Linking HRM and Small Business Performance: An Examination of the Impact of HRM Intensity on the Productivity and Financial Performance of Small Businesses

Attempts to explore empirically the link between HRM and firm performance are numerous. Yet, research on this link remains restricted to large companies. Little is known about the extent to which the existing results extend to small businesses. The purpose of the present study is to develop and test a conceptual framework linking HRM to financial performance that fits small businesses. The central question is whether the development of an intensive HRM is profitable for smaller organizations. For the development and optimization of the conceptual framework, we rely on human capital theory and bankruptcy prediction models. Using structural equation modeling, we study the mediating effect of voluntary turnover and productivity on the relationship between HRM intensity and one year lagged financial performance. The results show both productivity and profitability enhancing effects as well as a cost increasing impact of HRM intensity.     

Germany and Italy: conflicting policy paradigms towards European monetary integration?

In the literature on European monetary integration Germany and Italy are mostly strongly contrasted. However, this paper argues that there were important similarities between the policy paradigms in these two countries, in particular if a broader historical perspective is adopted. This work analyses the policy paradigms towards European monetary integration in Italy and Germany. Moreover, it contextualises these paradigms into the national institutional setting: while Germany was characterised by power sharing institutions, Italy featured power fragmentation (something which also affected the economic performance of both countries). There were significant differences between the policy paradigms of foreign policy-makers and economic policy-makers. Foreign policy makers, in both countries, under the influence of a European federalist vision, were strongly in favour of European monetary integration. These beliefs of foreign policy decision makers were crucial in charting EMU policy at history-making moments. The pro EMU policy paradigms of foreign policymakers contrasted, during most of the period covered, with the more sceptical beliefs of economic policy makers. In both countries, economic policy-makers, at different moments, had doubts whether enough “convergence” had been reached to make a more stable exchange rate system sustainable.

Dynamic pricing in a reputation‐brokered agent‐mediated marketplace

We describe an agent‐mediated marketplace, with dynamically changing reputation ratings. In this marketplace, the seller reputations are updated in a collaborative fashion based on the performance of the user in the delegated tasks. We study the market with computer simulations of multiagent interactions, where sellers learn how to price their services dynamically. We first present some simple dynamic pricing methods and we investigate the different equilibria reached, based on the level of intelligence of the selling agents, the level of price–importance elasticity of the buying agents, and the level of unemployment in the marketplace. We then compare the equilibria reached with a theoretically ‘optimal’ equilibrium that we show to exist. Based on the results of this comparison we design a new dynamic pricing algorithm that we experimentally show to be almost optimal for reputation‐brokered agent‐mediated marketplaces. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of individual HR domains on financial performance: evidence from Belgian small businesses

The contribution of this study, which assesses the influence of HRM on financial performance, is fourfold. (1) We assess the relative contribution of different HR domains to organizational performance. By controlling for the overall HRM intensity in all analyses we try to meet one of the most striking shortcomings of ‘single HR practice research’, namely the neglect of the potential simultaneity that might exist with other HR practices. (2) By studying small Belgian companies, we focus on the importance of HRM for small business management. (3) Relying on bankruptcy prediction models, we optimize the conceptualization of financial performance. (4) Using structural equation modelling, we try to capture the mediating effect of operational performance on the relationship between HRM and financial performance. The analyses indicate mixed results for different HR domains with regard to their impact on operational and financial performance.     

Migration and Americanization: The special case of Belgian economics*

One of the distinguishing features of Belgian economics is that, from the early 1920s, so many of Belgium's best economists pursued postgraduate studies at top American universities, a case of ‘temporary’ migration. This was made possible by the fellowships granted by the Commission for Relief in Belgium, a legacy of the First World War. After a stay in the US of a few years, most returned to Belgium. However, they maintained strong links with the US. Also, they tried to recreate in Belgium the most valuable elements of their American experience. It would lead to a strong and early Americanization of Belgian economics. Moreover, they were at the forefront of several initiatives to organize economics on a European scale, such as the European Economic Review and the European Economic Association.     

Monetary unification and the price of risk: An unconditional analysis

In this paper, the standard International Arbitrage Pricing Theory is used to assess the effects of European monetary unification on the functioning of the European financial market. In particular, the focus is on the effects that unification may have had on the risk-sharing capacity of the financial markets. It is found that, already in the ERM decade, exchange rate changes do not (unconditionally) correlate strongly with financial market movements across countries. Consequently, elimination of exchange rate variability through monetary unification is not likely to have major implications for the pricing behavior in EMU. JEL no. G12, G15