External linkages and product innovation in small manufacturing firms

The requirement for small firms to collaborate, as a means to supplementing and complementing limited internal resources, has dominated much of the academic and policy debate on regional development and small firm innovation throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, relatively little empirical work has sought to look further than simple frequency enumeration - noting that the most innovative and better performing firms are generally more likely to have links with external organizations. Based upon a sample of 228 small West Midlands' manufacturers, this study considers the source, function, geography and strength of innovation-related co-operation. While the general findings point to innovators making greater use of external linkages, of certain types and in particular directions (notably the preponderance of vertical value chain linkages), the results are less emphatic than might have been anticipated. This leads to consideration of the factors contributing to and impeding joint innovation and the firms' perceptions of the impact of innovation. From this, it appears that much of the observed difference between innovators and non-innovators lies in less objective measures. The data suggest the importance of inter-personal dynamics, attitude and expectations in facilitating successful collaboration.     

Performance Contracting In Practice: Experience and lessons from the water sector in Ghana

This article provides some insights into how performance contracting works in practice in a developing country context, using the case of the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC). Performance contracting has been a useful instrument for restructuring the state-owned enterprises (SOE) sector in Ghana, and the GWSC has made some moderate improvements since its introduction. However, the article highlights some of the institutional constraints and capacity issues that reformers will have to pay attention to, including overstretched capacity of the monitoring agency, a weak information management system and inconsistent compliance to contract by government. The findings also highlight the difficulty of separating politics from operational/management issues, especially in politically sensitive public services, yet performance contracting relies on such separation to be effective. Also it shows how informal behaviour undermines the formality of performance contracting.     

项目挣值的绩效差异分析方法缺陷与解决方案

随着各种项目管理体制和方法的全面转型,我国需要借鉴和运用国际通行的项目挣值管理(EVM)绩效评估方法。然而,现有EVM绩效评估方法中存在着将实际多个项目要素影响简化为项目成本和进度两要素造成的绩效评估失真和信息缺失的实际问题与理论缺陷。本文将全面讨论现有的EVM方法,并给出有关解决方案及实务验证。     

重大保险风险测试及其对再保险定价的影响

2010年我国保险行业实施《企业会计准则解释第2号》后,在保费收入的会计确认上发生了重大变化,要求保险公司对签订的再保险保单进行重大保险风险测试。重大保险风险测试对再保险保单的影响重大,本文主要阐述重大保险风险测试问题的提出以及主要测试方法,并从实务角度出发,分析我国的重大保险风险测试规定对临时再保险、非比例合约再保险和比例合约再保险等再保险保单定价的影响。     

新疆中小民营企业核心竞争力的构建与培育

中小型民营企业只有培育核心竞争力，才能在日趋激烈的竞争中取得优势。本文分析了新疆中小民营企业核心竞争力的现状，针对其存在的问题提出了培育中小民营企业核心竞争力的途径。     

How to learn new tasks: Shop floor performance effects of knowledge transfer and performance feedback

We investigate how learning and the task performance of individuals are affected by different forms of knowledge transfer. Whereas previous research has proven the positive performance impacts of knowledge transfer, self-observation and feedback mechanisms individually, we explore the cumulative effect of these factors on learning and performance. With the help of two laboratory experimental studies reproducing manufacturing tasks that are typical for industrial production, we show that explicit knowledge transfer is superior to other forms of knowledge transfer. Externally provided performance feedback in the form of cost information and non-financial performance indicators has no effect on the order of different forms of knowledge transfer. Moreover, external feedback does not even have an additional significant performance effect on learning new tasks irrespective of the type of knowledge transfer.     

新疆企业用工需求与劳动力供给问题调查研究

发展是第一要务，是解决新疆一切问题的基础。中央新疆工作座谈会的召开，19个省市的大力支持，以及中央出台的一系列特殊优惠政策和措施，为新疆大建设、大开放、大发展提供了前所未有的历史机遇。疆内众多企业在此大环境下抓住有利时机，增加订单，扩大产能，千方百计加快发展。此时企业用工需求量也在大幅增加，出现了“招工难”、“用工荒”的社会现象，已影响到企业的生产经营和发展前景。本文立足新疆实际，采用问卷调查的方法，对当前企业用工和劳动力供给状况以及存在的问题开展调查研究，深刻剖析了企业劳动力供给与需求不匹配的原因和症结，并提出政策建议。     

Updating Seminal Studies of Entrepreneurial Researchers in the 60's to the 90's

ABSTRACT

As early as the 1960's various researchers of African and Nigerian small business and entrepreneurship like P. Schatz, P. Kilby, J. Harris and M. Rowe, A. Ale, W. Nafziger, J. Wilde and others have been debating. Their argument is with attempt to trace and identify the factors which continue to stunt the growth and development of small and medium enterprises (SME's) and entrepreneurship in Africa and in Nigeria. The investigations carried out by these and other researchers on this subject should be accepted as pertinent and justifiable. This is especially so, in consideration of the abundant availability of both natural and mineral resources for use as raw materials within the continent. In addition, enormous amount of funds has been expended alongside immense attention and effort by governments towards the development of small-scale industries and entrepreneurship. A number of external factors therefore, like inadequate infrastructure, scarcity of machines, spare parts and equipment, lack of information, paucity of raw material supplies and problem with government policies and officials as well as cultural factors have been identified among the most serious obstacles. Internal factors such as poor organizational planning, problems of succession, inadequate re-investment of profits, lack of capital and poor managerial skills have also been noted by other researchers as main growth barriers. This research updated earlier work done by these different groups of researchers with reference to the small plastics manufacturing sector in Nigeria to see if there have been any changes in the last 10-30 years of study. The findings revealed that there has hardly been any significant difference in terms of improvement especially of external constraints observed between the 1960's and 1990's. However, the study found a number of progressive internal improvements being applied in other small plastic manufacturing businesses. Recently, some small plastics manufacturing entrepreneurs on their own initiative have learned to create and innovate various ways of coping with constraints facing their businesses independently.     

珠三角中小企业融资问题研究

银行与企业之间信息不对称是中小企业融资难的重要原因,在信息严重不对称条件下,金融机构贷款行为也发生了很大变化:它们对企业实行惜贷、信贷配给和更高的抵押要求,这严重影响了资源的优化配置。所以,必须建立新型银企关系、整合地方资源,发挥地方性中小金融机构的作用、完善信用担保体系,这有助于解决珠三角中小企业融资难问题。     

金融企业规模与效益的相关性分析——基于我国39家上市金融公司的实证研究

近年来，国内金融企业为迎接经济全球化的挑战，纷纷上市。通过实证可发现2007年到2011年上市金融公司的规模呈逐年上升的态势，映射了近年来金融企业热衷于资产扩张的强劲趋势。研究表明，我国上市的金融公司的规模和效益呈轻度负相关。金融企业规模逐年扩大，相对地放松了对与资产相应的收益的要求，其主要的原因是收购和兼并浪潮使资产规模越来越大，政府的扶持和政策的导向使得大型金融机构受到过度保护，以及大型金融企业开始大规模涉足资本市场业务，特别是海外资本市场业务。因此，金融企业需要大力提高经营管理的能力，以规模经济为目标，加强资产负债率的管理，限制高风险业务。