Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing and Its Marketing: Emergent Ethical and Public Policy Implications

Journal of Business Ethics - This paper provides a marketing ethics analysis that addresses the practice of selling genetic tests (GT) directly to the consumer (DTC). It details the...     

旅游公共服务:国际经验与启示

提供旅游公共服务既是政府发挥其促进与保障本国旅游业健康、持续发展之功能的体现,也是其使旅游业顺应"以人为本"发展趋势的途径之一。旅游业较发达的国家和地区大多非常重视旅游公共服务的建设,并采取一系列措施,从法律、政策、财力投入等方面予以保证,不断提高旅游公共服务的水平和质量。     

Diffusing the Cloud: Cloud Computing and Implications for Public Policy

Cloud Computing is rapidly emerging as the new information technology platform. It is, however, much more than simply a new set of technologies and business models. Cloud Computing is transforming how consumers, companies, and governments store information, how they process that information, and how they utilize computing power. It can be an engine of innovation, a platform for entrepreneurship, and driver of corporate efficiency. While an increasingly commonly term, confusion remains over what exactly constitutes Cloud Computing, how the markets are unfolding, and what forces will drive their evolution and diffusion. This paper provides an overview and conceptual tools for business leaders, policymakers, and non-specialist scholars to identify, distill, and easily understand the core aspects of how Cloud Computing service markets are developing, and how an array of policy issues will influence how this new computing platform unfolds across the world.     

气候影响海关政策

各国政府可能要求海关以边境程序或海关执法方式实施气候变化减缓政策,例如征收进口碳税（尤其是边境调节税）、实施针对低碳能源技术的贸易便利化（尤其是商品归类的运用）、针对违规的排放许可交易进行执法活动等。另外,海关还须制定相应政策处理气候变化的影响,例如对人道主义救援物资实施快速清关、促进贸易复苏、对气候变化引发的国际贸易紧缩及其进而导致的福利损失加以应对。     

Risk-Benefit Analysis of Cigarette Smoking: Public Policy Implications

The objective of this study is to investigate the internal risks and benefits from smoking over the lifetime of a male individual. It differs from many earlier studies in that it focuses on the costs borne by the individual, as opposed to external or societal costs. It also includes the benefits from smoking which play an important role in the individual's smoking decision. Risk-benefit ratios range from 0.25 to 3.67 depending on the tar and nicotine content of cigarettes, the discount or time preference rate, the value of a life year, and the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes.     

Unilateral Climate Policy and Competitiveness: Economic Implications of Differential Emission Pricing

Unilateral climate policy raises concerns about international competitiveness and emission leakage that result in preferential regulatory treatment of domestic energy‐intensive and trade‐exposed (EITE) industries. Our applied analysis of unilateral EU abatement illustrates the potential pitfalls of climate policy design which narrowly focuses on competitiveness concerns about EITE industries. The sector‐specific gains of differential emission pricing in favour of these branches must be traded off with the additional burden imposed on other industries. From the perspective of the unilaterally abating region preferential EITE emission pricing can induce non‐negligible excess cost as policy concedes (too) low emission prices to EITE industries and thereby foregoes relatively cheap abatement options in these sectors. With respect to global cost‐effectiveness of unilateral climate policy, we find that differential emission pricing in favour of EITE industries can reduce emission leakage and thereby provide global cost savings compared with uniform pricing. However, the scope for cost savings is limited and may change into substantial cost increases if unilateral reduction targets are moderate and EITE industries get close to exemptions.     

公共风险分析法在政府公共服务中的运用——以小城镇政府公共服务目标选择为例

当前,如何确定公共服务中政府责任与公共支出的先后顺序,是困扰各级政府及小城镇政府的难点问题。借鉴公共风险分析中的风险归宿法、反向假设分析法、公共服务与公共财政支出关联性方法,可分析判断政府的公共服务目标,并能够以此来确定公共服务提供中的政府责任,明确小城镇政府的适宜公共服务范围、目标,确定公共服务目标的优先顺序。同时,借助定量与定性分析相结合的方法,可为小城镇政府科学选择公共服务目标的范围提供依据。这对于优化公共财政体制,完善政府公共服务模式和公共服务体系,建设人民满意的服务型政府具有现实作用和意义。     

Examining the Covert Nature of Product Placement: Implications for Public Policy

As consumers become better educated and more skeptical of traditional advertising, alternate forms of marketing communication have emerged that aim to influence audiences unobtrusively. One such example is product placement. Product placement has attracted ongoing debate as to whether it is covert, unethical, and influences consumption. The current article examines the nature and practice of product placement in this light. This taxonomy of product placement attributes is based on current marketing practice and examines whether this is, indeed, a covert marketing strategy. Further, it presents a conceptualization of the influence of product placement on consumer welfare. We highlight that the many forms of product placement necessitate independent evaluation to determine ethical and regulatory standards. Operational solutions for developing public policy are offered.     

Economic Sectors in Egypt and Their Managerial Implications

Abstract

This study uses ethnographic data collection methods to investigate entrepreneurial sectors and types in Egypt. First, three sectors-formal, informal, and state controlled-were identified. Their characteristics and business practices were discussed. In the formal sector relationships rely on a set of impersonally defined relationships and transactions maximize benefits based on rational decision making. The bazaar sector transactions are numerous and rely on personal relationships. The state controlled sector is bureaucratic and aims to minimize competition. Second, the role of Egypt's Small Enterprise Credit Program in assisting entrepreneurs in the informal sector was discussed. Last, the managerial implications were presented.     

公共服务采购:政府与民间互动的桥梁

对于公共服务,政府同样面临自身生产抑或市场采购的选择.随着公共财政改革的推进,公共服务采购的份额将不断提升.当前我国公共服务的采购份额过低,覆盖范围狭窄,种类单一,相关研究滞后.通过鼓励民间组织参与服务采购和"跨部门"服务采购预算体系的构建,将会改变公共服务的垄断供给结构,实现民间组织发展与预算效率提升的"双赢"目标.     

The Ethical and Economic Implications of Smoking in Enclosed Public Facilities: A Resolution of Conflicting Rights

Smokers and nonsmokers possess equal rights but those rights conflict with each other in the use of shared facilities. Medical research has established that smoking harms not only those who use the product but also those who are passively exposed to it. Laws and private regulation of smoking in shared facilities have resulted in the segregation of smokers from nonsmokers to an outright ban of tobacco use. Such controls have provided unsatisfactory results to both groups. An acceptable ethical solution, based on reduction of harm and compensation, can be derived by applying Moral Audit principles, supported by economic analysis, which does not unduly curtail the rights of both parties as to the use of tobacco products.     

政府购买公共服务绩效评估困境及对策

绩效评估是政府购买公共服务的重要环节,是促进公共服务购买成效的重要手段。目前,政府购买公共服务的绩效评估存在着缺乏有力的法律与制度保证、评估主体单一且独立性不足、评估指标体系不科学、评估过程缺乏完整性等问题,因此,需要从完善相关法律法规与制度建设、促进评估主体多元化、构建科学的评估指标体系、健全完整的绩效评估过程等入手,推进政府购买公共服务的绩效评价。     

Investing Public Pensions in the Stock Market: Implications for Risk Sharing,Capital Formation and Public Policy in the Developed and Developing World

Concerns that existing public pension systems will be unable to pay benefits to a rapidly ageing population without sharp tax increases, and the prospect of higher average returns on stocks than on government securities, are drawing the attention of policy–makers worldwide to the option of investing public pension assets in stocks. Including stock market investments in public pension plans could improve risk sharing within and between generations, and could perhaps lead to faster market development in some countries. It could also result in excessive risk–taking, higher transactions costs and a false sense of increased financial security. This paper assesses these issues, with an emphasis on the considerations that are of special importance to developing markets. A contrast is drawn between the demographic outlook in East Asia and the major industrialized countries. Some lessons are drawn from the reform experience in Chile and elsewhere in Latin America.     

The Role of Funders in Nonprofit Merger Activity: Implications for Charity Fundraising and Marketing Practice

Considers the role of nonprofit funders in stimulating merger activity in the U.K. voluntary sector. Provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of a nonprofit merger on subsequent fundraising and marketing activity. Based on a series of 12 elite interviews with senior personnel who have experienced a nonprofit merger, the article concludes that the implications will vary by category of funding sought and that, for example, individual donors who might previously have been supporting both organisations will only offer one gift (at the previous gift level) to the merged organisation     

Ethical Cycles and Trends: Evidence and Implications

Recent high-profile corporate scandals are reminiscent of the corporate raider scandals of the 1980s, suggesting that ethical scandals may occur in waves. This article provides a framework for analysis of this question by suggesting that ethical attitudes may be cyclical about long-term secular trends. We provide some empirical evidence from previously published work for the existence of cycles as well as a potential mechanism for their propagation, namely widespread publicity about a particularly salient event, e.g., Enron. Further, we posit that long-run secular trends would be affected through more deliberate, cognitive means, e.g., instruction in business ethics. We also discuss an important research implication, namely that traditional cross-sectional “book-end” studies surveying ethical attitudes at two different points in time may be unable to disentangle short-run cyclical movements from long-term secular trends.      

Ethical Climate and Managerial Success in China

This study examines perceptions of ethical climate and ethical practices of 118 successful Chinese managers among business students and managers in the Zhejiang province of China. The impact of different ethical climate types on perceived ethical practices of successful managers was also investigated. The “rules” was the most reported, and “independence” was the least reported, among the various climate types. A majority of the respondents perceive successful managers as ethical. In addition, those who believed that their organization had a “rules” climate perceived a strong positive link between success and ethical behavior. None of the other climate types had an impact on the link between success and ethical behavior.     

Repentance and Continuous Improvement: Ethical Implications for the Modern Leader

Although leadership of organizations rarely is discussed in terms of the religious construct of repentance, we propose that repentance and continuous improvement are closely related ideas that profoundly impact individuals and organizations. We identify six parallels between repentance and continuous improvement and then show how these parallels apply to the fundamental principles associated with highly regarded leadership perspectives. We conclude by identifying five contributions of the article to the management literature.