Still in democratic deficit

The rejection of the Lisbon Treaty by the Irish electorate has given new vigour to the debate on the European Union’s widely perceived democratic deficit. Does the EU indeed have a serious democracy problem? What are the options open to the European political leadership and which of these should be acted upon?     

Europe's R&;D: Missing the Wrong Targets?

Europe is not delivering on its commitment under the Lisbon agenda to increase its R&;D-to-GDP ratio to 3% by 2010. But does the European Commission's practice of benchmarking each and every member state against the headline 3% figure make sense? R&;D intensity is influenced by industrial specialisation, but also by other factors such as a large integrated market for technology and a favourable environment for academic research. What can be done by the EU and by the governments of the member states to improve the situation?     

National and international developments in technology

Declining R&;D intensities at the national level coincide with growing international technological links. In this context a number of questions arise: Do companies research in the same field of technology abroad as they do at home? Are the fields of technology in which R&;D is concentrated within a country those in which it has a comparative advantage? What drives the process of the internationalisation of technology? What are the implications for host countries and home countries? What are the implications for policy on a national and an international level?     

Disaster planning and response by tourist business executives

The tourist industry represents a disaster vulnerability of catastrophic potential. Disaster evacuation planning is one strategy for mitigating this vulnerability. Based on intensive interviews with executives responsible for 185 tourist businesses, this article reports the first empirical data base for answering five questions: (1) What factors stimulated their disaster evacuation planning? (2) What model patterns described the planning processes used? (3) How much planning had been done? (4) What modal patterns described their disaster evacuation decision-making process? (5) What are the lessons? The key conclusion is that the tourist industry must respond proactively to a rapidly expanding vulnerability through both internal firm-specific disaster planning initiatives and partnerships to ensure adequate levels of community response capacity. Failure to do so will keep an expanding tourist population at risk. This, in turn, threatens future customer relations that may place such businesses in jeopardy.     

Foreign direct investment in Central Europe

Central European governments see foreign direct investment (FDI) as one of the main macroeconomic mechanisms for stabilizing the volatile process of economic and political transition. What are the favorite destinations of FDI in Central Europe? What are the motives of Western investors? Why does the amount of FDI vary so much between countries?     

Special economic zones: Shortcut or roundabout way towards capitalism?

The experiences of developing countries suggest that special economic zones (SEZs) might be appropriate instruments for accelerating the economic restructuring of Central and Eastern Europe. What functions could SEZs fulfil in the transformation process? What conditions must be met if they are to be successful?     

Privatisation policy in Russia

Since Russia’s process of privatisation got under way in 1992 a large proportion of the country’s state-owned enterprises have been turned into private legal entities and have been transferred into private property. However, the desired economic success has so far largely remained elusive. What deficiencies in the privatisation policy have caused this? What can be done to solve the problems?     

The inside scoop: Acceptance and rejection at the journal of international economics

There is little work on the inner workings of journals. What factors seem to affect the ability to publish in a journal? Could simple rules (which are already used by some journals) like the desk rejection of a significant minority of papers, help to streamline the process? At what cost? How well do journals seem to do in choosing papers? What can we say about the extent of type 1 and type 2 errors? Do editors seem to have uniform standards or are some harsher than others? We use data on submissions to the Journal of International Economics to help answer these questions.     

Consumer Goods Packaging Innovation and its Role in the Product Adoption Process

Packaging has emerged as an important competitive tool. An innovative package can pre-empt a market position, create a new market and lead to greater sales and profits, just as an improved or reformulated product can. This report investigates the adoption process for packaging innovations in food and food-related items. It seeks to answer certain questions pertaining to the adoption process: Do early adopters differ from the general population? What factors serve to accelerate the rate of adoption of packing innovations by consumers? What kinds of packinging innovations become successes? The results of a small-scale empirical study comparing early adopters of packaging innovations with the general populations provide some answers to these questions. The report concludes with recommendations to management for successful innovative packaging.     

The impact of 1992 on European integration and relations with the United States

The end of 1992 has of late become quite a significant date in Europe. By this time the so-called Single European Market is to be created. The date and the topic are producing intensive debates all over the world. The purpose of this article is to describe certain trends which go along with the process of approaching 1992 and which could have significant implications for the development of the world economy. What intentions do the Europeans have? Where do the risks and conflicts lie? What should be done in order to achieve a harmonious development in the relations between the USA and Europe?     

The White Stone: Six Choices

What sort of jobs? What sort of companies? What sort of capitalism? What sort of society? What sort of education? What sort of life? Starting with mundane statistics of GDP growth and job creation, this article moves on to explore the relationship between business and some of the major issues of human life. It is based on a speech to London Business School Alumni.     

The EC and the changes in Central and Eastern Europe

Political developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the process of German unification present the EC with a major challenge. How has the EC reacted to these changes so far? What contribution can the eC make to overcoming the division of Europe?     

Convergence,trade and factor mobility in the European Union — Implications for enlargement and regional policy

The accession of ten new members in May 2004 means a considerable increase in income disparities in the European Union. At what speed has income converged in the past and what role have changes in trade relations and factor mobility played in this? What projections can be made for the catching-up process of the new member states? And what conclusions should be drawn for the future of EU regional policy?     

Coming home to Europe: Greece and the Euro

The European Council’s recent decision that Greece is ready to join EMU at the beginning of 2001 raises a number of questions. How was Greece able to comply with the convergence criteria? What are the costs and benefits of its accession from both the Greek and the present EMU members’ perspectives? Is the current process of economic reform in Greece sustainable?     

Seven challenges to combining human and automated service

We introduce this special issue by addressing seven key challenges associated with managing hybrid human-automated service systems. These consist of the following:

• 1 What strategic and tactical issues arise when managing hybrid service systems?
• 2 How should the core “value proposition” be set?
• 3 What special considerations arise in the design and implementation phases?
• 4 How can service delivery be managed to identify systemic problems and to address service breakdowns?
• 5 How can communications with clients improve the functioning of service systems?
• 6 What performance measures should be used to monitor process, outputs, client perceptions, and financial outcomes?
• 7 How can we coordinate the various interdisciplinary activities needed to address the previous six issues?

We consider these challenges after first characterizing the historical evolution of service delivery, reviewing some of the literature in the administrative sciences, and proposing a conceptual framework. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The integration of Japan into the world economy and its meaning for Germany

Japan is currently still characterized by a low degree of import integration in the field of finished products. What are the reasons behind this? What can be done to remove the existing trade imbalances vis-à-vis Western industrialized countries? What, on the other hand, can be learned from the Japanese?     

On the Importance of Education

The role of education in economic growth has been clearly established. This address is concerned with several issues: What are the benefits and costs of education? Where does the United States stand in educational attainment in historical perspective and relative to OECD nations? What can NABE as a group do to improve education of business economists? What can NABE individual members do?     

The Soviet Union in Search of a New Economic Model

Seventy years after the Bolshevik Revolution the Soviet Union is to embark on a new economic path which, according to Mikhail Gorbachev, will again call for revolutionary measures. What form will these measures take? What obstacles stand in the way of the planned reforms? What are their chances of success?     

Ethics and Values in Nonunion Employment Arbitration:A Historical Study of Organizational Due Processin the Private Sector

This paper provides a historical overview of the interrelationship between the use of nonunion employment arbitration and the ethics of employee organizational due process. Key research questions to be explored include the following, among others: Why are expectations about due process in organizations increasing? How are these expectations being exhibited? What is the nature of fair treatment of employees in relation to nonunion employment arbitration? Should arbitration in the nonunion employment relationship be nurtured? A final objective of this paper is to study some of the current initiatives that neutral agencies have adopted to ensure that nonunion arbitration is fair, just, and equitable for a firm's employees.     

A different toolbox for M&A due diligence in China

Prior to spending considerable resources on putting together a meaningful due diligence process, it is imperative for businesspersons to ask some major questions regarding the decision under consideration. What, explicitly, does the company hope to achieve with the transaction? What is the end game and what are the alternatives? Why is the deal better than a greenfield operation or some other business arrangement? If the transaction is to be a joint venture, will the company merely be paying tuition for a formidable competitor? In the West, the diligence team would typically sit in a war room and pore over piles of documents. This will simply not work in China, as much of the documented information is intended to mislead the tax collector or, in the case of a business, the acquirer. Any meaningful understanding of the target will come from re‐creating a representation of the business from scratch using process mapping and modeling techniques based on trusted information. This article is intended to help businesses entering China conduct accurate and meaningful due diligence as they enter a market fraught with pitfalls and cultural nuances with which Westerners may not be familiar. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.