Decoupled payments to facilitate CAP reform

There is a long tradition of advocacy of decoupled compensation payments to facilitate reform of agricultural policies. To illustrate this, we cite some of the European literature of the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, decoupled payments were frequently proposed, but despite years of discussion there is still surprisingly little agreement on the role that decoupled compensation payments can play in facilitating common agricultural policy (CAP) reform. The Uruguay Round Agreement introduced the so-called blue and green boxes; and the MacSharry and Agenda 2000 reforms have made extensive use of the blue box to shelter an increasing proportion of CAP support from international scrutiny. Blue-box payments are not, however, fully decoupled; and cross-compliance will not turn them green. The Peace Clause provides limited protection for the blue box, but if this were to lapse in 2003/04 the blue-box provisions would be of little worth. We assert that the EU must engage in radical reform of the CAP, and make truly decoupled and transitory compensation payments the central element of that reform. This could best be facilitated by allocating transferable bonds to the present generation of farm operators, with annual payments made to the bond owner. We set out the essential conditions that must be met for a bond scheme to be put in place, and explore in a very preliminary fashion the budgetary implications.     

Stakeholders, Structure and the Failure of Corporate Governance Reform Initiatives in Post-Crisis Thailand

This paper brings together institutional and political perspectives in a framework for mapping the process by which strategic change initiatives are introduced into a system but result in outcomes that may not be intended, expected or desired by the original architects of change. This general framework links stakeholders, structural elements and their interactions to emergent system-level phenomena. It also enables comparison across different systems undergoing change; for example, to understand why the outcomes of the “same” initiatives may very dramatically in different contexts. To illustrate the framework, we examine the process by which an initial flurry of corporate governance reforms in post-financial crisis Thailand have been largely stymied, in spite of a seemingly clear need for such reforms and the conviction of some domestic and foreign promoters of such reforms.     

高职教育中专业基础课教学改革

根据教高[2006]16号文件精神,职业院校纷纷启动,为提高本校的教学质量做出多方努力,修订培养计划,重构课程体系,对专业核心课程开启精品课程建设等等工作。但专业基础课的职业化改革落后了,成为制约专业发展的瓶颈。专业基础课教学应根据高职教育特点,以"必需、够用"为度,以专业人才培养服务为出发点设计教学内容,抓住90后学生特点,进行教学方法、考核方式等一系列改革,重在能力培养,为社会输送大量面向生产、建设、管理服务第一线需要的高素质技能型专门人才奉献力量。     

UK Executive Bonuses and Transparency — A Research Note

High levels of executive pay in the USA and the UK have attracted journalistic and academic criticism to the effect that they constitute rent extraction by self‐interested executives rather than rewards for raising shareholder returns. The focus of most criticism has been on salary, severance payments and various long‐term incentives (particularly share options). However, executive bonuses have attracted little attention and have been only lightly regulated. This raises important questions. Has lighter regulation been associated with significant levels of rent extraction through bonuses, that is, a weak relation between bonus pay and shareholder returns? Have more transparent performance conditions attached to bonuses strengthened the relation, making rent extraction more difficult, or have they acted as camouflage for rent extraction, associated with higher bonus pay but lower pay‐performance responsiveness? Are measures of CEO power associated with larger bonuses? This empirical note provides the first, preliminary answers to these questions.     

Incentive Compensation and the Likelihood of Termination: Theory and Evidence from Real Estate Organizations

We analyze two managerial compensation incentive devices: the threat of termination and pay for performance. We first develop a simple model predicting that these devices are substitutes: when termination incentives are low, optimal contracts provide stronger pay‐for‐performance incentives. We then use data from real estate organizations to provide two independent tests of the model’s central prediction. First, we use the fact that chief executive officers of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and general partners of Real Estate Limited Partnerships (RELPs) perform similar tasks, yet organizational features of RELPs ensure that the latter are much harder to terminate. Consistent with the model, we find that pay‐for‐performance sensitivity is much higher for general partners of RELPs, where the termination threat is less credible. Second, we use a recent cross‐section of REITs to show that in property types where it is expected to be more costly to replace managers, those managers have stronger pay‐for‐performance incentives.     

Liberalization and the growth of business‐led R&D: the case of India

Firms and organizations in India have responded to market reforms, liberalization and globalization by improving efficiency, importing technology and by increasing in‐house R&D. This paper highlights some of the evolutionary changes that have occurred since India undertook sweeping reforms in July 1991 to open its economy to foreign participation and competition. Although some authors, such as Forbes (1999), have looked at the impact of the liberalization on India's R&D and innovation, they missed a number of dimensions that have far‐reaching implications for the process of technological capability development in India. Using the concept of technological capability, this paper makes a contribution to the discourse on the changing R&D and innovation scenario in the face of on‐going liberalization in India. It concludes with three case studies, which illustrate some of the recent changes made by industrial organisations.     

A Trade Union Congress Perspective on the Company Law Review and Corporate Governance Reform since 1997

This article examines the Company Law Review and other corporate governance reforms introduced by the Labour government since 1997. It argues that an opportunity has been missed to implement fundamental change by giving employees and other key stakeholders rights in companies equal to those of shareholders. However, reforms that aim to make the existing system work better by promoting responsible shareholder activity have been introduced, and proposals to increase company disclosure on employee and other stakeholder relationships are in the pipeline. The potential of the reforms to offer trade unions new tools for promoting workers’ interests is examined.     

What can we learn from past price stabilization policies and market reform in Mexico?

This paper reviews experience with policy reforms in the maize sector in Mexico, beginning in the 1980s with particular reference to impacts on price variability. It analyses Mexico’s transition from past price stabilization policies under a state-trading enterprise to market reforms implemented during the 1990s. The nature, extent, and costs to producers and consumers of maize policies is discussed for both the pre-reform and the reform periods. Although wide ranging reforms have been introduced, impacts on efficiency and fiscal outlays have been less than expected.     

Public‐sector Employment Relations Reform under Labour: Muddling Through on Modernization?

The year 2001 in the UK was dominated by the difficulties the Labour government confronted in developing a coherent programme of public-sector modernization. This review examines recent developments in the public sector, focusing on government attempts to involve the private sector and its continuing reforms of pay determination arrangements. It highlights the tensions that this programme of reform aroused as the government struggled to respond to recruitment and retention problems and widespread perceptions of public-sector 'crisis'.     

Planning for market coordination in LDCs: The role of channel participants in improving food distribution systems

Many development planners have proposed food systems reforms that underscore the importance of coordination and/or integration of traditionally fragmented distributive institutions. However, attempts at nurturing market coordination schemes have been thwarted in part, because they have not gained the endorsement of channel participants. A planning model is suggested to consider the receptivity of channel participants to various market coordination arrangements and their ability to overcome barriers to coordination. This framework can be used to introduce selective market reforms.     

Is the New Deal System Collapsing? With What Might It Be Replaced?

The prevailing “New Deal” system of industrial relations laws and practices is working poorly, especially since private-sector union density has declined. Both law and practice have failed to adjust to changing economic and technological conditions. The modest reforms recommended by the Dunlop Commission might have made some slight difference; however, these will not be enacted. The future may see more nonunion forms of representation and greater government regulation of employment conditions.     

Performance deviations and acquisition premiums: The impact of CEO celebrity on managerial risk‐taking

Research summary: This article draws on identity control theory and a study of acquisition premiums to explore how CEO celebrity status and financial performance relative to aspirations affect firm risk behavior. The study finds that celebrity CEOs tend to pay smaller premiums for target firms, but these tendencies change when prior firm performance deviates from the industry average returns, thereby leading these CEOs to pay higher premiums. The study also finds that the premiums tend to be even larger when celebrity CEOs have more recently attained celebrity status. Taken together, these findings contribute to identity control theory and CEO celebrity literatures by suggesting that celebrity status is a double‐edged sword and that the internalization of celebrity status by CEOs strongly influences the decision‐making of CEOs. Managerial summary: The purpose of this article is to examine how CEO celebrity status and financial performance relative to aspirations affect the size of acquisition premiums. The study finds that celebrity CEOs tend to pay smaller premiums for target firms. However, when celebrity CEOs' prior firm performance is either better or worse than the industry average, these CEOs pay higher premiums. This situation is exacerbated when the CEO has only recently been crowned a celebrity. In effect, these CEOs feel great pressure to match the inflated performance expectations that come with celebrity status. These findings suggest that being a celebrity is a double‐edged sword. The implication here is that CEOs who have recently been crowned a celebrity should be aware of these pressures and cope accordingly. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Telecommunications reforms in China: towards an analytical framework

This paper reviews and analyzes changing telecommunications policies in China since the inception of the so-called “Open Policy”. It is argued that these changes should be understood as the results of a delicate balance between (1) government considerations (including the state's desire to provide universal coverage, control the telecommunications industry and, more recently, improve the efficiency of state-owned enterprises), (2) the call from foreigners (sometimes made through their governments) to open China's telecommunications industry and to seek profits, and (3) the overwhelming demand of the Chinese population and the business sector (including foreign firms operating in China) to have freer and more rapid movement of information. Over time, the interplay of these forces has led to the liberalization of China's telecommunications industry. These moves towards liberalization took place in four stages. During stages one (Pre-1994) and two (1994–1997), only half-hearted reforms were introduced to separate government administration from business enterprises and to foster very weak domestic competition. During stage three (1998–1999), there were reforms to the regulatory framework and measures towards liberalization. From 2000 onwards, a solid legal foundation was laid after nearly a decade of gradual reform. Moreover, there has been some remarkable organizational restructuring since June 2001.     

Designing a fair,financially sustainable pay rate for owner-operator truck drivers. Modeling and case study

Owner operator truck drivers have been dealing with a long-standing problem: compensation per distance. Owner operators who get paid according to these criteria get a fixed payment per distance traveled regardless of how long it takes to actually cover the distance. This means that there are numerous situations that truck drivers are working; yet they might be unpaid because the truck is not moving. To compensate for the unfairness of the pay rate models, owner operators have continuously increased their working hours. In addition, many studies have confirmed that a fair payment is among the most important factors that truck drivers take into consideration when deciding to leave a company. Consequently, an unfair pay rate, along with the hard labor conditions truck drivers suffer from, inevitably leads to high turnover rates. For all these reasons, our study aims at developing a fair, financially sustainable pay rate for owner operators that will help companies ensure a stable and highly experienced workforce by making sure that owner operators can cover the real expenses of their working activity. Finally, in order to prove that our pay rate was of practical use, we test the model on one of the largest Spanish agro-food companies.     

The Legitimacy of Pay and Performance Comparisons: An Analysis of UK University Vice Chancellors Pay Awards

This article examines UK University Vice Chancellors (VC) pay awards. The empirical analysis, covering the period 1997–2002, evaluates the impact upon VC pay awards of university performance measures, internal pay comparisons and two external pay comparisons, that is, the pay of other VCs and the pay of chief executive officers (CEOs) leading comparable‐sized UK firms. For the total sample, we find no evidence that VC pay awards are related to any of the performance measures, although for the pre‐ and post‐1992 subsamples there is some evidence that pay awards are related to some ‘mission‐relevant’ performance measures. All the analyses show a positive relationship between changes in the proportion of other highly paid employees and VC pay awards, which suggests that internal pay comparisons play an important role in remuneration committee decision making. As anticipated, the two external pay benchmarks have very different effects upon VC pay awards; the pay received by other VCs produces a marked ‘mean reversion’ in pay levels while the pay of CEOs running comparable‐sized UK firms had a highly significant positive impact upon VC pay awards. Following the insights of institutional theory, we interpret this conservatism by university remuneration committees as stemming primarily from legitimation concerns rather than financial constraints.     

Resisting Japan's Neoliberal Model of Capitalism: Intensification and Change in Contemporary Patterns of Class Struggle

The Japanese model of capitalism has tended to be conceptualized within the extant literature in terms of a transition from a model characterized by coordination towards one in which neoliberal reforms have produced greater levels of instability, competition and inequality. This article argues that these trends raise the question of what patterns of resistance have been part of this transition. The article highlights how the neoliberalization of Japan's model of capitalism has also been accompanied by intensified class antagonism. Although the impact of such contestation on policymaking and actual policies has thus far been limited, Japan's neoliberalization has nevertheless been (and seems likely to remain) far from uncontested.     

CEO political ideologies and pay egalitarianism within top management teams

Research summary : We examine the influence of CEO and compensation committee liberalism on top management teams (TMT ) pay arrangements. Given that politically liberal individuals tend to value egalitarianism, we test whether firms with liberal CEO s tend to (1) reduce pay dispersion among non‐CEO executives; and (2) reduce pay gaps between CEO and non‐CEO executives, and whether compensation committee liberalism moderates these relationships. We find some evidence of a direct effect of CEO liberalism on TMT pay arrangements as well as some interaction between CEO and compensation committee liberalism on the pay arrangements. This study provides a better understanding of the antecedents of TMT pay arrangements and empirical evidence showing the influence of values at the top of organization . Managerial summary : Do the values of the CEO and compensation committee influence the pay of other top managers? Our study provides evidence that political ideology affects top manager pay. We examine whether CEO liberalism produces more egalitarian pay arrangements among top managers, and whether the liberalism of the compensation committee affects that relationship. We find that CEO liberalism reduces differences in the total pay among top managers, but does not influence the difference between CEO total pay and the total pay of top managers. We also find that compensation committee liberalism strengthens the negative influence of CEO liberalism on differences in total pay among top managers. Finally, we find that CEO liberalism reduces the difference between CEO bonus pay and the bonus pay of other top managers . Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of market liberalisation on food security in Zambia

The main elements in agricultural market liberalisation have been the dismantling of the state institutions for marketing and distribution of agricultural produce, the abolition of subsidies, the liberalisation of import and export trade, and the market determination of input and output prices. Economic policy reforms on the monetary, fiscal and other fronts also impinged on the variables influencing production, trade and consumption. This paper highlights some of the undesirable offshoots of the previous policy regime and enumerates the specific policies that have been introduced since 1992. It describes the positive and negative outcomes witnessed so far. Finally, it suggests what needs to be done to eliminate the prevailing major constraints to growth in food production and consumption.     

Performance Pay in China: Gender Aspects

We provide an in‐depth analysis of gender differences in performance pay in China based on a unique dataset — the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China — that provides information on the different components of pay including performance pay and base pay as well as a wide array of pay determining characteristic. The share of performance pay is documented and its determinants, including gender, analysed. Particular attention is paid to gender differences in the different dimensions of performance pay: the probability of receiving it; the magnitude conditional upon receiving it; and their product being the overall unconditional magnitude. Gender differences in these dimensions are decomposed into components due to male–female differences in the endowments of characteristics that explain these dimensions of pay, and gender differences that arise even when men and women have the same endowments of such characteristics with the later component, often taken to reflect discrimination.     

供给侧改革视角下我国物流业的技术效率评价——基于生产前沿模型和β收敛的实证

供给侧结构性改革是从供给、生产端入手,使要素实现最优配置,提升经济增长的质量和数量的过程。物流业既是其他产业发展的供给方,又对最终的需求实现具有重要影响,供给侧改革对于物流业的发展,必然产生重大作用。本文以2005～2014年中国30个省区的面板数据为基础,利用随机前沿的技术生产前沿可改进区间来估计供给侧改革在物流业的作用空间。研究发现：物流技术效率逐年增长,但近年出现下降趋势,东部地区的物流技术效率最高,中部居中,西部最低。β收敛分析结果显示：物流技术效率存在条件收敛,重点应从产业结构、创新环境以及物流专业化程度3个方面开展物流业的供给侧结构性改革。