数字化转型与企业人力资本升级

企业在数字化转型过程中是否会增加对高技能劳动力的需求,进而优化企业的人力资本结构？基于2013-2020年中国A股上市公司员工雇佣数据,本文对上述问题进行考察并分析其作用渠道。结果显示,数字化转型显著提升了企业本科及以上学历员工的占比,即优化了企业的人力资本结构,且该效应在低融资约束企业、非技术密集型行业和东部地区更为明显。作用机制检验证实,数字化转型显著增加了企业的固定资产投资和研发投资,扩大了企业经营规模,进而促使企业增加对高技能劳动力的需求。进一步研究发现,数字化转型显著提升了企业经营效率,同时增加了高管和普通员工的工资。上述结论表明,企业数字化转型具有技能偏向性特征,有助于企业劳动力结构转型升级。本文研究对数字经济背景下深入理解企业劳动力结构升级变化具有一定参考意义。     

数字时代的银行业变迁——网点布局与行业结构

数字技术可以帮助市场主体重构组织模式,数字经济时代的金融业也因此迎来变革。本文基于2014年至2019年我国县级行政区数据,研究发现,数字金融的发展显著减缓了我国银行业金融机构实体网点的扩张势头,这种效应主要体现在股份制商业银行和城市商业银行上,并主要影响这两类银行的基层机构。同时,我们发现数字金融的发展加快了农村合作金融机构的转型和网点退出,但对国有“六大行”没有显著影响。进一步研究发现,数字金融的影响效果会随着经济发展程度提高和地区金融可得性增加而增强,但随着在位银行的市场势力提升而下降。本文为理解数字经济时代银行业的变迁提供了一定参考。     

数字化技术作用下产品与服务创新：综述及展望

制造企业服务化过程中伴随着产品创新和服务创新，且两类创新协同演进是推动服务化进程的重要力量。当前，服务化研究大多以此为基点，探讨两类创新的关系，并且随着服务化的“数字化”特征越发明显，大多数学者从技术层面提出数字化技术对两类创新的促进作用。然而，鲜有学者考虑数字化技术对两类创新关系的影响，在一定程度上制约了数字服务化研究与实践。为此，首先通过系统回顾相关文献，分析两类创新的相互作用及其耦合困境；其次，厘清数字化技术促进两类创新的前因、过程与结果，并据此解析数字化技术增强两类创新耦合效应的作用机理；最后，提出该主题未来可拓展研究的三大方向。     

The effect of a magazine’s free digital content on its print circulation: Cannibalization or complementarity?

We examine how offering digital content affects demand for print magazines. Using a searchable website archive, we measure the digital content offered by a sample of US consumer magazines from 1996 to 2001. We find strong evidence that digital content cannibalizes print sales. On average, a magazine’s print circulation declines about 3–4% when it offers a website. However, the effect varies with the type of digital content offered. Offering digital access to the entire contents of the current print magazine reduces print sales by about 9%. We find no evidence that digital content complements print magazines. These results are robust to including controls for unobserved magazine, category, and time effects, as well as controls for the impact of contemporaneous price changes and other factors.     

The effect of permanent product discounts and order coupons on purchase incidence,purchase quantity,and spending

This paper examines the influence of a permanent discount strategy on customer purchase behavior, i.e., purchase incidence in each week, purchase quantity (in units), and total order spending (in CNY). Permanent discounts are defined as discounts continuously provided by retailers. We identify two types of permanent discounts, namely, product-specific price discounts (PD) and order coupons (OD, which can be redeemed for a total order). We collect transactional data from a Chinese online retailer and empirically examine the effects of the two types of permanent discounts and customers’ expectations of PD and OD. We find nonlinear relationships between permanent discounts and customer purchase behavior. PDs negatively influence spending when they are lower than 19% but show a positive effect beyond this threshold, hence depicting a U-shaped relationship. They also affect purchase quantity positively but at a decreasing rate. Customer expectations of PD influence purchase incidence, spending, and purchase quantity following a U-shaped patter with a positive influence appearing when PD expectations are high than 31%, 27%, and 18% respectively. On the other hand, ODs influence spending and purchase quantity positively at an increasing rate. Customer expectations of OD influence purchase incidence, spending, and purchase quantity following a U-shaped relationship where the positive influence on purchase incidence shows beyond OD expectations of 426 CNY, and the positive effect appearing on spending and purchase quantity when these expectations are higher than 34 CNY. We also find that customer expectations of discounts interact with current discount levels in their influence on spending. Combining these results and considering that order coupons negatively affect the profit margin of the total basket, we suggest that retailers should offer order coupons with relatively low value but product-specific price discounts with high discount depth.     

The forthcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution: Its impact on society and firms

The impact of the industrial and digital (information) revolutions has, undoubtedly, been substantial on practically all aspects of our society, life, firms and employment. Will the forthcoming AI revolution produce similar, far-reaching effects? By examining analogous inventions of the industrial, digital and AI revolutions, this article claims that the latter is on target and that it would bring extensive changes that will also affect all aspects of our society and life. In addition, its impact on firms and employment will be considerable, resulting in richly interconnected organizations with decision making based on the analysis and exploitation of “big” data and intensified, global competition among firms. People will be capable of buying goods and obtaining services from anywhere in the world using the Internet, and exploiting the unlimited, additional benefits that will open through the widespread usage of AI inventions. The paper concludes that significant competitive advantages will continue to accrue to those utilizing the Internet widely and willing to take entrepreneurial risks in order to turn innovative products/services into worldwide commercial success stories. The greatest challenge facing societies and firms would be utilizing the benefits of availing AI technologies, providing vast opportunities for both new products/services and immense productivity improvements while avoiding the dangers and disadvantages in terms of increased unemployment and greater wealth inequalities.     

数据的要素化过程及其与传统产业数字化的融合机制研究

从生产过程和价值创造来看,数据具备了传统生产要素所具备的功能,但又具有区别于传统生产要素的新特征。数据作为一种新型生产要素,对于数字产业化的高速发展和传统产业数字化进程的深入推进,具有关键作用。数据要素的形成和发展一方面需要与数字产业化、产业数字化融合发展进程相适应;另一方面,数据要素的形成过程本身又是与传统产业数字化进程的一个深度技术融合过程。因而,多样化和异质性的数据要素,其实质乃是数字技术与传统产业专用性技术融合的结果,其间的融合机制表现为深化、促进和多元性。     

数字普惠金融的创业效应与收入不平等:数字鸿沟还是数字红利？

数字普惠金融与实体经济之间的关系受到学界广泛关注,但其究竟是普惠的数字红利还是金融领域的数字鸿沟,这是数字普惠金融快速发展中亟需回答的重要理论与现实问题。文章通过匹配宏观统计数据和微观调查数据,实证研究了数字普惠金融的发展对收入不平等的影响,并从创业效应这一渠道进行了机制分析。研究发现：数字普惠金融的发展总体上改善了收入不平等状况,而数字普惠金融的创业效应是影响收入不平等的重要渠道之一。进一步的中介效应分析表明,数字普惠金融的创业效应对收入不平等的影响存在异质性：数字普惠金融通过促进生存型创业从而改善了收入不平等,而数字普惠金融对机会型创业的促进却在一定程度上扩大了收入不平等。文章的研究结论对于理解数字普惠金融发展的正外部性以及如何缓解收入不平等提供了新的视角。     

The significance of digital data systems for smart city policy

Our planet is gradually moving towards an urbanized world. Modern urban agglomerations tend to turn nowadays into advanced information hubs supporting a smart management of dynamic urban systems. The currently popular notion of ‘smart cities’ aims to provide a new perspective for sustainable and high-performance strategies of city stakeholders in our ‘urban century’. In this context, digital information technology provides a new tool for efficient and effective management and planning of urban space, inter alia in the field of transportation, environment, public facilities or advanced service provision to citizens. This paper aims to offer, first, a concise overview of the emerging opportunities of information and communication technology (ICT) for smart urban policy; digital technology in particular, appears to provide novel pathways for modern planning strategies in smart cities. Against this background, the paper sketches out the complex force field of global urbanisation phenomena and highlights the data and information needs for strategic planning of cities (using inter alia as a framework the so-called ‘urban piazza’ strategy framework). Secondly, various new decision support tools that are currently emerging and that offer a new promising scope for handling complex urban management issues (for instance, on accessibility, congestion, safety or sustainability) are briefly presented. And finally, the potential of such digital data systems for urban management and policy is concisely illustrated by means of some recent applications in the area of smartphone data systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges ahead for urban policy, inter alia by paying attention to institutional and governance aspects of ‘big digital data’ management in urban systems.     

数字化赋能视角下突发公共事件应急管理系统研究——以新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情为例

基于应对新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情治理的实践背景，以数字化赋能理论为分析视角，从结构赋能、资源赋能和心理赋能3个层面提出数字化赋能应急管理的内在机制。在此基础上，结合“共同治理”和“元治理”理念，对数字化赋能情境下突发公共事件合作治理系统目标、构成主体和运作机制进行探索性研究。结合案例探讨公民参与、数字化赋能如何进一步提升国家治理能力，对我国新时期应急治理体系完善和治理能力现代化建设具有一定启示意义。