Regional Entrepreneurial Heritage in a Socialist and a Post-Socialist Economy

This paper sheds light on regional differences of self-employment in a socialist economy on the eve of its transition toward a market economy and differences with regard to start-up activities after transition. It shows that regions with a long entrepreneurial tradition have higher self-employment rates than regions where these traditions played only a minor role before the introduction of a socialist centrally planned economy. These regions have also higher start-up rates after transition. It seems entirely likely that some regions have a certain entrepreneurial heritage that is an important resource embedded in the region. Even the introduction of socialism did not eradicate or reverse the geography of private sector activity. It is recommended that policy should stimulate and activate region-specific entrepreneurial potentials to attain a sustainable regional development.Entrepreneurial Culture; Transition

Knowledge intensive Entrepreneurship across regions: Makes being a new industry a difference?

This paper investigates regional sources of entrepreneurial opportunities of knowledge-intensive start-up activity. Thereby it is investigated whether it makes a difference if the knowledge-intensive sector is a newly emerging industry compared to the case where its location across space could develop already over a long period of time. The analysis is on knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) in East and West Germany in the 1990s. At the time of German re-unification in 1990s in the former socialist East Germany no KIBS sector existed in contrast to West Germany. The findings indicate that being new to the region makes a difference.

Socioeconomic heritage and rapid firm growth

The present paper sheds light on how growth of young firms is affected by expansive strategies and the socioeconomic heritage of their main actors. "Socioeconomic heritage" has to do with socialization, prior socioeconomic circumstances, and regional growth conditions; the term is elaborated upon and further defined in this study. The empirical analysis is carried out both for West Germany - a mature market economy - and for East Germany, which operated under a centrally planned economy until German reunification in 1990. The main finding of the paper is that the involvement of West Germans in East German start-ups has a favourable effect on these firms' chances to grow rapidly. This effect is attributed to the fact that West Germans are more likely to possess person-related and situation-related factors necessary for growing a business in a market economy. The results are more ambiguous as to the influence of expansive strategies on fast growth.Entrepreneurship, Rapid firm growth, Strategy, Management, West Germany, East Germany

A Cure for a Public Concern : Washington\u27s New Anti-SLAPP Law

In March 2010, the Washington State Legislature passed its Act Limiting Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. The new Act fills a critical void in Washington’s protection of free expression and petition rights. The Washington Act protects the free expression of Washington citizens by shielding them from meritless lawsuits designed only to incur costs and chill future expression. This Comment offers interpretive guidance for Washington courts by examining the new law, its legislative history, its constitutional underpinnings, and its relationship to the influential California anti-SLAPP statute on which it is modeled. Although the Washington Act shares many identical provisions with the California statute, Washington’s Act does include important deviations from the California model. This Comment embraces long-standing canons of statutory construction to argue that the Washington Act’s deviations reveal a specific intent to reject certain aspects of the California law. Among these specific rejections is the California law’s broader coverage of protected free expression. While California protects expression related to “issues of public interest,” the Washington Act protects expression related only to “issues of public concern.” Washington courts interpreting this important provision should reject California case law and embrace the “public concern” test established by the United States Supreme Court in Connick v. Myers, a test that already occupies solid ground in Washington case law

Sein als Grund und Ab-Grund zugleich

Zentraler Gegenstand des Beitrags ist die These, dass es Heidegger erst durch die konsequente Herausarbeitung der Doppelbestimmung des Seins als „Grund und Ab-Grund zugleich“ im Spätwerk gelingt, ein ‚positives Denken‘ jenseits eines verrechnenden Vernunftdenkens zu begründen. Nur wenn sich das Denken der Erfahrung stellt, dass das Sein selbst grundlos ist, kann es sich für den Sachverhalt öffnen, dass sich Sein ‚dennoch‘ zeit-räumlich „ereignet“ hat. Eine Sprache, die dies zum Ausdruck zu bringen versucht, transzendiert so notwendigerweise die beiden Komponenten der ontologischen Differenz und ermöglicht es, einen ereignenden „Stifter“ dieser Differenz fassbar zu machen, der sich auch mit dem Theorem vom „Geviert“ in Verbindung bringen lässt

Migration restrictions and long-term regional development:Evidence from large-scale expulsions of Germans after World War II

This article investigates the long-run impact of a migration barrier on regional development. The analysis is based on the large-scale expulsion of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe after World War II (WWII). Expellees were not allowed to resettle in the French occupation zone in the first years after the War while there was no such legislation in the other occupation zones (USA; UK; Soviet Union). The temporary migration barrier had long-lasting consequences. In a nutshell, results of a Difference-in-Difference (DiD) analysis show that growth of population and population density were significantly lower even 60 years after the removal of the barrier if a region was part of the French occupation zone. There was a common trend in regional development before the migration barrier became effective. Further analyses suggest that this pattern is driven by different population dynamics in agglomerated areas. The article discusses implications for spatial theory namely whether location fundamentals, agglomeration theories or both affect the spatial equilibrium under certain conditions

Historical episodes and their legacies across space:A famous case revisited

There is a growing amount of literature in economic geography showing that historical episodes can leave long-lasting cultural and institutional legacies across space. For credibly identifying such persistent effects the analyses should not pick up trends preceding the respective episodes. Against this background, the paper re-examines the famous case of the German division and reunification. The empirical focus is on the persistent mark-up of women in work in East relative to West German regions that are often associated with legacy effects of the socialist regime that was in place in East Germany during the country's four decades of division. In contrast to the conventional wisdom in academia, policy, and the public, the current paper shows that the higher share of working women in East German regions is not due to a legacy of socialism. Female labor force participation was already remarkably higher in the East before the introduction of socialism. The general lesson is that any attempt to explain spatial variation in individual decision-making by persisting institutional and cultural legacies of certain historical episodes needs to assess regional conditions predating these episodes

Virtual work in the supply chain in e-economy

The problem that is taken under consideration in the following article concerns the implementation, use and effectiveness of virtual work in the supply chain in e-economy. Any solution concern employee mobility or the use of mobile technology are due to growing market competition and constant search for new solutions that may enable the companies in the supply chain to be more efficient than the competition. In the supply chain the E-business creates for the companies new challenges they have to face. One of the possibilities to improve your business in the supply chain is to use virtual work. The new challenge facing the e-economy needs to be met. The aim of the article is to refer the virtual work, that is used by selected links in the supply chain to meet e-economy requirements, identify the key factors that characterize e-economy and refer them to the possibilities and benefits of using virtual work in the supply chain

Understanding the role of discriminative instruments in HRQoL research: can Ferguson's Delta help?

A critique of Hankins, M: How discriminating are discriminative instruments?" Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2008, 6:3