The effects of slack resource of R&D professionals on firm performance: evidence from traditional manufacturing firms in an emerging economy

Abstract

As an important component of organizational human resource slack (HR slack), the slack of research-and-development (R&D) professionals has been studied by several authors. However, it remains unclear whether and how this small component of general HR slack, i.e. the slack of research-and-development professionals (RHR slack), may affect overall firm performance in an emerging economy without much R&D tradition or pro-R&D institutions. Based on two organizational theories, i.e. institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm (RBV), we propose competing hypotheses on the relationship between RHR slack and firms’ accounting performance. We also examine whether the relationship between RHR slack and firm performance should be linear or curvilinear. Finally, we also test the relationship between RHR slack and other dimensions of firm performance. Several interesting findings have been obtained. For instance, neither the perspective based on institutional theory nor that based on RBV can fully predict all types of RHR slack-performance relationships, be these relationships linear or curvilinear.     

加强政策事中事后评估的思考

党的十九届四中全会明确提出要强化决策执行、评估、监督,做好政策评估对优化政府职能、推动国家治理体系和能力现代化有积极作用。加强政策运行情况的评估,应从优化评估工作机制、完善和培育评估机构、强化评估结果的应用入手,不断提升评估工作质量,形成适应中国特色社会主义现代化治理体系的事中事后政策评估机制。     

陕北地区土地利用及景观格局变化对生态服务价值的影响*——基于退耕还林（草）背景

［目的］通过揭示退耕还林（草）工程背景下陕北地区近25年生态系统服务价值的演变规律，旨在为陕北地区的土地利用规划及新一轮退耕还林（草）政策的推进提供参考。［方法］以生态环境脆弱的陕北地区为研究对象，基于1990年、2000年、2015年3期的土地利用变化数据，以退耕还林（草）政策的实施为节点，利用土地转移矩阵、景观格局指数、生态服务价值损益表等方法对陕北地区的土地利用情况、景观格局演变以及生态服务价值的变化进行分析，借助相关性系数对土地利用类型、景观格局及生态服务价值之间的关系进行了定量研究。［结果］（1）草地、耕地和林地是陕北地区最主要的土地利用类型，耕地面积减少，林草地面积持续增加且增速加快。（2）近25年，陕北地区景观格局的连接性和通达性降低，景观格局主要呈破碎化发展趋势。研究区各景观类型的破碎化程度增大，空间异质性增加，草地是该地区的优势景观类型。（3）陕北地区1990年、2000年和2015年各类生态系统提供的总生态服务价值分别为38919亿元、39431亿元和40622亿元，退耕还林（草）前年均增长率为1396%，退耕还林（草）后这一比率增加至5622%。［结论］受退耕还林（草）政策的影响，陕北地区土地利用类型和土地景观格局的变化均对生态系统服务价值有显著的影响，但是不同的景观指数对生态系统服务价值的影响程度和趋势不同，水域和林草地面积对生态系统服务价值呈正相关，未利用地和城乡建设用地面积对生态系统服务价值呈负相关。     

Determining the integrated volatility via limit order books with multiple records

The integrated volatility plays an important role in risk management and portfolio selection, the estimation methods regarding the quantity have been widely investigated, either under low-frequency data or high-frequency data, or a combination of both. In this paper, we propose a measure for the integrated volatility via limit order book data with possible presence of multiple records. The estimator is valid under mild conditions and it is easily implemented. The finite sample performance of the proposed estimator has been verified by simulation studies and we apply the method to some real high-frequency data-sets as well.     

The Effect of Cross‐Border Mergers and Acquisitions on Earnings Quality: Evidence from China

Despite the fruitful research on the motives and outcomes of cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs), there has been scant research on the impact of cross‐border M&As on corporate governance. In this article, we fill the research gap by exploring whether cross‐border M&As may lead to an improvement in corporate governance of Chinese acquirers. In particular, we examine the impact of cross‐border M&As on earnings quality of Chinese MNCs. We find that the acquisition of a target firm from a developed country leads to a significant improvement on the acquirer's earnings quality. In comparison, the acquisition of a target from an emerging market does not have such an impact. Our results are robust to various corporate governance measures, alternative econometric methods, and controls of relevant firm characteristics and macroeconomic variables. Finally, we show that the effect of cross‐border M&As on earnings quality is more pronounced in non‐state‐owned enterprises (non‐SOEs) that have conducted large M&A deals. Our article offers new insight to the international business literature on latecomer perspective and liability of foreignness. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A genetic algorithm based approach to transactional and QoS-aware service selection

As there are various risks of failure when Web services are deployed in unreliable environment, the execution of a composite Web service (CWS) requires the transaction mechanism to guarantee its reliable execution. However, the existing service selection approaches consider QoS and transaction separately and have not considered that transactional properties may affect the QoS such as the execution time of a CWS. This work addresses the importance of considering transactional properties and how the transactional properties affect the QoS simultaneously in the process of service selection by a QoS-aware and transactional-aware selection approach. First, a performance evaluation method is proposed to calculate the execution time of a transactional CWS. Then, a genetic algorithm based approach, which takes into account the execution time, price, transactional property and successful execution rate of CWS, is presented to achieve global optimisation service selection. Finally, experimental results show the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach.     

Financial investor sentiment and the boom/bust in oil prices during 2003–2008

From both theoretical and policy perspectives, it is important to understand if financial speculation contributes to the boom/bust in oil prices during 2003–2008. In this paper, we disentangle the effects of financial speculation from those of economic fundamentals by focusing on exogenous changes of financial speculation in oil markets identified by changes in financial investor sentiment. Furthermore, we focus on a quasi-experiment setting, and investigate both sentiment-driven overvaluation of oil prices and subsequent mispricing correction. Our findings suggest that financial speculation might have contributed to the 2003–2008 boom/bust in oil prices.     

现代信息服务业发展模式的比较与选择——基于广东省的数据分析

比较要素导向型、投资导向型和创新导向型三种现代信息服务业的发展模式,分析广东省现代信息服务业的发展现状,提出广东省现代信息服务业选择创新导向型发展模式的具体对策。     

“If I was going to design a chair,the last thing I would look at is a chair”: product analysis and the causes of fixation in students’ design work 11–16 years

Creativity is acknowledged to be important for economic growth and as an everyday life-skill, however several influential reports have suggested that education could do more to harness creative talent. Creative cognition literature suggests the lack of creativity is at least partly the result of ‘fixation’ (difficulty in generating novel ideas due to imagination being ‘structured’ by existing knowledge). This paper focuses on the secondary (students aged 11–16 years) design and technology (D&T) context in the UK. Here we examine whether teacher practice can contribute to fixation by focusing on one specific facet of teacher practice in D&T; the use of product analysis to inform the generation of creative design ideas. Data is drawn from the preliminary phase of a research and intervention project from interviews with D&T teachers (N = 14), students (N = 126) and lesson observations (N = 10) and an analysis of documents and student work. Product analysis is widely used at different points in design projects but, as is shown, in all cases current practice can lead to fixation, as thinking is constrained down specific paths and tasks are at best at procedural rather than comprehension level. The implications of these findings and tentative ways forward for practitioners are discussed.     

Impacts of urban renewal on the place identity of local residents – a case study of Sunwenxilu traditional commercial street in Zhongshan City,Guangdong Province,China

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the impacts of urban renewal on local residents’ place identity by examining the changes in local residents’ place identity in Sunwenxilu, a traditional commercial street in downtown Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China, which carried out urban renewal relatively early in modern China. Applying Breakwell’s [(2015). Risk: Social psychological perspectives. In J. D. Wright (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social & behavioral sciences (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Elsevier] identity process model and using the renewal process as a starting point, data concerning local residents’ place identity in Sunwenxilu were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and literature analysis. The results reveal that local residents had established a strong place identity on Sunwenxilu before it changed to be a community of “incompetents” in the 1990s. In the late 1990s, Sunwenxilu was transformed into a cultural tourism pedestrian street. Right after the transformation, local residents regained their self-esteem with the improvement of the physical environment and intensification of cultural symbols, and re-established their place continuity by maintaining their collective memories. However, a failure to improve the local residents’ self-efficiency of place during the “superficial” renewal had resulted in vulnerability of the local residents’ place identity in terms of self-esteem, continuity and distinctiveness, thus causing another crisis of place identity. Obviously, the construction of place identity results from the interaction of all elements, so too much emphasis on only one element may trigger a new identity crisis.