Capital Flight: China's Experience

We study the empirical determinants of China's capital flight. In addition to the covered interest differential, our empirical exercise includes a rather exhaustive list of macroeconomic variables and a few institutional factors. Overall, our regression exercise shows that China's capital flight is quite well explained by its own history and covered interest differentials. The other possible determinants offer relatively small additional explanatory power. It is also found that China's capital flight responds differently to the components of covered interest differentials and to the positive and negative components of these variables. The response pattern, however, depends on the choice of data frequency. The general impression is that the monthly results are more intuitive than the quarterly ones.     

In search of the changing role of the corporate human resource function in the international firm

There has been considerable research on the issues of board-level representation by personnel/HR directors and senior HR managers' involvement in strategic decision making. Since the early 1990s there has been a growing interest in international HRM, reflecting the growing recognition that the effective management of human resources internationally is a major determinant of success or failure in international business. There is also evidence that HR constraints often limit the effective implementation of international business strategies. More recently, it has been argued that the more rapid pace of internationalization and globalization leads to a more strategic role for HRM as well as changes in the content of HRM. Yet, while there have been some attempts to integrate international corporate strategy and human resource strategy, surprisingly, the role of the corporate human resources function has been neglected, particularly in the context of the international firm. This article seeks to redress the balance. The question addressed is: what is the role of the corporate HR function in the international firm? To answer these questions empirical research was conducted in thirty UK international firms. We found an emerging agenda for corporate HR in international firms which focuses on senior management development, succession planning and developing a cadre of international managers. We conceptualize this as a strategic concern with developing the core management competences of the organization, and argue that it can be usefully analysed from the perspective of the learning organization.     

Broadband Demand Analysis for Network Building

An increase of broadband demand is forecasted by transitional methods that consider the effect of this increase through many factors, such as customer requirement diversification, and new service introduction and deployment under competition. Broadband demand forecasting has become important for closing the digital divide, promoting regional developments, and constructing networks economically; therefore, a demand forecast model that considers the mechanisms of market structure is necessary. In this paper, a demand analysis method for broadband access combining macro- and micro-data mining is proposed, and the service choice behaviour of customers is introduced as a customer model not only to express the macro trend of market structure, but also to consider area marketing. The proposed method can estimate the potential demand, determine the point at which broadband demand growth peaks in a specified area, and support a decision for ultra high-speed broadband access facility installation.     

Investment and the soft budget constraint in China

This paper examines the incentive effects of the soft budget constraint on the investment behavior of firms in general and on the investment-cash flow sensitivity in particular. To this end, we develop a simple model of moral hazard that takes the soft budget constraint into account. Within this moral hazard environment, we show that investment is positively related to the amount of internal funds. We further show that the presence of the soft budget constraint deteriorates the moral hazard problem, thereby making the investment level less sensitive to the amount of internal funds. This is the case irrespective of whether the soft budget constraint renders the firm more or less liquidity constrained. To test the model's empirical implications, we employ data of China's listed companies for the period from 1997 to 2003. We use the share of state ownership as a proxy for the severity of the soft budget constraint. We find strong evidence that firms with larger shares of state ownership exhibit lower investment-cash flow sensitivities than firms with smaller shares of state ownership.     

Terms of trade and economic growth in Japan and Korea: an empirical analysis

This study examines the impact of terms of trade and terms of trade volatility on economic growth in Japan and Korea using time series data. The results of the Johansen (1988) cointegration method show that real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and terms of trade are jointly determined. Generally, an increase in terms of trade volatility will lead to a decrease in real GDP per capita. An increase in oil price will lead to a decrease in terms of trade. The results of the generalised forecast error variance decompositions show that the important contributors to real GDP per capita are different between Japan and Korea. A favourable and a less volatile terms of trade are important for economic growth.     

Recreation and the Environment as Cultural Dimensions in Contemporary American Society

This paper broadly explores changing outdoor recreation demands, environmental opinions and demographics in the United States. With this country's population predicted to more than double by the end of this century, it is imperative that we understand these trends and their implications for better managing our natural environment and providing opportunities for outdoor recreation in that environment. Using national survey data, we have described differences in recreation behavior (participation) and environmental attitudes nationwide across six socio-demographic factors-race, country of birth, rural-urban residence, region of the country, age and income. Results indicate that demographic differences, recreation activity choices and people's environmental positions are linked.     

谁在“搅乱”电影圈

随着万达院线向上游电影制片渗透．华谊兄弟向下游院线市场迈进。中国民营电影企业面临的产业链失衡问题再次引起关注。但因双方均缺乏对方领域的经验，要想完善这条产业链之路则显得有点“雷声大、雨点小”。     

Expectations of Working Relationships in International Buyer–Seller Relationships: Development of a Relationship Continuum Scale

This study is an attempt to develop a scale to measure expectations of buyer–seller working relationships on a cross-cultural basis in the hospitality industry. The focus is on North American and Asian hotel salespeople. The scale development drew from previous research in guanxi relationships, purchasing, and selling strategies. While the results did not support a reliable unidimensional scale that could distinguish between transactional and collaborative working relationships, the methodology did create a framework for further scale development.     

Sales promotion—playing to win?

In recent years, below‐the‐line promotion has begun to shed its “Cinderella” image, and is starting to attract the sort of marketing budgets and academic attention that was previously only given to mass‐media advertising. However, there is a general consensus that sales promotion is still neither managed effectively, nor understood thoroughly when compared to more high‐profile above‐the‐line promotion. Improving the understanding and use of sales promotion will require academics and practitioners to analyse and understand each of the very different below‐the‐line techniques and their individual merits. This article is one of two which takes a detailed look at the use of sales promotion competitions.