Table Of ContentUrban
Europe in Progress
Sabine Urban (Ed.)
Europe in Progress
Model and Facts
With the contributions of:
Jiirgen Backhaus, Wolfgang Bilhnann, Maria Constantopoulou,
Peter Eichhorn, Leroux, Hana Machkova,
Fran~is
Kostas Nanopoulos, John Nicholls, Giovanni Palmerio,
Hossein Safizadeh, Peter Standish
GABLER
Sabine Urban is a Professor at Strasburg University (Robert Schuman) and heads the
CESAG (Centre of Managerial Research)/I.E.C.S. which is affiliated to it. She teaches
international economics and corporate strategies in several universities both in France
and abroad, and is in charge of the International Commerce degree at the I.E.C.S.
European Management School. She sits on the board of several industrial and financial
firms. Her main research fields are International Business and the European economy.
Acknowledgement
The editor is grateful to the Societe des Amis des Universites de l'Academie de Stras
bourg and to the Conseil General du Bas-Rhin for their financial support.
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Europe in progress: model and facts / Sabine Urban (Ed.).
With the contributions of: Jilrgen Backhaus ... -
Wiesbaden : Gabler, 1995
ISBN-13: 978-3-409-13237-4
NE: Urban, Sabine M.-L. [Hrsg.]; Backhaus, Jiirgen
Copyright © Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 1995
Gabler Verlag is a subsidiary company of Bertelsmann Professional Information
Publishing editor: Barbara Marks / Annegret Heckmann
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means: electronic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-3-409-13237-4 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-322-83823-0
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-322-83823-0
Contents
List of Contributors 7
1. Introduction
Sabine Urban 11
2. Europe's Economic Future: Advantages and Drawbacks
for Italy's Activities
Giovanni Palmerio 17
3. Public Accounting and Auditing in the European Union
Peter Standish 45
4. Welfare Enterprises in Europe: The Case of France, Germany,
Italy, Spain and UK
Peter Eichhorn 75
5. American Foreign Investment in Central and Eastern Europe:
Short-term Risk vs. Long-term Profits
Hossein SaJizadeh 95
6. The New German Federal State-A Starting Point for Creating
Businesses in Eastern European Countries?
Wolfgang Billmann 117
7. Appraisal of Foreign Direct Investments in the Czech Republic
(The Case of French Foreign Investments)
Hana Machkova 139
5
8. The Internationalisation of Small and Medium Sized Food
and Drink Firms
John Nicholls (and alii) 167
9. Internationational Financial Markets in ECU:
The Impact of a Difficult Consensus
Franrois Leroux 193
10. Subsidiarity and Ecologically Based Taxation:
Aspirations and Options
Jiirgen Backhaus 223
11. Technology and the Size of the Public Sector
Maria Constantopoulou 265
12. Privacy Protection, Statistical Confidentiality,
National Statistical Systems
Kostas Nanopoulos 287
6
Contributors
Jiirgen Backhaus has been the professor of Public Economics at the
University of Limburg at Maastricht
(The Netherlands) since 1986. He holds doctorates in
Law and Economics from the University of Konstanz
(1976 and 1985 respectively). His research
emphasizes all fields of applied public finance
taxation, including public accountability, public
enterprise economics, environmental economics,
health economics and the history of public
economics. In his work he emphasizes a law and
economics approach. In 1993, he founded (with
Frank Stephen) the European Journal of Law and
Economics, which is published with Kluwer
Academic Publishers.
Wolfgang Billmann Deputy Rector of Science, Professor neuen Rechts
(W) at Leipzig Commercial College (1991). Senior
Lecturer at the University of Leipzig, Chair of
Personnel Management Studies (1992). Member of
"Eurometropolis Club". Publications: Books and
articles on personnel planning, organisation of
labour, manpower assignment.
Maria Constantopoulou Professor of Economics at the Athens University of
Economics and Business and Head of the
Department of Management Science and Marketing.
She holds a Ph.D. from the London School of
Economics and has occupied senior administrative
posts in the Greek public sector. Her research
interests lie in the fields of international trade and
development, welfare economics and more recently
in the design and evaluation of interactive
multimedia applications for improved education and
more effective communication.
7
Peter Eichhorn is the head of the chair of Public Management in the
Faculty of Business Administration at Mannheim
University. His main fields of research are public
administration, public enterprises, especially
hospitals, and institutions of public enterprises (f.i.
non-profit organisations).
Fran(:ois Leroux is professor at the University of Montreal Business
School (HEC) where he teaches International Finance
and Applied Economics. He is the author of several
books and articles, mainly on international capital
markets. He is associate-director, in charge of
research activities at the HEC International Business
Center (CETAI).
Hana Machkova is the director of the French-Czech Institute of
Management (IFTG) at the University of Economics
in Prague. Since 1993 she became the executive
director of the French-Czech Association for
Development of Managerial Teaching. Her research
field is International Marketing and as Senior
Lecturer at the University of Economics in Prague,
she is responsable for the subject of Export/lmport
Operations.
Kostas Nanopoulos Statistician, Maitre de Conferences in Management
Science, pedagogical program director at the IECS
Strasbourg (University Robert Schuman). His
research subjects are international management,
statistical information systems and the management
of industrial networks.
John Nicholls is a Lecturer in International Marketing at the
University of Bath School of Management, UK. He
has been Director of Studies for their full time MBA
degree, and also for the International Management
degree. His main research interests are the
internationalisation process of the firm, and the agri
business sector.
8
Giovanni Palmerio is Full Professor of Economics at Luiss University
(Rome) and President of ISCO (National Institute for
Economic Forecasts). He is the author of many books
and articles on cycles, growth and development
theory, public finance and inflation.
Hossein Sajizadeh is an associate professor of Operations Management
in the Wallace E. Carroll School of Management at
Boston College, where he teaches operations
management at the undergraduate and graduate
level. He received his Ph.D. from Oklahoma State
University in 1980. He has four years of managerial
experience in banking and has conducted
management seminars and served as a consultant to
numerous manufacturing and service firms such as
NCR Corporation, the Coleman Company, Cessna
Aircraft, Pizza Hut. His research interest includes
manufacturing management, international
management, and simulation analysis. He has
published extensively in academic journals. His
recent publications have appeared in ORSA Journal
on Computing, International Journal of Production
Research, Naval Research Logistics, Decision
Sciences, California Management Review, Journal of
Business Research. He is a member of the Institute of
Management Science and Decision Sciences Institute.
Peter Standish Professor of European Accounting, Nottingham
Trent University. Visiting Professor, Universite de
Paris-Dauphine. Honorary Member, Conseil
National de la Comptabilite, Paris. Primary research
interest in comparative international accounting and
auditing, particularly between in Britain and France.
9
Sabine Urban is a Professor at Strasburg University
(Robert Schuman) and heads the CESAG (Centre of
Managerial Research)/IECS Strasbourg which is
affiliated to it. She teaches international economics
and corporate strategies in several universities both
in France and abroad, and is in charge of the
International Commerce degree at the IECS
Strasbourg. She sits on the board of several
industrial and financial firms. Her main research
fields are International Business and the European
economy.
10
Introduction
Introduction
Europe in Progress, Model and Facts is the second volume in the series Europe's
Economic Future launched in 1994. It is in keeping with the will expressed by the
University Robert Schuman and implemented by CESAG, the research centre of
IECS Strasburg, to observe and to analyse European reality; not through
idealized models or abstract diagrams but out in the real world, close to the
lives and actions of Europe's citizens and companies.
This research, undertaken by leading academic figures of different countries,
offers a wide spectrum of reality in evolution and Europe's characteristic
diversity.
This diversity appears to be both a blessing and a handicap because the
adaptation process linked to European integration and the definition of global
competitive strategies demands unequal efforts. It is therefore understandable
that uncertainties arise, that tensions appear amongst partners who, in some
areas of social economic or financial life, stand together but refuse a
constraining solidarity in other areas.
However one thing is certain: Europe's construction progresses step by step.
This deep-seated reality is enhanced by cross-border investments, by the setting
up of common rules and standards, by the creation of collective, common
instruments, by factor mobility, by intensified exchanges of goods and services,
by improved understanding of behaviours and cultures and by learning from
others.
Europe, with twelve members or more, has a socio-economic life "per se" which,
with the adjustment of varying difficulties, is on the road to improvement.
Europe however is more than just a group of medium-sized countries. It has
never stopped playing a major role on the world scene and has every intention
to continue doing so.
11
