EU Companies Research Articles

Effect of company size on potential for REACH compliance and selection of safer chemicals

REACH represents a global paradigm shift in chemical regulation, and it has introduced a new, complex regulatory process to which chemical producers and users throughout supply chains must adapt. This paper presents results of survey research to illustrate whether and how the business members of a large Scandinavian trade organization understand and comply with REACH. It also explores how these businesses obtain information about the chemicals they use in their products, and whether they feel that the information they have is sufficient to meet their needs. In addition, the paper describes how business size affects these issues. The survey results show that, at the time of this study, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and a number of larger firms were unaware of REACH. Survey results consistently showed that the size of a company is an important factor in both understanding of and compliance with REACH, with respondents from large firms having a better grasp of REACH and its implications than smaller companies. An effective implementation of REACH will require, at the most basic level, more attention to educating EU companies, especially smaller ones, on how and why REACH applies to them. Survey respondents who were aware of REACH and its applicability to their firms also reported the types of support they needed in order to better understand and comply with the regulation, with nearly 40% of all respondents expressing a need for help with data systems or tools to manage REACH requirements and communicate REACH requirements to suppliers and customers. Many companies reported needing more information from their suppliers on chemical composition and related health impacts of materials and products. Ensuring that this information is readily available throughout supply chains is essential to reducing the negative impacts of chemicals and products on human health and the environment.

Impacts of Innovative EU Companies on Smaller Emerging Markets under an Open Economy

Impacts of Innovative EU Companies on Smaller Emerging Markets under an Open Economy

Recrutamento em ambiente de diversidade cultural

A flexibilidade para os trabalhadores europeus se movimentarem livremente pela Europa por questões laborais tem sido um dos princípios centrais da Comunidade Europeia desde o início. À medida que essa Comunidade se expande, estará o sonho dos políticos a converter-se em realidade? Terá a maior mobilidade conduzido a maior diversidade cultural da força de trabalho? E até que ponto estão as organizações europeias a trabalhar ativamente para promover e aumentar essa diversidade? No âmbito do projeto europeu REDIVE, uma investigação extensiva em recrutamento multicultural clarificou em que medida a diversidade cultural da força de trabalho está incorporada na estratégia das empresas da União Europeia (UE) e quais as diferenças e boas práticas de estratégias de recrutamento multicultural estão a ser aplicadas por toda a Europa. Para visualização deste resumo em língua inglesa, selecione o ícone correspondente ao idioma no menu lateral direito.

Public policies and government interventions in the book publishing industry

Purpose–The purpose is to review public policies and government interventions in the book publishing industry, a sector where public policies have blossomed. The paper concentrates on five major issues: intellectual property rights and issue of infringements (piracy), the debate about the fixed price of books (vs free market) or the agency versus wholesale models, VAT discrimination between printed books and e-books, the role institutions like libraries and registration authorities, and competition issues.Design/methodology/approach–This article is based on an extensive set of research initiated by the EC JRC IPTS on the “Statistical, ecosystems and competitiveness analysis of the Media and Content Industries”. The research implied an extensive review of the literature, meetings with players and validation workshops. This paper focuses more on the analysis of policy documents and position of players.Findings–The paper shows a growing discrepancy between the leading position of the EU publishing industry and its position in on-line distribution and production of e-books. The EU leads the global publishing market, with companies like Bertelsmann, Hachette or Pearson. However, compared with the USA, in the EU, the e-book market is still negligible. The European e-book market is fragmented, expanding fast in the UK and lagging behind in other Member States. As digitisation of books and earlier on-line distribution of physical books are changing the landscape, the paper considers potential policies at EU level to coordinate, accompany and speed up the process of digitalisation.Research limitations/implications–The article stems from the research initiated by the IPTS on the “Statistical, ecosystems and competitiveness analysis of the Media and Content Industries” (MCI). This research was based on a review and synthesis of the available literature, desk research. The results were reviewed by experts from the book industry at dedicated meetings. The paper does not cover other important public policy issues such as the role in the functioning of democracies, triggering consequent rights and responsibilities with respect to human rights, democracy, and freedom of information and cultural diversity.Practical implications–To contribute to the debate about the policies needed for the economic health and development conditions that will support the future competitiveness of the book publishing industry. There is a need to better understand if policies designed for the physical world will be effective in a digital world. Distribution is very different in a digital world from physical distribution; these supply-side policies may reach their limits.Originality/value–In the media and entertainment markets, the book market is the only one where EU companies (Bertelsman, Hachette, Pearson, Wolters Kluwer) lead. However, this industry is one of the less covered segments of these markets. Besides, the paper combines a review of legacy policies such as copyright, fixed prices, and issues raised by the digital shift such as VAT discrimination between physical books and e-books.

CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES UNDERLYING GENDER EQUALITY ON THE BOARDS OF COMPANIES: HOW SHOULD THE EU PUT THESE VALUES INTO PRACTICE?

AbstractThere is a large gap between the proportion of employed and well-educated women and those sitting on the boards of EU companies. However, the Commission's proposal for a Directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges does not constitute an appropriate legal solution for this problem. The Commission's reasoning underlying the draft Directive is so strongly pervaded by economic considerations that it gives the impression that women are merely instruments useful to attain economic objectives. By contrast, the need for enhancing women's representation in the boards of companies is justified by much more fundamental and incomparably higher-ranked values, and including equality between women and men and the need for democratic legitimization of the EU and of its economic governance. These fundamental values, however, must be achieved in accordance with the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. The present article proposes some alternatives to compulsory gender quotas that might be used by EU institutions to promote more gender-balanced boards of EU companies.

Incidencia del tlcan y de los acuerdos de protección a la inversión extranjera sobre las relaciones de México con la Unión Europea

This article analyzes the way nafta has affected Mexico's transatlantic relations with the European Union after the implementation of the Global Agreement between Mexico and the eu (2000) and the Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements concluded between Mexico and some European countries from 1995. The hypotheses of this work, consider that in the last 13 years, Mexico transatlantic relations have undergone a process of relative embrittlement motivated by at least two facts: first, would be the introduction of what is known as the nafta Parity in the negotiation process. One of the most tangible achievements of the agreement was that thanks to nafta Parity, Mexico used as a platform to redirect part of the investment and European goods, mainly to the usa, but also the rest of North America. A second aspect that strengthens our hypothesis is the impact that produced the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), along with the debate between Community member, linked to the European investment protection outside the EU and the validity and relevance of the settlement dispute mechanisms on investment, that European companies used against a non-EU countries through the protection it confers a bit/appris. This aspect has become a compelling argument to determine the investment criteria of the EU companies in Mexico and Latin America, among other regions.

Asset Impairment and Earnings Management: Influence of Audit Quality

Portuguese listed fi rms (as well as all EU companies) have been required to use IFRS and consequently IAS 36 – ‘Impairment of Assets’ – since 2005. Therefore, this paper examines empirically the effects of IAS 36 on asset impairment reporting, investigating whether IAS 36 reduces the magnitude and restricts the timing of reporting asset impairment. Additionally, we also analyse the influence of audit quality on the use of the asset impairment test as a tool to manage earnings. We use an OLS regression model to examine the effect of the asset impairment on earnings management for a sample of 33 nonfinancial-listed Portuguese companies from 2002 to 2010. We find that IAS 36 does not affect the magnitude of the reported asset impairment. Additionally, the results suggest that impairment fi rms are engaging in either ‘big bath’ or ‘income smoothing’ behaviour. Our findings also suggest that firms audited by Big 4 firms take significantly more impairments than firms audited by non-Big 4 firms. Furthermore, the results show that when there are incentives to underreport earnings, the likelihood of taking an asset impairment will increase more for firms audited by a non-Big 4 audit firm than for firms audited by a Big 4 audit firm. The findings based on this study provide useful information for the International Accounting Standards Board and other standard setters. The results also provide useful information to investors in evaluating the impact of IAS 36 on earnings quality.

Gender Equality on the Boards of EU Companies: Between Economic Efficiency, Fundamental Rights and Democratic Legitimisation of Economic Governance

AbstractCurrently, there is a large gap between the proportion of employed and well‐educated women and those sitting on the boards of EU companies. This gap should be significantly diminished because it is mandated by the EU fundamental right of equality between women and men (Article 23 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), and by the need for democratic legitimisation of the EU and of its economic governance (Articles 2 and 3(3) TEU). However, the Commission's proposal for a directive on improving the gender balance among non‐executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges does not constitute an appropriate legal solution for this problem because it infringes the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity. There are many other instruments than compulsory gender quotas that can be used by EU institutions to promote more gender‐balanced boards of EU companies. The potential of such measures has not been utilised yet in full.

Porovnání vlivu daní a dalších faktorů na chování podniků ve starých a nových členských státech Evropské unie

Efektivní daňové sazby jsou jedněmi z ukazatelů, které berou podniky v úvahu při rozhodování o svých investicích a způsobech financování. Cílem tohoto článku je pokusit se s využitím panelové regresní analýzy prokázat vliv příslušné EATR (Effective Average Tax Rate) a dalších vybraných proměnných jako vysvětlujících proměnných na příslušný zkonstruovaný ukazatel podílu způsobu financování či podílu investic do vybraných druhů aktiv. K analýze byla využita data z finančních výkazů společností v EU. Země EU byly pro účely článku rozděleny do dvou skupin na staré a nové členské země. Bude provedeno porovnání mezi těmito dvěma skupinami zemí. Data byla získána z databáze AMADEUS.

Flexicurity and Employee Participation in Workplaces during the Crisis: Turkey Compared to the European Union

Turkey has a mixture of labour market system which provides some deregulated flexible labour market applications and some strict job protection applications characterising same principles with the European Union countries. In this paper, the EU flexicurity approach and Turkish labour market will be analyzed. Extant research on flexicurity has focused primarily on the macro level of analysis. In this research we have examined flexicurity at company level as connecting human relations management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR). We follow the European Commission's definition and argue that company-level flexicurity in the restructuring process is a specific and extraordinary HRM activity. Furthermore, our unit of analysis is management and labour union and works council representatives’ attitudes related to flexicurity applications and employee participation in the EU27 countries and in Turkey as an EU candidate country. This study focuses also on analysis and suggestions for improving restructuring and transition to new employment with the help of company-level flexicurity in the EU27 and in Turkey during the restructuring process of the global crisis with extend to the unification process of Turkey with the EU. As, flexicurity and employee participation applications investigated and compared between Turkey and the EU companies which found that there are a high level of comparability and compliance between Turkish and the EU integral market, at least for leading companies. There are also some characteristic differences between company level practices throughout EU member and candidate countries including Turkey.

Methods of Business Organization in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Companies

Although the process of European integrations is slow and it will pass long time till the integration process will have been finished companies must start its preparations for integration in EU market now. Business organization can be based on science or empirical method. Science method is based on organization models and definitions from literature and empirical method is based on experience in doing business. We will research which method is used in Bosnia and Herzegovina companies. Our research objects were four companies which are temporarily the best in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Energoinvest dd Sarajevo, Energoinvest SUE, Energoinvest TDS, Butmir d.o.o. The research is based on hypothesis that business organization in Bosnian and Herzegovina companies is based on science method and will be done on base of 7S model. Our goal is to investigate all elements defined in this model. If those elements are in accordance with definitions and models from literature it means that business organization is based on science method. Company who follow science method can be considered as serious company, which can be part of EU business, nevertheless as an actor on EU market or as partner of EU companies on the market of third countries.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Business

European Union is supranational, economical, political, custom, monetary and defense integration in Europe. Despite the fact that approach to EU integration is more political and law, the most important starter of integration is economy. In other words, countries, candidates for joining EU, must follow business trends in EU. The subject of this paper was to see if companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina follow business trends which are applied in EU. The focus was on business organization and comparison between EU companies and Bosnia and Herzegovina companies. We started the research with hypothesis Bosnia and Herzegovina companies follow EU trends in business organization but research results show that they need some changes. The objects of research were leading engineering companies in EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONS REDEFINED. PERSPECTIVES ON EUROPEAN UNION INITIATIVES AND STRATEGIC CHOICES ON HORIZON 2020

The article describes EU initiatives on Horizon 2020, a EU Framework Program based on Research and Innovation, which will be created to redefine cooperation in funding and scientific research of EU countries. Horizon 2020 is one of the main pillars of the so-called Innovation Union – one of the Flagship Initiatives of Europe 2020, which aims to increase Europe’s competitiveness in the world. The article defines types of strategic choices that strengthen support for technological innovation, investigate societal communication and foster excellence level in research through the support of scientists, coordination and development of an improved infrastructure of research resources and facilities in EU. The article also discusses the main economic aspects in correlation with political approach of the program. Horizon 2020 provides immediate stimulus to the economy and scientific and technology base and industrial competitiveness in the future, so that the UE society will function in a more intelligent and balanced way, and is also conducive to societal exclusion. The quantity based research will show, which out of 5 main strategic choices (business level, corporate level, internationalization, innovation & entrepreneurship, mergers & acquisitions) the companies in EU will follow to provide best results of the program in the EU countries. The funds of the Horizon 2020 will be used for three main purposes: support EU leadership in science with a budget of €24.6 billion (comprising 77 percent. increase resources to the European Research Council); provide European businesses at the forefront of industrial innovation (€17.9 billion) – this includes a significant investment of €13.7 billion EUR in key technologies, as well as better access to capital and support for SMEs; €31.7 billion will be spent on important issues relating to all Europeans, which is divided into six main issues: (1) health, demographic changes, welfare, (2) food safety, sustainable agriculture, marine research and environmental management, (3) environmental safety and efficient energy, (4) intelligent, organic and integrated transport, (5) climate actions, effective management of resources and raw materials, (6) integration, innovative and safe society. The main outcomes of the article show that most of the European companies consider Horizon 2020, the part of the Europe 2020, as one of the most important funding program of this century. This funding will also serve to promote international cooperation, which will enhance the attractiveness of the EU's research, and enable the joint addressing global issues and to promote EU external policy. The analysis of possible synergy with funds awarded under the EU cohesion policy will be made in order to provide the greater number of participants across Europe. The weaker regions will identify potential centers of excellence, which will propose a strategic advisory and financial support under the program Horizon 2020, and the EU Structural Funds will be spent on upgrading infrastructure and equipment. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.6.1426

The legal mobility of companies within the European Union through cross-border conversion

Over the last decade, the case law of the ECJ on the freedom of establishment for companies has led to a high degree of corporate mobility within the EU. As a result of that case law it is nowadays common sense among academics that companies which have been founded under the law of a Member State may transfer their real seat to another Member State with no change of legal form as far as the Member State of incorporation allows for such an operation. However, it remains to be clarified whether EU law also grants - besides said right of physical establishment - a right of legal establishment by allowing companies to convert into a legal form of another Member State. In the first part of the article, there is an analysis of whether companies may invoke primary law, notably the right of establishment, in order to conduct such an operation. In this context, two forms of cross-border con-version are addressed separately: cross-border-conversion with an attendant transfer of real seat and, far more problematic, isolated cross-border conversion. The second part of the article contains an outlook on a possible secondary measure enabling and regulating the cross-border conversion of EU companies. Although the Commission has stopped working on a 14th directive on the transfer of registered seat, it will be demonstrated that there is actually a strong need for such a measure. Special focus will also be on the question whether the EU has competence to take any steps in that direction, a problem which is often overlooked, particularly with regard to isolated cross-border conversion.

Characterizing the Evolution of the EU-US R&D Intensity Gap Using Data from Top R&D Performers

In this paper we look at the evolution of the R&D intensity gap between the EU and its major competitors using data from the Industrial Scoreboard covering the period 2002-2010. We focus on R&D intensity as it is normally recognized as an important determinant of the competitiveness of economic regions and we assess whether the gaps relative to major competitors arise from differences in industrial composition (structural component) or differences within sectors (intrinsic component). This is important from a policy perspective since the task of modifying the industrial structure is a much harder one. The paper is divided in two parts. In the first part of the paper we first present the evolution of the R&D intensity gap between the EU and its major competitors (US, Japan, BRIC, Asian Tigers) and then we look more closely at the role and evolution of the structural and intrinsic component for each pair-wise comparison, by looking at four basic macro-sectors defined in term of their R&D intensity. In the second part of our work we concentrate on the EU-US R&D intensity gap and, by applying firm level analysis, we test whether the results obtained by the statistical decomposition of aggregate R&D intensity are confirmed. The evidence provided by this exercise is especially important because it allows us to perform a comparison where the ceteris paribus condition is more likely to be satisfied. In particular we test whether there is evidence of across-sector variability in R&D intensity and whether, within sectors, EU and US firms are performing differently. To do this we have to control for various factors such as size, cyclical effects, common macroeconomic shocks and company’s age. Age is important for at least two reasons. First, young companies might have more problems in finding access to funds necessary in order to invest in R&D. Second, young companies might have to be especially aggressive in terms of innovation if they want to enter and succeed in markets where incumbents already exist. More generally, company age is important because it takes time to build, test and eventually change a given business model and there is plenty of evidence that young firms are those exhibiting the highest dynamism. Therefore, our aim here is also to document the age profile for R&D intensity and to verify whether the R&D intensity gap between EU and non-EU companies is related to age of the firm. Finally we check if R&D intensity is affected by the abundance of internal funds (as captured by the profit/sales ratio), if this relationship changes with the age of the company and if the latter shows across-regional variation. Our results indicate that there is evidence of strong across-sector variation and some evidence of within-sectors-across-region variation, which –however- is not always in favour of the US. This allows us to conclude that firm level analysis confirms the results from the aggregate analysis. Moreover we find that R&D intensity tends to decrease as firm size increases (as measured by the number of employees), that the age profile for R&D intensity behaves very differently in the two regions and that young and middle age companies in the EU exhibit a much higher reactivity to lagged profits-to-sales ratio, when compared to their US counterpart. We believe that this is an indication that the conditions for accessibility and cost of funds differ significantly across the two regions.

Global Challenges in Stem Cell Research and the Many Roads Ahead

The field of stem cell research has grown to include a vibrant international community of scientists and clinicians who come from both academia and industry and who strive to shed light on the biology of these remarkable cells and find applications in drug discovery, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine.

IFRS Adoption and Financial Results of EU Companies: The Challenge of Nomenclature - Evidence from the UK, France and Germany

Since the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and the subsequent directive by the EU, all companies are required to report their consolidated financial statements in line with the IFRS prescribed formats. The study examines the consolidated financial statements of top 270 listed companies in three major EU stock exchanges (UK, France and Germany) and found a disparity in the adherence to IFRS reporting guidelines. Inconsistencies in the application of nomenclature such as ‘statement of financial position’ instead of balance sheet and sequence of arrangement of current assets in order of liquidity remain a major challenge for most of the companies. The compliance monitoring machinery of IFRS in the EU is seemingly weak compared with the US GAAP regulatory body where a majority of US listed companies are found to adhere strictly to the prescribed nomenclature and order of arrangement of current assets in their financial statements. The study makes a case for the reinstatement of balance sheet terminology by the IFRS.

Corporate social responsibility: a perspective from Peru

This paper intends to explore the role of law in establishing and directing corporate social responsibility in Peru mining sector for the purpose of awakening the concern of those involved and interested in the topic of identifying actions that would be most appropriate to promote and support the development of CSR in the mining industry in Peru. For this purpose we will review the legal framework in Peru and specially the legal domain in the mining sector through the special view of the Green Paper from the European Commission on Corporate Social Responsibility as a tool of reference since it represents the European Union's decision of being the leader in promoting CSR behaviour and the starting point, in an elaborate document of organised thoughts, lines of behaviour, guidelines and developments on CSR for EU's companies for fostering a new framework to promote CSR. There is no other document with such an aim and such challenges.

カルコパイライト系薄膜太陽電池の開発の現状と将来展望

Chalcopyrite Cu(In, Ga)Se2(CIGS) and related compounds belong to the semiconducting I-III-VI2 materials family and are most promising thin film solar cells which have demonstrated up to 20% cell efficiencies and over 15% module efficiencies to date. Many CIGS companies in EU, US, and Japan have started several ten MW/year scale commercial production and have announced to increase their production capacities further within a couple of years. In this review, recent developments in highly efficient CIGS module technologies and issues to be solved for further development are discussed. Recent progress in the development of reliable alkali incorporation control techniques which is required to demonstrate high cell efficiencies from flexible CIGS cells fabricated on alkali-free substrates is also introduced. The mechanism behind the beneficial effects of alkali doping into CIGS absorber layers is also discussed.

The relation between dividends and insider ownership in different legal systems: international evidence

This paper provides new international evidence on the relationship between dividend policy and insider ownership by analysing a sample of USA, UK and Irish firms characterized by an Anglo-Saxon tradition and a matching sample of other EU companies from Civil Law legal systems. We hypothesize that, due to the different characteristics of both the legal system and the nature of agency conflicts in firms from those countries, the relation between dividend policies and ownership by insiders will be considerably distinct between the two sets of companies. We find that while in firms with an Anglo-Saxon tradition the relation between dividends and insider ownership follows the pattern negative–positive–negative, in Civil Law countries the relation is positive–negative–positive. These results are consistent with our hypotheses and breed new insights into the role of the dividend policy as a disciplining mechanism in countries with different legal systems and distinct agency problems.