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© 2018 Elsevier B.V. This paper investigates how attitudes towards the United States are affected by provision of information. We generate a “panel” of attitudes in urban Pakistan, in which respondents are randomly exposed to fact-based statements describing the US in either a positive or negative light. Anti-American sentiment is high and heterogenous in our sample at the baseline, and systematically correlated with intended behavior (such as intended migration to the US). We find that revised attitudes are significantly different from baseline attitudes: attitudes are, on average, revised upward (downward) upon receipt of positive (negative) information, indicating that providing information had a meaningful effect on US favorability. The within-subject design and data on respondents’ priors allows us to investigate the underlying mechanisms. We find that revisions are largely a result of salience-based updating. We reject unbiased information-based updating as the only source of revisions. In addition, a substantial proportion of individuals do not respond to the information. This heterogeneity in revision processes means that there is no convergence in attitudes following the provision of information.

A rich literature links knowledge inputs with innovative outputs. However, most of what is known is restricted to manufacturing. This paper analyzes whether the three aspects involving innovative activity - R&D; innovative output; and productivity - hold for knowledge intensive services. Combining the models of Crepon et al. (1998) and of Ackerberg et al. (2015), allows for causal interpretation of the relationship between innovation output and labor productivity. We find that knowledge intensive services benefit from innovation activities in the sense that these activities causally increase their labor productivity. Moreover, the firm size advantage found for manufacturing in previous studies nearly disappears for knowledge intensive services., CEPA Discussion Papers, 4

Nowadays, technology is on an evolution wave both in terms of software (complexes and complete business package software solutions) and hardware (increasing processing power for mobile devices, large consume of Internet world wide). The speed with which humans interact with the Internet, use social media and interconnect their devices with other devices is rapidly growing. This desire to stay connected is translated as an exponential growth of volumes of data. Therefore all data that is generated represents the main engine for innovation both in terms of business and technology. Based on unprecedented connectivity among objects and to collect massive amounts of data, Internet of Things (IoT) is ready to provide significant business benefits. Organizations are interested to adopt IoT as a business strategy and they must be prepared to address a number of technical and administrative challenges. The purpose of this article is to define the IoT , looking at Big Data.

Seit 2005 werden die Ergebnisse des ifo Konjunkturtests Dienstleistungen monatlich veröffentlicht. Dieser Sektor ist ein sehr heterogener Bereich, und eine differenzierte Betrachtung nach unterschiedlichen wirtschaftlichen Aktivitäten kann die Qualität der vom ifo Institut erhobenen Daten für einzelne Bereiche aufzeigen. Dieser Artikel widmet sich dem Wirtschaftsabschnitt Information und Kommunikation.

Canada and the United States use Fisher indexes in their input-output accounts. Existing methods for decomposing aggregate labour productivity growth into industry contributions in a Fisher index framework either leave some productivity growth unaccounted for or are poorly suited for answering relevant questions about the industry sources of productivity growth. This article derives formulas for analyzing industry contributions to productivity change that add up exactly to the aggregate change in productivity and that have useful economic interpretations. These formulas show that the manufacturing sector made a positive contribution to productivity growth in the Canada in 2000-2010 and in the United States in 1998-2012, whereas the widely used GEAD formula implies that manufacturing made a negative contribution. Methods that can be used to decompose chained Laspeyres measures of productivity growth are also developed. These methods would be applicable in countries other than Canada and the United States.

This paper addresses the role of imagery and tourism experiences (TEs) in the construction of tourism destination image (TDI). It highlights the importance of the construct imagery at all stages of consumption, because of the intangibility that characterizes tourism and services in general. This aspect gains importance since it is impossible for tourists to experience the desired holidays prior to visitation, leading the way for imagery to become an essential element to inspire and to influence them during the decision-making process, and consumption before, during and after the experience. A conceptual model resulting from the literature review and the potential theoretical contribution of the model are discussed.

In the internationalization process of a firm, the choice of a suitable entry strategy for the foreign target market plays a vital role. For small and medium-sized companies in the service industry, even more challenges emerge in this process. This study examines the market entry strategies employed by Austrian small and medium-sized service enterprises operating in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Fifteen case studies of Austrian service companies are analysed. The results show differing strategies and the importance of establishing and cultivating relationships for a successful market entry.

Vorratsinvestitionen spielen in längerfristiger Betrachtung keine gewichtige Rolle für das Wachstum des Bruttoinlandsprodukts in Deutschland. Gleichwohl sind sie in kurzfristiger, konjunktureller Hinsicht bedeutsam. Sie können prozyklisch wirken und konjunkturelle Ausschläge verstärken, sie können aber auch antizyklisch auftreten und Konjunkturschwankungen dämpfen. Der Beitrag beleuchtet den Aspekt der Lagerhaltung in den ifo Unternehmensbefragungen und zeigt Zusammenhänge zu den volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen auf.

In the last years Istat has increased information in the short-term statistics domain for the ser- vice sector. Until 2010 quarterly service turnover indices were published only in unadjusted form. The time span available made the estimation of seasonally adjusted indicators feasible. However the change in the economic classification, that was relevant especially in the ser- vice sector, has raised significant methodological issues in the determination of the seasonal component, as for example the presence of seasonal level shift. Although Istat’ strategy for seasonal adjustment is based on TRAMO-SEATS procedure, in this work different diagnos- tics useful to provide empirical evidences on seasonal outliers detection are exploited. In more detail, the TRAMO-SEATS framework was integrated with X12-ARIMA diagnostic on seasonal outliers by applying the Demetra + procedure that combines TRAMO-SEATS and X12-ARIMA procedures in a unique framework.

Am 28. Oktober 2015 findet der diesjährige Branchen-Dialog statt, wiederum unterstützt vom Bayerischen Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft und Medien, Energie und Technologie sowie der Industrie- und Handelskammer für München und Oberbayern. Neben dem Vortrag von Hans-Werner Sinn, Präsident des ifo Instituts, zur wirtschaftlichen Lage in Deutschland und der Welt sowie den Konjunktur- und Branchenprognosen bis Ende 2017 wird Oliver Falck, Leiter des ifo Zentrums für Industrieökonomik und neue Technologien, zu Innovationen im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung vortragen.

Quality control and quality assurance gets more and more important against the background for regeneration of the financial market crisis. According to International Standard on Quality Control 1 (ISQC 1) audit firms “should establish a system of quality control designed to provide it with reasonable assurance that the firm and its personnel comply with professional standards and applicable regulatory and legal requirements, and that reports issued by the firm or engagement partners are appropriate in the circumstances.”

Zur Beurteilung der rückläufigen Investitionstätigkeit in Deutschland wird häufig der Rückgang der Bruttoinvestitionsquoten thematisiert. Aus ökonomischer Sicht relevanter sind dagegen die Nettoanlageinvestitionen, also die um ihre Abschreibungen bereinigten Anlageinvestitionen. Betrachtet man anstelle der Brutto- die Nettoanlageinvestitionen, so zeichnen letztere seit langem ein noch schlechteres Bild der Investitionsentwicklung in Sachkapital in Deutschland.

This research proposes a conceptual framework to examine the effects of service quality and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. In order to test and prove the conceptual framework, fi eld research was conducted. Th e questionnaire was designed based on existing constructs in relevant literature. The research target sample consisted of 401 Bangkok-based customers of Th ai major mobile service providers, AIS, DTAC, and Truemove. Reliability tests and statistical analyses were performed to confirm the validity and reliability of the data. Besides, these tests and analyses answered the questions concerning this research. The results of the research indicate that of all factors regarding service quality dimension, only customer service factor is significant to customer satisfaction. The other factors are insignificant to the satisfaction of the customers. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction is positively significant to customer loyalty. It is considered very important for mobile service providers operating in a very competitive market such as in Thailand to learn and realize what the exact drivers of customer loyalty are. The research produces useful and beneficial findings which can be adapted by mobile service providers in an attempt to build up and develop successful and sustainable customer loyalty strategies and competitive advantages.

The European Statistical System has put more attention on activities to improve quality, fre- quency and coverage of short term indicators for the service sector The aim is to implement a set of indicators similar to those already available for the manufacturing sector. Within this framework, Istat has put forth an intensive effort to complete the set of indices required by European regulations, both for Service Production Prices and for quarterly Turnover Indices. Concerning Turnover, in 2011 a new survey was launched to obtain indices for Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycle (NACE G45), Land transport and transport via pipelines (NACE H49), Warehousing and support activities for transportation (NACE H52), Accommodation (NACE I55) and Food and beverage service activities (NACE I56). The aim of this paper is to describe the operational and methodological choices carried out for the release of the indices according to the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM), together with the economic findings associated with the new indicators.

I construct a two-sector general equilibrium model to study the implications of the sectoral composition of GDP on cross-country dierences in GDP growth and volatility. Typically, high income economies grow slower, are less volatile and have a larger share of services in GDP with respect to middle income economies. I show that even when total factor productivity (TFP) growth and volatility are the same in manufacturing and services at the gross output level, the larger intensity of intermediate goods in gross output production in manufacturing implies a larger growth and volatility of TFP at the value added level in manufacturing than in services. In the model, this implies that structural change towards services induces a decline in both aggregate TFP growth and volatility, which in turn reduces GDP growth and volatility. When the model is calibrated to the U.S. manufacturing and services sectors, structural change alone is able to account for measured dierences in per-capita GDP growth and volatility between high and middle income economies during the 1970-2006 period. JEL Classi…cation: C67, C68, E25, E32.

The capability of organizations to accumulate and apply new knowledge is a key factor in order to achieve the new competitive standards. A continuous changing diversity, to which the need of adaptation to the changes of external environment is added, speeds up the rate of development and business education. The new information and communication technologies speed up the rate of change and increase the need of education that is subject to a higher information flow. The achievements of information technology, along with changes within society, determine the creation of new paradigms for business education and training. Under these circumstances, e-learning has become one of the main educational forms of human resources in business. This research aims to measure the impact of some initiatives within human resources on an organization, market leader within pharmaceutical field, namely measuring the efficiency of business education programs concerning human resources through e-learning. Under these circumstances, the carried-out research aims to put into practice the theoretical frame of ROI (Return on Investment) methodology of evaluating the business education programs concerning human resources in five stages, suggested by J. J. Phillips. The research validates theoretical data of the surveyed model and it is based on the analysis of the data gathering process within the ROI Methodology. This work shows only aspects related to the measuring of the participants' reaction towards the e-learning business education program, respectively.

In the tourism sector the elements of attractiveness are responsible for the development level of tourism in that territory. These provide important information about the inventory of components attractive to tourists and information about the perceptions and expectations of tourists. The article is a reference to better highlight the positions that urban region from Moldavia hold in terms of tourist attractiveness, given that in recent years, many cities wish to gain international recognition through tourism. This will make an ascending hierarchical classification to allow coherent and logical identification of attractive areas.

Services represent a most important and dynamic frontier of international trade and investment. The steady expansion of trade in services and its relative resilience in the recent crisis, coupled with its key role in global production networks and its increasing potential in attracting investment provides new opportunities for countries to grow their economies and integrate into the global economy. Drawing on insights from current literature and relying on balance of payments and trade in value-added statistics, this paper examines the main developments shaping Romania’s services trade over the post-crisis years. Its aim is to assess whether the country is grabbing the new opportunities arising from services globalization. It finds that following the dramatic crisis-induced decline in the value and performance of Romania’s services trade, the outlook is now radically improving as evidenced by the strongly rebounding services flows and net exports. Nonetheless, the country’s integration into the global economy through services flows continues to remain below its potential.

In this paper we wish to highlight the main causes of regional disparities in Romania in terms of absorption of European funds through Measure 313: Encouragement of tourism activities. The post-accession of Romania shows a major deficiency in attracting funds from the European Union, this situation is generated, in particular, by the lack of a coherent long-term vision of the authorities, insufficient resources for co-financing projects, low administrative capacity at central and local level, lack of inter-institutional coordination, public-private partnerships failures and insufficient skilled human resources . We will analyze the number of projects approved and implemented in each region of Romania (2007-2013) to establish the real possibilities of expansion of rural tourism.

The analysis of regional differences in a share of service sector in employment was conducted in the study. The aim of research was to identify the most important intra-sectoral determinants of labour engagement in the service sector at a level of voivodeships. Statistical methods such as analysis of variability, correlation, regression and factor analysis were used to realize the task of research. After identification of the most important factors determining regional scale of employment in the service sector and their structuralization, there were indicated specific sets of factors influencing situation in each voivodeship.

Zur Erhebung der Lagerentwicklung bittet das ifo Institut im Rahmen des ifo Konjunkturtests die Umfrageteilnehmer aus dem Handelsbereich jeden Monat darum, ihre Lagerbestände als »zu klein«, »befriedigend (saisonüblich)« oder »zu groß« einzustufen. Der vorliegende Artikel beschreibt die unterschiedlichen Bewertungsmuster in den einzelnen Handelssparten und analysiert den Zusammenhang der Lagerentwicklung mit dem aktuellen Geschäftsverlauf und anderen Variablen aus dem ifo Konjunkturtest. Insgesamt deuten die aktuellen Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass überhöhte Warenlager im ifo Konjunkturtest ein Indikator für zu schwache Nachfrage sind. Die Firmen sind gezwungen, korrigierende Maßnahmen zu ergreifen.

Tourism is a sector of the economy in which the problems related to the jobs and necessary skills to exit the crisis are emphasized more sensitive than other sectors of the economy. This paper proposes a literature review based on the latest studies and research literature worldwide (USA, Canada, EU, etc.) and aims to identify the factors and trends influencing skill shortages in tourism and also the policies to mitigate this deficit. Tourism feels the chronic global shortage of human resources due to its seasonal activity and its lower efficiency. Most relied upon solutions are considering closer involvement of the Government in tourism support. An important role lies in defining the content engine training and education. The differences between the requirements of the tourism sector and content of vocational, technical and university learning is a problem in many countries. The situation remedy requires programme rethinking, teachers improving skills, creating practical programmes in terms of quality, preference in enterprises and establishment of the most appropriate bridge linking vocational (professional) education and higher education to open students’ clear and open opportunities. The paper lists the types of partnerships between public powers, the tourism sector and the educational sector at a global level and highlights their potential in connection with national and cultural specifics.

Tourism is an important component of the economic and social life of a country. The importance of the role of tourism in the national economy is given by the complexity of this phenomenon, the scope of activities necessary for its emergence, maintenance and development. Tourism plays an important role on the human level too, due to its positive effects for the tourists and also for the population of the host countries. For tourist, the tourism means creating conditions and opportunities for rest, relaxation, culture or getting in touch with other people, and for the local people tourism is a mean of raising the standards of living, improving the living conditions. By its nature, the tourism represents an economic activity located at the crossroads of other branches. In this tourism universe, the power of the consumer does not cease to exist, that is why the quality is one of the first requirements as customer or tourist satisfaction is greatly dependent on the quality of the services. In order to enter into the international tourism competition is needed the modernization, recovery and development of the Romanian tourism and creation of modern and competitive tourism products on the tourism market.

The KOF Swiss Economic Institute has been investigating the development of the Swiss Economy for more than 75 years. To come up with a timely display of the economic situation, KOF continues to survey companies on a regular quarterly or monthly basis. Several economic indicators like the KOF Business Situation, the KOF employment indicator and the KOF Economic Barometer are computed based on survey data. In the summer of 2013 KOF conducted a feedback survey to learn more about the data generating process behind survey data and to improve the understanding of companies’ workflow to handle regular surveys. The survey was conducted among firms of the service sector and focused on measurement of capacity utilization, response burden and drivers of the assessment of the current business situation respectively expectations. Turnover and profit situation are the most important drivers of companies assessment of the business situation. Capacity utilization is mostly driven by staff related factors. The response burden caused by business tendency surveys is considered moderate on average.

Bei dem ifo Konjunkturtest Verarbeitendes Gewerbe werden auch Aspekte der Lagerhaltung und des Auftragsbestands abgefragt. Der Artikel wirft einen Blick auf diese Variablen und den Zusammenhang zwischen diesen. Es zeigt sich, dass auf oberster aggregierter Ebene das Fertigwarenlager und der Auftragsbestand negativ korreliert sind. Eine eindeutige Tendenz zur Just-in-time-Produktion ist zu erkennen, und die Rohstoff-, Vormaterial- und Fertigwarenbestände haben seit den 1980er Jahren kontinuierlich abgenommen.

The article looks at the financial situation of non-financial corporations in Belgium over the period from 1 January to 31 December 2013. After briefly describing the methodology and the population studied, it presents an extrapolation of the main operating result items for 2013, with a breakdown by sector and size. The article then goes on to assess the financial situation of companies as regards profitability, solvency and investment. This year, a separate section presents an analysis of their available funds, which have increased a lot over recent years. This analysis focuses among others on the concepts of working capital and working capital needs.

The article looks at the financial situation of non-financial corporations in Belgium over the period from 1 January to 31 December 2013. After briefly describing the methodology and the population studied, it presents an extrapolation of the main operating result items for 2013, with a breakdown by sector and size. The article then goes on to assess the financial situation of companies as regards profitability, solvency and investment. This year, a separate section presents an analysis of their available funds, which have increased a lot over recent years. This analysis focuses among others on the concepts of working capital and working capital needs.

Am 5. November 2014 fand der diesjährige ifo Branchen-Dialog statt. Nach der Begrüßung durch den Präsidenten der Industrie- und Handelskammer für München und Oberbayern, Eberhard Sasse, trugen Hans-Werner Sinn, Präsident des ifo Instituts, zum Thema »Die wirtschaftliche Lage in Deutschland und Europa« und Timo Wollmershäuser, ebenfalls ifo Institut, zum Thema »Mittelfristprojektion für Deutschland« vor. An diese Vorträge schlossen sich die vier Branchenforen an. Zum Abschluss der Veranstaltung diskutierte Gabriel Felbermayr, ifo Institut, die Frage »Transatlantischer Freihandel – Chance oder Bedrohung?« Der Beitrag fasst die Tagung zusammen.

The article evaluates the role of tourism in the economies of the BRICS countries, considered to be one of the most representative grouping among the emerging countries. Due to the impressive economic growth recorded in these countries, tourism has a growing share in their overall GDP, and large investments have been made in this sector. Taking a broad comparative approach, the article pinpoints the share of tourism in the BRICS’ countries GDP, using statistics as a research tool. It concludes that tourism has a significant potential in the BRICS countries and its part to their overall economic growth is likely to increase in future.

For producing and delivering a specific service unit, certain service resources are necessary. The service capacity describes the amount of service resources which are available for service production and delivery. Due to the direct contact between these service resources and the customer (or their objects), which are integrated into the service process, a service provider can only deliver as many service units as service capacities are available. However, in every service setting there are often situations where there is a gap between demand and capacity, meaning the gap between the number of potential users of the service and the amount of service resources available.

Nach den aktuellen Ergebnissen des ifo Investitionstests wollen die Unternehmen des deutschen Verarbeitenden Gewerbes 2014 ihre Investitionen um rund 9% erhöhen. Für das Jahr 2013 ergaben die Meldungen der Testteilnehmer einen Anstieg von 3%. Erweiterungsinvestitionen und Investitionen in Ersatzbeschaffungen halten sich 2013 und 2014 in etwa die Waage. In diesem Jahr sind je rund 30% der Sachanlageinvestitionen den beiden Investitionsmotiven zuzuordnen. Rationalisierungsmaßnahmen spielen im Vergleich zu den 1990er Jahren nur noch eine untergeordnete Rolle.

Der Dienstleistungssektor ist gemäß der Bruttowertschöpfung der größte Wirtschaftsbereich in Deutschland. Seit 2005 erfassen auch die ifo Konjunkturbefragungen monatlich diesen Bereich systematisch. Der Artikel stellt die Hintergründe und die Ergebnisse der Dienstleistungsbefragungen vor. Zudem wird gezeigt, dass die Befragungsergebnisse einen sehr guten Erklärungsgehalt für offizielle Statistiken besitzen, d.h. sehr gute Indikatoren sind. Es ist geplant, dass ab 2015 der Dienstleistungssektor in das bisher existierende ifo-Aggregat »Gewerbliche Wirtschaft« – bestehend aus Industrie, Groß- und Einzelhandel sowie Bauhauptgewerbe – integriert wird.

Based on detailed information about the regional knowledge base, particularly about universities, we find that regional public research and education have a strong positive impact on new business formation in innovative industries but not in industries classified as non-innovative. Measures for the presence and size of public academic institutions have more of an effect on the formation of innovative new businesses than indicators that reflect the quality of these institutions. We find relatively weak evidence for interregional spillovers of these effects. Our results clearly demonstrate the importance of localized knowledge and, especially, of public research for the emergence of innovative new businesses.

This paper explores the relation between vertical disintegration and the co-localization of knowledge intensive business service (Kibs) firms in the metropolitan region of Milan, using micro-geographic data and nonparametric methods. Our main results are that: (i) compared to other manufacturing and service industries, Kibs firms show a “natural tendency” to cluster; (ii) this tendency increases with the degree of vertical disintegration of Kibs firms.

The aim of our research was to study the impact of social responsibility vision and strategy on successful corporate operations by taking into consideration the completeness and co-independence of socially responsible conduct, as well as following the principles and components of social responsibility on an organization’s sustainable development. Familiarization with an organization’s strategy allows us to fulfil the company’s vision and achieve its goals. The data and information were gathered using the quantitative research method, by means of a questionnaire, which was distributed among 759 large andmedium-sized organisations in the market services sector in the Republic of Slovenia.We have identified that there is a direct impact of fulfilling the vision, strategy, and co-independence between social responsibility factors on successful corporate operations, in particular on the revenue (p = 0.017), profit (p = 0.003), and operational economy (p = 0.019). Research results provide theoretical as well as practical benefits for everyone involved with the planning, implementation and control of sustainable development, as well as socially responsible conduct within the organization.

The paper wants to highlight the importance of promoting the tourism area “Iron Gates”. Analyzing the current situation of the tourism in the area we can say that the tourist area Iron Gates is a tourist area with a quite valuable potential.

Uno de los temas más controvertidos de las últimas décadas es el de las relaciones entre el crecimiento del sector servicios y su papel en la evolución de la productividad agregada de las economías desarrolladas. A pesar del dominante rol que tienen las actividades terciarias en la actualidad, tanto en el empleo y la producción como en las relaciones intersectoriales de estas economías, los análisis teóricos y empíricos sobre el sector no han ocupado el grueso del debate académico hasta hace pocas décadas. En el caso de los estudios regionales y territoriales, una de las áreas que ha experimentado mayor crecimiento en los últimos años, este déficit de atención todavía es más evidente. Por esta razón, el presente trabajo trata de servir como punto de partida para todos aquellos investigadores que quieran adentrarse por este camino. Para ello se revisan todas las aportaciones teóricas y empíricas sobre las relaciones entre productividad y servicios, tanto desde el punto de vista conceptual como desde el punto de vista de medición, desde las visiones tradicionales más negativas con respecto a los servicios a las últimas revisiones y matizaciones que colocan al sector terciario en un lugar más adecuado., The role of the tertiarization processes on the growth of the overall productivity in the advanced economies has risen as one of the most controversial topics during the recent decades in the specialized literature. Despite the quantitative and the strategic importance of the service industries within the present economies, there has been a significant deficit of theoretical and empirical works on them since only a few decades. Talking about local, territorial and regional analyses —one of the most increasing research fields during the last years— this lack of attention is still evident. Following this motivation, the present «state of the art» should aim to help researchers and institutions in order to deep into the relationships and explaining factors between the growth of the service sector and the development of the overall productivity. In doing so, the paper reviews every theoretical and empirical works on this topic, both on conceptual and methodological issues, starting from the most conventional theses until the most updated revisions with a more positive and realistic point of view of the role of the tertiarization process on productivity.

This article looks at the financial situation of non-financial corporations in Belgium over the period from 1 January to 31 December 2012. After briefly describing the methodology and the population studied, it presents an extrapolation of the main operating result items for 2012, with a sectoral and size breakdown. It shows that operating results deteriorated, but more for big companies than for SMEs. The article assesses then the financial situation of companies as regards profitability and solvency. The last section presents an analysis of the corporate tax burden, according to the concept of implicit tax rate. There is a clear trend to the erosion of this rate, but a light revival is observed in the recent years mainly due to the restrictions applied to the notional interest deduction regime.

Service interactions are next to customer relationships one of the primary value processes of a service provider. Due to the fact that in service situations value is created via the throughput of the customer through the service production process, and this throughput is realized in service interactions, these interactions are one of the major value drivers of a service firms value. As one of a service providers primary value processes, the interaction process aims at managing the service interactions by integrating the customer, providing the service in the service encounter and a recovery service in case of service failures. These three main value-enhancing sub-processes contribute differently to a service firms value by influencing both revenues and cost. Revenues are created first by the customers throughput through the service process, and secondly by preventing customer defections as a consequence of service failures.

Am 7. November 2013 fand der diesjährige ifo Branchen-Dialog statt. Wie üblich folgten auf die Ausführungen von Hans-Werner Sinn zur allgemeinen wirtschaftlichen Lage und den Perspektiven für das nächste Jahr die vier Branchenforen. Das Schlussreferat hielt Günther Oettinger, der EU-Kommissar für Energie, zum Thema: »Der Weg zur Sicherung unserer Zukunft: eine europäische Energiestrategie«. Der Beitrag fasst die Tagung zusammen.

Services marketing, by definition, focuses on the external stakeholders, and principally on the customers. By managing the interactions and relationships with the customers, value is created. Successful value-oriented services marketing is determined by strong interdependencies between all stakeholders within the service firm. In order to be able to produce value, it is not enough that a marketing manager takes some decisions. The employees and above all the customer contact employees play an important role in service delivery. However, a service employee is not an isolated individual, focused only on individual interactions and relationships with the customer. In most service industries, service employees behaviour is even more influenced by internal factors, e.g. the colleagues and supervisors behaviours, as well as the systems and the culture of the firm. All these are factors of services marketing implementation which support the realisation of the services marketing concept in the firm.

Using firm-level balance sheet data for 20 of the 24 exchange companies in Pakistan for the period 2006-11, we explore the sources of firms' vulnerability to short-term financing shocks. Based on the probability estimates of a maximum likelihood binary probit model, this paper shows that the incidence and degree of vulnerability of foreign exchange companies to short-term financing shocks has risen significantly over time. If not managed opportunely, these shocks can cumulate into long-term financing shocks and even lead to corporate failure in the long run. Our regression results show that the corporate managers of these companies cannot ignore macroeconomic factors such as global changes and the macroeconomic environment (inflation and GDP growth) in addition to firm-specific factors (growth opportunities, firm size, permanent earnings, earnings volatility, and working capital management) when managing their firms' vulnerability to short-term financing shocks.Keywords: Foreign exchange companies, vulnerability, financing shocks, Pakistan.JEL classification: G33, G30 L80, L89.(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)1. IntroductionGenerally, companies' financial reporting entails documenting three types of cash flows: operating, investing, and financing flows. Operating cash flows arise on account of a company's normal business operations and are crucial because they indicate a firm's capacity to generate sufficient positive cash flows to maintain and expand its operations. In case of corporate failure, firms may require external financing, consequently raising the probability of rolling over their current liabilities and becoming exposed to funding shocks.These funding shocks, if not managed well in time, can erode the firm's capital to a potentially dangerous extent (Tudela & Young, 2003b) and lead to corporate bankruptcy or failure. However, at the root of these corporate failures is the inability of firms to overcome or manage their response to short-term funding shocks. Understanding the sources of vulnerability to such shocks is, therefore, critical for corporate managers as well as for investors seeking credit exposure (see Chan-Lau & Gravelle, 2005) to such vulnerable companies. Initially, these funding shocks may weaken a firm's liquidity, but they can also affect the solvency of the corporate sector, potentially destabilizing the economy as a whole if the sector is important. Understanding the sources of vulnerability of foreign exchange companies to short-term financing shocks is crtical, given the foreign exchange exposure of the financial and real sectors in the Pakistan's current exchange rate crisis.We observe a relatively significant and high degree of volatility in these firms' net operating cash flows compared to their revenue, administrative, general expense, and profit-after-tax flows during the period 2006-11 (Figures 1 and 2). Net operating cash flows are consistently below current liabilities (Figure 2) and provide evidence of the vulnerability of foreign exchange companies to short-term financing shocks in Pakistan. This evidence forms the basis for this study. Currently, there is scant literature on the vulnerability of exchange firms to short-term funding shocks and no attempt has been made to explore the sources of this vulnerability in the context of Pakistan. Accordingly, this study aims to fill this gap in the literature.The paper is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews the literature; Section 3 describes the data sources and variables employed, and discusses the study's research design and methodology; Section 4 presents our results; and Section 5 concludes the study.2. Review of the LiteratureHong and Wu (2013) estimate a discrete-time hazard model of bank failure using data on US commercial banks for the period 1985-2004. They identify idiosyncratic and systemic funding liquidity risks as a major predictor of bank failures in 2008 and 2009. …

The objective of this study was to examine the factors affecting the growth performance of small enterprises in manufacture and service sector in Yemen; it detected three variables that can influence the performance growth of these firms, and first off it mentioned management capabilities determinants (including financial operations, Access to Credit, lack of capital, firm management, firm marketing, social networks, Ease of doing business), as well as business environment determinants (including macroeconomic determinants, lack of capital, competition, government policy toward SMEs) and lastly it added firm resources (including personal traits, firm characteristics, owner characteristics) . A theoretical framework was drawn out, and a questionnaire was designed according to the previously mentioned factors .The data was collected based on 389 selected samples from two cities in Yemen, namely Sana’a and Taiz which were analysed through the use of SPSS program. Then, the structural equation modeling was used, the entire hypotheses were successfully tested with AMOS software, and six hypotheses were accepted. However, the findings from this study proved the efficiency of management capabilities determinants, business environment determinants, and firm resources on the growth of SEMSSs in Yemen.

The manufacturing sector is a major purchaser of services and therefore has a significant impact on growth in the service sector. Conversely, there is not as much impetus generated by services to the manufacturing sector. In 2009, industrial production led to the creation of a further 3.8 million jobs in the service sector. The impact on employment in support services to enterprises was particularly high. In the economic policy debate, these relationships should be stronger than has been the case to date. A one-dimensional assessment of the drivers of economic growth based solely on the economic structure of an economy falls short. It both underestimates the importance of the manufacturing sector and overestimates that of the service sector. Das Verarbeitende Gewerbe ist ein wichtiger Abnehmer von Dienstleistungen und hat damit einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf das Wachstum des Dienstleistungssektors. Umgekehrt sind die Impulse, die von Dienstleistungen auf das Verarbeitende Gewerbe ausgehen, geringer. Im Jahr 2009 induzierte die Industrieproduktion Beschäftigung im Dienstleistungsbereich in einem Umfang von rund 3,8 Millionen Erwerbstätigen induziert. Besonders hoch sind die Beschäftigungseffekte bei den unternehmensnahen Dienstleistungen. In der wirtschaftspolitischen Debatte sollten diese Zusammenhänge stärker als bisher beachtet werden. Eine eindimensionale Beurteilung der Triebfedern des wirtschaftlichen Wachstums allein auf der Basis der Wirtschaftsstruktur einer Volkswirtschaft greift zu kurz. Sie unterschätzt die Bedeutung des Verarbeitenden Gewerbes und überschätzt diejenige des Dienstleistungssektors.

Mit der Umstellung der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen der Länder auf die neue Wirtschaftszweigklassifikation Ausgabe 2008 (WZ 2008) wurde die Untergliederung des Dienstleistungssektors verfeinert. Der Artikel ist eine erste Annäherung, Wachstumstreiber innerhalb des sächsischen Dienst - leistungssektors konkreter zu identifizieren. In Sachsen tragen die unternehmensnahen Dienstleister sowie der Bereich Information und Kommunikation maßgeblich zum Wachstum im Dienstleistungssektor bei. Für Ostdeutschland insgesamt und Westdeutschland sind die Ergebnisse weniger eindeutig.

This paper uses a novel data set of the trade mark activity of UK manufacturing and service sector firms to investigate whether applications for trade marks are suggestive of product innovation, improving the profitability and productivity of firms. Data on both trade (and service) marks sought via the UK Patent Office (UKTM) and the European Community Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market (CTM) are available. There was rapid growth in trade mark activity during the period covered by the data (1996-2000). We first analyse Tobin’s q, the ratio of stock market value to the book value of tangible assets, as the market value of the firm should reflect the expected future return on intangible assets. We explore the impact of undertaking any trade mark activity and also the effects of increasing trade mark intensity among those who do. The results indicate that stock market values are positively associated with R&D; and trade mark activity by firms. We find larger differences between firms with and without trade marks for services than for manufacturing. We also find bigger differences in Tobin’s q when the services firm is applying for Community marks, rather than just applying for UK marks. Increasing the intensity of Community trade marking appears to raise market value for both manufacturing and services, but this relationship weakened over the 1996 to 2000 period. The second part of this paper investigates the relationship between trade mark activity and productivity, using a value added production function. The results indicate that firms that trade mark have significantly higher value added than non-trade markers (by between 10% and 30% across all firms). Our interpretation is that trade mark activity proxies a range of other, unobservable, firm-level characteristics including innovation that raise productivity and product unit values. We also analyse whether greater trade mark intensity raises productivity growth. Higher trade mark intensity has some positive association with productivity growth, particularly in services, but the results are relatively weak. These results seem broadly consistent with those derived using the market value approach, suggesting that stock markets are efficient in estimating the likely benefits of new intangible assets, and that managers were not just seeking trade marks to follow a management fad, but could expect to receive real returns from innovative activity leading to new products requiring trade marks. Even so, the marginal returns to extra trade marks per firm were diminishing quite rapidly over the period, as indicated by our exploration of the interaction of time trends with trade mark intensity. In the final section of the paper we examine interactions between firms IP activity to explore the nature of creative destruction and simultaneous growth via innovation. We find that, in the short run, greater IP activity by other firms in the industry reduces the value added of the firm, but this same competitive pressure has later benefits via productivity growth and this is reflected in higher stock market value. This describes the Schumpeterian process of competition through innovation restraining profit margins while increasing product variety and quality.

For some observers, the dramatic growth of the services sector in India reflects rapid strides made by educated professionals. Some others see it as the expansion of an employer of last resort. Given this heterogeneity, the object of the paper is to analyze the nature of employment being created in the different sub-sectors of services, relative to the industrial sector. The nature of employment is defined to include educational requirements and quality, where the latter comprises wages, job security and social protection. Using different econometric models to analyse household survey data from India in 1993-94 and 2004-05, we find the following. First, sub-sectors of services are generally either 'good' or 'bad' employers. Second, service sub-sectors with low educational requirements have low overall quality of employment, and vice-versa. Moreover, employment expansion appears to be more in sub-sectors where educational requirements and quality of employment is low.

Article first published online: 22 SEP 2015 This paper analyses the linkage between services and manufacturing productivity performance, using firm-level data for over 100 developing countries. We find strong evidence for such a linkage, although the effect is small: at the average rate of services input intensity, a 10 per cent improvement in services productivity is associated with an increase in manufacturing productivity of 0.3 per cent. Services trade restrictiveness indices are found to be a statistically significant determinant of manufactured exports performance, a finding that is robust to the inclusion of the overall level of trade restrictiveness that is applied against manufactured exports directly. The main channel through which services trade restrictions negatively affect manufactured exports is through FDI, a finding that is consistent with the stylised fact in the literature that FDI is a key channel for trade in services and an important vehicle through which services technology and know-how is transferred across countries. At the sectoral level, restrictions on transport and retail distribution services have the largest negative impact on exports of manufactures. Published version of EUI RSCAS WP 2015/07 Global Governance Programme-156

A new empirical model is presented in this paper with respect to the productivity spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) by focusing on the multi-layered structure of industrial classifications. In this model, the market presence of horizontal FDI in a host country is expressed using multiple spillover variables with a nested structure corresponding to the aggregated level of industrial classification. Using large-scale firm-level data from Hungary, we estimated the nested variable model and verified horizontal FDI spillover effects that cannot be captured with the conventional model having a single horizontal variable.

The hypotheses of sectoral return rates on regulating capital either gravitating around or converging toward a common value is tested on data for various OECD countries by adopting two panel varying coefficient approaches. The null hypotheses receive some empirical support, which turns out to be stronger once focusing on manufacturing industries only. The paper offers a meta-analytic framework to assess the results obtained in the present contribution as well as in the past literature. Finally, implications for economic policies and future theoretical and empirical research are discussed.