The Adoption and Design of Enterprise Risk Management Practices: An Empirical Study

We examine (1) the extent of enterprise risk management (ERM) implementation and the factors that are associated with cross-sectional differences in the level of ERM adoption, and (2) specific risk management design choices and their effect on perceived risk management effectiveness. Broadly consistent with previous work in this area, we find that the extent of ERM implementation is influenced by the regulatory environment, internal factors, ownership structure, and firm and industry-related characteristics. In addition, we find that perceived risk management effectiveness is associated with the frequency of risk assessment and reporting, and with the use of quantitative risk assessment techniques. However, our results raise some concerns as to the COSO (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations) framework. Particularly, we find no evidence that application of the COSO framework improves risk management effectiveness. Neither do we find support for the mechanistic view on risk management that is implied by COSO's recommendations on risk appetite and tolerance.     

Government regulation of advertising: Good or bad?

Kassarjian and Kassarjian (1988) present some interesting results on the impact of regulation on advertising. They state three hypotheses that are partly confirmed by the facts. The theory behind the three hypotheses is not explicitly stated. In this paper I will first try to reconstruct the implicit theory. Secondly I will give a completely opposing theory and show that it can explain the same facts. The resulting evaluation of the government regulatory programme is negative as opposed to Kassarjian and Kassarjian's evaluation.     

The impact of technological learning on NPD outcomes: The moderating effect of project complexity

The innovative status of an emerging market is largely attributed to the technological learning maturity of its finest multinational companies (MNCs). This study uses the information processing perspective to investigate the impact of inter-/intra-functional technological learning (knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation and organizational memory) of 105 project teams on new product development (NPD) outcomes (project success, development speed and product entry timeliness) across nine MNCs. Of the four technological learning dimensions, only organizational memory did not possess a direct relationship with any NPD outcome dimensions. This study further contrasts the above impact across varying levels of project complexity. Information interpretation and organizational memory contribute to project success for low complexity projects. Conversely, for high complexity projects, development speed is contingent on organizational memory.     

Consumer input in standardization: a case study of toy safety

Abstract

Ever since the ‘new approach’ to the achievement of the Internal Market was adopted, the importance of European Standardization has increased. The standardization institutes are now responsible for the technical elaboration of requirements touching upon health and safety of consumers. Therefore, it is of major importance for consumer movements to have an input in the process. In this study, the consumer interest articulation in the ‘new approach’ policy-making process is looked into. The role consumer organizations play in both the pre-standardization and the actual standardization stage are dealt with. Toy safety is taken as a case-study, and the information for the research was mainly gathered from interviews with about 30 representatives of European and national consumer movements, government agencies and industry involved in this field

The study shows that the influence of consumers in the pre-standardization stage, when a directive is drafted and a mandate negotiated between the European Commission and the standardization institutes, is limited

As concerns the standardization stage, consumers have representation in technical committees and working groups of the European standardization institutes. The participation of European and national representatives is compared

The main findings of this research are that consumer input in the actual standardization process is crucial, since their input in the pre-standardization phase is limited. In addition to this, the European and the national consumer representatives are not equally successful in assuring consumer input in this particular policy area. The causes for this difference are considered.     

THE TIME LAG IN ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD-BASED INCOME MEASURES: ASSESSING AND CORRECTING THE BIAS

Annual income data are typically provided with a time lag. This article reviews several ways of dealing with this time lag in the construction of annual household-based income measures for individual economic well-being. It also proposes an alternative method that yields better estimates for equivalized household income, especially in the case of household composition change. Next, the two most commonly applied income measures are compared to this alternative measure with empirical income data from the European Community Household Panel. This comparison reveals that ignoring the time lag and household changes leads to substantial bias in income and poverty estimates and to erroneous conclusions about the determinants of poverty entry. The evidence in this article will be useful to researchers who want to make a well-informed choice between different annual income measures.     

Simultaneous equations estimation techniques: A comment

Recently Norman Glickman presented in this journal some results of six different simultaneous equations techniques. The intention of the present note is to comment on Glickman's paper in two ways. The first comment concerns his technique PANGLOSS, while the second issue is about his comparison methods.     

Dynamic Efficiency with Multi-Pollutants and Multi-Targets The Case of Acidification and Tropospheric Ozone Formation in Europe

In this paper we consider two important aspectsin the complex problem of transboundary airpollution in Europe, namely (i) theinterdependence of the problems of troposphericozone and acidification and (ii) the dynamicprocesses related to soil acidification. Wedevelop an optimal control model to analyse theinteraction between acidification as a stockpollutant and tropospheric ozone as a flowpollutant for several countries. Using acost-benefit framework an analysis is performedto determine efficient emission paths fornitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and volatileorganic compounds. The model jointly analysesacidification and ozone. The current Europeanreduction plans do not fully take into accountthe multi-pollutants multi-targets nature ofthe problem. In addition, the plans allow fortemporary exceedance of critical loads withoutconsidering the consequences for the temporaldevelopment of the soil quality. This papershows the complex relations and interactionswhich one should deal with while designingpolicies that are efficient with respect to thecross-effects between the differentenvironmental problems. It also shows howdynamic efficient abatement strategies wouldlook if the cross effects and the dynamicprocesses in soil acidification are explicitlyincorporated in the analysis.