Online representations of RVing neo-tribes in the USA and Australia

Road trips in recreational vehicles (RVs) are popular ways to experience freedom, warmer climates and flexibility in the USA as well as Australia. Ownership of such vehicles is increasing in both markets. Nevertheless, very little is known about the individuals who engage in RVing activities and about the neo-tribes that they form and organise through clubs. Also, cross-regional comparisons of RVers are currently missing from the literature. This article conducted analyses of the text (words and images) of websites belonging to two RV clubs in the USA and two clubs in Australia as well as of the websites of the countries' respective RV advocacy groups. The goal was to examine the specific neo-tribes as they were represented on these websites. The results revealed similarities but also clear differences, with the USA RV clubs appearing to be much more focussed on delivering the defining aspects of neo-tribes, such as fellowship, organisation of online scenes, and the facilitation of an RVing lifestyle.     

The impact of coffee certification on small‐scale producers’ livelihoods: a case study from the Jimma Zone,Ethiopia

What is the impact of product certification on small‐scale farmers’ livelihoods? To what extent does the participation of Ethiopian small‐scale coffee farmers in certified local cooperative structures improve their socioeconomic situation? To answer these questions, this article employs household data of 249 coffee farmers from six different cooperatives collected in the Jimma zone of Southwestern Ethiopia in 2009. Findings show that the certification of coffee cooperatives has in total a low impact on small‐scale coffee producers’ livelihoods mainly due to (1) low productivity, (2) insignificant price premium, and (3) poor access to credit and information from the cooperative. Differences in production and organizational capacities between the local cooperatives are mirrored in the extent of the certification benefits for the smallholders. “Good” cooperatives have reaped the benefits of certification, whereas “bad” ones did not fare well. In this regard the “cooperative effect” overlies the “certification effect.”     

Neue Geldpolitik der Europäischen Zentralbank?

Im Zuge der Griechenlandkrise hat die EZB zu unkonventionellen Ma?nahmen gegriffen: Sie akzeptiert Wertpapiere mit geringem Qualit?tsniveau als Sicherheiten und kauft Staatsanleihen. Dies l?sst befürchten, dass die EZB Reputation verliert und Moral-Hazard-Probleme entstehen. Die Liquidit?tssteuerung w?hrend der Krise war eine gro?e Herausforderung für die Zentralbanken, die m?glicherweise die Bedeutung der externen Kommunikation untersch?tzen. Der liberalisierte Ordnungsrahmen für die Finanzm?rkte hat es ihnen allerdings schwerer gemacht hat, eine wirksame Geldpolitik zu betreiben.     

Diabetes: Paradigmenwechsel im Disease Management

Das s?chsische Modell - Das von 2000 bis 2002 praktizierte S?chsische Diabetes-Betreuungsmodell war ein au?erordentlich wirksames Beispiel zur fl?chendeckenden Betreuung von Diabetikern. Zu diesem Schluss gelangten die 2008 international publizierten Evaluationsergebnisse. Wie hat es funktioniert und welche Erfahrungen sollten für künftige Versorgungsmodelle, die DMPs abl?sen k?nnten, genutzt werden?     

Vom ?Alles-oder-Nichts-Prinzip“ zur Quotelung der Versicherungsleistung – Rechtsvergleichende überlegungen zur Reform des Versicherungsvertragsrechts in der Schweiz und in Deutschland

The reform of the German Insurance Contract Law (??d-VVG??) and the ongoing revision of the Swiss Insurance Contract Law (??ch-VVG??) show numerous parallels, driven by the aim of policyholder-/consumer-protection. This article is exclusively about the parallel tendency in both laws largely to abolish the ??All or nothing?? rule ??Alles-oder-Nichts-Prinzip?? (i.e., the principle according to which, the insurer is either obliged to pay the full amount insured or is fully relieved from its payment obligation) and to replace it instead with a system of the proportionate reduction of insurance benefits. The abolishment of the ??Alles-oder-Nichts-Prinzip?? affects the legal consequences of (1)??in Germany??the causation of the insured event (2)?the violation of contractual obligations, (3)?increase of the hazards and (4)??in Switzerland??the violation of pre-contractual disclosure obligations. The article will show that, despite this parallel tendency, both systems continue to have considerable differences in how they apply and will apply the proportionate reduction of insurance benefits.     

Financial expertise of directors

We analyze how directors with financial expertise affect corporate decisions. Using a novel panel data set, we find that financial experts exert significant influence, though not necessarily in the interest of shareholders. When commercial bankers join boards, external funding increases and investment-cash flow sensitivity decreases. However, the increased financing flows to firms with good credit but poor investment opportunities. Similarly, investment bankers on boards are associated with larger bond issues but worse acquisitions. We find little evidence that financial experts affect compensation policy. The results suggest that increasing financial expertise on boards may not benefit shareholders if conflicting interests (e.g., bank profits) are neglected.     

When redistribution makes personalized pricing of externalities useless

We consider a standard optimal taxation framework in which consumers' preferences are separable in consumption and labor and identical over consumption, but are affected by consumption externalities. For every nonlinear, income-dependent pricing of goods there is a linear pricing scheme, combined with an adjusted income tax schedule, that leaves all consumers equally well-off and weakly increases the government's budget. The result depends on whether a linear pricing scheme exists that keeps the aggregate amount of consumption at its initial level observed under nonlinear pricing. We provide sufficient conditions for the assumption to hold. If adjusting the income tax rate is not available, personalized prices for an externality can enhance social welfare if they are redistributive, that is, favor consumers with a larger marginal social value of income.     

Market Vision and Market Visioning Competence: Impact on Early Performance for Radically New,High‐Tech Products*

Having the “right” market vision (MV) in new product scenarios involving high degrees of uncertainty has been shown to help firms achieve a significant competitive advantage, which can ultimately lead to superior financial results. Despite today's increased rate of radical innovation, and hence the importance of effective vision, relatively little research has been undertaken to improve our understanding of this phenomenon. The exploratory and empirical investigation undertaken herewith responds to this research gap by focusing on MV and its precursor, market visioning competence (MVC), for radically new, high‐tech products. MV is a clear and specific mental model/image that organizational members have of a desired and important product‐market for a new advanced technology, and MVC is a set of individual and organizational capabilities that enable the linking of advanced technologies to a future market opportunity. Based on samples of high‐tech firms involved in early technology developments, the measurement study indicates that five factors comprise MV (i.e., clarity, magnetism, specificity, form, and scope) and that four factors underlie MVC (i.e., networking, idea driving, proactive market orientation, and market learning tools). Structural equation modeling is used to demonstrate that MVC significantly and positively impacts MV and that each of these constructs significantly and positively influences certain aspects of early performance (EP) in new product development. This is the first empirical study to develop a comprehensive set of scales to measure these constructs and then to combine them in a model by which to examine their interrelationships.     

Success and Failure in New Industrial Services

The critical role of innovation has long been recognized in physical goods; however, the development of innovative services has received much less attention. The research described here reports on an early major study of success and failure in new industrial services. Building on her integration of two literatures on new product innovation and services marketing, Ulrike de Brentani reports how companies measure new service performance and the factors which are associated with success. She reports that new industrial services share some important success factors with physical goods, such as the firm's market orientation, a formal service development process, project synergy and a truly superior new service offering. Yet she finds that firms must adjust their approach to the distinctive character of services, including customer perceptions of service quality, features that successfully differentiate services in competitive terms and cost reduction.     

Kohleausstieg 2030 unter neuen Vorzeichen

Wirtschaftsdienst - Der russische Angriff auf die Ukraine und die Abhängigkeit der deutschen Energiewirtschaft von russischem Gas führen aktuell zu einer sehr angespannten...