“Damocles shadowing”

Since the widening of the fluctuation bands in the European Monetary System in 1993 the previous core countries have pursued a “D-Mark shadowing”. The characteristic feature of this shadowing is the participating countries' willingness to voluntarily return to, and maintain, the old exchange rate parities. Our author analyses this process and its consequences for the planned monetary union.     

Traumberuf oder Verlegenheitslösung?

So far relatively little is known about the situation of Ph.D. students in media and communication research. The main purpose of this study is, therefore, to shed light on the employment and working conditions for young scholars on their way to their doctoral degrees. We conducted a survey of 281 Ph.D. students in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The results show that, on the one hand, young scholars are intrinsically highly motivated to do their jobs. On the other hand, they perceive an academic career as a very uncertain venture with many obstacles. Furthermore, several types of Ph.D. students can be distinguished: idealists, careerists and waverers. It is shown that only the idealists conform to the concept of a productive and interested scholar. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the future development of the field.     

Current account deficits in Greece,Portugal and Spain — origins and consequences

In light of the shortcomings of the Stability and Growth Pact, there has been a recognition that a surveillance framework is needed which goes beyond fiscal issues to cover wider macroeconomic factors. The question arises whether the surveillance and connected reform criteria should be applied symmetrically, to all members of the eurozone, or whether they should specifically target countries with current account deficits.     

Wissensvermittlung durch ProduktplatzierungenProduct Placement and Knowledge Transfer

Although product placement research differentiates between specific placement effects, the placement of Brands and Brand information, which goes far beyond the mere presence of brands in media entertainment, are simply not taken into account. We assume that this form of product placement can generate knowledge and produce a learn effect. Actual insights on the cognitive effect of product placements, brand knowledge and Neurobiology, working theories and a Hypothesis on the growing knowledge gap, only go to reinforce this assumption and confirm that the learn effect through factors such as brand know-how, relevance, education and attractiveness of the media protagonist can be influenced. The results of an experiment in which audio-visual stimulus material was presented with or without placement showed the the information placed was recognized, remembered and therefore learned. While brand know-how and relevance have no influence on the intensity of this learn effect, attractive and well educated protagonists contributed to strengthen memory performance.     

LOGISTICS SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Despite the growing interest in supply chain management (SCM), there is little literature on the abilities practicing logisticians need to work in a SCM world. This paper studies these SCM abilities using two complementary methods: survey research and qualitative research interviews (case studies). The surveys yielded importance ratings of 45 SCM skill areas and a three‐factor skill model (interpersonal/managerial, quantitative/technological, and SCM core). Teamwork emerged as the skill area rated most important for SCM. Moreover, the case studies discovered additional critical skill areas for SCM such as gathering and sharing information. The interviews also enabled deeper understanding of skills within organizational contexts.     

Efficient replenishment im handel — probleme und lösungsansätze aus sicht der agency-theorie

In den letzten Jahren hat Efficient Consumer Response vermehrt in der Konsumgüterindustrie Einzug gehalten. In der Praxis wird die lieferseitige Kooperation von Herstellern und H?ndlern im Efficient Replenishment jedoch durch verschiedene Probleme erschwert. Diese lassen sich aus Sicht der Prinzipal-Agenten-Theorie interpretieren. So lassen sich theorie-basierte L?sungsans?tze, sogenannte Kooperationsdesigns, erarbeiten, die diese Probleme mindern und dadurch die Stabilit?t und Effizienz der Kooperation steigern k?nnten.     

The first stage of European Economic and Monetary Union

After two false starts, the first stage of European Economic and Monetary Union began on 1st July 1990. The following two articles discuss the consequences that the inauguration of EMU will have for economic policy co-ordination in the European Community. The views stated here are only those of the author and can on no account be attributed to the Commission of the European Communities.     

Course Allocation via Stable Matching

The allocation of students to courses is a wide-spread and repeated task in higher education, often accomplished by a simple first-come first-served (FCFS) procedure. FCFS is neither stable nor strategy-proof, however. The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Al Roth and Lloyd Shapley for their work on the theory of stable allocations. This theory was influential in many areas, but found surprisingly little application in course allocation as of yet. In this paper, different approaches for course allocation with a focus on appropriate stable matching mechanisms are surveyed. Two such mechanisms are discussed in more detail, the Gale-Shapley student optimal stable mechanism (SOSM) and the efficiency adjusted deferred acceptance mechanism (EADAM). EADAM can be seen as a fundamental recent contribution which recovers efficiency losses from SOSM at the expense of strategy-proofness. In addition to these two important mechanisms, a survey of recent extensions with respect to the assignment of schedules of courses rather than individual courses is provided. The survey of the theoretical literature is complemented with results of a field experiment, which help understand the benefits of stable matching mechanisms in course allocation applications.     

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NETNOMICS: Economic Research and Electronic Networking -