Direktinvestive internationale Unternehmenst?tigkeit und das GLOCAL-Dilemma:Die koordinative Rolle von Regional Headquarters

Based on the information cost approach we highlight in this conceptual paper the coordinative and cost-related impact of employing regional headquarters in managing cross-border transactions. Thereby the paper enhances existing knowledge by focusing on the up to now widely ignored aspect of how to integrate regional headquarters in traditional types of organizational structures and shows structure-based benefits and boundaries of a use of regional headquarters. Furthermore, we attempt to utilize the gathered insights to allow for an application in business practice and to provide a basis for future empirical research.     

Organising Corporate Responsibility Communication Through Filtration: A Study of Web Communication Patterns in Swedish Retail

Corporate responsibility (CR) communication has risen dramatically in recent years, following increased demands for transparency. One tendency noted in the literature is that CR communication is organised and structured. Corporations tend to professionalise CR communication in the sense that they provide information that corresponds to demands for transparency that are voiced by certain stakeholders. This also means that experts within the firm tend to communicate with professional stakeholders outside the firm. In this article, a particular aspect of the organisation of CR communication is examined, a phenomenon that we refer to as the ‘filtration effect’. By comparing CR communication in parent companies and their subsidiaries, we show empirically that there is considerably less CR communication on the subsidiary level compared to the parent level. We see filtration as a sign of conscious organising of CR communication that implies particular attention to certain stakeholder groups with clearly defined demands and expectations on companies. The strong filtration effect noted in the study suggests that CR communication does not seem to be very much adapted to customers, which may be problematic both from a communicative and ethical perspective. The study covers Sweden’s 206 largest retail firms.     

Host country institutional pressures and cross-border relationship governance

This study examines the effects of transaction cost, strategic positioning and institutional factors on the governance of international relationships. A firm's product differentiation strategy and export market ethnocentricity are identified as antecedents to specific investments, whereas state influences in the export market are identified as an antecedent to relationship governance. The hypotheses are empirically tested on a sample of 160 international business-to-business relationships. The results show that both product differentiation and export market ethnocentricity impact the level of specific investments, and state influences make it difficult to use both formal contracting and relational norms as governance mechanisms. Furthermore, specific investments made by the supplier are positively related to formal contracting, and product differentiation is positively related to relational norms.     

The market potential of all-premium class services on medium haul leisure routes from Germany

In this paper, we analyse the potential demand for premium products on medium haul leisure routes, which is currently not met by appropriate supply. More precisely, we discuss if all-premium class services targeting the wealthy tourist could be viable on such routes. In a case study approach, we estimate potential costs, average ticket prices and demand for hypothetical all-premium class operations between Germany and Spanish islands Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.     

Uncertainty and Consumption in Keynes's Theory of Effective Demand

Keynesian uncertainty normally exercises influence over effective demand via private investment. This paper expands the scope of influence of uncertainty to comprise private consumption as well. When private spending is explicitly made subject to uncertainty the individual consumer is forced to take active steps to make the future predictable. Contracted, sticky money prices are key tools in the consumer's efforts to keep uncertainty at a minimum and match earnings with consumption costs. However, even if prices are successfully contracted there is still need for preparedness against contingencies. Consumers therefore regulate their propensity to consume with reference to their confidence in the future: the propensity to consume is high when confidence is strong and low when confidence is weak. Because of its effect on the propensity to consume, consumer confidence exercises a significant influence on macroeconomic activity in general.     

Why is research on management accounting change not explicitly evolutionary? Taking the next step in the conceptualisation of management accounting change

In this article we discuss the evolutionary foundation of the OIE-guided management accounting change research building on the framework of [Scapens R.W. 1994. Never mind the gap: towards an institutional perspective on management accounting practice. Management Accounting Research, 5, 301–321.] and [Burns, J. and Scapens, R.W., 2000. Conceptualizing management accounting change: an institutional framework. Management Accounting Research, 11, 3–25.]. We argue that research on management accounting change should be based on evolutionary theory, but that the full potential of evolutionary theory has not yet been described or used in management accounting research. The conceptualisation and understanding of management accounting change can be improved and expanded if the evolutionary approach is developed beyond the general belief that it describes only small and gradual, often slow, changes. In this article we show that an evolutionary perspective on management accounting change implies that management accounting’s development is explained as the interaction between the evolutionary sub processes of retention (inheritance), variation and selection. Thus, both continuity and change are seen as evolutionary outcomes. These processes follow the cumulative causality that Charles Darwin proposed and Thorstein Veblen applied to the social sciences. Such a comprehensive theory, here labelled Universal Darwinism, must, however, be given substance with supporting details.     

Shocks at large banks and banking sector distress: The Banking Granular Residual

Size matters in banking. In this paper, we explore whether shocks originating at large banks affect the probability of distress of smaller banks and thus the stability of the banking system. Our analysis proceeds in two steps. In a first step, we follow Gabaix [Gabaix, X., 2008a. The Granular Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1111765] and construct a measure of idiosyncratic shocks at large banks, the so-called Banking Granular Residual. This measure documents the importance of size effects for the German banking system. In a second step, we incorporate this measure of idiosyncratic shocks at large banks into an integrated stress-testing model for the German banking system following De Graeve et al. (2008). We find that positive shocks at large banks reduce the probability of distress of small banks.     

Batch quantities when forecasts are improving

This paper considers the choice of initial batch quantities when demand forecasts are improving. We assume that the standard deviation of the demand per period is decreasing exponentially and approaching a long-run value. A discrete time stochastic single-level inventory model is considered. There are traditional holding and backorder costs as well as an ordering cost. The ordering periods must be determined in advance, and we wish to determine a suitable schedule.