重本抑末再认识

重本抑末是中国古代的经济传统,学术界大多认为农商对立是重本抑末的主要矛盾,其特点是抑商。本文认为,从战国到西汉实行重本抑末政策来看,重农是事实,抑商则不尽然。主要矛盾看似农商对立,实质上是官营工商业与民间工商业的冲突,其特点是以官营工商业来取代民间工商业。     

Community Banks and Internet Commerce

ABSTRACT

This study examines the factors affecting a community bank's decision to develop Internet-based applications using survey data from representative community banks and secondary data regarding the financial institution's financial performance data (Call Reports). The results from a logistic regression show that there is a significant size effect in developing web and Internet commerce applications. Other factors determining Internet commerce activities include IT costs, use of PC-banking options, and the perceived competition in the local commercial loan markets.     

Choice Architectures in the Digital Economy: Towards a New Understanding of Digital Vulnerability

In the digital economy, consumer vulnerability is not simply a vantage point from which to assess some consumers’ lack of ability to activate their awareness of persuasion. Instead, digital vulnerability describes a universal state of defencelessness and susceptibility to (the exploitation of) power imbalances that are the result of the increasing automation of commerce, datafied consumer–seller relations, and the very architecture of digital marketplaces. Digital vulnerability, we argue, is architectural, relational, and data-driven. Based on our concept of digital vulnerability, we demonstrate how and why using digital technology to render consumers vulnerable is the epitome of an unfair digital commercial practice.

     

Virtue and Commerce in Domingo de Soto’s Thought: Commercial Practices, Character, and the Common Good

This paper draws from the work of sixteenth century theologian, philosopher, and ethicist Domingo de Soto and considers his virtue-based approach to the ethical evaluation of commerce within an Aristotelian–Thomistic framework for the articulation of business and the common good. Particular attention is given to the fundamental emphasis placed by Soto in distinguishing between commerce as an activity and the specific conduct of persons engaging in commercial activity. The distinction between the material and the formal parts of the common good is then employed to shed light on the way Soto articulates commercial practices, virtuous character, and the common good. It is concluded that Soto’s major contribution for business ethics is clarifying that the key element for the ethical evaluation of commerce is the embodiment of virtuous personal conduct in the exercise of commercial activity. In this framework, the fulfillment of commerce’s potential to contribute to the common good is thus fundamentally interconnected with putting virtues into practice.     

中国民间商会功能变迁之规律探析

民间商会作为新兴的公共管理主体,在促进我国市场经济发展和推动政府职能转变的进程中发挥着重要的治理功能。然而,就中国民间商会的形成和发展而言,它却存在着不同于国外商会发展的特殊路径和角色定位。正是由于中国民间商会在功能履行的过程中受到多元治理因素的综合影响,最终形成了其集多种属性于一身的独特属性以及体制内外双重代理的职能运行规律。     

Boris Artzybasheff and the art of anthropomorphic marketing in early American consumer culture

Abstract

This paper undertakes a critical historical review of the role of anthropomorphism in marketing and advertising in American consumer culture from the 1940s onwards. We review the art of the acclaimed illustrator Boris Artzybasheff who among other artistic achievements created images that regularly featured on the covers of Life, Fortune, and Time. As well as working in media, Artzybasheff also produced advertising images, and imagery for propaganda. One of the characteristic features of Artzybasheff’s commercial art is the use of anthropomorphism, especially with technology industries and products. His art spans the periods prior to, during and after World War II, as well as the Cold War era and the onset of modern consumer culture in America.     

被淘宝改变的村庄

<正>于江苏徐州睢宁县东风村来说,网络文明成为这个普通村庄发财的希望。这个1180户的村庄里,有400多户经营淘宝网店,人均年收入从2006年以前的5700多元提高到了现在的7500多元。商业力量让这个基因贫瘠的小村庄生长出网商云集的相貌,它成为电子商务改变社会的标本,其发展模式吸引了日本、德国等外媒,中国大陆的主流媒体以及社科院信息化研究中心、商务部、工信部、农业部的聚焦。     

Selling poetry by the Pound: T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land brand

Although the battle between culture and commerce isn't over, the conflict has entered a new phase. Research reveals that elite artists like Picasso, Dalí and Warhol – among others – were canny commercial operators who knew their own worth and weren't reluctant to exploit it. However, we are less well informed of culture and commerce's co-dependency in artistic spheres where money rarely intrudes. This paper examines the marketing activities of T.S. Eliot, perhaps the preeminent poet of the twentieth century and epitome of art-for-art's-sake avant-gardism. It indicates that, aided and abetted by il miglior fabbro, Ezra Pound, Eliot proved to be an adroit authorpreneur. Their marketing of The Waste Land brand was ahead of its time and in tune with our own. Few poets are condemned to fame and fortune. Eliot was an entrepreneurial exception.     

基于国外经验转变我国商贸流通发展方式研究

转变商贸流通发展方式是经济社会发展的重要组成部分。针对国外在发展流通方式上依靠科技进步,调整和优化商贸流通产业结构,大力发展连锁经营和电子商务,注重商贸流通企业经营方式创新,适时制定和调整商贸流通产业发展政策,提高劳动者素质等措施。结合我国经济社会发展实践,提出了提升商贸流通信息化水平,加快技术革新,推进流通方式现代化,推进流通产业政策和制度创新,构建城乡一体化的商品流通体系,大力培养和引进流通人才等转变商贸流通发展方式的对策措施。     

中国十五大城市商贸发展的比较分析

我国加入世界贸易组织,全球经济一体化的大潮无疑给国内城市的商贸发展带来新的机遇和挑战。特别是其中商贸发展水平相对较高的上海、杭州和重庆等城市纷纷提出建设形成商贸中心的目标。为了考察目标提出的依据,全面而深刻地分析这些城市商贸发展水平的相对优势和劣势,通过设计反映城市商贸发展水平的指标评价体系,运用SPSS统计软件,对全国十五大城市的商贸发展水平作系统评价和比较。从而得到这十五大城市商贸发展水平在国内的排名和等级,为城市商贸建设工作提供事实依据和指导方向。     

日本与WTO争端解决机制

在GATT时代,日本在争端解决机制中比较被动,败诉相对较多。到了WTO时代,日本开始积极参与WTO争端解决机制,积极运用这一机制维护日本的国际贸易利益,并取得了较大的成功,出现了胜多败少的局面。日本这一变化的内在动力来自日本以入世为契机成功实现了贸易政策从以往的保护主义向自由贸易转换,可以在WTO争端解决机制舞台上以自由贸易的形象示人,并为此进行了WTO争端解决机构上诉机构大法官的人事布局,一直保持了日本人的上诉机构大法官的席位。日本的这一成果可以为我国所借鉴。     

Moral Vision: Iris Murdoch and Alasdair MacIntyre

This article explains Iris Murdoch’s notion of moral vision and its importance as a basic concept within applied ethics. It does so by exploring the influence of Iris Murdoch upon Alasdair MacIntyre whose ideas are frequently discussed by business ethicists. Arguably, the British philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919–1999) who wrote – amongst others – Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992), along with her contemporaries, Philippa Foot and Elizabeth Anscombe, pioneered the resurgence of Aristotle’s virtue ethics. Furthermore, Iris Murdoch influenced Alasdair MacIntyre. Heather Widdows, in her biography of Iris Murdoch lists Alasdair MacIntyre amongst those ‘thinkers she inspired’ (Widdows, The moral vision of Iris Murdoch, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 2005, p. 10). And in his writings MacIntyre does both examine Murdoch’s work and acknowledge that ‘Iris Murdoch has … put us all in her debt’ (MacIntyre, 1993, The New York Times on the Web, January 3, http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/20/specials/murdoch-metaphysics.html, p. 3). Murdoch was both an influential philosopher and a successful novelist. MacIntyre has stated that ‘Iris Murdoch’s novels are philosophy: but they are philosophy which casts doubt on all philosophy, including her own’ (London Review of Books, 3–16 June, 1982, p. 15). I therefore explore in this article the influence of Iris Murdoch’s literary work, where ‘true vision occasions right conduct’ upon Alasdair MacIntyre’s portrayal of us as ‘storytelling animals’ on a ‘narrative quest’.     

The Formation of Distribution Keiretsu: The Case of Matsushita Electric

The Japanese keiretsu, specifically vertically linked firms, have attracted global attention, and there is continuing dispute over their purpose. They act as close, long-term business relationships between large corporations and a number of selected smaller firms. They have been seen as rational effective systems, especially suited to the circumstances of Japan's industrialisation, and as a factor in its economic success. On the other hand, they have been criticised as closed systems that exclude potential competitors. Keiretsu are generally divided into production keiretsu, financial keiretsu, and distribution keiretsu. As a pioneer of distribution keiretsu, Matsushita (Panasonic) grew in Japan by securing the outlet of its products at ‘appropriate’ prices, and is now its nation's largest electronics manufacturer. Its distribution structure was founded in the 1930s, but the changes introduced in the 1950s finally brought it substantial commercial advantages, and encouraged rivals to form similar networks.     

The Bulgari Connection

Abstract

Product placement is the business process that seamlessly inserts an advertiser's commercial message into various entertainment and informational media vehicles (movies, videos, television programs, radio shows, newsletters, books, etc.) as an indigenous part of the story line. This paper presents an analysis of the controversy surrounding British novelist Fay Weldon's decision to accept financing from the famed Italian jewelry company Bulgari to prominently mention the firm and its products in her 2001 book, a fast-paced social comedy. The contract specified at least 12 mentions. However, in an interesting twist, Weldon decided to feature Bulgari prominently in the plot and incorporate the company name in the title. The Bulgari Connection(U.S. distributor, Grove/Atlantic) is believed by many to be “the first major novel containing paid product placement,” although other books with commercial tie-ins predate it.     

Promotion and Economic Impact of Foreign Tourism

This study discusses the economic power and international fame of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia’s tourist sector. A review of the economics literature justifies our measurement of tourism’s economic impact on the tourist sector. The main contribution is an estimation of foreign tourist expenditure in Andalusia, the main Spanish tourist destination per number of overnights. Drawing on this estimate, the input–output methodology is applied to determine the global impact of this expenditure on the region. The study differentiates the three types of tourism of the region: coast, urban interior and rural interior.     

Leisure book reading and purchasing: an analysis of Turkish consumers

Tracking studies all over the world report a decline in time devoted to reading in all age groups. There is a common stereotype indicating that people prefer other leisure activities to reading books. Low levels of book readership and book purchasing has always been a matter of discussion in Turkey. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of Turkish people’s involvement with books. To achieve this aim, a research survey via self‐administered questionnaire to collect data about leisure time reading, book purchasing and related attitudes was prepared. The sample represents 601 people from eight cities. It was found that around 80% of the sample had read at least one book within the last 6 months, and 58% had purchased a book for her‐ or himself. In addition, a Likert scale with 26 items was utilized to understand the attitudes of respondents to book reading, purchasing and book marketing activities. A factor analysis was also used to check the possibility of reducing the number of attitude items on the scale. Four factors emerged as a result of the factor analysis, labelled as ‘high involvement in books’, ‘preference towards more visual products’, ‘economy factor’ and ‘books must be heavily promoted’. Furthermore, ANOVA and t‐tests were performed to analyse whether attitudes change with demographic variables. Contrary to common beliefs about book readership, this study has revealed favourable attitudes towards book reading and purchasing.     

Rural-urban disparity in knowledge and compliance with traffic signs among young commercial motorcyclists in selected local government areas in Oyo State,Nigeria

This study compared knowledge and compliance with traffic signs among young commercial motorcyclists in rural and urban communities in Oyo state, Nigeria. Information on knowledge and compliance with 10 common traffic signs was obtained from 149 rural and 113 urban commercial motorcyclists aged 18–35 years. Aggregate knowledge scores were computed and categorized as good (≥5) and poor (<5) knowledge. Overall, 98.7% rural versus 61.1% urban motorcyclists had poor knowledge of traffic signs (p < 0.05). After controlling for age, level of education and years of commercial riding, motorcyclists in the rural areas were more likely to have poor knowledge of the traffic signs (OR = 58.15; 95% CI = 11.96–282.79). A higher proportion of rural than urban motorcyclists never obeyed any of the traffic signs. Young rural commercial motorcyclists' knowledge and compliance with the road signs was poorer than their urban counterparts. Interventions to improve the rural motorcyclists' knowledge and ultimately compliance with road signs are urgently required.     

Business Cases and Corporate Engagement with Sustainability: Differentiating Ethical Motivations

This paper explores links between different ethical motivations and kinds of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to distinguish between different types of business cases with regard to sustainability. The design of CSR and corporate sustainability can be based on different ethical foundations and motivations. This paper draws on the framework of Roberts (Organization 10:249–265, 2003) which distinguishes four different ethical management versions of CSR. The first two ethical motivations are driven either by a reactionary concern for the short-term financial interests of the business, or reputational, driven by a narcissistic concern to protect the firm’s image. The third responsible motivation works from the inside-out and seeks to embed social and environmental concerns within the firm’s performance management systems, and the fourth, a collaborative motivation, works to bring the outside in and seeks to go beyond the boundaries of the firm to create a dialogue with those who are vulnerable to the unintended consequences of corporate conduct. Management activities based on these different ethical motivations to CSR and sustainability result in different operational activities for corporations working towards sustainability and thus have very different effects on how the company’s economic performance is influenced. Assuming that corporate managers are concerned about creating business cases for their companies to survive and prosper in the long term, this paper raises the question of how different ethical motivations for designing CSR and corporate sustainability relate to the creation of different business cases. The paper concludes by distinguishing four different kinds of business cases with regard to sustainability: reactionary and reputational business cases of sustainability, and responsible and collaborative business cases for sustainability.     

Managerial attitudes to social responsibility: A comparative study in India and Britain

Changes in the understanding of the relationship between business and society have led to increased interest in and discussion of the notion of corporate social responsibility.This paper offers an empirical analysis of the perceptions of top executives in the West Midlands, U.K., and in Delhi, District Ghaziabad, India, of the notion of corporate social responsibility. Organisational changes and involvement in social action programmes, and problems of implementing and monitoring Social Responsibility in two cultures, India and Britain, were explored.The results of this study are compared with results obtained from studies on American companies and some significant similarities and differences are noted.Finally, some of the implications of the acceptance of the relevance of social responsibility to industry and the social involvement of industry are discussed. A. Farooq Khan is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Commerce of the Aligarh Muslim University. He has been awarded the Common-Wealth Scholarship (1975–1978) and he visited Hungary under the Indo-Hungarian Cultural Exchange Programme (1984–1985). He has published over thirty papers and two books: Business and Society, S. Chand & Co. Ramnagar, New Delhi, 1985; and Social Responsibility and Management, Faculty of Commerce Publication, Aligarh, 1983.Adrian Atkinson is Managing Director of Human Factor Consultants (UK) Ltd.