Junior Management Science, Volume 7, Issue 2, June 2022

The Impact of COVID-19 Policy Measures on European Companies – Empirical Evidence from Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway

Heiko Hoppe, Technische Universität München (Bachelor Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2021, 267-288

This study investigates the economic consequences of COVID-19 policy measures in Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Using panel data analysis, I examine the effects of various government interventions such as lockdowns or economic support measures on risk-adjusted stock returns of companies in these countries. The findings show that both lockdown-related measures and economic support measures have a positive influence on stock returns. This positive influence is robust against competing effects such as the financial situation of companies and the pandemic itself. This study further finds that the positive influence of policy measures is consistent for companies belonging to sectors that are severely or positively affected by the pandemic. Thereby, this study contributes to the understanding of how COVID-19 policy measures affect companies and closes a research gap by considering these effects in northern European countries. It shows that lockdown-related restrictions have a positive economic impact by hindering the spread of the disease and that economic support measures ease the burden of the pandemic and are thus beneficial.

Keywords: COVID-19; government interventions; financial markets; stock returns; Northern Europe.

The Mission Comes First: Exploring the Mechanisms of Organizational Sponsorship for the Acceleration of Social Start-Ups

Niklas Manhart, Technische Universität München (Master Thesis)

Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 289-337

A significant number of incubators and accelerators have emerged to support start-ups aiming to solve societal or environmental problems. However, there is still limited understanding of how these ventures perceive the value proposition of incubators and accelerators – and whether their support needs differ from conventional start-ups. This study uses the framework of organizational sponsorship to explore the acceleration of social start-ups. It is based on in-depth interviews with the founders of 10 start-ups from an impact-oriented incubator in Duisburg, Germany. Through an inductive case study, this research generates three main insights. First, the social-mission focus of these ventures leads to significant differences as compared to commercial ventures. Second, social start-ups profit more from intangible resources such as social capital than from tangible resources such as seed funding. Third, incubators and accelerators need to adapt their offerings to address the needs of social start-ups. This study presents the first systematic assessment of incubator and accelerator services from the perspective of social start-ups. Its main theoretical contribution is to extend the organizational sponsorship framework by proposing a novel support mechanism: impact acceleration.

Keywords: Business incubation; start- up accelerators; social entrepreneurship; social start-ups; organizational sponsorship.

Survival Analysis: An Investigation of Covid-19 Patient Data

Akira Karimkhani, Freie Universität Berlin (Bachelor Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 338-353

Keywords: Covid-19; Cox-Regression; CPH-Model; Proportional Hazards Model; Survival Analysis.

Unraveling the Process of Knowledge Integration in Agile Product Development Teams

Julia Haselsteiner, Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (Master Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 354-389

Agile product development seems to be the solution for many companies to drive innovation and shorten time-to-market, but what mechanisms lie behind the promises of faster development times and more innovative products? Defined as locus of innovation and driver of dynamic performance, the concept of cross-functional knowledge integration and the organizational learning literature have the potential to provide answers here. Recent empirical studies imply that knowledge integration happens on multiple levels that influence each other, and that environmental uncertainty leads to changes in the knowledge integration process. However, the interplay of individual-level and group-level knowledge integration has not yet received adequate attention and prior studies do not show how knowledge integration changes over shorter periods of time. This paper takes a grounded theory approach to explore the knowledge integrating mechanisms in two agile product development teams. The resulting iterative process model shows how agile teams integrate diverse contributions of individual team members into a new product, how internal and external factors trigger alterations in knowledge integration practices, and how agile teams adapt to changes in coordination and collaboration demands.

Keywords: Agile product development; knowledge integration; cross-functional teams; organizational learning.

Personality as a Determinant of Customer Experience Quality and Value-in-Use in a Public Crisis Situation – The Case of E-Learning

Katharina Lohmann, Freie Universität Berlin (Master Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 390-411

This thesis was designed to investigate whether differences exist between students’ personalities regarding their perceived Customer Experience Quality and their perceived Value-in-Use, for the case of e-learning. In particular, the personality dimension Introversion-Extraversion was investigated. Furthermore, it was examined whether students’ Fear of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 moderates the relationship between Introversion-Extraversion and the perceived Customer Experience Quality as well as the relationship between Introversion-Extraversion and the perceived Value-in-Use. Using survey data on asynchronous e-learning as well as survey data on synchronous e-learning, multiple two-way ANOVAs were conducted. It was found that no significant differences for either asynchronous e-learning or synchronous e-learning regarding the Customer Experience Quality and the Value-in-Use exist between introverted and extraverted students. Furthermore, no significant interaction effect on the perceived Customer Experience Quality and Value-in-Use was found for introverted and extraverted students with either low or high Fear of the Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Keywords: COVID-19; e-learning; introversion-extraversion; customer experience quality; value-in-use; two-way ANOVA.

From Wuhan into the Balance Sheet: Accounting for Provisions due to COVID-19 According to the German Commercial Code (HGB) and IFRS

Lars Busch, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (Bachelor Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf

The Corona pandemic has had a major impact on the social lives of people around the world since the beginning of 2020, leading to increased economic uncertainty. This uncertainty in turn has an impact on the accounting of companies. The following paper provides an overview of the multifaceted effects of Covid-19 on a company’s provisions, which represent a significant balance sheet item. Provisions that are significantly affected are provisions for impending losses, restructuring provisions, guarantee and goodwill provisions, and pension provisions. These are explained in more detail with regard to recognition and measurement according to HGB (German GAAP) and IFRS. The Covid 19-related effects, which can be both positive and negative, are clarified through corresponding practical examples. In addition, there is a brief presentation of other types of provisions that can be influenced by Covid-19. This work makes it clear that the pandemic as a crisis will continue to influence the balance sheets of numerous companies in the coming years.

Keywords: Corona; Covid-19; HGB; IFRS; Rückstellungen.

Carbon Risk in European Equity Returns

Fabian Alexander Meyer, Universität Wien (Master Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 429-454

Investors perceive climate change and the volatility of asset prices caused by the ongoing low carbon transition of the economy, so-called carbon risk, to have an impact on their portfolio performance. However, the extent of carbon risk’s impact on asset prices is still largely unknown. This paper provides a comprehensive quantification of carbon risk in European equity prices and examines whether it constitutes a systematic risk factor. I construct a carbon risk factor to determine the unique share of return attributable to differences in carbon intensity. During the sample period less (more) carbon intensive firms offer higher (lower) returns, which leads to a significant positive return of the carbon risk factor. Moreover, the carbon factor is significantly related to the sample covariance matrix of returns and offers a carbon risk premium in the cross-section of returns. In combination with the enhanced explanatory power relative to standard asset pricing models, this indicates that carbon risk constitutes a systematic risk factor. Consequently, investors can estimate carbon risk exposures based on widely available stock returns and include stocks without explicit carbon emission information in their risk management and investment process.

Keywords: Carbon risk; carbon risk factor; factor model; asset pricing.

Conceptualising the Value-in-Use of Services for Researchers

Theresa Kroschewski, Technische Universität Braunschweig (Master Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 455-503

The research area of value-centred and customer-centred service design transforms customers’ needs in marketable offers. This field is dominated by a focus on services that are individually oriented towards people and their values and gives providers a competition advantage. Even outside the market, in the practical field of research, there has been an increasing demand for individual and collaborative support for several years. However, it has been barely investigated so far, how offers for research-related services can benefit from market approaches. This paper is dedicated to addressing this issue and draws on the “value-in-use” as a basis for design described in service-dominant logic. Therefore, a theoretical model is used that transfers goal dimensions and so-called activated work resources as conceptualisation levels to the professional context of researchers. In an empirical study these levels are specified with the subjective perception of value from 14 service experiences. The resulting findings build a deep understanding of the various levels of possible value and how this value can be created for researchers when using services.

Keywords: Value-in-Use; forschungsnahe Dienstleistungen; Service-dominierte Logik.

Inter-Organizational Relations of Social Enterprises – A Systematic Literature Review

Sophie Gröbner, Freie Universität Berlin (Bachelor Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 504-523

A social enterprise is a company founded by a social entrepreneur following a social purpose. Inter-organizational relations of social enterprises are an important topic in research on social entrepreneurship. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview regarding these relations in the context of a literature review. The findings are seperated into the following three cooperation phases: initiation, process and outcomes of social enterprises‘ inter-organizational relations. Furthermore, insights about the functions of network management are collected. The findings show that the most articles focus on the cooperation process and strategic networks are examined most often. In addition, it could be observed that cooperative alliances with other organizations play an important part in social entrepreneurial practice. Inter-organizational relations of social enterpises represent a promising topic for future research. Research about aspects concerning the initiation phase and the outcomes of these relations is especially required. The functions of network management need to be further examined in this research context as well.

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Interorganisationale Beziehungen; Netzwerke; Netzwerkmanagement.

Investigating Market Behavior Correlations between Classified Tokens using the International Token Classification Framework

Felix van Walbeek, Technische Universität München (Bachelor Thesis)
Junior Management Science 7(2), 2022, 524-542

A social enterprise is a company founded by a social entrepreneur following a social purpose. Inter-organizational relations of social enterprises are an important topic in research on social entrepreneurship. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview regarding these relations in the context of a literature review. The findings are seperated into the following three cooperation phases: initiation, process and outcomes of social enterprises‘ inter-organizational relations. Furthermore, insights about the functions of network management are collected. The findings show that the most articles focus on the cooperation process and strategic networks are examined most often. In addition, it could be observed that cooperative alliances with other organizations play an important part in social entrepreneurial practice. Inter-organizational relations of social enterpises represent a promising topic for future research. Research about aspects concerning the initiation phase and the outcomes of these relations is especially required. The functions of network management need to be further examined in this research context as well.

Keywords: Blockchain; token; correlation; classification; Bitcoin.