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1 – 10 of 32Christian Ritzel, Andreas Kohler and Stefan Mann
The purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence about the potential positive effects of switching from given non-reciprocal trade preferences granted under the Swiss…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence about the potential positive effects of switching from given non-reciprocal trade preferences granted under the Swiss Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for developing countries (DCs) to negotiated reciprocal trade preferences under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Design/methodology/approach
In a case study of Tunisia’s exports to Switzerland, the authors apply methods of matching econometrics, namely, Propensity-Score Matching and Nearest-Neighbor Matching. Hereby, they are able to identify the average treatment effect on the treated.
Findings
Overall preferential exports increased by 125 per cent after the entry into force of the FTA in 2005 until the end of the observation period in 2011. Additionally, an analysis of the agro-food and textile sectors likewise indicate boosting preferential exports in the amount of 100 per cent.
Research limitations/implications
Case studies in this vein have their disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is the lack of generalization. In contrast to studies estimating the potential effects of an FTA for several countries, the authors are not able to generalize their results based on a single case.
Practical implications
Because trade preferences under the Swiss GSP are offered to the country group of DCs as a whole, non-reciprocal trade preferences are not tailored to the export structure of a particular DC. By switching from non-reciprocal to negotiated reciprocal trade preferences, DCs such as Tunisia expect to negotiate terms which are tailored to their export structure as well as better conditions than competitors from countries which are still beneficiaries of the GSP.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate explicitly the switch from non-reciprocal to reciprocal trade preferences using econometric matching techniques.
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Christian Ritzel, Andreas Kohler and Stefan Mann
The purpose of this paper is to determine if the institutional quality of developing countries (DCs) and least-developed countries (LDCs) contributes to a significant increase in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine if the institutional quality of developing countries (DCs) and least-developed countries (LDCs) contributes to a significant increase in the utilization rate of the Swiss generalized system of preferences in the agro-food sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use state of the art regression techniques accounting for zero values to identify if the institutional quality – separately depicted by the Worldwide Governance Indicators, the Index of Economic Freedom and the Human Development Index – can contribute in overcoming non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade.
Findings
The institutional quality exerts a consistent positive effect on the level of utilization of trade preferences.
Research limitations/implications
Swiss food trade represents, of course, only a very small share of world trade, therefore it would be worthwhile to extend the analysis to other countries and sectors.
Practical implications
Industrialized countries’ development policies should more strongly focus on capacity building in DCs and LDCs to strengthen trade-related institutions.
Originality/value
The study focuses on an often underemphasized element in international trade relations – the role of the institutional quality in overcoming NTBs to trade.
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Yves Konkel, Ortwin Farle, Andreas Köhler, Alwin Schultschik and Romanus Dyczij‐Edlinger
The purpose of this paper is to compare competing adaptive strategies for fast frequency sweeps for driven and waveguide‐mode problems and give recommendations for practical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare competing adaptive strategies for fast frequency sweeps for driven and waveguide‐mode problems and give recommendations for practical implementations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first summarizes the theory of adaptive strategies for multi‐point (MP) sweeps and then evaluates the efficiency of such methods by means of numerical examples.
Findings
The authors' numerical tests give clear evidence for exponential convergence. In the driven case, highly resonant structures lead to pronounced pre‐asymptotic regions, followed by almost immediate convergence. Bisection and greedy point‐placement methods behave similarly. Incremental indicators are trivial to implement and perform similarly well as residual‐based methods.
Research limitations/implications
While the underlying reduction methods can be extended to any kind of affine parameter‐dependence, the numerical tests of this paper are for polynomial parameter‐dependence only.
Practical implications
The present paper describes self‐adaptive point‐placement methods and termination criteria to make MP frequency sweeps more efficient and fully automatic.
Originality/value
The paper provides a self‐adaptive strategy that is efficient and easy to implement. Moreover, it demonstrates that exponential convergence rates can be reached in practice.
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Franziska Götze, Stefan Mann, Ali Ferjani, Andreas Kohler and Thomas Heckelei
– The purpose of this paper is to identify those product characteristics that are of importance to consumers of organic food in Switzerland.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify those product characteristics that are of importance to consumers of organic food in Switzerland.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to identify important organic product characteristics, this study applies a Generalized Linear Model using a six-year sample of Swiss household data distinguishing between organic and conventional products at the product level.
Findings
The analysis reveals three product-related dimensions of importance. First, Swiss consumers prefer unprocessed organic products over highly processed ones suggesting that communicating potential benefits of organic food is more promising for unprocessed products. Second, organic consumers are reluctant to buy products with high price premiums. Third, Swiss consumers prefer domestically produced organic products over imported ones.
Practical implications
The results imply that supporting organic agriculture in Switzerland is still promising from a policy and a marketing perspective as long as the organic price premium is not too high.
Originality/value
This paper presents results regarding the determinants of the organic market share in Switzerland. They give a first understanding of which product characteristics determine organic market shares. From a policy as well as from a marketing perspective a further investigation at the household level is promising in order to understand and respond to the needs and expectations of Swiss consumers.
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Andrea Berndgen-Kaiser, Tine Köhler, Markus Wiechert, Stefan Netsch, Christine Ruelle and Anne-Francoise Marique
Single-family houses are a common form of housing in Europe. Most were built in the context of the suburbanization after World War II and are now facing challenges arising from…
Abstract
Single-family houses are a common form of housing in Europe. Most were built in the context of the suburbanization after World War II and are now facing challenges arising from generational changes as well as increasing living and energy standards. According to the hypothesis of this paper, in several EU regions, single-family houses may face future challenges arising from oversupply and lack of adaptation to current demand. To examine this, the paper analyses the present situation and discusses the prognosis for the challenges described above regarding the three neighbouring north-western European countries Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, based on available data and a review of country-specific characteristics of housing markets as well as national policies. Despite an impending mismatch between demand and supply, planning policies still support the emergence of new single-family houses. The comparison of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands shows the growing polarization between shrinking and growing regions and central and peripheral sites apparent at different stages in the three countries. While a high rate of vacancies is already registered for some regions in Germany, in the Netherlands this phenomenon can only be seen near the borders and in villages within the Randstad conurbation. In Belgium also, this phenomenon is not yet widespread, but in some suburban neighbourhoods dating from the 1950's and 1960's more and more single-family houses are becoming more difficult to sell, indicating an emerging mismatch between supply and demand. This article proposes some instruments which enable municipalities to intervene in single family housing neighbourhoods which are largely dominated by private ownership. These instruments are not yet widely established in single-family housing neighbourhoods but that may become important in the future.
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Abstract
Purpose
In the context of rural development, the question how farmers are interconnected with local rural communities is crucial, as farmers historically have played a key role in rural areas, always shaped by the cultural-systemic context in which they acted. The purpose of this paper is to explore this connection in North-East (NE) Germany and Switzerland, two countries whose agricultural systems can be seen as diametrically opposed to each other with respect to their structure.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey on NE German and Swiss farmers to assess the connectivity between farms and rural communities in terms of the farm managers’ perceptions of their social networks, social support, sense of belonging, and active involvement in organizations.
Findings
The results show commonalities and differences between both study regions. Smaller farms are characterized by strongly locally based networks and a higher sense of community belonging, whereas larger farms rather have networks with strong ties outside the local dimension. Moreover, farmers’ local origin and farm diversification are positively associated with strengthening the connection between farms and local communities. Off-farm work is a means for this connection only in NE Germany.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the discussion about adverse effects of farming scale and corporate farming on community well-being by simultaneously delivering insights into two structurally different agricultural systems. At the same time the approach allows for a comparison between the systems.
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Giulia Flamini, Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini, Mohammad Fakhar Manesh and Andrea Caputo
Since the first definition of open innovation (OI), the indivisible relationship between this concept and entrepreneurship was undeniable. However, the exact mechanisms by which…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the first definition of open innovation (OI), the indivisible relationship between this concept and entrepreneurship was undeniable. However, the exact mechanisms by which an entrepreneurial approach may benefit OI processes and vice versa are not yet fully understood. The study aims to offer an accurate map of the knowledge evolution of the OI–entrepreneurship relationship and interesting gaps to be filled in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a bibliometric analysis, coupled with a systematic literature review performed over a data set of 106 peer-reviewed articles published from 2005 to 2020 to identify thematic clusters.
Findings
The results show five thematic clusters: entrepreneurial opportunities, organisational opportunities, strategic partnership opportunities, institutional opportunities and digital opportunities for OI. Investigating each of them, the authors created a framework that highlights future avenues for further developing the topic.
Originality/value
This study is the first of its kind to systematise, analyse and critically interpret the literature concerned with the topic of the OI–entrepreneurship.
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Papandreou and the Pan‐Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) are committed to bring about change in Greek society, but they must decide how much change, and how quickly that can be…
Abstract
Papandreou and the Pan‐Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) are committed to bring about change in Greek society, but they must decide how much change, and how quickly that can be accomplished without hindering the party's chances for electoral victory. Data drawn from two separate surveys covering, respectively, relevance of three types of issues (foreign policy, civil liberties and economic policy) on the voting of Greeks, and Greek attitudes towards EEC membership/unification of Western Europe, suggest that the leftist parties in Greece are supported in large part by those who do not favour strong ties with the West. The influence of the US inside Greece cannot be easily limited, and successful pursuit of an interdependent and multidimensional foreign policy, limiting Greece's dependence on the West (especially the USA) is not easy to achieve. Papandreou faces problems from the right, who do not favour his measures of change, and from the extreme left, who feel he is reneging on promises; he needs to maintain his electoral support while at the same time trying to limit international conflict.
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Andrea Patrucco, Federica Ciccullo and Margherita Pero
This paper contributes to the literature on supply chain process management by discussing how Industry 4.0 technologies can support process re-engineering in the context of the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper contributes to the literature on supply chain process management by discussing how Industry 4.0 technologies can support process re-engineering in the context of the construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses the impact of Industry 4.0 technologies through an exploratory case study focused on the materials management process, using a coproduction of research approach where the main findings are obtained through the involvement of internal and external process actors.
Findings
The results show that the introduction of Industry 4.0 technologies could radically improve process performance, better supporting the execution of activities, increasing the effectiveness of communication between actors and favoring data collection and sharing. These technologies, characterized by the level of risk connected to their implementation, need to be introduced in combination with new organizational mechanisms, which may be beneficial for several supply chain actors.
Originality/value
Through the adoption of a research coproduction methodology, which is not common in the literature, this paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about how Industry 4.0 technologies contribute to process-centric supply chains, by discussing the benefits of these tools from the perspective of process actors.
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Kim Werner, Kai-Michael Griese and Andreas Faatz
One of the most significant shifts in contemporary business thinking in the tourism and event industry is co-creation and the framework for adopting this collaborative approach is…
Abstract
Purpose
One of the most significant shifts in contemporary business thinking in the tourism and event industry is co-creation and the framework for adopting this collaborative approach is integral for achieving the fundamental goal of value creation. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of sustainable events by analysing value co-creation processes from the attendees’ perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodical framework comprises two steps. First, the study analyses the literature related to festivals and value co-creation, with a focus on sustainable festivals. Second, data rooted research based on grounded theory is conducted, using 12 semi-structured interviews with music festival attendees.
Findings
Three distinct festival attendee categories were identified: the sustainable co-creation type, the calculating type and the experience type. Within each category, attendees have different attitudes, personal values and experiences as well as individual assessments of what exactly constitutes value and value creation. These three categories are regarded as key factors in describing different kinds of value co-creation processes in the festival context.
Research limitations/implications
Considering these three types and addressing their personal values, beliefs and value perceptions will allow festival organisers to better manage the development of sustainable festivals and their role as value co-creators.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the need to better understand how value is created in a festival context. The application of grounded theory also considers scholarly calls for a deeper search into the meaning and essence of value for festival attendees.
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