The broadband digital divide and the economic benefits of mobile broadband for rural areas

Broadband is becoming increasingly important to national economies and the personal lives of users. However, broadband availability and adoption are not diffusing in rural and urban areas at the same rates. This article updates the rural broadband digital divide, with special attention paid to mobility. Empirical estimations of broadband provision and usage in the US show that rural areas have fewer high-speed fixed and mobile providers but more slower-speed fixed providers than urban areas. While rural availability of mobile broadband is lower than in urban areas, it still helps fill in gaps in fixed broadband coverage in rural areas. The rural gap in fixed broadband usage remains, but the mobile broadband usage gap disappears after controlling for household demographics. The raw broadband usage gaps between rural and urban households are proportionally greater for low-income households. The potential for mobile broadband to benefit rural areas through economic development is also examined.     

Information services in rural areas — access and delivery

In the UK, considerable interest has been expressed in the extent to which telecommunications could help to improve the accessibility and provision of information services in rural areas. Information services are typically provided by local and central government departments, voluntary advice agencies, and by a wide range of professional, financial, public utility and transport undertakings. It has never been particularly easy to visit service outlets in market towns, but recent changes in the organization and location of information services, together with the withdrawal of many public transport services, have caused a significant deterioration in physical accessibility. The authors summarize their research project on ‘Telecommunications and information services in rural areas’, the final report of which was submitted to the UK Department of the Environment in October 1978.     

Broadband and rural areas in the EU: From technology to applications and use

The paper examines current trends and policy issues related to broadband access and use in the rural areas of European Union (EU) member states. It draws selectively on the findings of a recently completed, multi-country project focused on current and future trends in broadband provision, applications and use in the enlarged European Union.The paper reviews key aspects and examples of the research literature and policy initiatives related to socio-economic and policy aspects of broadband, especially those focused on spatial inequalities of network rollout, access and use. It presents the main trends and issues related to broadband access and use in rural areas in EU countries and considers some related implications and conclusions.     

Links between Internal and External Cooperation in Product Development: An Exploratory Study*

While there is an overwhelming amount of publications on cooperation in product development projects, they mainly focus on cooperation between business functions within an organization (internal cooperation) or on cooperation between organizations (external cooperation). Yet the relationship between internal and external cooperation has received only scarce attention. This article studies how internal and external cooperation relate. Following an extensive literature study and 12 exploratory interviews with managers in eight organizations, a case‐research design was set up. More specifically, six product development projects were studied in depth, combining data from interviews, questionnaires, and information from secondary sources. Based on these cases, the authors present four different links between internal and external cooperation: (1) Internal cooperation may serve as a mechanism to coordinate external cooperation; (2) Internal cooperative norms are similar to external cooperative norms; (3) External cooperation may stimulate internal cooperation; and (4) Internal cooperation may be an essential part of organizational learning from external partners. The results of this exploratory study prove the interaction between internal and external cooperation to be a subject worthy of investigation and demonstrate that in order to appreciate fully the quality of a firm's external cooperation efforts, they should be studied in combination with the firm's internal interfaces. The authors also show the managerial implications of these links, as well as some directions for further research.     

Challenges for a broadband service strategy in rural areas: A Romanian case study

Broadband network deployment plays an important part in the strategic policies in Europe to promote growth and innovation in all sectors of the economy in addition to social and territorial cohesion. In compliance with existing community policies, Romanian strategies in this field seek to provide the necessary support for broadband connectivity in rural areas. The goal of this study is to define a rural end-user profile to plan the most appropriate broadband service strategy from both a technical and a marketing perspective. Our empirical research involves an exploratory survey conducted in rural areas in northwestern Romania (n=1040 respondents). The findings reveal low levels of customer satisfaction and users more interested in data transfer than voice or video applications. Given this rural user profile, simulations of network traffic were conducted. The simulation results suggest that WLANs are the most suitable solution for the “last mile” broadband segment.     

The relationship between corporate diversification and corporate social performance

Does diversification affect firm response to stakeholder demands and social issues? Despite extensive interest in corporate diversification in the strategy literature, the relationship between diversification and corporate social performance (CSP) remains largely unexplored. In this study, I propose that the level of diversification will be positively related to the CSP of firms. However, when diversified firms have a strong focus on short‐term profit, it may discourage firm response to stakeholder demands and investment in social issues, thereby negatively moderating the positive relationship between the level of diversification and CSP. Empirical testing on a sample of U.S. firms generally supports my predictions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reaching out to remote and rural areas: Mobile satellite services and the role of Inmarsat

This paper analyses the problems faced by developing countries in extending telecommunications to remote and rural areas. It identifies some possible technical solutions using mobile satellite services, especially in specialized niche markets, but also ways in which telecommunications can be made more widely available to populations in rural and remote areas. Although means must be found to finance such development, the paper highlights the necessity of implementing policy and regulatory frameworks conducive to the availability of mobile satellite services.     

New social relations of digital technology and the future of work: Beyond technological determinism

This introduction sets out the context for the Special Issue and offers an in-depth reflection on key themes addressed by our contributors. The Special Issue aims to place the social relations of production at the centre of debates about technology and the future of work, and create space for greater critical reflection on what it means to go ‘beyond technological determinism’. We identify ways in which aspects of technological determinism continue to influence debates on technology, the labour process and industrial relations, despite efforts to reject it. We argue that this influence is manifested in some persistent problems within the literature including overly rigid periodisations (such as ‘platform capitalism’), a narrow conceptual repertoire (which reifies notions like ‘algorithmic control’) and a constricted empirical focus. We elucidate the value of a social shaping of technology (SST) approach to overcome these challenges and provide a brief overview of the articles contained within the issue.     

湖州市农村水利发展现状与对策

本文从农村水利与社会主义新农村的关系,阐述了作为浙江省级试验示范区湖州市的农村水利现状,及今后湖州市农村水利发展思路和具体工作。     

The tribal digital divide: Extent and Explanations

This paper documents home Internet access, types of Internet access, connection speeds, and prices for basic home Internet in tribal areas of the United States. We find that the share of households with Internet access is 21 percentage points lower in tribal areas than in neighboring non-tribal areas. When compared to these non-tribal areas, download speeds, whether measured using fixed or mobile broadband networks, are approximately 75% slower in tribal areas, while the lowest price for basic Internet services in tribal areas is 11% higher. Regression techniques reveal that traditional cost factors such as terrain and population density fully explain the price gap but account for only a fraction of the tribal differences in Internet access and connection speeds. Income differences are strong predictors of Internet access but do not affect connection speeds. A sizable amount of the variation in the access and home connection gap between tribal and non-tribal is left unexplained. We conclude with a discussion of how federal broadband programs have penetrated Indian Country, how tribal-specific factors are related to the variation in Internet access within Indian Country, and the potential policy implications of our findings.     

Mind the gap: The interplay between external and internal actions in the case of corporate social responsibility

Research summary : We explore the effect of the interplay between a firm's external and internal actions on market value in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Specifically, drawing from the neo‐institutional theory, we distinguish between external and internal CSR actions and argue that they jointly contribute to the accumulation of intangible firm resources and are therefore associated with better market value. Importantly, though, we find that, on average, firms undertake more internal than external CSR actions, and we theorize that a wider gap between external and internal actions is negatively associated with market value. We confirm our hypotheses empirically, using the market‐value equation and a sample comprising 1,492 firms in 33 countries from 2002 to 2008. Finally, we discuss implications for future research and practice. Managerial summary : Companies often accumulate intangible assets by taking internally and externally oriented CSR actions. Contrary to popular beliefs, the data show that they undertake more internal than external ones: firms do more and communicate less. How does a potential gap (i.e., a misalignment) between internal and external CSR actions affect a firm's market value? We find that although together (the sum of) internal and external actions are positively associated with market value, a wider gap has negative implications. In other words, firms do not realize the full benefits of their internal actions when such actions are not externally communicated to key stakeholders, and to the investment community in particular. This negative association with market value is particularly salient in CSR‐intensive and the natural resources and extractives industries. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

我国农村饮水安全技术标准发展动态及需求分析

概述我国农村饮水工作的发展历程及主要成就;介绍我国农村饮水领域标准的发展情况,列出在此期间颁布实施的技术标准,分析这些技术标准对农村饮水工作发展发挥的重要作用。探讨现行标准中存在的一些问题,并针对这些问题,提出今后我国农村饮水安全领域,需要研制的关键技术及与之配套的技术标准。     

Impact of telephone and satellite earth station installations on GDP : A model for rural areas of LDCs

Presents a method for estimating the impact on national development of installation of telecommunication facilities in rural areas of developing countries. A methodology developed by Hardy is applied to three groups of developing countries and a hypothetical rural region to estimate the impact on GDP per thin route satellite earth station installed over a ten year period. A logarithmic relationship between telephone density and impact on GDP per earth station is found, so that the impact per earth station increases with lower telephone densities. The model can be used to estimate the impact on national GDP of telephone installations and/or thin route earth stations in regions of low telephone density.     

The participation society and its inability to correct the failure of market players to deliver adequate service levels in rural areas

This paper critically reviews the ‘participation society’ inspired policy measures of two Dutch provinces (Drenthe and Groningen) for providing rural broadband. Based on a database with broadband initiatives, interviews with stakeholders, focus groups and document analysis, it analyzes how rural broadband initiatives and regional governments interact in their ventures to provide superfast broadband to rural communities. Essential in this is that in the Dutch participation society concept, citizens' initiatives are seen as an important actor to deal with failing service delivery by market players in rural areas. The relation between regional governments and citizens' initiatives, however, is troublesome, resulting in inadequate policies. Key findings are that even when governments come up with supportive policies for citizens' initiatives, initiatives still experience governmental efforts as constraining factors. Regional governments apply ‘old style’ governance and construct generic policy instruments, forcing initiatives to put a lot of effort in complying with generic policy requirements or political goals. Overall, solving a national market problem at the regional level proves to be problematic. More national guidance is needed to solve the rural broadband gap.     

How social media shapes the fashion industry: The spillover effects between private labels and national brands

Social media has become one of the major industrial marketing channels for companies. Because of the nature of social media, social media marketing produces a strong branding effect for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the fashion industry. This study contributes to social media analytics research by exploring the interactions between private labels and national brands in fashion social media and investigating how these interactions influence the popularity and subsequent sales of private labels. Our main findings suggest the presence of large national brands has a positive spillover effect on the popularity of private labels in fashion social media and ultimately influences sales of private label products. The results add to our understanding of the impact of Business-to-Business (B2B) social media marketing on brand competition in the fashion industry.     

Integrated rural development in Nigeria: The Funtua project

The Funtua Agricultural Development Project is the oldest World Bank financed rural development project in Nigeria. This article evaluates the impact of the project on the area and its implications as a prototype for rural development in Nigeria. Increased agricultural production has not occurred to the extent and in the direction that the project expected. The project's activities appear to be concentrated on large-scale and progressive farmers rather than on the traditional farmer which could result in increased income differentials and the creation of a ‘landless’ class. The costs of the project are too high for the benefits involved. Extension of the project to other parts of the country would be difficult to organize and manage due to the lack of trained manpower.     

Beyond dichotomy: the curvilinear relationship between social responsibility and financial performance

A central and contentious debate in many literatures concerns the relationship between financial and social performance. We advance this debate by measuring the financial–social performance link mutual funds that practice socially responsible investing (SRI). SRI fund managers have an array of social screening strategies from which to choose. Prior studies have not addressed this heterogeneity within SRI funds. Combining modern portfolio and stakeholder theories, we hypothesize that the financial loss borne by an SRI fund due to poor diversification is offset as social screening intensifies because better‐managed and more stable firms are selected into its portfolio. We find support for this hypothesis through an empirical test on a panel of 61 SRI funds from 1972 to 2000. The results show that as the number of social screens used by an SRI fund increases, financial returns decline at first, but then rebound as the number of screens reaches a maximum. That is, we find a curvilinear relationship, suggesting that two long‐competing viewpoints may be complementary. Furthermore, we find that financial performance varies with the types of social screens used. Community relations screening increased financial performance, but environmental and labor relations screening decreased financial performance. Based on our results, we suggest that literatures addressing the link between financial and social performance move toward in‐depth examination of the merits of different social screening strategies, and away from the continuing debate on the financial merits of either being socially responsible or not. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relationship between corporate social responsibility and shareholder value: an empirical test of the risk management hypothesis

Do shareholders gain when managers disperse corporate resources through activities classified as corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Strategy scholars have recently developed a theoretical model that links such activities to shareholder value when a firm suffers a negative event; we test key portions of this theory of the ‘insurance‐like’ property of CSR activity. We posit that such activity leads to positive attributions from stakeholders, who then temper their negative judgments and sanctions toward firms because of this goodwill. We extend the risk management model by theorizing that some types of CSR activities will be more likely to create goodwill and offer insurance‐like protection than other types. We delineate several firm and event specific characteristics that we expect to influence the link between CSR activities and an insurance effect. We then test our model using an event study of 178 negative legal/regulatory actions against firms throughout the 11 years from 1993–2003. We find that participation in institutional CSR activities—those aimed at a firm's secondary stakeholders or society at large—provides an ‘insurance‐like’ benefit, while participation in technical CSRs—those activities targeting a firm's trading partners—yields no such benefits. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for future theorizing and research into the economic value of CSR engagement. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Errors in Variables, Links between Variables and Recovery of Volatility Information in Appraisal-Based Real Estate Return Indexes

The present article proposes a multivariate approach to unsmoothing appraisal-based real estate return indexes to recover the true market volatility information in real estate returns. It scrutinizes the role played by errors in variables, in conjunction with an analysis of other economic activities relevant to real estate returns, to exploit the functional relationship and the mechanism of interactions between real estate returns and these economic activities. Appraisal smoothing can therefore be detected and corrected properly and efficiently, without presuming a weakly efficient real estate market. The approach is then applied to U.K. real estate indexes as empirical examples. The results suggest a reasonable volatility in U.K. real estate investment that is close to reality. It is found that the volatility of the true market return on real estate is 1.5404–1.9282 times that of the return on the appraisal-based indexes, in contrast to figures of 2.4862–5.8720 produced by the fully unsmoothing procedure.     

关于西部地区缓解城乡就业矛盾对策探讨

随着西部大开发战略的提出,西部迎来了经济发展的机遇和挑战。西部有丰富的人力和资源优势,但由于生产力水平低,人口、资源和环境矛盾突出,城乡就业问题异常严重,成为西部地区社会、经济、文化落后的重要原因。缓解城乡就业是推动西部地区经济腾飞,促进人口、资源和环境协调发展的关键。