Cross-Cultural Differences in Social Identity Formation through Travel Blogging

Blogs are an Internet application that continues to grow in popularity. Many blogs contain travel-related postings and, thus, are of importance for researchers and practitioners in the tourism field. Differences in blog use have been found across different cultures. This study seeks to test whether social identity theory can explain some of the differences in extent and type of blog use. A sample of 120 travel blogs written by Korean and U.S. bloggers about three different destinations (Paris, Hawaii, and Tokyo) was analyzed. The results show significant differences that fit the assumptions derived from social identity theory.     

Diabetes: Paradigmenwechsel im Disease Management

Das s?chsische Modell - Das von 2000 bis 2002 praktizierte S?chsische Diabetes-Betreuungsmodell war ein au?erordentlich wirksames Beispiel zur fl?chendeckenden Betreuung von Diabetikern. Zu diesem Schluss gelangten die 2008 international publizierten Evaluationsergebnisse. Wie hat es funktioniert und welche Erfahrungen sollten für künftige Versorgungsmodelle, die DMPs abl?sen k?nnten, genutzt werden?     

How Formal Control Influences Decision‐Making Clarity and Innovation Performance

Implementing formal planning instruments such as the stage‐and‐gate‐type system (SGS) and project management (PM) have long been seen as the key to new product development (NPD) success. They create the structure needed for managing NPD activities, supporting coordination among functional groups, reducing uncertainty and error, and assuring time and cost efficiency. But recent research presents ambiguous results, suggesting that SGS and PM as formal controls can also have a negative effect. Integrating ideas from three literatures—i.e., NPD management, organization control theory, and technical control theory—the present study assesses NPD programs in terms of three perspectives: (1) the formal control mechanisms used for managing NPD programs—specifically SGS, which is mainly seen as a higher organizational level approach used for guiding and implementing a portfolio of NPD projects, and PM, which is a precise formal control mechanism relevant for managing specific problems at a single project level; (2) the immediate outcome of the application of formal controls, i.e. decision‐making clarity (DMC); and (3) degree of NPD innovativeness, a key contingency hypothesized to impact the efficacy of formal controls. For the empirical analysis, data are collected through a survey of 162 corporate NPD programs (Austria and Denmark, manufactured goods and services) where a total of 1274 respondents provide information relevant to their position. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the relationships. Results indicate that the performance effect of NPD formal control is fully mediated by DMC. Further, of the six hypothesized outcome relationships, four are fully supported. Both SGS and PM are effective systems for managing NPD when degree of innovativeness is not taken into account. PM, however, loses its efficacy at higher degrees of NPD program innovativeness while SGS continues to work at achieving positive DMC at the radical end of the innovativeness spectrum. Analysis of interaction effects indicates that for more innovative NPD programs, best results are achieved when companies implement an interactive system of both SGS and PM, where the two systems complement each other.     

Market Vision and the Front End of NPD for Radical Innovation: The Impact of Moderating Effects

“Market vision” is a mental model that helps focus the organization on a new market application for an advanced technology during the fuzzy front end of the new product development process. Previous research demonstrates that firms involved in the development of radically new, high‐tech products need to develop a market visioning competence (MVC) in order to develop an effective market vision (MV), and these capabilities, in turn, have been found to have a positive effect on key aspects of the early performance (EP) of these firms—specifically, the ability to attract capital and early success with customers. Based on a major empirical study of the nanotechnology sector, the research described in this paper takes an important step forward by focusing on factors in both the external and internal environment of the firm, and their moderating impact on the paths that link MVC, MV, and EP. External structural factors relevant to the firm's competitive environment as well as internal factors, including firm resources, size, incumbency, and technology, are shown to have significant moderating effects both on the way in which MV unfolds and on its capacity for affecting positive returns for the firm when undertaking radical innovation. Five of seven hypotheses were supported by the research. Both level of incumbency (the extent to which the firm has taken part in previous generations of a given technology) and resource availability are shown to positively impact the link between MVC and MV. Also, appropriability (i.e., protection for innovations) and reputation of the firm were found to positively impact the path to EP. Finally, a low level of industry concentration—that is, a large number of small firms—were found to have a positive effect on the path to EP. In sum, the findings support the structure of the model and the majority of the hypothesized moderating relationships, suggesting important implications for management.     

Disagreement between rating agencies and bond opacity: A theoretical perspective

In this paper, we explicitly model a bond rating process under varying degrees of bond opacity and derive conditions under which disagreements between rating agencies (rating splits) can serve as a useful proxy for opacity in empirical analyses.     

Migration in the Baltic Sea Region in the Context of Demographic Change

Due to increasing life expectancies and low birth rates, the population will shrink, and its average age will increase in most of the regions in the Baltic Sea area during the next decades. Especially in the Baltic states, population decline is intensified by emigration of people. There are plenty of factors stimulating emigration from the eastern part of the Baltic Sea Region to Western countries, especially wage disparities and differing opportunities for finding a job in knowledge-intensive sectors. However, it can be expected that in the course of economic convergence, wage gaps and structural disparities will shrink in the Baltic Sea area. Nevertheless, this will take a longer time, making it necessary for countries to think about policy options suitable for reducing emigration. Among these, reinforcing structural change and improving overall living conditions are at the top of the agenda.     

Use of a Markov Model to Estimate Long-Term Insured Lives’ Mortality Risk Associated With BRCA1 and BRCA2 Gene Mutations

Abstract

There is uncertainty regarding the degree of insurance risk associated with BRCA1/2, the gene mutations associated with breast cancer. Most reports to date have been based on high-risk populations selected from families with multiple and/or early-onset cancers; more favorable data have been reported in studies without this selection bias.

This paper discusses use of a Markov model to estimate mortality risk associated with BRCA1/2 gene mutations in female life insurance applicants. The goal is to derive a range of risk estimates based on different assumptions of breast and ovarian cancer incidence. A particular strength of the model is that transition probabilities after cancer diagnosis vary with age and cancer stage, as do excess hazard rates.

Data calculated by the model indicate that no single mortality curve characterizes risk for all life insurance applicants with a BRCA1/2 mutation. Rather, mortality risk depends on breast and ovarian cancer incidence rates and subsequent mortality rates, and on the method used to deal with competing breast and ovarian cancer incidence and mortality rates. Further refinement of risk estimates will depend on better incidence data and on resolution of complex statistical problems, such as informative censoring.

Widespread use of genetic information by insurance consumers could have important economic implications. For companies that sell individually underwritten products, profitability might decrease. Consumers might find higher prices and reduced availability, with a corresponding decrease in quantity of insurance purchased. Insurance and consumer ramifications would vary by cover, with living-benefit products, such as critical-illness insurance, most adversely affected. Societal choices are limited. Given assumptions in the cited scenario, it is likely premiums would rise and quantity of insurance purchased would decrease even with no change in existing social policy; attempted legal or regulatory remedies would further accentuate price increases and reductions in quantity purchased.     

Catching Growth Determinants with the Adaptive Lasso

Abstract. This paper uses the adaptive Lasso estimator to determine variables important for economic growth. The adaptive Lasso estimator is a computationally very efficient procedure that simultaneously performs model selection and parameter estimation. The computational cost of this method is negligibly small compared with standard approaches in the growth regressions literature. We apply this method for a regional dataset for the European Union covering the 255 NUTS2 regions in the 27 member states over the period 1995–2005. The results suggest that initial GDP per capita (with an implied convergence speed of about 1.5% per annum), human capital (proxied by the shares of highly and medium educated in the working age population), structural labor market characteristics (the initial unemployment rate and the initial activity rate of the low educated) as well as being a capital region are important for economic growth.