On the different “worlds” of intra-organizational knowledge management: Understanding idiosyncratic variation in MNC cross-site knowledge-sharing practices

This qualitative field study investigated cross-site knowledge sharing in a small sample of multinational corporations in three different MNC business contexts (global, multidomestic, transnational). The results disclose heterogeneous “worlds” of MNC knowledge sharing, ultimately raising the question as to whether the whole concept of MNC knowledge sharing covers a sufficiently unitary phenomenon to be meaningful. We derive a non-exhaustive typology of MNC knowledge-sharing practices: self-organizing knowledge sharing, technocratic knowledge sharing, and best practice knowledge sharing. Despite its limitations, this typology helps to elucidate a number of issues, including the latent conflict between two disparate theories of MNC knowledge sharing, namely “sender–receiver” and “social learning” theories (Noorderhaven & Harzing, 2009). More generally, we develop the term “knowledge contextualization” to highlight the way that firm-specific organizational features pre-define which knowledge is considered to be of special relevance for intra-organizational sharing.     

Präsidentschaftswahl zeigt Frankreichs Spaltung

French presidential elections 2022 have significantly strengthened anti-EU populists. Traditional mainstream centrists are not among the big three election winners, while far-right Marine Le Pen deftly addressed the plight of the disengaged. The country’s rural-urban divide masks significant differences in voting motives; Paris is a stark outlier. Unemployment rates, low skills, and car dependency fuel Le Pen’s support, as well as xenophobia. The province has fought back against neglect by electing populists. It is doubtful whether place-based policies will solve the structural cause of the populist tendency by the next presidential election in five years.

     

Water Management,Rainwater Harvesting and Predictive Variables in Rural Households

Water management in rural domestic households plays an important role in reducing water-related health risks. This study was conducted to examine the relationships between the dependent variable (rural domestic rainwater management) and the independent predictive variables (personal characteristics, tank size, years of water harvest, rainwater harvesting associations, usage instructions including water borne health risk, and tank operation and maintenance) in Uganda. Logistic regression techniques were used on a random sample of 301 respondents to ascertain the influence of predictive variables on rural domestic rainwater management. Analyses of the hypothesised relationship revealed three statistically significant results: years of water harvest, rainwater harvesting associations and usage instructions. Overall, the findings suggest that consideration of usage instructions including waterborne health risks, years of harvest, and local water associations, will improve domestic water management, in combination with progressive measures focused on water quality and quantity. Moreover, medical expenses and time spent in hospitals or health dispensaries will be minimised and saved through utilisation of usage instructions. Experienced harvesting households, those with few years of harvest, and non participants as well in local water associations will easily enrich knowledge of how to minimise contracting water-related diseases.     

The diminution of the physical stature of the English male population in the eighteenth century

We re-estimate the height of Englishmen using the sample originally collected by Roderick Floud. We merge the samples from the army and the Royal Marines by weighting the observations in order to reflect the proportions of servicemen in the two branches of the military. In addition to truncated regression, we use cubic spline functions in order to estimate the trend in the physical stature of Englishmen. The results indicate that a very rapid decline in height of c. 1.6 cm per decade accompanied the onset of the industrial and demographic revolutions, implying that the nutritional status of the population deteriorated considerably as it throughout the European Continent.     

Delegation and incentives

This article analyzes the relation between authority and incentives. It extends the standard principal‐agent model by a project selection stage in which the principal can either delegate the choice of project to the agent or keep the authority. The agent's subsequent choice of effort depends both on monetary incentives and the selected project. We find that the consideration of effort incentives makes the principal less likely to delegate the authority over projects to the agent. In fact, if the agent is protected by limited liability, delegation is never optimal.     

Exports and Productivity Growth: First Evidence from a Continuous Treatment Approach

A recent survey of 54 micro-econometric studies reveals that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. However, previous empirical studies show that exporting does not necessarily improve productivity. One possible reason for this result is that most previous studies are restricted to analysing the relationship between a firm’s export status and the growth of its labour productivity, using the firms’ export status as a binary treatment variable and comparing the performance of exporting and non-exporting firms. In this paper, we apply the newly developed generalised propensity score (GPS) methodology that allows for continuous treatment, that is, different levels of the firms’ export activities. Using the GPS method and a large panel data set for German manufacturing firms, we estimate the relationship between a firm’s export-sales ratio and its labour productivity growth rate. We find that there is a causal effect of firms’ export activities on labour productivity growth. However, exporting improves labour productivity growth only within a sub-interval of the range of firms’ export-sales ratios. JEL no.  F14, F23, L60     

Households’ foreign currency borrowing in Central and Eastern Europe

Foreign currency loans represent an important feature of recent financial developments in CEECs. This might pose a serious challenge for macroeconomic stability. Against this background, we study the determinants of foreign currency loans of households, using data on the behavior of households in nine CEECs. Our results reveal that foreign currency loans are driven by households’ lack of trust in the stability of the local currency and in domestic financial institutions. Moreover, special factors including remittances and expectations of euro adoption play an important role in selected regions. The financial crisis reduced foreign currency borrowing, but there is some indication this effect might be only temporary.     

Die Agenda — ein Konstrukt des Rezipienten?

The objective of this study is to integrate schema theory into the agenda-setting model. We examined the influence of cognitive schemas on the perception of political issues presented in the media. We used a multi-method-design to scrutinize 25 young adults’ perception of the television debates between chancellor Schröder and his challenger during the 2002 German election campaign. Before the debates took place, participants were interviewed, using a standardized questionnaire. After having watched the debates in familiar surroundings, participants were asked to reproduce the discussed issues by a non-standardized, open questionnaire. Additionally, the debates were analyzed and the issues discussed were ranked. Results indicate that recipients pay more attention to political issues already clearly anchored in their issue schemas, and remember those issues better than others. Our results underline that a further inclusion of schema theory into the agenda-setting model is necessary to better reconstruct the process of political information processing.