A Model of the Housing Privatization Decision: The Case of Russia

This study addresses the issue of housing privatization in Russia in the course of the 1990s. Privatization was started to create a housing market in order to efficiently allocate resources in the use and production of housing, and to phase out the state budget financing of housing. The dwellings were offered to their residents free of payment. The objective of this study is to offer a better understanding of the structural components of privatization by formally modeling housing privatization decision from the household point of view. The model is based on a trade-off between certain value of renting and uncertain value of owning. Using the results of the theoretical model, an empirical model of the privatization decision from the point of view of the household is formulated.

Success in Pharmaceutical Research: The Changing Role of Scale and Scope Economies, Spillovers and Competition

This paper investigates the determinants of success in the development of new drugs. In specific, it explores the factors of success in drug development programs at different stages of innovation process. We use economies of scale, scope, R&D competition and technological spillovers as explanatory variables and test whether the effect of these variables on the success of a project differs in relation to the discovery and development stages of innovation, respectively. Our main finding is that spillovers, including spillovers from collaboration, are important in explaining the success of projects during the discovery stage of innovation, while in the later development stage, the effects of competition outweigh any benefits from spillovers.economies of scale and scope, spillovers, competition, R&D, innovation process

Public spending and Scottish devolution : crowding out, or crowding in?

There has been a developing debate about the performance of the Scottish economy under devolution and the effect of the expansion of the public sector on Scottish growth. Several commentators have expressed concern that the size of the public sector in Scotland is now a drag on growth, while others take a more sanguine view. This debate is well summarised in Marsh and Zuleeg (2006). However, this is a debate in which the evidence is often not well marshalled and there is often more heat than light generated. There is a suspicion that arguments about the effect and role of the public sector often derive more from the ultimate values and political preferences of proponents than from hard analysis and evidence

Collaboration in pharmaceutical research: Exploration of country-level determinants.

In this paper we focus on proximity as one of the main determinants of international collaboration in pharmaceutical research. We use various count data specifications of the gravity model to estimate the intensity of collaboration between pairs of countries as explained by the geographical, cognitive, institutional, social, and cultural dimensions of proximity. Our results suggest that geographical distance has a significant negative relation to the collaboration intensity between countries. The amount of previous collaborations, as a proxy for social proximity, is positively related to the number of cross-country collaborations. We do not find robust significant associations between cognitive proximity or institutional proximity with the intensity of international research collaboration. Moreover, there is no robust and significant relation between the interaction terms of geographical distance with social, cognitive, or institutional proximity, and international research collaboration. Our findings for cultural proximity do not allow of unambiguous conclusions concerning their influence on the collaboration intensity between countries. Linguistic ties among countries are associated with a higher amount of cross-country research collaboration but we find no clear association for historical and colonial linkages.International Cooperation, Pharmaceuticals, Proximity

A Cellular Automata Simulation of the 1990s Russian Housing Privatization Decision

The study uses a computational approach to study the phenomenon of housing privatization in Russia in the 1990s. As part of the housing reform flats in multi-family buildings were offered to their residents free of payment. Nevertheless rapid mass housing privatization did not take place. While this outcome admits a number of explanations this analysis emphasizes the fact that the environment in which the decision-making households were operating had a high degree of uncertainty and imposed a high information-processing requirement on the decision-makers. Using the bounded rationality paradigm, the study builds a case for a cellular automata simulation of household decision-making in the context of housing privatization reforms in Russia in the 1990s. Cellular automata is then used to simulate a household’s decision to become the owner of its dwelling.cellular automata, complex systems, housing reform, Russia, simulation

Productivity and Heterogeneous Knowledge: Exploring the Relationship in a Sample of Drug Developers

This paper aims to investigate the effect of knowledge characteristics on the total factor productivity of firms developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We decompose knowledge into knowledge associated with the technological firm portfolio and knowledge related to R&D projects, which represent drug development at the clinical testing stage. The latter is attributed to the knowledge of relevant markets where the drugs will be sold. The results show that the effect of technological coherence vs. market coherence and of accumulated knowledge on the productivity of firms differs. Productivity increases with the number of patents and decreases with the patent diversity and project portfolio coherence. When considering only the project knowledge, the diversity of the project portfolio positively affects productivity.total factor productivity, diversity,,coherence, knowledge

The Study of Sorption of the Milk Ionized Calcium by Sodium Alginate

The possibility of regulation of defatted cow milk salt composition (fat content– 0,05 %) with the use of sodium alginate as a natural ion-exchanger was studied. Realization of the properties of sodium alginate as to the bounding of calcium ions allows receive the systems on the base of cow milk, stable in time and at the thermal processing. The studies established the influence of technological factors on the sorption of ionized calcium by the solution of complex-creator by sodium alginate. It was established, that the important factors that influence the process are the active acidity and conditions of the process, namely, the phased addition of sorbent that favors the equal speed of process and, as the result, the equal speed of sorption during the whole process. At the same time the study of influence of sorption area and temperature demonstrates that these factors are not determining ones in this process. It was established, that rationalization of parameters of ionized calcium sorption results in the raise of thermal stability of defatted cow milk and the systems on its base. Materials, given in the work, are the base for elaboration and introduction of technology of dessert production (ice-cream, creams, puddings, cocktails and so on), in which composition the colloid stability is provided at the joint use of milk and fruit-berry raw material that can be used in food industry

Organizing an Online Community for Open Strategizing in a Large Organization

The creation of an online strategy community is increasingly attractive for companies as a mean to make the strategy process more inclusive and open. However, the fundamental difference between the flexible approach of open strategizing afforded by an online community and more controlled approaches of the traditional strategy formulation and implementation posits fundamental challenges for co-existence of these two processes. I argue that for these two processes to effectively co-exist, complex bridging process needs to take place in organizations. Furthermore, effective co-existence implies that open strategizing within an online community influences the formal strategy-making process. This thesis explores an online community as a distinct form of open strategizing in a large organization, to address two interdependent research questions related to organizing an online community for strategic influence: (1) ‘How do managers bridge open strategizing within an online community and formal strategy-making, characterized by closed and hierarchical decision-making?’ and (2) ‘How do managers organize an online strategy community to influence strategic decision-making in large organizations?’. This in-depth inductive single case study investigates strategy professionals at a large telecommunications firm Telco that instigated a unique online strategy platform to increase the openness of participation and to influence the formal strategy process. This empirical study utilizes multiple sources of data including interviews, online community logs, observations, and document analysis, the findings of which are summarized in two theoretical models. I identify three mechanisms that enable bridging between different strategizing processes, namely: 1) bidirectional framing with strategic concepts; 2) bidirectional structuring of communication; 3) building legitimacy of openness. The simultaneous enactment of three bridging mechanisms provides the greater influence of the formal decision-making process. Furthermore, I identify three main decision areas that managers have to consider carefully when organizing and online strategy community: 1) design of an online community structure; 2) cooperation of internal and external actors; 3) formulation of adequate strategic content. These decision areas are characterized by interdependencies and trigger contradictory demands that make open strategy processes a paramount organizational challenge

Towards Circular Economy. Based on Voluntary Standards of Companies : What to Change in Law to Enhance Circular Economy?

In the last years those companies that pay close attention to transition of their business models to circular economy have adopted good practices to deal with waste prevention and management. High voluntary standards are set and enforced throughout the supply chain. However, good practices and high voluntary standards are taken seriously by the limited number of companies, predominantly, by those who want to be on rider’s seat and show example to peers. The recent EU Circular Economy Action Plan, released in March 2020, emphasizes that scaling up the circular economy from front-runners to the mainstream economic players will make a decisive contribution to transition to circular economy that will help to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, keeping resource consumption within planetary boundaries. The Master Thesis departs from the assumption that there is a need for legal reform in the fields of circular economy law and company law to enhance circular economy for business. It is essential to turn modern policies that are in place into reality on the ground. The project aims to answer the question what legal reforms are necessary and should be prioritized