Globalisation and technological convergence in the EU

We employ a two-step approach in investigating the dynamic transmission channels under which globalization factors foster technical efficiency by combining a dynamic efficiency analysis in the stochastic frontier framework, and a time series approach based on VAR and spectral analysis. Using the dataset of the 18 EU countries over 1970–2004, we find that both import and FDI are significant factors in spreading efficiency externalities and thus accelerating technology catch-up in the EU. In particular, the impacts of the import are more prominent in the short-run while those of FDI play a more important role over the longer-run. Furthermore, the impacts of the import are pro-cyclical only in the short-run whereas those of FDI are pro-cyclical mostly over the medium- to the long-run. This evidence is broadly consistent with the sample observation that the recent slowdown of the EU productivity has been closely related to the corresponding FDI decline especially after 2000. Hence, any protection-oriented policy will be likely to be more detrimental for the EU.     

Optimality in a financial economy with outside money and restricted participation

We analyze an economy with inside financial assets and outside money. Households have differing restricted access on both types of assets and, according to a well-known approach, they use money to pay taxes. Since competitive equilibria are generically inefficient, we perform a Pareto improvability analysis through a monetary intervention. It results that, if the government modifies the amount of money endowments for just one consumer in period one, then Pareto improvements upon the market equilibrium are possible.     

Diversity and Communication in Teams: Improving Problem-Solving or Creating Confusion?

Despite the rich and interdisciplinary debate on the role of diversity and communication in group problem-solving, as well as recognition of the interactions between the two topics, they have rarely been treated as a joint research issue. In this paper, we develop a computational approach aimed at modeling problem-solving agents and assess the influence of various levels of diversity and communication in teams on agents’ performance in problem-solving. By communication, we intend a conversation on the persuasiveness of the features characterizing problem-setting. By diversity, we mean differences in how agents build problem representations which allow them to access various solutions. We deploy the concept of diversity along two dimensions: knowledge amplitude, which accounts for the level of available knowledge allowing access to poorer or richer problem representations (compared with complete problem representations), and knowledge variety, which pertains to the differences in the constituents of agents’ representations. We define performance as the frequency with which diverse agents choose the same alternative representation of an agent displaying complete representations of the problem. Our results indicate that communication is more effective when agents elaborate from relatively richer problem representations, as this provides a basis for integrating the variously diverse beliefs of their teammates. Conversely, poorer diverse representations may lead to worse performance when knowledge variety also applies. Lastly, we show that the influence of communication is not monotonically positive, as increasing communication intensity performance may worsen at any level of knowledge availability and knowledge variety.     

Sector‐based corporate citizenship

This paper approaches the much‐debated issue of corporate citizenship (CC). Many models depict the development process of CC, and yet attempts to find one extensive definition remain in progress. We argue that more than one type of citizenship may be needed to fully describe the concept. So far, social factors have dominated the definitions of CC, but citizenship functions can also be found in other areas. In fact, for maximum benefit, the type of citizenship should be tied to the sector and business field of the corporation in question. Using data drawn from three internationally operating corporations headquartered in Finland, we introduce three different types of CC that are in line with their core business ideas: cultural citizenship, environmental citizenship and technological citizenship. These new types of citizenships can help in grasping the complexity of business responsibility and ethics, and offer tools for gaining competitive advantage by differentiation.     

Career success for international professional women in the land of the equal? Evidence from Norway

This study investigates the career success of international expatriate women in Norway. Norwegian and international women were compared on both objective and subjective career success. Participants were 125 Norwegian women and 168 international expatriate women who answered a 58 item questionnaire. Although Norwegian women achieved higher career success than the expatriate group, these effects disappeared for objective career success when expatriate women had a high level of education, high English language competency and motivation. Motivation, self focused conflict resolution and language competency were positively associated with subjective career success. Results suggest that although being foreign can be a disadvantage in Norway, expatriate women can overcome this liability through investment in education, language and motivation. Implications for international expatriate women are discussed.