Encouraging collaboration for the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale—Rethinking agri-environmental payments

In this viewpoint we draw on insights from participatory agri-environmental policy making, spatial planning and collaborative approaches to environmental management. We propose steps for planning, design and implementation of agri-environmental payment schemes that will encourage collaboration and co-ordinated actions at a landscape scale to contribute more effectively to the continued provision of ecosystem services.     

HRM in dynamic environments: Exploitative,exploratory, and ambidextrous HR architectures

Abstract

The current economic crisis has brought to the fore the need for firms to deal with ambiguity and complexity. Hence, firms need a specific balance between exploration and exploitation in order to keep pace with varying and changing environmental conditions. Hitherto, there is limited research that has examined the nexus of HR architectures, ambidexterity, and environmental dynamics. In this conceptual paper we ask: How do HR architectures serve as a means of balancing exploitative and exploratory learning in different dynamic environments? We explain how exploratory, exploitative, and ambidextrous HR architectures with their embedded HRM systems on the business unit level enable organizations to meet different environmental requirements. Thus, firms in which heterogeneous demands for flexibility and for innovation co-exist need to develop internally differentiated HR architectures. In particular, we elucidate how critical the organization’s ability is to connect different HRM systems to create an ambidextrous HR architecture to find an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation.     

The Interdependence of R&D Activity and Debt Financing of Young Firms

We investigate the interdependence of debt financing and R&D activities of young firms. Applying a bivariate Tobit model, we find that there is a positive interdependent relationship between the share of loan financing and R&D intensity. A higher share of loan financing allows for more R&D in young firms and, at the same time, a higher R&D intensity allows for a higher loan share. This result is mainly driven by start‐ups exhibiting high values of R&D intensity or leverage. Another remarkable result of our study is that the positive relationship between R&D and loan financing can only be detected if we consider that, first, the decisions on R&D and on loan financing are made simultaneously and, second, the decision on R&D impacts the decision on loan financing and vice versa.     

Der erste Eindruck zählt!? – Eine empirische Untersuchung von Ankereffekten bei der Vertrauensbildung in elektronischen Verhandlungen

The importance of electronic negotiations for developing and managing interdependent organizational relationships has increased significantly. Due to reduced cues in electronic negotiations interpersonal trust has become a crucial factor to overcome their limitations. Anchoring effects can set the course for trust building processes before any contact between negotiators occurred. So far, these effects have been analysed in face-to-face interactions. We could demonstrate anchoring effects in electronic interactions using internet-based negotiation simulations. We found that the participants quantified their trust level before and after the negotiation according to a priori information about their partners’ trustworthiness. Intuitive evaluations of the other’s trustworthiness seem to act as an anchor that can regulate ensuing perceptions and trust evaluations.     

Does Economics and Business Education Wash Away Moral Judgment Competence?

In view of the numerous accounting and corporate scandals associated with various forms of moral misconduct and the recent financial crisis, economics and business programs are often accused of actively contributing to the amoral decision making of their graduates. It is argued that theories and ideas taught at universities engender moral misbehavior among some managers, as these theories mainly focus on the primacy of profit-maximization and typically neglect the ethical and moral dimensions of decision making. To investigate this criticism, two overlapping effects must be disentangled: the self-selection effect and the treatment effect. Drawing on the concept of moral judgment competence, we empirically examine this question with a sample of 1773 bachelor’s and 501 master’s students. Our results reveal that there is neither a self-selection nor a treatment effect for economics and business studies. Moreover, our results indicate that—regardless of the course of studies—university education in general does not seem to foster students’ moral development.     

Does banking consolidation worsen firms’ access to credit? Evidence from the German economy

This paper deals with the question whether the ongoing process of banking consolidation, which can be observed all over the world, worsens SMEs’ access to credit. We focus in our empirical study on SMEs in Germany, a country where SMEs are the backbone of the economy. A negative trend in the provision with bank credit may thus adversely affect growth and employment. Based on a comprehensive dataset on German firms and banks we find—contrary to public fear—that the ongoing banking consolidation in Germany does not have a significant negative impact on the financing of German firms during the observation period from 1996 to 2002.     

Local environmental quality and life-satisfaction in Germany

Hitherto the task of valuing differences in environmental quality arising from air pollution and noise nuisance has been carried out mainly by using the hedonic price technique. This paper proposes a different approach to derive information on individual preferences for local environmental quality. It analyses data drawn from the German socio-economic panel in an attempt to explain differences in self-reported levels of well-being in terms of environmental quality. Mindful of existing research a large number of other explanatory variables are included to control for socio-demographic differences, economic circumstances as well as neighbourhood characteristics. Differences in local air quality and noise levels are measured by how much an individual feels affected by air pollution or noise exposure in their residential area. The evidence suggests that even when controlling for a range of other factors higher local air pollution and noise levels significantly diminish subjective well-being. But interestingly differences in perceived air and noise pollution are not capitalised into differences in house prices.     

Distributed Visual Language Environments for Cooperation and Learning: Applications and Intelligent Support

An increasing number of collaborative learning environments is based on shared workspace systems using two-dimensional graph-structured visual representations such as argumentation networks and concept maps. We propose an integrated framework that allows for flexibly specifying a wide range of visual languages and plugging in components for operational semantics, adequate feedback and intelligent support. The generic application CardBoard provides card-based user interaction and collaboration by means of different languages in shared workspaces. To enhance modifiability, the interfaces between the distributed heterogeneous system components, particularly between intelligent components and user interfaces, have been standardised.