Suchergebnisse

Governments around the world identify the advancement of electronic invoicing in businesses as crucial for tackling administrative burdens. This paper examines, for the first time, the potential cost savings of e-invoicing in Belgium. Our analysis shows that the total cost of invoicing for Belgian private sector businesses in 2014 amounted to €3.47 billion (0.96% of GDP) and could be reduced to €1.46 billion (0.38% of GDP) if all invoices were sent digitally. Furthermore, an analysis of both barriers and enablers of e-invoicing reveals significant concerns that remain regarding the safety of e-invoicing, although a majority of private sector businesses clearly identifies the potential efficiency gains. From our contingent valuation survey among 683 Belgian businesses, we learn that the average willingness to pay (WTP) for the required investments for implementing digital invoicing amounts to €2,380. However, the potential annual cost savings of digital invoicing for the average small business in our sample is over €7,000. Additionally, our linear regression models indicate that the WTP is positively impacted by the perceived time and reduced risk gains of digital invoicing.

Capital structure of a firm is determined by various internal and external factors. The macro variables of the economy of a country like tax policy of government, inflation rate, capital market condition, are the major external factors that affect the capital structure of a firm. The characteristics of an individual firm, which are termed as micro factors (internal), also affect the capital structure of enterprises. These factors include size of the firm, age of the firm, growth rate, business risk, profitability, leverage etc. But, whether the location of a firm affects its capital structure decisions and if yes than how and why is the subject matter of this paper. The present study is aimed at to understand the importance of location of the firm in making capital structure decisions of Indian companies. We propose to analyze the capital structure of 300 Indian private sector companies, comprising of 20 different sectors for the period 1999-2000 to 2007-2008, duly grouping them on the basis of their regions in which they are located. In this study, we try to find out the ways in which different companies at different times and in different institutional environments have financed their operations; and to identify possible implications of these financing patterns. The central issue we address is to examine the location variable that influence the capital structure decisions of Indian companies and check whether the region to which the company belongs has a bearing on its capital structure or not.

Political ties and managerial cognitive biases, specifically overconfidence, have been identified as affecting firm-level R&D processes and outcomes. Here we further conceptually and empirically explore how these two factors may influence R&D intensity in an emerging market context. Our empirical results, based on panel data from 1293 Chinese publicly listed firms (between 2010 and 2014) show, contrary to some previous research, that stronger formal political ties somewhat reduce firm-level R&D intensity. Greater overconfidence in managers, by contrast, increases R&D intensity. Interestingly, moreover, overconfidence positively moderates the relationship between political ties and R&D intensity to the extent that the weak negative relationship becomes positive in the presence of overconfidence. Our results highlight the role of managerial mindset as an important determinant of R&D intensity in the emerging market context.

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author's analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system. The book develops a novel measure of power resources with which to capture two dimensions of provider power: instrumental and structural resources. This important book sheds new light on the increasingly dominant role of markets in public policy provision by focusing on the supply side of these markets. Readers will learn about the drivers and contents of social policy reform, the interaction between business and politics and the politics of privatization. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners with an interest in public policy, comparative politics, welfare state reform and privatization.

Reports that transfer of ownership from government to private hands is touted as the only way to eliminate inefficiencies in the public sector. Argues that the alternative approach ‐ increasing competitive intensity through decontrol of restricted industries without changing ownership to private investors ‐ is likely to provide similar efficiency gains. Examines this hypothesis empirically in the context of state‐owned manufacturing enterprises in India that face effective competition from private sector firms. Shows, from analysis of variance of efficiency indicators of a longitudinal sample of 108 firms over the period 1988‐1992, that increasing levels of competition trigger corresponding increases in the overall level of technical efficiency of state‐owned enterprises that face competitive conditions. Provides a persuasive case for introducing competitive markets as an alternative to complete privatization, especially in monopolisitc settings.

The transformation of state-owned enterprises into privately owned ones is commonly referred to as 'privatization'. Just as important as this process, though sometimes not given the attention it deserves and requires, is the establishment and expansion of new private firms.This book analyzes new entrepreneurial firms that emerge and occasionally flourish after a period of state communism has come to an end. The authors rightly focus on the aftermath of the end of communism by looking first at the inevitable output decline, followed by an overview of new entrepreneurial firms. Specific East

In Russia, as across Central and Eastern Europe, privatization and the establishmemt of new private firms have been viewed as key factors in labour market adjustment during the transition period. This paper considers the overall employment developments in the private sector in Russia and the extent to which the private sector employment performance is differentiated from that of other sectors in five Russian regions. The analysis is based on a fresh look at these issues using official statistics published by Goskomstat and drawing on microdata from the March 1996 Russian Labour Force Survey (LFS). A special questionnaire attached to the LFS in the study regions provides supplementary information.The paper highlights shifts in the sectoral composition of employment, including growth in private sector employment. Compared to other forms of ownership, the analysis confirms a tendency for private sector ownership in the study regions to be associated with stronger employment performance with respect to hours worked and, in some cases, timely payment of wages. Private sector firms appear to have relatively flexible employment patterns, utilizing more fixed‐term or part‐time employment than other types of firms and experiencing greater labour turnover. Also, private sector employees tend to be somewhat younger and probably more adaptable people. However, there is significant variation across the study regions and substantial exceptions exist with respect to the above‐mentioned tendencies. With respect to employment issues, the differentiation between sectors appears to be less pronounced than one might have expected.

In this paper we are concerned with the impact the public sector has on private sector innovation. Perhaps the most important issue is whether public sector innovation, or lack of it, impacts upon private sector firms. But we are also concern the extent perceptions of innovation across jurisdictions and also the characteristics of firms, which benefit from public sector innovation. There is a particular focus on the role of the Internet. In doing this we make use of Eurobarometer data on firms and their attitudes to public sector innovation. We have established that firms benefit from public sector innovation. The factors, which impact on growth, include improvements due to Internet form filling and the reduction in the government's response time with respect to government services. The factors that impact on firm innovation, which may be tomorrow's growth, include the access to information on government services and also factors, which reduce costs.