An organizational capability perspective on multi-unit franchising

Previous research on multi-unit franchising (MUF) has primarily focused on agency and transaction cost perspectives. The present study develops and tests an organizational capability (OC) model of the franchisor’s choice of MUF. According to the OC view, the franchisor gains a competitive advantage by exploration and exploitation of firm-specific resources and capabilities. We hypothesize that, if the franchisor expects to obtain a competitive advantage resulting from higher exploration and exploitation capabilities when using MUF as opposed to single-unit franchising, the franchisor will more likely choose MUF as a governance mode of the franchise system. Based on empirical data from the German and Swiss franchise sectors, the results of the regression analysis support these hypotheses. Our main contribution to the franchise literature is the development of an OC model of the franchisor’s choice of MUF that complements the existing organizational economics ?explanation of MUF.     

Analysis of the Potential Economic Viability of Shale Gas Resources in Europe

European countries are currently exploring strategies to ensure a strong level of security of energy supply while decreasing its reliance on natural gas imports. With the strong surge in shale gas developments in the USA, similar ambitions have been the ongoing subject of inquiry in Europe. Detailed knowledge about extraction costs is a key issue in determining future shale gas investments in Europe. The paper at hand analyses the potential of European shale gas resources, highlighting their competitiveness against conventional natural gas. It examines the current volume of shale gas resources in Europe and performs a detailed cost calculation to provide an estimation of shale gas production costs. The results indicate that under current market conditions the repetition of the US shale gas boom is by all measures improbable in Europe. Furthermore, in the case that natural prices were to return to historically higher levels, only a few highly productive shale gas formations would be economically competitive.     

Implementation of eGovernment from the Perspective of Public Administration

International Advances in Economic Research -     

The Stock Market Valuation of Research and Development Expenditures

We examine whether stock prices fully value firms' intangible assets, specifically research and development (R&D). Under current U.S. accounting standards, financial statements do not report intangible assets and R&D spending is expensed. Nonetheless, the average historical stock returns of firms doing R&D matches the returns of firms without R&D. However, the market is apparently too pessimistic about beaten-down R&D-intensive technology stocks' prospects. Companies with high R&D to equity market value (which tend to have poor past returns) earn large excess returns. A similar relation exists between advertising and stock returns. R&D intensity is positively associated with return volatility.     

Memorable occasions

Eucken, in his paradigm of a functionally competitive social market economy, established the basis for a free market economy which institutionalizes concerns for economic and social justice. The Bishops’ Pastoral (and also the Lay Letter) on the U.S. economy approach the concept of a social and just economy from a Christian moral tradition. A community of interests between these two approaches, as well as Donaldson’s synthesis of Nozick’s and Rawl’s theories of justice, causes a moral-economic dialogue and cross fertilization to emerge. The Bishops postulate that the evolution of a just and fair market economy, as the guarantor of freedom, human dignity, and justice, cannot be left to chance but needs to be consciously guided. Therefore, they emphasize the integration of economic theories and policies with notions of “fairness” and “justice,” advocating a holistic approach in viewing the economic system as an organic whole. This paper shows that the broad economic guidelines, which Bishops suggest, fall within the framework of a functional market economy, i.e., a social market economy. It does not deal with the religious and biblical arguments of the Pastoral Letter.     

Military Industry in the Czech Republic and Publishing of Financial Statements

International Advances in Economic Research -     

The distribution of income between labor and capital is not stable: But why is that so and why does it matter?

I review the literature on labor's share of national income in developed and developing countries. These shares have varied systematically over the post-World War II period, rising until the late 1970s and then falling until now. Explanations for the decline in labor's share include technical progress, globalization and a decline in labor's bargaining power, but none of these explanations can account for both the rise and the decline of labor shares over time and for the similar pattern in developed and developing countries. However, movements in oil prices can account for these movements if energy is included in the production function. Such an explanation has broad implications for income distribution, energy conservation and for the modern theory of growth.