The Structure of Europe: International Input–Output Analysis with Trade in Intermediate Inputs and Capital Flows

In this paper we theoretically derive an international Rybczynski matrix. Its elements indicate the aggregate output change in a country when endowment with one or more factors in the same or another country is increased. This allows us to characterize the production structure in 11 countries of the European Union. Starting from a baseline case with free trade in final goods only, we analyze two types of interaction between countries: international trade of intermediate inputs and internationally mobile capital.     

Accounting For Conversion Of Convertibles

Accounting policy-makers continue to confront problems that arise from ambiguities in the value of some types of transaction. For example, AAS21 was put in place partially to ensure that assets of a business acquired are accounted for at fair market value, rather than at the values recorded in the books of the acquired business. One related question that has not been clarified is the value to be attributed to shares issued as a result of convertible note-holders exercising conversion options. Convertible notes and convertible preference shares feature regularly in the capital structures of Australian firms. This paper discusses the economic nature of the conversion option, outlines alternative ways of accounting for conversion in the context of tax and other economic implications, and reports a brief survey of current practice.     

Tools from the implementation workbench: a project manager's survival kit

Change rarely comes easy. There are frequently obstacles of various shapes and sizes throughout the implementation process, and in order to ensure success a project manager must have the right tools and know how to use them. Just as craftspeople master the tools of their trade, so too must project managers--not only if they are to succeed but also if they are to survive. This article focuses on the "how to"--the skill set needed to be a successful project manager. It describes the project management process and reviews some basic but invaluable tools.     

Visions of the future: two success strategies for software selection

The first and most crucial step in any system implementation is the specification and subsequent selection of the software. It is important to make the "right" choice--one where the software works with the hardware to integrate the users so it helps them do their jobs better now and into the future. This article will review the software selection process utilized by two companies to choose the software that was "right" for them. Insights and experiences will also be shared to assist others in their software selection activities.     

An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior

The current study investigated how work-related disagreements—coined as conflicts—relate to workplace bullying, from the perspective of the target as well as the perpetrator. We hypothesized a positive indirect association between task conflicts and bullying through relationship conflicts. This process accounted for both for targets and perpetrators of bullying. Targets are distinguished from perpetrators in our assumption that this indirect effect is boosted by distributive conflict behavior, being yielding for targets and forcing for perpetrators. Results in a large representative sample of the Flemish working population (N = 2,029) confirmed our hypotheses. Additionally, our study also revealed a direct effect from task conflicts to bullying in the analyses regarding the indirect as well as the conditional indirect effects. For perpetrators, both the indirect and direct relationships are moderated by forcing, underlining the importance of distributive conflict behavior particularly for the enactment of bullying behaviors.     

Monetary Union Enlargement,Fiscal Policy,and Strategic Wage Setting*

This contribution develops a framework for studying the effects of the enlargement of a monetary union on macroeconomic performances in the presence of strategic interactions between non‐atomistic labor unions, monetary, and fiscal authorities. We show that the integration of new identical member countries may have beneficial effects, depending on the fiscal policymaking structure. Qualifications to this result are provided under cross‐country asymmetries in the size of the economies, the structure of the labor markets, and the fiscal authorities' preferences.     

Managing Relationships with Environmental Stakeholders: A Study of U.K. Water and Electricity Utilities

In this paper we report a study of the approach of six U.K. water and electricity companies towards managing the relationship with their 'green' stakeholders. Stakeholders are accorded increasing importance in political discourse and stakeholder theory is emerging as a promising framework for the analysis of corporate social performance.We studied the companies' general approach towards green stakeholders, their dealings with specific stakeholder groups and whether they emphasised the consultation or the information aspect of stakeholder management. We found that none of the six companies had a systematic stakeholder approach that extended to all potential green stakeholders. Rather, the importance of specific stakeholder groups seemed to be determined by managers' intuition and by the stance that the stakeholders themselves displayed towards the company.Green stakeholders with an institutional power base – government via legislation, environmental and industry regulators – emerged as the most immediately influential stakeholders. The Environment Agency, the environmental regulator, played an especially important role in the companies' environmental management. Customers and the general public – the source of corporate social legitimacy – were also considered to be important, but their influence was more long term and based on voice, rather than the potential for direct retaliation. Economic stakeholders were generally considered to be not very interested in the companies' environmental performance.     

Demokratischer Wert von Medienpublika

Against the background of the discussions about the normative demands and the reality of democracy, about a decreasing newspaper readership, and about the critical quality of political communication, the authors deal with the question of whether the audiences of the news media possess a specific “public value” by contributing differently to the scope and quality of public discourse. Using the example of the subscribers to a left-liberal German newspaper, die tageszeitung (taz), the authors analyze data from a representative readership survey to assess this public value. In this, the authors focus in particular on attitudes and behaviors relevant to the public sphere and democracy, such as political participation, acceptance of responsibility and public engagement.