A nonparametric test for path dependence in discrete panel data

This paper proposes a test for path dependence in discrete panel data based on a characterization of stochastic processes that are mixtures of Markov chains. This test is applied to European Community Household Panel data on employment histories. The data allow to reject the null of no path dependence in all subsamples considered.     

Banking efficiency and stock market performance: an analysis of listed Indonesian banks

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the monthly profit-based technical efficiency and productivity of listed Indonesian banks and their market performance. We examined the banks through the prism of two modelling techniques, efficiency and super-efficiency, over the period January 2003 to end-July 2007. Within this research strategy we employed Tone??s (2001) non-parametric, Slacks-Based Model (SBM) and Tone??s (2002) super-efficiency SBM to estimate the bank efficiencies. They were then combined with recent bootstrapping techniques, namely the non-parametric truncated regression analysis suggested by Simar and Wilson (2007), to identify the determinants of the efficiency scores. With respect to the latter, in the case of the SBM efficiency scores, the Simar and Wilson methodology was adapted to two truncations, whereas in the super-efficiency framework the original technique was utilised. The first part of the analysis reveals that listed banks?? average efficiencies varied widely over the sample period, from a low of 34% to a high of 97%, with only one bank having a score in excess of unity under the super-efficiency framework. The two most efficient banks were domestically owned. With respect to the truncated regression analysis, we found that the banks?? efficiency scores were positively correlated with share prices and return on equity in all models, and with the log of total assets in the super-efficiency analysis. Moreover, it was found that the JCI index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange is positively related to bank efficiency in all models. Another interesting finding is that the coefficient for the share of foreign ownership is negative and statistically significant in the super-efficiency modelling. This suggests that Indonesian banks with foreign ownership tend to be less efficient than their domestic counterparts. Finally, Malmquist productivity results suggest that, over the study??s horizon, the sample banks displayed volatile productivity patterns in their profit-generating operations.     

Die geplante Umsetzung der Richtlinie zum Fernabsatz von Finanzdienstleistungen — Konsequenzen für die Einbeziehung von AVB

The German legislator is planning to realize the guiding principle of distant considering financial service within the VVG. It’s basically welcomed because of the clarity it would deliver. It should be possible to also use the German policy model for distant selling. The necessary methods of procedure, which were used up until now, will be simplified by the introduction of the textform. It should be taken into consideration that the consumer forth needs to acquire the demanded information. The legislator should abide more strongly to the allegation of the guiding principle to avoid exposition difficulties. The signing of short term insurance contracts within distant selling adds difficulties. One must add information about an especially granted right of withdrawal which the consumer may exercise.     

Organization of industrial R&D on a global scale

Although the globalization of industrial R&D processes has increasingly attracted management scientists and considerable work on R&D internationalization has been done since the 70s, important problems in organizing geographically distributed R&D sites have not yet been resolved. This analysis is based on 165 interviews in 31 technology-based multinationals from Switzerland, Germany, USA, and Japan conducted between 1994 and 1997. We describe the extent of R&D internationalization, its key drivers and principal impediments. Two trends are identified: (i) a geographic concentration on leading technology centres, and (ii) a tightened coordination of R&D units. Overlaying structures, superimposed to regional and functional structures, play a central role in overcoming current deficits in global R&D management. Organizational constituents of this structure are technology offices (Schering), technology management as a competence center (Schindler), central project offices (IBM), central project management (Bayer), project oriented career development (Bosch), virtual project management departments (Roche), and cross-cultural job rotation (ATR).     

Organizational learning through post–project reviews in R&D

Post–project reviews are one opportunity to systematically improve performance in subsequent projects. However, a survey reveals that only one out of five R&D projects receives a post–project review. Post–project reviews – if they take place – are typically constrained by lack of time and attention as well as lack of personal interest and ability. They focus mostly on technical output and bureaucratic measurements; process–related factors such as project management are rarely discussed.
In this paper we review the role of post–project meetings as a tool to improve organizational learning at the group level. Based on 27 in–depth interviews with R&D managers carried out between 1997 and 2001, we categorize four classes of learning impediments. These difficulties are not easily resolved, as is illustrated by examples from Hewlett–Packard, DaimlerChrysler, SAP, Unisys, the US Army, and others. We propose a five–level post–project review capability maturity model, identifying some of the key capabilities that need to be in place in order to advance to the next process maturity level. Most companies reside on the first or second maturity level. Our conclusion is that many companies give away great potential for competence building by neglecting post–project reviews as a tool for systematic inter–project learning.     

Kinderfreibeträge in der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung

The future of the German pay as you go public pension system is dependent on families with children. In contrast to German tax law, there are no child allowances in the social insurance system. As a result, workers with and without children pay the same pension insurance contributions. This article analyses the introduction of a child allowance into the public pension system in Germany. We quantify the fiscal, distributional and behavioural effects of such a reform.     

Value Orientation in Process Management

There is no doubt that at least since the 1990s process orientation has evolved into one of the central paradigms of organizational design. Since then, all process management subtasks have matured. Process management decisions, however, lack economic foundation. They are usually based on qualitative or technical criteria or on plausibility considerations that do not necessarily comply with typical objectives in a market economy. Consequently, design alternatives are hardly comparable and an integrated valuation of a company’s assets is impossible. The status quo is astonishing for several reasons: First, process management decisions usually imply investment projects with different risk/return positions and capital tie-up. Second, the need for designing processes according to their contribution to corporate objectives has been explicated repeatedly. Third, the paradigm of value-based management is an accepted theoretical framework from economic research that enables to consistently valuate the risk/return effects of decisions across functional areas, hierarchy levels, and asset classes. This suggests the hypothesis that process management in general as well as the goal orientation of process management decisions in particular have evolved almost independently of value-based management. In the paper at hand, this hypothesis is confirmed based on a sample of process management publications. We therefore explicate the research gap as regards value orientation in process management. In order to bridge the gap between value-based management and process-oriented organizational design, we transfer economically well-founded objective functions to process management decisions.