Though in its infancy, the European enterprise has the power to change both the perception and the actual face of Europe. This book evaluates the future potential of this new type of enterprise. The contributors look for European convergence at all levels of the economy: firm, branch, state, and EU. They stress various points of view, using diverse methods, and propose different measures.
The rise of the World Wide Web is challenging traditional concepts of jurisdiction, governance, and sovereignty. Many observers have praised the Internet for its ubiquitous and "borderless" nature and argued that this global medium is revolutionizing the nature of modern communications. Indeed, in the universe of cyberspace there are no passports and geography is often treated as a meaningless concept. But does that mean traditional concepts of jurisdiction and governance are obsolete? When legal disputes arise in cyberspace, or when governments attempt to apply their legal standards or cultural norms to the Internet, how are such matters to be adjudicated? Cultural norms and regulatory approaches vary from country to country, as reflected in such policies as free speech and libel standards, privacy policies, intellectual property, antitrust law, domain name dispute resolution, and tax policy. In each of those areas, policymakers have for years enacted myriad laws and regulations for "realspace" that are now being directly challenged by the rise of the parallel electronic universe known as cyberspace. Who is responsible for setting the standards in cyberspace? Is a "U.N. for the Internet" or a multinational treaty appropriate? If not, whose standards should govern cross-border cyber disputes? Are different standards appropriate for cyberspace and "real" space? Those questions are being posed with increasing frequency in the emerging field of cyber-law and constitute the guiding theme of this book's collection of essays. Book jacket.
This international volume presents a comprehensive, comparative study of the transformation of the European telecommunications industry from 1990 to the present. The book focuses on the old incumbent operators and their dramatic change from state agencies to listed companies. It analyzes the liberalization process, as well as the corporatization and privatization of these companies. The contributors assess the conditions for the transformations taking place; the driving forces for change; the effects to management, the efforts of the EU during these processes, and ultimately, the role of the private owner. Political science publications have all but excluded analysis of the newly privatized companies; their contribution to the liberalization process both before and after privatization; and the interplay between the national political and company levels. The book redresses this shortcoming, and also features a double empirical focus in that the main national incumbents in Europe are analyzed and compared to Telenor, the Norwegian former incumbent.
Since 1981, over 100 governments around the world have raised over $1 trillion through the sale of SOEs to private investors. Privatization programs have transformed the role of the state in virtually all-major economies, and have massively increased the capitalization and liquidity of all non-U.S. stock markets. The focus of this book lies on where privatization stands today and what are the next frontiers, the why and how behind countries who privatize certain industries, whether privatization works as an economic tool and important insights relevant to financial institutions such as how to value privatized industries, how share offerings differ from private offerings, and how countries go about harnessing private capital. The book will also represent a key and unique source for information related to the details of asset sales privatization, a summary of statistics of privatized companies from 54 international stock exchanges, regulatory changes and sources for privatization information for investors, government officials, bankers and financial specialists. The volume will serve as an invaluable reference for professionals and as a core or supplementary text in privatization courses.
This reference on the whole of Europe, from Gibraltar to Georgia, Andorra to Azerbaijan, provides both an analytical overview of the region and specific data for each of the 40 countries it comprises. Introductory chapters cover regional issues including: a regional review, with the year's trends, developments and key events; which EU countries have attracted the most and least Foreign Direct Investment; how national governments and the EU are addressing the issue of refugees and asylum; patterns of household debt and savings in Europe; and the impact of EU enlargement.;Comprehensive economic and business reports for each country include: political and economic surveys identifying the trends, developments, problems and solutions; country profiles, including information on economic sectors, political parties and systems, demographics and languages; key facts and analysis of vital statistics; a business guide offering practical information for visitors to the country, including local contact addresses; and key indicators setting out the country's key economic indicators between 1998 and 2003.
The telecommunications industry is one of the most influential and significant global industries. As well as being fundamentally important to the health of the modern economy, it is going through a period of unprecedented change, facing a range of strategic challenges from globalization and cross-border alliances, to changing technologies and consumer demands. This innovative book provides a comprehensive analysis of the key players in the industry and uses their experiences to illustrate the strategic decisions and dilemmas that have led to both notable successes and infamous failures. Case studies from the US, UK and Europe are presented to illustrate key strategic concepts in the industry including: managing ascent and decline convergence and specialization protecting core markets managing industrial transition. Combining in-depth analysis with focused discussion of the strategic context, this key text will be of interest to students on specialist telecommunications and information management courses as well as MBA students interested in the strategic analysis of this evolving global industry.
This exciting new industry will enhance technologies of all types. Nanotech has applications within biotechnology, manufacturing, aerospace and information systems. This book covers micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS), microengineering, microsystems, microsensors, carbon tubes and much more. Trends, finances and profiles of the 250 leading companies included.
The Handbook of Public Policy in Europe provides an invaluable overview of the content of public policy across the full range of policy areas in Britain, France and Germany. It is designed to be used by students, experts and practitioners both to help compare public policy across different policy areas and countries and as a source of information on individual policy areas. Each chapter describes the nature of public policy in a particular area, makes detailed comparisons of selected aspects and outlines recent developments. Detailed Internet references are also provided.
