Ansatzpunkte für eine selbsthilfeorientierte Verbraucherberatung Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung

The article reports from a study of 835 Berlin citizens, in which their needs for legal counselling in five walks of life were ascertained. Subjectively experienced problems were related by the respondents, both spontaneously and as answers to a standardized questionnaire; in the same manner, the investigators tried to find out in which way, if any, the respondents had tried to solve the problems. In this paper, only some results from the questions dealing withconsumer problems are reported. Among the results of the study can be mentioned:

-Many more problems are reported for consumer durables than for insurance, holiday travel, and consumer credit (although when a problem arises in the latter spheres, they give rise to much concern). Doctors and consumer services (in particular, car repairs) show rather high problem rates, too;

-Most problems have to do with perceived deficits of the delivered goods and services (rather than with the activities of the seller);

-About 26% of the respondents explicitly stated that they had undertaken nothing by way of remedying the problem. The tendency to do nothing about it is clearly related to income (low income = proneness to do nothing). The relationship with education is less clear-cut.

-In particular, those persons who had resorted to legal counselling as a means of solving their problem, were very satisfied with this, and planned to use the method again if need arose. Contacts with the seller were less favourably evaluated as a problem-solving means. Also those who had not undertaken any action in order to solve their problem, state to a surprisingly high degree that they plan to use legal advice (lawyers, consumer advice centres, courts) the next time a problem arises. Plans to use legal counselling are mentioned by many more than have used them in an actual conflict, and these intentions do not differ dramatically among different social classes.

-Very few respondents (3%) report the use ofcollective action in attempts to solve their problem, but considerably more (15%) indicate a desire to solve future problems together with other consumers who find themselves in an similar situation.

On the basis of the results of the study and theoretical considerations, the authors draw the following conclusions:

1. A public consumer policy which entails the goals of consumer co-determination and self-reliance is more likely to succeed if it relates to deficiencies of goods and services perceived by the consumers. Consumer counselling should therefore change its focus from giving advice prior to decisions to giving advice about how to solve post-purchase problems.
2. Because of consumer expectations, consumer guidance must include legal counselling. It should not be limited to such counselling, however, since most consumer problem alleviation takes place outside the legal system.
3. Legal counselling should primarily aim at strengthening the position of the consumer innon-legal problem-solving attempts. Knowledge about the legal position is important because it gives self-confidence and increases the perceived rightfulness of one's concern. It creates the awareness that the problem is not an individual and rare one, and may give impetus to collective action. It makes it possible to see how one's problem is connected to other, related problem types. It strengthens the consumer's feeling of possessing negotiation power, since he can threaten with legal action, in case the seller does not yield, and it makes it possible for the consumer to specify minimum requirements in his dealings with the seller.
4. Legal counselling that has as its only purpose the securing of consumer rights throughlegal procedures, puts the consumer under tutelage and runs the risk of becoming an instrument which isolates consumers from each other and make them incapable of solidarity with fellow citizens.
5. Consumer counselling should as its starting-point take the problem-solving procedures usually employed by consumers (direct contacts with the seller, seeking advice from friends and colleagues) and attempt to make these procedures more efficient. The declared preparedness of consumers to consider collective actions should be put to use.
6. Consumer counselling should not address itself to specific, “weak” consumer groups (old people, low-income groups, non-employed women) but should in the first place concentrate its attention on those kinds ofproblem situations (certain types of goods and services, certain types of confrontations with sellers, etc.) in which such especially vulnerable consumers find themselves.

     

Der österreichische Entwurf eines Konsumentenschutzgesetzes

The report gives information about origins, aims, and contents of the Austrian bill for a Consumer Protection Act which has been submitted to the National Council (Nationalrat) of the Austrian Parliament and will be heard in the Justice Committee (Justizausschuß). The bill aims at a far-reaching protection for the consumer in the field of contract law, excluding, however, product liability and certain specific contracts (such as travelling and correspondence courses). The main points of the bill are as follows:

1. The consumer will be protected in instances of doorstep contracts by granting a cooling-off period of one week. Certain clauses in contracts to the detriment of the consumer will be void, for instance, clauses which limit the validity of oral representations, and clauses in standard form contracts which the consumer did not have reason to expect (überraschende Klauseln). The judge will be accorded the right to lower penalties stipulated in contracts. The right of the consumer to get the contract annulled will be strenghtened in cases oflaesio enormis (i.e., where the stipulated price exceeds the true value by more than one half).
2. The consumer will be protected against unfair contents in standard form contracts. The bill foresees two legal means of protection. (a) A general clause to be introduced into the Austrian Civil Code (Art. 879 § 3) will void all stipulations in standard form contracts, which unfairly deprive the consumer of his rights, and which have not freely and reasonably been consented to by the consumer because they were contained in standard forms of the other party or because this party exploited its superiority when putting them into the contract. In addition, the bill voids specific clauses, not only in standard form contracts but also in individual contracts (e.g., exemption clauses with regard to warranties or breach of contract). (b) The bill institutes a collective action which enables certain associations (workers' chambers — Arbeiterkammern, chambers of commerce — Wirtschaftskammern, trade unions, the Association for Consumer Information — der Verein für Konsumenteninformation) to bring action against anybody using illegal standard form contracts.
3. The bill contains provision for forbidding certain unreasonable clauses regarding, e. g., bills of exchange, the use of wage claims as security, and jurisdiction clauses.
4. The bill will incorporate the Instalment Sales Act (Ratengesetz) into the new Consumer Protection Act, thereby extending its sphere of application to most transactions between businessmen and consumers.

     

The case method: A perspective

The task of preparing a case is similar to writing a legal brief or an essay insofar as all three should contain a thesis or main point and argumentation or logically arranged facts and inferences. However, different from a brief or an essay, case studies should not contain a conclusion. A case should lead the reader through the facts, but it should not offer a firm or fixed resolution or moral judgment. Ideally it should leave the reader with the opportunity to create and insert their own conclusion. A good case study should be amenable to the following kinds of questions or analysis procedures:

1. What is the problem? or What is at stake?
2. What are the non-normative or factual issues involved?
3. What are the normative or ethical issues involved?
4. What are the alternatives available?
5. What decision would you make?

     

Corporate social responsibility and public accountability

The development of legislation determining corporate behaviour is a fascinating topic, offering insight into the societal problems of corporate enterprise as they are related to their accounting, their administration, and their external reporting. In this paper the following specific implications for accounting are examined:

-Should accountants get involved in social auditing and are they the ‘core’ persons in corporate social accounting systems?

-Should corporate social performance measurement and reporting become obligatory and to what extent?

-A general framework for the implementation of corporate social accounting systems is suggested and quidelines for its auditing are proposed.

-A tentative set of social auditing standard is outlined together with its methodological accompaniments.

     

Commentary on “an empirical study of moral reasoning among managers”

Managerial reasoning is characteristic of a care-relationship ethics:

1. If a corporation provides certain community values to corporate members not reducible to their self-interested economic or professional objectives;
2. If such values are generated by a division of labor based on interdependence, reciprocity and concern for another's self-realization;
3. If it's based on promoting an ethical corporate self independent of its economic value.

Such an ethic is appropriate, given employees' tremendous personal contributions, the unique position of private industry to provide distinctive resources without committing extensive social resources, and due to its potential for reducing managerial moral fragmentation and hypocrisy.     

Offensive and defensive marketing: Closed-loop duopoly strategies

Offensive and Defensive Marketing: Closed-Loop Duopoly Strategies A modified Lanchester game is used to develop closed-loop strategies for offensive and defensive marketing expenditures of duopolistic competitors in a market share rivalry. Analysis of the model reveals that

1. well-defined closed-loop strategies can be developed that show directly the influence of market share on offensive and defensive marketing;
2. steady state is marked by balance between offensive and defensive marketing expenditures;
3. defensive marketing is more critical than offensive marketing due to greater risk of loss under deviation from closed-loop strategies.

The last result would appear to have particularly important implications for both practice and research.     

Employee attitudes toward whistleblowing: Management and public policy implications

Managers of organizations should be aware of the attitudes of employees concerning whistleblowing. Employee views should affect how employers choose to respond to whistleblowers through the evolving law of wrongful discharge. This article reports on a survey of employee attitudes toward the legal protection of whistleblowers and presents an analysis of the results of that survey. Among the most significant findings of the survey are:

1. Recognition by employees of a hierarchy of proper whistleblowing outlets: internal first, law enforcement agencies second, and news media last.
2. Less employee support for legal protection for whistleblowers who report unethical activities than for those who report illegal conduct.
3. Very strong overall employee support for legal protection of whistleblowers, even among managerial and supervisory employees.
4. A belief among employees that a fear of being fired deters whistleblowing.

These findings have important implications for both management and public policy. Organizations that want to encourage whistleblowing clearly must protect whistleblowers from retaliation, while organizations that do not encourage whistleblowing may want to reconsider that policy. The survey results also have implications in the handling of individual whistleblowers. From a public policy perspective, the survey results provide support for increasing the legal protection of whistleblowers. On the other hand, any such increase in whistleblower protection should considerr the importance of employee loyalty and managerial discretion.     

Entrepreneurship education in the nineties

Bringing entrepreneurship education into the community support infrastructure poses one of the more important economic development issue for the 1990s. Aspart of the new strategy for job creation, entrepreneurship education holds promise as an integral component in a community's venture support system along with incubators, innovation centers, technology transfer offices, science parks, and venture capital operations. Since new venture success is foremost a function of entrepreneurial knowledge and know-how, entrepreneurship education may be the most promising of these economic development mechanisms. Unfortunately, it may be the most difficult to implement.Generally the extent and nature of education required by modern aspiring entrepreneurs is not well understood. Many would see entrepreneurship education as strictly an add-on to current education in management or engineering. Such is the option of minimal use. The real promise or entrepreneurship education will be realized when it is strategically organized for economic development and job creation. This article traces the recent history of entrepreneurship education before proceeding to deal with a number of questions facing those who would use entrepreneurship education as part of a modern economic development strategy:

1. 1.1. Why is entrepreneurship education important?
2. 2.2. How should it be distinguished from related programs?
3. 3.3. How will success be measured?
4. 4.4. Who will be the students?
5. 5.5. How will the subject be taught?
6. 6.6. What will be the curriculum?
7. 7.7. Who will be the teachers?

     

Towards a theory of entrepreneurship

Over 200 years of the study of entrepreneurship have provided many definitions of the word “entrepreneur”. However, no theory of entrepreneurship has been developed that would explain or predict when an entrepreneur, by any of the definitions, might appear or engage in entrepreneurship. Indeed, the search for a best definition may have impeded the development of theory.The Schumpeter economic outcome-based concept that an entrepreneur creates value by carrying out new combinations causing discontinuity is embodied in many of the definitions offered within the last 50 years. We strongly recommend the adoption of Schumpeter's definition for academic and policy-making purposes.We offer the following tentative entrepreneurship theory, extracted from anecdotal observations and extant literature, in the hope that it will better explain and begin to predict the phenomenon of entrepreneurship:“A person will carry out a new combination, causing discontinuity, under conditions of:

• 1.1. Task-related motivation,
• 2.2. Expertise,
• 3.3. Expectation of personal gain, and
• 4.4. A supportive environment.

”Several relevant research questions are posed in the hope that they will encourage discontinuity in further development of theory.     

The internationalization process in the small and medium sized firms: A case study on the Italian clothing industry

In this research we use a data-base that reveals the propensity for contractual ventures and direct investments (1051 operations) of the clothing Italian companies during the period 1987–1991, on a national (342 operations) and international level (709 operations). The latter were analyzed with reference to the internal (412) and external growth strategies (297), cooperative (362) and non-cooperative (347) deals. Our analysis focuses on the different strategies that SMEs, on one hand, and large companies, on the other hand, show in the internationalization process. Main results of the study are:

the international growth of the SMEs takes place mainly through contractual agreements (68%), more so than with non-cooperative operation (32%), whereas in large companies the non-cooperative strategies slightly prevail (54%). Consequently, the external growth strategy is very important for the SMEs (72%) and somewhat less important for the large companies (54%);

the cooperative growth is usually seen by SMEs as an expansion both of the commercial (48% of the operations involves commercial purposes) and of the production areas (48% of the cases). This could indicate that SMEs try to organize on an international level the same network model used in Italy: SMEs decentralize their production within the country through networks of companies and industrial districts, whose horizontal connections (among SMEs themselves) and vertical connections (with large companies) provide flexibility and low costs;

large companies' expectations of the Single European Market have brought a great number of international operations in Europe (24%), notwithstanding the notable importance of Japan (23%) and U.S. (17%); on the contrary, SMEs focus on “niche and rich markets” as Japan (40%); but as far as the contractual agreements are concerned, both types of firm privilege the Japanese market: almost 50% of SMEs' international agreements are directed towards Japan (33% in the large company's case);

large companies and SMEs in the middle and high segments of the market carry out more operations than companies operating in the low quality and casual segments;

generally speaking, in Italy there is an urgent need for industrial policies promoting SMEs access to cooperative instruments (“learning by cooperating”).

     

Strategy constraints of Polish foreign-trade organizations

This paper presents reflections on the survey of the general managers of Polish foreign-trade organizations (FTOs). The study focuses on business deals with Western partners and the associated problems. The relative inefficiency of Polish FTOs is due to:

• 1.1. Poor working relations between the FTOs and the Polish manufacturing sector;
• 2.2. Inadequate knowledge of modern marketing techniques;
• 3.3. The lack of clear-cut strategies regarding how to develop foreign markets; and
• 4.4. Rigidity of national planning and management systems in Poland.

As far as organizational solutions to correct the deficiencies are concerned, the experience of foreign branches of FTOs and the modifications of their cooperative links with the Polish manufacturing sector appear to be the most promising.     

Assessing economic value added by university-based new-venture outreach programs

A new-venture development office was set up in a university to solicit, screen, and allocate community ventures into upper-level undergraduate and graduate project courses. Innovative ventures in the early stages of development were allocated according to: 1) the project requirements of different courses and 2) the assessed needs of the ventures themselves. During 1984, 89 different projects with a weighted average of 125 manhours per project were run through the new-venture office. Students who conducted the projects included law students, industrial-design students, and a few undergraduate commerce students, although the majority of the work was done by second-year MBA students. Most of the MBA students were parttime students holding middle-management positions and having five or more years of relevant business experience. Projects were run through twelve different courses and a seed-capital conference. The program was conceptualized and coordinated by a number of professors teaching within an entrepreneurship concentration in an MBA program. Early in 1985, a telephone survey of 50 of the 63 entrepreneurs who had projects in the program was completed. These people were asked to systematically and realistically assess the resulting net benefits to their ventures along a number of different prespecified dimensions. The total value added was computed to be $1.75 million (CDN). which stands in contrast to the direct, out-of-pocket cost of the program, which was only $75,000 (CDN).The individual dimensions of value added that were measured included:

• •• Time gained or saved in advancing their new venture;
• •• Knowledge (understanding) gained of new-venture development;
• •• Information added of use in pursuing their new venture;
• •• Contacts made in support of their new venture;
• •• Strategic changes made; and
• •• Overall value of the experience.

Additionally, respondents were asked to report whether or not they had secured new capital injections, increased or decreased employee levels, or made structural advances in their ventures. Rather than assume that the program was the primary instigator of all such changes, the respondents were asked to assess the relative impact of the program along appropriate dimensions.The program was perceived to have had a significant influence on most of the dimensions measured. A summary of the major results includes:

• •• Average value added of time saved or gained: $6,097.50;
• •• Average valeu added of new knowledge about venture development: $9, 389.47;
• •• Average value added of new information added: $6,293.48;
• •• Average value added of new contracts made: $7, 238.89;
• •• Average value added of strategy changes: $16,937.50;
• •• Average value added of overall involvement in the program: $37,269.00;
• •• Net employment generated: 20.4 FTE; and
• •• New capital raised: $5.1 million.

Certain shortcomings of the research are discussed, including the validity and reliability of the value added measures. Research is continuing to validate the findings and refine the program.     

Economic science and ethical neutrality: The problem of teleology

Two disputes have continually frustrated attempts to provide a tenable method of enquiry for economic science:

1. Should theory construction in economics include a commitment to moral principles? Or should economic theory remain value-free?
2. Does the peculiar subject matter of economics demand a ‘teleological’, or a ‘mechanistic’ pattern of explanation?

It is the aim of this paper to shed light on both the preceding controversies by seeking to clarify the relation between them. In particular, it is argued via a case study of the theory of rational choice that over-simplified mechanistic constructions have distorted the normative content and applicability of economic theory. Yet still in an explosively changing world, we have a fragmented economics · One reason for this goes deep. It is the lack of a philosophical basis for economic theory. Economic life is looked upon as deliberative action, and again it is looked upon as action determined by the combination of tastes and circumstances. Which is it? Can it be both? Nobody asks, and such problems being unrecognized, the diversity of hidden assumptions creates a babel of conflicting languages!     

Überlegungen zur Bedeutung Unverbindlicher Preisempfehlungen und ihrer Kontrolle durch das Bundeskartellamt Ein Kommentar zu den Beiträgen von Reich und Schultes in ZVP, 1, 1977/3 bzw. 1977/4

Reflections on the importance of recommended prices and their control by the Cartel Office. A comment on the papers by Reich (JCP, 1, 1977/3) and Schultes (JCP, 1, 1977/4). The The comment deals with two previous articles on recommended prices. Both Reich and Schultes refer to the 1977 report of the German Federal Government on recommended prices, which was intended to show the consequences of price recommendations and to give a better base for further decisions of the legislative assembly. The two authors evaluate the information in this report very differently and draw opposite conclusions. Reich pleads in the interest of the consumer for an unlimited prohibition of the institute of recommended prices. His thesis is based on three arguments:

1. Article 38 a of the Law Against Restraints of Competition implies that manufacturers often find themselves in a dilemma. Either they respect the character of the price as recommended, not binding, whereby the often emerging wide retail price range activates the Cartel Office which calls for the abolition of the recommended price since it is “unrealistic”, or manufacturers require that the recommended price is adhered to, which leads to accusations of price fixing. In practice, therefore, the institute of recommended prices is on the decrease except in connection with selective distribution systems where it is used increasingly and functions as vertical price fixing.
2. Prices which are recommended and available to retailers only are devices for concerted vertical pricing and in reality work like price fixing.
3. An abolition of recommended prices would strengthen traders' and consumers' resistance to high prices.

Schultes, on the other hand, adopts the view that the present Law together with some minor improvements is sufficient to protect the consumer against misuses of recommended prices. His view is based on the argument that the control by the Cartel Office has been successful, considering the great number of eliminated price recommendations, and that in the case of an unlimited prohibition of recommended prices on would have to reckon with the development of uncontrollable surrogates. A critical examination of these arguments shows that neither position is well-founded. The theoretical considerations of both authors contain contradictions and are not based on empirical findings. Schultes' paper suggests that the control of recommended prices by the Cartel Office leads to a continuous decimation of recommended prices and therefore, in the long run, either to the same result as Reich's demand or to a treatment which discriminates against certain firms or trades. It is very doubtful if the development of surrogates is prevented through this control. The statement of Schultes that the Cartel Office's control activity has been sucessful up to now also seems very questionable, since the number of eliminated price recommendations is not sufficient proof; a more sophisticated cost-benefit analysis is called for. The analysis of Reich's arguments indicates the following:

1. It is quite correct that Article 38 a of the Law contains conflicting aims. This conflict arises from the choice of criteria for declaring recommendations unlawful. There are two possible solutions to the conflict: the total abolition of recommended prices or a change in the criteria for misuses of the institute. Reich favours the first solution without considering that the second possibility may perhaps offer a better solution. Further considerations show that the conflict arises above all from prohibiting actual prices from being much lower than recommended prices. This rule seems very questionable because it eliminates price competition. Furthermore it is very doubtful that consumers are really misled by a large difference between the recommended price and that charged.
2. Prices which are recommended to retailers only certainly work like vertical price fixing sometimes, but not always. Apart from this objection, the least plausible of Reich's theses is that a prohibition of recommended prices would eliminate concerted pricing behaviour. This would be true only if the recommendations were the main cause of such behaviour. This view must be questioned because the development and the practice of concerted pricing is linked with specific market structures which cannot be eliminated by the prohibition of recommended prices.
3. Therefore, by prohibiting recommended prices one cannot expect greater retailer resistance to high prices. In addition, there seems to be no chance to strengthen price resistance of consumers by an abolition of the institute. This would suppose a very intensive comparing of prices, which is not be expected in the case of low price products. On the other hand, the consumer will compare prices if he wants to buy a very expensive or long-lasting article. In this case recommended prices are very helpful, because they indicate the highest possible price of a product, and it facilitates price bargaining if the consumer knows both recommended and actual selling prices of several traders.

The author's discussion shows that the dispute about the importance of recommended prices suffers above all from not differentiating between products which are bought and consumed daily and durable goods. Furthermore, the previous articles are one-sided in that they concentrate almost entirely on prices. If one takes product quality into consideration as well, one will find that the present Law offers a good chance to ensure that products are supplied in a constant or improved quality. Recommended prices should therefore only be allowed if the manufacturer submits to recurrent quality controls of his products. The advantages of recommended prices pointed out in the article adhere only to price recommendations which are made known to all consumers; therefore, recommendations intended for retailers only should be prohibited.     

Schwachstellen der Werbeselbstkontrolle: Aufgezeigt am Beispiel des Deutschen Werberats

Weaknesses of advertising self-control: The case of the “Deutscher Werberat» (German Advertising Council, DWR). The paper scrutinizes the activities of DWR, the most important self-regulatory institution of German advertising business, founded in 1972. Its ten members come from the industry, the media, and the advertising agencies and professions. Consumers are not represented on the board; there is only a committee for co-ordinating contacts with the leading German organization, namely Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verbraucher. DWR invites complaints from everybody about indecent, misleading, and unfair advertising. The main guideline of DWR is the code of the International Chamber of Commerce, the ICC Rules. DWR has hardly any possibilities to sanction those firms that infringe the rules; it can ask for only voluntary compliance with its opinions. In order to understand how DWR really works, the author examined advertisements in different German magazines (e. g.,Stern, Der Spiegel) from June 1976 to December 1978. For about 320 of those, published by well-known German and foreign firms, he filed complaints to DWR because of alleged contravention of advertising rules. They constituted a large part of the complaints received by DWR since in total, the Council dealt with about 670 complaints during that period. 73.9% of the author's complaints were not accepted by DWR (see Table 1 of the paper). The following weak points of the self-controlling system were discovered:

1. Complaint handling takes an extraordinary long time: an average of 32 days for complaints which were successfully filed (see Table 2). This means that a suspect advertisement can appear for quite some time before it is stopped by the opinion of DWR.
2. There are, in the view of the author, many wrong decisions, especially in cases of misleading advertising (ambiguous, hyperbolical, incomplete, untrue claims). Fifty-two of the advertisements which had been judged acceptable by DWR could be stopped with the help of other institutions.
3. The procedure of complaint handling gives cause for criticism, for instance, in cases of ambiguity, interpretations usually favour the advertiser. Of the complainant, DWR demands proof that an advertiser's claim is untrue, whereas the advertiser remains in the clear if he makes some vague statements to the effect that the claim is true or the complainant's arguments are incorrect.

The author concludes by making some proposals for reform of the self-regulatory system and for the increase of its efficiency. In his opinion, self-regulation does not exclude government intervention in advertising, however.     

Environment,corporate entrepreneurship,and financial performance: A taxonomic approach

This study examined the association between a firm's external environment, corporate entrepreneurship, and financial performance. The study emphasized three propositions: (1) perceived—rather than objective-characteristics of the environment significantly influenced entrepreneurship activities; (2) a multidimensional definition of a firm's environment was essential to unravel the interplay between the environment, orporate entrepreneurship activities, and financial performance; and (3) a taxonomic approach had the advantage of accounting for the interrelationships among the dimensions of the environment in classifying firms.Using data from 102 companies in six4-digit industrial classification codes (SIC),cluster analysis was used to distinguish four environmental settings: “dynamic growth,” “hostile and rivalrous but technologically rich,” “hospitable, product-driven growth,” and “static and impoverished” environments. These four environments varied in their characteristics.The four empirically derived environment clusters were then used to examine variations in corporate entrepreneurship—operationalized as corporate innovation and venturing, and corporate renewal activities. The first dimension—corporate innovation and venturing—had four components: new business creation, new product introduction, percent of revenue from new products, and technological entrepreneurship. The renewal dimension had three components: mission reformulation, reorganization, and system-wide change. The data were used to test six hypotheses:

• 1.H1: In dynamic or growth environments, companies will emphasize new business creation and innovation.
• 2.H2: Environmental hostility is positively associated with the redefinition of business through venturing activities.
• 3.H3: Hospitable business environments are positively associated with business venturing and renewal activities.
• 4.H4: Static environments are inversely associated with corporate venturing and renewal activities.
• 5.H5: Corporate entrepreneurship activities are positively associated with company financial performance.
• 6.H6: Corporate entrepreneurship activities emphasised in HI through H4 will be significantly and positively associated with company financial performance in their respective environmental clusters.

The results provided general support for the six hypotheses. They showed that: (1) each environmental cluster had a distinct combination of activities relating to corporate innovation and venturing, and renewal; (2) corporate entrepreneurship activities varied in their associations with measures of company growth and profitability; and (3) the associations between corporate entrepreneurship and company financial performance varied among the four environment clusters. The results from this study can help executives in selecting specific entrepreneurial activities that match the demands of success in their business environment to improve their company's performance.     

The nature,extent, causes,and consequences of problematic debt situations

The paper reports on the most important and salient results of an investigation which was carried out in the Netherlands in 1980/1981. The object of the research was to establish the actual number of borrowers with a problematic debt situation and to provide an answer to the question of how the problems have arisen and what their consequences are for the borrowers and their families. The research was divided into two parts:

--an investigation of the nature, extent, and causes of problematic debt situations (the survey part)

--an investigation of their consequences (the qualitative part).

In the explanation of how a problematic debt situation comes about, institutional, socioeconomic, personality, and decision-behaviour factors were taken into account. The results of both investigations provide an impetus for policy-makers to modify their policies aimed at preventing problematic debt situations from arising. Some starting points for such a re-orientation are discussed in this paper. The first point relates to the predictability of problematic debt situations and the implementation of an early warning system; the second point relates to the acceptance policy of financial institutions, in particular the use and functioning of credit score systems; the third point suggests restraint in the granting of additional credit to borrowers who have already taken out one or more credit; the fourth point relates to advice which could be provided to improve borrowers' (information-seeking) behaviour and level of knowledge.     

After the cash arrives: A comparative study of venture capital and private investor involvement in entrepreneurial firms

Equity investments in entrepreneurial firms continue to grow in number and dollar amount from both venture capital and private investment sources. Increasingly, these two sources of capital play an important role in the development of new and existing entrepreneurial ventures. Due to the sometimes hurried attempt to turn their dream into reality, entrepreneurs may fail to consider similarities and differences in the value-added benefits supplied by venture capital firms (VCs) and private investors (PIs).Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine how initial relationships are established and maintained between entrepreneurs and their primary investors. Specifically, we asked entrepreneurs to assess characteristics of the relationship with their primary investor. We then contrasted the results between entrepreneurial firms that had received venture capital funding versus private investor funding. Differences were examined along the following lines:

• 1.• Levels of investor involvement in entrepreneurial firms
• 2.• Reporting and operational controls placed on the firm
• 3.• Types of expertise sought by the entrepreneur