Innovation,Creativity and Success

This article explores the role of innovation in small and medium sized firms, in relation to the firm's success. After a discussion of the relationship between success, innovation and creativity, some possible backgrounds of creativity and innovation are presented. For one part these are of a personal nature, like the entrepreneur's values, attitudes and level of education. For another part they concern institutional aspects of the firm.After the development of a number of hypotheses these are empirically checked with data from a survey among 200 entrepreneurs in six countries. In the appendices some details of the data and variables may be found.     

What makes a die-hard entrepreneur? Beyond the ‘employee or entrepreneur’ dichotomy

The article makes three contributions to the economics literature on entrepreneurship. We offer a new measure of entrepreneurship which accounts for variations in persistence in self-employment and as a result avoids the weakness of approaches which categorise an individual as an entrepreneur by observing their occupation at just one point in their career. We outline an econometric methodology to account for this approach and find, via a statistical test of model selection, that it is superior to probit/logit models, which have dominated the literature. While our results indicate that this existing literature is good at explaining an individual’s propensity to try self-employment, we find that entrepreneurial persistence is determined by a different model and unearth some new insights. Early self-employment encourages entrepreneurial persistence. For men, inheritance encourages persistence, and facilitates initial self-employment. Having a self-employed father as a role model makes sons persist longer. However, somewhat surprisingly, early experience of unemployment does not affect the probability of self-employment, while reducing persistence. The popular ‘unemployment push effect’ is thus rejected in our sample.

Experiments in supply chain management research: A systematic review and future directions

The supply chain management discipline has seen a tremendous growth in the use of experimental methods. Given the large number of published studies, the time seems opportune to systematically review the use of such approaches. In this note, we consider multiple dimensions of experimental design used in articles published in six of our premier journals. We present these findings and contemplate opportunities for future applications of experimental methods. In particular, we highlight a need to more regularly conduct and report on the results of power analyses and experimental checks, more carefully contemplate the justification and use of WEIRD (Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic) participants, develop and test mediated theoretical models, and increase our focus on teams as the unit of analysis when using experimental methods.     

Students' perception of corporate social responsibility: Analyzing the influence of gender,academic status,and exposure to business ethics education

Studies on students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been growing in western scholarship. For students in African countries, such as Nigeria, there is little that is known about how and whether gender, level of study, and being enrolled in business education courses impact their perception of and disposition towards CSR. This study explores the significance of gender, academic status or level of study, and exposure to business ethics education (BEE) on Nigerian students' perception of CSR as a veritable business ethic. Specifically, the effects of these factors on students' perception of CSR are examined using analysis of variance. The results show a significant effect of exposure to BEE and gender on CSR‐sensitivity, and a mild, but significant effect of academic status. This implies that male students and female students had different perspectives on CSR issues. Students who took ethics courses and those who did not would run businesses differently. However, age and experience on campus did not influence students' perception or position on CSR. The study recommends that more behavioral models be estimated with the inclusion of more demographic and socioeconomic variables to elicit more robust results.     

Transparenz als Erfolgsfaktor der Vertriebssteuerung: das Beispiel Evonik Health &; Nutrition

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Einzelbesprechungen

Ohne ZusammenfassungAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von M. St. Braun, WienAus dem Italienischen übersetzt von E. Allina, WienAus dem Russischen übersetzt von A. GerschenkronÜbersetzt von Paul Brüll, Wien.     

The evolution of Indian accounting standards: Its history and current status with regard to International Financial Reporting Standards

This paper addresses the adoption and applicability of International Accounting Standards (IAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) to India. Specifically, the paper highlights some major areas where the country lacked harmonization with IAS in 1993 and the rapid congruence with IAS in the decade that followed. The attempt to achieve congruence with IAS appears to be more a by-product of the country's rapid economic growth rather than its catalyst. However, continued growth and the attraction of foreign capital to domestic ventures will depend on the transparency of the financial dealings. The Institute of the Chartered Accountants of India, (ICAI), India's standard setting body, is increasingly attempting to provide this transparency by revisions and additions to accounting standards, and by Exposure Drafts which aim to bring India more in line with International Financial Reporting Standards.     

Die Komponenten des Rückganges der Ausländerbeschäftigung

Summary During the crisis of 1974/75 the number of foreign workers in Western European countries has been reduced. This has caused a new discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of the employment of foreign workers. Whatever the attitude towards this problem may be, it is useful to decompose the reduction of foreign labour into categories. First of all a certain amount of foreign labour will be reduced due to a general decrease of overall employment. This influence may be called proportionality effect. The share of foreign workers in the different branches of the economy allows the calculation of a structural effect. Both of them measure influences, which concern foreigners as well as nationals. Only the remaining influence is specific to foreigners. It may again be split into a reduction effect and a substitution effect. The former ist concerned with that part of total reduction of foreign workers, which corresponds to the decrease of employment, i.e. employment reduction by dismissal of foreign workers. The latter pertains to that part of reduction, which exceeds the decrease of employment, i.e. by this magnitude domestic labour has been substituted for foreign labour.The application of this model to the years 1974 and 1975 shows no proportionality effect (1974 it is even positive), a limited structural effect, but a high reduction effect. The substitution effect is considerable in 1974 but of minor importance in 1975. So foreign labour in Austria served actually as cyclical buffer but mainly by reduction and only partly by substitution.     

Distribution,efficiency and incentives in organizations

This paper formulates incentives for individual workers in competitive firms in general equilibrium. Piece-rates and rewards for relative performance can elicit efficient effort in equilibrium, but workers benefit from collusion to reduce effort and consumption and expropriate capitalists by lowering the rental, while employers may choose equilibria with excessive ‘effort’. When there is uncertainty about true individual effort, prizes and limited penalties for best and worst performance can support efficient solutions, while income-risk declines as the size of the team grows. If penalties are prohibited, ex post inequality is multiplied and welfare declines.     

Bestimmungsgründe der internationalen Wanderungen europäischer Arbeitskräfte in der Gegenwart

Ohne ZusammenfassungMit 3 Textabbildungen