Suchergebnisse

What makes countries competitive? What economic policies effectively influence country competitiveness? The aim of this research paper is to analyse country competitiveness empirically, in order to explore the factors that make countries competitive. This can allow governments to structure their business environment differently, and to elaborate strategies aimed at improving their countries' overall competitiveness. Economic size and trading conditions have proven important for economic success throughout history. Individual competitiveness and business competitiveness are commonly talked about. The author analyses the overall economic competitiveness of countries. The author argues that trade is subject to various factors, including entrepreneurship and economic openness. Competitiveness is analysed in this current research, using IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook data for 55 countries in the estimation sample. This unique research applies a Multinomial Logistic procedure, and a Heckman Two-Step procedure in its accountancy for market size, exports, openness, and foreign direct investment. The business environment factors for estimation are highlighted. Also, several macro-economic modifications of the basic model specification are tested, providing further empirical analysis. Results indicate that the ten most competitive countries tend to be driven by foreign direct investment, exports and entrepreneurship. ; Peer Reviewed

What makes countries competitive? What economic policies effectively influence country competitiveness? The aim of this research paper is to analyse country competitiveness empirically, in order to explore the factors that make countries competitive. This can allow governments to structure their business environment differently, and to elaborate strategies aimed at improving their countries' overall competitiveness. Economic size and trading conditions have proven important for economic success throughout history. Individual competitiveness and business competitiveness are commonly talked about. The author analyses the overall economic competitiveness of countries. The author argues that trade is subject to various factors, including entrepreneurship and economic openness. Competitiveness is analysed in this current research, using IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook data for 55 countries in the estimation sample. This unique research applies a Multinomial Logistic procedure, and a Heckman Two-Step procedure in its accountancy for market size, exports, openness, and foreign direct investment. The business environment factors for estimation are highlighted. Also, several macro-economic modifications of the basic model specification are tested, providing further empirical analysis. Results indicate that the ten most competitive countries tend to be driven by foreign direct investment, exports and entrepreneurship.

"Elite integration has been a central topic within research an elites. In this paper, theoretical ideas about factors behind elite cohesion are discussed and empirically tested. The analyses presented in the paper Show that ideological integration is strongest in elite groups where the share of members with upper/upper middle class origin is highest. This finding is valid whether the elite groups are located to the left or to the right in the political landscape. Various explanations of the finding are discussed." (author's abstract)

The paper addresses algorithmic management within mechanistic and organic organizational paradigms, and discusses problems associated with algorithmic management from the socio-technical perspective. Based on the empirical data collected during the experimental implementation of algorithmic monitoring and evaluation of sales representatives in a FMCG company, the study aims to answer two research questions framed from the perspectives of technical and social sub-system: first, what is the effect of algorithmic management on job performance of sales representatives, and, second, how do they perceive algorithmic management. Methods of data collection and analysis included in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. Concerning the first research question, findings indicate that job performance of experimental groups of algorithmically managed sales representatives has improved as compared to the past period and the control group, primarily in terms of standards compliance. As for the second research question, two main themes were identified: trust in the algorithm and perception of man-algorithm interaction. Our findings indicate that trust in algorithmic assessment depends on whether the algorithm is perceived as an instrument rather than an independent agent; on the ability to appeal algorithmic evaluation; and on the algorithmic transparency. Key conclusion of the study is that algorithmic management creates a potential mismatch between technical and social subsystems of an organization, and its implementation requires that decision-makers keep their focus not just on the tools and anticipated goals, but on the in-depth understanding of the assumptions behind these goals.

A questionnaire designed to examine levels of environmental consciousness was distributed to a sample of approximately 300 individuals. The results show a high level of concern for environmental issues and a high proportion of the sample describing themselves as environmentalists. The pattern is fairly consistent by sex, age, and ethnic grouping. But closer analysis suggests caution before concluding that there is a high level of environmental consciousness in the United States.

After some preliminary res premises, the regularities & diff's in esthetic opinion were studied through a group exp. 4 groups of judges, each comprised of 5 individuals, were formed. Group A consisted of artists of established reputation; Group B of established artists who were also instructors at the Sch of the Art Instit of Chicago; Group C of PhD students in theoretical mathematics at the U of Chicago; & Group D of graduate students in the executive programs in the Sch of Business at the U of Chicago. These judges were asked to evaluate the Art Instit of Chicago by 31 senior students in fine arts. Judges made 3 independent evaluations on the basis of craftsmanship, originality, & over-all esthetic value. Rating had to be done on a 1-9 point scale with a 'prenormalized' distribution; ie, the judge had to select 1 drawing to be rated 1, 2 to be rated 2 & 8 each, 4 to be rated 3 & 7 each, 5 to be rated 4 & 6, & the remaining 7 to be rated 5 or average. The following findings emerged: (1) Re consistency of esthetic evaluation within groups of judges: Artists agreed only moderately, although to a statistically signif degree, re craftsmanship, originality & over-all esthetic merit of the drawings. The agreement within the art teacher group was substantially higher. Both the mathematics & the business students tended to agree among themselves more highly than the artists. (2) Re relationship among originality, craftsmanship, & over-all value in esthetic judgments: A high rating in one dimension generally tended to carry with it automatically a high rating in the other dimension. But it is noted that the further the judges were from professional involvement in art, the more independent were their evaluations of the same drawing on the several dimensions. (3) Re relation of esthetic judgments among the 4 groups: There tended to be a high agreement between the 2 art groups, & also between the 2 non-art groups, but a lower agreement between the 2 art groups together vs the 2 non-art groups. (4) Re 'realism' vs 'abstraction': abstract drawings tended to be rated higher by all judges. Finally, the evaluations of a few individual drawings by all 20 judges are discussed & the patterns of judgment re 2 pictures are found to be related to the actual status of the artist. It is observed that the setting may have influenced the results of the study. In Sch's where artists & teachers hold diff points of view or where diff artistic values are current, there may be diff findings. Res in diff settings would be helpful. 5 Tables. M. Maxfield.

This paper reports the study ofkaizenas practised in a selection of Japanese companies. After discussing the general understanding ofkaizenand proposing a clear definition, the paper describes the methodology of the study, and presents findings from the research, taking Nippon Steel Corporation (NSC) as a base model and comparing this with the data from other companies. The development ofkaizenactivity in NSC is presented together with a description of the current nature ofkaizen, which is compared with other firms in the steel and automotive industries to assess uniformity. The paper concludes thatkaizenevolves uniquely within each organisation, following changes to the organisation's business environment. Detailed implementations vary considerably between organisations, but all rely onkaizento achieve targets as an integral element in the operations management system. This yields insights intokaizen's sustainability, and points to its vulnerability to external economic conditions.

The beginning of crowdfunding in Russia is associated with a launch of the crowdfunding platform for creative projects Kroogi. Although it has been 10 years since Kroogi was established, we have to admit that crowdfunding in Russia remains a comparatively small and local market. Definitely, the Russian crowdfunding industry has experienced substantial fluctuations, but nowadays it shows sustainable growth and both market players and the regulator believe in its prospective, so that new players appear, new regulations are expected. In 2017, the biggest Russian crowdfunding platform Planeta.ru celebrated its fifth anniversary and claimed to have raised over 770 million Russian rubles. Still, the rate of successfully funded projects is rather low. To improve the situation it is necessary to find out which crowdfunding projects potential backers are more willing to support. Within the scope of this paper we provide quantitative analysis of open data on 9 179 projects divided by 15 categories from two largest non-equity-based crowdfunding platforms in Russia. The key findings demonstrate the total funding, the largest categories by number of projects, most popular categories within the backers support, the sum of average pledges. Issues for further research and discussion are identified including factors of project success and backers' motivation. ; peer-reviewed