Cooperation and specialization in German technology regions

In this paper we focus on the technological knowledge of a region and the pattern of cooperative behavior of the innovative actors within that region as a means of transferring this knowledge. In particular, we are concerned with the relationship between the kind and level of knowledge and/or the degree of specialization within a region, the propensity to cooperate and the kind of cooperation. Based on a theoretical discussion of research cooperation we derive appropriate hypotheses and provide an econometric analysis based on data of co-patenting. We find that technologically moderately specialized regions show the highest number of research cooperations, and the higher a regions specialization, the more cooperations take place with partners inside that region.JEL Classification: L29, O31, R12We thank Jens J. Krüger, Michel Quéré, Cees van Beers, Henry Overman and participants of the ZEW Summer Workshop on Innovation, Location and European Integration in Mannheim as well as two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions.     

An international agreement with full participation to tackle the stock of greenhouse gases

Greenhouse gas emissions build up an atmospheric stock which depreciates over time. We identify weakly renegotiation-proof equilibria with full participation in a game of international emission reduction. Treaties are easier to reach for long-lived than for short-lived gases.     

Mit den Augen des Kunden sehen — Den Kundennutzen im Visier

Gefühle und individuelle Wertevorstellungen des Kunden sind mittels klassischer Marktforschung nur schwer zu erfassen. Das ISG Institut St. Gallen hat einen Ansatz für die Operationalisierung von Kundennutzen und das IT-gestützte Controlling „weicher“ und „harter“ Faktoren im Marketing entwickelt. Marketing- und Vertriebsleiter erhalten damit ein Instrument zur Umsetzung kundenorientierter und fundierter Strategien und Ma?nahmen.     

Currency boards as a path towards the Eurozone: lessons from the Baltics

In the early 1990s, the three Baltic states adopted de jure (Estonia 1992, Lithuania 1994) or de facto (Latvia) currency boards. After operating under boards for two decades, Estonia (2011), Latvia (2014) and Lithuania (2015) exited to the Eurozone. The paper takes a qualitative look at their experience through the lens of the currency board literature. Viewed over the entire period of operation, the boards delivered on the inflation stabilization objective with little evidence of a growth or trade penalty. The high average performance was however accompanied by high volatility on both the nominal and the real side. While the boards avoided both currency and sovereign debt crises, they contributed to vulnerabilities, notably the 2004–2010 boom-bust cycle. The Baltic experience re-enforces policy lessons from earlier crisis under fixed exchange rates: vigilance and timely response to incipient vulnerabilities associated with short-term capital-inflows and over-heating.     

Creating jobs through public subsidies: An empirical analysis

This paper analyses the impact of government grants on labour demand using plant level data for manufacturing industry in Ireland. Our data consists of a large sample of plants and their complete grant history. We provide evidence that additional employment is created over and above the level that would have prevailed in the absence of grant payments. We also find differences in the employment response to subsidies between domestic and foreign-owned plants, with the former creating more additional jobs per euro of grant payment. Simple cost-benefit analysis reveals that a large part of the costs of grants appears to be recouped in additional wage streams under reasonable assumptions.     

Lohnt eine Kooperation von Controllerbereich und Innenrevision?

Die Diskussion der Schnittstelle zwischen Controllerbereich und Innenrevision hat eine lange Tradition, die jüngst durch die Regelungen zur Corporate Governance eine neue Dynamik erfuhr. Zwar stellen in diesem Kontext zahlreiche Arbeiten das Potenzial einer Zusammenarbeit der beiden Akteure heraus, jedoch ist die theoretische und insbesondere empirische Durchdringung dieses Themenkomplexes bisher nur unzureichend erfolgt. Dieser Beitrag untersucht erstmals empirisch die Wirkung kooperativen Verhaltens der beiden Akteure auf die Ergebnisqualität der Controllerleistungen. Dabei konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Kooperation von Controllerbereich und Innenrevision positiv auf beide Teildimensionen der Controllerleistungen (Führungsunterstützung und Rationalitätssicherung) wirkt.     

The Decision to Persist with Underperforming Alliances: The Role of Trust and Control

abstract We draw on theories of persistence to develop a model of alliance managers' decisions towards persisting in underperforming alliances based on their concomitant consideration of the control and trust in those alliances. We test the model using experimental data based on 2,816 decisions nested within 88 alliance managers. We find that output, behavioural and social control, competence and goodwill trust, and interactions between trust and control variables significantly explain alliance managers' decisions to persist in underperforming alliances. We discuss the implications of these findings for the control, trust and strategic alliance literatures.     

A lender-based theory of collateral

We consider an imperfectly competitive loan market in which a local relationship lender has an information advantage vis-à-vis distant transaction lenders. Competitive pressure from the transaction lenders prevents the local lender from extracting the full surplus from projects. As a result, the local lender inefficiently rejects marginally profitable projects. Collateral mitigates the inefficiency by increasing the local lender's payoff from precisely those marginally profitable projects that she inefficiently rejects. The model predicts that, controlling for observable borrower risk, collateralized loans are more likely to default ex post, which is consistent with the empirical evidence. The model also predicts that borrowers for whom local lenders have a relatively smaller information advantage face higher collateral requirements, and that technological innovations that narrow the information advantage of local lenders, such as small business credit scoring, lead to a greater use of collateral in lending relationships.     

R&;D and Exporting: A Comparison of British and Irish Firms

This paper investigates the two-way relationship between R&D and export activity. In particular, we concern ourselves with the question whether R&D stimulates exports and, perhaps more importantly, whether export activity leads to increasing innovative activity in terms of R&D (learning-by-exporting). We use two unique firm level databases for Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland and compare the results for these two countries. We find that previous exporting experience enhances the innovative capability of Irish firms. Conversely, no strong learning-by-exporting effects are found for British firms. Arguably part of the differences between Ireland and Britain are attributable to different, cross-country exporting patterns where Irish firms have a greater interface with OECD markets. JEL no.  F14, F23