Knowledge Intensive, Technical and Other Services: Patterns of Competitiveness and Innovation Compared

Drawing on empirical evidence from a wide-scale survey, this paper examines patterns of innovation and sources of competitiveness amongst German service firms. The purpose is to investigate how these patterns differ across services, and in particular how knowledge intensive and technical service firms differ from services more generally. The analysis finds a high degree of customization in the output of service firms, especially amongst the knowledge intensive and technical service firms, the innovation activities of which are also relatively more oriented to product innovation. Knowledge intensive and technical service firms also invest more heavily in information communication technologies, whilst other services invest heavily in non-ICTs. Thus significant diversity is found between the groups of firms examined, but much diversity also exists within the groups. A serious challenge for research on services is to improve our understanding of this diversity.     

Konjunkturschlaglicht: Robuste Konjunktur in Tschechien

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Individualism–collectivism and the role of goal orientation in organizational training

This research examines how individualism–collectivism and goal orientation impact training effectiveness through study of an internationally diverse sample of engineers who were undergoing technical training. In light of contemporary views of individualism–collectivism, we argue that collectivism will moderate the influence of learning and performance goal orientations on training by shaping the impact of one's perceived social context on existing performance concerns and goals. Using a sample from a large multinational corporation, we examined the effects of individualism–collectivism and goal orientation on training transfer intentions, motivation to learn, and test performance. Mixed support for our hypotheses was found. Collectivists were found to exhibit higher levels of training transfer intentions and motivation to learn. However, when collectivism was combined with a performance goal orientation, its effects on training outcomes were diminished. Applications for organizations and future extensions of the present research are discussed.     

The impact of extreme weather events on budget balances

This paper explores implications of climate change for fiscal policy by assessing the impact of large scale extreme weather events on changes in public budgets. We apply alternative measures for large scale extreme weather events and conclude that the budgetary impact of such events ranges between 0.23% and 1.4% of GDP depending on the country group. Developing countries face a much larger effect on changes in budget balances following an extreme weather event than advanced economies. Based on these findings, our policy conclusions point to the enhanced need to reach and maintain sound fiscal positions given that climate change is expected to cause an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.     

Taking a hit to save the world? Employee participation in a corporate social initiative

Research Summary: Companies often justify their corporate social initiatives by citing talent management benefits. We examine the extent of, and the reasons for, employee interest in such an initiative in a global management consulting firm. We find a large fraction of employees to be interested in participation in the initiative even when participation requires a personal sacrifice in the form of a salary cut. However, this interest is driven not just by prosocial motivation: Expectations regarding private benefits, such as improved career prospects from new skills acquired, also play a role. Considerations of social impact and private benefits are equally salient when no salary cut is required, but private considerations become more prominent when participating employees are asked to accept a salary cut. Managerial Summary: Many companies are moving from stand‐alone corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects to social initiatives integrated into strategy. Providing employees with the opportunity to participate in such initiatives is said to help attract, motivate and retain talent. In this study, carried out in collaboration with a management consulting firm, we examine how much and why employees value participation in a corporate social initiative. Based on interviews and survey data, we find that employees are not only interested in, but often even willing to accept, a temporary salary cut for the opportunity. However, altruistic motivation is not the only driver of this interest: Employees also expect and value the possibility that the experience would lead to private benefits, such as developing skills likely to enhance their career prospects.     

»Tais-toi et sois belle!« 20 Jahre Geschlechterinszenierung in fünf westdeutschen Printmedien

A longitudinal content analysis of five West German print media from 1976 to 1996 investigates the two strategies of presenting women often found in electronic mass media: annihilation and trivialization. Working with over 20 categories, the stories of two news magazines (〉Stern〈, 〉Spiegel〈) and three daily newspapers (〉Frankfurter Rundschau〈, 〉Welt〈, 〉Neue Westfälische〈) were analysed for the years 1976, 1983, 1986, 1993, 1996, using parallel examinations of articles about women and about men. While the latter outnumber the former by 2:1 to 6:1, the stories about women thematically appear to belong to the popular and entertaining sectors. The two common strategies — underrepresentation and trivialization of women — do not change much over the time investigated — despite the rapid development of a women’s movement and a profound emancipation of gender relations in the western world in this period. Nonetheless the two strategies are accentuated by the five papers’ quantitative and qualitative differences in handling them.