infonet-economy

As global trade continues to stagnate, the spotlight has shifted during China’s G20 Presidency to foreign direct investment (FDI).Two recent developments have brought FDI to the forefront of international policy deliberations. First, at their annual meeting in July 2016, G20 trade ministers endorsed nine G20 Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking. Second, in June 2016…

Property-casualty (P&C) insurers are exposed to rare but severe natural disasters. This paper analyzes the relation between catastrophe risk and the implied volatility smile of insurance stock options. We find that the slope is significantly steeper compared to non-financials and other financial institutions. We show that this effect has increased over time, suggesting a higher…

Disruptive change has become a trademark of the post-financial crisis era. Many organisations are facing extremely challenging austerity-based situations, affecting and disrupting their business model and their institutional logic, and leaving employees vulnerable to job threat. The UK public sector is a particular case in point as it has already faced a series of dramatic budget…

This research proposes Conditional Currency Hedging based on FX risk factors to reduce total portfolio risk of given stock, bond or commodity portfolios. In our employed sample, a conditional currency hedging framework based on implied FX volatility results in lower variance of a global equity portfolio than achieved by either no, full or unconditional mean-variance hedging, both in…

Since house prices govern the consumption decisions of renters and owners alike, changing house prices can have far-reaching macroeconomic consequences. We analyze how the disposable income and consumption decisions of households are affected by exogenous house price changes in Switzerland. We look at consumption of both housing and non-durable goods to establish a comprehensive…

This report demonstrates that talk of a global trade slowdown is misplaced. Since January 2015 world trade volumes have plateaued, which is unusual as pauses in trade growth are typically associated with global recessions. A global trade plateau is a major source of concern as it is likely to add to the temptation of governments to engage in zero-sum commercial policies that seek to…

How does change happen and how can we impact it? (Not only) feminist movements have asked this crucial question for decades. How can we conceptualize and experience gender relations differently, while moving beyond traditional models of work division between men and women? The idea of gender equality forms the horizon in which those questions of social and organizational…

Based on a longitudinal case study of a change initiative in a nursing department, we explore the question of how to embed paradox solutions. Drawing on routine dynamics our study shows the emergence of reflective routines as both a medium and part of the outcome to handle a paradox. The establishment of reflective routines moves from individual observing, through repeated…

Purpose
The business implications of additive manufacturing (AM) are explored; specific focus thereby lies on the impact of AM technology adoption in customized parts production.

Design/methodology/approach
Based on two explorative case studies from the hearing aid industry, the impact of AM technology adoption on supply chain business processes and management…