Consumer cooperatives as an alternative form of governance: The case of the broadband industry

With a growing number of consumer cooperatives in non-agrarian industries such as energy and broadband, there is a need to better understand their emergence as a viable form of governance. In this context, the paper uses Mikami’s (2010) model on consumer cooperatives to explain their emergence as a result of their ability to generate additional equity financing through the membership market. It focuses on the motivations of consumers to financially contribute to a cooperative by examining the risks and benefits associated with the investment. Based on a survey of 759 consumers, it links their motivations for joining a cooperative to different forms of risks and benefits associated with the investment. It shows that the risks related to cost sharing and switching costs are important determinants for consumers. Other factors that affected the likelihood of joining a cooperative were expected benefits with respect to user network externalities and infrastructure gains.     

A cost-minimization approach to the international transfer of HRM/IR practices: Anglo-Saxon multinationals in the Federal Republic of Germany

The existence of host-country and country-of-origin effects is analysed by using the concept of fiscal federalism as a theoretical analogy. It is argued that multinationals try to minimize the costs of centralization and decentralization associated with cross-national personnel policy. The higher the costs of decentralization, the more likely is the existence of country-of-origin effects. The opposite holds true for increasing costs of centralization. This is tested empirically by comparing the human resource management and industrial relations (HRM/IR) practices of US and British subsidiaries operating in Germany with those of native German firms. Based on 297 valid cases, it is shown that the existence of decentralization costs is associated with country-of-origin effects in various areas of personnel management, such as the use of variable compensation, employee ownership and initial vocational training. In contrast, in the field of industrial relations (co-determination, compliance with collective bargaining), there are strong pressures to adapt to local norms, leading to host-country effects. These results indicate that a rationalistic cost-minimization approach is well suited to explaining the patterns of host- and home-country effects in regard to the HRM/IR practices of multinational enterprises.     

On the Relationship Between Acquisitions, Divestitures and Innovations: An Explorative Study

Firms increasingly use acquisitions and divestitures to acquire strategic assets such as technological know-how and technological capabilities that can contribute to their innovation potential. This study investigates whether firms combining acquisitions and divestitures have been more innovative than those that did not. It uses an empirical model to examine the relationship between acquisitions and/or divestitures, on the one hand, and the probability of firms to produce innovations, on the other hand. Innovations are distinguished according to products and/or processes that are “new to the firm” as a proxy for all innovations including imitations and those that are “new to the market” which is a proxy for so-called real innovations, excluding imitations. In order to test the model a data set is used that includes 2381 firms and was derived from the Dutch Community Innovation Survey (CIS-2) survey for the years 1994–1996. The estimation results show that divestitures in the services industry affect the probability to innovate positively in case of innovations that are “new to the firm”. In the manufacturing industry, a stable and positive correlation was found between acquisitions and/or divestitures on the hand, and real innovation activities of firms on the other hand.     

Agricultural policies and general economic policy : The Polish experience

Agricultural planning in Poland is an integral part of the central planning process of the socialist state. For agriculture, central planning is combined with the influence of a controlled market which makes use of various market mechanisms. The authors review agricultural planning in relation to general economic policy and show that with a largely peasant agriculture its productivity is intimately connected with the productivity of the whole economy. In planning income, the rule used is that the income of the agricultural population should increase proportionally with that of the nonagricultural population. The implications of this in the present five-year plan are discussed.     

The changing role of guanxi in influencing the development of entrepreneurial companies: a case study of the emergence of pharmaceutical companies in China

“Guanxi” is a term in Chinese referring to the reciprocal nature of interpersonal relationships. Its attributes, which are specific to Chinese culture, have been the focus of recent literature. Whereas the impact of guanxi seems to be quite similar to that of general relationships, ties or connections, it is characterized by a number of different dimensions. In this paper, we studied 44 entrepreneurial companies in the pharmaceutical industry in China to examine these attributes in greater detail. We use a system dynamics model to simulate the influence of various guanxi variables – the strength, scale and structure of guanxi – on the development of entrepreneurial companies.     

Unlocking the potential of Italian broadband: Case studies and policy lessons

A number of regional initiatives have recently revived the Italian broadband sector, although their fortunes vary depending on governance, market and geographical issues. However, all these initiatives jointly succeeded in sparking a heated debate on how public–private interplay can facilitate the deployment of broadband networks in a country still lagging behind European frontrunners such as Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. In the light of European Union regulation and recent case law, the paper examines three regional initiatives (Progetto Banda Ultra Larga Lombardia, Trentino Network and Lepida Emilia Romagna) by using the conceptual model on public private interplay developed by Nucciarelli, Sadowski, and Achard (2010). Thereafter, the paper elaborates on initiatives' ups and downs to focus on conditions and trigger events that have made them a success or a failure story. Lessons learnt conclude.     

Rolling out of fibre optic networks in intermediate versus urban areas: An exploratory spatial analysis in the Netherlands

Within the growing literature on broadband development, much research has focused on infrastructure competition and spatial effects driving investment incentives in broadband provision. However, less attention has been paid to the geographical factors explaining very high capacity fibre based network rollout. The purpose of this paper is to examine these geographical effects of rollout of these networks by utilizing basic data mining techniques in conjunction with exploratory spatial data analysis. In explaining the rollout of these networks, the paper derives from the literature a geographical model on broadband provision and examines it empirically by focusing on the spatial and temporal effects driving very high capacity fibre-based network development in the Netherlands. The paper confirms previous research on market uncertainty and the techno-economics of broadband development, but shows, in addition, that more specific factors related to local effects and demand uncertainty are vital in explaining the rollout of very high capacity fibre-based network.     

The Italian way to functional separation: An assessment of background and criticalities

The paper describes the approach to functional separation followed in Italy. The analysis places the notion of functional separation in the context of the reform of the European Regulatory Framework in particular the Access Directive of the European Commission. It concentrates on the two main aspects of functional separation in the Italian telecommunications market: (i) the creation of an Open Access unit and (ii) the undertakings suggested by Telecom Italia and approved by AGCOM with the Decision 718/08/CONS. The paper shows that even if these measures are primarily aimed at fostering transparency, promoting equal access and non-discrimination practices, some doubts remain with respect to the impact of functional separation on incumbency of Telecom Italia. It proposes that the outcome of functional separation will have to be determined by joint efforts of regulation by AGCOM and changes in the strategy of Telecom Italia.