Endogenous Product Adjustment and Exchange Rate Pass-Through

We document how product quality responds to exchange rate movements and quantify the extent to which these quality changes affect the aggregate pass-through into export prices. We analyze the substantial sudden appreciation of the Swiss franc post removal of the 1.20-CHF-per-euro lower bound in 2015 using export data representing a large share of the universe of goods exports from Switzerland. We find that firms upgrade the quality of their products after the appreciation. Furthermore, they disproportionately remove lower-quality products from their product ranges. This quality upgrading and quality sorting effect accounts for a substantial share of the total pass-through one year after the appreciation. We cross-check our results with the microdata underlying the Swiss export price index, which includes an adjustment factor for quality based on firms' reported product replacements, and obtain similar results

M&A driven IT transformation

Technological, economical, cultural, and political changesconstantly lead to new opportunities and challenges in today\u27shighly dynamic business environment. Increasingly,modern enterprises leverage the strategic instrument ofMergersand Acquisitions (M&A) to seize these tempting opportunitiesand adapt to the altering market conditions. AsInformation Technology (IT) penetrates the business of almostall enterprises, it has to be considered during virtuallyany M&A endeavor. Particularly the resulting need for ITtransformation in the course of the M&A post merger integration(PMI) phase represents a complex and intricate taskin which problem-specic models and tangible methods areof utmost importance. In all cases, the design of such helpfulartifacts requires a solid foundation and a profound understandingwith regards to the specic context, drivers, andinuence factors in reference to the IT transformation.Based on related literature in the eld of M&A, we conducted15 explorative expert interviews with industry partnersfrom the German banking industry, who were involvedin a bank merger. In doing so, the interview partners revealedilluminative insights into possible problems, solutions,and pitfalls occurring during the transformation of IT. Thisarticle summarizes the key ndings of the semi-structuredtalks and compares them with approaches and statementssuggested by current M&A literature resources. In this vein,the stage is set for future research in the realm of IT transformationduring M&A situations which can benet from theempirical grounded results presented within this document

A new Privacy Preserving and Scalable Revocation Method for Self Sovereign Identity - The Perfect Revocation Method does not exist yet

Digital Identities are playing an essential role in our digital lives. Today, most Digital Identities are based on central architectures. Central Digital Identity providers control and know our data and thereby our Identity. Self Sovereign Identities are based on decentralized data storage and data exchange architecture, where the user is in sole control of his data and identity. Most of the issued credentials need the possibility of revocation. For a centrally managed Digital Identity system, revocation is not a problem. In decentral architectures, revocation is more challenging. Revocation can be done with different methods e.g. list based, cryptographic accumulators and with credential updates. A revocation method must be privacy preserving and must scale. This paper gives an overview of the available revocation methods, including a survey to define requirements, assess revocation groups against the requirements, highlights shortcomings of the methods and introduces a new revocation method called Linked Validity Verifiable Credentials

In vivo analysis of staphylococcus aureus-infected mice reveals differential temporal and spatial expression patterns of fhuD2

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic human pathogen and a major cause of invasive infections such as bacteremia, endocarditis, pneumonia and wound infections. FhuD2 is a staphylococcal lipoprotein involved in the uptake of iron-hydroxymate and is under the control of the iron uptake regulator Fur. The protein is part of an investigational multi-component vaccine formulation that has shown protective efficacy in several murine models of infection. Even though fhuD2 expression was shown to be upregulated in murine kidneys infected with S. aureus, it is unknown whether the bacterium undergoes increased iron deprivation during prolonged infection. Furthermore, different infection niches of S. aureus might provide different environments and iron availability resulting in different fhuD2 expression pattern within different host organs. To address these questions, we characterized the in vitro expression of the fhuD2 gene and confirmed Fur-dependent iron-regulation of its expression. We further investigated its expression in mice infected with a bioluminescent reporter strain of S. aureus expressing the luciferase operon under the control of the fhuD2 promoter. The emission of bioluminescence in different organs was followed over a seven-day time course, as well as quantitative real-time PCR analysis of the RNA transcribed from the endogenous fhuD2 gene. Using this approach, we could show that fhuD2 expression was induced during infection in all organs analyzed and that differences in expression were observed in the temporal expression profiles, and between infected organs. Our data suggest that S. aureus undergoes increased iron deprivation during progression of infection in diverse host organs and accordingly induces dedicated iron acquisition mechanisms. Since FhuD2 plays a central role in providing the pathogen with the required iron, further knowledge of the patterns of fhuD2 expression in vivo during infection is instrumental in better defining the role of this antigen in S. aureus pathogenesis and as a vaccine antigen

DECISION SUPPORT FOR SELECTING AN APPLICATION LANDSCAPE INTEGRATION STRATEGY IN MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) represent a powerful strategic instrument increasingly applied in today\u27s business environment. Besides juridical, financial, and organizational challenges, it is crucial to rapidly integrate the existing application landscapes in order to capitalize the aspired synergies. Literature documents four commonly agreed strategies: \u27best-of-breed\u27, \u27absorption\u27, \u27co-existence\u27, and \u27new-build\u27. However, no consolidated set of criteria exists to ease the selection of an integration strategy most suitable for the merger or the acquisition. Based on the results of a literature study, this paper proposes four integration profiles enabling a structured decision support for selecting the appropriate application landscape strategy during M&A. Each profile comprises relevant driving factors and resulting consequences as selection criteria. The identified literature statements regarding the criteria are validated by means of 12 confirmatory interviews with M&A experts. Furthermore, collected findings from an additional exploratory interview part with the practitioners complement the devised strategy profiles

Swiss maize (Zea mays L) landraces. Their genetic diversity and distinctiveness in a global comparison

Swiss maize landraces are expected to be genetically diverse, as they have been cultivated in different climatic regions of Switzerland for almost 500 years. A core collection of 35 Swiss maize landraces was recently defined. This core collection was analyzed in the present study, with the objectives (i) to resolve genetic diversity and phylogeny of the core collection, (ii) to relate these results to those obtained in a worldwide collection of maize landraces, thereby (iii) analyzing separation and admixture and (iv) to identify unique alleles that were detected only in Swiss maize landraces (Swiss alleles). A high diversity (HT = 0.61) in an international comparison and many Swiss alleles pointed at the value of this core collection as a plant genetic resource. The genetic differentiation within the core collection was in very good accordance with the geographic separation caused by the Swiss Alps. The accessions grouped into three major clusters, two northern and a southern one. Additionally, landraces from Valais built an intermediate cluster, which is probably the result of hybridization between different European germplasm. Continuous maize cultivation in remote areas may have favored genetic drift and intentional selection by farmers and may have led to this particular cluster. In the international comparison, northern Swiss accessions were related to European and American Northern Flints, whereas southern Swiss accessions were closely related to southern European Flints (e.g. Italian Orange Flints). Some northern Swiss accession combined high diversity with many Swiss alleles, which may be valuable for broadening the European Flint pool

Communication and Market Sharing: An Experiment on the Exchange of Soft and Hard Information

We study the role of communication in collusive market sharing. In a series of Cournot oligopoly experiments with multiple markets and repeated interaction, we vary the types of information that firms can exchange. We distinguish between hard information-verifiable information about past conduct-and soft information- unbinding information about future conduct. We find that the effect of communication on the firms' ability to collude depends on the type of information available: market prices increase only slightly when hard information allows perfect monitoring of rivals' past actions, but the price raise due to soft information, however, is substantial. The explicit consent of each cartel member to a common collusive strategy, even if stated only once, drives this strong effect. Our results point to the types and contents of communication that should be of particular concern to antitrust authorities

Is thinking worthwhile? A comparison of corporate segment choice strategies.

The field of strategic marketing has long been identified as fruitful ground for gaining competitive advantage. Ever since the market segmentation concept was introduced in the late sixties, research interest steadily increased, covering issues as e.g. which fundamental segmentation strategy is most appropriate, in which ways can segments be identified or constructed, which algorithm provides optimal data-driven segmentation solutions, which number of segments should be constructed etc.. Interestingly, the issue of segment evaluation and choice has not been emphasised very strongly in the past, although this is of primary interest as soon as it comes to practical implementation. This article tries to fill this gap in an experimental manner: the consequences of different corporate segment choice strategies based on different segment evaluation criteria are investigated under different environmental conditions formalised in a complex artificial consumer market. The results indicate that complex decision models for segment choice do not turn out to be superior in general. Both mass marketers and firms concentrating on particular segments based on an a priori logic can be just as successful under "favourable" market conditions, the most influential condition being the available advertising budget. (author's abstract)Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science