Let's use the controller in contract negotiations

The controller is in the best position to evaluate the costs of proposals and counter-proposals in bargaining sessions; he should be a regular member of the negotiating team.     

Age,employability and the role of learning activities and their motivational antecedents: a conceptual model

In today's time of demographic change and rapid innovation, age and employability as well as the role of learning and development are high on the agenda of human resource managers and chief learning officers. However, existing research has failed to integrate these concepts in a clear model and offers little explanation of how the concepts may be linked exactly. In this conceptual paper we show how chronological age, despite its poor characteristics as a predictor, might still affect employability indirectly. Specifically, we propose that employees' motivation – in terms of future time perspective and goal orientation – and formal and informal learning activities need to be considered. Since an individual's chronological age cannot be changed, it is important to recognize these mediating variables, which may be targeted more easily by human resource development or age management initiatives.     

Is Dual Agency in Real Estate a Cause for Concern?

We examine the effects of the regulation of dual agency in residential real estate transactions, for 10,888 transactions in Long Island, New York in 2004–2007. We find that dual agency has an overall null effect on sale price, but includes two opposing forces where buyer and seller interests might be compromised. The link between dual agency and timing of sales is less clear. These findings are robust to endogeneity bias. Although it appears dual agency does cause some market distortions, our analysis yields little evidence that prohibiting dual agency in real estate will increase welfare.     

Market structure and the competitive effects of vertical integration

We analyze the competitive effects of backward vertical integration when firms exert market power upstream and compete in quantities downstream. Contrasting with previous literature, a small degree of vertical integration is always procompetitive because efficiency gains dominate foreclosure effects, and vertical integration even to full foreclosure can be procompetitive. Interestingly, vertical integration is more likely to be procompetitive if the industry is otherwise more concentrated. Extensions analyze welfare effects of integration and the incentives to integrate. Our analysis suggests that antitrust authorities should be wary of vertical integration when the integrating firm faces many competitors and should be permissive otherwise.     

When Do State-Owned Firms Crowd Out Private Investment?

This paper examines the conditions under which a state-owned firm with a political agenda strategically crowds out investment by a private firm. Employing reduced-form analysis, we show that strategic crowding out occurs if (i) the private firm regards investments as strategic substitutes, and (ii) private investment is undesirable from the state-owned firm’s perspective. We discuss how our analysis applies to real-world markets and argue that it provides an explanation for the ambivalent evidence on the effect of public on private investment: State ownership is neither necessary nor sufficient for crowding out to occur.     

European Parliament elections in times of crisis

In May 2014, EU citizens will vote in the most important European Parliament elections to date. With the new powers allocated to it by the Lisbon Treaty, the new European Parliament will shape EU policies in many important areas and will elect the President of the Commission. However, public confi dence in the EU has fallen to historically low levels — to a great extent due to the fi nancial crisis and its aftermath — and the participation rate in European Parliament elections has dropped steadily since the fi rst call for a direct vote in 1979. This raises fundamental questions about its political and democratic legitimacy. This Forum examines the economic agendas of the main political parties vying for power and the potential outcome of the May elections, including the role that radical and anti-euro parties are likely to play in the campaign and in the next Parliament.     

Intellectual Capital and Business Performance: What Structural Relationships Do They Have in Upper‐Upscale Hotels?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships among intellectual capital (INCAP) dimensions and business performance (BUPER) in upper‐upscale hotels. This study classified INCAP into three dimensions: human capital (HUCAP), organizational capital (ORCAP) and customer capital (CUCAP). This study applied a structural equation modeling to investigate the proposed model and hypotheses. The results showed that HUCAP affects ORCAP and CUCAP and that ORCAP influences CUCAP. INCAP dimensions, with the exception of HUCAP, directly affect BUPER; however, HUCAP indirectly affects BUPER via ORCAP and CUCAP. This study helps upper‐upscale hotel managers identify relevant INCAP dimensions and their indicators to enhance BUPER. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.