Economics

The process of economic development is characterized by substantial rural-urban migrations and a decreasing share of agriculture in output and employment. The literature highlights two main engines behind this process of structural change: (i) improvements in agricultural technology combined with the effect of Engel's law of demand push resources out of the agricultural sector (the "labor push" hypothesis), and (ii) improvements in industrial technology attract labor into this sector (the "labor pull" hypothesis). We present a simple model that features both channels and use it to explore their relative importance. We evaluate the U.S. time series since 1800 and a sample of 13 industrialized countries starting in the 19th century. Our results suggest that, on average, the "labor pull" channel dominates. This contrasts to popular modeling choices in the recent literature.

As the knowledge drain in virtual organisations is much more significant than in traditional companies, an 'experience gap' between virtual corporations and traditional organisations may emerge over time. Hence, the often postulated advantage of the 'best-of-everything' organisation turns to a disadvantage. As a consequence, virtual corporations have to develop strategies to minimise the drain of experience in between their different projects. On an analytical base, this contribution depicts a new organisational concept for efficient project-based collaboration among value-creation partners to cope with problems such as knowledge drain, financial drain and inefficient learning processes in virtual organisations.

Purpose -Broadband access plays a major role for economic growth and for social and cultural development of urban and rural areas. A provision of broadband infrastructure and services in these areas is not attractive for private investments because of a low or even negative expected rate on return. The purpose of this paper is to identify different modes of public private partnership (PPP) funding and organizational models of collaborations among public and private partners to establish broadband infrastructures. Decision makers get insights about innovative financial and structural models to bring broadband into rural areas. Design/methodology/approach -Organizational and financial structures of PPP projects will be analyzed by six PPP case studies from the broadband sector in Sweden, Great Britain, and France. This research adopts a data triangulation approach. Findings -A comparative case study analysis about "broadband-PPPs" from different countries depicts that the organizational and financial funding models differ from project to project. PPPs represent a good alternative to build a broadband infrastructure through mutual collaboration between public and private partners. The examined case studies verify that a PPP is an appropriate instrument to implement broadband infrastructures, especially in case of market failure. Research limitations/implications -The paper is mainly based on case studies. Thus, the significance of the derived results is limited. Practical implications -Companies in the sector of telecommunication as well as decision makers learn about different financing models to implement broadband in rural areas and to increase broadband penetration. Originality/value -This contribution shows that there are relationships among three key factors of PPPs: environmental conditions (risk, social structures, density of population, etc.), organizational model, and funding modes. This knowledge helps researchers and decision makers to measure different scenarios to bring broadband access into rural areas.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to analyze the status of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communications in BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). The four countries are among the biggest emerging markets, forecasted to have increasing influence in economic and political spheres. How these countries manage their corporate communication in regards to CSR is, thus, the focus of our investigation.

Virtual Worlds enable new ways of communication, collaboration, and cooperation over the Internet by applying 3D environments and voice over IP technologies. This papers aims at assessing user acceptance of Virtual Worlds by applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Based on literature review, an extended TAM has been constructed. Based on empirical data from an online-survey with 249 participants, hypotheses about user acceptance and adoption of Virtual Worlds are empirically tested. Our results show that community factors such as communication, collaboration, and cooperation play a pivotal role in means of influencing user intention and acceptance of Virtual Worlds. This paper provides meaningful insights for theory building of user acceptance in the context of Virtual Worlds as it shows that traditional models have to take 'community' factors into account. Our findings are also helpful for practitioners to develop new business models in Virtual Worlds.

Manuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: Why do firms in China, which has a higher level of economic development, communicate less CSR than firms in India? We use a model that includes country-, industry-, and firm-level factors to predict CSR communications intensity, a proxy for CSR activities.Research Findings/Insights: Using data on 68 of the largest multinational companies in China and India, our study shows that Indian firms communicate more CSR primarily due to a more rule-based, as opposed to relation-based, governance environment. Firms in the manufacturing industry tend to communicate more CSR. Firm-level characteristics such as size, duality of CEO and board chairperson, and percentage of external members on the board also have a significant influence on CSR communications.Theoretical/Academic Implications: The main theoretical contribution of our study is to bring a three-level perspective, relying not only on firm- and industry-specific factors, but also on the governance environment, to the study of firms' CSR behavior. We show that the national governance environment dominates the national income level in affecting CSR communications intensity. We demonstrate that the macro institutional environment in a country strongly affects firm CSR behavior. Our findings suggest that CSR should be studied by considering multilevel antecedents.Practitioner/Policy Implications: Our study suggests that in order to improve the CSR of firms, policy makers in India and China must first try to improve public governance at the national level. Executives doing business with Chinese and Indian companies need to better understand the contrasting governance and their effects on the CSR practices in each country. For the international community and those concerned about product safety and other social issues related to China and India, our findings suggest that improvement will not be immediate since the governance environment changes relatively slowly.

Existing structures on financial stock markets circumvent a direct Customer Relationship Management (CRM), particularly the communication between exchange operators and retail investors, as banks are the legally enthroned intermediary. As a result, exchange operators have only limited information about preferences of retail investors. Web 2.0 applications offer opportunities to bridge this lack. To motivate retail investors to use the implemented web 2.0 applications governance mechanisms must be in place. This contribution describes such a web 2.0 concept and their realisation in practice. First insights about customer acceptance and adoption of such a concept are empirically analysed.

In recent years, the development of software in open source communities has attracted immense attention from research and practice. The idea of commercial quality, free software, and open source code accelerated the development of well-designed open source software such as Linux, Apache tools, or Perl. Intrinsic motivation, group identification processes, learning, and career concerns are the key drivers for a successful cooperation among the participants. These factors and most mechanisms of control, coordination, and monitoring forms of open source communities can hardly be explained by traditional organizational theories. In particular, the micro and macro structures of open source communities and their mode of operation are hardly compatible with the central assumption of the New Institutional Theory, like opportunistic behavior. The aim of this contribution is to identify factors that sustain the motivation of the community members over the entire life cycle of an open source project. Adequate coordination and controlling mechanisms for the governance in open source communities may be extracted.

This study examines how country-level, industry-level, and firm-level factors affect the extent of corporate communications about CSR in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). In particular, using data from the 105 largest MNCs in BRIC, we investigate CSR motives, processes, and stakeholder issues discussed in corporate communications. 0 At the country level, based on a newly developed governance environment framework that differentiates between rule-based and relation-based governance, our study reveals that a country's governance environment is the most important driving force behinds CSR communications intensity.

Zur Nutzung der existierenden Netzeffekte in der Abwicklung von Finanztransaktionen, insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der Notwendigkeit zur Durchsetzung von Standards, wird der Aufbau von Netzwerken immer wichtiger. Somit wird die Gestaltung von Beziehungskonfigurationen im europäischen Clearing und Settlement zu einer wesentlichen Herausforderung. Diese Beziehungen müssen zu einer Kombination aus Kunden-, Partner-und internen Netzen gestaltet werden. Dieser Artikel untersucht und bewertet die bestehende europäische Clearing-und Settlementlandschaft vor dem Hintergrund der "Net-Economy" hinsichtlich technischer, rechtlicher und geschäftspolitischer Aspekte. Daraus ableitend werden Maßnahmen aufgezeigt, die eine Konsolidierung im europäischen Abwicklungssektor erleichtern und damit zu einer ökonomisch und politisch ausgewogenen Strukturen beitragen.