DE-ESCALATION IN DECISION MAKING: A CASE OF A DISASTROUS PARTNERSHIP*

Decisions to persist with losing courses of action known as escalation have been widely studied, albeit mainly in an experimental context. Comparatively little is known about the conditions under which de-escalation occurs. Utilizing a model of de-escalation derived from the literature the present study examines, by means of a case study, a decision to withdraw from a losing predicament. It is concluded that while de-escalation is likely to occur where the opposite conditions thought to be conducive to persistence apply, existing models under-emphasize the importance of power. Accordingly a modified version of Bowen's two-factor model is proposed.     

Regional concentration in the United States and Europe: Who follows whom?

Regional Concentration in the United States and Europe: Who Follows Whom? — This paper investigates differences in the regional concentration of manufacturing in the United States and in Europe. We use a new data set (value added and employment, comparable number of regions in the United States and Europe, manufacturing disaggregated into 10 sectors, period 1987–1995/98). The main result is that the level of regional concentration is indeed higher in the United States, although the difference is much less than suggested by past studies, which relied on employment figures. Regional concentration has been declining over time, faster in the United States thus converging to the lower European level from above. In Europe, this tendency has been specifically evident since the installment of the Single Market Program.     

Core concepts for incomplete market economies

We examine the notion of the core when cooperation takes place in a setting with time and uncertainty. We do so in a two-period general equilibrium setting with incomplete markets. Market incompleteness implies that players cannot make all possible binding commitments regarding their actions at different date-events. We unify various treatments of dynamic core concepts existing in the literature. This results in definitions of the Classical Core, the Segregated Core, the Two-stage Core, the Strong Sequential Core, and the Weak Sequential Core. Except for the Classical Core, all these concepts can be defined by requiring the absence of blocking in period 0 and at any date-event in period 1. The concepts only differ with respect to the notion of blocking in period 0. To evaluate these concepts, we study three market structures in detail: strongly complete markets, incomplete markets in finance economies, and incomplete markets in settings with multiple commodities. Even when markets are strongly complete, the Classical Core is argued not to be an appropriate concept. For the general case of incomplete markets, the Weak Sequential Core is the only concept that does not suffer from major defects.     

Provincializing Critical Urban Theory: Extending the Ecosystem of Possibilities

Advocating a provincialization of critical urban theory, we seek to move beyond current polarizations and disputes over the basis of urban theory, creating space to take seriously the possibility that no single theory suffices to account for the variegated nature of urbanization and cities across the world. Such provincialization requires a serious engagement with both mainstream and critical Anglophone urban theory, challenging the seeming naturalness of knowledge claims through rigorous theoretical and empirical scrutiny from the standpoint of peripheral perspectives located outside the core. This entails recognizing the existence of a shifting ecosystem of critical urban theories, putting these into even‐handed critical conversation with one another. The collective resilience of urban theory will be dependent upon ongoing engagement across such diversity. At the heart of such an ecosystem are shifts in practice, seeking a new comparative analytic that destabilizes the universalism of the dominant norm, against which all other exemplars are to be compared, with the imperative of taking the field seriously.     

Generic strategies and firm performance in SMEs: a longitudinal study of Austrian SMEs

This paper studies the impact of generic strategies on firm performance using a longitudinal study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Austria. In two surveys, data on the strategic behavior and performance of the same group of firms were gathered for the period from 1992 to 2002. The study expands existing literature, which provides little evidence whether the persistent commitment to a generic strategy over a longer period pays off or whether strategic change is the rule in SMEs, reflecting their flexibility as a potential competitive advantage. We consider the traditional generic strategies of cost-efficiency and differentiation, but also examine the group of firms that have no clear strategy or are “stuck in the middle.” Within this group, we distinguish between those companies that deliberately combine traditional low cost production and differentiation, i.e., follow a combination strategy, firms that change their strategy and those that have no strategy. We argue that a combination strategy is a viable strategic choice for SMEs in the long run. We found that the majority of firms pursued a persistent strategy over a 10-year period, but that companies that changed their generic strategy did not produce inferior results to those that adhered to a single strategy over the entire period. Our results reveal that firms that follow a combination strategy outperform companies with no generic strategy in terms of profitability and growth and achieve higher profitability than companies that follow a differentiation strategy.     

Risk-adjusted value allocation for (non-traded) assets with performance ratios

We propose a new valuation principle for possibly non-traded assets based on an implicit definition of a benchmark. The valuation principle allows taking (default and shortfall) risk constraints explicitly into account. The resulting risk-adjusted value functional is monotonic, positively homogeneous, partially concave and allows for an additive allocation of risk-adjusted values of non-traded assets in a portfolio. The valuation principle is applied to the problem of hedging and pricing in incomplete markets. Furthermore, accounting for non-traded assets is considered and we derive a risk-adjusted balance sheet for non-deterministic cash streams.     

Uneven Borders,Coloured (Im)mobilities: ID Cards in Palestine/Israel

The Israeli state apparatus mandates differentiated IDs to Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinian non-citizens in East Jerusalem, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The bureaucracy of Palestinian ID cards since 1948 has rendered Palestinians more legible for the security interests of Israel while simultaneously discriminating Palestinians from Jews as unequal citizens and non-citizens. The ID card regime, and less so the permit regime, limits Palestinian geographic movement and economic mobility while simultaneously permitting freer Jewish-Israeli flows and mobilities. ID cards demonstrate the power of the Israeli regime to produce distinct people and bind them to specific territories (such as the Palestinians), while allowing others (Jewish-Israelis) to ‘trespass’ over those same boundaries. Through ID cards borders are erected between Jewish and Arab people, not Israeli and Palestinian territory. The ID card regime puts into question the nature and territorial boundaries of ‘Israel’, and the geopolitical existence of the ‘Palestinian Territories.’