Representative voice in different organizational contexts: a study of 40 departments of a Dutch childcare organization

‘Representative voice’ can be defined as actions in which one or more speakers represent others when speaking up about a problem at the workplace or making a suggestion. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of representative voice, assess the frequency of its occurrence and examine department characteristics associated with its frequency. We present a theoretical framework and develop and test hypotheses about the effects of characteristics of the departmental context on the frequency of representative voice. Our focus is on organizational design features, i.e. characteristics that can be directly implemented by management. Data on 40 departments of a large Dutch childcare organization suggested that representative voice occurred in most of the organization's departments, although not frequently. Multilevel analyses showed that representative voice was best predicted by the presence of shared problems. Further, representative voice was more frequent in departments in which employees worked directly with clients (i.e. children), and in larger departments. Frequent contact with the department's manager and among the department's employees had no effect.     

Relating the philosophy and practice of ecological economics: The role of concepts, models, and case studies in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research

We develop a general and unifying methodology for ecological economics which integrates philosophical considerations on the foundations of ecological economics with an adequate operationalization. We argue that the subject matter and aims of ecological economics require a specific combination of inter- and transdisciplinary research, and discuss the epistemological position on which this methodology is based. In accordance with this understanding of inter- and transdisciplinarity and the underlying epistemological position, we develop an operationalization which comprises simultaneous analysis on three levels of abstraction: concepts, (generic) models and case studies. This provides a systematic and integral view on ecological economics, and thus allows one to see the relationship between contributions to the field that have so far been perceived as very heterogeneous and largely unrelated. At the same time, this methodological framework may provide orientation for the further development of ecological economics.     

Sustainability impacts of car road pricing: A computable general equilibrium analysis for Austria

Nationwide car road pricing schemes are discussed across Europe. We analyse the impacts of such schemes with respect to environmental, economic and social indicators of sustainability, also quantifying the trade-offs among these three dimensions under different charging principles and revenue recycling options. In our analysis we employ a computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach, develop a modelling structure for private transport and provide detailed empirical analysis for the case of Austria. Regarding the social dimension, it has often been argued that poorer households (and commuters) would have to bear a disproportionate share of the road pricing burden. We find the contrary, i.e. a stronger negative policy impact on richer households, and on a small group of intensive car users. The choice of revenue recycling is able to ameliorate the negative social and economic effects of road pricing, without reversing the desired positive environmental effects. For political feasibility, questions of distributional impacts are most urgent and therefore we address them systematically within a quantitative framework.     

Cross‐cutting organizational and demographic divides and the performance of research and development teams: two wrongs can make a right

In interorganizational research and development (R&D) teams, diverse skills and insights may be combined productively, but the team members' differing organizational backgrounds may also inhibit team performance. In this paper, it is argued that interorganizational R&D teams are more likely to perform with a certain demographic composition. In particular, the problems of an organizational divide can be overcome by a second, demographic divide that cuts across organizational boundaries. With a cross‐cutting demographic divide – or faultline – interorganizational R&D teams may perform; without it, they tend to perform poorly. Supportive evidence is provided in a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis on 51 projects conducted in a single R&D partnership. As this implies, interorganizational R&D teams should deliberately be composed to show a cross‐cutting demographic divide.     

Price transmission and local market power: empirical evidence from the Austrian gasoline market

We analyse the impact of local market power on price margins and different dimensions of price adjustment dynamics (speed and asymmetry of price transmission) using data for a large number of individual gasoline stations in Austria. Specific attention is paid to threshold effects in price adjustment. Our results clearly suggest that the speed of price transmission between the Brent crude oil index and retail diesel prices is higher in a more competitive environment. While evidence on the relationship between local market power and asymmetries in the speed of price adjustment is mixed, our findings regarding asymmetries in price thresholds are clear: in regions where competition from neighbouring rivals is weak and/or consumers’ price elasticity of demand is low (stations located on the highway), positive thresholds significantly exceed negative ones, which corresponds to the ‘rockets and feathers phenomenon’. As expected, we observe that prices are lower in more competitive local markets.     

Does North-South horizontal intra-industry trade really exist? An analysis of the toy industry

Does North-South Horizontal Intra-Industry Trade Really Exist? An Analysis of the Toy Industry. — In a combination of a case study approach and econometric analysis, bilateral intra-industry trade between high income countries and low income countries in the toy industry is investigated. In a number of products there is important bilateral intra-industry trade between both groups of countries. Econometric analysis in which a number of the explanatory variables used were quantified on the basis of the information supplied by the industry-spokesmen yields results which strongly support the view that the bilateral IIT between the high income countries and the low income countries in the toy industry is determined significantly by horizontal product differentiation and economies of scale.     

Controlling in ?sterreichischen Familienunternehmen – dargestellt am Bundesland Ober?sterreich

Zusammenfassung Trotz der hohen volkswirtschaftlichen Bedeutung zeichnet sich das Controlling durch eine im Vergleich geringe Besch?ftigung mit dem Thema Familienunternehmen aus. Ausgehend von der Hypothese, dass Familienunternehmen in h?herem Ausma? sozio?konomische Ziele verfolgen und in geringerem Umfang Controlling-Instrumente einsetzen als Nicht-Familienunternehmen, werden die Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung für die Region Ober?sterreich pr?sentiert. Als Ergebnis dieser Studie zeigt sich, dass die Ziele der befragten Familienunternehmen – abgesehen von der H?he der geforderten Eigenkapitalrenditen – kaum von jenen der Nicht-Familienunternehmen differieren. Andererseits ist bei Familienunternehmen ein hoher Professionalisierungsgrad im Bereich des Einsatzes von Controlling-Instrumenten erkennbar.      

Effects of Unilateral Climate Policy on Terms of Trade,Capital Accumulation,and Welfare in a World Economy

We present a two-good, two-country overlapping generations model where emissions arise from production and each country has a domestic emission permit system. When one country unilaterally reduces her cap on emissions, her output available for domestic and foreign consumption diminishes more than in the other country. With unchanged consumption expenditure shares for both goods the domestic terms of trade improve, while capital stocks decline in the reducing and less strongly in the non-reducing country. Improving terms of trade in the reducing country and falling capital stocks lead in total to welfare losses in both countries. However, if the country which unilaterally reduces her emission permits is a net creditor to the world economy and the Golden Rule applies, her own welfare loss remains below that of the non-reducing country.     

Foreign investors' activities in the context of East German privatisation: Motivations and strategies

4. Conclusions Privatisation in East Germany has not been a closed-shop event but has successfully set the stage for international integration of the East German economy. The degree of foreign participation, though fairly modest in the beginning, has risen considerably over the course of time. Foreign investors, who have proved to be sensitive both to market signals and to policy created incentives, will contribute a good deal to restructuring and modernising the East German economy. However, the importance of foreigners' participation has to be assessed in qualitative terms. Its main merit in privatisation has been to strengthen competition. In many cases, bidding among potential investors became more competitive when the Treuhand Agency succeeded in inviting foreigners to participate. However, investors' competition has been low in cases where maintaining old production sites was politically pre-determined. Political decisions to maintain production were motivated mainly by the need to secure employment. This policy has had a high cost which it has not been possible to shift to foreign investors — or to Germans — but which has had to be covered by the Treuhand Agency and other public bodies.