The governance of privatized firms: authority,reposnisbility and disclosure1

In any market economy, a fundamental question is how to make management accountable to shareholders and also to the requirements of law. This paper raises selective, critical issues of corporate governance that are particularly relevant to problems of the accountability of boards of directors to their shareholders in transition economies. These issues include the separation of ownership and control and the duties of directors; the need for disclosure given that separation; and the corporate charter as a vehicle for the direct participation of shareholders in governance. The paper suggests that one of the best models of corporate governance that transition economies can use is that employed by the leveraged-buyout (LBO) and venture capital funds operating in the West. It argues that weaknesses in corporate governance may undermine the entire privatization process. Economics and law are too often seen as separate disciplines. In reality, they come together in transition economies perhaps with greater impact than elsewhere.     

Unternehmungskooperation entlang der Wertschöpfungskette — Implikationen für das Marketing von Automobilherstellern

Am Beispiel von Toyota und der Automobilindustrie allgemein wird in diesem Beitrag gezeigt, dass die zunehmende partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit zwischen einem Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) und seinen Systemlieferanten sich derzeit zwar vorrangig auf die Bereiche F&E, Produktion und Logistik konzentriert, aber bedeutsame Einflüsse auf das Marketing und insbesondere die Markenpolitik des OEMs hat.     

Macht es einen Unterschied? Ein ökonomischer Blick auf die Geschlechtlichkeit von Sprache

Experimental evidence in the fields of linguistics and psychology supports the hypothesis that gendered language, such as omitting the female genus, is attended by a perception bias and may thereby foster the cognitive exclusion of women. Economic approaches have furthermore encountered a correlation between the gender intensity of language and individual behaviour. The full extent of the bias and its related undesirable social consequences, for instance on occupational gender segregation or gender pay gaps, remain unknown. This paper points out research gaps, methodological challenges and the significance of gendered language in economics.     

Regional influences on the prevalence of family versus non-family start-ups

We integrate insights from family business and organizational ecology into the entrepreneurship field by constructing a theoretical framework that explains how the regional context impacts family and non-family start-ups in differing ways. Regional count data models based on a rich longitudinal dataset reveal that while economic factors such as population size and growth in regions are primarily associated with the number of non-family start-ups, factors related to regional embeddedness, such as pre-existing small family businesses as well as favorable community attitudes toward small businesses, are more strongly associated with the number of family start-ups. Our research provides support for the notion that ‘the regional context’ is an important yet under-theorized area for research on venture creation and family business.     

Explaining co-movements between equity and CDS bid-ask spreads

In this paper I show that the co-movements between bid-ask spreads of equities and credit default swaps vary over time and increase over crisis periods. The co-movements are strongly related to systematic risk factors and to the theoretical debt-to-equity hedge ratio. I document that hedging and asymmetric information, besides higher funding costs and market volatility risk, are driving factors of the commonality and are significantly priced in CDS bid-ask spreads.     

The Impact of Sexual Harassment Policy in the Dutch Police Force

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of sexual harassment policy in the Dutch Police Force. Using a survey, sexual harassment was measured in 2000 and again in 2006 and we tested whether sexual harassment is associated with the comprehensiveness of policies. To be able to identify divisions with comprehensive policies, we interviewed 29 key persons in semi-structured interviews. It appeared that between 2000 and 2006 sexual harassment did not decrease: neither for women nor for men. Furthermore, the risk of sexual harassment was not lower in divisions that implemented comprehensive policies than in divisions with less comprehensive policies. The results suggest that sexual harassment is a workplace hazard that is very difficult to prevent in male dominated workplaces and implementing a comprehensive policy is not sufficient to prevent this workplace hazard.     

Öffentliche Meinung als Online-Diskurs – ein neuer empirischer Zugang

The paper introduces a new empirical approach for measuring public opinion in the Internet: In a first step, all web pages containing relevant messages dealing with a specific issue are retrieved with a search engine. The pages are then content-analyzed in a second step. To answer the theoretical question of which kind of public opinion is registered by applying this method, the two basic paradigms of public opinion, which have hardly ever been connected so far, are discussed: public opinion as discourse and public opinion as measured by surveys. For the first time, both paradigms can be empirically compared by using a survey on the one hand, and the search engine based content analysis of web pages on the other. We conducted such a comparison for the issue of a smoking ban in restaurants, which was heavily discussed in Germany in 2007. The results reveal some fascinating parallels between both data sets and some differences, which are quite well in line with the theoretical assumptions. The paper finishes with some considerations on the theoretical and empirical capabilities of the approach.     

Preference Utilisation and Tariff Reduction in EU Imports from ACP Countries

Despite the long relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries aimed at encouraging their exports while stimulating growth and investment, the ACP states still face difficulties in integrating into the world economy. This paper examines the non‐least developed ACP countries preferential trade with the EU using data on EU member states’ imports eligible for preferences under the Cotonou agreement for the period 2001 at the 8‐digit level. Using data on tariffs and preferential quota applicable on each 8‐digit product for the year 2001 ad‐valorem tariff rates were calculated. The paper also investigates the existence of a threshold in the offered duty reduction under which traders have no incentives to ask for preferences since the costs of obtaining these exceeds their benefits. Our results showed that the higher the value of preferences offered, the higher the probability that preferences are requested. Using endogenous threshold estimation techniques we also provided evidence that there exists a minimum value of preferences needed for traders to request preferences. More specifically, if the difference between preferential and third country tariff rates are lower than 4 per cent, there are no incentives for traders to request preferences since the costs of obtaining the preferences are expected to be higher than the benefits from obtaining the preferences. Our results additionally indicate that country specificities also play an important role in the decision whether requesting preferences or not and how much to import.