availability, and suggests that in addition to technical availability in terms of soil, water, and climate, political, social, and technological factors have significantly shaped the competition for land in different global regions, particularly the three major biofuel producing ones of the USA, Brazil and Europe. This point is further developed by reviewing the different innovation pathways for biofuels in these three regions. The main conclusion of this review is firstly that any analysis requires an integrated approach to the food-energy-environment trilemma, and secondly that strategic political direction of innovation and sustainability regulation are required to bring about major shifts in agriculture leading to sustainable intensification of cultivation (Royal Society, 2009), rather than the continued expansion of cultivated area. The consequent perspective is one of considerable global variety in technologies, agricultural productive systems, and use of natural resources. This contrasts sharply with the world of a dominant global and integrated technology platform based on petro-chemicals to which we have become accustomed.     

中国对“一带一路”亚非欧重点国家直接投资效率评价研究——基于动态DEA方法

对外直接投资效率问题关系着我国对外直接投资的质量,自“一带一路”倡议实施以来,2019年我国对外直接投资存量已达21988.8亿美元。为促进我国“一带一路”合作机制进一步走深走实,本文基于动态DEA模型,选取亚非欧60个国家为研究对象,研究2013~2019年我国对“一带一路”沿线国家的直接投资效率。实证分析发现:我国对亚非欧60个国家的OFDI总效率整体处于中低水平,国别差异较大,国家间差距呈现出亚洲>欧洲>非洲的情况;各项指标效率表现为欧洲>亚洲>非洲;三大区域IDI、ET、FR效率值呈现出差异化特征。为此提出加强东道国基础设施建设国际合作,优化产业结构,强化双边贸易关系等对策建议,从而促进“一带一路”合作机制的深入开展,加强与沿线国家的经贸投资和国际合作。     

Analysis of the Potential Economic Viability of Shale Gas Resources in Europe

European countries are currently exploring strategies to ensure a strong level of security of energy supply while decreasing its reliance on natural gas imports. With the strong surge in shale gas developments in the USA, similar ambitions have been the ongoing subject of inquiry in Europe. Detailed knowledge about extraction costs is a key issue in determining future shale gas investments in Europe. The paper at hand analyses the potential of European shale gas resources, highlighting their competitiveness against conventional natural gas. It examines the current volume of shale gas resources in Europe and performs a detailed cost calculation to provide an estimation of shale gas production costs. The results indicate that under current market conditions the repetition of the US shale gas boom is by all measures improbable in Europe. Furthermore, in the case that natural prices were to return to historically higher levels, only a few highly productive shale gas formations would be economically competitive.     

The increasing role of subsidiary boards in MNCs: An empirical study

Little research has been done to date on the role of subsidiary boards (SBs) in MNCs. A two-phase survey research design has yielded responses from 90 subsidiaries in 36 MNCs based in Europe, North America, and Japan. The sample provides evidence that: (1) SBs are perceived to be in transition from lesser to greater proactivity, and (2) MNCs with parent headquarters in North America, Europe, and Japan perceive the usefulness of these boards in different ways. The results indicate an increasingly active use of these boards in selective advisory and strategic roles. Some recommendations are presented for CEOs, chairmen, and subsidiary directors who are interested in designing their SBs to take better advantage of already legally mandated, but often underutilized, structures. SBs are not a panacea for resolving tensions between parents and subsidiaries and for monitoring changes in host country environments; however, they can provide added strategic governance for subsidiaries.     

An empirical study of supply chain performance in transport logistics

A cross-sectional survey was conducted with firms in three transport logistics industry sectors, i.e., air and sea transport, freight forwarding, and third-party logistics services, to evaluate their perceived SCP in transport logistics from both cost and service perspectives. The study results showed that all the three sectors were mature, attaining a certain degree of sophistication in their SCP. On the other hand, there were significant differences in SCP between firms in the three sectors. They differed in their perceived service effectiveness towards shippers and consignees and in their operations efficiency in performing the services. The study's findings provide managerial insights for firms in the industry to understand their SCP in transport logistics and to benchmark areas to improve their performance.     

A ‘Common Food Policy’ for Europe: How governance reforms can spark a shift to healthy diets and sustainable food systems

More than half of adults in the European Union (EU) are now either overweight or obese (53%). Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), many of which are diet-related, account for 70% of mortality in Europe and a growing share of healthcare costs. While eating habits have an important role to play in NCD prevention, consumption patterns across the EU are diverging significantly from recommended diets. There is growing consensus on the solution: a series of coordinated and wide-ranging policy interventions to build healthy ‘food environments’.This article argues that EU governance structures remain ill-adapted to the systemic nature of this and other challenges in food systems (e.g. climate change, biodiversity loss, food poverty): conflicting objectives and missed synergies are identified between different policy areas (agriculture, trade, health, environment, etc.) and between different levels of governance (EU, national, local). An integrated food policy framework – a ‘Common Food Policy’ – is therefore required to meet the EU’s public health and sustainability objectives. It identifies four distinct aspects of the governance shift required to promote healthy diets and build sustainable food systems in Europe: (i) coherence across policy areas; (ii) coherence across governance levels; (iii) governance for transition; and (iv) food democracy. Blueprints for a Common Food Policy are already emerging, and are ripe for consideration, development, and implementation by the European institutions.     

Hiccups in US spectrum auctions

While an increasing number of countries have embraced auctions to assign radio frequency, many other countries have decided to retain selection by the administration. Of the many factors that might have influenced those countries that have rejected auctions, one of the most visible in Europe has been frequent media reports of the problems experienced with auctions in the US between 1995 and 1997. In my experience, these reports have been accepted at face value by many European industry commentators and policy officials. It seems clear that the repeated reporting of these problems has influenced the evolution of spectrum management policy in Europe. This paper tries to set the record straight by providing an analysis of the problems that were reported in Europe regarding US spectrum auctions, specifically the declarations of bankruptcy by several winning bidders and overbidding by participants, the enormous revenue shortfall on the WCS block auction, and reports of collusion among bidders.     

Economic Efficiency and Political Capture in Public Service Contracts

We consider contracts for public transport services between a public authority and a transport operator. We build a structural endogenous switching model where the contract choice results from the combined effects of the incentivization scheme aimed at monitoring the operator's efficiency and the political agenda followed by the regulator to account for the voice of private interests. Our results support theoretical predictions as they suggest that cost‐plus contracts entail a higher cost for society than fixed‐price contracts but allow the public authority to leave a rent to a subset of individuals. Accounting for transfers to interest groups in welfare computations reduces the welfare gap between cost‐plus and fixed‐price regimes.     

The influence of competition from informal firms on new product development

Research summary : Existing research describes a broad range of determinants of new product development (NPD), a fundamental competitive activity of firms. A considerable share of this work has occurred in the context of developed economies, raising a concern that some important determinants may remain unexamined. We suggest that one such determinant is competition from informal (unregistered) firms. Drawing from the attention‐based view, we investigate the effects of informal competition on NPD in a large sample of firms located across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. We examine not only the direct effect but also how this effect is moderated by characteristics of the competitive and institutional context. Managerial summary : The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between competition from informal (unregistered) firms and new product development (NPD) by formal firms. We argue that NPD is an effective response to differentiate from informal firms, and our analyses of over 9,000 firms located in emerging economies across Eastern Europe and Central Asia indicate that NPD activities are more likely in formal firms who rate informal competition as a greater obstacle. The strength of this direct relationship depends on aspects of the competitive and institutional environment: it is weakened when levels of competition from other formal firms are higher, when alternative responses such as corruption are more available, and when managers are more optimistic about the regulatory environment. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural differences in COMECON and EEC agricultural productivity: A basis for trade expansion?

Historically, agricultural productivity has been much greater in Western Europe than Eastern Europe. Although productivity now seems to be improving at similar rates in all areas, Western Europe still seems to be about 50% more efficient than Eastern Europe. P.C. van den Noort examines the evidence and suggests the possibility of increased exchange of agricultural products, inputs and expertise.     

Satellites and integrated broadband communications: An ESA view

The definition phase of the European Commission's Research into Advanced Communications for Europe (RACE) programme has recently been completed. During this phase, it became evident to ESA and other observers that insufficient attention was being given to the role that satellite technology could play in the introduction and development of Integrated Broadband Communications in Europe. This comment is distilled from a submission which was prepared as an input to RACE, and is intended to introduce some realism into the thinking behind the planning of the RACE Main Phase.     

How Common Are Bad Bosses?

Bosses play a fundamental role in workplaces. Yet, almost nothing is known about an important and basic question in labor economics and industrial relations. Are the right people promoted to be supervisors, team leaders, and managers? The infamous Peter Principle claims that incompetent bosses are likely to be all around us, but is that true? This article provides the first statistically representative international estimates—taking comparable data on thirty-five nations—of the extent to which employees have “bad bosses.” Using a natural measure, the article calculates that approximately 13 percent of Europe’s workers have a bad boss. Such bosses are most common in large organizations, in organizations without employee-representation committees, in the transport sector, and where workers themselves have no supervisory responsibility. Last, the article offers a practical finding as a potential aid to human resource training and hiring. Contrary to media portrayals, bad bosses are rated least bad on “respect for workers” and worst on their ability to get the job done. Lack of competence, not lack of consideration, appears to be the key problem.