Does distance matter for internationally-oriented small firms?

This paper assesses the contemporary relevance of distance and its key components in international business for young, internationally-oriented small firms. In doing so, it reconceptualizes the distance concept and investigates its relevance in American, British, and German firms' early foreign market selection. Economic, geographic, and cultural distance (based on Hofstede's and Schwartz's frameworks) for the three countries, along with psychic distance for the German firms, are considered. The results show that some components of distance still matter for internationally-oriented small firms and that cultural distance is sample source and concept sensitive. In addition, psychic distance acts as a mediator construct to the more objective, external distance measures of economic, geographic, and cultural distance, confirming the proposed distance framework.     

美国在争议中上调汽油乙醇含量上限

2010年10月,美国环境保护署（EPA）同意将美国汽油中的乙醇含量上限由10%提高到15%。此举既是美国考虑国家能源安全战略、发展低碳经济大趋势的结果,也是乙醇生产企业长期游说的结果。美国有关行业对此政策的出台反应不一。乙醇行业、乙醇生产州对EPA的决定表示欢迎,炼油行业、汽车行业、牧场主及食品行业表示反对。该政策的出台,在短期内对美国车用燃料市场的影响并不大,但可能造成乙醇及粮食价格的上涨。为此,越来越多的美国车用燃料公司已开始通过并购乙醇生产企业,形成汽油生产和乙醇生产的一体化来规避价格风险以及保障其乙醇燃料的市场份额。     

我韩油气合作迟滞的原因分析

俄韩油气合作自1990年双边建交起,至今举步维艰。俄韩两国在科维克金天然气项目和萨哈林项目油气上的合作是两国油气合作的重点,目前科维克金管道天然气项目陷入停滞,俄韩天然气合作的气源只有萨哈林岛,但液化天然气海路运输的数量有限,穿越朝鲜境内的陆路管道很难开建。除朝鲜半岛局势紧张外,俄韩油气合作还受到俄罗斯对东北亚地区能源外交思维,东北亚地区能源供需结构,远东地区经济落后、基础设施匮乏、投资环境较差,韩国企业对俄投资谨慎等因素的制约。尽管俄韩油气合作在短期内进展迟滞,但从长期来看前景广阔。俄韩油气合作对中国的影响利弊共存。     

中国实施天然气能量计量与计价的基础条件分析

天然气按能量计量与计价已成为目前国际上最流行的天然气贸易和消费计量与结算方式。随着进口天然气的大量引进以及我国天然气供应系统的复杂化,我国对于天然气按体积计量和计价的方式将难以协调国产气与进口气贸易结算问题,难以适应多气源、多类型、多路径联网供气的天然气销售格局,难以解决天然气价值扭曲问题。因此,实行天然气按能量计量和计价在我国已经迫在眉睫。目前,我国实施天然气按能量计量和计价的技术标准基本具备、技术设备配置基本符合要求、发热量量值溯源技术体系也基本满足要求。相关单位已持续开展多项前期研究与模拟试验,企业与用户普遍赞同实施能量计价。未来更多的是需要国家进一步完善相关的实施标准,建立更高水平的天然气量值溯源体系,建立天然气质量监督体系,出台合理的天然气能量价格政策,支持和引导天然气实施能量计量和计价。     

我国主要海洋产业对劳动力就业的拉动效应分析

就业问题事关国计民生.积极寻找新的就业增长点,缓解当前就业压力,促进经济稳定增长已成为政府、学者和公众关注的焦点话题.本文以我国主要海洋产业为研究对象,从就业弹性和单位岗位贡献两个角度出发,对主要海洋产业的就业拉动效应做出分析.研究结果表明:我国主要海洋产业生产总值每提高1%,将使主要海洋产业就业人数增加3.28万人次;就业弹性显著为正,但呈现出下降的趋势;主要海洋产业群内部各子产业的单位岗位贡献差异明显,其中海洋交通运输业和海洋油气业对就业的带动作用较大,且传统优势产业海洋渔业、滨海旅游业等仍扮演重要角色.     

终极股东控制与债务期限决策——来自中国上市家族企业的证据

现有研究证实企业普遍存在终极股东,本文利用我国303家上市家族企业2007～2009年面板数据检验了终极股东控制和债务期限结构的关系.研究发现:存在终极控制的上市家族企业,随着终极控制权和现金流权分离程度的增加,更愿意采用负债融资,以获取更多可控制资源,实现其控制权私利,并且我国上市家族企业不倾向于短期债务,而更愿意采用长期债务,来实现其非金钱收益,这是因为短期债务能够减少自由现金流量,并具有外部监督效用,限制了终极控制人获取私利的机会.     

上海市宝山区钢铁贸易行业的SCP分析

本文首先简述了钢铁贸易行业的内涵,在此基础上以上海市宝山区为例,对钢铁贸易行业进行SCP分析,并针对存在的问题提出相应对策.     

近期国际石油价格回顾与预测

回顾 1.原油 3月份,中东、北非局势仍是影响国际油价波动的主要因素。虽然国际油价受日本大地震引发海啸和核危机的影响一度有所回落,但随着多国部队对利比亚进行空中军事打击,该国紧张局势进一步升级,油价坚挺上扬。当月美国WTI、     

A bittersweet phenomenon: The internal structure, functional mechanism, and effect of guanxi on firm performance

This paper explores the mechanism of guanxi and how it affects firm performance from a constructive perspective. It aims to contribute to the extant literature by investigating the negative side of guanxi and expounding on how guanxi functions, adversely impacting firm performance. Specifically, as guanxi grows, its negative effect leads to erosion of firm performance. Further, interorganizational trust and relationship-specific investment, as two potential mediators, can enhance and amplify the eroding effect of guanxi on firm performance.     

Integrated production planning with sequence-dependent family setup times

This paper proposes an integrated optimization model of aggregate production planning (APP), family disaggregation planning, and family scheduling problems in hierarchical production planning (HPP) systems considering sequence-dependent family setup times. The model obtains the optimal production plan for each product type and product family in each period, together with the globally optimal production sequence of product families in all planning periods. The proposed model is tested with randomly generated experimental data consistent with what is prevalent in the manufacturing industry and its results are compared with those of the traditional HPP models. Our results show that the integrated model realizes greater cost savings.