Organisatorische Planung des Asset-Liability-Managements von Versicherungsunternehmen

How to organize an insurance company’s asset-liability-Management? To answer this question a decision model is constructed which can support decisionmakers in practice. To operate the model it is assumed that the utility produced by different organizational solutions depend on the relevance of savings the insurance company manages on behalf of the insured. The relevance is (a) lower in casualty related branches and it is (b) higher in life or life related branches. The model’s outcome is that an organizational solution which gives the units more autonomy is best in situation (a). In Situation (b), however, a more centralised coordination is favourable.     

Seasoned equity offerings and the short- and long-run performance of initial public offerings in the UK

In contrast to the US practice, rights issues is the predominant method of raising additional equity capital in the London market. the UK evidence for the period 1980-1991 provides no support to the hypothesis that IPO firms deliberately underprice to signal their quality and facilitate subsequent seasoned equity offerings. the level of initial returns is related neither to the size of the issue nor to the price response at the announcement of a rights issue. the results demonstrate, however, that firms with higher first day returns are quicker in returning to the market for additional equity capital. There is also strong evidence to suggest that the announcement of a seasoned equity offering follows a period of significant rises in the stock prices of reissuing firms. Such gains are, however, dissipated quickly in the 18 months after the announcement of the seasoned equity offering. the level of underperformance is particularly pronounced for firms that raised relatively small subsequent amounts of capital in relation to funds raised at the initial offering. Thus, the paper documents a pattern of post-issue behaviour which is fundamentally similar for both unseasoned and seasoned equity offerings.     

Intra-firm trade and Swedish multinationals

Zusammenfassung Firmeninterner Handel und schwedische multinationale Unternehmen. — In diesem Aufsatz werden verschiedene Hypothesen zu den Bestimmungsgründen des firmeninternen Handels getestet, wobei einmalige Firmendaten schwedischer multinationaler Unternehmen benutzt werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, da\ die Neigung ausl?ndischer Filialen, von den Mutterfirmen zu importieren, positiv mit der Forschungsintensit?t des gesamten multinationalen Unternehmens korreliert ist. Einfuhrbeschr?nkungen des Gastlandes haben eine erhebliche negative Wirkung auf die Importe der Filiale von der Mutterfirma. Diese scheinen auch mit dem ProKopf-Einkommen im Gastland zuzunehmen. Die internationalen Reserven des Gastlandes schlie\lich, die herangezogen werden, um m?gliche Anreize für eine Manipulation der Transferpreise zu erfassen, führen zu keinen eindeutigen Ergebnissen.

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Résumé Commerce intra-entreprise et les entreprises multinationales suédoises. — Les auteurs testent plusieurs hypothèses concernant les déterminants du commerce intra-entreprise en utilisant des données uniques du niveau d’entreprise pour des firmes multinationales suédoises. Les résultats suggèrent qu’il y a une relation positive entre les tendances des sociétés affiliées étrangères à importer les biens des sociétés mère et l’intensité de recherche de l’entière entreprise multinationale. Les politiques des gouvernements d’h?te qui visent à restreindre les importations ont un effet significatif et négatif sur les importations des sociétés affiliées. Ces importations semblent accro?tre avec le revenu par capita du pays d’h?te. Finalement, les réserves internationales du pays d’h?te qui sont introduites comme variable approximative des incitations possibles à une manipulation des prix de transfert ne produisent pas de résultats conclusifs.

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Resumen Comercio intracompa?ía y las multinationales suecas. — Varias hipótesis sobre las determinantes del comercio intracompa?ía son sometidas a un test empírico utilizando datos a nivel de empresa para multinationales suecas. Los resultados sugieren que la propensidad de las filiales de importar de sus casas matrices está positivamente correlacionada con la intensidad de investigatión de la empresa multinational. Las políticas de importaciones restrictivas por parte de los gobiernos de los países donde operan las filiales tienen un impacto negativo significativo sobre las importaciones de la filial provenientes de la casa matriz. Las importaciones parecen aumentar con el ingreso per capita del país donde operan las filiales. Finalmente, las reservas internationales del país donde operan la filial, variable introducida para captar posibles incentivos para manipulaciones en los precios del comercio intracompania, arrojan resultados no concluyentes.

     

Homeownership as a Sign of Immigrants’ Consumer Acculturation: The Role of Region of Origin

ABSTRACT

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country's values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population during the last decade and the significantly higher homeownership rates of natives in comparison with other countries makes the Spanish scenario a relevant case study. The results obtained show homeownership is linked to features associated with highly acculturated consumers. Moreover, the analysis conducted reveals important differences in the way immigrants from different origins advance in their consumer acculturation processes and suggest distinct approaches when marketing to these groups.     

UNCERTAINTY AND CONSUMPTION: NEW EVIDENCE IN OECD COUNTRIES

This work analyses the empirical evidence about precautionary saving in OECD countries in the period 1955–2000. Unlike the previous literature, we perform the test using a measure of uncertainty allowing for heterogeneity in stochastic processes which generate data for each country and selecting for each economy the autoregressive moving average process which best describes the series. The results obtained support the main conclusion of precautionary saving theory, showing that a greater degree of uncertainty increases saving. A less clear conclusion is obtained with reference to the effect of uncertainty on consumption growth, which does not seem to be strongly supported by the data.     

Joining Forces or Going It Alone? On the Interplay among External Collaboration Partner Types,Interfirm Governance Modes,and Internal R&D

This paper adds to the emerging literature stream advocating a contingency view on open innovation. Drawing on the relational view of the firm, this study sheds light on the complex interplay among collaboration partner types (market‐ and science‐focused innovation partners), governance modes (informal, self‐enforcing and formal, contractual collaboration governance), and internal research and development(R&D). More specifically, it is proposed that the use of governance modes tailored to both the characteristics of each innovation partner type and the specific innovation objectives pursued by the focal firm (incremental and radical new product development) can increase the payoff from innovation collaboration. Moreover, appropriate collaboration governance is expected to reduce the focal firm's vulnerability to possible negative side effects often assumed to be associated with the simultaneous pursuit of external collaboration and internal R&D, among which most notably the not‐invented‐here (NIH) syndrome. Cross‐industry evidence from 2502 German firms underlines the critical role of collaboration governance—a contingency factor that is at the heart of the relational view, yet has remained surprisingly absent from the open innovation debate so far.     

FOSTERING EDUCATIONAL ENROLMENT THROUGH SUBSIDIES: THE ISSUE OF TIMING

The purpose of this paper is to build a dynamic structural model of educational choices in which cognitive skills shape decisions. The model is estimated by maximum likelihood using cohort data where individuals are observed from birth to the middle of their working life. These data are unique in that they include cognitive skills test scores collected as early as age 7. We then investigate how alternative policies foster educational enrolment. In particular, we simulate the effect of two subsidies different in the timing of disbursement. The first consists of grants assigned directly to individuals aged between 16 and 18. The second is assigned to the parents earlier on, when the cohort is still in its childhood. The latter subsidy affects cognitive skills accumulation and in turn educational choices. Our results suggest that a grant fosters enrolment at the lowest cost but the parental income subsidy generates more welfare as measured by a class of social welfare functions. Nevertheless, these differences in costs and welfare are small. Overall, the results reinforce the view that government investments in cognitive skill accumulation during childhood are worthwhile. However, the results also indicate that such investments should be well structured to ensure a high return. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.