The Signed Mantel test to cope with autocorrelation in comparative analyses

In biology, medicine and anthropology, scientists try to reveal general patterns when comparing different sampling units such as biological taxa, diseases or cultures. A problem of such comparative data is that standard statistical procedures are often inappropriate due to possible autocorrelation within the data. Widespread causes of autocorrelation are a shared geography or phylogeny of the sampling units. To cope with possible autocorrelations within comparative data, we suggest a new kind of the Mantel test. The Signed Mantel test evaluates the relationship between two or more distance matrices and allows trait variables facultatively to be represented as signed distances (calculated as signed differences or quotients). Considering the sign of distances takes into account the direction of an effect found in the data. Since different metrics exist to calculate the distance between two sampling units from the raw data and because the test results often depend on the kind of metric used, we suggest validating analysis by comparing the structures of the raw and the distance data. We offer a computer program that is able to construct both signed and absolute distance matrices, to perform both customary and Signed Mantel tests, and to explore raw and distance data visually.     

Unternehmensbewertung bei wertabhängiger und autonomer Finanzierungspolitik unter Berücksichtigung einer Kursgewinnbesteuerung

The German tax reform in 2009 entails the general taxation of realized capital gains. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of a differentiated taxation of dividend payments and capital gains on discounted cash flow valuations. We develop explicit und practical useful valuation formulas for the free cash flow approach in case of financing based on market values and the adjusted present value approach in case of autonomous financing. Furthermore it is shown how the required risk-adjusted cost of equity can be derived from a modified Tax-CAPM. Finally we discuss how the particularities resulting from the new German tax law can be taken into account in discounted cash flow valuations.     

Vom Vier-Augen-Prinzip zum Zwei-Fronten-Krieg

According to the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology 25 % of all start-ups fail within their first three years. A third of the team managed start-ups fail not because of classical management errors but due to conflicts within the management team. This article aims to pinpoint the reasons behind team conflicts that jeopardize corporations and to illustrate their course by utilizing the psychodynamic concept of collusion relationship (Jürg Willi), adapted from couple therapy. Using anonymized cases, the article will classify characteristic types of collusion and describe possible ways out of these conflicts.     

Boreout-Syndrom und Coaching

To feel out of depth in a working environment has been publicly known as Burnout Syndrome for a long time. As the opposite to Burnout, working far beneath one’s capabilities has now been publicized by recent scientific surveys as the Boreout Syndrome. Both phenomena in chronic existence can cause health problems and extend into the private part of our lives and should therefore be taken very seriously. Coaching can help to find new ways to deal with these syndromes in a professional environment as well as private life situations.     

A parsimonious multivariate poisson model for market basket analysis

Intensified research on multivariate Poisson models offers new opportunities for the analysis of purchase quantities in market basket data. The investigation of positive or negative correlations in quantity decisions among product categories facilitates a deeper understanding of consumer purchase behavior. The applied multivariate log-normal Poisson model introduces interdependencies between categories with multivariate normal-distributed latent effects by means of a covariance matrix. As the size of this covariance matrix depends on the number of categories in the model, its ation may become tedious. Furthermore, we assume that quantity decisions do not interact for all pairs of categories. That is why we propose to use covariance selection to derive a parsimonious representation of the correlation structure. For two market basket data sets, we show that the vast majority of off-diagonal elements in the covariance matrix are irrelevant. For a data set with product categories, the model with a partly restricted covariance matrix achieves a better fit to the holdout data than the model with full covariance matrix. For a data set with subcategories of the broader category beverage, the proposed model with restricted covariance outperforms the model with full covariance matrix even on the calibration data. We conclude that interactions of quantity decisions are overall the exception, even for complements-in-use.     

Entwicklung ländlicher Kommunen

Due to a revision of the land utilisation plan the town Lichtenberg had initiated a civic participation. After four official workshops the citizens decided to continue on their own. The article describes a best practice example of a citizen’s action committee. The citizens develop concepts and work pro bono for their community. Their aim is to prepare the town for future challenges. The citizen’s action committee works closely together with the town’s council. In the meantime there are three projects that have been finished successfully. One project–the development of a shared vision–is described more detailed. The author summarizes experiences that could be beneficial for other citizen’s action committees.     

Aus dem Büro in den Wald

CHANGE OR DIE. The competitiveness of business companies continuously demands innovative ideas and the willingness to implement these from executive managers. Thereby their own personal needs are often neglected. The consequences range from stress and overload up to burnout symptoms. To support an appropriate handling of the imposed work load by managers, a scientifically grounded stress-tolerance-training will be designed and evaluated. For the first time, certain outdoor exercises will be used specifically among conventional elements as active experiences of challenges outside the office can deeply strengthen the constructive handling of stressful situations.     

Implementierung von Einzel-Coachings im Rahmen eines Führungskräfteentwicklungs-Programms in der öffentlichen Verwaltung

Coaching has become an integral part of systematic management development. This article describes the successful implementation of an individual coaching as an essential element in a leadership development program, that is based on the author’s practical experience. Moreover, the article presents the conceptual framework of the development program, the understanding of coaching and the underlying process. Effective internal marketing, transparency about the coaching process and an emphasis on voluntary compliance are emerging as success factors for the sustainable establishment of the coaching offer.     

Zu den Auswirkungen von Arbeitszeitmodellen im ärztlichen Dienst von Krankenhäusern

In 2004 a new working time law for physicians in hospitals was introduced, which has up until now been rarely researched in theory and is implemented in practice partially in form of new working time models, partially by relying on allowed variation rules within the law. Meanwhile, there are new discussions about changes of working time directives on the European level. This article aims to analyze the desired effects of the new working time law to decrease the workload, improve the possibilities of patient care and increase the working time satisfaction of physicians. To this end, a primary data collection is conducted in 15 hospitals and 35 hospital departments, generating 261 questionnaires, in order to empirically assess the theoretical model with the constructs working time model, workload, working time satisfaction, and possibilities of patient care using regression analyses. It can be shown that the new working time models decrease workload and enhance working time satisfaction of hospital physicians, but have no significant influence on the possibilities of patient care. These results are consistent for different ownerships and sizes of hospitals as well as for most services. No significant differences in the answers between various physician groups exist either.     

Welche privaten Veräußerungsgewinne sollten besteuert werden?

This paper analyses for various corporate tax systems whether the capital gains tax distorts investment decisions and how tax effects could eventually be neutralized. In case of the disposal of shares between private investors the capital gains tax, the corporate tax and the income tax on dividends induce a triple taxation. On the contrary, distributing cash via share repurchases instead of paying out dividends can lower the tax burden in a classical corporate tax system and a shareholder relief system respectively. These findings necessitate the differentiation between share repurchases and other realizations of stocks in order to establish a neutral capital gains tax. While the capital gains taxation on transactions between private investors has to be reduced, the taxation of share repurchases must be matched with the respective dividend taxation.