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• Attention in the world of information goods - an analysis of scarcity

  1-20

  Balazs Hamori

  Views:

  159

  Attention as a form of service can also act as a source for the crearion of value. In its functional and market interconnections, attention is product of labour (product or service) and, as an exchangeable good, is naturally exchanged for money. The system of sxchange provides a significant amount of accurate information about the division of attention within society - the degree to which it reflects recognition by the individual and the community. The forum of exchange of attention can be viewed as the openness of society, while the internet is its international market place. However attention also played an important role in the 'old economy'; indeed in some cases attention was the central tool in its creation. Direct, personal services aimed at human beings (teaching, legal and health services) always demanded great attention. If nowadays a product itself is the main part of the service provided, attention becomes an important and decisive resource in the use of a product. The growing individualisation in the provision of goods and services, the increasingly direct interaction between people, and last, but not least, the transformation to a virtual level, necessarily increases the demand for attention in economic transactions- Unlike traditional goods, the outstanding feature of services, and more specifically intellectual goods, is the ability of consumers to devote sufficient time and attention to their use and to acquiring the necessary competence to use them. For the providers of these goods the ability to hold the attention of consumers/clients is often the crucial feature of competitive success. Praise, excellence and prestige are all manifestations of acquired attention. In this sense attention acts as a store of value, although it cannot be dircetly and easily compared with acquisition mechanism associated with money and other products. The economy of attention raises questions rather than offering defensible theses or clear statements. Even less does it allow us to claim that a theory could be crystallised in this field to explain how the expanding phenomenon of the non-material sector of the economy function in the economy as a whole. There is no doubt however that attention is a supremely important subject of research in the new economy.

• Examining the perception of innovative online banking services – a discrete choice experiment among university consumers

  64-91

  Vilmos Lakatos

  Péter Balogh

  Péter Czine

  Views:

  358

  In our study, we examine consumer preferences for innovative online banking services among students in business and management education. To achieve our research goal, we conducted a discrete choice experiment with the target group. The alternatives of our hypothetical decision situations included in our experiment were characterized by the possibility of ATM smartphone integration, the availability of real-time banking, the availability of NFC payment, and the cost per transaction. Based on our model estimates, we found that all three examined services (ATM smartphone integration, real-time banking, NFC payment) have a positive perception among respondents, while the increase in cost has a negative effect on the respondents’ sense of utility. The results of the latent class model estimated in order to address the preference heterogeneity highlighted the existence of a consumer group with very strong preferences and thus a high willingness to pay (average HUF 70) towards the existence of the NFC service. Male students with a non-Debrecen resident in higher-level vocational training are more likely to be included in this class.

• Tegnap, ma, holnap: a vállalati tevékenységek kiszervezésének trendjei

  27-42

  Gyorgy Bogel

  Views:

  185

  A tevékenységek kiszervezése, illetve annak nemzetközi változata, az úgynevezett offshore outsourcing napjaink gazdaságának egyik legfontosabb jelensége. A termelés kihelyezése olcsó országokba már évtizedekkel ezelőtt megindult. Az infokommunikácós technológia fejlődésének köszönhetően a múlt század kilencvenes éveiben az egyéb, többnyire szolgáltatás jellegű vállalati tevékenységek is sorra kerültek. A near-shoring és az off-shoring hatalmas, dinamikusan fejlődő iparággá vált, ami különleges lehetőségeket biztosít számos feltörekvő országnak. A szektorban élénk verseny bontakozott ki, aminek részese hazánk is. Ebben a küzdelemben sajátos ország- és vállalati stratégiák figyelhetők meg. A fejlődés számos gazdasági, politikai és társadalmi problémát vet fel, amelyekre megoldást kell keresniük mindazoknak, akik élni kívánnak a lehetőségekkel.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) kód: L24.

• An analysis of services for general economic purposes and universal services in the European Union

  49-66

  Eva Sztanko

  Views:

  131

  A topic in the focus on debates on the European social model has been to define the future role of Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI). The European Commission launched a widespread public discussion on the public utility related objectives of SGEI, their impacts on the quality of life, on the environment and on the competitiveness of European firms, as well as on ways of organising and financing these services. This discussion has received an important input from rulings of the European Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance in cases on Services of General Economic Interest. Although these court rulings lacked consistency in some cases, they still helped to obtain more accurate definitions of SGEI. Most member countries of the EU have started to elaborate the concept of universal services, but there are still serious loopholes in the field of monitoring, control, quality management and in terms of financing. To sum up, the EU member country level practice of universal services in the energy sector is still in the first phase of realisation.

• Knowledge Export in Higher Education: A Hierarchic Approach

  35-48

  Jozsef Beracs

  Views:

  153

  The role of higher education in economic growth is increasing parallel with the development of the knowledge industry. The export income from student mobility estimated by some experts exceeds 40 billion US dollars worldwide. In this paper we discuss two aspects of the phenomenon. First, higher education as an industry is more complex than simply student mobility. This is true despite the fact that this mobility is the most visible and most attractive part of the export activity. There are research outputs of universities and other service activities which are classified as exports and which are offered in market based systems. Second, the individual professors - whether employees of universities or freelance knowledge workers - university departments, faculties, universities, countries, regions, etc. could serve as the subjects of the statistical measurement of activities. All of those activities which are carried out by universities can be measured in different hierarchical systems.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: F14, M31

• Issues of the Regulation of Residential Credits

  44-51

  Tamas Prugberger

  Zoltan Nagy

  Views:

  198

  The study focuses on the theoretical and practical issues of lending from the legal regulation point of view. After the 90’s the consumer social model was set up in Hungary, and it was linked to a fairly broad consumer credit activity. However, the regulation of lending was insufficient in many areas; consumer protection has hardly existed in the financial services market. Debtors were unprotected when facing the financial institutions, which concluded contracts not in their favour and restricted their rights. The economic crisis, and the great number of insolvent debtors, has emerged as a social problem for legislators, thus enabling them to amend lending rules and strengthen consumer protection in this area.

  JEL classification: K 30

• Features of Knowledge Intensive Business Services from Innovation Aspects

  147-156

  Sandor Nagy

  Views:

  158

  Based on the innovation approach to services this paper defines knowledge intensive business services and gives an overview of their features from innovation perspectives. It finds that different service activities are related to innovation systems to varying extents. Compared to other sectors, services lack stimulative institutional and other formal support systems that may act not only as knowledge centres for companies but could also contribute to both the protection and spread of innovation. In contrast with production, the absence of an efficient protection of intellectual property indicates a significant risk in the service sector, and hinders optimal knowledge transfer and results in waste and duplication in innovation efforts.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification: O31, O32, L84