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Five years ago a conference on Children and Marriage would probably not have included a paper on marriages without children. Having children in marriage conforms to one of society's strongest expectations; conversely not having any is portrayed as both undesirable and deviant. Society's prescriptions relating to parenthood have given rise to a number of assumptions about childless marriages. Briefly, these maintain that the causes of childlessness are almost always involuntary, that marriages without children will be less satisfactory and more prone to divorce than parental marriages, and that childlessness is generally associated negatively with various measures of mental health. It is only recently that such assumptions have been questioned, and that voluntary childlessness has become a subject of research in its own right, rather than as an aberration from the “normal” pattern of behaviour. In Britain three chief reasons for an upsurge in interest in childless by choice marriages are apparent. Firstly, there have been indications that couples are delaying childbirth in marriage and this has led to speculation that in some cases, at least, this delay would lead to higher rates of childlessness when this cohort of women had completed childbearing. Figure 1 illustrates both this trend and the fact that in the past high rates of childlessness in early marriage were associated with high rates of final childlessness. Secondly, in 1976 a pressure group was formed by some voluntarily childless individuals; its aim was to campaign for a reduction in pronatalist pressure in society. This group attracted a good deal of interest from the popular press and in the late seventies and early eighties many articles looking at various aspects of voluntary childlessness have been published. Thirdly, and most significantly, voluntary childlessness represents an alternative family form and has come into the realm of sociological studies of the family along with other lifestyles (such as one‐parent families or homosexual couples) that were once considered deviant and therefore outside the mainstream of society. It is now recognised that such living arrangements are both valid as subjects for study in their own right and in terms of the understanding they may give of more traditional arrangements.

This paper attempts to critically question present IPE approaches and analyses that aim at assessing China’s role within the international political economy. Thus, unlike common theorizations that see the country as being integrated within US hegemony (Panitch and Gindin) or those accounts that claim that we are already witnessing the “terminal crisis” of US hegemony accompanied by a hegemonic transition toward China (Arrighi), the paper will argue that China was able to gain “relative geopolitical autonomy” as a result of the revolutionary processes it went through and eventually assert itself as a contender state, now just in the process of challenging US hegemony. Dissatisfied with existent theorizations of hegemony, I will be drawing on the critical edition of Gramsci’s Quaderni and attempt to offer a new perspective regarding the conceptualization thereof. Thus applying the elaborated framework of analysis to the current situation, I argue that unlike the US’s ability to counter the challenge of its traditional imperial rivals Germany and Japan as they developed under the grip of US hegemony, the country is facing difficulties in countering China’s ascent. However, while maintaining that China does indeed represent a challenge to US hegemony, particularly in East Asia, I will argue that the idea of a “crisis of US hegemony” is premature as China remains distant from fully realizing hegemonic relations, even at the regional level.

In the current situation of the global economy, engaging in strategic alliances depends upon several factors in which the national and organizational cultures of the companies are involved. This paper discusses the cultural differences between the German and the American culture by applying Hofstede's “value” dimension system and how these differences affect the formation of strategic alliances and outcomes. Furthermore, the paper examines whether literature sustains the fact that Hofstede's value model can be used to sufficiently distinguish between the German and the American culture.

The current study has two major aims: (1) investigate the factor structure and importance ratings of attributes in France vs Poland and (2) compare the importance ratings of the attribute signals sent by potential employers during the recruiting process across four different types of job seekers (i.e. new entrants, short-term unemployed, long-term unemployed and currently employed).

First, using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the authors compare the fit of several proposed models and identify the best fit using the combined job seeker sample. The authors then examine the fit of the selected model for the France and Poland samples separately. Finally, we compare the attribute importance rating factors across groups using a Country by Job Seeker multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

The CFA results on the combined sample showed that a six factor-solution with two higher-order factors (organization- and job-attributes) provided the best fit and held for both France and Poland. MANOVA results showed a significant interaction between type of job seeker and country for organizational characteristics, and main effects of country and job seeker for work–life values and characteristics.

Most past research on the importance of job attribute factors focused on new entrants in the United States. This study provides the first examination of job attribute factors across different countries, France and Poland, and other types of job seekers.

A key component of evolutionary models in economics and organizational research, the notion of organizational selection is rarely the object of inquiry. It generally suggests instead a neutral and unquestioned process, a mechanism explaining organizational success and survival. In this chapter, we explore the variation of selection; we problematize the notion of selection and do an exercise in conceptual genealogy. We differentiate between three patterns of firm selection: Darwinian, strategic, and institutional and define the associated “embedded rationalities” that buttress those different selection patterns. We illustrate how selection differed and evolved through time by exploring two empirical cases – France and the United States. Building upon our empirical exploration, we stress some important contributions for three theories familiar to strategy scholars – resource-based view, population ecology, and institutional theory. We also point to some consequences for empirical research and suggest new directions for future work on the dynamics of organizational action.

Due to the young age of proptech, little is known about the dynamics of its expansion. In particular, there is limited agreement about a definition of “proptech,” while different categorizations are popping up. A severe lack of information emerges for the proptech scenario in Italy. The goal of this paper is to systematize multiple proptech maps in the attempt to create a framework for comparison of country-specific trends and an overarching definition of proptech. The research examines the evolutionary stage of the Italian digital real estate sector and compares it to the international context.

An in-depth analysis of 12 proptech maps at both national and international level was conducted based on online research. A list of Italian proptech companies was composed through multiple methods. A map was built for a cross-country comparison.

Each country or organization tends to develop its own categorization. This creates a multifaceted context where comparison and analysis are challenging. The Italian proptech sector seems underdeveloped compared to neighboring countries. Big room for improving the proptech business in this country still exists.

The results are valuable for proptech start-ups, business investors and well-established real estate actors to build on new entrepreneurial initiatives. The opportunity to advance proptech mapping and categorization emerges as a prospect for future research.

This research adds an overview of cross-country proptech categories and proposes the first analysis of Italian proptech. This will contribute to support entrepreneurial opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of networks diversity on innovation activity of firms. It aims to review the structural issue in innovation networks and to distinguish different structures of networks for product and process innovation through an empirical research.

Using a data set of 348 European agri-food firms, the authors study the impact of bridge and redundant ties on product and process innovation of firms. This is an empirical research based on an online survey in five European countries.

The finding shows that bridge ties (measured by the number of heterogeneous networks in which firm participate) always facilitate product innovation in firms. The authors found also that a high number of heterogeneous ties in term of partners (simultaneous presence of redundant and non-redundant ties) motivate both product and process innovation in firms. Furthermore, the authors found a positive impact of network competence on process innovation.

The measures of bridge ties and redundant ties are indirect measures. This choice is a willing choice. Direct measurement of bridge and redundant ties always requires in-depth interviews with firms managers and thereby are limited by the number of observations.

Research on innovations networks are dominated by case studies and researches with limited number of observations. Studying the networking behaviour, particularly the tie selection, of a wide range of firms brings additional knowledge in this field of research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how tenant end demand dependence and investment market segmentation, as estimated through sector type, impacts real estate portfolio strategy in the context of the multi-asset portfolio.

The analysis is performed for six investor domeciles, for domestic and international investments over several cycles. The analysis is performed in a mean variance framework.

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that an investor benefits from investing in real estate assets where end demand is dependent on local factors rather than global factors.

The efficiency of the overall multi-asset portfolio benefits from a deeper understanding of how the real estate portfolio is constructed. Locally dependent real estate, i.e. real estate that is dependent on local economic factors, tends to better support the overall portfolio than do real estate that is dependent upon global factors.

The paper contributes to the broader knowledge through extending earlier studies using similar methodology by extending the data series to cover the impact of the latest global financial crises, as well through extending the knowledge how the real estate portfolio should be constructed to better support the overall objectives of the multi-asset portfolio.

The paper addresses the practical problems which emerge when attempting to apply longitudinal approaches to the assessment of property depreciation using valuation‐based data. These problems relate to inconsistent valuation regimes and the difficulties in finding appropriate benchmarks.

The paper adopts a case study of seven major office locations around Europe and attempts to determine ten‐year rental value depreciation rates based on a longitudinal approach using IPD, CBRE and BNP Paribas datasets.

The depreciation rates range from a 5 per cent PA depreciation rate in Frankfurt to a 2 per cent appreciation rate in Stockholm. The results are discussed in the context of the difficulties in applying this method with inconsistent data.

The paper has methodological implications for measuring property investment depreciation and provides an example of the problems in adopting theoretically sound approaches with inconsistent information.

Valuations play an important role in performance measurement and cross border investment decision making and, therefore, knowledge of inconsistency of valuation practice aids decision making and informs any application of valuation‐based data in the attainment of depreciation rates.

The paper provides new insights into the use of property market valuation data in a cross‐border context, insights that previously had been anecdotal and unproven in nature.