Adaptive Tactical Pricing in Multi‐Agent Supply Chain Markets Using Economic Regimes

In today's complex and dynamic supply chain markets, information systems are essential for effective supply chain management. Complex decision making processes on strategic, tactical, and operational levels require substantial timely support in order to contribute to organizations' agility. Consequently, there is a need for sophisticated dynamic product pricing mechanisms that can adapt quickly to changing market conditions and competitors' strategies. We propose a two‐layered machine learning approach to compute tactical pricing decisions in real time. The first layer estimates prevailing economic conditions—economic regimes—identifying and predicting current and future market conditions. In the second layer, we train a neural network for each regime to estimate price distributions in real time using available information. The neural networks compute offer acceptance probabilities from a tactical perspective to meet desired sales quotas. We validate our approach in the trading agent competition for supply chain management. When competing against the world's leading agents, the performance of our system significantly improves compared to using only economic regimes to predict prices. Profits increase significantly even though the prices and sales volume do not change significantly. Instead, tactical pricing results in a more efficient sales strategy by reducing both finished goods and components inventory costs.     

Einfluss der Besteuerung auf die Bewertung ausländischer Kapitalgesellschaften

Zusammenfassung  Der vorliegende Beitrag integriert die Auswirkungen der Regelungen zur Besteuerung von Einkünften aus ausl?ndischen Kapitalgesellschaften in die Discounted Cashflow-Methodik. Bewertungsobjekt ist eine ausl?ndische Kapitalgesellschaft, der von einem inl?ndischen Anteilseigner oder von fremden Dritten Finanzmittel zugeführt werden. Da das Steuerrecht nicht entscheidungsneutral ist, sind die beiden Finanzierungsalternativen Eigen-oder Fremdfinanzierung nicht als gleichwertig zu beurteilen. Unterschiedliche steuerliche Effekte ergeben sich daraus, dass Zinsen bei der Tochterkapitalgesellschaft grunds?tzlich als Betriebsausgaben abzugsf?hig sind, wohingegen Dividenden aus dem bereits versteuerten Einkommen gezahlt werden (sog. Tax Shield). Im grenzüberschreitenden Fall wird mit der Entscheidung für eine Finanzierungsalternative gleichzeitig bestimmt, in welchem Umfang die mit der Finanzierung einhergehenden Kapitalertr?ge der deutschen oder der ausl?ndischen Besteuerung unterworfen werden. Die H?he des Tax Shield h?ngt damit nicht nur von den Abzugsm?glichkeiten der Fremdkapitalzinsen ab, sondern auch vom Steuerniveau im Ausland. Damit müssen in der Unternehmensbewertung die in- und ausl?ndischen Steuervorschriften, die Steuers?tze im In- und Ausland, sowie eventuell bestehende Doppelbesteuerungsabkommen berücksichtigt werden.

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Effects of the tax regulations on the taxation of income from foreign corporations

Summary  The present article integrates the effects of the tax regulations on the taxation of income from foreign corporations in the discounted cash flow method. The item to be assessed is foreign corporation that is allocated funds (equity capital or borrowed capital) by a domestic shareholder or an unaffiliated third party. In this cross-border case, the decision in favor of one financing alternative or the other will at the same time determine the extent to which the capital yields associated with the financing are liable to taxation in Germany or abroad. The amount of the tax shield therefore not only depends on the deductibility of interest payments on debt, it also depends on the rate of tax abroad. When assessing the company it will therefore be necessary to bear in mind both domestic and overseas tax regulations, domestic and overseas tax rates as well as any existing double taxation agreements.

     

Poverty among households with children: a comparative study of Norway and Germany

The purpose of this study was to compare poverty among lone parent households and couple households with children in Norway and Germany. The study applied three different measurement strategies: income poverty, material deprivation and reception of social assistance. We found that income poverty and material deprivation rates are higher in Germany than in Norway and are also higher for lone parents than for couples with children. Our analysis of the reception of social assistance shows a different pattern in which both Norwegian and German lone parents frequently receive social assistance. The results show that the different dimensions of poverty are not independent of one another, nor do they wholly overlap. Household characteristic variables, factors influencing labour market status and educational levels also seem to influence the risk of experiencing poverty.     

Welfare-to-Work Experiences with Specific Work-First Programmes in Selected Countries

This article reviews the evidence of specific mandatory work-first programmes (job search assistance and workfare) for welfare recipients in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. It primarily refers to experimental and econometric evaluations of single programmes and to meta-evaluations. The effectiveness of specific programme elements in promoting the transition from welfare to work is summarized. The advantage of combining work-first with training programmes and in-work benefits is discussed. As the diversity of programmes, target groups, research designs, etc. makes cross-country comparisons difficult, policy conclusions are drawn with caution.