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PurposeThe present study examines the concept of internal market orientation (IMO) and its effects on organisational performance comprising job satisfaction and employees' loyalty in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) research context. Rooted in administrative theory, human relations theory, conventional theories of IMO and internal marketing, this study develops a novel iIMO theoretical framework that evinces the proliferation of ICTs in SMEs.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed concept was empirically investigated by means of surveying 316 SME employees with the application of a multi-stage sampling procedure.FindingsResearch findings confirmed the viability of the ICT-supported iIMO framework, its positive effects on SMEs' organisational performance, and exhibited ample empirical evidence for the proficiency of the iIMO concept and its suitability for operationalisation by SMEs.Originality/valueThis study introduces ICTs as a novel IMO dimension which considers the undergoing holistic digitalisation of businesses. In addition, the present research posits the plausibility and confirms the benefits that arise following iIMO implementation in SMEs.

When the Treaty of Rome (the Treaty) was signed, the legal profession believed it had no impact on its organisation. Yet, from the very beginning, the Directorate General (DG) Internal Market started to work on a directive that would facilitate the circulation of lawyers within the European market. This article is based on the analysis of the 16-year debates leading up to the adoption of the 1977 Directive, which facilitate the effective exercise by lawyers of freedom to provide services. It adopts a bottom-up, actor-centered approach, to understand the role of lawyers and the importance of legal professions in the construction of the common market. Using archival study, interviews and legal analysis, the article shows that the integration of European legal professions cannot be understood without studying the historical structures of each national profession. Moreover, the rallying of lawyers to the European project can only be attributed to the active interpretative work of multipositioned actors.

This article exploits policy change by the UK government to identify the impact of competition on quality. It uses differences in competition over time and space to examine the impact of competition in an environment with limited quality signals in which hospitals competed mainly on price. Using AMI mortality as a measure of hospital quality we find that the relationship between competition and this measure of quality is negative. We also find that competition reduced waiting times. Our results indicate that hospitals in competitive markets reduced unmeasured and unobserved quality in order to improve measured and observed waiting times.

Influenced by the concept of the strength of a force in physics, access to markets has since the 1940s been evaluated by indicators of ‘potential’, measured as a sum of a distance-weighted of population or market size of foreign or external territories. Later development of the New Economic Geography (NEG) by Paul Krugman did not solve the problem of calculating internal market size in a way that can be used to add it to calculations for external market potential. This paper analyzes the consequences of geometrical justifications in measuring internal market potential. For a sample of European regions, the paper concludes that the literature should be more explicit about historical processes of agglomeration and methods of calculating internal market size.

The increasing integration of renewable energy sources into the electricity sector for decarbonization purposes necessitates effective energy storage facilities, which can separate energy supply and demand. Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) provide a practical solution to enhance the security, flexibility, and reliability of electricity supply, and thus, will be key players in future energy markets. Directive 2019/944, which focuses on common rules for the internal market of electricity, provides a regulatory framework for the deployment of energy storage facilities. However, several gaps and challenges remain regarding the implementation of the directive, particularly in insular energy systems with immature storage infrastructures such as Cyprus, an EU Member State. This study examines these challenges and gaps by investigating the case study of Cyprus while also presenting the handling of energy storage in other European countries such as Germany and Poland. The primary aim of this study is to identify gaps in the legislation regarding energy storage and potential bottlenecks or monopolistic approaches that could hinder the widespread deployment of BESS under the liberalization of the energy market. In light of several BESS technologies available in the market, the study focuses on lithium-based technologies, which account for the largest share of the BESS market and are projected to grow at the highest compound annual growth rate by 2030. Therefore, the authors concentrate on Lithium BESS. The study highlights the crucial role of storage facilities in transforming the power generation sector by shifting toward renewable sources of energy. As such, the study emphasizes the importance of effective regulatory frameworks in enabling the deployment of BESS, particularly in insular energy systems. Overall, this study sheds light on the gaps and challenges facing the deployment of BESS, providing valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to design effective regulatory frameworks to facilitate the widespread adoption of BESS.

At the end of 2022, the European Union (EU) adopted the EU Regulation on Foreign Subsidies Distorting the Internal Market (Foreign Subsidies Regulation). The regulation is intended to counter the distortive impacts on the EU market arising from foreign subsidized investments and other economic activities. Allegedly, the regulation seeks to ensure a level playing field within the EU, namely to subject foreign investments and economic activities to subsidy controls comparable with the level provided by EU State aid law. This article critically assesses the Foreign Subsidies Regulation and demonstrates that, by drawing upon rules in differing legal schemes, the Regulation departs from EU State aid law. More importantly, the disparities might result in heavier procedural and substantive burdens for foreign investors, rendering it difficult for the EU to fulfil its promise of a level playing field. Finally, the article contends that, in the context of cross-border subsidy control, the normative argument of a level playing field is empty and precarious. Cross-border subsidy regulation is concerned with curtailing the adverse effects of a foreign subsidy rather than creating a level playing field for all.

While the US Constitution expressly grants the federation the power to tax, Article 311 TFEU is silent on whether such power exists at the EU level. This contribution argues that the Union has the power to tax, provided that the chosen resources in the basket match the objectives and policies of the Union. Since the achievement of the internal market is a shared competence (Article 4 TFEU), the Union can decide the level of resources tailored to this goal. Although the Union has a broad power to tax under Article 311 TFEU to pursue its objectives and policies, the member states are still the “masters,” able to decide the level of resources under the unanimity rule. To resolve this paradox, this contribution embraces a democratic legitimacy of EU taxes that grant the European Parliament the power to decide the revenue side of the EU budget. EU democratic taxes approved by the European Parliament could reaffirm the redistributive function of taxes, thereby allowing the redistribution of wealth from rich to poor.

The new UK internal market, as embodied in the UK Internal Market Act 2020 and the common frameworks, is the latest example of market integration, but it is far from being the only one. A myriad of composite market structures exists across the world, including in Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the US and the EU. This article investigates how the UK internal market compares to other internal markets: to what extent does it follow pre-existing paths, to what extent does it depart from them? It is argued that the UK has diverged from international blueprints in several important aspects. Despite drawing on methods that are frequently employed for achieving economic integration, it reinterprets and combines these in a unique way. The result is an internal market which is defined by an unusual degree of centralisation, strong trade rights and a high potential for deregulation.

Withdrawing from an organization through an orderly negotiation process would appear as a particularly unproblematic form of leaving international institutions. However, the example of Brexit shows that negotiated dissociations have significant potential to adversely affect relations between exiting and remaining states. This study, which contributes to a forum on the impact of dissociation processes on post-withdrawal relations, argues that the management of conflict during the Brexit process had profound implications for relations between the United Kingdom and European Union member states. The negotiations on the Northern Ireland Protocol were marked by increasingly fundamental accusations against each other regarding (non)compliance with basic norms of international conduct. This led to a deterioration of relations and eventually – despite the avoidance of full escalation – to deadlock when implementation problems arose. To demonstrate this and explore the particular features of negotiated dissociations, the study examines three episodes of conflict: the disputes over ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, over the Internal Market Bill, and over implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The integration and policymaking of the European Union (EU) are claimed to challenge Nordic cooperation as a separate ‘common order.’ Increasing interdependencies in the EU have forced all EU member states to collaborate and share sovereignty in an increasing number of policy areas. This article studies the coexistence of Nordic cooperation and European integration by taking a network approach. It analyses the extent to which Nordic members of European Administrative Networks ‘go Nordic’ to solve problems or exchange advice, information and best practices. Based on unique survey data on interactions related to the implementation of EU policies in Social Policy, Health and the Internal Market by national governmental organisations across the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), we use social network analysis to test for distinguishable patterns of Nordic cooperation. We find evidence to suggest that Nordic cooperation in the EU and EEA is best characterised by differentiated integration. The Nordic states tend to form a separate community for problem-solving and exchanging best practices, advice and information in Health and Social policy networks, but less so in SOLVIT, a network related to the Internal Market.