Word-of-mouth marketing influence on offline and online communications: Evidence from case study research

This case study reports results from three research studies conducted over 12 weeks as part of a product seeding campaign. Partnering with a word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) agency for this research, studies 1 and 2 report agency-conducted surveys of campaign participants' online and offline word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors. Study 3 deployed an innovative web-based methodology to map and visualize WOM communication patterns, to reveal how campaign-related conversations spread within and across offline friendship networks and the role played by tie strength in that process. We find that agency reports of WOMM campaign results overstate reach and understate frequency. Our results have implications for the measurement of reach and frequency of WOMM campaigns.     

Perspektiven und Optionen einer wachstumsorientierten Finanzpolitik

Nachdem sich die Lage der Staatsfinanzen in den vergangenen Jahren deutlich verbessert hat, wird derzeit kontrovers über den Kurs der Finanzpolitik diskutiert. Soll sie weiterhin vorrangig auf Konsolidierung oder eher auf die vielfach als notwendig erachtete Steigerung des Wachstumspotenzials abzielen? Welche M?glichkeiten für eine verst?rkt wachstumsorientierte Finanzpolitik er?ffnen sich und wie sollten sie genutzt werden? Heinz Gebhardt, 55, Dipl.-Volkswirt, ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in den Kompetenzbereichen „Wachstum und Konjunktur“ sowie „?ffentliche Finanzen“ des Rheinisch-Westf?lischen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI) in Essen; Dr. Lars Siemers, 34, ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter im Kompetenzbereich „?ffentliche Finanzen“ des RWI Essen. Die Autoren danken Roland D?hrn, Rainer Kambeck, Tanja Kasten, Christoph M. Schmidt und Joachim Schmidt für kritische Anmerkungen und hilfreiche Kommentare.     

How Economic Incentives May Destroy Social,Ecological and Existential Values: The Case of Executive Compensation

Executive compensation has long been a prominent topic in the management literature. A main question that is also given substantial attention in the business ethics literature—even more so in the wake of the recent financial crisis—is whether increasing levels of executive compensation can be justified from an ethical point of view. Also, the relationship of executive compensation to instances of unethical behavior or outcomes has received considerable attention. The purpose of this paper is to explore the social, ecological, and existential costs of economic incentives, by discussing how relying on increasing levels of executive compensation may have an adverse effect on managerial performance in a broad sense. Specifically, we argue that one-dimensional economic incentives may destroy existential, social, and systemic values that influence the manager’s commitment to ensure responsible business conduct, and have negative spillover effects that may reduce the manager’s performance. There are well-documented findings that demonstrate that reliance on sources of extrinsic motivation (such as economic incentives) may displace intrinsic motivation. Our perspective is a holistic one, in the sense that we will explore the influence of sources of extrinsic motivation on the manager’s intrinsic commitment to different types of values. We will in particular investigate how it may influence the manager’s ethical reflection and behavior or lack thereof.     

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.     

Das Finanzierungssystem der EU und die Nettozahlerdebatte

Die deutsche Nettozahlerposition innerhalb der EU wird in der ?ffentlichen Meinung h?ufig kritisch beurteilt. Wie funktioniert das Finanzierungssystem der EU? Worauf l?sst sich die Auszahlungsstruktur zurückführen? Ist der Nutzen der EU-Mitgliedschaft allein anhand der Zahlungsstr?me zu messen? Prof. Dr. Lars P. Feld, 40, ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Finanzwissenschaft am Alfred-Weber-Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Ruprecht-Karls-Universit?t Heidelberg und Mitglied des wissenschaftlichen Beirats des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen; Dr. Jan Schnellenbach, 33, ist wissenschaftlicher Assistent am Alfred-Weber-Institut.     

Expertenwissen im politischen Prozess — Nutzen,Grenzen und Gefahren

Since the outbreak of the financial and economic crisis, confidence in politicians as well as the economists in their advisory expert panels seems to be at an all-time low. Why do politicians reject science-based advice unless it fits into their political agenda? Are economists misunderstood by politicians and vice versa? The tension between the ideal of evidence-based policy-making and the reality of policy-based evidence-making is hardly a new phenomenon. Therefore, the expectation that Donald Trump, the Brexiteers and European populists will necessarily disappoint their voters because they simply cannot deliver what they have promised is misleading. Experts would be well advised to use the debate on the post-factual era as an impetus to reflect critically on their profession. One opinion expressed in this Zeitgespräch is that the contested societal and political impact of modern economics is due to its restricted scientific self-concept. A more open, pluralistic and transdisciplinary self-definition of economics would strengthen its societal influence. Another contributor ponders the proper incentives to persuade academic economists to provide economic policy advice. Key is the independence of advisory institutions like the German Council of Economic Experts. The selection of people with the best scientific qualifications will ensure the reputation of such institutions.     

Investment liberalization — Why a restrictive cross-border merger policy can be counterproductive

Investment liberalizing countries are often concerned that cross-border mergers and acquisitions, in contrast to greenfield investments, might have an adverse effect on domestic firms and consumers. However, given that domestic assets are sufficiently scarce, we identify a preemption effect and an asset complementarity effect, which imply that the acquisition price is substantially higher than the domestic seller's profits. Moreover, we show that for the acquisition to take place, the MNE must be sufficiently efficient when using the domestic assets, otherwise rivals will expand their business, thereby making the acquisition unprofitable. Consequently, restricting cross-border M&As may also hurt consumers.