Competition, Market Structure and Job Turnover

Does internationalization mean increased reallocation of employment among plants and thus higher adjustment costs? This paper studies the reallocation of jobs among plants in the Swedish economy 1986–97 using micro data. It turns out that the rate of job turnover is high in industries with high rates of innovation and employment growth, and low in concentrated industries with limited competition. However, we find no evidence for the view that increased openness to international competition would increase job turnover. In fact turnover is lower in export oriented industries where foreign ownership is frequent.     

Model-Based Decision Support in Manufacturing and Service Networks

In this paper, we sketch some of the challenges that should be addressed in future research efforts for model-based decision support in manufacturing and service networks. This includes integration issues, taking into account the autonomy of the decision-making entities in face of information asymmetry, the modeling of preferences of the decision makers, efficiently determining robust solutions, i.e. solutions that are insensitive with respect to changes in the problem data, and a reduction of the time needed for model building and usage. The problem solution cycle includes problem analysis, the design of appropriate algorithms and their performance assessment. We are interested in a prototypical integration of the proposed methods within application systems, which can be followed up with field tests of the extended application systems. We argue that the described research agenda requires the interdisciplinary collaboration of business and information systems engineering researchers with colleagues from management science, computer science, and operations research. In addition, we present some exemplifying, illustrative examples of relevant research results.     

Nitrogen Fertilizer Demand from Danish Crop Farms: Regulatory Implications of Heterogeneity

This paper estimates nitrogen fertilizer demand elasticities for Danish crop farms using the dual profit function approach on micro panel data. The model includes several farm‐specific parameters, allowing us to estimate the mean demand elasticity and test for homogeneity of elasticities across panel farms. The mean own‐price elasticity for nitrogen is ?0.45, and there is a significant standard deviation from this mean for individual farms of 0.24. Heterogeneity of demand elasticities implies that regulating fertilizer application through mandated uniform percentage reductions, as is currently used in Danish nitrogen regulation, increases abatement costs relative to tax regulation. Somewhat surprisingly, this causes the abatement costs of quota regulation to be only 8% larger than with tax regulation. Simulation results indicate that the primary threat to the efficiency of uniform reduction schemes comes from inaccurate estimation of baselines rather than from heterogeneity of elasticities. L'auteur estime les élasticités de la demande d'engrais azotés pour l'agriculture danoise en appliquant la fonction du double profit aux données issues de microgroupes de consultation. Le modèle inclut plusieurs paramètres spécifiques à l'agriculture, ce qui permet d'estimer l'élasticité moyenne de la demande et de vérifier l'homogénéité des élasticités pour les agriculteurs consultés. On constate qu'il existe une élasticité‐prix moyenne de ?0,45 pour l'azote et que cette moyenne présente un écart‐type significatif de 0,24 par exploitation agricole. Les élasticités hétérogènes de la demande supposent que si on régule les engrais azotés par une réduction uniforme du volume employé en pour cent, ainsi que l'exige présentment le règlement danois, on accroît le coût des mesures de lutte, comparativement à ce qui se produit avec les mesures fiscales. Il est un peu surprenant de voir que la régulation par quota n'augmente le coût des mesures de lutte que de 8%, par rapport aux mesures fiscales. Les résultats de la simulation révèlent que l'efficacité des programmes de réduction uniforme est surtout menacée par une estimation inexacte des valeurs de base et non par l'hétérogénéité des élasticités.     

Flow and consumers in e-based self-services: New provider–consumer relations

This paper examines how consumers' attention can be captured and maintained in an e-based self-service relationship. We investigate how a consumption environment can be constructed that uses ‘flow’ to capture the attention of the consumer. By means of two case studies, the article explores how knowledge services can be appropriated along these lines given that the service is delivered in the form of a self-service. We argue that the service must remain in ‘flow’ at various points of consumption, which are critical; this is in order to produce the positive reactions of ‘improvement’ and ‘voice’. Whether this happens depends on the ‘flow competencies’ of the consumer.     

国际一体化对宏观经济政策有效性的影响

本文讨论了国内宏观经济政策如何受到国际一体化的影响。宏观经济政策有效性取决于以下几个因素：政策工具的数目、达到经济目标的效果，及运用这些工具时受到的约束。一般认为，国际一体化降低政策有效性，而本文指出，国际一体化在很多情况下可能增强决策者运用宏观经济政策的能力。国际一体化创造了许多新的政策工具。有关货币政策、财政政策和产业结构政策的标准分析显示，国际一体化究竟是提高还是降低了政策工具的效力，取决于国际一体化的具体来源和一国的货币制度。