We study North–South capital transfer and the diffusion of embodied technologies within a framework of intertemporal global welfare maximization. We show saddle path stability and characterize the steady state. We then examine the transition path by running numerical experiments based on realistic data. As a result, technology diffusion will succeed if the absorptive capacity is sufficient which requires sufficient investment. While a large share of capital is allocated to the South in early periods, this share declines in later periods when the South has caught up in terms of technologies.
Economic crises in the last decades have swept elderly workers more than younger workers out of employment. But now the tide is turning. In affluent societies, elderly workers will have more opportunities of being employed in meaningful and well-paid jobs than ever before. On account of demographic changes, fewer (younger) workers will be around, and most of the reasons that in the past have induced employers to lay off older rather than younger workers will disappear. Future employment strategies will have to focus more on an optimal age mix and on benefitting from the full potential of the elderly.
This paper examines the relationship between brand equity and customer acquisition, retention, and profit margin, the key components of customer lifetime value (CLV). We examine a unique database from the U.S. automobile market that combines 10 years of acquisition rate, retention rate, and customer profitability data with measures of brand equity from Young & Rubicam’s Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) over the same time period. We hypothesize and find that BAV brand equity is significantly associated with the components of CLV in expected and meaningful ways. For example, customer Knowledge of a brand has an especially strong positive relationship with all three components of CLV. Interestingly, however, Differentiation is a double-edged sword. While it is associated with higher customer profitability, it is also associated with lower acquisition and retention rates. We also find that marketing efforts exert indirect impacts on CLV through brand equity. Simulations show that changes in marketing, or exogenous changes in brand equity, can exert important effects on CLV. Overall, the findings suggest the “soft” and “hard” sides of marketing need to be managed in a coordinated fashion. We discuss these and other implications for researchers and practitioners.
We show that both talent and popularity significantly contribute to stars' market values in German soccer. The talent-versus-popularity controversy on the sources of stardom goes back to Rosen (1981) and Adler (1985). All attempts to resolve the controversy empirically face the difficulty of accurately identifying talent. In professional sports, rank-order tournaments help in ascertaining talent. Analyzing a team setting, we use 20 different performance indicators to estimate a player's talent according to his ability to increase the team's winning probability.
We consider two bidders with asymmetric valuations competing to win an exogenous prize. Capital markets are imperfect, such that the contestants possibly face a liquidity constraint. We show that aggregate investments are lower if at least one bidder has a liquidity constraint, even if the low-valuation bidder possibly increases his/her investments. Furthermore, the effect of the high-valuation bidder’s liquidity constraint on competitive balance is ambiguous. However, if the low-valuation bidder is constrained, greater wealth unambiguously increases competitive balance. Surprisingly, if the low-valuation bidder has a constraint, a tighter constraint can increase his/her profit.
The article advances an understanding of responsible leadership in global business and offers an agenda for future research in this field. Our conceptualization of responsible leadership draws on deliberative practices and discursive conflict resolution, combining themacro-view of the business firm as a political actor with the micro-view of leadership. We discuss the concept in relation to existing research in leadership. Further, we proposea new model of responsible leadership that shows how such an understanding of leadership can address the challenges of globalization. We thereby propose positive outcomes ofresponsible leadership across levels of analysis. The model offers research opportunities for responsible leadership inglobal business.
The comply-or-explain principle is a central element of most codes of corporate governance. Originally put forward by the Cadbury Committee in the UK as a practical means of establishing a code of corporate governance whilst avoiding an inflexible “one size fits all” approach, it has since been incorporated into code regimes around the world. Companies can either comply with code provisions or may explain why they do not comply, i.e., why they deviate from a code provision. Despite its wide application very little is known about the ways in which comply-or-explain is used. In addressing this we employ legitimacy theory by which explanations for deviating can be understood as means of legitimizing the company’s actions. We analyzed the compliance statements and reports of 257 listed companies in the UK and Germany, producing some 715 records of deviation. From this we generated an empirically derived taxonomy of the explanations. In a second order analysis we examine the underlying logic and identify various legitimacy tactics. We discuss the consequences of these legitimacy tactics for code regimes and the implications for policy makers.
The Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) issued the publication Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEGA) – Level 3 Guidance after deliberations during its seventeenth and eighteenth sessions. At its twenty-third session, ISAR requested the UNCTAD secretariat to reconvene a consultative group to, inter alia, update the SMEGA Level 3 Guidance. Accordingly, a consultative group was reconvened. Revisions proposed by the consultative group were considered at the twenty-fourth session of ISAR. In concluding its deliberations on the proposed revisions, the twenty-fourth session of ISAR requested that the UNCTAD secretariat incorporate into the document presented at that session comments and suggestions received then, as well as additional comments that interested delegations would submit after the session. The session also requested that the UNCTAD secretariat reconvene a consultative group with a view to finalizing the proposed revisions. Accordingly, a consultative group was reconvened. The secretariat has prepared this note containing a revised version of the SMEGA Level 3 Guidance for consideration and finalization by the twenty-fifth session of ISAR.
