MEASURING INTERSECTORAL KNOWLEDGE SPILLOVERS: AN APPLICATION OF SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS TO ITALY

R&D spillovers are unanimously considered as one of the main driving forces of technical change, innovation and economic growth. This paper aims at measuring interindustry R&D spillovers. We apply an ‘uncertainty-sensitivity analysis’ to the Italian input–output table of intermediate goods split into 31 economic sectors for the year 2000. The value added of using this methodology is the opportunity of distinguishing between spillover effects induced by productive linkages (the Leontief forward multipliers) and those activated by R&D investments, capturing the uncertain and non-linear nature of the relations between spillovers and factors affecting them.     

Can good news be bad? The role of brand communication strategy and brand commitment in the announcement of product improvements

Although product improvements are usually good news, this research reveals that brands can be affected negatively depending on the level of brand commitment and on the type of communication strategy chosen by the brand. More specifically, this research examines how high-commitment consumers react to product improvements, and how these consumers respond to a communication strategy in which a brand admits that the new product version improves upon a previous inferior product (herein referred to as ‘honesty strategy’). Results of an online study reveal that product improvement is perceived more negatively by high- (compared to low-) commitment consumers, and that these consumers react more negatively and attribute manipulative intent when the brand uses an honesty strategy. This research shows that brands need to be cautious in communicating product improvements to consumers, particularly to its most committed ones. An admission that a product improvement significantly enhances the quality of a previous (inferior) product may backfire with committed consumers.     

High Job Performance Through Co‐Developing Performance Measures With Employees

According to various studies, employee participation in the development of performance measures can increase job performance. This study focuses on how this job performance elevation occurs. We hypothesize that when employees have participated in the development of performance measures, they perceive these measures to be of higher quality, which in turn elevates their attitudes toward, perceived social norms for, and perceived control over performing well in their jobs. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the latter three factors are hypothesized to increase job performance. Survey data from 95 employees as well as 88 of their managers were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Employee participation in developing performance measures is found to be related to job performance, via perceived measurement quality and employees’ perceived control over performing well. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these findings, including the limitations of this study's design, and sketch a number of future research paths in this area. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Supplier development and cost management in Southeast Asia—Results from a field study

This paper is about supplier development when international companies have production sites in Southeast Asia and look for opportunities to switch from international suppliers to local suppliers. We conducted a field study involving site visits to companies in Thailand and Vietnam, and interviews at corporate supply chain departments. Some key observations are: cost management was a dominant motive for taking local supplier development initiatives. Furthermore, local sourcing and local supplier development were important for international companies to improve access to local customer markets. Firms deliberately assessed whether a particular supplier would likely be able to improve sufficiently to warrant investing in supplier development, which typically involved a combination of initiatives, requiring the international firm to take considerable efforts. Local sourcing strategies and priorities for supplier development initiatives tended to focus on items with low supply risk and low volume. These findings are discussed based on transaction cost economics, and we suggest that firms use several ways to reduce the risk of transaction-specific investments in supplier development initiatives.     

Renegotiation–Proof Equilibria in a Global Emission Game When Players Are Impatient

In a two-country model, in which countries differ with respect to the perception of environmental damages and abatement costs, the stability of international environmental agreements is analyzed in a dynamic framework. Three types of agreements are considered: A socially optimal solution, a uniform emission tax (a tax equally applied in both countries) and a uniform emission reduction quota (an equal percentage emission reduction from a base year). Stability is checked for these agreements according to the concept of renegotiation-proofness. It is shown that the stability requirements depend crucially on the parameters defining the interests of the two countries and the type of agreement. Moreover, it is demonstrated that if punishment options are restricted for some reason the stability of an agreement may suffer. One important result of the paper is that if countries exhibit asymmetric interests, stability in the quota regime is higher than in the tax regime and in the social optimum. This might explain why emission reduction quotas have been so popular in international politics despite recommendations of economists to use market-based instruments.     

Multi-Criteria Analysis of Grid Expansion Concepts on the Low Voltage Level

In recent years, the power generation and consumption in Germany have undergone fundamental changes. New political regulations and the renewable energy law have resulted in a sharp increase in the installed generation capacities of photovoltaics connected to a low voltage grid. Distribution system operators are faced with the challenge of preventing grid component overload as well as a violation of voltage range. Due to increasing requirements of grid expansion in future years, distribution system operators must evaluate new expansion concepts compared to conventional ones. One interesting approach is the installation of Voltage Regulated Distribution Transformers (VRDT) regulating the voltage level of distribution grids. In this paper, the local network of one of the largest German distribution system operators is analysed in the context of future requirements for grid expansion using the conventional and VRDT expansion. Grid structures have grown over the last decades and therefore vary widely in their grid topologies. A classification of the entire grid in a few classes results in high inaccuracies. Therefore, the creation of synthetic grid structures is developed for the calculation of the required network extension. In addition, both grid expansion concepts are evaluated not only for financial aspects, but against environmental, economic, technological, and social dimensions using a multi-criteria decision making approach. The study shows a high market potential for VRDTs in low voltage grids with an increasing enforcement level of photovoltaics.