Customer preferences for customized household furniture

In the context of market globalization, furniture manufacturers attempt to differentiate their products to attain competitive advantages. Mass customization is one strategy enabling such differentiation. This study measured, through a choice-based conjoint analysis, the value that US American consumers assign to the availability of customization when buying furniture. Roughly 50% of consumers’ product choice is driven by price, 20% by product customization, 20% by delivery time, and 10% by the time needed to customize the product. Thus, while there is a customer segment driven by price, there also is a segment, consisting mainly of females, that values product customization.     

The intercultural communication motivation scale: An instrument to assess motivational training needs of candidates for international assignments

The Intercultural Communication Motivation Scale (ICMS) is a tool to assess the intercultural communication motivation of candidates for international assignments. The ICMS performed well in four studies conducted with undergraduate students in New Zealand, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany. Generally showing a stable fi ve‐factor structure, high test‐retest correlations, very high Cronbach's alphas, and almost no social desirability bias in self and peer evaluations, the ICMS is sensitive enough to detect test‐retest differences. Thus, socially responsible strategic international HR programs can use this scale to reliably evaluate employees and their families for specifi c international locations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Korruption in Deutschland: Reformmaßnahmen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Public research intensity and the structure of German R&D networks: a comparison of 10 technologies

A rich literature has emerged that analyzes the emergence of inter-organizational networks. However, little is still known about how and why the (global) structures of such networks differ between technologies. Based on a rich database covering subsidized R&D cooperation in Germany, we compare cooperation networks of 10 distinct technologies. A particular focus is hereby on the existence of systematic differences between networks that are dominated by firms and those that primarily connect public research organizations. Among others, we find that the first tend to be larger and less dense with big firms being the most central organizations. In comparison, networks dominated by public actors are stronger centralized and involve more isolates.     

Are interest rates too low? Empirical evidence and implications for German life insurers

The current financial crisis has reduced government bond yields in Germany, the U.S., the UK and other countries. Low interest rates do create some problems for the European insurance industry. Especially life insurers seem to face some difficulties. The empirical results reported in this paper give support to the point of view that the relationship among German long-term interest rates, consumer price inflation and industrial production has changed significantly in the year 2009. Turning to the important question under which circumstances an increase to interest rates is likely to occur the empirical evidence reported in this paper does indicate that higher inflation rates should be a cause for rising bond yields.     

Modeling of Income and Indicators of Poverty and Social Exclusion Using the Generalized Beta Distribution of the Second Kind

There are three reasons why estimation of parametric income distributions may be useful when empirical data and estimators are available: to stabilize estimation; to gain insight into the relationships between the characteristics of the theoretical distribution and a set of indicators, e.g. by sensitivity plots; and to deduce the whole distribution from known empirical indicators, when the raw data are not available. The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU‐SILC) survey is used to address these issues. In order to model the income distribution, we consider the generalized beta distribution of the second kind (GB2). A pseudo‐likelihood approach for fitting the distribution is considered, which takes into account the design features of the EU‐SILC survey. An ad‐hoc procedure for robustification of the sampling weights, which improves estimation, is presented. This method is compared to a non‐linear fit from the indicators. Variance estimation within a complex survey setting of the maximum pseudo‐likelihood estimates is done by linearization (a sandwich variance estimator), and a simplified formula for the sandwich variance, which accounts for clustering, is given. Performance of the fit and estimated indicators is evaluated graphically and numerically.