Human resource management in developing economies: a comparison of India and Thailand

This paper reports the results of surveys of firms that were conducted both in India and Thailand. The surveys centred on a wide range of human resource management practices (staffing, training, compensation and evaluation). The sample consisted of both the subsidiaries of multinational corporations and locally owned companies. Statistical analysis suggests pronounced differences in employment practices between India and Thailand in some areas, while considerable similarities in other areas. The study controls for a variety of organizational factors (e.g., firm size, ownership (foreign versus domestic), union status).     

强制更换会计师事务所对审计质量的影响——对企业更换中天勤等事务所的实证分析

中天勤、沈阳华伦等5家会计师事务所2001年未通过年检被取消执业资格,他们的原有客户不得不改聘其他会计师事务所.该事件为强制更换会计师事务所提供了研究背景.以非正常性应计利润(DA)来衡量审计质量发现,在强制更换会计师事务所以后,这些公司的非正常性应计利润不降反升.进一步分析的结果显示,在正DA组,后任会计师没有调低那些公司的非正常性应计利润;而在负DA组,这些公司的非正常性应计利润在更换会计师以后反而增加了.研究显示,在中国这样一个极度分散的审计市场中,强制更换会计师事务所并没有带来大家预期的效果.     

Accuracy, Bias, and Dispersion in Analysts' Earnings Forecasts: The Case of Cross-Listed Foreign Firms

This paper examines differences in analysts' earnings forecast characteristics for foreign incorporated non-U.S. firms cross-listed in the U.S. stock markets relative to a control sample of purely domestic firms. Examining summary earnings forecasts over the calendar years 1984 through 1989, this paper provides evidence that there are statistically significant differences in bias and accuracy between domestic and cross-listed foreign firms. Consistent with prior research, we find a horizon effect in accuracy; i.e., accuracy improves as we get closer to the actual earnings announcement for both types of firms. However, the differences in accuracy between the cross-listed and domestic firms persist only in the earlier forecast horizons where analysts' forecasts are less accurate for foreign cross-listed firms compared with domestic firms. The evidence is also consistent with analysts' exhibiting less optimism with respect to cross-listed foreign firms compared with the domestic firms. Finally, the paper also documents that there is a greater consensus among analysts for foreign cross-listed firms than for domestic firms.     

SME Foreign Direct Investment: An Examination of the Joint Venture Experiences of German and U.K. Small and Medium Sized Firms in China

Joint Ventures (JVs) have become popular vehicles for foreign market servicing, but few studies have focused on the joint venturing activities of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This article examines the activities of 9 U.K. and 12 German SME joint ventures in China. Based on a questionnaire survey and in-depth case interviews, it reveals that the JVs, though successful, are not without their problems and the experiences are similar to those of large multi-national enterprises. As the key to success is the choice of the joint venture partner, assistance is required to help SMEs identify and select appropriate partners.     

竞争性协调战略:金融危机后中国贸易战略路径

改革开放以来,我国一直坚持出口导向的对外贸易发展战略,这一战略对于中国经济的腾飞起到了至关重要的作用。但是,在全球金融危机的冲击之下,这一战略暴露出了自身的弊病。在金融危机后,无论是国际经济环境,还是国内现实压力,都迫使我国转变一贯的出口导向战略,实施内外兼顾的竞争性协调战略,以促进我国对外贸易更好地发展。     

Trade,Technology and the Labour Market: The Case of South Africa*

This study advances previous work on the effects of trade and technological change on labour markets within the framework of Heckscher–Ohlin trade theory. We provide evidence for an unskilled labour abundant developing country by employing dynamic heterogeneous panel estimation techniques. For South African manufacturing, trade‐mandated increases in earnings are positive for labour and negative for capital whilst technology‐mandated increases are negative for both factors. We also find it important to take account of endogeneity issues in analysing the impact of technology and price changes on factor returns and in isolating factor‐ and sector‐bias of technological changes.     

创业板上市公司经济绩效及影响因素

研究目标：探讨创业板上市公司经济绩效的影响因素。研究方法：基于2012~2014年创业板上市公司的面板数据,运用贝叶斯模型平均法进行实证分析。研究发现：当期及滞后一期R&D强度对经济绩效存在显著负向影响,而R&D交互作用对经济绩效具有显著正向影响;经营现金流状况、总资产周转率对经济绩效具有显著正向影响;当期广告强度只对权益报酬率具有较显著正向影响。研究创新：第一,选择商品经营、资产经营与资本经营等三个方面的经济绩效指标,分别从R&D创新、广告营销、营运管理等方面探讨经济绩效的影响因素,拓展了研究视角;第二,运用贝叶斯模型平均法研究经济绩效的影响因素,估计结果更加稳健可信,具有方法的新颖性和有效性。研究价值：本文结论对改善创业板公司的创新和经营策略具有较强的现实意义。     

Institutions and Joint Ventures in the Mid dle East and North Af rica: The Case of Jor dan

Abstract

Many Mid dle East ern and North Af ri can (MENA) coun -tries are mak ing val iant ef forts to re form their eco nomic sys tems to boost growth and liv ing stan dards. Mul ti na tional Com panies (MNCs) are generally thought to have a ma jor part to play in help ing these coun tries to de velop. The prob lems caused by gov ern men tal sys tems that placed legal and bu reau cratic ob sta cles and pro hi bi tions in the way of For eign Direct In vest ment (FDI) ac tiv i ties are un der at tack in many coun tries. The World Bank (WB) and the In ter na tional Mon e tary Fund (IMF) in sist on the adop tion of busi ness-friendly pol i cies for those coun tries that seek their aid. More over, mem ber ship of the World Trade Or ga ni za tion (WTO) also re quires coun tries to re form their gov ern men tal sys tems. The prize at the end of the pain ful re form pro cess is higher growth of ten driven by FDI ac tiv i ties. In re cent years, FDI to de vel op ing and for mer com mu nist coun tries has con sid er ably in creased. How ever, some de vel -op ing coun tries (no ta bly, Af rica and large parts of the Mid dle East) have not bene fited to the same ex tent as many Asian and Cen tral and East Euro pean coun tries. More over, MNCs have fo cused on In ter na tional Joint Ven tures (IJVs) as the main means of en ter ing these coun tries. This form of en try may not be the best method to trans fer tech nol ogy and to ob tain the best re sults of the in ter ac tion be tween MNCs and host coun tries. This pa per seeks to ex plore this is sue by use of a qual i ta tive study of IJVs in Jor dan. The pa per uses a new in stitutional eco nomic framework that high lights the im por tance of in for mal in sti tu tional sys tems for the de cision on mode of en try. The re sults of the study in di cate that MNCs in Jordan would pre fer to use fully-owned sub sid iar ies, but the char ac ter is tics of the in for mal in sti tu tional sys tem in Jor dan re sults in high trans ac tion costs that can best be re duced by the use of IJVs. Thus al though Jor dan has un der gone sig nif i cant re form to her eco nomic sys tem, the prob lems caused by the na ture of in for mal in sti tu tional sys tems have lim ited the growth of what might have been more ben e fi cial FDI. [Ar ti cle cop ie s available for a fee from The Haworth Doc u ment De liv ery Ser vice     

Gender Roles and Organizational HR Practices: The Case of Women's Careers in Accountancy and Consultancy Firms in China

The Chinese finance industry has experienced significant expansion both within the state sector and into the private sector. Professional consultancy firms have also emerged as a result of the rising interest in the outsourcing of accounting and management services. However, the study of women's careers in the accountancy profession in contemporary China remains largely an uncharted territory. Drawing on data from 69 interviews with auditors in five firms, this article investigates the nature of work of external auditors in China and how women auditors view their work‐life choices and constraints. We explore the likely differences between male and female auditors in their career aspirations and the extent to which these self‐perceived differences are informed by social conventions of gender role, organizational practices, and personal preferences. The study has strong implications for human resource management in professional service firms in China, with particular reference to job design, work organization, career support, and work‐life balance initiatives. The study contributes to the debate on gender, employment, and career development in the accountancy profession in different parts of the world. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Role of Green Collaborative Strategies in Improving Environmental Sustainability in Supply Chains: Insights from a Case Study

This article aims to quantify to what extent collaborative strategies are more effective than internal or organization‐level actions to green supply chains. In this regard, the impact of decisions made at different stages of a supply chain in a product's carbon footprint is quantified. Organizational and product carbon footprints are calculated using the Compound Method Based on Financial Accounts (MC3). The results underline that concentrating reduction efforts in some stages of the supply chain is more effective than implementing individual actions by the participants. Collaboration among the participants is needed to decide what practices are implemented, at what stage they are needed and how they are to be implemented. This article adds to the literature on supply chains and sustainability. Previous research suggests that collaborative strategies have great potential for reducing the carbon footprint of products, while indicating the need for empirical research to support this statement. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

中国风险投资企业项目管理的核心问题及其解决策略：组织和人力资源管理角度的思考

项目管理作为风险投资行业成功运作的关键环节 ,却被国内诸多风险投资企业所忽视。本文以该行业发展较为成熟的美国为比较对象 ,以文化—制度—技术三层面为研究框架 ,分析了中国风险投资产业的软肋———项目管理的特殊性及其存在的问题 ,提出了国内风险投资公司在项目管理中的组织控制和派出监管人员的策略。     

矛盾与冲突 超越与升华——离异家庭子女的心理特点研究及其教育对策

文章首先分析比较了传统理论与个案研究对离异家庭子女的研究,接着得出影响离异家庭子女心理发展的因素,最后提出对离异家庭子女的教育对策。     

Different Manifestations of the Concept of Empowerment: The Politics of Urban Renewal in the United States and the United Kingdom

Over the course of the 1990s the concept of empowerment became firmly established within the vocabulary of urban politics in several different national contexts. This article analyzes the spread of this concept by looking at the politics of urban renewal in the United States and the United Kingdom. It shows that even if (and possibly because) the definition of empowerment remained vague, the turn to empowerment came out of and contributed to a shift in the nature of urban politics and to a reconfiguration of governmental methods, the role of the state and, consequently, to changes in civil society, all of which were associated with a rise to prominence of a neoliberal perspective.     

Perceptions of the mutual obligations between employees and employers: a comparative study of new generation IT professionals in China and the United States

This study examines the psychological contract from the perspective of new IT recruits that are located in the US and China. Psychological contract emphasizes the mutual exchange between employees and employers. Three hundred and ninety-five questionnaire responses from the graduating classes in the information technology discipline in the US and China (Shanghai and Beijing) were analysed. The results of this exploratory study reveal that new IT recruits from China and the US hold many similar beliefs on employer–employee obligations, such as employers' obligations to provide high pay, job autonomy, long-term job security, financial reward for obtaining IT certificates, exciting projects and opportunities to work on leading-edge technology, and employees' obligations to work extra hours when needed, to be loyal and to volunteer to do non-required tasks. Cross-cultural differences do exist however. US IT recruits as a whole place greater emphasis than their Chinese counterparts on rapid career advancement, having a motivating boss and completion of assignments on time, but less emphasis than their Chinese counterparts on receiving project milestone bonuses. Findings also suggest that, although employees can be from the same overarching culture such as the Chinese culture that emphasizes collectivism, there exist strong subculture differences even within the same country. New IT recruits in Shanghai tend to have beliefs that are at times closer to the US IT professionals than to their fellow IT new recruits in Beijing. The differences across cultures and subcultures are more extensive among female than male IT new recruits.     

Human resource management in Chinese multinationals in the United Kingdom: The interplay of institutions,culture, and strategic choice

This is a study of the challenges faced by Chinese expatriate managers and their strategic responses in securing a workable degree of alignment in UK subsidiaries, against a backdrop of competing home‐country and host‐country pressures. Although much of the literature on home‐country and host‐country effects tends to either adopt a culture or an institutional approach, this study highlights the intermeshed nature of the two. In locating cultural dynamics within an institutional firmament, this study juxtaposes the effects of each and draws conclusions as to their intersection. It is founded on in‐depth interviews with home‐country and host‐country managers. The findings suggest, on the one hand, Chinese expatriate managers tended to see local regulations as an obstacle to efficiency, rather than as a means to access context‐specific complementarities. On the other hand, these managers recognized the need to fit in with established locally specific ways of doing things and in securing sufficient staff buy in to sustain operations, and played a key intermediary role between headquarters and subsidiary.     

Controlling the Urban Fabric: The Complex Game of Distance and Proximity in European Upper‐Middle‐Class Residential Strategies

This article presents an open discussion of the processes of urban secession and gentrification in contemporary European cities, arguing that intergroup social dynamics in urban spaces are generally more complex than either extreme mutual avoidance or the colonization of neighbourhoods by the wealthiest groups. We analyse the residential strategies of urban upper‐middle class managers in various European metropolitan areas through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews to argue that these groups develop complex strategies of proximity and distance in relation to other social groups. The development of these ‘partial exit’ strategies takes place through specific combinations of practices that allow groups to select the dimensions they are willing to share with other social groups, and those in which they prefer a more segregated social environment for themselves and their families. The responses of our interviewees were consistently more nuanced and complex than suggested by a simplistic theory about their drive to withdraw from society, forcing us to develop more sophisticated conceptual frameworks to account for the growing prevalence of multi‐layered identities and spheres of reference and solidarity, specific combinations of elective segregation and local involvement, and more active patterns of mobility combined with local embeddedness.     

Categorizing Neighborhoods: The Invention of ‘Sensitive Areas’ in France and ‘Historic Districts’ in the United States

This essay offers a reflexive return to two research projects to demonstrate the value of Bourdieu's emphasis on the symbolic for the analysis of contemporary urban transformation. Bourdieu's insistence that we track the social genesis and diffusion of spatial categories of thought and action directs us to the empirical study of the struggles between agents and organizations that promote and/or oppose these categories, as well as the political, economic and other interests animating the agents. A retracing of the parallel invention of the ‘at‐risk neighborhood’ (quartier sensible) coined for and targeted by French urban policy since the late 1980s and the emergence of ‘historic’ or ‘diverse’ neighborhoods touted by gentrifying residents, cultural organizations and real estate agents in the United States since the 1960s challenges misleading oppositions between materiality and representations that often underpin and cramp urban research.