Trade unions,management and European works councils: Opening Pandora's box?

This paper makes a contribution to the ongoing debate on transnational worker representation in light of the European Works Council (EWC) directive. Three issues in particular are highlighted which we believe contribute to the organizational and political developments of EWCs. First, we present some variables which have stimulated worker representatives to 'network' with each other across national boundaries prior and parallel to the EWC directive. Looking at factors other than the EWC directive can give us a greater appreciation of the likely interactive nature of employee representatives, trade unions and management in the new forums. Second, and in particular, we explore whether certain elements of existing national industrial relations systems either stimulate or limit interest by employee representatives in forming and aligning themselves to transnational forums. Given that the German and British industrial relations systems are so different, and that the divergence between them is seen as an impediment to EU attempts to promote the growth of an integrated European system (Crouch, 1993), the research compares developments in these two countries. Third, the paper explains how management is responding to developments in transnational worker representative forums within the context of divergent industrial relations systems. We highlight in particular the way management is able to utilize institutional aspects of national systems in conditioning transnational worker representation in the newly structured forums. Such responses, we argue, raise questions regarding our understanding of convergence and divergence in industrial relations.     

The effect of ownership on sustainable development and environmental policy in urban waste management: An explicatory empirical analysis of Italian municipal corporations

This paper investigates the effect of ownership on sustainable development and environmental policy in Italian municipally owned corporations (MOCs) dealing with urban waste management, trying to understand if multiple ownership can generate better performance compared to single ownership and if the presence of private partners could be crucial in this. The research question is answered by analyzing 41 MOCs of the largest Italian cities operating in urban waste management. In this specific sector, public administrations have tried to improve their offer in terms of sustainable development, environmental policy, and efficiency. The paper covers the Italian case study, where urban waste production per capita is higher than the European average figure. The waste cycle management service is operated in Italy at local level through totally publicly owned companies (monoadministration or multiadministration), mixed (public–private) companies, or via a full externalization achieved by means of public tenders. Through a multinomial ordered probit panel, we show that MOCs with multiple owners perform better than those having a single owner and perform much better with the presence of a private partner, confirming those academic findings according to which collaborative arrangements can increase efficiency, do better than public sector bureaucracy, and lower the costs of service provision. The results of this paper can be used by academics, practitioners, and policy makers alike. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only study that applies this perspective to the analysis of the current international waste management scenario with relation to MOCs having multiple ownerships.     

The variation of export prices across and within firms

This paper uses transaction-level trade data to analyze the differences in export prices across and within Spanish firms exporting manufactures in the 2010–2014 period. The transactional nature of the database uncovers sizable differences in the price that an exporter charges for the same product and destination. These differences are related with the number of goods covered within each product category, the exported quantity per transaction and the number of transactions carried out by firms.     

Investigating social motivations,opportunity and ability to participate in communities of virtual co‐creation

Communities of virtual co‐creation are emerging as a new form of consumer engagement, where through a collaborative and interactive process, ideas and knowledge from consumer are applied differently to create new value for the consumers themselves, the company and all stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to explore the drivers, namely motivation, opportunity and ability, of consumer willingness to participate in communities of virtual co‐creation. The role of social motivations, that is, altruism and social reputation, particularly relevant inside online communities, is investigated. Data were collected through an online survey on 180 consumers from diverse nationalities. The unit of analysis was a virtual co‐creation activity for food products. Findings show that consumer motivation and ability have a relevant influence on willingness to participate in co‐creation projects, while opportunity has not. In particular, ability showed to be the most relevant factor, suggesting that virtual co‐creation initiatives should be properly designed to facilitate the engagement of consumers. Further, results indicate that consumers' motivations are driven by both altruism and social reputation, where altruism plays a greater role. This confirms that social relations are key motivational drivers in virtual communities, where value is created through interaction with like‐minded people, exchange of information and experiences, provision of support.     

The regional dimension of innovation and the globalization of science: the case of biotechnology in a peripheral region of the European Union

This article presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between public sector research and industry development in the field of biotechnology in a peripheral region of the European Union: the Region of Valencia (Spain). It contributes empirical data on the delocalized impact of research-industry relations in a globalized economy. It also uncovers a gap between a relatively well-developed public research sector in biotechnology and a weak biotechnology industry. The analysis raises questions as to the role of the concept of predominantly local knowledge communities in regional innovation systems, as well as the model of linear technological development, both of which exert an important influence on decision making in research and development (R&D) and innovation. A high level of R&D is shown to be a necessary condition for stimulating innovation, but does not suffice. Rather, R&D must be integrated with a number of different actions to correct deficiencies in the regional innovation system.     

Management Accounting Systems and Organisational Structure

In this paper we present an empirical analysis to test whether organisation configurations and management accounting systems change simultaneously. Using the original application of the fuzzy logic methodology, we analyse the level of development and implementation of the management accounting system and the organisational configuration on a sample of 501 Italian firms. Even though we employ a cross-sectional approach, the results may be interpreted according to the life cycle model. Our findings show that the evolution of the organisational configurations is not always coherent with the relevance assumed by management accounting systems. In particular, we find a large group of companies with a simple organisational configuration and a well-developed management accounting system. We interpret the presence of this cluster dynamically as an intermediate stage of growth towards more complex forms of organisation.     

Product Innovation in Family versus Nonfamily Firms: An Exploratory Analysis

How family firms manage product innovation remains an overlooked topic in existing business research. This happens despite the fact that family businesses play a crucial role across all economies, and they often use technological innovation to nurture their competitive advantage. By drawing upon the resource‐based view of the firm as well as agency, stewardship, and behavioral theories and using empirical evidence gathered through a multiple case study, the paper studies how and why the anatomy of the product innovation process differs between family and nonfamily firms. The analysis shows that family businesses differ from nonfamily ones as regards product innovation strategies and organization of the innovation process.     

Why firms set different export prices? Evidence from Spain

Using firm-level export data for the 2010–2014 period, we investigate the variation of export prices across and within Spanish manufacturing firms. We find that more productive firms set higher export prices. However, this result is not robust to controlling for other firm-level characteristics and alternative productivity measures. We show that firms set higher export prices in more distant markets and in destinations with high GDP per capita, and lower export prices in large and low-competition markets. These latter results suggest that firms adjust the quality of their products to destination characteristics.     

Private consumption behaviour, liquidity constraints and financial deregulation in France: a nonlinear analysis

This paper examines the effect of financial deregulation on consumption expenditure in France during the period 1970–1993. A nonlinear model for consumption which allows for liquidity constraints through a time-varying parameter dependent on a proxy for financial deregulation is estimated using nonlinear instrumental variables. It is concluded that in France financial deregulation has significantly reduced liquidity constraints faced by consumers, allowing a higher percentage of the population to smooth consumption over time. Evidence is also provided that the intertemporal elasticity of substitution is not significantly different from zero at conventional nominal levels of significance. First version received: January 1997/final version received: May 1999     

A Switch or a Process? Disentangling the Effects of Union Membership on Political Attitudes in Switzerland and the UK

The paper examines the effects of union membership on individual political attitudes using panel data for Swiss and British workers. Considering union membership as an on/off switch (member vs. non-member), as it is often done, it is only possible to distinguish between a selection effect (unions attract like-minded individuals) and a molding effect (the experience of membership has a transformational impact on the individual). Exploiting the longitudinal structure of the data reveals that union membership is best characterized not as a switch, but as a dynamic process involving anticipation effects (which start well before becoming affiliated) and maturation effects (which become noticeable only after a certain duration of membership and may not dissipate after leaving the union). Empirically, the selection effect appears the most important in the two countries we focus on, while the molding effect is less pronounced. Anticipation and maturation effects are also non-negligible and hitherto unexplored.