Women on the board and executive tenure

The participation of women in top‐level corporate boards is subject to intense public debate. Countries are considering binding quotas to increase the share of women on boards or have already implemented such rules. Although research on board diversity suggests positive effects on corporate governance and firm performance, the mechanisms through which these benefits materialize remain mostly speculative. This study focuses on boards of directors in a large sample of listed companies in 15 European countries and finds that female representation on nonexecutive boards is associated with reduced turnover, an increase in tenure, and also a higher performance‐turnover sensitivity of executives.     

Aufsicht der deutschen Flughäfen nicht dem Eigentümer überlassen

In Germany federal states are frequently both owners and regulators of commercial airports. This article argues that in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest, the supervision over fees should be handed over to an independent central agency. In addition, the liberalisation of the market for ground handling services should be continued. At large airports with sufficient capacity, additional independent service providers should be licensed to provide services.     

Makroökonomische Politik in Deutschland,Großbritannien und Schweden

Gro?britannien und Schweden haben den Abschwung 2000/2001 weitaus besser bew?ltigt als Deutschland. Gleichzeitig verk?rpern diese beiden L?nder grunds?tzlich verschiedene Kapitalismusmodelle. Wie unterschied sich der makro?konomische Politik-Mix in den drei L?ndern? Sollten Gro?britannnien und Schweden Vorbild für Deutschland sein? PD Dr. Eckhard Hein, 44, ist Leiter des Referates „Allgemeine Wirtschaftspolitik“ im Institut für Makro?konomie und Konjunkturforschung (IMK) in der Hans-B?ckler-Stiftung in Düsseldorf, Privatdozent an der Carl-von-Ossietzky-Universit?t Oldenburg und zurzeit Gastprofessor an der Wirtschaftsuniversit?t Wien; Dr. Achim Truger, 38, ist Leiter des Referates „Steuer- und Finanzpolitik“ im IMK. *Dieser Beitrag ist eine aktualisierte, komplett überarbeitete und erg?nzte Fassung von E. H e i n, J.-O. M e n z, A. Tr u g e r : Warum bleibt Deutschland hinter Schweden und dem Vereinigten K?nigreich zurück? Makro?konomische Politik erkl?rt den Unterschied, IMK Report, Nr. 15, Düsseldorf, November 2006.     

Bargaining and inequity aversion: On the efficiency of the double auction

In a bargaining setting with asymmetrically informed, inequity-averse parties, a fully efficient mechanism (i.e., the double auction) exists if and only if compassion is strong. Less compassionate parties do not trade in the double auction in the limit of strong envy.     

Incentive effects in the demand for health care: a bivariate panel count data estimation

This paper contributes in three dimensions to the literature on health care demand. First, it features the first application of a bivariate random effects estimator in a count data setting, to permit the efficient estimation of this type of model with panel data. Second, it provides an innovative test of adverse selection and confirms that high‐risk individuals are more likely to acquire supplemental add‐on insurance. Third, the estimations yield that in accordance with the theory of moral hazard, we observe a much lower frequency of doctor visits among the self‐employed, and among mothers of small children. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hierarchical structures of communication in a network organization

We analyze the intranet communication behavior of members of a company that was deeply committed to the principles of non-hierarchical communication structures and of post-bureaucratic organization. We observe a split between the symbolic activities for creating a non-hierarchical network organization and the actual intranet communication behavior of the organization members. In their daily communication on the intranet, they persistently reproduced hierarchical structures and official channels—elements typically associated with bureaucratic organizations. Further, we find many signals in the content of the intranet messages, reflecting a social hierarchy that has evolved within the organization. Thus, despite rhetoric to the contrary, our findings regarding this communication behavior show that, to all intents and purposes, this particular organization displayed characteristics similar to those of a traditional bureaucratic organization.     

Fehlverwendung von Solidarpaktmitteln oder „nur“ verfassungswidrige Haushalte?

Die Verwendung der Solidarpaktmittel steht derzeit einmal wieder in der Kritik. Wo liegen die Probleme der ostdeutschen L?nder? Sieht die Lage in Westdeutschland aus finanzpolitischer Sicht besser aus? Wie w?ren die westdeutschen L?nder zu beurteilen, wenn für sie die gleichen Ma?st?be bei der Verwendung der Finanzmittel wie für Ostdeutschland angelegt würden? Dr. Tilmann Schweisfurth, 47, ist Pr?sident des Landesrechnungshofes Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.     

Marketing und Sales Performance Measurement — Das Beispiel Dell

Zusammenfassung  Die F?higkeit eines Unternehmens Leistungsnachweise von Marketing- und Verkaufsma?nahmen zu erbringen, wird bei Dell als Grundvoraussetzung für den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg angesehen. Die RAD („Retention Akquisition Development“)-Matrix ist ein Vorzeigebeispiel für ein Kennzahlencockpit, welches als Kontrollinstrument dient, mit dem Ziel, Zusammenh?nge zwischen Marktaktivit?ten und Marktleistung transparent zu machen. Zus?tzlich erm?glicht das Cockpit eine proaktive Steuerung zukünftiger Marketingma?nahmen über den gesamten Marketing-Mix hinweg. Dipl.-Betriebsw. Achim Freyer Sales Director bei Dell im Bereich Corporate Accounts für ?sterreich und die Schweiz Mag. Heike Kurzmann Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für Marketing und Handel an der Universit?t St. Gallen     

Parent hostility and spin‐out performance

Prior research has focused on the performance implications of positive or neutral parent‐child relationships, but neglected negative, conflict‐laden relationships. This study explores from an embeddedness perspective whether parent hostility (degree to which an incumbent firm disapproves of the spawning of a spin‐out from within its ranks) affects spin‐out performance and how spin‐outs can effectively react to it. Analyses of 144 technology spin‐outs support our arguments that spin‐outs suffer negative consequences from hostility. These are less severe, however, if the spin‐out pursues effective network development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can we identify Balassa-Samuelson effects with measures of product variety?

The Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis - i.e. that real exchange rates between each pair of countries increase with the tradables sector productivities ratio between these countries, and decrease with their non-tradables sector productivities ratio - has been one of the most prominent frameworks in open economy macroeconomics for more than 40 years. However, empirical studies have often been unable to confirm it. We argue that this might at least in part be due to measurement errors leading to downward-biased estimates. We test the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis with innovative trade-based variety measures to differentiate between tradables and non-tradables sector productivities that do not suffer from such errors-in-variables. Using a pairwise regression approach, we find stable and very robust Balassa-Samuelson effects over all our specifications.