Socio‐demographic factors and shared leadership behaviors in dispersed teams: Implications for human resource management

Companies increasingly make use of geographically dispersed teams to capture knowledge residing at different locations. In this context, shared leadership is considered a key enabler of team performance. Taking a functional perspective on shared leadership, we thus investigate the relationship between shared leadership behaviors and team performance in dispersed teams. Furthermore, we analyze how socio‐demographic factors that are characteristic for dispersed teams (i.e., high female‐to‐male ratio, high mean age, and high levels of national diversity) affect shared leadership behaviors. Based on data from 96 dispersed teams, we show that shared leadership behavior fosters team performance. Further, we find the socio‐demographic characteristics typical for dispersed teams to foster shared leadership. Theoretical and managerial implications for human resource management are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

城市空间的生产方法论探析

“空间的生产”是新马克思主义城市学派的核心概念.哈维在发扬“空间的生产”理论并将其用于城市问题研究上具有代表性.其城市空间分析的方法论特点有三:立足于自身问题；自由和富有批判性；阶级分析和文艺分析相结合.国内案例研究反映出微观与宏观、时间与空间尺度结合的重要性.     

The impact of cash transfers on household welfare in Namibia

Namibia has a long history of providing a universal and non-contributory old age pension, child grants using means testing and quasi-conditionalities, and other cash transfers. Multivariate analysis presented in this paper confirms that these transfers play an important role in alleviating poverty, especially for the very poor. The poverty-reducing effects of the child grants are likely to increase further as access is being rapidly expanded. However, the impact in terms of reducing Namibia's extremely high inequality is limited. The targeting of the cash transfers towards the poorest groups takes place through two main channels. For the child grant, targeting occurs as a result of the orphan status eligibility criteria, as orphans are over-represented in lower-income households. For the universal social pension, it appears that some of the relatively less poor do not receive it even if they are eligible. Means testing of child grants appears ineffective, even without considering administrative costs.     

Capital Structure,Corporate Taxation and Firm Age*

This paper analyses the relationship between corporate taxation, firm age and debt. We adapt a standard model of capital structure choice under corporate taxation, focusing on the financing and investment decisions typically faced by a firm. Our model suggests that the debt ratio is associated positively with the corporate tax rate and negatively with firm age. Further, we predict that the tax-induced advantage of debt is more important for older firms than for younger ones. To test these hypotheses empirically, we use a cross-section of around 405,000 firms from 35 European countries and 127 NACE three-digit industries. In line with previous research, we find that a firm's debt ratio increases with the corporate tax rate. Further, we observe that older firms exhibit smaller debt ratios than their younger counterparts. Finally, consistent with our theoretical model, we find a positive interaction between corporate taxation and firm age, indicating that the impact of corporate taxation on debt increases over a firm's lifetime.     

美国人何以养老——美国养老保险体系与可持续研究

美国的养老保险体系是由国家通过税收筹资的基本养老基金、企业建立的以401(k)计划和个人退休帐户(IRAs)为主的职业养老金计划以及相当完善的商业养老保险共同构成的三支柱式养老保险体系。通过具体分析美国国家基本养老和企业职业养老基金的构成、收入来源、支出水平以及可持续能力,说明美国养老保险体系是一个制度完善、可持续能力较强的养老保险范例,值得我国借鉴。     

南社诗人周斌及其《柳溪竹枝词》考论

以南社诗人周斌的生平及其文学创作为考察对象,重点研究了其《柳溪竹枝词》的诸多题辞序跋及诗作本身所蕴含的文学、历史、民俗、语言学等方面的价值,认为周斌的经历与创作在南社中具有典型意义,南社研究应加大对社团内中小作家的关注。他们对丰富现代文学的创作生态作出了不可磨灭的贡献,也应该引起现代文学研究者的重视。     

中国退休年龄面临的挑战与选择

中国退休年龄总体偏低,需要逐步提高退休年龄。欧洲一些国家提高退休年龄引发动荡,警醒中国应尽快将提高退休年龄纳入议程,并稳步推进改革。建议用较长的时间逐步将男职工退休年龄提高到63岁,将女职工退休年龄提高到60岁。并通过采取实行弹性退休和抑制提前退休等措施,为逐步提高退休年龄打下基础。     

Core decisional values and deciders demographic variables in Romanian organizauons

The present study attempts to build an exploratory model of leadership analysis, based on which the organizational leaders and managers can answer three critical questions for leadership practice： （1） Which are the core decisional values the top management should take into account when adopting critical decisions？ （2） Which latent attitudes （constructs or factors） might generate these values in CEOs＇ and followers＇ behavior？ （3） Do the latent attitudes differ with the respondents＇ gender, age and educational background？ The research belongs to the field of value based leadership theories. The data is collected from a sample of 94 CEOs and 599 direct followers from three complex fields of activity： mining and forestry, manufacturing and construction, respectively, services. The main outcomes are： （1） The most important decisional values should be （in order）： customer satisfaction, firm＇s profitability, product/service quality, sales volume growth and cost control; （2） These values are generated by the following latent attitudes （of CEOs and followers）： social responsibility for community and environment; ethical responsibility for minorities and women; market performance responsibility and, respectively, responsibility for employees and customers; （3） Market performance responsibility significantly differs according to respondents gender; social responsibility for community and environment significantly differs with respondents age, while both types of responsibility significantly differ according to respondents educational background. It seems that ethical responsibility for minorities and women and, respectively, responsibility for employees and customers are not influenced by respondents＇ demographic variables.     

How industrial salespeople gain customer trust

This study investigated how industrial salespeople gain the trust of their customers. Results show that trust increases as the customer gains the impression that the salesperson is dependable, honest, competent, customer oriented, and likeable. Based on the results, a general model of trust building is suggested.     

Key problems facing industrial distributors

This article reports on a survey of the problems faced by industrial distributors. Five major problem categories are identified and managerial implications are derived from the findings.