Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership role of authors, institutions, and countries based on research co-authorship networks in the field of operations management (OM) and ranks European authors, institutions, and countries using network centrality measures. It also identifies the primary research areas of each of the leading European authors and maps the areas that European research in general has focussed most on.

Based on co-authorships in publications appearing in a representative set of three leading OM journals over the 15-year period of 1998-2012, network measures of total degree centrality and betweenness centrality are used to identify influential European agents serving as leaders and bridge builders in OM research. Keyword analysis is used to identify the dominant areas of OM research in Europe as well as the primary areas of research of the leading authors.

With UK, Spain, The Netherlands, and Italy accounting for the dominant share of authorship of papers in the journal set, many authors and institutions from these countries are also found to rank high on network centrality measures. While certain authors, institutions, and countries are found ranking high on total degree centrality based on number of direct connections in the network, others are found to play uniquely important roles as gatekeepers and bridge builders in network relationships. The body of research is found to be focussed most on the area of supply chain management. It is also found to be focussed more on manufacturing than service.

The examination of networks in this study based on co-authorships in publications in the set of three leading journals: Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, and Production and Operations Management, is not all encompassing as there are likely other co-authorship relationships of OM researchers that go beyond publications in this set of journals.

Co-authorship of papers in the leading academic journals in a discipline provides a window on patterns of collaboration among key researchers within that academic community. The findings of this study inform the community of stakeholders on who the leading European agents in OM research are, what the primary areas of research of the leading European authors are, and areas that European research has focussed most on.

This is the first study of its kind that identifies and maps key European authors, institutions, and countries based on the analysis of co-authorship networks of researchers who have published in a set of leading OM journals that are considered to be among the most relevant outlets in the field of OM. It also maps the primary areas of research.

The paper seeks to analyze to what extent the contents of corporate governance codes of countries in the European Union are driven by external (internationally accepted corporate governance best practices) or domestic (institutions, culture, etc.) forces.

The paper compares the contents of codes with the priorities set by the European Commission with respect to modernising company law and enhancing corporate governance in the European Union.

The analysis shows that the majority of the codes of the European Union countries are not in full accordance with the priorities of the European Commission. This may reflect that codes are driven by both external and domestic forces. Whether there is a difference between Western European and Central and Eastern European countries in this respect is also investigated, but no difference, at least at the aggregate level of the codes of both groups of countries has been found.

The analysis excludes five (prospective) European Union members. The analysis does not provide a comprehensive overview of domestic determinants of why codes of individual countries diverge from the European Union communication. Future research should systematically explore whether and to what extent domestic forces are indeed determining the contents of codes and, if so, which country‐specific forces have an impact on establishing code contents.

This paper is the first comprehensive attempt to analyse the contents of corporate governance codes. Such an analysis is important to understand the underlying forces that shape the diffusion of codes and their contents.

Recently many European countries have incurred crises in public finance despite the fact that EU institutions have pushed the national governments toward the sustainability of public finance with compulsory and voluntary rules regarding fiscal governance. This paper investigates the relations between the quality of fiscal governance and the financial virtuosity of national fiscal policy. We proposed a general framework for analyzing the fiscal governance issue and we empirically tested the correlation between the dimensions of fiscal governance and the budgetary performance of EU countries. The results showed a positive correlation between the quality of fiscal governance in the EU countries and financial surplus in the period concerned. However further investigations are needed and an effort should be made to collect uniform data on fiscal governance in the European Union.

As a rising power, China has become increasingly interested in many problems in its region and on a global scale. China's investments in Europe and its strong economic relations with European economies have greatly increased its interest in Europe. In this context, in this study, China's approach to two case studies that have had a very serious impact on Europe in the recent period is discussed. These two events, which have both political and economic effects on the European Union and European countries, are Brexit and COVID-19. In this study, how China approaches these two events and what policies it implements will be shown. China's post-Brexit relations with the United Kingdom and comments on Brexit will be also shown. In the other case study, China's aids to European countries in the COVID-19 process and the image it wants to establish with these aids will be discussed. China's approach to these two events will be shared through the discourses of Chinese officials, especially Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and from the literature. As a result, it will be mentioned that China supports countries that need and cooperate with European countries based on economic relations in major crises.

This study aims to reveal the impact of the “Conference on the Future of Europe” (which was officially launched on May 9, 2021 and lasted for one year) on the European Union (EU) integration. The ultimate goal of the integration movement in Western Europe was defined in the founding agreements as political integration through the strengthening of economic cooperation among member states. It is a fact that very important steps have been taken toward this goal until today. The first of the two main trends that dominate European integration is deepening, which refers to diversifying the areas of cooperation, and the second is enlargement, which means increasing the number of member states by the participation of new ones. Theoretically, there are almost a dozen scenarios for the future of the EU. However, taking into account the EU's internal problems and developments in the current international political system, the strongest scenario emerges as intertwined flexible integration. Indeed, developments in today's world call for a revision of the EU's geopolitical perspective. In addition to the internal factors shaping the future of the EU, the roles of the United States, which is its strategic partner, and China, which has risen to become its largest trading partner, are also important in the international political system. Likewise, there is no doubt that the developments in the Maghreb and Mashriq countries as well as Russia and Turkey will affect European integration.

Previous research shows differences between women and men in utilization of facilities of health care (FHC) across the general population in a number of countries. In this chapter, we focus on the capability to use FHC, because it refers to an individual freedom to choose between alternative FHC directed to restore or to improve own health in situations of health needs. Based on several empirical studies and on the insights of the capability approach, we propose that there are cross-national differences between women and men in the capability to use FHC, and that these differences are due to gender differences in the extent of educational skills, and due to differences in the extensiveness of social security policies across countries. The objective of this study was to question these propositions.

We tested the hypotheses using the data from the European Social Survey (in a sample of 38,992 respondents from 22 countries) which we analyzed performing multilevel analyses.

The findings show that in Central, North, West, and East European countries, women have more capabilities to use FHC than men. They suggest that the low-skilled women in Central, North, and West European countries have higher level of the capability to use FHC than women with more educational skills.

The findings do not specify which particular social program or policy is more effective in enhancing women’s capability to use FHC.

This chapter focuses on women’s freedom or the capability to use FHC.

This chapter studies the cooperation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, with non-European Union (EU) countries, within the framework of externalization of EU's migration policies. Although the externalization of migration management has long been on the agenda of the EU, the increasing irregular migratory challenges, especially in the wake of the so-called refugee crisis of 2015, caused intensification of the preexisting extraterritorial border security measures. Founded in 2004 and expanded over time, as one of the specialized agencies of the EU, Frontex cooperates with non-EU countries alongside the Member States to address security threats related to irregular migration. While aiming at securing the EU's external borders, Frontex's cooperation with mostly nondemocratic third countries also raise some concerns on the conformity with EU's principles and norms. The chapter, thus, focuses on the empowerment of the agency's mandate leading increased cooperation with non-EU countries; elaborates on its aim, role, and tools while outsourcing the external border protection measures; as well as discusses risks and criticism raising from the externalization of migration management.

EU social policy is perhaps the most controversial aspect of European integration yet, despite all the political clashes on the matter, concepts like “social Europe” or “social dimension” remain ill‐defined and imprecise terms. Intends to outline and clarify in detail the debate about whether or not the European Union should have competence with regard to labour market affairs. A key message is that social policy has been controversial because it has become embroiled in the debate about the future political direction of the EU. In particular, three contrasting political models –symbiotic integration, integrative federalism and neo‐liberalism – have been put forward as organizing principles for the EU and each has a coherent view of what form social policy should take at the European level. It is the clash between these three models that has caused EU social policy to be so contestable and intractable.

This conceptual chapter, based on literature review, aims to elaborate an integrative approach to the study of cultural differences/convergence within and across the borders of Eastern European countries, in order to conciliate the two theoretical perspectives prevailing in the debate on cultural diversity management: the emic and the etic theoretical stances.

This chapter tries to propose a ‘third way’ to cultural analysis that includes the two perspectives, within a wider and complex multiparadigmatic and pluralistic framework, with a specific focus on Eastern European cultures.

Eastern European countries represent a sort of ideal construction that includes several countries, characterized by different trajectories and heritages: Catholic versus Orthodox religions, Slavic versus non-Slavic identities, Capitalistic versus Former Soviet Union values, etc. In spite of the renovated interest towards the regional area of Eastern Europe, empirical data show that there are significant differences in the distribution of cultural values, among national clusters. On the other hand, it is very difficult to say that Eastern European countries should be considered separate sociocultural entities, without any point of contact among other.

The main assumption of this chapter is that to better understand sociocultural dynamics within and across Eastern European countries, it is necessary to go beyond cultural mapping, in search of a more complex theoretical and methodological approach.

This approach may help to conciliate the apparent paradoxes emerging from the comparison of data related to Eastern European national clusters, providing a more complex and deep view of cultural phenomena, within and outside organizational and national boundaries.