Search results

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and investigate how intensified regulatory requirements related to outsourcing have influenced and changed the outsourcing activities of German financial institutions.

The study involved interviewing 11 outsourcing experts in the German financial sector, including four of the five largest banks in Germany. In coding and analysing the collected data, this study adopted the approach of a qualitative content analysis framework.

The study found that the revised legal requirements have had a significant and potentially negative impact on the efficiency of outsourcing, leading to a necessity for German financial institutions to internally realign their outsourcing managements. The study further revealed practical realigned methods German financial institutions executed to meet the legal requirements.

The impact, meaning and relevance of legal requirements in the outsourcing environment of German financial institutions has been relatively under-researched from a qualitative perspective and focused on other primary fields of investigation like outsourcing decisions and outcomes. This study has, by adopting a qualitative approach, addressed the identified gap by providing first-hand insights and new knowledge.

The rapid increase in the number of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) being sponsored by American firms could have an impact on the rate of the nation’s productivity growth. The majority of prior ESOP‐related studies have focused on the examination of potential relationships between the presence of an ESOP and changes in the levels of employee productivity and firm profitability. The results of these studies have produced mixed results and, as a result, debate continues over the desirability and impact of ESOPs. Few studies have attempted to identify the variables that are associated with employee satisfaction with an ESOP and whether or not employee satisfaction with an ESOP ultimately has an impact on employee productivity and firm profitability. In order to maximize the productivity gains that may be associated with the adoption of an ESOP, researchers must identify the relationships and variables that are most likely to affect employee attitudes toward ESOPs.

Taking an international comparative approach, this chapter investigates the variance in the adoption of employee share ownership and stock option arrangements across countries. In particular, we investigate the influence of multinational enterprises (MNEs), industrial relations factors, HRM strategies, and market economies on the adoption and spread of the arrangements across countries. We find that industrial relations factors do not explain the variance in adoption by companies in their respective countries. MNEs and HRM strategies are important drivers of adoption. Market economy does not moderate the influence of MNEs on adoption, suggesting that MNEs universally apply the arrangements across borders.

The rapid increase in analytics is playing an essential role in enlarging various practices related to the health sector. Big Data Analytics (BDA) provides multiple tools to store, maintain, and analyze large sets of data provided by different systems of health. It is essential to manage and analyze these data to get meaningful information. Pharmaceutical companies are accumulating their data in the medical databases, whereas the payers are digitalizing the records of patients. Biomedical research generates a significant amount of data. There has been a continuous improvement in the health sector for past decades. They have become more advanced by recording the patient’s data on the Internet of Things devices, Electronic Health Records efficiently. BD is undoubtedly going to enhance the productivity and performance of organizations in various fields. Still, there are several challenges associated with BD, such as storing, capturing, and analyzing data, and their subsequent application to a practical health sector.

In recent years certain writers have put forward the notion that a distinctive and definite change has occurred in the way in which employees are managed (Beer et al, 1985; Guest, 1987; Poole, 1991; Sisson, 1991). The term or concept of Human Resource Management (HRM) has been used to describe these changes and has fuelled a spirited debate among academics and practitioners. This debate has centred on the distinctiveness of HRM and in particular whether, and in what ways, it is different to its predecessor, so called Personnel Management. This debate has considered the extent to which HRM has theoretical validity as a concept with predictive capabilities and/or the extent to which it represents a model with internally consistent features and dimensions. Others have suggested it is perhaps better understood as a map or a bracketing ‘catch all’ concept for a cluster of related management practices or approaches (Legge, 1989; Noon, 1992). The related debate has concerned the attempt by writers and commentators to establish empirically whether definitive changes have in fact taken place. Apart from case studies of exemplar (usually American and Japanese) organizations, wider survey and case material of UK based brownfield operations has tended to suggest limited adoption of HRM although Storey's (1992) recent collection of case material suggests that the wider adoption of HRM is underway.

This study aims to increase the understanding of the connection between effective leadership behaviours and information culture in the higher education institution (HEI).

A qualitative case study was conducted at one department of an HEI in Estonia. This study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis for data collection. The hypothesis-generating technique applying grounded theory analysis was used for data analysis.

The information culture of the department was a multiple culture with mixed attributes from the relationship-based culture and the risk-taking culture. Six main effective leadership behaviours within the department were identified, namely, communicating well about the direction the department is going, having a clear sense of direction and strategic vision, providing resources for and adjusting workloads to stimulate scholarship and research, making academic appointments that enhance department’s reputation, allowing the opportunity to participate in key decisions and encouraging open communication and creating a positive and collegial work atmosphere. The main hypotheses that illustrate the influence of effective leadership behaviours on information culture were generated.

The findings of this study can inform the training of future leaders in HEIs.

There is a lack of research in higher education that focuses on the relationship between leadership and information culture, and this research fills this gap.

Advancing the ability of emerging market small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to learn, absorb new technologies, and grow is one of the greatest challenges in economic development and to theories of knowledge transfer. This chapter analyzes the mechanisms that can facilitate or impede the participation of Latin American SMEs in global value chains (GVCs), and in turn improve their capabilities and productivity. We attempt to shift the focus of attention that scholars and policy-makers have toward the types of knowledge and network linkages that emerging market SMEs need to sustainably benefit from GVCs. By drawing on recent work from the knowledge theory of the firm, development, and network dynamics, we call into question a core assumption about the necessary benefits that can accrue to SMEs by being tied more closely to sources of pioneering technologies. We argue instead that in order to overcome legacies of resource constraints and technology gaps, these SMEs need access to a variety of applied and experiential knowledge that help them transform their existing organizational capabilities into ones that enable them to implement basic international process and product standards, in turn allowing them to learn from potentially fruitful relationships in GVCs. Because of the way such knowledge is created, through intense interactions and exchanges of tacit knowledge, access is constrained. With a focus on the need for broad based upgrading of SME capabilities, we further suggest that particular constellations of interorganizational networks and public-private institutions, often overlooked in IB research, are best suited to facilitate such access.

Outlines the special characteristics of preferred shares in Germany, notes that ordinary shares are valued at substantially higher figures and presents a study of the pricing of both types for 58 German companies 1990‐1993. Refers to previous research to develop hypotheses on reasons for the common share premium and an explanatory model which is then applied to the data. Finds that larger premiums are associated with higher ownership concentration and lower trading but not to the proportion carrying voting rights or the cumulative preferred dividends in arrears; and that they are significantly reduced if a family or financial institution is a major shareholder. Goes on to show that where a family is the largest blockholder the premium increases with liquidity but for a financial institution, liquidity reduces the premium. Considers the underlying reasons for this and consistency with other research.