Tag Archives: Academic

Tax

Many tax breaks are pointless, say Researchers

Tax concessions amounting to billions are not effective and should be abolished, according to research by the University of Cologne.

The study, conducted by FiFo Koln, ZEW Mannheim, ifo Institute and Fraunhofer FIT, evaluated a total of 33 German tax breaks that add up to 7.4 billion euros.

Tax benefits are important, broadly applicable and potentially efficient instruments for creating incentives for private activities and for promoting policy objectives.

However, Dr Michael Thoene, Head of the Fifo Institute for Public Economics at the University of Cologne, says,

“of the 33 tax breaks in Germany, 10 measures got an overall rating ‘weak’ because they were found to fall short of their expected objectives, therefore, they need to urgently be fixed or abolished completely.”

“The tax losses examined for the individual measures range from just under one million to well over one billion euros a year,” says Sven Stoewhase, head of Fraunhofer Institute’s quantification team.

The tax breaks mainly include reductions and exemptions that are provided for energy, electricity, car and income tax and they were rated against a framework that assesses them for: relevance, effectiveness, sustainability, transparency and monitoring.

The authors suggest that tax benefits must be monitored with particular vigilance to ensure that they don’t miss their purpose or lead to dead weight effects. Otherwise governments are losing billions unnecessarily.

Business Research

emlyon business school strengthens formal partnership with Club Med

emlyon business school’s lifestyle research center has announced it will strengthen its formal partnership with global hospitality and holiday resort company, Club Med.

The partnership will have a specific focus on research activities, pedagogy and executive education:

Research and Pedagogy

Professors and researchers from the emlyon lifestyle research center will undertake ethnographic research to address key issues for Club Med.

This will mainly center on understanding the customer experience at Club Med resorts, giving the organization concrete explanations and applications to tackle issues in HR, marketing, operations and other departments. The partnership will also give emlyon professors access to field research, through which insights about the creation and consumption of customer experience can be developed and disseminated for a wider audience.

Brigitte Auriacombe, professor of marketing and initiator of this partnership, says,

“These ethnographic studies will also benefit students from the International Hospitality Management Program who will be able to take part and experience a quite unique course in a management program. Students will be trained in how to use ethnographic methods, which are powerful eye and mind openers; we believe that this experience will enable them to develop new skills which will constitute a valuable asset for their future career.”

Executive Education

emlyon will offer a G.Os® (Great Organizers) managers module certification, which will look to improve te Club Med customer experience and implement research findings from the Lifestyle Research Center into Club Med’s activities.

Joonas Rokka, Director of the lifestyle research center at emlyon, says,

“The partnership will allow Club Med to explore some of the issues around customer experience that they are facing – from the customers’ point of view –, by having strong academic research into why these are occurring and practical applications as how to approach them.

Whilst for emlyon, Club Med as a pioneering and globally recognized brand offers the research center an important and unique access to do field research on ongoing customer experiences and associated service work, across Asia, Europe and Africa, and thus develop specific research topics that would otherwise be hard or nearly impossible to do.”

Madeleine Clow, Director Product and Services at Club Med, adds,

“The ethnographic research, carried out by emlyon, allows us a moment to simply stop our busy days and observe how our customers are living their holiday experience. The nature of the research and adaptability of the students allows us to measure a range of topics, such as atmosphere, family, product communication and many more. Client observation is essential today in a multigenerational, international and highly connected market. We must always be questioning our direction and client needs”.

This partnership has already enabled research from emlyon professors, including “Club Med: Find the real you” a “study into employer branding and marketing” by Fabienne Autier, professor in Strategic Management of Human Resources, and Brigitte Auriacombe, professor of Services Marketing.