We explore the managerial implications and economic consequences of platform sharing under models of horizontal and vertical product differentiation. By using a common platform across different products, firms can save on fixed costs for platform development. At the same time, platform sharing...

We inhabit a global village in which international marketers are encouraged to think and act with both global and local interests in mind. The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in January 2007 has created a 27 member state EU with a population of nearly half a billion. The purpose of this...

In analyzing firm productivity in Belgium, this article shows empirically that both scale and efficiency contribute positively to the typical productivity advantage of foreign affiliates. Stochastic production frontier estimation using the translog functional form indicates that foreign...

This paper studies the choice of organizational forms in a multi-task principal-agent model. We compare a functional organization in which the firm is organized into functional departments such as marketing and R&D to a product-based organization in which the firm is organized into product...

After the shift from centrally planned to market economies, CEE countries experienced significant changes in the world of work. Full employment was replaced by a distortion in labour markets, a rapid rise in unemployment and intensive labour emigration. The following questions are discussed: (1)...

Although a great deal of ink has been spilled over the consequences of globalization, we do not yet fully understand the causes of increased worldwide trade. Using confidential microdata from the U.S. Census, we document widespread entry into countries abroad by U.S. firms from 1987 to 2006. We...

In Deutschland werden in den nächsten Jahren die Stromzähler von Millionen von Stromletztverbrauchern und Betreibern dezentraler Energieerzeugungsanlagen durch vernetzte intelligente Messsysteme, die auch als Smart Meter bekannt sind, ersetzt. Vor dem Hintergrund des gesetzlichen Rahmens und...

We examine a Bertrand competition game between two intermediaries offering matching services between two sides of a market. Indirect network externalities arise as the probability of finding one's match with a given intermediary increase with the number of agents of the other side who use the...