What makes export manufacturers pursue functional upgrading in an emerging market? A study of Chinese technology new ventures

This study examines unique factors causing emerging market firms to pursue functional upgrading. Our analysis draws on the resource-based view and learning theory, and our study sample consisted of Chinese new technology ventures. We test the effect of governance mechanisms and internal resources on the functional upgrading of firms. The results indicate that trade shows and quality advantage facilitated the functional upgrading of firms. However, contrary to our expectations, electronic markets and technological advancement do not emerge as significant variables. The implications of the results are discussed in consideration of the existing literature, and future research opportunities are described.     

External balances,trade flows and financial conditions

This paper studies how changing expectations concerning future trade and financial conditions are reflected in international external positions. In the absence of Ponzi schemes and arbitrage opportunities, the net foreign asset position of any country must, as a matter of theory, equal the expected present discounted value of future trade deficits, discounted at the cumulated world stochastic discount factor (SDF) that prices all freely traded financial assets. I study the forecasting implications of this theoretical link in 12 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, The United States and The United Kingdom) between 1970 and 2011. I find that variations in the external positions of most countries reflect changing expectations about trade conditions far into the future. I also find the changing forecasts for the future path of the world SDF are reflected in the dynamics of the U.S. external position.     

Dynamic capability in a small global factory

In order to balance their local and global operations optimally, SMEs are moving toward a ‘global factory’ type of organizational form, meaning a differentiated network of activities held together through the control of key assets and flows of knowledge, and coordinated by a focal firm. Managing such a network requires a specific dynamic capability comprising, according to our study, cognitive, managerial, and organizational capabilities. Cognitive capabilities – cultural awareness, entrepreneurial orientation, and a global mindset – are the basis for a global factory because they are the source for opportunity recognition and exploitation, and are therefore crucial. The focal firm's organizational flexibility and absorptive capacity, as well as managerial capabilities in the areas of interface competence and analytical capability, are needed in the steering of a small global factory, the success of which depends on the nurturing of these assets.     

Solving the income fluctuation problem with unbounded rewards

This paper studies the income fluctuation problem without imposing bounds on utility, assets, income or consumption. We prove that the Coleman operator is a contraction mapping over the natural class of candidate consumption policies when endowed with a metric that evaluates consumption differences in terms of marginal utility. We show that this metric is complete, and that the fixed point of the operator coincides with the unique optimal policy. As a consequence, even in this unbounded setting, policy function iteration always converges to the optimal policy at a geometric rate.     

基于成本优化的制造业生产物流装配线排序问题分析

为了降低制造业的生产成本，提高收益，在分析生产物流配线闲置和超载成本的基础上，采用粒子群算法对其进行优化，并利用模糊自适应改进惯性权值，通过实证研究表明该方法实用，可操作性强，可以有效降低制造业生产物流成本，具有广泛的应用价值。     

The politics of anticipation: On knowing and governing environmental futures

In this article we describe how the historical emergence and rise of future studies, since the founding issue of Futures in 1968, has been intricately connected to the emergence and development of environmental anticipation as discourse and practice. We trace a dialectical and inter-twined relationship between technologies of environmental anticipation and forecasting, and technologies of anti-environmentalist anticipation and counter-intervention, one which we argue shapes not only the contemporary politics of anticipation, but in a very material sense, the future conditions of biological and social life on Earth. In so doing we want to address the possible contributions that the field of futures studies can make to reimagining collective agency and ways of being on Earth, whilst reflecting critically upon its genealogical relations to the political reason and strategic horizons of powerful fossil fuel interests, from the crisis of the 1970s to the present. The article also offers a more in-depth contextualization to the other articles in this special issue of Futures on “The Politics of Environmental Anticipation”. The aim is to bring to the fore the role that social scientists play in environmental anticipation − i.e. drawing attention to the fact that the future could always have been otherwise.     

Extreme risk spillovers between crude palm oil prices and exchange rates

This study is the first attempt to examine the extreme risk spillovers between Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) and foreign exchange currencies of the three largest CPO importers: India, the European Union and China throughout the global financial crisis. Using daily data of three currencies, CPO spot and futures from 2000 to 2018, our results show: First, before the crisis, the unexpected change in foreign exchange rates is the primary driver of risk spillover to the CPO market. Second, during the crisis, the extreme movement of CPO spot returns is dominant in the Malaysian exchange rates relative to the euro. Third, after the crisis, the spillover flows from the CPO market to the foreign exchange market. Overall, our findings show the importance of CPO pricing dynamics in mitigating foreign exchange risk over the crisis period. This paper contributes to the extant literature by recognizing the effect of risk spillover on the targeted foreign exchange rate for portfolio allocation.     

On emerging stock market contagion: The Baltic region

This study provides new evidence on emerging stock market contagion during the Global Financial crisis (GFC) and the Euro zone Sovereign Debt Crisis (ESDC). Focusing on the three emerging Baltic markets and developed European markets, proxied by the EUROSTOXX50 stock index, we explore asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation dynamics across stable and crisis periods. Empirical evidence indicates a diverse contagion pattern for the Baltic region across the two crises. Latvia and Lithuania were contagious during the GFC, while they were insulated from the adverse effects of the ESDC. On the other hand, Estonia decoupled from the negative consequences during the global turmoil period, but recoupled during the ESDC. The results could be attributed to financial and macroeconomic characteristics of the Baltic countries before and after the turmoil periods and the introduction time of the Euro as a national currency.     

矿井通风三维可视化系统及优化

系统建立了三维仿真框架,建立了三维空间属性模型和非空间属性模型,分别对空间数据和非空间数据进行储存和管理。并建立了Hardy-Cross迭代模型和离散反馈型神经网络模型优化通风网络模型。并以C#语言来实现系统的功能。     

基于加权Voronoi多边形的山区农村居民点优化布局———以重庆市崇龛镇与石龙镇为例

中国的城市化进程伴随着农村人口向城市大量转移,使得乡村普遍面临人口流失、耕地撂荒及居民点闲置等问题,严重限制农村地区的经济发展,影响基础设施与公共服务设施的配置效率。优化农村居民点布局,实现资源的集约节约利用是国家新型城镇化规划的重要内容。文章以重庆市潼南县崇龛镇与巴南区石龙镇为例,探讨西南地区农村居民点空间布局优化的科学方法。首先,结合西南地区特有的自然人文条件,运用GIS空间分析技术与景观格局指数分析居民点分布特征;然后,构建包括限制性评价与适宜性评价两个阶段的西南地区居民点综合评价体系;基于对未来乡村发展趋势的判断,依据公平与效率原则,将现有居民点划分为发展型、保留型及迁并型等3类;在此基础上,运用加权Voronoi图确定重点发展型居民点的增长极引力范围,明确迁并型居民点与保留型居民点的发展方向,最终确定农村居民点布局的优化方案。经过优化,崇龛镇基于效率原则确定出222个重点发展型居民点,节约农村居民点用地0.813km2;石龙镇基于公平原则整理出416个重点发展型居民点,节约农村居民点用地0.301km2。研究能为2个示范镇农村居民点的规划优化提供科学依据,也为西南地区开展新型城镇化规划提供参考。