Financial constraints can severely limit the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and are very likely to affect innovative firms. In order to lower the barriers to firm growth, in 2014 the European Commission introduced the SME Instrument with the specific aim to support...

The EU European Trading Scheme (EU ETS) started operating in 2005 and was established with the EU Climate Package of 2008 as a permanent mechanism for Europe. Now in its second phase, policymakers are evaluating its success to date and considering next steps for its evolution. With the ultimate...

The long-term nature of private equity investment enables fund managers to work with company leaders in driving transformational change within investee businesses, as well as within private equity houses themselves. In recent years, one key area of focus has been the establishment of responsible...

The fight against cartels is a priority for antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. What differs between the EU and the US is not the basic toolkit for achieving deterrence, but to whom it is targeted. In the EU, pecuniary sanctions against the firm are the only instruments...

There is a large amount of legal and economic literature on the fining policy of the European Commission for breaches of EU competition law. This paper takes a quantitative approach as it analyses the factors that have been considered by the Commission in establishing the level of the fine...

The euro area has several problems. Nevertheless, there is not only strong political support for it, but also most companies back the euro or at least do not complain. It is worthwhile to analyse which companies do profit from the euro and why most others do not oppose it. Exporting companies in...

The literature shows that horizontal shareholding engenders significant anticompetitive effects and that no suitable instrument exists within European competition law which reliably and effectively can be applied to curtail such intrinsic effects. This Article analyses several proposals which...

The language of ‘human resource management' treats people as a means to an end. Three core tenets of human resource literature are that it is desirable to have (1) labour ‘flexibility' and ‘mobility' in a peripheral workforce, (2) individual (not social) responsibility for employment...

This paper complements the existing scarce literature on financial cooperatives in various ways. First, we describe the background and evolution of European Cooperative Banking Groups (ECBGs). Second, we summarize the main reasons for the past disregard and recent revaluation of the cooperative...

The theme chosen fits in the wider context of promoting the national interest through specific actions of achieving competitiveness in the progress of economic and financial transactions. The article includes: (1) a concise presentation of the tendencies of the process of modeling in accounting,...