Delistings of secondary listings: price and volume effects

Despite their growing importance in recent years, delistings of secondary listings have received very little attention. This article investigates whether a delisting is accompanied by any price or volume effects on the company’s primary exchange. We apply a standard event study methodology to analyze these effects. The total sample consists of 255 companies that either delisted from the SIX Swiss Exchange, the Sponsored Segment of the SIX, Deutsche Börse, or the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The results show no significant price effects, either around the announcement or around the effective delisting. Furthermore, the results vary considerably between subsamples. Prices tend to decline around announcement; however, the effect is not permanent. The effective delisting is preceded by declining prices, whereas the event itself has no influence. Overall, this initial decline appears to be permanent. In general, volumes seem to rise around the announcement as well as around the date of the delisting.     

Wo steht Deutschland?

Zusammenfassung  Pflegeausbildung im europ?ischen Vergleich — Die Europ?ische Union bietet einen gigantischen Arbeitsmarkt, der auch immer mehr deutsche Pflegekr?fte anlockt. Eine Pflegeausbildung wird in allen EU-Mitgliedsstaaten anerkannt, auch wenn die Bildungssysteme sich zum Teil deutlich unterscheiden. Doch zwischen „Mindestanforderung erfüllt“ und „Topqualifikation“ – wo stehen wir in diesem Kontext? Literatur finden Sie unter Rubrik Kontext auf www.heilberufeonline.de     

Rural development and financial markets in Romania

In the transition from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, such as in Romania, the domestic financial market plays two important roles. First, the financial market itself must be fundamentally restructured. Second, its efficient functioning is a crucial precondition for economic transformation. In transition economies, however, financial market institutions tend to concentrate their services on urban or larger rural enterprises. So far, small rural enterprises, even those with profitable investment plans, often do not have access to the financial market. This paper briefly characterizes the key issues of agricultural production units and their institutional environment and analyzes the depth and the efficiency of rural finance and its effect on Romania's rural economic transformation. It concludes with policy and institutional recommendations to strengthen rural finance.     

The influence of structural aspects of a leadership scenario on individual mental evaluation processes

There is little emphasis in leadership research on the relationship between structural aspects of a scenario and individual mental processes leading to certain leadership behavior. The authors present results from two empirical studies analyzing the influence of structural variables such as time pressure, danger, and formalization on internal mental processes evaluating the perceived impact of factors influencing leadership behavior. Results from both studies indicated that the effects of structural differences in a scenario (high or low time pressure, danger, and formalization) lead to systematically different evaluations of the perceived impact of important factors influencing leadership behavior. These findings underline the relevant influence of structural aspects of a leadership scenario on internal mental processes and shed light into the black box between the cause‐and‐effect relationship of structural aspects leaders are exposed to and their behavior.     

Too tired for exercise? The work and leisure of female cleaners in Denmark

The aim of this study was to explore the opportunities and challenges of female cleaners with regard to participation in leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We gained information about their everyday lives via semi-structured interviews with 25 women, most of them from rural Turkey. Drawing on the relevant literature on women’s work–life balance and (migrant) women’s participation in LTPA, we approached their work and leisure from an intersectionality perspective and explored if and how female cleaners engaged in LTPA and which constraints impeded their involvement. The interviewees’ narratives revealed that their everyday lives as unskilled migrant workers had a decisive influence on their opportunities of engaging in LTPA: most women struggled with the demands of a physically exhausting job and an extensive ‘second shift’ at home and therefore had great difficulty finding the time and energy to exercise. However, previous experience of LTPA seemed to have a decisive influence on their current LTPA practices.     

Die Zufriedenheit von Versicherungsvertretern als unternehmerische Zielgröße

This paper deals with the Job satisfaction of exclusive agents focusing on its connection with customer loyalty. Although a relationship between these two components is quite feasible, there is a lack of explicit research eviden-ce. Therefore the study examines the direct and indirect relationships between the two components differentiated. First of all, it is examined, why and how exclusive agents contribute to competitive advantages of an insurance Company. Additionally, the determinants of customer loyalty in the insurance industry and the dimensions of exclusive agents job satisfaction are worked out. On this basis, a framework is proposed which integrates approaches from organizational psychology and marketing to job/dealer satisfaction as well as to customer loyalty. The empirical results of a study measuring exclusive agent job satisfaction complete the findings of the analysis, which provide evidence that exclusive agent satisfaction and customer loyalty have to be regarded as complementary aims of an insurance Company due to the certain interactions between them. Lastly, management implications are shown.     

Decentralization in Peru's Agricultural Policy: A Critical Review from 1993 to 1998

In 1983 decentralization was already being described as the latest fashion in development administration and it has been gaining in popularity ever since. This theoretical concept has been embraced world-wide and incorporated into economic and political reform plans. In this paper, the proclaimed desire for decentralization in Peru's public administration is tested by reviewing the example of its agricultural policy and in particular its strategy with regard to public agricultural subsidies. The objectives of the paper are: (1) to illustrate the discrepancies between the theoretical objectives of decentralization and how it is implemented in practice; (2) to analyse the structure of Peru's agricultural support policies, evaluate the process of decentralization in this sector and subsequently identify possible problem areas and make policy recommendations; and (3) using the regionally differentiated public expenditures for the agricultural sector in the period from 1993 to 1998, to cross-check the lip-service paid to decentralizing agricultural policy in Peru.     

Croatia’s Dairy Sector—Can it Compete in the European Market?

Croatia is very close to meeting the requirements for becoming a member of the European Union (EU). Obviously, the agricultural sector and food processing chain are core issues within the negotiation process. This paper discusses the competitiveness of Croatia’s agro-food sector, specifically dairy products, within the EU-25 market. Two analytical methods are employed: (1) the domestic resource costs (DRC) and (2) the revealed comparative export advantage index (RXA). The DRC analysis is based on a 2007 survey of dairy farms. Primary data was complemented with trade figures from 2000 to 2007. The analyses indicate that Croatia’s dairy production is not competitive in its present structure. This lack of competitiveness at the farm level can be compensated somewhat at the processing level.     

The effects of acquisition and transaction shopping value perceptions on retail format usage intentions: an illustration from discount stores

Although it becomes increasingly important for food retailers to understand what motivates consumers to use one retail format rather than another, research on retail format choice is sparse compared to store choice. This study examines the extent to which perceived acquisition value of shopping at a retail format and perceived transaction value of shopping at one particular retail format outlet in a specific situation have an impact on retail format usage intentions. In addition, we study the influence of different situation-specific factors on perceived transaction value of shopping at one particular retail format outlet. Taking discount stores as an example, the developed conceptual model is empirically tested using a structural equation approach. The results show that perceived acquisition value of shopping at the retail format plays a dominant role in explaining retail format usage intentions, while perceived transaction value of shopping at one particular retail format outlet, which depends on certain situation-specific factors, is of lesser importance.