Central European Market Research Articles

Translating Sorrow

In the multilingual environments of Central European cities and courts, Italian musicians found a receptive market for their music. There they confronted a range of linguistic abilities that encouraged innovative approaches to musical composition and publication. Recent rediscovery of the opening sheets of Giovanni Battista Pinello’s 1584 Primo libro dele neapolitane enables us to assess one Genoese composer’s experience of a multi-ethnic, Central European milieu during an unprecedented migrational wave. As chapelmaster at the electoral court in Dresden with ties to aristocratic circles in Prague, Pinello also issued a German version that can be sung, according to the composer, simultaneously with the napolitane. This study examines the Central European market for Italian music, the role of the Holy Roman Empire in facilitating Italian migration, and cultural challenges foreign musicians faced in their new homes. Nineteenth-century myths of nationhood depended on histories of folk-like immobility, but in fact migration was a basic condition of early modern European life. Music historians have long been aware of individual musicians’ travels from the Low Countries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, along with a new trend, emerging around 1600, toward northward emigration by Italian musicians. Nonetheless, there is much more to say about the social underpinnings of such movements. Pinello’s fusion of languages, poetic forms, and registers invites us to reimagine the multi-ethnic complexion of Central European musical centers in the late sixteenth century.

Congestion management through topological corrections: A case study of Central Western Europe

The integration of an increasing amount of renewable generation within Europe is posing operational challenges that require various balancing actions. System operators therefore need to rely increasingly on the active control of the transmission network. Transmission topology control is a fast and economical option to add flexibility to the transmission system. We model the current methodology for controlling congestion in the Central Western European (CWE) market and quantify the benefits of topology control. We also compare the results with a nodal pricing model. Our computational results suggest that topology control can significantly reduce congestion management costs under the current market coupling regime whereas the benefits of topology control are limited under nodal pricing. Topology control emerges as an attractive and implementable means of managing congestion as it provides a significant percentage of the cost savings that would be achieved by overhauling the existing European market design and shifting to a nodal pricing regime.

ANALYTICAL VIEW OF THE PERCEPTION OF SELECTED INNOVATIVE APPROACHES IN MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present by means of thorough analysis of the selected market the perception of innovative approaches in marketing communication, both from the perspective of the companies on the supply side and from the perspective of their potential customers on the demand side. As regards the companies, it is in particular about their perception of relative benefits the use of electronic marketing instruments has given the degree of effort and resources spent on the establishment and maintenance of e-marketing infrastructure. As regards the customers, it is, in turn, about their perception of the particular aspects of use of virtual social networks by the companies for branding purposes or directly for promotion. Methodology/Approach: Object of the research were real companies active on the analysed market. The subject of the research were their actual and potential customers represented by the users of one of the local Internet portals long active on the analysed market. Both these groups were presented with questions by means of electronic questionnaires. The data were subsequently processed and interpreted through cluster analyses. Findings: Based on the confirmed aspects we came to the conclusion that perceived benefit of the Internet on business is closely related to on-line activity of the companies and to the number of instruments the company uses to promote its business. Last but not least, we have investigated whether economic status of the users (real or potential customers) has an impact on their perception of the companies' use of social networks for promotional purposes. The similarity of behaviour of particular groups allows for more accurate targeting of on-line activity with respect to selected target markets. Research Limitation/implication: The biggest limitation is the territorial nature of the research. Research was targeted primarily at the Central European market. Originality/Value of paper: Presented partial results of the comprehensive research are based on empirical data collected from important samples of both sides of the analysed market, thus this paper as such may significantly contribute to the clarification of the issue of innovations in promotional mix in order to increase competitiveness or prosperity of SMEs active on the central European market.

Ways of Using Guerrilla Marketing in SMEs

Marketing communication has become more important than ever before because of the building strong relationships with customers. Relationship marketing should be basis for SMEs be able to be competitive and successful. The paper provides an overview of current trends of using guerrilla marketing communication especially in large enterprises and their influence for SMEs. Theoretical background from the area of guerrilla marketing communication supports this approach with data from primary research collected by the authors. Adequate guerrilla campaigns could create acceptable background for effective marketing. The objective of this research is to verify intensity dependence of guerrilla marketing in connection with gender of the customer and identify possible trend of guerrilla marketing campaigns in SMEs. The research was aimed at random chosen group of young people in the Czech Republic. The result of the research can be used for the companies that operate in the Czech or Central European market especially in the area of beverages, food, sport/entertainment and beauty products.

Linking Europe: The Role of the Swiss Electricity Transmission Grid until 2050

Summary The aim of this paper is to evaluate the role of the Swiss electricity transmission system and the planned network extensions in the context of Central European electricity market developments and thereby the Swiss and European energy transitions. In addition, we conduct a sensitivity analysis of delayed grid investments for Swiss and European network projects, respectively. By utilizing a numerical model representation of the Swiss electricity market Swissmod we derive a quantification of the different effects and developments up to 2050. In summary, the Central European market will largely be influenced by the significant increase in intermittent renewable generation. Whereas current power flow patterns are mostly from the Northern markets towards Italy using Switzerland as a transit hub, the large share of solar capacities in 2050 will lead to a high variability on shorter timeframes. While Switzerland will remain a transit hub, the import and export flows will vary with season and daytime. The potential costs and system impacts due to delayed network investments are rather modest in comparison to the overall generation costs but can nevertheless sum to 700 million per year highlighting the importance of network extension to improve cross-regional energy exchange.

Optimization of power plant investments under uncertain renewable energy deployment paths: a multistage stochastic programming approach

Electricity generation from renewable energy sources (RES-E) is planned to increase significantly within the coming decades. However, due to uncertainty about the progress of necessary infrastructure investments, public acceptance and cost developments of renewable energies, the achievement of political plans is uncertain. Implementation risks of renewable energy targets are challenging for investment planning, because different shares of RES-E fundamentally change the optimal mix of dispatchable power plants. Specifically, uncertain future RES-E deployment paths induce uncertainty about the level and the steepness of the residual load duration curve and the hourly residual load structure. In this paper, we show how uncertain future RES-E penetration levels impact the electricity system and try to quantify effects for the Central European power market. We use a multi-stage stochastic investment and dispatch model to analyze effects on investment choices, electricity generation and system costs. Our main findings include that uncertainty about the achievement of RES-E targets significantly affects optimal investment and dispatch decisions. In particular, plants with a medium capital/operating cost ratio have a higher value under uncertainty. We find that this technology choice is mainly driven by the uncertainty about the level rather than about the structure of the residual load. Furthermore, given larger investments in plants with medium capital/operating cost ratio under uncertainty, optimal investments in storage units are lower than under perfect foresight. In the case of the Central European power market, costs induced by the implementation risk of renewable energies are rather small compared to total system costs.

Measuring competitiveness of the EPEX spot market for electricity

The issue of market concentration in electricity markets and resulting possible anti-competitive behavior of producers is a much discussed topic in many countries. We investigate the day-ahead market for electricity at the EPEX, the largest central European market for electricity. To analyze whether generating companies use their market power to influence prices, we use a conjectural variations approach as well as a direct approach to construct marginal costs of electricity production. Given the available data, we cannot reject the hypothesis that there was no systematic abuse of market power by the suppliers of electricity on the EPEX day-ahead spot market for the years 2007–2010. These results are essentially robust when restricting the sample to high load hours, which are generally considered to be the most prone to market manipulation.

E-business and its Application in Conditions of Central European Market

Aim of this paper is highlighting possibilities in effective utilization of Information and Communication Technologies for supporting entrepreneurship (e-business) for Small and Medium enterprises. The core research carried on for duration of twelve months covered analysis and following presentation of possibilities of practical utilization of e-business applications. Furthermore research was oriented towards innovative forms of marketing communication in Real Corporation conducting business in Central European market. Analyzing data on collected findings can add value towards gaining a significant competitive advantage in form of better understanding of real facts influencing entrepreneurship in principle. This can lead consequently to positive influence on corporate effectiveness in the environment of Small and Medium enterprises.

Economic potential of demand response at household level—Are Central-European market conditions sufficient?

Abstract The aim of this paper is to show the economic potential of demand response (DR) on household level at Central European market conditions. Thereby, required economic benefits for consumers' participation, the realistic load shifting potential at household level and the estimation of essential intelligent infrastructure costs are discussed. The core of this paper builds a case-study applying spot market-oriented load shifting from the supplier's point of view by using Austrian electricity market data, household load profiles as well as a heat pump and e-car charging load profile. It is demonstrated which cost savings for suppliers can be derived from such load shifting procedure at household level. Furthermore, upper cost limits for intelligent infrastructure in order to break-even are derived. Results suggest to take a critical look at European discussions on DR implementation on household level, showing that at Central European market conditions the potential for DR at household level is restricted to significant loads and hence, the applied load shifting strategy is only beneficial with application to heat pumps. In contrast, the frequently discussed shifting of conventional household devices' loads (such as washing machines) economically does not add up.

Effectiveness of generic rosuvastatin in patients with ischaemic cerebrovascular disease

Statin therapy is the cornerstone of anti-atherosclerotic treatment, and it considered obligatory in the secondary prevention of atherosclerotic diseases. Rosuvastatin is well-known and efficacious lipid-lowering agent. Generic drugs are more frequently used instead of its ancestors. Generic rosuvastatin forms have been approved recently to the Central European market, but their safety and efficacy have not been previously examined in cerebrovascular patient populations. 109 patients with documented ischaemic cerebrovascular events were included in our study. 20 mg generic rosuvastatin significantly decreased total cholesterol (5.47 vs. 3.88 mmol/l, p<0.01), low-density lipoprotein (3.16 vs. 1.84 mmol/l, p<0.01) and trigliceride levels (1.77 vs. 1.33 mmol/l, p<0.05, and there was a non-significant high-density lipoprotein increasing tendency (1.27 vs. 1.36 mmol/l, p = 0.08). There was also a significant decrease in high-sensitive C-reactive protein levels (3.73 vs. 2.82 mg/l, p<0.05). Overall, 30% decrease in total cholesterol, 42% decrease in low-density lipoprotein, 25% decrease in trigliceride and high-sensitive C-reactive protein and 9% increase in high-density lipoprotein levels were observed. The generic rosuvastatin studied by the authors proved to be safe and efficacious lipid-lowering agent. Based on these short term results, in daily practice, generic rosuvastatin treatment seems to be cost-effective for the treatment of patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

Comparative Analysis of Cargo Flows on Branches VB and VC of the Pan-European Corridor V

Pan-European Corridor V that passes through the territory of the Republic of Croatia, i.e. Branches VB (Rijeka-Zagreb-Budapest) i VC (Budapest-Osijek-Sarajevo-Ploče) are of extreme importance for the traffic and economic system of the Republic of Croatia and the wider European area. Taking this into consideration, this study has analysed the relevant indicators of the traffic growth, structure and dynamics of the cargo flows on the Branches VB and VC of the Pan-European Corridor V. The cargo flows, as important elements of the traffic demand have been analysed regarding the presence of competition of alternative North-Adriatic and North-European traffic routes as important element of competitive environment in fighting to attract valuable transit market of Central Europe. Based on a detailed analysis of concrete statistical data, significant conclusions are derived about: quantity, dynamics and structure of the cargo flows, current traffic demand, competitiveness of corridors on Central European transit market, expected traffic demand, and conclusions about factors and circumstances that would positively, i.e. negatively affect the growth of cargo flows, and thus also the valorisation of the analysed Branches VB and VC of the Pan-European Corridor V within the European environment. KEY WORDS: Pan-European Corridor V, branches VB and VC, cargo flows, intensity, structure, dynamics, traffic demand

Design of a Scalable Modular Production System for a Two-Stage Food Service Franchise System

The geographically distributed production of fresh food poses unique challenges to the production system design because of their stringent industry and logistics requirements. The purpose of this research is to examine the case of a European fresh food manufacturer's approach to introduce a scalable modular production concept for an international two-stage gastronomy franchise system in order to identify best practice guidelines and to derive a framework for the design of distributed production systems that perform in a highly dynamic environment. The design framework was developed by creating a theoretical model through literature review and the thorough analysis of an industrial case. Information was collected through multiple site visits, workshops and semi-structured interviews with the company's key staff of the project, as well as examination of relevant company documentations. By means of a scenario for the Central European market, the model was reviewed in terms of its development potential and finally approved for implementation. However, research through case survey requires further empirical investigation to fully establish this approach as a valid and reliable design tool.

On the Efficiency of the EPEX Day-Ahead Spot Market

In this paper we investigate the efficiency of the day-ahead market for electricity at the EPEX, the largest central European market for electricity. To analyze whether generating companies use their market power to influence prices, we used a conjectural variations approach for the years 2007-2010 on a yearly basis as well as a direct approach for estimating marginal costs for the year 2010. The results of both approaches show no indication for systematic abuse of market power by the suppliers of electricity on the EPEX day-ahead spot market for the analyzed period of time. Conducting the same analysis for high load hours, which are generally considered to be the most prone to market manipulation, yielded similar results suggesting that the results are robust. For our analysis, we considered hourly price and demand data and consequently obtained a high level of statistical significance in our models.

Occurrence and stability of inorganic and organic arsenic species in wines, rice wines and beers from Central European market

We investigated in total 80 wine samples of different types and seven grape juice and 23 beer samples purchased from markets in Central Europe in order to understand the arsenic (As) speciation and help assess the potential As toxicity via intake of alcoholic beverages. Generally, total As concentrations in most samples investigated were below the drinking water limit 10 µg l−1 published by the World Health Organization (WHO); ranging from 0.46 to 21.0 µg l−1 As in red and white wines and from 0.75 to 13.4 µg l−1 As in beers. In addition, concentrations of total As in rice wine and in rice beer were 0.63–6.07 and 3.69–8.23 µg l−1 As, respectively. The total As concentrations in ice wine ranged from 7.94 to 18.8 µg l−1 As, significantly higher than in white and red wine. Arsenite predominated as the As species in most of the wine samples, whereas arsenate was the dominant species in rice wine, beer and rice beer. Methyl As components were usually minor components in all wine and beer samples. Monomethylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid and two additional unknown As species were frequently found in grape juice, late harvest and ice wine with higher sweetness. After air exposure, arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid were stable at 4°C for months, probably due to the acidic conditions of wine and beer samples. The presence of sulfite had little influence on As speciation in wine. Despite the predominance of more toxic arsenite and arsenate in wine and beer, the estimated weekly exposure to As (via consumption of beer, wine and rice wine) is low. The As intake per capita is 6.81 µg from beer, <1.93 µg from wine and 0.88 µg from rice wine, estimated using the median of total As concentration multiplied by the average consumption per capita of the corresponding beverage.

Parameters influencing the market value of wind power – a model‐based analysis of the Central European power market

AbstractIn leading European wind power countries wind power generation affects wholesale power prices already today. First investigations indicate that the respective wind power‐price relation lowers the market value of wind power relative to the baseload price with increasing penetration. The aim of this paper is to identify parameters that determine this effect based on simulations for the Central European Power Market (CEPM). We model wind power‐price interactions and investigate the sensitivity of the market value on a number of wind power and system related parameters. The market value of wind power is sensitive to changes in wind share and variability, wind‐demand correlation and the supply characteristics. Results further indicate that for expected wind capacities in 2020 the market value in the CEPM is significantly lower than the baseload price. The market value reducing effect varies among countries and is comparably low for wind power portfolios whose generation is weakly correlated with the overall wind power generation in the respective power market. Hence with rising wind shares it will become increasingly important to take this effect into account when assessing the economics of wind power projects. Future trends in the CEPM that may positively influence the market value are increasing electricity demand, fuel and CO2 prices, a better geographic distribution of onshore wind within the CEPM and an increasing utilization of offshore wind. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

The Geopolitics of Merger and Acquisition in the Central European Energy Market

In September 2007 the Austrian oil and gas company, OMV, issued a declaration of intent to merge with its Hungarian competitor, MOL. The merger was regarded by MOL as a hostile takeover bid and it initiated a series of measures designed to defend its independence and position within the Central European energy market. These measures, while intended to shore up MOL's defences in the face of an increased threat of merger and acquisition from larger companies aided by the demands of the EU to liberalise the energy market, reflect the rising instance of economic nationalism within the EU and have specific implications for the promotion of solidarity at an EU level. At the same time they also reflect the increased securitisation of energy. This is important when you consider that the actions of multiple players in the battle for MOL, including Russia through involvement of Surgutneftegaz following its purchase of a series of MOL shares in March 2009, has effectively created an energy security dilemma, whereby the actions of one actor to increase its own security leads to retaliatory actions by a second actor threatened by the actions of the first. Within the Central European energy market this is happening on multiple levels and impacts the relations between EU member states, the EU and Russia. The article uses the MOL case to highlight how the geopolitics of merger and acquisition in the Central European energy market means it effectively operates in a state of persistent insecurity.

Shopping streets versus shopping malls – determinants of agglomeration format attractiveness from the consumers' point of view

The decline of shopping streets and the rise of shopping malls have been major trends in European retailing for decades. So far, research has failed to investigate this shift of agglomeration format (AF) patronage from a marketing perspective, including the consumers' point of view. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the generic similarities and conceptual differences between shopping streets and shopping malls. Subsequently, the AF-specific characteristics perceived by consumers are compared and discussed with respect to their impact on agglomeration attractiveness. This leads to the development of a conceptual framework which is empirically tested using a web-based survey of almost 1000 consumers representing a typical urban central European retail market. The relative importance of nine distinctive AF characteristics on attractiveness was analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings proved to be quite similar for both shopping streets and shopping malls; the retail tenant mix and atmosphere had the highest relative importance.

Discoloration of Fired Kaolinitic Clays (Study of Fe3+ Coordination by Mössbauer and UV‐ViS‐NIR Spectroscopy)

The final color of a ceramic body is generally determined by the contents of Fe3+ ions. The Central European market accepts kaolinitic clays for the production of tableware, electro‐insulators, and wall tiles only if the Fe2O3 in chemical analyses of the kaolin does not exceed 1.0 wt%. The chemical analyses calculate the content of all iron components as if they were in the form of Fe2O3 and then their quantity excludes even good‐quality clay from the ceramic industry of white bodies. We found that oxidizing firing of the samples fired at over 1180°C changes the color in cases where the initial Fe3+ component is in the form of hydro ferric oxide [FeO(OH)] or if the ferric ions were added to the white kaolin samples in the form of ferric nitrate [Fe(NO3)3·9H2O]. The Mössbauer spectroscopy confirms the presence of only diluted Fe3+ ions. The UV‐ViS‐NIR spectroscopy confirms that even if the concentration of Fe2O3 is above 3.0 wt%, these ions of Fe3+ in the case of their initial hydro ferric oxide formed in clay are incorporated into the mullitic structure in tetrahedral coordination. The iron‐coloring effect depends on the coordination of Fe3+ ions with the studied discoloring effect of fired bodies—the very small and well‐distributed particles enter into the formatted mullitic structure.

The dynamics of Central European equity market comovements

This paper examines short-term and long-term comovements between developed European Union (EU) stock markets and those of three Central European (CE) countries which recently joined the EU. Dynamic cointegration and principal components methods are applied, in addition to static tests. While we find no evidence of cointegration for the period July 1995–February 2005 as a whole, dynamic tests reveal alternating period of cointegration disrupted by episodes dominated by short-term domestic factors. Principal components analysis reveals that a stable factor explains a large proportion of return variances. Ultimately, despite the decade-long process of alignment by CE countries with the EU, evidence of steadily increasing convergence of equity markets is lacking.

The Dynamics of Central European Equity Market Integration

This paper examines bilateral and multilateral cointegration properties of the German stock market and those of the three major Central European countries which recently attained membership in the European Union. Cointegration tests cover the time period of July 6, 1995 to February 10, 2005. Additional techniques are also applied to provide further information concerning the dynamic evolution of the integration process during this period. Application of the Johansen (1988) cointegration procedure indicates that, contrary to results for an earlier time period there is evidence of an emerging long-term relationship between the German and UK markets and the Czech market, as well as cointegration within the group of Central European markets. We also apply the Haldane and Hall convergence analysis, in an effort to determine the extent to which these markets are converging to London or Frankfurt. Overall, the results suggest that the process of integration of the Central European countries into the EU is leading to a closer integration of their equity markets with those of major EU countries.