Varieties of Multinationals: Adapting Employment Practices in Central Eastern Europe

"Home-country effects" on multinational companies' practices abroad are assessed by comparing twelve German- and U.S.-owned plants within the same sector in the "institutionally permissive" Poland, Hungary, and Slovenia. Differences are detected on functional flexibility, corporate culture and working time, but not on participation. Work organization seems more integral to national productive models than industrial relations. Moreover, considerable intramodel variation reflects product- and labor-market contingencies. The results support the interpretation of national models as internally heterogeneous and dynamic.     

The power of negative thinking: corruption,perception and willingness to bribe in Ukraine

This study provides an empirical analysis of the association between corruption perception and the willingness to offer bribes, as well as of the influence of different sources of information on corruption perception in the Ukraine. The higher the perceived corruption in an organization, the more probable it is that a person dealing with that organization will offer a bribe, therefore supporting corruption. Since corruption scandals in Ukraine seldom result in legal action, information about corruption in the mass media might actually encourage people to give bribes. This study found that corruption perception is one of the key factors in giving a bribe and that its positive/negative effects strongly depend on institutions and government policies.     

Aircraft safety analysis using clustering algorithms

In recent years, there have been many cost-benefit studies on aviation safety, which deal mainly with economic issues, omitting some strictly technical aspects. This study compares aircraft accidents in relation to the characteristics of the aircraft, environmental conditions, route, and traffic type. The study was conducted using a database of over 1500 aircraft accidents worldwide, occurring between 1985 and 2010. The data were processed and then aggregated into groups, using cluster analysis based on an algorithm of partition binary ‘Hard c means.’ For each cluster, the ‘cluster representative’ accident was identified as the average of all the different characteristics of the accident. Moreover, a ‘hazard index’ was defined for each cluster (according to annual movements); using this index, it was possible to establish the dangerousness of each ‘cluster’ in terms of aviation accidents. Obtained results allowed the construction of an easy-to-use predictive model for accidents using multivariate analysis.     

Employers' Online Search: An Empirical Analysis

Drawing on job postings at an online job board, we find that employers who have to fill their vacancies immediately specify fewer job requirements, provide more details about the job application process, and are quicker to withdraw their vacancies from the job board than employers with job openings that do not have to be filled immediately. These findings offer new insights into the role of vacancy costs in determining how employers search for workers online.     

Islamic Banks and Financial Stability: An Empirical Analysis

The relative financial strength of Islamic banks is assessed empirically based on evidence covering individual Islamic and commercial banks in 19 banking systems with a substantial presence of Islamic banking. We find that (a) small Islamic banks tend to be financially stronger than small commercial banks; (b) large commercial banks tend to be financially stronger than large Islamic banks; and (c) small Islamic banks tend to be financially stronger than large Islamic banks, which may reflect challenges of credit risk management in large Islamic banks. We also find that the market share of Islamic banks does not have a significant impact on the financial strength of other banks.