Professor Iraj Hashi MBE

• PhD (Economics), University of Keele, 1980
• MA (Economics), University of Maryland, USA, 1970
• BSc (Engineering), 1st class, Abadan Institute of Technology, Iran, 1967

 
Academic honours list

• Awarded MBE (2007) for services to higher education and economic reconstruction in Kosovo
• Presidential Medal of Merit, President of the Republic of Kosovo (2015) for contribution to higher education in Kosovo.

 Other important academic functions/activities

• Director, Centre for Research on Emerging Economies, Staffordshire University Business School, since 2006
• Director, Doctoral Programme, Staffordshire University Business School, since 2003-2011
• Coordinator of Socrates and Erasmus Programmes, Staffordshire University Business School, 1993-2014
  Senior Award Tutor, Postgraduate Economics Programme, Staffordshire University Business School, 1999-2003
• Coordinator of 11 Tempus/Erasmus+ projects in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia

Areas of specialisation: the behaviour of firms in transition from central planning to a market economy; privatisation and restructuring; bankruptcy and reorganisation; privatisation and corporate governance; the reform of utilities; the development of financial intermediation and institution building; industrial competitiveness; innovation and competitiveness; SME development and policies; employee ownership; and employee financial participation.

Countries of specialisation: Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

My research interests are closely related to the process of transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the challenges faced by these countries in the process of developing a market economy. My areas of interests are: enterprise behaviour during the transition process, privatisation, corporate governance, bankruptcy and reorganisation, SMEs and entrepreneurship, competitiveness at firm and industry level, innovation and technical change and employee financial participation.

Research projects

• The promotion of employee ownership and participation, a study prepared for the European Commission’s DG MARKET (Contract MARKT/2013/0191F2/ST/OP) (see publications).
• Employee Financial Participation in Companies’ Proceeds, a study prepared for the European Parliament (see publications).
• Competitiveness of Firms, Regions and Industries in the Knowledge-based Economy (Microdyn); European Commission’s Framework VI Programme; 2007- present (with 17 partner institutions) (see publications).
• Industrial Competitiveness in Accession Countries (Competitiveness); European Commission’s Framework V Programme, 2002-2006 (with ten partner institutions); resulting in the book on Industrial Competitiveness and Restructuring (see publications)
• Improving the Corporate Governance Framework in Publicly Owned Enterprises and Financial Institutions in Kosovo, Center for International Private Enterprise, Washington D.C.; 2007-2009
• Benchmarking Financial Participation of Employees in the European Union and Candidate Countries; European Commission DG Employment, 2008-2009; resulting in PEPPER IV Report for the Commission (see publications)
• Secondary Privatisation in Transition Economies, European Commission’s PHARE ACE Programme, 2000-2003 (with 3 partner institutions); resulting in the book on Secondary Privatisation (see publications)
• Corporate Governance Framework in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, a project funded by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Washington DC.
• Entrepreneurship Development and Policies in Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, a project funded by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Washington DC.
• Spanish Employee Owned Companies, Sociedades Laborales –A Potential New EU Active Labour Market Policy Instrument (see publications)

PhD students’ research projects

In addition to individual and collaborative research projects, I have also supervised MPhil and PhD students to completion in the following areas:

PhD (21)

• The Causes and Consequences of Corporate Restructuring in Albania (Dr. Lindita Lati, 2001)
• Financial Intermediation in Transition Economies with Special Reference to Albania (Dr. Erjon Luci, 2002)
• Privatisation in Albania (Dr. Entela Shehaj, 2006)
• International Trade and the Small Firm Sector in south Eastern Europe, with Special Reference to Kosovo (Dr. Petrit Gashi, 2007)
• The Psychographic Segmentation of Russian Consumers (Dr. Maria Mukhina, 2008)
• Financial Development in Transition Economies with Special Reference to South-East Europe and Kosova (Dr. Valentin Toci, 2008)
• Determinants of SME Growth in Transition Economies with Special Reference to Kosovo (Dr. Besnik Kransniqi, 2010)
• Competitiveness, Restructuring and Firm Behaviour in Transition: The Case of Croatia (Nebojsa Stojcic, 2011)
• Industrial Restructuring and Competitiveness in Transition Economies with Special Reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sabina Silajdzic, 2011)
• Ownership Evolution and Performance in Privatised Firms -The Case of Macedonia (Hyrije Abazi, 2013)
• Banking Sector Competition and its Impact on Banks’ Risk-Taking and Interest Margins in the Central and East European Countries (Arben Mustafa, 2014)
• The impact of corporate governance on the performance of financial institutions (Gezim Tosuni, 2014)
• Ownership Concentration and Firm Performance in Transition Economies: Evidence from Montenegro (Zorica Kalezic, 2014)
• Efficiency and market structure in the banking sector in South East European countries (Viktorija Atanasovska, 2015)
• Euroization and Its Impact on Bank Efficiency in Transition Economies: with Special Reference to South East European Countries (Albulena Xhelili, 2015)
• Ownership transformation and firm performance in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia (Alban Hashani, 2016)
• Effects of FDI spillovers on the productivity of domestic firms in selected transition countries (Edvard Orlic, 2016)
• Innovation and firm performance in transition economies, with special emphasis on Kosovo (Fisnik Recica, 2016)
• Fiscal Decentralisation and Economic Growth in Transition Economies (Aida Gjika, 2018)
• FDI spillovers in selected SEE countries: sectoral and spatial diversities (Nina Vujanovic, 2018)
• Entrepreneurship and Economic Performance: International Evidence (Ermal Lubishtani, 2018)

MPhil (2)

• Porter's model of generic competitive strategies: A study of three industries in Albania (MPhil) (Orges Ormanidhi, 2007)
• Unofficial Economy in Albania (MPhil) (Katerina Shuteriqi, 2007)

External Examinership

I have been external examiner for PhD students at: UCL, Universities of Bristol, Lincoln, Paisely, Ljubljana, West of England, Prague University of Economics, University of West of Scotland, Birkbeck University of London, and University of Bournemouth.

Internal Examinership

I have been the Internal Examiner of the following PhD candidates: Hoti, Gjipali, Nikoloski, Caku, Chidlow, Ruslan Dzazarov, Al-Bulushi, Oruc, Tafarshiku, Zulfiu, Radicic, Ivanovic, Mulliqi, Limbrick, Hoxha, Jahja, Rammal (DBA), Havolli.

My main Enterprise activity has been the development of Tempus and Erasmus/Socrates/Erasmus+ programmes, and the MSc/PhD scholarship programme in the Business School.

The Socrates/Erasmus programmes have developed over the years and been the vehicle of cooperation and students/staff exchange with universities in many European Union countries such as Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Tempus projects have developed our links with institutions in former socialist countries in particular Albania, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Macedonia and Poland. Over the years, a large number of academics and students from these countries have completed periods of study at Staffordshire. I have been the Coordinator of 10 Tempus projects and a partner in several others and currently the Coordinator of a large Capacity Building in Higher Education (under Erasmus+) programme. These are listed below:

Tempus projects

The budgets of these projects have ranged from about 500,000 to 1.2 million Euros.

The MSc/PhD scholarship programme has been supported by the Open Society Foundation (a part of Soros Foundation) as well as the European Commission's Tempus and Erasmus Mundus schemes (and until recently the UK Government's Chevening Programme). It has provided scholarships for around 150 graduates from South East European countries to complete Masters and PhDs in Economics. The scholarship programme was ended in 2013.

Intermediate Microeconomics Economics for Business Analysis (EBA) programme; and Economic Analysis of Firm 2, a module on the MSc EBA

Books

• Balcerowicz, Leszek, Gray, Cheryl and Hoshi, Iraj, Enterprise Exit Processes in Transition Economies: Downsizing, Workouts, and Liquidation, Central European University Press, Budapest, 1998.
• Hoshi, Iraj, Balcerowicz, Ewa and Balcerowicz, Leszek, Barriers to Entry and Growth of New Firms in Early Transition, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 2002.
• Blaszczyk, Barbara, Hoshi, Iraj and Woodward, Richard, Secondary Privatization in Transition Economies: Evolution of Ownership in Mass Privatised Companies in Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, Palgrave 2003.
• Hoshi, Iraj, Welfens, Paul and Wziatek-Kubiak, Anna, Industrial Competitiveness and Restructuring in Enlarged Europe, Palgrave, 2007.
• Hashi, Iraj, Lowitszch, Jens, and Woodward, Richard, PEPPER IV: Benchmarking Financial Participation in EU Countries, Free University of Berlin, 2008.
• Pavic, Ivan, Benic, Duro and Hashi, Iraj, Mikroekonomija (Microeconomics, in Croatia), University of Split Publications, third edition, 2010.
• Lowitzsch, Jens and Hashi, Iraj, Employee Financial Participation in Public Services in the European Union, a Report for the European Association of Employers and Enterprises Providing Public Services (CEEP), Brussels, 2012.
• Lowitzsch, Jens and Hashi, Iraj, Employee Financial Participation in Companies’ Proceeds, a Study for the European Parliament (DG Internal Policies), 2012.
• The promotion of employee ownership and participation, Study prepared for the European Commission’s DG MARKET (Contract MARKT/2013/0191F2/ST/OP), European Union, October 2014, Brussels (with Jens Lowitzsch), available on http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/internal_market/studies/
• Lowitzsch, Jens, Dunsch, Sofie and Hashi,Iraj, Spanish Sociedades Laborales –Activating the Unemployed, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

Recent articles in refereed journals, chapters in books and working papers

• Mass Privatisation and Corporate Governance in the Czech Republic, Economic Analysis, Vol. 1, No.2, 1988, pp.163-187.
• The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: Regional Disparities and the Nationalities Question, Capital and Class, No. 48, October 1992. Also, reprinted as Regional Polarization in Post-war Yugoslavia and the Impact of Regional Policies, in R. Ali and L. Lifschultz (eds.), Why Bosnia (The Pamphleteers’ Press, Stoney Creek, Conn., 1993), pp.300-330.
• The Polish Privatisation Process and the Prospects for Employee-Owned Enterprises, European Business and Economic Development, Vol.1, Part 4, January 1993.
• Voucher Privatisation, Investment Funds and Corporate Governance in Czechoslovakia, British Review of Economic Issues, Vol. 15, Number 37, October 1993, pp. 67-95 (with Jan Mladek).
• Enterprise Behaviour in Transitional Economies, Prague Economic Papers, December 1993, pp 331-345 (with Mehrdad Emadi-Moghadam). Also translated into Czech and published as “Chovani podniku v tranformujici se ekonomice”, Politicka Ekonomie, Rocnik XLI, No.6, 1993.
• Bankruptcy Laws in Developed Market Economies as Models for Economies in Transition, Seminar Bulletin V111: Bankruptcy Regulations in the Slovak Republic, Centre for Economic Development, Bratislava, October, 1995. Also translated in Slovak and published in Regulacia Bankrotov v Solvenskej Republike 11, October 1995.)
• The Process of Exit in the Czech Republic 1990-1994: The Nature and Extent of Formal and Informal Exit Mechanisms, Studies and Analyses, No.75, Centre for Social and Economic Research, Warsaw, April 1996 (with Jan Mladek and Alison Sinclair).
• Managerial Behaviour and Supply of Shares in Czech Voucher Privatisation Programme, MOCT-MOST, Vol. 6, 1996, pp. 103-121 (With Alison Sinclair).
• The Economics of Bankruptcy, Reorganisation and Liquidation: Lessons for East European Transitional Economies, Russian and East European Finance and Trade, Vol.33, No.4, 1997, pp.6-34.
• Privatisation and Transition in Albania, Post-Communist Economies, Vol.11, No.1, 1999, pp. 99-125 (with Lindita Xhillari).
• The Polish National Investment Fund Programme: Mass Privatisation With a Difference?, Comparative Economic Studies, XLII, No. 1, Spring 2000, pp. 87-134.
• Fiscal and Regulatory Impediments to the Entry of New Firms: A Comparative Analysis of Five Transition Economies, Journal of East-West Business, 6, No. 2, 2000: 59-94.
• Financial and Institutional Barriers to SME Growth in Albania: Results of an Enterprise Survey, MOCT-MOST, 11, No. 3, 2001: 221-238.
• The International Experience of Privatisation and Lessons for Kosova, Staffordshire University Business School Division of Economics Working Paper No. 2001.12, December 2001.
• Employee Ownership and Enterprise Behaviour: Evidence from Poland’s Privatisation by Liquidation, Russian and East European Finance and Trade, Vol. 34, No.2, 1998. Also reprinted in C. S. Leonard, Microeconomic Change in Central and East Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, pp. 204-232.
• The Restructuring and Privatisation of Utilities and Large Companies in Kosova, paper presented at the ‘International Conference on the Privatization of SOEs and the Reform of Utilities in Kosova’, Prishtina, June 27-29, 2002.
• Mass Privatisation, Corporate Governance and Endogenous Ownership Structure, William Davidson Institute Working Paper No. 596, July 2003 (with Irena Grosfeld), also published as: Mass Privatization, Corporate Governance and Endogenous Ownership Structure, ICFAI Journal of Management Research, 3 (3), March 2004: pp. 21-45. ISSN 0972-5342
• The Legal Framework for Effective Corporate Governance: Comparative Analysis of Provisions in Selected Transition Economies, Studies and Analyses No. 268, December 2003, Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE Foundation), Warsaw.
• The Emergence of Large Shareholders in Mass Privatized Firms: Evidence from Poland and Czech Republic, William Davidson Institute Working Paper No. 718, August 2004.
• The Development of Insolvency Procedures in Transition Economies: A Comparative Analysis, in J. Lowitzsch (ed) Das Insolvenzrecht Mittel-und Osteuropas, Berliner Wissenschafts- verlag, Berlin, 2004 (with E. Balcerowicz, J. Lowitzsch, M. Szanyi).
• The Legal Basis of Corporate Governance: A Comparative Analysis of Post-Socialist Countries’ Experience, Problemy teorii I praktiki upravleniya (Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Management), No. 3, 2004, pp.48-57 (in Russian).
• Can Government Policy Influence Industrial Competitiveness: Evidence from Poland and the Czech Republic, Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, VIII (2), November 2005; pp. 1-22 (with D. Hajdukovic and E. Luci).
• The comparative analysis of state aid in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic prior to accession, International Journal of Economic Research, 3 (1), 2006: pp. 17-38 (with E. Balcerowicz).
• An Overview of Employee Financial Participation, in J. Lowitzsch (ed.), The PEPPER III Report: Promotion of Employee Participation in Profits and Enterprise Results in the New Member and Candidate Countries of the European Union, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin, 2006.
• Changes in Ownership Concentration in Mass Privatised Firms, Corporate Governance: An International Review, 15 (4) July 2007; pp. 429-543 (with Irena Grosfeld).
• The Evolution of Ownership Structure, Path Dependency and Enterprise Performance Using Dynamic Panel Data Models, Corporate Ownership and Control, 5(1), Fall 2007: 166-178 (with Entela Shehaj).
• Entrepreneurship and SME Growth: Evidence from Advanced and Laggard Transition Economies, Centre for Research on Emerging Economies Working Paper, January 2008 (with B. Krasniqi).
• The Implementation of The European Commission’s Merger Regulation 2004: An Empirical Analysis, Journal of Competition Law and Economics, 4 (3) September 2008: 791-809 (with B.M. Fernandez and Marc Jegers).
• Post-Privatization in Kosovo: An Assessment of Privatization of Socially Owned Enterprises, Report published by Riinvest Institute for Development Research, Prishtina, 2008 (with other contributors)
• Benchmarking and Financial Participation in the EU, in J. Lowitzsch (ed), Financial Participation of Employees in the EU-27, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2009 (with Jens Lowitzsch and Rick Woodward).
• The Corporate Governance Framework in Financial Institutions in Kosovo, Report published by Riinvest Institute for Development Research, Prishtina, 2009 (with other contributors)
• Privatization of POEs in Kosovo, Report published by Riinvest Institute for Development Research, Prishtina, 2009 (with other contributors)
• Financing Constraints, Credit, Rationing, and Financing Obstacles: Evidence From firm Level Data in South Eastern Europe, Business and Economic Review, 12 (1), 2010:29-59 (with V.Z. Toci).
• The Law and Finance Nexus in Transition Economies: Does the Measurement of Law Enforcement Matter?, in M. Uvalic and B. Cerovic (eds), Western Balkan’s Accession to the European Union- Political and Economic Challenges, Belgrade, 2010 (with V.Z. Toci).
• The Impact of Innovation Activities on Firm Performance Using a Multi-stage Model: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey 4, CASE Network Studies and Analyses, No. 410/2010, Warsaw (with Nebojsa Stojcic).
• Entrepreneurship and SME Growth: Evidence from Advanced and Laggard Transition Economies, International Journal of Entrepreneurship Behaviour and Research, 17 (5), 2011:456-487 (with Besnik Krasniqi).
• Determinants of the Choice between Different Innovation Regimes amongst Firms in the Enlarged Europe, in G. Canullo, F. Chiapparino and G. Cingolani (eds), The Adriatic-Balkan Area: from Transition to Integration, Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 2011:141-170 (with Nebojsa Stojcic).
• The impact of innovation activities on firm performance using a multi-stage model: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey 4, Research Policy, 42(2), 2013: 353-366 (with N. Stojcic).
• Restructuring and Competitiveness: Empirical Evidence on Firm Behaviour in New EU Member States and Candidate Countries, East European Economics, 51 (4), July-August 2013: 84-107 (with N. Stojcic and S. Telhaj). (with N. Stojcic and S. Telhaj).
• Intermediation Efficiency of Banks in South-East Europe: An Empirical Assessment Using DEA and Malmquist Index, International Journal of Finance and Banking Studies, 2(3), 2013: 1-20 (with V. Toçi).
• Different Proxies Matter for the Law and Finance Nexus, International Journal of Finance and Banking Studies, 2(3), 2013: 57-75 (with V. Toçi).
• Determinants of financial participation in the EU: Employers’ and employees’ perspective, Advances in The Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labour-Managed Firms, 14 (forthcoming, 2013) (with Alban Hashani).
• Export behaviour of SMEs in transition countries, Small Business Economics, 42 (2), 2014:407–435 (with Petrit Gashi and Geoff Pugh).
• Firm Productivity and type of innovation: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey 6, Croatian Economic Survey, 16 (2), December 2014: 121-146 (with Nebojsa Stojcic).
• KGHM Polska Miedź (Polish Copper Co) – Case Study, prepared for the Committee on Economic Development, Infrastructure, Trade and Industry of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, CASE Foundation Warsaw, 2016.
• Firm Level Determinants of Tax Evasion in Transition Economies, Economic Systems, 41, 2017: 354-366 (with Lumir Abdixhiku, Besnik Krasniqi and Geoff Pugh).
• Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity, International Business Review, 27 (4), 2018: 777-796 (with Edvard Orlic and Mehtap Hisarciklilar).
• Business Tax Evasion in Transition Economies: A Cross-Country Panel Investigation, European Journal of Comparative Economics, 15(1), 2018:11-36 (with Lumir Abdixhiku and Geoff Pugh).
• Creativity, innovations and firm performance in an emerging transition economy, Ekonomski Pregled, 69 (3), 2018: 203-228 (with Nebojsa Stojcic and Zoran Aralica).
• Creativity, innovation effectiveness and productive efficiency in the UK, European Journal of Innovation Management, 21 (4), 2018: 564-580 (with Nebojsa Stojcic and Edvard Orlic).
• Innovation and the export performance of firms in transition economies: the relevance of the business environment and the stage of transition, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 38 (4), 2019: 476-506 (with Fisnik Recica, Ian Jackson and Besnik Krasniqi).
• Privatization by Auction: Determinants of Asset Prices in Kosovo, Eastern European Economics, 58 (4), 2020: 327-359, DOI: 10.1080/00128775.2020.1754858 (with Petrit Gashi and Geoff Pugh).
• FDI spillovers and firm productivity during crisis: Empirical evidence from transition economies, Economic Systems (Forthcoming 2021) (with Nina Vujanovic and Nebojsa Stojcic).
• FDI spillovers and firm productivity during crisis: Empirical evidence from transition economies, Economic Systems, 45 (2), 100865 (with Nina Vujanovic and Nebojsa Stojcic).
• Fiscal Performance and Elections in the context of a transition economy, Economic Systems, 45 (2), June 2021, 100886 (with Endrit Lami, Drini Imami and Geoff Pugh).

Selected conference papers

• The International Experience of Privatisation and Lessons for Kosova, paper given at the International Roundtable Forum on Privatisation of Socially-Owned Enterprises in Kosova, Prishtina, 30 March 2001.
• A Comparative Analysis of Corporate Governance Framework in Transition Economies, paper given at the conference, “Corporate Governance in Russia and Poland”, organised by Centre for International Reform and Informal Systems (IRIS), University of Maryland, June 2003, St. Petersburg, Russia.
• Does Government Policy Improve Industrial Competitiveness in Transition Economies? Paper presented at the Conference on Contemporary Tendencies and Policies in Structural Changes in the Economy, organised by the Faculty of Economics Skopje, University of St Cyril and Methdius, Ohrid, Macedonia, 15-19 October 2005.
• The concepts and models of Corporate Governance: What is suitable for Publicly Owned Enterprises in Transition Economies?, paper presented at the Conference on Improving the Corporate Governance Framework in Publicly Owned Enterprises in Kosovo, Prishtina, 18-19 April 2006.
• Employee Financial Participation in New EU Members and Candidate Countries: An Overview of the Developments in Legal and Economic Fields, paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Association for Economics of Participation, Mondragon, Spain, 12-15 July 2006.
• The Evolution of Ownership Structure, Path Dependency and Enterprise Performance using Dynamic Panel Data Models, paper presented at the Biannual Conference of the European Association for Comparative Economic Studies, Brighton, September 2006 (with Entela Shehaj)
• Improving the Corporate Governance Framework in Publicly Owned Enterprises in Kosovo, a paper presented at the Conference on Corporate Governance and Transparency in the Kosovo POEs, Riinvest Institute for Development Research, Prishtina, September 2006.
• Privatisation through Concessions, paper presented at the Conference on Privatisation of Publicly Owned Companies in Kosovo, AAB Riinvest Universities, 20 October 2009.
• The Impact of Innovation Activities on Firm Performance Using a Multi-stage Model: Evidence from the Community Innovation Survey 4, paper presented at the conference of the Framework VI Project ‘Micro-dyn’, Cambridge, 6-8 September 2010 (with Nebojsa Stojcic)
• The Structure and Quality Upgrading of Croatian Exports to EU15 Market, paper presented at the 9th International Conference "CHALLENGES OF EUROPE: GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS – REVERSING THE TRENDS", Split, May 2011 (with Nebojsa Stojcic).
• Competitiveness of Transition Economies: Evidence from the Dynamic Shift-Share Analysis, paper presented at the9th International Conference "CHALLENGES OF EUROPE: GROWTH AND COMPETITIVENESS – REVERSING THE TRENDS", Split, May 2011 (with Sabina Silajdzic).