Governance of stakeholder relationships: The German and Dutch experience

Countries' governance institutions to a varying degree support stakeholders to invest in relationship-specific assets. The function of governance institutions is to strengthen the commitment of parties to keep to an initial agreement. Thus, international differences in governance institutions affect relationship-specific investments. Two stylized models of stakeholder relationships can be distinguished, the Anglo-American model and the German model. Market orientation and competition characterize the Anglo-American model. Long-term relationships and cooperation are distinctive features of the German model. Strong elements of the Anglo-American model are fast reallocation of financial, physical and human capital through the market. Short-run flexibility facilitates a shift of resources towards innovative emerging technologies, in particular towards start-up firms. The German model is strong with respect to the development of long-term commitment, investments in relationship-specific physical and human capital, and cooperation between companies. This model promotes technological progress and re-allocation of resources within established enterprises. The position of Dutch corporate governance institutions, which govern the relationships between management and financiers, does not stand out as favourable compared to both the German and the Anglo-American models of corporate governance. In the Netherlands, share ownership is dispersed, so that monitoring by block shareholders is largely absent. In this respect the situation in the Netherlands is comparable to that in the United States and the United Kingdom. However, in contrast to the Anglo-American model the market for corporate control is virtually absent in the Netherlands. Cooption of members of the supervisory board and extensive use of juridical anti-takeover defence mechanisms substantially restrict the influence of shareholders on management. Therefore, Dutch corporate governance institutions neither strongly encourage investments in relationship-specific assets, nor strongly enhance flexible reallocation of capital or risk-sharing finance. Recent policy changes will probably lead to a moderate shift to the German model. Dutch work governance institutions, which concern the governance of relationships between management and employees, more closely resemble those in Germany. This implies that worker influence enhances the performance within large established firms, but that external allocation through the labour market is less efficient compared to the functioning of markets in the Anglo-American model. Future policy changes that strengthen Dutch worker influence will be beneficial for performance in established firms, and are in accordance with the gradual shift towards German governance structures.

The moderating effects of age and gender on the relationship between culture and uncertainty avoidance:Evidence from Europe and Asia

This study investigates uncertainty avoidance of ethnic groups differentiated by age and gender. A total of 5,126 respondents, including 11 different ethnic groups (from Europe and Asia), participated in an online survey. The findings support that women were more uncertainty avoidant than men in five ethnic groups, namely, Bulgarian, French, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese. The opposite was seen for the Spanish and Vietnamese ethnic groups in which the women were more uncertainty tolerant. These gender differences were independent of age. The study points out the importance of self-categorization as an indicator of ethnic groups. This type of ethnic identification is related to the commonly used cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance.Journal information: https://www.abem.ca/journa

Colours of emotion, trust, and exclusivity:A cross-cultural study

Colours influence the way people feel, think, and behave. The globalising (internet) economy induces traditions and beliefs to be transferred from one society to another. Nevertheless, although people may now act more globally, they also still act locally within their cultural groups. This points to the possibility of continuous change in universal and culturally specific colour associations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate variations in colour associations across cultures. To get a better grip on the global impact on the cultural dynamics, cultural groups are distinguished through self-identified membership, instead of through country and nationality demographics. Specifically, a comparison is made with the colours for trust, emotion, and exclusivity between 1,218 individuals from four cultural (ethnic) groups: Dutch; French; Greek; and Russian. Participating in an online survey, they indicated their associations for colour variations of blue, red, yellow, and black. The results confirm general, universal colour associations. Some distinctive independent cultural specifics through varying colour brightness may possibly render the association more or less strong for the colour–attitude relationships of red for emotion and blue for trust. Pure yellow was a noticeable colour associated with emotion by the Russian group