Vienna University of Economics and Business
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Which export channels provide real options to SMEs?
Full text linkReal option logic helps managers create value when making decisions because it focuses on managing the uncertainty concerning potential upside benefits and downside risks of an investment. Yet there is little research looking at the real option consequences of making export channel investments. We propose that export channel investments vary in their ability to provide real options and present a novel classification of real option export channels. We suggest that when faced with high uncertainty SMEs will prefer simpler real option export channels over more complex options. We also theorize that firm-level strategic flexibility (i.e. the depth and breadth of export experience) negatively moderates the relationship between uncertainty and real option export channel choice. Based on a sample of Austrian exporting SMEs, we find some support for our propositions. Hence, we contribute to the real option and export channel literatures by providing new insights into how export channel decisions are made and how firms choose between different real option alternatives
Interactive log-delta analysis using multi-range filtering
Full text linkProcess mining is a family of analytical techniques that extract insights from an event log and present them to an analyst. A key analysis task is to understand the distinctive features of different variants of the process and their impact on process performance. Techniques for log-delta analysis (or variant analysis) put a strong emphasis on automatically extracting explanations for differences between variants. A weakness of them is, however, their limited support for interactively exploring the dividing line between typical and atypical behavior. In this paper, we address this research gap by developing and evaluating an interactive technique for log-delta analysis, which we call InterLog. This technique is developed based on the idea that the analyst can interactively define filter ranges and that these filters are used to partition the log L into sub-logs L1 for the selected cases and L2 for the deselected cases. In this way, the analyst can step-by-step explore the log and manually separate the typical behavior from the atypical. We prototypically implement InterLog and demonstrate its application for a real-world event log. Furthermore, we evaluate it in a preliminary design study with process mining experts for usefulness and ease of use
How actors move from primary agency to institutional agency: A conceptual framework and empirical application
Full text linkThis article contributes to the understanding of actors and agency in the theorization of institutional work. We analyse institutional work as a specific kind of social action that involves exercising institutional agency (with an articulate awareness of institutions) as opposed to primary agency (taking institutions for granted). We propose a conceptual framework for combining a view of actors, who have agency and may engage in institutional work, with a view of actors as socially constructed, in line with critical-realist ontology. Applying this framework to the empirical case of the Spanish social movement 15M, we examine how actors moved from having primary agency to having institutional agency and how organization mattered for this process. We find that organizing by experienced organizers, the founding of new organizations and prefigurative organization were of crucial importance for the increase in institutional agency
Refigurative Politics: Understanding the Volatile Participation of Critical Creatives in Community Gardens, Repair Cafés and Clothing Swaps
Full text linkCollective alternative everyday practices (CAEPs), such as commu-nity gardens, clothing swaps or repair cafés, have become a prominent sight in the critical-creative milieus. So far, CAEPs have been mostly conceptualized in terms of prefigurative politics, i.e. as the strategy to change society through an everyday conduct that fully reflects idealized notions of the Self and society. However, there is increasing evidence of practitioners who engage in rather irregular, spontaneous ways and remain bound to an unsustainable consumer lifestyle. Scholars have identified such volatile participation as a problem for mobilization, but have not answered a) how the lack of continuous embodiment can be understood from a social movement perspective, and b) what the political quality of this behaviour might be. In this article, I address these research questions by drawing on theories of the late-modern subject and existing qualitative studies. Late-Modern Subject Theory assumes that individuals increasingly construct themselves through the market and in a multi-faceted way, due to processes such as commercialization, flexibilization and acceleration. From that perspective, volatile participants attempt to mobilize an idealized Self but are unable to do so persistently, due to the structural constraints (such as lack of time resources) and personal liberties (such as excess of consumer options) that define everyday life in late-modern society. The result are figurations of utopia that are bound to fail, but repeated ever again. These ‘refigurations’ maintain a political ele-ment through conveying a critique of and an alternative to the status quo, if only for a moment
Climate and the spread of COVID-19
Full text linkVisual inspection of world maps shows that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is less prevalent in countries closer to the equator, where heat and humidity tend to be higher. Scientists disagree how to interpret this observation because the relationship between COVID-19 and climatic conditions may be confounded by many factors. We regress the logarithm of confirmed COVID-19 cases per million inhabitants in a country against the country’s distance from the equator, controlling for key confounding factors: air travel, vehicle concentration, urbanization, COVID-19 testing intensity, cell phone usage, income, old-age dependency ratio, and health expenditure. A one-degree increase in absolute latitude is associated with a 4.3% increase in cases per million inhabitants as of January 9, 2021 (p value < 0.001). Our results imply that a country, which is located 1000 km closer to the equator, could expect 33% fewer cases per million inhabitants. Since the change in Earth’s angle towards the sun between equinox and solstice is about 23.5°, one could expect a difference in cases per million inhabitants of 64% between two hypothetical countries whose climates differ to a similar extent as two adjacent seasons. According to our results, countries are expected to see a decline in new COVID-19 cases during summer and a resurgence during winter. However, our results do not imply that the disease will vanish during summer or will not affect countries close to the equator. Rather, the higher temperatures and more intense UV radiation in summer are likely to support public health measures to contain SARS-CoV-2
Corporate Income Tax, IP boxes and the Location of R&D
Full text linkThe paper discusses the effects of the corporate tax on local R&D expenditures by multinational enterprises (MNEs) when income from intellectual property (IP) may or may not benefit from a special IP regime. Our model shows that an increase of the standard corporate tax may have positive effects on the R&D expenditures in the country that carries out the corporate tax increase. The possible positive R&D effect results from a tax asymmetry: not all R&D returns are subject to the higher tax. First, since R&D creates a public good within the MNE, some of the R&D benefit is taxed at other countries’ tax rates that are not subject to the tax increase. Second, some of the R&D benefits are taxed at a lower IP regime tax rate. Therefore, a higher corporate tax, which increases value of the cost deductibility of R&D, may actually foster R&D. This expectation is empirically supported by country-by-country R&D data of U.S.-owned subsidiaries for countries that have an IP regime.Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Serie
Altruistic giving towards refugees: Identifying factors that increase citizens’ willingness to help
Full text linkOver the past decade, the world has faced an unprecedented refugee crisis. The largenumber of incoming refugees represents a challenge for hostsocieties and its citizenstriggering reactions from a supportive welcome to brusque rejection and hostile behaviortoward refugees. In a pre-registered study, we investigated factors that could promotealtruistic behavior in fully incentivized one-shot Dictator Game toward various receivergroups including refugees. We find that host citizens behavemore altruistically towardrefugees and other receiver groups if they (a) share a local identity with them (i.e., live in thesame city), and (b) perceive them to be close (to the self) andwarm-hearted. Moreover,citizens that are (c) generally more prosocial and hold a more left-wing political orientationare more willing to give. Unexpectedly, from a theoretical point of view, altruistic givingtoward refugees was not influenced in the predicted direction by a shared student identity,competition and perceived income differences (although the latter effect was significantwhen considering all receiver groups). For shared student identity we even observe areduction of altruistic behavior, while the opposite effect was predicted. We discussimplications for public policies for successful refugee helping and integration
Unlocking the Door of the City Hall: Vienna’s Participatory Shift in Urban Development Policy
Full text linkThis chapter explores the evolution of Vienna’s participatory governance in the context of urban development. It sheds light on the changing role of citizens in the City’s urban planning, shaped by the decentralisation process that began in the early 1970s. Since then, urban development policies targeting social inclusion became a realm for widening citizen engagement at the neighbourhood level. However, we argue that growing opportunities for participation went hand in hand with some negative side-effects – namely the self-selection of citizens in small-scale neighbourhood planning, resulting in the uneven distribution of participatory channels within the city
Social Ecological Economics
Full text linkEcological economics has developed as a modern movement with its roots in environmentalism and radical environmental economics. Divisions and conflicts within the field are explored to show why material claiming to fall under the title of ecological economics fails to be representative of progress or the vision which drove socio-economic specialists to interact with ecologists in the first place. The argument is then put forward that ecological economics, as a social science engagingwith the natural sciences, is a heterodox school of modern political economy.Series: SRE - Discussion Paper
Effects of an Information and CommunicationTechnology-Based Fitness Program on Strength and Balancein Female Home Care Service Users
Full text linkThere is evidence that training for strength and balance prevents decline in physical function in old age when the training is personally instructed. It is an open question whether interventions that deliver training via up-to-date technologies can achieve long-term effects. This study examined the effects of an 8-month fitness training program delivered via information and communication technology (ICT) on lower-body strength and balance in female home care users (n = 72) aged 75 years on average. For statistical analysis, the test group was divided into two subgroups, one who used the program at least 8 times per month (n = 26) and another one who used the program less often (n = 17) compared with a control group that received no exercise program (n = 29). It was found that regular ICT-exercisers exhibited positive effects over time on lower-body strength and balance compared to a decrease in both indicators in irregular exercisers and the control group. The authors see potential in offering exercise programs to people of advanced age via ICT to counteract physical decline in old age