Luxury products for the circular economy? A case study of Bang & Olufsen

This paper examines whether luxury products can support a circular economy. This is done through a literature review of luxury products and the links to circular economy, as well as a case study of Bang & Olufsen (B&O). The literature review revealed links between some of the core characteristics of luxury products and the circular economy. This included aspects such as the high quality, durability, service schemes, extended warranties, and large aftermarkets. The case study supports the links between the inner circles in the circular economy (maintenance, repair, and reuse) and some of the core characteristics of luxury products. B&O produces products with a long lifespan, has extended warranties, repair and service schemes, spare part availability for 8 years, an aftermarket, and leasing schemes. B&O also does reconditioning of components for its repair loop, conducts dismantling tests, marks plastic parts, and has a negative list that excludes certain hazardous components.     

Foreign direct investment: the role of institutional and cultural determinants

Using panel data for 29 source and 65 host countries in the period 1995–2009, we examine the determinants of bilateral FDI stocks, focusing on institutional and cultural factors. The results reveal that institutional and cultural distance is important and that FDI has a predominantly regional aspect. FDI to developing countries is positively affected by better institutions in the host country, while foreign investors prefer to invest in developed countries that are more corrupt and politically unstable compared to home. The results indicate that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries with less diverse societies than their own.     

What’s at Stake in Securitising Climate Change? Towards a Differentiated Approach

Climate change has been successfully represented as a security concern to such an extent that it is firmly established on the political agenda, even though the implementation of concrete policies is disputed. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework to better trace the process of securitising climate change and assess its normative implications. We establish a typology of six climate security discourses on the basis of two dimensions: three levels of referent objects and two logics of securitisation, one that corresponds to the original Copenhagen School framework and one where the threat takes the form of the invocation of risk. We find that there are significant differences in the relative importance of the resulting climate security discourses in Germany and the US, but that normatively, all discourses come with their own problems, which calls for more detailed scrutiny and assessment of climate security discourses and their political effects.     

Small business survival and inheritance: evidence from Germany

This paper investigates whether small businesses face financial constraints that affect their survival. A model of moral hazard is developed in which financial constraints arise endogenously. The model predicts that higher private assets relax financial constraints and have a positive effect on the firm’s probability of survival. The empirical analysis confirms that the entrepreneur has a higher propensity to stay in business when she inherits capital. This effect is particularly strong for entrepreneurs who switch from self-employment into wage employment.

Der Einsatz interner Modelle beim mehrj?hrigen Enterprise Risk Management

Increasing natural catastrophes, recent dynamics in capital markets, and fundamental changes in regulatory requirements (e.g., Solvency II for European Union member countries) have placed increasing challenges in management of insurance companies. While in the Solvency II framework the time horizon is one year, the strategic risk-return profile of the insurer should be set according to multi-year calculations. The aim of this paper is to introduce a multi-year risk-capital concept. This multi-year approach can help management to answer the following essential question: ??How many future years with extreme catastrophes or adverse capital market developments can the company withstand at a certain confidence level without external capital supply??? In the context of multi-year enterprise risk management a capital allocation method is needed in order (1) to set risk limitations for different segments, for example different lines of business and different years, and (2) to quantify the effect of management strategies on risk-adjusted performance indicators, defined per segment. We define a capital allocation method in the multi-year context and illustrate the use of the multi-year risk-capital concept within a simulation study.     

Information Cascades in the Labor Market

A model of herding behavior in the labor market is presented where employers receive signals with limited precision about the workers types, and can observe previous employers decisions. Both the employer and the worker can influence the signal probabilities. In particular, the employer tries to increase the precision of the signal about the workers type whereas the worker wants to get a good signal, independent of her type. In a two-period model, we derive conditions for an equilibrium in which only down-cascades occur, i.e., the second employer does not hire a worker with a bad history even if he receives a favorable private signal about the workers type, but he follows his own signal if the workers history is good.     

Schlechter Wein in alten Schläuchen—Eine Replik auf Helmedag

In der Januarausgabe des WIRTSCHAFTSDIENST ver?ffentlichten wir einen Aufsatz von Professor Fritz Helmedag über die „Abh?ngigkeit der Besch?ftigung von Steuern, Budgetdefiziten und L?hnen“. Hierzu eine Replik von Professor Bernd Lucke und eine Erwiderung von Professor Fritz Helmedag.     

Naturgefahrenmodellierung in internen Risikomodellen – Unverzichtbares Rüstzeug für Strategieentscheidungen des Managements der Zukunft

Management requires internal models, which will usually span a period of several years (such as five), for analysing the financial situation of the insurance company and supporting strategic value- and risk-based company management. Catastrophe risks play an important role in risk management as a substantial share of the company’s entire risk capital is committed to natural catastrophes. So the article aims to compare two approaches in modelling storm loss in the context of applicability in strategic management. Concretely modelling deductibles in storm insurance is shown using the mathematical statistical approach. A case study will analyse various strategies and their effects on the insurance company’s single and multi-year risk-return position using example data where risk is dominated by catastrophes in order to give a concrete idea for the use of multi-period internal models in the context of management.     

Regulierung der EU-Finanzmärkte

In the course of the recent financial, economic and debt crisis significant regulatory efforts have been taken to make financial markets more resilient. Not all of these regulations are effective. For example, it is hard to imagine that the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) are applicable to the largest of European banks, because the required minimum coverage of losses by shareholders and debtors would most likely trigger a systemic crisis. Furthermore, the many roles of the ECB may lead to severe conflicts of interest. It should be also reconsidered whether the planned Capital Market Union’s focus on the securitisation of loans and the promotion of direct investments by savers in the capital market makes sense.     

Welfare-optimal trade and competition policies in small open oligopolistic economies

Standard trade theory claims that free trade is welfare-enhancing. We show that this is not the case if at least one sector of the economy is a Cournot oligopoly. In a simple small open economy with one oligopolistic and one competitive sector, welfare is an inverted U-shaped function of tariffs. Hence, an optimal tariff rate can be determined. The optimal rate depends on the number of firms in the oligopolistic sector. Below the optimal level, the competitive sector overproduces, i.e. oligopolistic good have a higher marginal effect on welfare. Increasing tariff rates stimulate the production of the oligopolistic sector by dampening imports. Under balanced trade, this reduces exports and production in the competitive sector, thus shifting resources to oligopolistic goods production. We also find that given certain levels of protection, perfect competition is not welfare maximal and, hence, not desirable. The finding explains why developing economies with imperfect competition are often reluctant to embrace trade liberalization and why, conversely, countries with high levels of external protection may be unenthusiastic about competition theory.