Optimal Substantive Standards for Competition Authorities

Recent years have witnessed a significant resurgence in the debate concerning the optimal substantive standard to be used in the enforcement of competition law. One of the arguments proposed for using a Consumer Surplus standard, is that, when firms can choose from a number of mutually exclusive actions, it may induce firms to adopt actions that lead to a higher level of total welfare than would a Total Welfare standard. This important basic insight, initially due to Lyons (2002), has been discussed and extended in the recent literature always in the context of mergers. In this paper we generalise and re-examine this argument for any potentially anti-competitive action – we have in particular in mind actions often challenged as attempted monopolisation (abuse of dominance) or vertical restraints, taken by firms in different environments. We show that in the absence of any efficiencies the two standards lead to exactly the same outcomes but a choice between them becomes important in the presence of efficiencies. With positive marginal-cost reducing efficiencies we confirm the presence of what we term a Lyons effect in our more general setting. We then examine how the choice of standard depends on a number of relevant parameters. Most important in terms of their policy implications are the results that the Consumer Surplus standard will be the optimal choice, when the extant market power is significant, when the size of marginal cost-reducing efficiency effects is large and when the difference in the market power raising effects of mutually exclusive actions is large. These results are important since they suggest that in all cases where significant extant market power is a prerequisite for the enforcement of Competition Law it is best to use a Consumer Surplus standard.     

Support for part-time work as a channel to female employment: the moderating effects of national gender empowerment and labour market conditions

Using a multi-source data set collected across eight European countries, this article examines how characteristics of both the organizational environment and the larger national context relate to the organizational-level variable of women's employment. Our study revealed that, in countries that were high in gender empowerment measure (GEM), establishments that were more supportive of part-time work options also employed a higher proportion of women. One reason for this relationship may be that in high-GEM countries offering part-time employment is a way for an organization to signal its support for work–life balance, something that makes it more attractive to women. In countries with low GEM, an establishment's greater support for part-time work was associated with employing a greater proportion of women only when establishments experienced recruitment difficulties. Key differences in gender empowerment between countries are discussed.     

Do board directors affect the export propensity and export performance of Korean firms? A resource dependence perspective

Using the Heckman two-stage method, this study empirically investigates whether board directors’ work experience in government and multinational corporations (MNCs), as well as the proportion of outside directors affects export propensity and export performance based on a sample of Korean firms. We find that the Korean firms with former government officials on the board are more likely to engage in exporting, although there is no empirical evidence supporting export performance. The findings also show that firms with former MNC employees on the board demonstrate higher levels of export propensity and export performance. Similarly, firms with a higher proportion of outside directors exhibit a higher level of export propensity and export performance. These findings highlight the importance of the board of directors in Korean firms’ first stage of internationalization and provide new insights into which type of board members can benefit their firms in terms of export propensity and export performance.     

Women's Work and Agency in GPNS during Economic Crises: The Case of the Greek Table Grapes Export Sector

The expansion of global production networks (GPNs) has shifted women’s roles in agriculture worldwide. Financial and economic crises have intensified commercial pressures, leading to precariousness in women’s work. This has been magnified by government austerity measures. This article combines the GPN and feminist political economy literatures to investigate how the tensions between commercial pressures and gender relations and institutions in a time of economic crisis drive precariousness in women’s work and the implications for women’s adaptive agency. These questions are explored through the case of the table grapes export sector in Greece. The study finds that women farmworkers went back to waged and/or unwaged work in table grapes, but the need for their skilled work enabled them to retain some agency, even as unwaged laborers.     

Articulating the Meanings of Collective Experiences of Ethical Consumption

In the context of the growing popularity of the ethical consumer movement and the appearance of different types of ethical collective communities, the current article explores the meanings drawn from the participation in Responsible Consumption Cooperatives. In existing research, the overriding focus has been on examining individual ethical consumer behaviour at the expense of advancing our understanding of how ethical consumers behave collectively. Hence, this article examines the meanings derived from participating in ethical consumer groups. A qualitative multi-method approach is adopted to increase the validity of findings. This includes focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation and document analysis. Results show that ethical consumption in a group project offers a greater sense of effectiveness and control when compared to individual actions. Furthermore, these groups facilitate the creation of a social circle and encourage new learning as a result of the social interaction that takes place in the ethical community of the cooperative.     

Still feeling employable with growing age? Exploring the moderating effects of developmental HR practices and country-level unemployment rates in the age – employability relationship

Abstract

A compelling issue for organizations and societies at large is to ensure external employability of the workforce across workers’ entire work-life span. Using the frameworks of age norms, stereotyping and age meta-stereotypes, we investigate whether (a) age is negatively related to perceived external employability; and (b) the age-employability link is moderated by HR developmental practices (HRDPs) and unemployment rate. We argue that being aware of stereotypes and age norms in organizations, and holding also meta-stereotypes about their group, older workers perceive themselves as less externally employable. However, the context –HRDPs that one has experienced, and the country unemployment rate – would act as buffers. Using data from a large-scale survey from over 9000 individuals in 30 institutionally diverse countries, we found that the negative relationship between age and perceived external employability was significant across all countries. In addition, at the individual level, we found that HRDPs acted as a buffer for this negative relationship, such that the effect was less pronounced for individuals who have experienced more HRDPs during their working life. At the country level, the hypothesized moderating effect of unemployment rate was not observed. Limitations, future research directions, as well as practical implications of the study are discussed.     

The Impact of Carbon Performance on Climate Change Disclosure

In the light of the significant role of environmental accounting in sustainable development, this study examines whether climate change disclosure reflects a firm's environmental performance. The novelty of the study stands on the approaches adopted to describe environmental performance. The first approach concerns performance in terms of output, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, while the second one is based on environmental intention of mitigating climate change, including climate change policy and emission reduction initiatives. The Climate Performance Leadership Index is employed as a measure for climate change disclosure level, incorporating initiatives contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation and transparency. Ordered logit regression is the appropriate methodology for the data employed concerning firms listed on FTSE 350. According to our findings, environmental performance for both adopted approaches entails a positive effect on climate change disclosure, a result that is consistent with voluntary disclosure theory. It is inferred that firms cannot manipulate their information reflecting their actual environmental performance and adopting a forthright and factual attitude towards sustainable development. Finally, findings provide an insight into managers' strategic behavior towards climate change issues. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Analysis of rural development policy networks in Greece: Is LEADER really different?

This paper presents an application of quantitative network analysis. It examines rural development projects with respect to their structural and politico-administrative dimensions, including power relations, conflicts, multifunctionality and intersectorality. The network structures and relations of comparable IPRD and LEADER projects are analyzed. The LEADER project network is shown to be less hierarchical than the IPRD project network, although the LEADER network is not characterized by significantly simpler procedures or clearer policy content than the IPRD network. Information and contact are significantly greater, and conflict density is significantly lower in the LEADER network. Administrative intersectorality is higher in the IPRD project, while the multidisciplinarity and the multifunctionality are higher in the LEADER project. However, the LEADER project is not perceived as delivering its objectives to a greater extent than the IPRD project. The implications for process-oriented evaluation are discussed.     

Are Consumers International? A Study of CSR,Cross-Border Shopping,Commitment and Purchase Intent among Online Consumers

The purpose of this study is to investigate purchase intent in online marketplaces as an international phenomenon. A profile of the international online consumer is established, taking into account factors such as indicators of socio-economic development of their home countries. A structural model is analyzed using LISREL, testing the importance of CSR, the propensity to buy from international online vendors and commitment with purchase intent as the dependent variable. A cross-national dataset of 804 respondents from 57 countries is analyzed, showing that CSR activities alone do not increase purchasing intent, but they do when mediated by commitment.     

UK External Imbalances and the Sterling: Are they on a Sustainable Path?

An updated version of Krugman’s 1993 MMF framework is used to consider the implications of buoyant domestic demand for the real exchange rate and debt dynamics. The updating includes a Taylor rule for monetary policy and explicit treatment of external assets and liabilities. In response to an exogenous rise in the aggregate demand, short-run appreciation of the real exchange rate is followed by a prolonged decline as external debt accumulates and net wealth deteriorates. Whether in equilibrium the real exchange rate is stronger or weaker depends crucially on a comparison of real interest rates and the growth rate. If the domestic growth rate is higher than global real interest rates, the currency may strengthen in the long run despite the deterioration of net external assets. To see whether the strength of sterling is sustainable, the analysis is briefly calibrated to UK data over the last decade. Blanchard et al. (The US current account and the dollar. CEPR DP no 4888, 2005) suggest that international liabilities to be treated as imperfect substitutes: so we check to see how this would affect our results.