Pre-empting technology competition through firm acquisitions

This paper shows that firms engage in horizontal mergers and acquisitions to pre-empt competition in technology markets. Making use of the patent application procedure at the European Patent Office we introduce a measure for potential entry barriers in technology markets.     

China’s CO2 emissions from power generating stations and the role of subsidies – a first exploration

Our analysis is the first of its kind to explore patterns of subsidization and CO₂ emissions in China’s electricity-producing sector. Applying data for all power plants across China and controlling for the age, capacity and location of generating stations, we find that plants attracting a higher government subsidy are also the plants generating a disproportionate share of CO₂ emissions. This distortion is incongruent with China’s aspiration for a greener economy but may be eliminated if China delivers on its November 2013 announcement to review many industry subsidies on its way to a fully fledged market economy.     

Introducing Instruments of Central Bank Accountability in a Monetary Union

With an increasing number of independent central banks, accountability of central banks is also getting more attention. This paper analyses the possibility of introducing instruments of central bank accountability in a monetary union. In our model, monetary policy is influenced by the governments of the member states according to the degree of independence granted to the central bank. Instruments of democratic accountability are introduced which generate different expected losses for a government. The amount of the expected loss will determine the approval of a government to the implementation of a particular mechanism. We show that the agreement between the governments will only be unanimous for the definition of the inflation target of the central bank.

The amenity value of climate to households in Germany

Despite the importance of as comprehensive as possible damagecost estimates to cost benefit analyses of global attempts toreduce greenhouse gas emissions, few researchers have attemptedto monetize the direct impact of climate change on households.This study uses the hedonic technique to measure the amenityvalue of the climate to German households. Evidence suggeststhat the amenity value of climate variables is capitalized mainlyinto hedonic house price differentials. Overall, German householdsappear to prefer warmer winters with less rainfall. Combiningestimates of amenity values with the predicted changes in climateassociated with the IPCC's A2 emissions scenario we find thatthe overall impact of climate change on German households, whilstnegative, is typically not statistically different from zero.This occurs in part because the prediction is for warmer butwetter winters and also because the amenity value of some climatevariables cannot be measured with sufficient precision.     

Management of environmental and social risks and topics in the banking sector - An empirical investigation

This paper investigates how environmental and social (E&S) risks and topics (i. e. E&S issues that are important in terms of adaptation to a changing business environment) are integrated in the banking sector. Despite banks’ key role in steering financial flows towards sustainable development, little is currently known as to whether and how banks integrate E&S aspects into their management control systems and whether this integration translates into E&S performance. Building on prior studies in the environmental management control literature, we design a conceptual model in which we link contextual factors, a proactive strategy approach, E&S management controls, and E&S performance. Following common practice in the banking sector, we differentiate between two paths of E&S management controls: risk management (value protection) and topic management (value creation). Based on survey data for a small sample of 50 European banks, we find evidence that contextual factors, reflected in the perceived power and legitimacy of clients, voluntary standard setters and NGOs, are positively related to a proactive strategy approach. This proactive strategy translates into both topic and risk management. Yet, in the next step, only topic management is positively related to the E&S performance of a bank, but not risk management.     

Scared Stiff? The Effectiveness of Threat Appeals in Counseling Services Advertising to High‐Anxiety Students

This exploratory study proposes and tests a theoretical model that analyzes threat appeals in regard to their effectiveness for high‐anxiety students, one of the major target groups for counseling services. In particular, affective and cognitive responses to a threat appeal advertisement and their effects on attitude toward the advertisement and behavior are examined. The results suggest that a strong threat appeal is not effective for counseling services but that positive emotions toward the advertisement and cognitive involvement have a positive impact on advertising outcomes. The study contributes further to knowledge of threat appeal effectiveness, targeting “anxious” audiences.     

Is success hereditary? Evidence on the performance of spawned ventures

A common phenomenon in entrepreneurship is that employees turn away from employment to found their own businesses. Prior literature discusses the former employers’ characteristics that influence the creation of entrepreneurial ventures. An investigation of whether these characteristics also affect the success of the spawned ventures is missing so far. This paper contributes to the literature by showing that entrepreneurial ventures spawned by well performing firms are financially more successful than ventures stemming from poorly performing firms. This suggests that spawned entrepreneurs are able to exploit valuable knowledge from their previous employers which impacts their ventures’ performance positively. The analysis is based on a linked employee–employer data set for the Netherlands for the period 1999–2004.