The paper explains how Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. (Suan Company) emerged from the NGO movement guided by Sulak Sivaraksa in Thailand. Suan Company is one example of the growing number of experiments in 'alternative business'. In addition to 'fair trade' efforts to bring rural producers and...

Consumers interact with each other and within their social networks. Influentials have an overproportional influence on other consumers? preferences and choices, thus having relevant implications for product development, marketing planning and strategic marketing. An important question that...

Online Consumer-to-Consumer Communication Networks are characterized by informational and social benefits as well as time and effort costs for participants. Therefore, this dissertation takes an economic perspective on the network formation process as a determinant of value for consumers and...

Mit der Liberalisierung des europäischen Marktes für elektrische Energie haben sich die Randbedingungen für alle in diesem Markt tätigen Unternehmen grundlegend verändert. Um das langfristige Ziel eines europäischen Binnenmarktes zu erreichen, sind erhebliche Eingriffe in die unter...

Diese Doktorarbeit besteht aus vier eigenständigen Forschungsarbeiten, die in der Zeit von Oktober 2004 bis Oktober 2007 geschrieben wurden, während ich Teilnehmer am "Doctoral Programme in Quantitative Economics and Finance" an der Universität Konstanz war. Meine Forschungsinteressen...

Today's predominant disclosure philosophy calls for the fulldisclosure of all decision relevant information bycompanies. More publicly available information, theargument goes, limits the adverse selection problem by reducinginformation asymmetry among heterogeneous investors. Thus, theliquidity...

Die Gründung des GATT Abkommens im Jahr 1947 sowie die Welthandelsorganisation führten zu weltweiten Zollsenkung. Seit deren Gründung haben sich mehr als 150 Länder innerhalb von acht Verhandlungsrunden auf Zollsenkungen von durchschnittlich 40% auf nunmehr 4% geeinigt.Hauptsäule der WTO...

The importance of social and economic networks has meanwhile been widely acknowledged throughout social sciences. Network positions are supposed to be important for both, consumers and suppliers. Examples are R&D collaborations, strategic alliances, knowledge management within organizations,...

Consumer’s decision-making process has been altered by dissemination of social networking sites (SNSs) provided by Web 2.0 technologies. Communication and interaction among consumers in SNSs allow consumers share their opinions and view others’ opinions in their networks. The emergence of...