How to build a successful private equity portfolio

The route to a successful private equity portfolio is a four‐step process that requires an in‐depth understanding of private equity as an asset class as well as the skills to select promising opportunities from available offerings. The first step is to set out and define general allocation guidelines. These initial guidelines then have to be refined based on the availability of adequate investment opportunities. The third step involves selecting the most attractive funds from a pool of target funds. And lastly the portfolio must be monitored on an ongoing basis to track its overall development as well as its enduring performance. Benchmarking the overall performance of the portfolio as well as individual managers is an integral part of this. In the following sections, each individual step is discussed and explained in more detail. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Advancing the country image construct

In today's globalized markets a favorable country-of-origin image (CoI) has a considerable impact on consumers' evaluation of products originating from different countries and therefore influences their subsequent buying decisions. The current paper seeks to extend our conceptual understanding of the nature and functioning of the CoI construct. The aim is threefold, namely to provide a succinct state-of-the-art picture of country image research in international marketing, to contribute to a better measurement of the country image construct, and, finally, to develop an agenda for future research.     

Why Is It (Un-)ethical? Comparing Potential European Partners: A Western Christian and An Eastern Islamic Country – On Arguments Used in Explaining Ethical Judgments

Located at the crossroads of the Eastern and Western world, Turkey today is characterized by a demographically versatile and modernizing society as well as a rapidly developing economy. Currently, the country is negotiating its accession to the European Union. This article yields some factual grounding into the ongoing value-related debate concerning Turkey’s potential EU-membership. It describes a mixed-methodology study on moral reasoning in Austria and Turkey. In this study, the arguments given by individuals when evaluating ethically problematic situations in business were compared. Although there were major consistencies, a number of differences were found. These differences, however, were not in the substance (categories) of arguments used but in their relative frequency. Overall, our findings suggest that young, well-educated urban individuals from Western Christian and Eastern Islamic countries are highly consistent in their moral reasoning. Katharina J. Srnka is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Vienna, Austria, and has been teaching at different European universities and institutions. Dr. Srnka received her Ph.D. from University of Vienna for her work on cultural influences on ethical decision making in marketing. Her research interests concern qualitative and mixed research methods, consumer behavior, and cross-cultural marketing ethics. A. Ercan Gegez is Associate Professor of Marketing at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Gegez holds a Ph.D. from Marmara University in the field of International Marketing. He is one of the founding members of The Turkish Marketing Association and he has served as a member of the supervisory board. His research interests include international marketing, marketing research and marketing ethics. S. Burak Arzova is Associate Professor of Accounting at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Arzova holds a Ph.D. from Marmara University in the field of Accounting for his work on Activity Based Cost Management. His research interests comprise accounting ethics, cost management and international financial standards.     

Zusammenarbeit zwischen organisatorischen Gruppen: Ein Literaturüberblick über die Intergroup Relations-, Schnittstellen- und Boundary Spanning-Forschung

Zusammenfassung Die Zusammenarbeit zwischen organisatorischen Gruppen (Abteilungen, Projektteams etc.) leistet einen entscheidenden Beitrag zur Effizienz und Effektivität von Unternehmen. Drei Forschungsströme liefern wichtige Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der Zusammenarbeit zwischen organisatorischen Gruppen. In diesem Beitrag werden der gegenwärtige Forschungsstand (State-of-the-Art) zu Intergroup Relations, Schnittstellenmanagement und Boundary Spanning zusammengefasst und Massnahmen zur Förderung der Zusammenarbeit zwischen organisatorischen Gruppen abgeleitet. Der Beitrag schliesst mit einer zusammenfassenden Würdigung, in der Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten der Forschungsrichtungen aufgezeigt werden. Darüber hinaus werden wichtige Themen für notwendige weitere Forschung zur Zusammenarbeit zwischen Gruppen skizziert. JEL classifications L20, M10, M12     

Nachrichtenwert und Gespr?che über Medienthemen

The paper extends the theory of news values by examining interpersonal communication about television news. It investigates whether recipients refer to news factors when talking about the news, and how these news factors possibly influence the selection of specific news issues for personal conversations. Based upon a function modelling the selection probability of news issues, direct and indirect influences of news factors on conversations are discussed and tested in three empirical studies. Specifically, continuous news topics and issues that are presented prominently in the news are referred to in conversations. Negativity, however, is mostly avoided. Whereas news factors can be understood as criteria of relevance for journalistic selection processes, they seem to be indicators of shared knowledge in interpersonal communication. In conclusion, implications for the general selective mechanisms in the communication of events are discussed.     

Revenue and welfare effects of financial sector VAT exemption

This paper provides an analysis of revenue and welfare effects associated with a VAT exemption of financial services, which is common among OECD countries. We follow a general equilibrium approach that considers effects of repealing the VAT exemption not only on consumer demand and intermediate-input demand for financial services, but takes account also of the VAT distortion of labor supply. We derive formal expressions for revenue and welfare effects, which can be quantified with a minimum of information about behavioral effects. Using VAT statistics as well as national accounts, we provide quantitative estimates of the effects of repealing the VAT exemption in Germany. Our baseline estimate indicates that tax revenues would increase by some €1.7 billion or 1.3 % of VAT revenues (excluding import turnover tax). Provided these revenue gains are used to finance a reduction in the VAT rate or in other distortive labor taxes our results indicate a modest welfare gain of about €1 billion, or 0.04 % of GDP.     

Surprise,Surprise. Ambient Media as Promotion Tool for Retailers

Ambient media evoke surprise with the aim of gaining the attention of consumers who are overexposed to traditional types of advertising. No study has yet considered the effects of unanticipated ambient media. To bridge this gap, the present article reports a field experiment entailing the manipulation of three types of ambient media that create different levels of surprise. The analysis combines observation data for 2,464 passersby, survey data from 305 respondents, and sales figures for 730 days. The results show that surprising ambient media draw attention, promote positive attitudes toward the ad, and stimulate word of mouth. Most importantly, ambient media increase purchase intention and sales revenue. Robustness checks ensure that the model is stable across several conditions, such as time of day or weather conditions. Follow-up studies further reveal that surprise elicits positive effects via two processes; the amplification of accompanying evaluations and the interplay of attention and incongruence resolution. The paper provides guidance for retailers wishing to design surprising ambient media that improve consumer attitudes and profitability.     

Economic development, legality, and the transplant effect

We analyze the determinants of effective legal institutions (legality) using data from 49 countries. We show that the way the law was initially transplanted and received is a more important determinant than the supply of law from a particular legal family. Countries that have developed legal orders internally, adapted the transplanted law, and/or had a population that was already familiar with basic principles of the transplanted law have more effective legality than countries that received foreign law without any similar predispositions. The transplanting process has a strong indirect effect on economic development via its impact on legality, while the impact of particular legal families is weaker and not robust to alternative legality measures.     

Organizational cynicism in multinational corporations in China

Organizational cynicism is a pejorative attitude toward the employing organization induced by mistrust, disillusion, and various negative experiences. Based on cognitive dissonance theory we develop and test a theoretical model of how perceived cultural differences lead to organizational cynicism which in turn results in greater turnover intentions among host country nationals (HCN) employed in foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations. Furthermore, we argue that the negative effect of perceived cultural differences can be mitigated by localization, i.e. replacement of expatriates by local staff. Survey results from HCN employees in foreign subsidiaries in China confirm the expected relationships.