Entering Eastern European markets : Lessons from Kmart

Kmart completed its purchase of 13 stores in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in May/June 1992. Using interviews conducted in June 1993 with directors of Kmart-Czech Republic and Slovakia and a vice director of its major Prague competitor, Kotva, this paper analyzes the strategies Kmart is using to position itself in Eastern Europe for both retail sales and product acquisition and distribution. Four lessons to be learned from Kmart were identified: (1) internationalize what you do well; (2) know your customers by listening to them and adapting to their needs; (3) be flexible and change if a strategy does not work; and (4) balance short-and long-term gains.     

Hungary's meat price and trade policies : Conforming to some economic constraints of a socialist country

This paper analyses Hungary's price and trade policies for meat and livestock. Three policy constraints are discussed — the need to control consumer discontent, to provide employment, and to maintain close ties with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) and the Soviet Union. Of particular interest are Hungary's exports of meat rather than grain, and the impact of policies on large and small producers and on Hungary's dependence on the Soviet market.     

Cable and satellite TV in the UK and Europe: The emerging legal issues

The impact of satellite and cable TV on existing laws and regulatory frameworks will be considerable. This article reviews the impact on advertising, copyright protection, copyright licensing, programme content, rights of reception and distribution of television signals, and performers rights within the context of the UK, European and international contexts. Many problems exist and are unlikely to be resolved for some time.     

Do American and European Industrial Organization Economists Differ?

This paper compares results from two surveys among American and European industrial organisation (IO) economists on various IO and broader economic issues. Although differences between the two groups are generally rather small, some systematic differences seem to exist. These differences are more pronounced when judgments about the efficacy of government policies and the workings of the market are concerned than when judgments about methodology and the present and future state of the IO field are concerned. American IO economists tend to exhibit more confidence in the market's capability to allocate resources than their European counterparts.     

The Effect of Earnings Management on the Asymmetric Timeliness of Earnings

Abstract:   Is earnings management affecting (driving) the measures of earnings conservatism? Ball et al. (2000) point out that the asymmetry in the recognition of good and bad news in earnings (faster recognition of bad news: earnings conservatism) is more pronounced in common‐law than in code‐law based accounting regimes. However, comparative studies on earnings conservatism in Europe have failed to identify significant differences between common‐law and code‐law based countries. We argue that in code‐law based countries managers have incentives to reduce earnings consistently. This enhances the association between earnings and returns in bad news periods. We find that after controlling for discretionary accruals, the differential earnings response to bad news in Germany and France decreases significantly.     

Belarus, A Chinese Fort in Europe

＂In recent years, we＇ve found increasing interest from Chinese investors in the Belarus economy. Please let China know, Belarus is always ready to be a true friend to China. We have built a fort in Europe for China,＂ the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko told Zhou Xiaochuan, President of the Bank of China, during his visit to the capital of Minsk, on January 8th, he expressed his high praise and firm confidence in the development of Sino-Belarusian relations.     

GDP per capita or real wages? Making sense of conflicting views on pre-industrial Europe

This paper studies the apparent inconsistency between the evolution of GDP per capita and real wages in pre-industrial Europe. We show that these two measures will diverge when any of the three following factors are present: changes in income distribution, changes in labour supply per capita and changes in relative prices. We propose a methodology for measuring the effects of these three factors and apply it to the case of 18th century England. For this particular episode the gap between the growth of GDP per capita and real wages can be successfully explained and the main explanatory factor is changes in labour supply per capita. Some further conclusions are drawn from the experience of England during the 19th century and Europe during the early modern period.