1- Introduction

2- Literature

3- Narrative account

4- Time series evidence

5- Role of inflation expectations for the recovery

6- Implications and future directions

References

Abstract

A regime shift toward increased inflation expectations is credited with jump-starting the recovery from the Great Depression in the United States. What role did inflation expectations play in Germany that experienced a similarly successful economic upturn in the 1930s? We study inflation expectations in the German recovery across several methods: we conduct a narrative study of media sources; we estimate inflation expectations from a factor-augmented vector autoregression model, real interest rate forecasts, and quantitative news series. Consistently across these approaches, we do not find a shift to increased expected inflation. This recovery was different, and its causes lie elsewhere.

Introduction

Inflation expectations play a central role in explanations for the recovery from the Great Depression in the United States . Central bankers frequently refer to the historical precedent for this policy prescription: President Roosevelt made a credible commitment to inflate the economy in the Spring of 1933, which is regarded as a regime change that marks the beginning of the successful recovery of the U.S. economy (e.g. Eggertsson (2008)).1 Figure 1 shows the recovery paths for the United States and Germany. U.S. industrial production increased dramatically following the Roosevelt regime shift in the second quarter of 1933. The recovery in Germany that started in 1932 proceeded at roughly the same rate, starting off slowly in the beginning, but at a higher and steady pace thereafter. We observe similar patterns for prices (Figure 2). Although the U.S. price index of industrial finished goods jumped upward along with industrial production, the German price index increased at a much slower pace.

Introduction

Materials and methods

Results

Discussion

References

Abstract

Purpose: Questionnaire survey among the members of the German Spine Society (Deutsche Wirbels€ aulen-Gesellschaft, DWG) to objectify oncological infrastructure and current standard of care in spinal tumor treatment in Germany. Methods: All DWG-members were contacted via the society’s e-mail and asked to respond in anonymized form to a related questionnaire. Questions were asked regarding surgical specialty, type of institution involved, numbers of spinal procedures, as well as questions on treatment for primary tumors, whether the respondent belonged to a tumor center, decision-making procedures for surgery, and the type of procedure. Results: 84 centers providing surgical treatment for spinal tumors in their departments were identified. 52.6% were carrying out more than 500 spinal procedures per year. There was a significant association (P
0.05) between the numbers of spinal surgeries, the number of treated tumor patients per year, the organisation in a tumor center and the treatment of primary tumors. 76% are part of a local tumor center for interdisciplinary decision making (i.e.surgical treatment and adjuvant therapy). 74% of the institutions stated that conventional postoperative radiotherapy is standardly administered in the case of secondary lesions, with 24% of them referring patients to external services for radiotherapy. Conclusion: In spite of often large numbers of spinal operations, the centers perform relatively small numbers of tumor operations, particularly for primary tumors. A nearly three-quarter majority of the departments are integrated into interdisciplinary tumor care. However, there is a marked number that do not belong to an interdisciplinary organisation. Further advances in multidisciplinarity and oncology training are a continuous issue to increase treatment quality in spinal tumor patients.

Introduction

The diagnosis of a tumor on the spine is a severe and momentous event for those affected and represents an equally great challenge for the specialist disciplines treating these lesions. There is controversy regarding the value, necessity, options and extent of surgical interventions and on whether they are lastingly effective [1]. Oncological treatment is now primarily based on and guided by the biology of the underlying tumors, and currently a paradigm shift in surgical therapy is observed. Among the involved disciplines, the spinal surgeon is usually the first who is contacted either by the symptomatic patient or diagnostic radiologist. However, to provide the complete range of treatment, other disciplines as radiooncology, pathology, pain therapy, internal oncology etc. as well as the necessary infrastructure also have to be available locally to consecutively guarantee the patient a oncological treatment in accordance with the latest standards and guidelines. The treatments are mainly palliative in nature due to secondary lesions developing in 10e20% of all cancer patients [2]. Surgical procedures are aimed at relieving neurological complications, severe pain or restoring spinal integrity and vertebral stability in order to ensure an acceptable quality of life for the period remaining. With regard to primary tumors or so called „solitary“ metastases in definded constellations, the current data in the literature show that radical resection combined with adjuvant therapy is markedly superior to intralesional procedures [3e5].

Many governments have replaced traditional cash-based accounting with some form of accrualbased accounting system. However, empirical evidence on the effects of the public accounting system on fiscal policy is scarce. Following rules by the federal states, municipalities in Germany have adopted accrual-based accounting systems gradually. By exploiting variations over time and across states I find no evidence for an impact on the overall financial balance. However, my findings suggest that accrual accounting has altered the structure of the budget. Revenues from the sales of non-financial assets have decreased significantly. This supports the hypothesis that municipalities had used these one-off measures before to meet fiscal constraints. Using data on entities controlled by the municipalities, the analysis provides no evidence for repercussions on these public funds, institutions or enterprises.

Introduction

Traditionally, the budget and accounting information of governments have been based on the cash principle. Starting in the 1980s, public sector accounting has experienced some fundamental changes. Private sector-style management instruments have been implemented, and in many countries a move towards accrual accounting has taken place (OECD/IFAC, 2017). Primarily, these reforms aspire to reveal the long-term budgetary impact of policy decisions and to capture public assets and liabilities. With the intention to improve fiscal monitoring, the discussion about accrual standards for public sector accounting has gained renewed interest after the sovereign debt crisis. The European Commission currently intends to introduce harmonized, compulsory accrualbased European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS) for all member states (European Commission, 2013). The voluntary switch to accrual accounting has already been actively encouraged and sponsored by the Commission. Despite the relevance of the topic and the prominent political debate, empirical evidence on the effects of the public accounting system is scarce. In particular, there has been little research on the costs and benefits of such reform. There are some studies, mainly from the accounting literature, that primarily analyze the effect of accrual-based accounting on the efficiency of the public sector.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how the intensity use of WeChat is associated with perceived social capital and psychological well-being factors among Chinese international students in Germany. Design/methodology/approach – Based on an online survey data collected from 212 Chinese international college students in Germany, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were sequentially implemented to deal with the research questions. Findings – The correlation analysis results indicate that the intensity of WeChat use is positively correlated with bridging, bonding, and maintained social capital. Additionally, a path model demonstrates that bonding social capital is positively related to life satisfaction and negatively related to the sense of loneliness. Furthermore, both bonding and maintained social capital mediate the relationship between WeChat use and these two well-being outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Theoretically, the research is an initial study contributing to the existing social media literature on evaluating the effects of WeChat use on social capital and well-being. Practically, these obtained results can be beneficial to the understanding the dynamics of how social media may potentially impact students’ social connectedness and life quality. Originality/value – Although WeChat has become the most prevalent social networking site in Mainland China, the social and psychological implications of the emerging technology are not completely understood. The paper offers evidence that WeChat has functioned as an efficient platform for sojourners to develop diverse types of social capital and promote well-being in an intercultural setting.

Introduction

Over the past few decades, the worldwide explosion of social networking websites (SNSs) has dramatically transformed individual’s social behaviors and networking practices across diverse cultures, nations, and regions. Due to the advantages of convenience of access and the low cost, these communication technologies serve as an alternative and innovative avenue for users to interact with others, and to maintain and strengthen networked interpersonal relations (Chang and Hsu, 2016; Mao and Qian, 2015; Pang, 2018). A recent media investigation shows that the utilization of SNSs is currently the most prevalent online activity around the world, particularly among digital-savvy younger generation (Tsai and Men, 2017). Moreover, prior research has indicated that college students’ social media adoption and their engagement in various online activities through the site are related to a range of social and psychological consequences including perceived social capital, civic and political engagement, and satisfaction with life (Burke and Kraut, 2016; Lin and Wang, 2017; Raza et al., 2017). Consequently, the unprecedented popularity and exponential growth of social media make it imperative to comprehend the nature of this newly emerging media and its potential implications for users’ social connectedness and well-being in the digital era. A plethora of scientific literature has consistently confirmed that using SNSs may foster college students’ social interaction and network establishment, and subsequently contributing positively to their personal connections and psychological development (Burke and Kraut, 2016; Nardon et al., 2015; Sandel, 2014). However, surprisingly, the majority of the previous studies in this area have concentrated mainly on Facebook use in western society (Basilisco and Cha, 2015; Lambert, 2016; Sandel, 2014). Comparatively, only a few reports have empirically unearthed the possible effects of indigenous SNS use, especially WeChat on individuals’ social capital and well-being consequences (Wen et al., 2016). Actually, among various domestic SNSs available in Mainland China, WeChat has been the most widely utilized social networking service with approximately 846 million active users as of April 2017 (Tencent, 2017).

1- Introduction

2- Relation to the literature

3- Methodology

4- Data

5- Results

6- Conclusions and directions for further research

References

Abstract

Using a data set of German stocks that includes the financial crisis, this paper identifies market liquidity as the main driver of return seasonality. In comparison, the economic significance of order flow imbalance is markedly weaker. Applying panel regressions and controlling for unobserved effects, we investigate the effects of both variables simultaneously, together with dummies for calendar effects. US macroeconomic news announcements, which have been identified as one driver of return seasonality in previous studies using non-US data, are of little importance for our data set of German stocks.

Introduction

More than four decades ago, Fama (1970) published his seminal paper on efficient capital markets. Many empirical papers that appeared in the 40? years since then described systematic deviations from the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, often referred to as anomalies. Whereas many such anomalies vanished shortly after their publication, others still persist (for an overview, see Zacks 2011). In particular, seasonal patterns with stock returns on specific days being systematically higher/ lower than those on other days (e.g., the so-called turn-of-the-month effect) show remarkable persistence over time. This type of seasonality in returns is welldocumented for several countries, and it has been existing for more than 20 years (Liu 2013). The literature considered three main potential reasons for return seasonality: order flow (or order imbalance), market liquidity, and announcements of macroeconomic news (see, e.g., Zwergel 2010). The present paper documents seasonalities in returns on German stocks and tests these three potential drivers. Using a fixed-effects panel regression methodology, we investigate order imbalance and market liquidity simultaneously, controlling for unobserved effects. Previous studies have focused on only one of these explanations at a time. In addition, our focus on German stocks yields insights into a market which is relevant at the international level, but which has not yet been investigated to the same extent as, e.g., US markets. The paper contributes to the empirical literature in several ways: First, we document a relation between daily liquidity and return patterns of individual stocks, which provides evidence for market liquidity to play an important role for return seasonality. Second, in contrast to other studies, which analyze liquidity considerations of select groups of market participants, we find a link between aggregate order (flow) imbalance and return seasonality. However, despite its statistical significance, the effect of order imbalance on return seasonality is found to be negligible in economic terms. Third, whereas US macroeconomic news announcements have been documented to be an important driver of return seasonality in stock indices also outside the US (Nikkinen et al. 2007a, 2009), we find no significant effects of these announcements on return seasonality in individual German stocks.

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of job stress on depressive symptoms and whether optimism moderates this relationship longitudinally. Data were used from 2002 until 2014 (wave 2 to 5) of the German Ageing Survey. The sample consists of community-dwelling individuals living in Germany aged from 40 to 95 years (7,086 observations in fixed effects regression analysis). Methods: A self-report questionnaire was used to measure depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), job stress (scale 1 to 5) and optimism (Optimism Scale of Brandtstaedter & Wentura). Results: Adjusting for potential confounders, fixed effects regression analysis revealed that an increase in job stress was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms, whereas an increase in optimism was associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms. Optimism significantly moderated the relation between job stress and depressive symptoms. Limitations: The possibility of a small sample selection bias cannot be dismissed. Conclusions: The present study highlights the moderating role of optimism in the relation between job stress and depressive symptoms longitudinally. Thus, efforts to increase optimism in individuals might be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms among individuals with high job stress.

INTRODUCTION

Stress, and in particular job stress, is a psychological issue and a widespread phenomenon caused by work characteristics as well as personal characteristics which leads to adverse health outcomes (Shields, 2006, Iacovides et al., 2003). Stress outcomes like fatigue, heart disease, depression, diabetes and burnout were discussed in previous literature (Cohen and Herbert, 1996, Iacovides et al., 2003, Melchior et al., 2007). Special emphasis is put on depressive disorders because estimations showed that over the course of one year about 8.9% of the working population aged 15 to 65 in Germany fulfill all criteria for a depressive disorder and up to 26.7% experience depressive symptoms (Wittchen and Jacobi, 2006). Health care costs in Europe for depression add up to 118 billion Euros per year (Sobocki et al., 2006). Society, economy and the affected individual have to master an excessive burden caused by depressive disorders resulting from job stress (Shields, 2006). Consequently, economy is weakened by lost productivity in the workplace (Tennant, 2001). Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the relation between stress at workplace and depressive symptoms. Strong evidence showed that job stress is positively correlated with depressive symptoms (Shields, 2006, Iacovides et al., 2003, Dragano et al., 2008, Clays et al., 2007, Kawakami et al., 1992, Lin et al., 2010). Moreover, employees‟ stress management is dominated by coping mechanisms which enhance their mental health. According to Lazarus (1993), mental toughness, personality characteristics, self-efficacy, optimism and educational background have a bearing on an individuals‟ coping behavior. Furthermore, it has been shown that optimism has a positive impact on individual‟s stress-coping ability (Schou and Ekeberg, 2005, Steginga and Occhipinti, 2006). Following, studies have revealed that an increase in optimism lead to a decrease in depressive symptoms (Achat et al., 2000, Symister and Friend, 2003). Concerning optimism as a moderator, a cross-sectional study of Banerjee (2012) investigated the association of dispositional optimism on the stress-depression relationship. A survey method was used and filled in by 94 employees working in a private Indian university. Analysis was conducted with 94 participants (with a mean age of 32.9 years and 79% male participants). Higher psychological stress was associated with a higher depression level, whereas higher dispositional optimism was associated with a lower level of depression. Optimism significantly moderated the relationship between job stress and perceived depression.

Regulators and the accounting community are concerned with how accounting standards should be designed or changed to achieve financial reporting objectives. Higher quality accounting standards are supposed to positively affect firms’ reporting quality and to be of greater value to users of financial statements. The German regulator implicitly acknowledged the growing influence of international accounting standards by enacting the German Accounting Law Modernization Act in 2009 in an attempt to make German GAAP align more closely with IFRS and to improve the information provided in German financial statements as a result. Specifically, modernizing national accounting law should result in a set of rules that is on par with international accounting standards, but more cost-effective and simpler to manage in practice (RegE BilMoG 2008). This study presents the main changes in the accounting rules and disclosure requirements of German accounting law and examines their effects on financial accounting properties. As medium-sized non-listed companies were a target of the German Accounting Law Modernization Act, this investigation focuses on the consolidated financial statements of private firms. However, to exclude the possibility that macroeconomic effects are driving our results, we include as a control group private firms that release their financial statements under IFRS. With no capital market data in our treatment group, measures of reporting properties represent accounting-based measures, which are calculated using only financial statement data. We employ several accounting-based financial accounting property measures that have previously been implemented in prior research and test whether adopting the German Accounting Law Modernization Act had an impact on these measures. All German firms were required to adopt the new accounting standards in the fiscal year 2010. However, the regulator allowed early adoption in 2009 on a voluntary basis. Our analysis is based on the magnitude of absolute discretionary accruals, the correlation between accruals and operating cash flow, the persistence of earnings, and the predictability of earnings as accounting-based financial reporting properties. The results of the main analysis, which uses a sample of German GAAP firms and German companies that report under IFRS, reveal an increase in discretionary accruals and no change in smoothing activities or in the persistence and the predictability of earnings. Certain significant differences in firm characteristics between the treated companies and the control companies raise concerns that our results are attributable to those differences. Hence, we employ a propensity score matching approach based on a probit regression to estimate the likelihood of releasing financial statements under German GAAP.

مقاله سال 2016

While it seems that every day brings more news of the end of traditional journalistic publications, layoffs in editorial offices, and the disappearance of job security in journalism, there is one related professional field that has been experiencing the opposite trend for decades: custom publishing. Companies, but also other organizations such as unions, associations, and NGOs, publish content that is edited in a journalistic manner and make it available, generally free of cost, to specific publics. The customer magazine, which dominates the market, represents the most well-known form of custom publishing. However, the scope of custom publishing is not limited to magazines, but also includes other media channels (e.g., corporate television, books, websites, software applications), and in addition to customers it also addresses other stakeholders (e.g., employees and members, companies, state officials).

These corporate publications are located in a field of tension between journalism and public relations (PR), and therefore occupy a special position in the media (Röttger, 2002): On the one hand, as an instrument of PR they communicate and advocate the particular interests of the client in question; on the other hand, they resemble journalistic publications from which readers expect critical, unbiased, and objective reporting (Haeusermann, 2013). Editors in custom publishing must therefore take into account the rules and norms of two different professions (Röttger, 2002). This study focuses on a conspicuous research gap between journalism and PR: While both of these professional fields have been comprehensively researched, there are no specific studies on the professional field of custom publishing.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between audit committees and their characteristics and earnings management in the German two-tier board system with voluntary audit committee establishment. Audit committees are charged with monitoring the financial reporting process and constraining opportunistic earnings management has been widely mentioned as one of the major benefits of firms that have established effective audit committees (e. g., Klein 2002a; Xie et al. 2003). In contrast to two-tier board systems, audit committees already have a long tradition in one-tier board systems and play a crucial role by separating the management and monitoring duties of the board of directors. In two-tier board systems, responsibilities are already split between management board and supervisory board, and audit committees act as a subgroup of the supervisory board. Their justification stems from national legislator concerns about the supervisory boards’ monitoring strength, an issue which arose after the accountings scandals around the year 2000. Therefore, improving the supervisory board’s monitoring process with regard to financial reporting quality (which includes the reduction of opportunistic earnings management), is considered as major responsibility of audit committees in two-tier board systems, which is also expressed by the German legislator (Bundestag-Drucksache 14/7515; paragraph 107 (3) 2 AktG). A survey study by Köhler (2005) of supervisory board chairpersons indicates that audit committees are indeed able to increase the monitoring effectiveness of supervisory boards of German firms. In the U.S., as a predominant representative of the one-tier board system, audit committees are mandatory for all listed firms (Securities and Exchange Commission, Exchange Act Rule 10A-3). In contrast, in two-tier board systems and especially in Germany, legislators adopt an approach with a voluntary establishment of audit committees. The voluntary approach for EU member states is offered by Directive 2006/43/EG, Art. 41 (1), requiring audit committees of public interest entities with the option to usurp audit committee tasks to a supervisory board. Accordingly, the decision to establish audit committees is intentionally made by firms. In Germany, the voluntary approach is flanked by a “comply or explain” (why they did not form a committee) approach for listed firms (German Corporate Governance Code, GCGC Sec. 5.3.2; paragraph 107 (3) 2 and, 161 (1) AktG). There are both arguments for and against a voluntary approach. A mandatory approach yields better compliance and produces consistent standards among firms. The choice of establishing an audit committee under the voluntary approach is based on rational decisions made by firms, which might be better able individually to evaluate the benefits and costs arising (Anand 2005). Hence, differences in audit committee effectiveness might be observed, depending on whether audit committees are only established for legitimacy reasons in a mandatory setting or whether firms voluntarily establish effective audit committees.

1. Introduction Performance auditing helps to make public sector bodies accountable to citizens and other stakeholders (Federation of European Accountants, 2015). Performance auditing is established according to international standards (INTOSAI, 2013). In general, there is little evidence-based knowledge concerning the implementation of performance auditing (Reichborn-Kjennerud, 2013). Hence, this research note’s aim is to achieve a better understanding of performance auditing in general by examining the theoretical, legal and methodological background of performance auditing related to environmental issues of the public sector in Germany. The German approach is interesting, as the term performance auditing is not common and guidelines do not exist[1]. After a general discussion of the goals and boundaries of performance auditing with an environmental perspective, the following describes the theoretical, legal and methodological background of performance auditing in Germany and shows how the principles of performance auditing are considered in Germany. The findings are based on a sample of audits related to environmental issues conducted in Germany.

2. Performance auditing

Audits and evaluations have become important tools for providing information about how public money is spent (Reichborn-Kjennerud, 2013). Performance auditing provides an independent assessment of the performance of a government organization, program, activity or function and facilitates decision-making by parties with responsibility to oversee or initiate corrective action (Dittenhofer, 2001). Performance auditing is defined by the standards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) as an “independent, objective and reliable examination of whether government undertakings, systems, operations, programs, activities or organizations are operating in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and whether there is room for improvement” (INTOSAI, 2013). Therefore, the so-called “three Es” form the core of performance auditing. As characterized by International Standard of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) 300, the term economy means minimizing the costs of resources. It addresses the time, the quantity and quality of the resources at the best price. Hence, this principle can be seen as the usual standard for all audits. However, there are two additional principles stating performance auditing which are focusing not only on the resources but also on the output. The principle of efficiency describes the relationship between resources used and the output. Therefore, the major focus is on managing the resources in such a way that the output is maximized for any given resource input (Nath et al., 2005) in terms of quantity, quality and timing. Efficiency is closely related to the concept of “productivity”. The audit will deal with issues such as considering whether outputs or results have been produced cost-effectively (European Court of Auditors, 2015).

ESPREssO (Enhancing Synergies for disaster PRevention in the EurOpean Union) elicits the needs, perspectives and opinions of stakeholders operating within and between the spheres of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Europe. It intends to analyze, synthesize and compare existing knowledge of legal, policy and science approaches to CCA and DRR; identify gaps and current challenges by asking the opinions of those at either end of the policy-practice spectra and, finally, explore ways in which ESPREssO’s 3 challenges are addressed in practice, by policy makers, researchers and practitioners, at various levels of governance. ESPREssO is funded under Grant Agreement No. 700342 of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. The project invites stakeholder participation, not only from the six European countries represented on the project board (UK, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and Denmark), but from a global community of practitioners within CCA and DRR. Three core challenges form the backbone of the ESPREssO project: – Challenge 1: To propose ways to create more coherent national and European approaches on Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and resilience strengthening; – Challenge 2: To enhance risk management capabilities by bridging the gap between science and legal/policy issues at local and national levels; – Challenge 3: To increase efficient management of transboundary crises. The current paper focuses on Challenge 3, summarizing key results of a study on the current state of transboundary crisis management in Europe. The national reports on DRR and CCA strategies developed for Switzerland [1], Germany [2] and France [3] constitute the basis for this paper.

2. Transboundary crises

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies in recent years have led to improvements in the way crises are anticipated and managed, achieving important reductions in the extent of the sustained losses. An oft-quoted statistic, issued from the INSPIRE initiative is that, in the European Union, 115 million people are estimated to live within 50 km of a border, accounting for 20% of the European population. River basins which are susceptible to flooding often serve as natural borders in Europe, or otherwise cross two or more national boundaries, with the risk that any catastrophic flood event may propagate across borders exacerbated by future climatic changes [4].

A considerable amount of revenue has been invested in the information technology (IT) infrastructure of banks to enhance their performance, but investment in IT remains a substantial risk regarding the return on investment (Carlson, 2015). Most banks and financial organizations around the globe are subject to extreme pressure from their customers and competitors to enhance IT. In the 21st century, the main sources of revenue generation for German banks are interest margins and the provision of services such as wealth management, mortgage lending and financial advice. However, the benefit from these services has declined, causing many challenges for these banks as they strive to return to a period of profit. Today, most of these banks are embracing financial technology (FinTech), due to the promise of its ability to generate new revenue streams, personalize offers, target cross-selling and improve customer services. However, in order to explore such opportunities, mobile applications and other technology platforms need to be launched. Germany has implemented various regulations and programs to encourage FinTech adoption; for example, during the Bundesbank 19th banking symposium, it was argued that banks in Germany need to adopt disruptive digital innovation to acquire technical awareness in advances (Patel, 2000; Stolterman & Fors, 2004). Furthermore, today’s digital banking has broadened from standard online banking to inventive ideas that involve video consultancy services, credit brokerage and the incorporation of social media. The need for awareness of global cyber-attacks and their mitigation was also stressed. Furthermore, cooperation between the Bundesbank, the BaFin, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) was suggested to establish an information technology audit service, with the intention of developing a supervisory regime to enhance security (Deutsche Bundesbank Eurosystem, 2015; Carlson, 2015). In the face of ongoing cyber-attacks, financial institutions must continue to strengthen their cyber security framework by investing assets in gathering, examining andsharing cyber-attack intelligence information to better comprehend the change in complex security risks (Carlson, 2015).

مقاله سال 2017

The European tour operator market is a mature one dominated by German and British tour operators, and so, their behaviour largely determines the prices of package holidays at many Mediterranean destinations. The market structure of the German and British tour operator markets has the features of an oligopoly (Bastakis, Buhalis, & Butler, 2004; Baum & Mudami, 1994; Evans & Stabler, 1995; Long & Shi, 2017): 1) In both markets, a limited number of large tour operators compete with one another, alongside numerous small tour operators who do not compete with the major ones (Davies & Downward, 2007, for the British market). 2) The large tour operators’ high market concentration (over 50% of the market) gives them market power (the capacity to set prices above the marginal costs). 3) At the same time, tour operators stand out for their strategic interrelations. This means that tour operator price strategies take into account rival behaviour and these strategies will vary, depending on the economic context.

A price strategy is a long-term framework for setting basic prices, whereby an initial price is set for a product together with the proposed direction of price movements across the product lifecycle (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2002). Hence it is a strategic decision that must take into account the behaviour of rival companies and it must be adapted to fit in with different economic scenarios during the product lifecycle. “A key element of the marketing strategy is companies’ pricing strategy” (Kim, Natter, & Spann, 2009, p. 44). Price strategies do not only generate more benefits for the tour operator; they also constitute a key negotiating tool among agents in the tourism sector (Falzon, 2012). Consequently, familiarity with tour operator price strategies, the type of price competition in which they engage, and the changes in price strategies that they make when an economic crisis occurs can contribute to the design of better tourism price negotiation policies at destinations. The better understanding of tour operators’ price strategies should contribute to a better price negotiation by the accommodation sector.

Over the years, tour operators have used different price strategies. For instance, until the early 1990s, the structure of the UK tour operator market was oligopolistic with price stability (Baum & Mudami, 1994). However, this price stability could easily be dashed given the fragility of its coordination, due to mistrust and uncertainty of its conjectural variations. Consequently, implicit price agreements might easily be broken, heralding the beginning of a price war. Evans and Stabler (1995) confirm the occurrence of price wars during this period due to the existence of strategic groups and uncooperative behaviour among UK tour operators. At the same time, given the low number of major tour operators (in both the British and German markets), this could theoretically also lead to a price leadership situation, with one tour operator acting as the market leader and setting benchmark prices while all the others act as followers. Because this is a mature market, non-price competition (package differentiation, advertising, quality variation) is also a possibility, which would lead to market segmentation (for instance, the family or adults-only segments) and, by extension, to less aggressive price competition. Given all the above, diverse price strategies can be used by tour operators, and it is even possible for these strategies not to revolve around prices.