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Vartotojų įsitraukimas į prekės ženklo bendruomenę

Author(s): Daiva Siudikienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 74/2016

Today, the marketing researchers and professionals emphasize the importance of brand communities as co-creators of value for organizations. The brand communities of organizations represent the thorough view of the target customers and their preferences. Discussions among community members provide many insights into the product’s usability and its development. The aim of this article is to investigate the factors that influence the consumers to engage with the brand communities and the role of communication in the following processes. The Social Convergence Theory has been applied for analysis of the brand communities’ formation and development. Additionally, the results of the pilot qualitative research carried out with the members of the brand communities of the automobiles have been presented.The rise of the Internet and the social media facilitates interaction among the organizations and the consumers and their merger with the brand communities. The results of the qualitative research show that joining the brand community is a process where the first step is the informational needs, as consumers need more profound information related with their problems. As informants stated, the official sources contain general knowledge and do not provide answers to the very specific questions. The results show that the members of the communities can provide clarifications to all complicated situations intelligibly. Leaders and other active members perform the fundamental role in incorporating new members into the community, as they inspire beginners to join the community, which could be defined as a social space for people with similar lifestyles. Intensive communication is the main clause of an active brand community. It should be noted that creativity and interactivity of fans are interrelated as well. During their interaction, the members produce attractive content for the whole community on specific subjects with familiar actors in a well-liked atmosphere.

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Business in the Base of the Pyramid: A Literature Review and Directions for Future Research

Author(s): José Satsumi López-Morales,Felipe de Jesús Rosario-Flores,Antonio Huerta-Estevez / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2020

The base of the pyramid (BoP) is the lower-income segment of the population. It represents an important market that is often disregarded by companies as a source of economic benefit. For this reason, scholars have gained interest in this topic since the early 21st century. The main objective of this article is to identify research areas related to business in the BoP. A qualitative investigation was carried out by reviewing the business literature on the BoP. Sixty-seven articles related to the topic were reviewed. This literature review was conducted using the four-stage qualitative method, including: (1) data collection; (2) data coding; (3) data analysis; and (4) interpretation of results. The result of the review was the identification of 12 gaps that must be addressed to improve the understanding of the BoP businesses. A description of the articles selected for the review is presented.

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Performance of State Owned Electric Utilities – Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia

Author(s): Igor Todorović,Maja Daraboš,Mojca Duh / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

One of the biggest questions battling governments is performance of Electric Utilities, as they are one of the biggest resources and largest State Owned Enterprises. This issue became more important as electricity market has been liberalized and fully opened. Before market liberalization state owned Electric Utilities operated in monopoly market where competition was not possible. Therefore, due to market liberalisation existing companies have to be more competitive than before in order to grow and survive new competition from EU countries. Paper analyses performance of State Owned Electric Utilities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia. Measuring the success of the State Owned Electric Utilities is based on the analysis of financial statements for period from 2008 to 2012, using indicators of profitability. Electricity market in Slovenia and Croatia have been fully opened in analyzed period while electricity market in Bosnia has been closed. The results reveal that State Owned Electric Utilities operating in opened market have better performance and are more competitive than State Owned Electric Utilities which operate in closed market. The broad conclusion that emerges from the results is that market opening and new competition entering markets has pushed companies to improve their governance practices and performance in order to survive on the market.

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CONFLICT RESOLUTION ANALYSIS USING GRAPH MODEL FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION (GMCR) APPROACH (A CASE STUDY IN CONFLICT AND COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN IDT AND IDMT)

Author(s): Chintya Faradita Putri,Dini Turipanam Alamanda / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

This study uses the Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) as an approach to describe the optimal solution for resolving the conflict which happened between IDT and its subsidiary IDMT. This conflict arose when IDMT used IDT’s 2.1 frequency band.The main players in the conflict is IDT with its subsidiaries namely IDMT. The other parties involved in the conflict were KTI NGO, Central Jakarta District Court, Attorney General's Office and Policy Institute (MCIT and Administrative Court). The method used in this research is qualitative research that uses literature review as a tool for data collection Based on the stability analysis, The equilibrium scenario for all the parties in frame I and frame II was the first scenario. The first scenario happened when, KTI NGO reported that there was an alleged misuse of mobile cellular network in the frequency of 2.1 GHz / 3G conducted by IDT and IDMT. IDT and IDMT sent out a counter report stating that they had been extorted by KTI NGO. The Central Jakarta District Court then concluded that KTI NGO had been guilty of extorting IDT and IDMT. However the Attorney General's Office continued their investigation on IDT and IDMT because of their suspected misuse of mobile cellular network and on the Policy Institute who defended IDT and IDMT. Based on the outcome of the conflict as reported on online news portals, it can be concluded there is correlation between the outcome of the conflict and the stable solution (equilibrium) generated through the GCMR approach. The implications of this study can be used as a reference for the Indonesian government and stakeholders in the telecommunications industry to resolve similar conflict in the telecommunications cooperation agreement.

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Service Quality Provided To Non-European High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIS) By Banks, Legal And Accounting Offices In Cyprus

Author(s): Angelos Vouldis,Eleni Zakchaiou Constantinou / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2014

Service quality leads to customers’ satisfaction and gives a competitive advantage to the firms/organisations against their rivals. Furthermore, service quality by firms in a country gives a competitive advantage to the country against rival countries as well. The global financial crisis has affected Cyprus too. The National Strategy plan for economy recovery is included as a main point the attracting of direct foreign investments by non- European High Net Worth Individuals in the island. Banks, Accounting and Legal offices in Cyprus cooperate together in providing full services to them for their corporate and wealth management needs. The aim of this research is to investigate if Banks, Legal and Accounting firms in Cyprus concern about providing a high level of service quality to non-EU HNWIs and examines the ways of implementation based on the five dimensions of SERVQUAL model.It also researches the impact of different ethnicities on service quality expectations and illustrates how this matter is treated by the firms examined. The study also investigates the priority of importance of the different service quality dimensions and emits new service quality dimensions found important for this industry in Cyprus. After studying different service quality models and different ways of research through literature review and academic resources, this research adopted a qualitative methodology. It was conducted through face-to face semistructured interviews with the managers of ten firms and organisations involved. The conclusions of the study confirm that Banks, Legal and Accounting offices in Cyprus do concern about offering high level of service quality to non-EU HNWIs however the whole infrastructure of the industry has been built mostly on Russian speaking customers’ needs. The firms are performing well in the five dimensions of SERVQUAL and ethnicity matters are taken into consideration with a different approach treatment. Responsiveness is found to be the most important dimension after reliability based again on Russians’ demand for quick service while flexibility and transparency emitted to be new important dimensions apart of pricing.

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The Economics of the Name Change: Long-term Adjustments towards EU/NATO or Short-term Resolution of Political Uncertainty?

Author(s): Bojan Srbinoski,Klime Poposki,Ksenija Denčić-Mihajlov,Milica Pavlović / Language(s): English Issue: 23/2021

North Macedonia and Greece resolved the 27-year country name dispute and removed the main hurdle for North Macedonia to start the accession processes towards the EU and NATO. The paper analyzes the stock market movements around several events related to the name issue resolution to uncover whether Macedonian companies experienced stock price adjustments according to the long-term benefits/costs of joining the EU/NATO. The dynamics of the market reactions suggest that the investors reacted systematically to the short-term political uncertainty created around the referendum rather than to the long-term perspectives of the EU/NATO integration. We integrate the knowledge from the literature which explores stock market reactions to EU enlargement/exit and political elections and provide contributions for researchers and policymakers.

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Decomposition of the Sources of Real Exchange Rate Misalignment in Egypt: Evidence from the ARDL Model

Author(s): Rana Hosni / Language(s): English Issue: 24/2021

This paper examines the behavior of the real exchange rate in Egypt over the period 1965–2018 by attempting to pursue three interrelated purposes. The first is to investigate the extent of deviations between the actual exchange rate and its equilibrium level and illustrate the magnitude of any currency misalignments. The second is to search for the different phases of over- and undervaluation of the local currency and explain the accompanying economic policies and/or factors leading to them. The third and ultimate purpose is to explore the role of transitory and permanent factors in deviating the actual real exchange rate from its equilibrium level. Understanding these factors should help in the design of economic policies directed to address the misalignment of the local currency. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound test approach is used and conducted for both the bilateral and effective real exchange rates to achieve these three purposes during the selected period. To derive the equilibrium exchange rate estimate, the behavioral equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) approach is adopted. The findings reveal that the Egyptian pound was misaligned from its equilibrium value during most of the examined period. The results confirm the relative importance of the terms of trade and degree of openness variables in determining the equilibrium real exchange rate in Egypt followed by investment ratio and government consumption variables. The local currency witnessed a recent phase of overvaluation, which began in 2009, until the free float of the local currency in November 2016, after which, the Egyptian pound was found to have experienced a new phase of undervaluation till the end of the period examined. The findings show a considerable relative impact of fundamental-based factors over a prolonged period spanning from 1986 to 2003 and at the end of the period examined as well. Moreover, the documented results lend general support to the fact that both permanent or fundamental-based factors and short-run shocks prove to be important influential factors impacting currency misalignment in Egypt.

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An Assessment of the Classical Relationship of Price Fluctuations between the Gold Market and the US Dollar

Author(s): Jan Neethling,DF Meyer / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

For many decades, the relationship between the gold market and the US dollar has dominated the international economy. In times of economic and policy uncertainty, the gold price traditionally increased, while in periods of growth and certainty, the US dollar usually appreciated compared to other currencies. This paper aims to re-assess this classic relationship and determine the causality between the gold market and the US currency. To achieve the objective of the study, a quantitative econometric methodology was utilised for the period 1995 to 2020. A Vector Auto regression model was estimated, including three variables: the gold market, US dollar index, and real GDP for the US. Interesting relationships and causalities between the three variables were estimated. The relationship between the gold market and real GDP seems stronger than the relationship between the gold and US dollar indexes. An important implication of this study is that changes in the gold price are not a significant indicator on its owns to track changes in the US currency. The value of the research is in the renewed analysis and updated coefficients on the long and short-run between the classic variables.

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Company-Specific Factors and Determination of Target Firms in Mergers and Acquisitions Deals: Experience from Emerging Markets

Author(s): Emmanuel Okofo-Dartey / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

This study investigates firm-specific variables that motivate acquirers to pursue target firms from the emerging markets in mergers and acquisitions transactions. Firms from the emerging markets continue to serve as targets instead of acquirers in acquisitions deals. However, this trend appears to be changing since some firms from the emerging markets are becoming more active in M & A deals as acquirers. Several factors may account for the interest various acquirers show in pursuing targets from the emerging markets. These factors could include the company-specific factors or variables of these targets. Using 154 firms gleaned from the Bloomberg database from 2007 to 2017 on ten (10) emerging market countries, the study employs the logistic regression technique to explore the likely firm-specific variables of emerging market targets that influence acquirer firms to be interested in emerging markets firms as targets in M&A transactions. We find that financial leverage, market-to-book ratio, and the ratio of cash and equivalent to total assets of the target firms are more likely to influence the acquirers’ decisions to pursue these firms as targets. In contrast, total assets and sales growth of these targets are less likely to motivate acquirers to become interested in these firms as M&A targets. Finally, return on assets (showing profitability levels) does not influence the acquirers’ decisions. Our findings have implications for regulation and policy development to support investment decisions of potential acquirers and other investors interested in emerging market firms.

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Statistical Analysis of the Effects of the Global Financial Crisis in Kosovo

Author(s): Artan Nimani,Valbona Zeqiraj / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

The global financial crisis means the emergence of financial problems in the economy, eroding the economic and financial potential of various countries. Our generation is witnessing one of the biggest economic crises in history, where we have seen how one big financial institution goes bankrupt one after another or how the “Domino Effect” operates, about which until now we had heard and had read only in texts. Kosovo has gone through various difficulties, both financial and numerous economic constraints, which have brought for many years its unresolved status for many years. Hence the emergence of the financial crisis found the country's economy unstable and powerless on the verge of Independence. The main channels through which the crisis affected the economy of Kosovo are: revenues from abroad, mainly remittances and foreign direct investment which decreased during this period. The global financial crisis and family reunification are the main factors reducing the amount of remittances in the country. Other factors such as low wages, job insecurity, socio-economic situation and consumption, have an impact but are mainly related to the crisis and are its derivatives. The analysis that compares how remittances are positioned against other factors of the FDI crisis, savings, wages, unemployment, etc., highlights the role of each indicator and all together in the domestic economy. However, this will not apply to foreign investment because in the last six years, the biggest concern is the very sharp decline in the amount of FDI in Kosovo, which has been reduced by up to 29%. This shows a not very interesting option of attracting foreign investment in the country and shows signs of an economy where living standards and consumption are closely related to the contribution of the diaspora, as an important category in the economic life of the country. The decline in exports, which were already low, and the low rate of production, negatively affected the economic activity in the country and made Kosovo having a high trade deficit.

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Прогнозування: сутність і значення для реалізації монетарної політики

Author(s): Nataliia P. Pohorelenko,Olha Hlushchenko / Language(s): Ukrainian Issue: 47/2021

The authors have demonstrated the importance of anticipating monetary policy implementation. The authors have determined that managing economic entities’ expectations through developing appropriate forecasts enables financial market participants: to evaluate the regulator’s vision of the content of monetary policy aimed at bringing the inflation to an established goal; to make informed investment decisions; and to improve the effectiveness of the key rate’s impact on market interest rates, the cost of financial resources, and the inflation. Forecasts are noted for their erratic nature. The article describes phases of the forecast execution and monetary policy decision-making. The authors have demonstrated the relevance of the assumptions, the quality of the original data, and the expert judgment throughout the forecasting process. Forecasting hubs have been discovered in Ukraine. The article discloses the relationship between the National Bank’s aims and the principles of the National Bank’s monetary policy. The authors have made corresponding recommendations to improve macroeconomic forecasting.

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Pajamų nelygybės kitimą lemiančių veiksnių poveikio empirinių tyrimų analizė

Author(s): Laura Diliuvienė,Zita Tamašauskienė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 2/2019

Until the last major recession, there was an approach in macroeconomics that income distribution was not significant for macroeconomic processes. However, the recent major recession has prompted policymakers and economists to take into account the phenomenon of income inequality, its economic and social causes and consequences related to poverty, social inclusion, social trust, support of democratic institutions, economic growth, financial and other issues. In recent years, income inequality has been rising in many countries, and the International Monetary Fund, the OECD and other organizations underline the importance of addressing this problem. It is important to choose the right measures to make the right decisions in order to address the issues of growing income inequality. Their choice is influenced by the identification of factors influencing the change of income inequality and the impact assessment. The scale and change of income inequality can be influenced by the factors related to the market economy (globalization, technological progress) and the institutional factors (setting the rules of the game on the market, creating a certain environment). According to the factors analysed in the research, three groups of authors can be distinguished. Some authors (Asteriou, Dimelis, Moudatsou, 2014, Cabral, García-Díaz, Mollick, 2016, Lim, McNelis, 2016, Sheng, 2015, Haan, Sturm, 2017, Wade, 2004, Alvarez, 2015, Elmawazini, Sharif, Manga, Drucker, 2013, Jaumotte, Lall, Papageorgiou, 2013, Çelik, Basdas, 2010, Hermes, 2014, Richmond, Triplett, 2017, Franco, Gerussi, 2013, Stockhammer, Guschanski, Köhler, 2016, Soons, 2016, Jaumotte, Lall, Papageorgiou, 2008) investigate and assess the impact of market factors (globalization, financialization, technological progress) on income inequality, while other authors or the group of authors (IMF, 2014, Arestis, Gonzalez-Martinez, 2016, Checchi, Josifidis, Supic, Beker Pucar, 2017, Feld, Schnellenbach, 2014, Obadić, Šimurina, Sonora, 2014, Calderón, Chong, 2009, Checchi, García-Peñalosa, 2008, Saez, 2017, Jaumotte, Buitron, 2015, Bastagli, Coady, Gupta, 2012, Kenworthy, Pontusson, 2005) distinguish the impact of institutional factors (labour market institutions, welfare state) on income inequality. According to J. E. Stiglitz (2016), the market does not operate in a vacuum – it operates within an institutional setting. Therefore, the third group of authors can be identified that assess the impact of both market and institutional factors on inequality (Stiglitz, 2016, Atkinson, 2003, Josifidis, Supic, 2017, Josifidis, Mitrović, Supić, Glavaški, 2016, Huber, Stephens, 2014, Darcillon, 2015, Lin, Fu, 2016, Ghossoub, Reed, 2017, Kristal, Cohen, 2017, Alderson, Nielsen, 2002, Kus, 2012, Tridico, 2015, Dabla-Norris, Kochhar, Ricka, Suphaphiphat, Tsounta, 2015, Jain-Chandra, Kinda, Kochhar, Piao, Schauer, 2016). The results of empirical studies assessing the impact of different factors on income inequality are contradictory. There is a disagreement on the distinction between different factors influencing the change of inequality as well as the direction and strength of their impact. Therefore, it is relevant to determine what factors determine income inequality and what is their impact on income inequality.

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Šešėlinės ekonomikos ir oficialiai neapskaitytos ekonomikos sampratų analogija

Author(s): Rūta Sakalauskaitė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 2/2019

The study examines the analogy of the concepts of shadow economy and non-observed economy. This study is relevant due to the fact that the studies related to shadow economy face the diversity of concepts: it seems that the same phenomenon – companies’ hidden activity – is named differently in various sources. In scientific literature, companies’ hidden activity is commonly named as a ‘shadow economy’ (Enste, 2015, 2018; Gaspareniene, et al., 2014; Goel, et al., 2019; Koufopoulou, et al., 2019; Medina and Schneider, 2018; Novkovska, 2019; Remeikienė, et al., 2017; Sauka and Putnins, 2019; Schneider, 2018a, 2019; Williams and Horodnic, 2015; Zaman and Goschin, 2015). Meanwhile, official statistical institutions, e.g. Statistics Lithuania, Eurostat, World Bank, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, use other term to define companies’ hidden activity, i.e. ‘non-observed economy’ (European Commission, International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, World Bank, 2009; Juškienė, et al., 2004; Lietuvos statistikos departamentas, 2016, 2017). Taking into account that both of these concepts are used in the same context, it can be assumed that the concepts of shadow economy and non-observed economy are identical. However, in order to accept or reject this statement, it is essential to analyze in detail the object of the study – the concepts of the shadow economy and the non-observed economy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to structure the concepts of shadow economy and non-observed economy and to identify their similarities and differences. It is done by using the following method: the study of concepts is based on a comparative analysis of the types of shadow economy and the areas of non-observed economy. Due to the complexity of economic processes, shadow economy and non-observed economy cover many fields. The types of shadow economy concept which is defined by the author are the following: • The underground economy which covers market output (e.g. undeclared income from legal activities, salaries paid in envelopes, concealed income, concealed value added or other taxes) concealed by legal operators. • The illegal economy covers the production of illicit operators (e.g. drug trafficking, illegal alcohol production, smuggling). • The informal economy covers market and private use output of units that have no obligation to register their activity (e.g. own-use production of households, auxiliaries). Correspondingly, the areas of non-observed economy concept which is used by official statistical institutions are the following: • The underground economy – a legal manufacturing activity that is deliberately concealed from the authorities due to tax evasion, safety at work or other non-compliance. • The illegal economy – the manufacturing activity of goods and services that is prohibited by law or carried out by unauthorized manufacturers. • The informal sector – manufacturing activities of unregistered households or unincorporated enterprises with non-registered employees, that produce market output. • The household production for own final use – the productive activity of households producing goods and services capitalized within the same households.

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Baltijos šalių biržose prekiaujamų investicinių fondų efektyvumo vertinimas rizikos-pelningumo požiūriu

Author(s): Vilija Aleknevičienė,Laura Žvinklytė / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 1/2017

Recently, researchers have been paying increasingly more attention to risk-adjusted performance of investment funds. Nevertheless, the asymmetry, the smoothness or the peakedness of returns have been poorly explored. In addition, most researches have been carried out in well developed, liquid and efficient markets. In this study, risk-adjusted performance of investment funds traded in the stock exchange of the Baltic countries was assessed using Sharpe and Sortino ratios as well as skewness and kurtosis. There are 38 investment funds traded in the stock exchange of the Baltic countries. However, most of these funds have been offered to public only recently. Thus, in order to have a research period as long as possible, only 14 funds were selected: 4 equity funds, 4 bond funds and 6 funds of funds. The period of investigation is 2008-2016. The research results revealed that only bond funds and one equity fund (ZPR Global Equity) were efficient in 2008-2016. This equity fund mostly invested in companies from the USA, where the economy, hit by the financial crisis, began to grow at a fast pace. All funds of funds were inefficient. This research was conducted in a relatively illiquid and inefficient market, but the investors’ behaviour during the economic downturn and slow growth period was the same as in efficient markets: they shifted their investments from equities to bonds. Consequently, additional demand increased bond market prices and returns. Despite the fact that only bond funds were efficient, their skewness and kurtosis were negative and greater in comparison with equity funds and funds of funds – the return distribution in bond had a greater downside. Moreover, bond funds were: 1) more overestimated by Sharpe ratio than equity funds and funds of funds; 2) their return distribution had a greater gain/loss than could be expected from a normal distribution; 3) their kurtosis were greatest in comparison with the kurtosis of equity funds and funds of funds. It should be emphasised that if the investor considered large negative skewness and very large positive excess kurtosis, he would come to a different conclusion. This is particularly important for intermediately and highly risk-averse investors. The analysis showed that almost all investment funds (with exception of one) had negative skewness (greater downside events), making the use of standard deviation and reliance upon normal distributions much less relevant for understanding the true risk of investment funds. 13 investment funds had leptokurtic return distributions, and 1 fund – platykurtic. Compared to a normal distribution, the latter tails are shorter and thinner. An asymmetrical return distribution and fat tails lead to the danger of underestimating risk and overestimating risk-adjusted performance with standard risk and performance measures.

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KINIJOS LIAUDIES BANKO PINIGŲ POLITIKOS POVEIKIS AKCIJŲ RINKOS GRĄŽAI

Author(s): Agnė Kažytė,Mantas Valukonis / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 1 (47)/2017

The relationship between the interest rate and the stock market most often is negative and statistically significant in developed countries. However, this relationship can be affected not only by various monetary policy instruments, the prevailing sentiments in the market or other factors but also by different development levels. Seeking to find out whether China’s stock market positively reacts to expantionary policy and negatively to contarctionary policy the author of the paper analyzed the period 2007-2016 using the event study as a research method. Research findings showed that when the interest rate is raised and the required reserve ratio is reduced China’s stock market does not react as a developed market. However, when the interest rate is reduced and the required reserve ratio is raised China’s stock market reacts as a developed market.

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Economic Development through Mortgage Loan Distribution in Indonesia

Author(s): Shapran Witdiyanto,Ariodillah Hidayat,Mukhlis Mukhlis,Sri Andaiyani / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The growing population of Indonesia is increasing every year, which also leads to the growing need for people's residences. Of course, this affects the financial sector in terms of mortgage loans. Therefore, this paper is a study of the factors that affect the distribution of mortgage loans in Indonesia. This study uses multiple linear regression with ordinary least square analysis with the variables Residential Property Price Index, Lending Rate Credit, and Gross Domestic Product as the independent variable (X) and distribution of mortgages as the dependent variable (Y). The data used in this study are the quarterly time series from 2009 to 2021. Based on the results, the variables Residential Property Price Index, Lending Rate Credit, and Gross Domestic Product have a significant influence on mortgage loan distribution in Indonesia. So, the hope is that the government and the banks can wisely set Lending Rate Credit based on the Gross Domestic Product level of their territory.

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Corporate liquidity in normal and crisis times: what is the best yardstick?

Author(s): André Bastiaan DORSMAN,Wim WESTERMAN / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

Aim: This paper is meant to investigate measures that help to assess corporate liquidity in both normal and crisis periods, to find out what matters on corporate liquidity in crisis times. Design / research methods: We provide an overview of relevant liquidity measures used by both professionals and academics, apply regular liquidity measures on three major European electricity suppliers, study three local cases to find out how the recent COVID-19 crisis affected liquidity and provide an overview of liquidity management on 27 electricity, oil/gas and other multinational firms. Conclusions / findings: Liquidity measures concentrate on cash ratios, working capital ratios and in specific the cash conversion cycle (CCC). In crisis times, whereas priorities do change, liquidity measures should not. In the COVID-19 crisis, firms go for leaner operations, as well as financing adjustments when needed. Originality / value of the article: We plead for keeping a close eye on the CCC in both good and bad times. The article provides various recommendations to academics and practitioners.

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Design of a rule-based monetary policy in a Central Bank Digital Currency system

Author(s): Jacob Wijngaard,Kees Van Hee / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

Aim: This paper presupposes a purely Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) based system. Its aim is to describe how such a system facilitates complete new possibilities to design a suitable monetary policy. More specifically, the purpose is to show that the available monetary tools can be used to design a rule based monetary policy that guarantees stability of purchasing power and interest rates. Research methods: The paper is design oriented. It describes how the monetary system could function The important monetary variables are defined and their relationship is described. To illustrate these variables and their relationship, simulation results of their behavior are added. Conclusions: It is shown that it is indeed possible to design a monetary policy that is rule based and guarantees stability of purchasing power and interest rates. Crucial elements in the design are linking the balances of the CBDC-accounts to a proxy of the domestic product and replacing the use of government bonds by allowing the government to borrow from the Central Bank and giving households and businesses the opportunity to open a savings account at the Central Bank. Originality: The approach is completely new. It is the result of rethinking the possibilities of a complete transition of bank money to CBDC. Implications: The paper shows that a more absolute transition to the use of CBDC makes it possible to establish a clearer and more stable monetary practice, and that it is necessary therefore to revise monetary theory.

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Negative interest rates, COVID-19, and the finances of listed euro firms

Author(s): Henk Von Eije / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2021

Aim: The paper measures the impact of negative interest rates on listed firms in the original euro zone countries. It also measures the impact of the first COVID-19 year. Design / research methods: The paper uses panel data to measure the influence of the short-term ECB deposit rate and the 10-years German bond yield on short-term and long-term firm variables. Cross section fixed effects are applied to first differences and dummy variables. For liquidity and non-liquid assets the effects are also measured for small and large companies, for sectors, and for countries. Conclusions / findings: Corporate liquidity ratios and creditor ratios decline when short-term ECBrates fall. If ECB rates are negative, liquidity ratios are further reduced by 0.6 percentage points. Declining long-term German government bond yields increase non-liquid assets, while negative yields boost these assets by 4.5% extra. In the first COVID-19 year, the investments in non-liquid assets were 7.6% smaller, while liquidity ratios increased by 2.3 percentage points. Originality / value of the article: Papers on the influence of negative interest rates and of COVID-19 on European firms are unavailable. This makes the paper relevant for firm managers and policy makers and a benchmark for future research. Implications of the research: Because the issues addressed are new, further research is valuable. One may think of comparable studies for different countries. Many other suggestions for further research are given in the conclusions.

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Europejska droga od niepewności do niepewności: 1950–2017

Author(s): Michał Jerzy Zacharias / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2021

Michal J. Zacharias presents the work of the British historian Ian Kershaw on the history of Europe in the second half of the twentieth century and the first decades of the twenty-first century. The work is a synthesis. It should be emphasised here that in Kershaw’s view, the history of the Old Continent is not a simple sum of the histories of individual European countries. In the first place, the British researcher discusses the most critical problems and historical phenomena from the European perspective, which in his reflections are the most important states and nations. This is not without a specific reason because their history best illuminates and explains the causes and course, significance and consequences of complex events and historical processes.

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