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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the operation of classification mechanisms in organizational life, and how they construct the skills and knowledge of initially marginalized client groups.

The paper is based on an ethnographically inspired case study of a Swedish labour market procedure, which was designed to validate the skills and knowledge of non-western immigrant job-seekers. Qualitative data were generated through observations, in-depth interviews and document analysis.

The study found that, contrary to policy-makers’ intentions, the validation procedure ended up dissociating the non-western job-seekers’ heterogeneous experiences, skills and knowledge from the organizing processes of the labour market, displacing them beyond the boundaries of legitimate knowledge, and reproducing their marginalized position on the labour market. As non-western skills and knowledge were found unclassifiable according to the validation procedure, they were deemed too different and monstrous.

The research approach and the specific institutional context of Swedish immigration and labour market policy means that the research results are not readily generalizable to other empirical contexts. Therefore, studies outside of Sweden are needed to generate knowledge about similar policies in other countries.

The classification of skills and knowledge and the organizing of difference does not primarily require new tools and methods, but a whole new perspective, which recognizes the multiplicity and heterogeneity of unusual skills and knowledge as an important part of labour market integration.

The paper examines the monstrous aspects of classification mechanisms within the empirical context of labour market integration efforts, which is hitherto underexplored in the literature on the management of difference and diversity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore capital gains, income, and total returns in various property markets in Europe. In a comparative study the nature of returns for different commercial and residential properties is investigated. Hereby, total returns, income returns, and capital growth are distinguished. The paper further presents an analysis of the risk‐return relationship of the different markets and investigates the interactions between property markets, other local financial markets, and macroeconomic variables.

Focusing on the risk‐return relationship of the different asset classes and countries, the Sharpe ratio is used as a risk‐adjusted performance measure to investigate the European markets. Using a simple linear regression model, a comparison of the European commercial property markets with respect to their returns and risk are provided. Finally, a capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and factor models based on arbitrage pricing theory (APT) are used in an effort to further explain the spreads and risk premiums for individual property markets.

The large differences between the markets regarding spreads, risk premiums, and risk‐return relationships are found. Overall, the Dutch market can be regarded as giving the highest compensation for the risk taken by the investors in the last decade, while the German market performed the worst and was the only market with negative capital growth rates for the considered period. Applying the CAPM, It has also been found total returns in commercial property markets are not significantly related to the performance of stock market indices. On the other hand, factor models using macroeconomic variables are able to explain a higher fraction of property total return spreads over the risk‐free rate in the considered countries. But depending on the country, different macroeconomic variables were estimated to be significant such that there is no single factor model available that could be applied to all European markets. Overall, these findings indicate that classic financial models drawing on existing datasets are unable to satisfactorily explain the performance of property as an asset class. On the other hand, the fact that property office markets yield relatively high returns that exhibit rather low correlations with stock market returns, makes them a very suitable candidate for portfolio diversification.

The paper investigates the risk‐return relationship in various European property markets. The large differences between the markets observed also partly explain the diversity of literature results on this relationship across single countries by, e.g. Goetzmann, Englund, or Bourassa et al. By using classic financial models like the CAPM or APT a contribution to the literature is made by explaining the factors that actually determine property returns over the risk free rate in different countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate contagion between real estate investment trusts (REITs) within and across three geographical regions: North America, Europe and Asia‐Pacific. The paper also examines excess comovement between the considered national REIT markets on the one hand, and broad equity indices on the other. In particular, the authors are interested in contagion between the considered markets during the 2007‐2009 GFC period in comparison to the entire 2004‐2011 sample period.

Using an international factor pricing framework similar to Bekaert, Harvey and Ng, the paper defines contagion as excess comovement between two financial markets, after removing the effects of the underlying economic fundamentals, i.e. risk factors, and time‐changing volatility. Controlling for economic factors is important for distinguishing between pure contagion and information spillovers, which may transmit through existing economic channels. The authors then analyse excess correlations between the derived standardized residuals, for REITS and equity markets in order to investigate excess comovement between the indices during the whole sample and GFC period.

The paper finds no evidence of excess comovement between the considered REIT and equity indices during non‐crisis sample intervals. However, the paper finds contagion between several national REITs and regional or global equity markets during the GFC period. The paper reports statistically significant excess correlations between national REITs and regional and world real estate markets during the entire sample period, while there is only limited evidence to suggest that the correlation amongst REIT markets has increased during the GFC period. The paper concludes that a similar degree of dependence persisted among national REIT markets over the crisis and non‐crisis sample periods for most markets.

Despite the ongoing debate on contagion in financial markets, there is only a small body of literature investigating contagion specifically for property or real estate markets. This is even more surprising, since the GFC originated from a subprime mortgage crisis and was, therefore, heavily related to real estate. The paper extends the literature by testing for contagion between REITs considering eleven national markets across three geographical regions. In contrast, the existing literature is typically constrained to a significantly smaller number of markets. The paper also explicitly takes into account the impact of the recent GFC, and tests for contagion over this period.

The purpose of this paper is to propose and discuss practical approaches on how to address risk and uncertainty within valuation reports, particularly when there is only insufficient comparable transaction evidence available.

A four stage approach to property valuation is proposed that can be particularly useful if there is insufficient comparable transaction evidence available: Identifying, measuring and expressing risk by making use of property rating approaches. Transforming risk into risk premia for calculating the yield on a risk free basis by partially making use of models of risk and return usually applied in finance. Simulating risk premia (since there is great deal of uncertainty involved in determining these premia) by making use of a statistical method commonly referred to as Monte Carlo Simulation. Using the derived yield's probability distribution in combination with further probability distributions for other valuation input variables (e.g. market rent) to calculate a range of possible outcomes of Market Value as well as a number of statistical measures that can be indicative of the valuer's perceived uncertainty regarding the valuation assignment.

The empirical part shows that due to data limitations determining idiosyncratic risk premia for property assets is not yet possible. This significantly hampers the development of robust yield pricing models and reinforces the need to create databases including information on both individual property returns and associated building characteristics.

The paper postulates that there are few (if any) rational reasons for valuers not to use rating and simulation approaches as an indispensable element of the valuation process.

A valuation approach that allows simultaneously addressing risk and uncertainty as well as sustainability issues within commercial property valuation practice is proposed.

The basic purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the sustainability of construction on the one hand and market value, worth and property investment performance on the other hand. This paper aims to analyse price movements and price differences caused by different property characteristics.

Based on the estimated log‐linear hedonic regression model, a hedonic price index is calculated. Price movements subject to different property characteristics are examined by constructing various conditional hedonic price indexes.

The results reveal that, high‐quality flats or flats within preferred locations clearly outperform their competitors in terms of price stability during an overall market downturn. However, it is also shown that contemporary building descriptions or specifications of transactions within property databases are not yet sufficient and need to be widened to meet forthcoming challenges. Therefore, an “integrated building performance approach” is introduced and a proposal for the step‐wise improvement of building descriptions is made.

The paper shows that efforts need to be undertaken by the property profession in combining and transferring financial performance data along with information that is indicative of a building's contribution to sustainable development.

The paper offers insights into the relationship between the sustainability of construction and market value.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the dependence structure between returns from real estate investment trusts (REITS) and a stock market index. Further, the aim is to illustrate how copula approaches can be applied to model the complex dependence structure between the assets and for risk measurement of a portfolio containing investments in REIT and equity indices.

The usually suggested multivariate normal or variance‐ covariance approach is applied, as well as various copula models in order to investigate the dependence structure between returns of Australian REITS and the Australian stock market. Different models including the Gaussian, Student t, Clayton and Gumbel copula are estimated and goodness‐of‐fit tests are conducted. For the return series, both the Gaussian and a non‐parametric estimate of the distribution is applied. A risk analysis is provided based on Monte Carlo simulations for the different models. The value‐at‐risk measure is also applied for quantification of the risks for a portfolio combining investments in real estate and stock markets.

The findings suggest that the multivariate normal model is not appropriate to measure the complex dependence structure between the returns of the two asset classes. Instead, a model using non‐parametric estimates for the return series in combination with a Student t copula is clearly more suitable. It further illustrates that the usually applied variance‐covariance approach leads to a significant underestimation of the actual risk for a portfolio consisting of investments in REITS and equity indices. The nature of risk is better captured by the suggested copula models.

To the authors', knowledge, this is one of the first studies to apply and test different copula models in real estate markets. Results help international investors and portfolio managers to deepen their understanding of the dependence structure between returns from real estate and equity markets. Additionally, the results should be helpful for implementation of a more adequate risk management for portfolios containing investments in both REITS and equity indices.

This paper offers an alternative approach to assessing contagions in price and load in the Australian interconnected power markets. This approach enabled us to identify a high-risk region and assess the direction of contagions from both buyers' and sellers' perspectives.

The author used a multinomial logit method to measure contagions. Having identified the exceedance and coexceedances, the author estimated the multinomial logit coefficients of the covariates explaining the probability of a certain number of coexceedances.

Market participants should recognize the presence of contagion risk and scrutinize price and load dynamics in the NSW and VIC regions to anticipate any simultaneous extreme changes. Regulators need to stabilize the demand and supply sides in those regions to minimize any possible contagions.

This paper presents a pioneering study investigating contagion in the Australian interconnected power markets.

Modern‐day assembly lines for car and truck engines are highly automated installations. Although their basic design, relatively inflexible conveyor systems, and dedicated automatic stations have hardly changed over the years, they have become more and more complex. This has meant that the time frames for their planning and installation have steadily increased. Growing competition is nevertheless forcing the industry to install highly automated assembly systems in ever‐shorter times. Working together with the customer, ABB Montage und Test Automation GmbH in Germany planned and installed in a short time a diesel engine assembly line while the engines were still being developed. It included different flexible conveyor systems and 16 six‐axis robots.

The role of business logistics for a water distribution company in Central Asia has become a major concern. As the marketing environment is getting more and more competitive, the company is forced to focus on the efficiency of its supply chain management operations both by improving customer service, increasing its profitability and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to report upon the designing of a responsive supply chain for water distribution in Central Asia.

A logistic plan to satisfy customer requirement for water distribution in a Central Asian city subject to satisfactory service levels both in the number of distribution centers (DCs) and truck delivery schedule is outlined in this paper. The logistics plan includes repositioning the DCs in relation to the customer location for efficient distribution. The problem is formulated as truck delivery schedule using a new algorithm where single distribution centre is converted into a multiple warehouse location problem. The problem is solved using WINQSB software. Further, the current DCs are appraised with the software and suggested possible new locations for convenience.

The application part of this case study consists of identifying water DCs in city limits. By developing improved distribution and logistics management, the study aims at economical operations, convenient zonal distributions, and responsive SCM characteristics. To this end, a spatial distribution plan and route sequencing solution is developed for water distribution.

The paper shows how to improve logistic network that results in cost savings, convenient zonal distributions, and responsive SCM operations. To this end, a spatial distribution plan and route sequencing is developed for water distribution.

Vegetable oils are usually considered commodities. The purpose of this paper is to use disaggregated import data from Switzerland to show two phenomena. The first is that a growing high-price segment exists in these markets; the second is that least developed countries (LDC) are usually excluded from the benefits of this niche.

A detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis for coconut oil is carried out, using fixed effects regressions for the quantitative part and objective hermeneutics for the qualitative part.

The analysis indicates that prices depend on the quantity imported and on the country of origin and that entrepreneurs outside the LDC attempt to create new niche markets, whereas actors in the bulk markets tend to ignore these niches and to continue relying on LDC.

Bulk markets may continue to exist, but the importance of niches is certainly increasing and should be extended to LDC.

It could be shown which market dynamics exist and which of them leave LDC behind.