Utilizing the firm's resources: How TMT heterogeneity and resulting faultlines affect TMT tasks

While theory and evidence show that firms' competitive actions mediate the resource‐performance relationship, details of top managements' roles in shaping resource utilization choices have been underemphasized. We address this oversight by integrating top management team heterogeneity and any resulting faultline strength with the resource‐action‐performance model to investigate how TMT composition differentially affects the model's two linkages. Specifically, we argue that TMT heterogeneity positively affects the resource‐action linkage, yet negatively affects the action‐performance linkage. Moreover, when heterogeneity begets strong faultlines, all such positive effect is lost. Supportive evidence from the in‐vitro medical diagnostic substance manufacturing industry allows us to discuss how our findings contribute to upper echelons theory, as well as the emerging stream on resource utilization. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Agriculture and climate change in global scenarios: why don't the models agree

Agriculture is unique among economic sectors in the nature of impacts from climate change. The production activity that transforms inputs into agricultural outputs involves direct use of weather inputs (temperature, solar radiation available to the plant, and precipitation). Previous studies of the impacts of climate change on agriculture have reported substantial differences in outcomes such as prices, production, and trade arising from differences in model inputs and model specification. This article presents climate change results and underlying determinants from a model comparison exercise with 10 of the leading global economic models that include significant representation of agriculture. By harmonizing key drivers that include climate change effects, differences in model outcomes were reduced. The particular choice of climate change drivers for this comparison activity results in large and negative productivity effects. All models respond with higher prices. Producer behavior differs by model with some emphasizing area response and others yield response. Demand response is least important. The differences reflect both differences in model specification and perspectives on the future. The results from this study highlight the need to more fully compare the deep model parameters, to generate a call for a combination of econometric and validation studies to narrow the degree of uncertainty and variability in these parameters and to move to Monte Carlo type simulations to better map the contours of economic uncertainty.     

城市物流平台:IT解决方案和技术平台

城市物流主要由两部分组成:城市物流运营系统和城市物流平台。城市物流平台提供了整体的IT解决方案和技术设备以支持城市物流运营。本文阐述了IT解决方案如何支持城市物流运营的各个方面,从而使得城市物流各技术层面和其在城市物流平台中的作用更加高效和经济。城市物流平台也通过采用最新的节能技术来实现可持续性发展。     

Convergence in the EU

The EU has long viewed economic and institutional convergence as important goals, but the results thus far have been decidedly mixed, and there remain several open questions: How exactly should convergence be defined? How much convergence is necessary? What steps can be taken to improve convergence in the EU, and how can success be defined? Finally, how much convergence can be achieved by improving the economic performance in underperforming regions, and how can convergence in the form of harmonisation towards lower welfare levels be avoided?     

Warum der frühe Ausstieg aus der finanziellen Repression lohnt

The authors argue that the attempt to reduce debt via financial repression is undermining growth and prosperity in industrialised countries. The increasing number of zombie companies and stagnating productivity growth are reminiscent of the financial repression used in the planned economies of Eastern Europe in the Cold War years. Historical evidence suggests that an exit from low interest rate policies and a return to market principles are needed to restore growth and stability.     

Synchronised Business Cycles in East Asia and Fluctuations in the Yen/Dollar Exchange Rate

Because many authors have proposed stimulating the ailing Japanese economy by monetary expansion and yen depreciation, we explore the repercussions of depreciating the yen against the dollar on the other East Asian economies – which largely peg to the dollar. Since 1980, economic integration among Japan's neighbours – China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – has intensified and (except for China and Singapore) their business cycles have been highly synchronised. These cycles have been closely linked to fluctuations in the yen/dollar exchange rate – through changes in the export competitiveness, inflows of foreign direct investment and intra‐Asian income effects. We show that a major yen devaluation would have a negative impact on incomes in other East Asian economies and that it is not a sensible policy option for Japan.     

Dealing with internal inconsistency in double-bounded dichotomous choice: an application to community-based health insurance

Contingent valuation method is commonly used in the field of health economics in an attempt to help policy makers in their policy-making decision process. The use of the double-bounded dichotomous choice format results in a substantial gain in statistical efficiency over the single-bounded dichotomous choice format. Yet, there is internal inconsistency with a downward mean shifting in the second responses. Using data from a community-based health insurance survey, this paper aims at testing whether double certainty calibration reduces internal inconsistency in a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey. Results suggest that double calibration significantly reduces internal inconsistency while maintaining the efficiency gain arising from the double-bounded format.     

Qualitative input-output analysis and structural information

The authors first introduce a slightly modified version of the quantitative theory of pull effects. After a short presentation of the basic ideas of qualitative input-output analysis with the aid of matrices, the qualitative goals of ‘completeness’ and ‘velocity’ are defined. The article ends with an investigation of the compatibility of these qualitative goals with the usual quantitative economic goals.     

The short-run impact of fluctuating primary commodity prices on three developing economies: Columbia,Ivory Coast and Kenya

Computable general equilibrium models are used to study the short-run impact of fluctuating primary commodity prices on the economies of Columbia, Ivory Coast and Kenya. The results indicate that these economies are destabilized by primary commodity price fluctuations unless governments act to hold real domestic absorption constant. To achieve this, however, would require foreign exchange reserves in excess of the level normally available to these governments for the purpose of stabilizing domestic economic activity.