The relevance of shopper logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats

This paper discusses and empirically evaluates the relevance of shopping-related logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats. Based on a literature review a conceptual model was developed and subsequently tested using a survey of more than six hundred consumers in the grocery retail sector. Respondents were those primarily responsible for grocery shopping in their households located in a highly concentrated European urban retail market. Variance based structural equation modelling reveals that shopper logistics has a major impact on the convenience of store-based shopping and partly influence consumers' perceptions of shopping related costs. Nevertheless, shopper logistics does not affect consumer behaviour in terms of the share of visits of a store. These results are moderated by age, hedonic shopping orientation, shopping frequency, average spending per trip and store format preference. We conclude that shopper logistics is relevant for consumers of grocery stores but its relevance varies between different shopper groups.     

Eurokrise: Erneute Atempause ist kein Grund zum Ausruhen

The current state of affairs in the euro area (EA) instills hope in economic recovery but also substantial concern. The crisis countries have made considerable, albeit quite uneven, progress in central areas of reform. Yet severe obstacles remain. Moreover, European policy makers have reformed the EA’s institutional framework to strengthen its resilience. Yet important elements of a stable architecture are still missing, and it remains unclear whether the EA is moving towards full integration or a Maastricht 2.0. Most importantly, since it has become impossible to construct a viable fi scal bridge due to the success of the OMT programme, now everything depends on the perseverance of domestic reform policies.     

Testing Fairness Principles for Public Environmental Infrastructure Decisions

Group Decision and Negotiation - Public infrastructure decisions affect many stakeholders with various benefits and costs. For public decisions, it is crucial that decision-making processes and...     

Blockchain in Additive Manufacturing and its Impact on Supply Chains

Additive manufacturing (AM) appears to be a particularly attractive use case for blockchain. This research combines inductive in‐depth interviews with the Delphi method to explore what potentials blockchain technology in AM creates, which adoption barriers firms need to overcome, and how supply chains will be affected by the integration of these two potentially disruptive technologies. The results suggest opportunities that are related to intellectual property (IP) rights management, the monitoring of printed parts throughout their lifecycle, process improvements, and data security. The most important barriers for blockchain adoption in AM are an absence of blockchain‐skilled specialists on the labor market, missing governance mechanisms, and a lack of firm‐internal technical expertise. By addressing important limitations of AM, blockchain is expected to improve the competitiveness of AM in parts’ production, catalyzing the trend toward more decentralized manufacturing resulting in more agile, resilient, and flexible supply chains and reduced logistics costs. Beyond that, blockchain‐based AM platforms are expected to enhance supply chain visibility, drive supply chain digitalization, support supply chain finance, and contribute to the emergence of shared factory systems.     

Rentenpaket: die Bundesregierung auf Irrwegen

In the summer of 2014 Germany will witness the most substantial expansion of pension expenditures since the 1950s. Yet, while this reform package was motivated mainly by the dismal prospect of rising old age poverty rates, it does little to alleviate this problem. On the contrary, its two central elements, an expansion of the pension claims of mothers whose children were born before 1992, and access to early retirement at age 63 for workers with a long insurance history, tend to benefit rather privileged groups of the insured. These measures endanger the sustainability of the German pension system and will necessitate future generations to work even longer than would have been the case otherwise.     

Benachteiligt die Überalterung der Gesellschaft die Jüngeren?

Generationenbilanzen zeigen, dass die Jüngeren durch die demographische Entwicklung erheblich belastet werden. Was versteht man unter „Generationengerechtigkeit“? Sind Renditevergleiche von sozialen Sicherungssystemen zwischen den Generationen aussagekr?ftig? Welche Folgen hat die Alterung der Bev?lkerung für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung? Wie werden die politischen Entscheidungen beeinflusst? Sollte ein Generationenvertrag zur Bildung geschlossen werden? Die Autoren unseres Zeitgespr?chs: Prof. Dr. Bernd Raffelhüschen, 49, ist Direktor des Forschungszentrums Generationenvertr?ge und lehrt Volkswirtschaftslehre am Institut für Finanzwissenschaft I an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universit?t Freiburg; J?rg Schoder, 29, Dipl.-Volkswirt, M.A., ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Forschungszentrum Generationenvertr?ge der Albert-Ludwigs-Universit?t Freiburg. Prof. Dr. Winfried Schm?hl, 64, ist Direktor der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Abteilung des Zentrums für Sozialpolitik an der Universit?t Bremen. Er war langj?hriger Vorsitzender des Sozialbeirates der Bundesregierung. Prof. Dr. Birger P. Priddat, 57, ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Politische ?konomie an der Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen. Prof. Dr. Frank Nullmeier, 49, lehrt Politikwissenschaft und ist Leiter der Abteilung „Theorie und Verfassung des Wohlfahrtsstaates“ am Zentrum für Sozialpolitik an der Universit?t Bremen.     

Nach der Wahl: Was sind die wichtigsten wirtschaftspolitischen Herausforderungen?

Even though Germany’s economy is currently going strong, the country still faces enormous challenges if it wants to maintain and increase this prosperity. The new government should take this opportunity to set the course for the future by encouraging the digitalisation of the economy and the society as well as by ensuring that the ongoing energy transition is sustainable and efficient. Other challenges include the adverse effects of globalisation on parts of society and the uneven distribution of income and wealth. But the actual magnitude of the government’s room to manoeuver is up for debate. The new government’s fiscal space might be more limited than it seems, since an automatic adjustment of the income tax to inflation and growth is required to end the bracket creep. Given that transfer programmes are being phased out, the federal income tax surcharge to finance German unification also needs to be abolished. Further budget pressure stems from the pension system and from demands by state and local as well as European governments. The new German government should use the next governing period to initiate fundamental reforms of economic and fiscal policy that will provide adequate answers to long-run challenges.