Diskontinuität im Erwerbsverlauf und betrieblicher Kontext

The influence of the firm and the former work life on the probability to interrupt one’s current employment between 1993 and 1995 is analyzed. For reconstructing individual work lifes, we use data from the “German Employment Statistic Register Sample 1975–1995” of the Institute of Employment Research (IAB). Characteristics of the firm were taken from the “firm panel” (Betriebspanel) of the same institution between 1993 and 1995. Both samples were merged to create a “linked employer-employee” data-set. Therefore, firm related variables like number of employees, economic situation and industry are independent of individual characteristics. In our empirical model we included the change of the employer, the interruption of work and unemployment as competing risks. Our analysis shows that the former work life has an independent influence on the risk of interrupting work or to become unemployed between 1993 and 1995. Furthermore, qualified persons who experienced job shifts within their last firm and who are employed by larger employers which invest in their employees have a greater probability to move directly to another employer. In sum, our results indicate a “reproduction” of discontinuous employment patterns over the work life.     

Fast and robust bootstrap

In this paper we review recent developments on a bootstrap method for robust estimators which is computationally faster and more resistant to outliers than the classical bootstrap. This fast and robust bootstrap method is, under reasonable regularity conditions, asymptotically consistent. We describe the method in general and then consider its application to perform inference based on robust estimators for the linear regression and multivariate location-scatter models. In particular, we study confidence and prediction intervals and tests of hypotheses for linear regression models, inference for location-scatter parameters and principal components, and classification error estimation for discriminant analysis.     

Was müssen Führungskräfte können?

Ethics Education complements business administration only if it teaches strategic competencies that help managers to become better leaders. To this end, this article sketches an ordonomic approach to an economic ethics for competitive markets, to a business ethics for firms (corporate citizens), and to a process ethics for new governance. The core idea of this ordonomic approach is the win-win concept of mutually beneficial value creation. Thus, ordonomics is compatible with the market economy and at the same time supplements the management education in business schools: This approach systematically identifies strategic competencies that enable managers to display the kind of entrepreneurial leadership that is necessary for firms to fulfill their social function of value creation—by making use of moral commitments as a factor of production.     

Facility location decisions with environmental considerations: a case study from the petrochemical industry

The recently growing concerns of customers and governments about environmental protection and greenhouse gas reduction have forced companies to integrate the topic of environmental sustainability into their decision making. Facility location decisions are of special relevance in this respect because of their strategic nature. Furthermore, many different trade-offs must be considered, for example between operational costs and customer service. But as soon as environmental issues are concerned, other critical issues must be considered as well. Based on a case study from the petrochemical industry, this paper extends two basic facility location models and shows the impact of distribution network-design decisions on the economic and environmental performance of the company. The results show a trade-off between total (distribution) costs and transport carbon emissions.     

Sind die Regeln der externen Unternehmensrechnung auf die kommunale Rechnungslegung übertragbar?

The replacement of public sector accounting methods in municipalities by double-entry bookkeeping has been discussed as well as implemented for some time now. This paper examines whether municipal accounting comprises accounting purposes which are comparable to the purposes of external financial reporting and whether the recognition and valuation rules used in firms can also be applied to municipal accounting. We argue that municipalities and businesses have similar accounting purposes. However, the application of financial reporting, including the corresponding recognition and valuation rules, to municipal accounting requires a critical look for several reasons. First, the concept of accounting income is not suitable in terms of decision-facilitating and decision-influencing in municipalities. Furthermore, it is doubtful how meaningful the valuations of municipal assets in annual financial statements are. The equivalent of providing dividend restrictions based on accounting income is often thought to consist in ensuring intergenerational fairness by asset preservation in municipalities. However, this element of municipal accounting requires rules that are not based on an asymmetrical recording of risks and chances according to the principle of prudence and that take into account the assessment of future generations regarding the benefits of municipal projects.     

The impact of investor sentiment on the German stock market

This paper develops a broad-based sentiment indicator for Germany and investigates whether investor sentiment can explain stock returns on the German stock market. Based on a principal component analysis, we construct a sentiment indicator that condenses information of several well-known sentiment proxies. We show that this indicator explains the return spread between sentiment sensitive stocks and stocks that are not sensitive to sentiment fluctuations. Specifically, stocks that are difficult to arbitrage and hard to value are sensitive to the indicator. However, we do not find much predictive power of sentiment for future stock returns.     

Dependency of Crop Production between Global Breadbaskets: A Copula Approach for the Assessment of Global and Regional Risk Pools

As recent events have shown, simultaneous crop losses in different parts of the world can cause serious risks to global food security. However, to date, little is known about the spatial dependency of lower than expected crop yields from global breadbaskets. This especially applies in the case of extreme events, i.e., where one or more breadbaskets are experiencing far below average yields. Without such information, risk management approaches cannot be applied and vulnerability to extremes may remain high or even increase in the future around the world. We tackle both issues from an empirical perspective focusing on wheat yield. Interdependencies between historically observed wheat yield deviations in five breadbaskets (United States, Argentina, India, China, and Australia) are estimated via copula approaches that can incorporate increasing tail dependencies. In doing so, we are able to attach probabilities to interregional as well as global yield losses. To address the robustness of our results, we apply three different methods for constructing multivariate copulas: vine copulas, ordered coupling using a minimax approach, and hierarchical structuring. We found interdependencies between states within breadbaskets that led us to the conclusion that risk pooling for extremes is less favorable on the regional level. However, notwithstanding evidence of global climatic teleconnections that may influence crop production, we also demonstrate empirically that wheat production losses are independent between global breadbaskets, which strengthens the case for interregional risk pooling strategies. We argue that through interregional risk pooling, postdisaster liabilities of governments and international donors could be decreased.     

Efficiency of internal control: evidence from Swiss non-financial companies

Internal control enables companies to ensure a reliable reporting, to comply with relevant laws and standards and to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. However, until now few empirical contributions conceptualizing and empirically investigating the efficiency of internal control have been published. This study addresses this research deficit and develops a theory-based and empirically validated efficiency construct of internal control. From a practical and scientific point of view, there is an interest to identify relevant factors that determine efficient internal control. Overall, four factors have been derived and conceptualized based on theoretical foundations and empirical evidence. By means of an extensive empirical survey of Swiss companies and subsequent structural equation modelling, numerous significant correlations between determinants of internal control efficiency and the efficiency construct have been identified. The empirical results fully confirmed the hypotheses of correlation. Thus, the findings contribute to the body of practical knowledge by deriving specific efficiency criteria and recommendations on the design of internal control to the management. In essence, design parameters from the company’s internal environment and a reduced complexity of internal control structures mainly contribute to efficiency. The efficiency of internal control itself is heavily determined by criteria of target achievement, input–output ratio, coordination efficiency as well as its potential for organizational flexibility.