纵向分离能否提高企业全要素生产率?——基于电力产业"厂网分开"的研究

中国电力行业一直延续纵向分离的改革路径，继发电环节从一体化垄断结构中分离之后，2015年新一轮的电力体制改革又提出输配售电业务分离、推进电力市场化交易的目标。不同纵向结构下，电力产业链上下游企业的博弈均衡显示纵向分离改革可提高上游发电环节的竞争性，减少效率损失。进一步基于微观发电企业数据，通过双重差分及倾向得分匹配模型考察“厂网分开”这一准自然实验的效果，研究结果显示，纵向分离改革显著提升了发电企业的效率。现阶段应继续推进输配售分离改革，通过供给侧和需求侧的互动响应使上游发电环节的效率收益纵向传递，提高消费者福利。     

破解“化工围江”难题的“湖北样本”和“江苏样本”

长江经济带化工产业在全国化工发展格局中占据重要地位。在长江经济带沿线11省份中，湖北省、江苏省化工产业规模位居前列，在化工产业快速发展的同时，“化工围江”难题日益凸显。湖北省、江苏省先后颁布实施一系列规划与政策，引导化工产业转型升级发展，成为破解“化工围江”难题的典型样本。通过对比分析“湖北样本”和“江苏样本”，得到破解“化工围江”难题的启示：科学理念引导化工产业绿色发展；规划先行推动化工产业创新发展；政策支持保障化工产业健康发展。     

Exogenous shocks and managerial preparedness: A study of U.S. airlines’ environmental scanning before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

Managerial preparedness is a constant concern for firm stakeholders. This concern is exacerbated during times of immense stress brought about by exogenous shocks. In this paper, we analyze the preparedness of U.S. commercial airline management teams to the largest systematic exogenous shock to date, namely the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 and 2020. We do this by underpinning the paper with theory on environmental scanning and managerial dysfunction and then documenting the signals and actions of management around multiple public health scares. These include the SARS outbreak, the Swine Flu outbreak and the COVID-19 outbreak. Our results, based off of corporate filings with the SEC, is that airline management had multiple “dry runs” before the COVID-19 outbreak that should have lead them to prepare for financially catastrophic scenarios such as the one observed in 2020. Instead, management teams failed to learn from these, and other, prior shocks. Instead, they focused on other, less serious threats while diffusing their financial buffers through dividends and share buybacks.     

The impacts of COVID-19 on the global airline industry: An event study approach

This study examines the short-term impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak on 52 listed airline companies around the world by using event study methodology. The results demonstrate that airline stock returns decline more significantly than the market returns after three major COVID-19 announcements were made. Overall, investors react differently during the three selected events. The strongest overreaction is noted in the post-event period of the World Health Organization's and President Trump's official announcements. Moreover, the findings confirm that traders in Western countries are more responsive to recent information than the rest of the world. The findings call for immediate policy designs in order to alleviate the impact of the pandemic in the airline industry around the globe.     

铁路空铁联运车站发展分析及建议

空铁联运是综合交通一体化发展的重要组成部分,欧美国家已积累了许多经验,我国也逐渐出现一批与民航机场建设在一起的铁路车站,探索空铁联运的发展模式。对现有铁路空铁联运车站的布局特征、服务特征和运量特征进行分析,总结规律、提出建议,为我国空铁联运的发展方向提供参考。     

Corporate brand strategy: Drivers and outcomes of hotel industry’s brand orientation

The MNC resellers are vastly competitive and capital-intensive. Based on the corporate brand orientation, the objective is to investigate how the individual dimensions of hotel industry’s brand orientation can improve a corporate experience and subsequently create superior hotel performance and retailer preferences. A model of the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation was tested in a survey conducted among MNC resellers from hospitality industry. Structural equation modelling was applied to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. The research makes two main contributions. It makes a theoretical contribution by classifying the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation for hospitality industry and from this extrapolate key suggestions for further study. The continuous evolution and economic influence of the hospitality industry require the application of innovative marketing practices.     

Informing timeshare exchange services on the drivers of customer-driven co-production

Given the continued growth of the timeshare segment and its unique characteristics as an owned leisure lodging product, adopting a service-dominant logic and developing opportunities for co-creation is highly relevant for companies that provide services to this industry. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to explore the drivers that lead to customer-driven co-production in timeshare exchange services, due to the popularity of this option among consumers owning timeshare. Our results indicate that interaction between timeshare owners as customers of the exchange company is a significant driver of customer-driven co-production. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore customer-driven co-production in the timeshare industry. Moreover, our findings are highly significant for timeshare exchange companies and point them to potential areas of improvement in their service processes that could lead to higher customer-driven co-production and, consequently, more valuable experiences.     

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 intervention policies on the hospitality labor market

Using new high-frequency data that covers a representative sample of small businesses in the United States, this study investigates the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting state policies on the hospitality industry. First, business closure policies are associated with a 20–30% reduction of non-salaried workers in the food/drink and leisure/entertainment sectors during March-April of 2020. Second, business reopening policies play a statistically significant role in slowly reviving the labor market. Third, considerable differences exist in the impact of policies on the labor market by state. Fourth, the rise of new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis is associated with the continued deterioration of the labor market. Lastly, managerial, practical, and economic implications are described.     

Retail trade and payment innovations in the digital era: a cross-industry and multi-country approach

Abstract

This article introduces a novel approach to payment innovations. It t identifies a cross-industry (retail trade and retail banking) and multi-country (USA, some Western European countries and Japan) approach to the interaction between these industries and the new retail payment systems from the 1970s to the mid 1990s. It documents and discusses the different trajectories that have been seen in the different competitive environments, particularly in regard to payment cards. It also analyses the involvement of bankers and retailers in the evolution of card payment systems and their contribution to the global adoption of bank cards. These processes have occurred within a framework in which sectoral boundaries have taken precedence over the payment alternatives associated with cross-industry solutions.     

Risk of poverty in Southern Europe

We analyze whether the risk of poverty deteriorates with the crisis in France, Greece, Italy and Spain, for different categories of households, individual features and policy instruments, such as the regional European Structural Funds. We find that the impact of the economic recession was heterogeneous, deteriorating the status of temporary workers, self-employed, single and female-headed households, while the risk of poverty decreased relatively for larger households with dependent children and elderly members. We also find that targeted funds toward human capital investment are associated to decreasing the risk of poverty, but the crisis slowed down their effects.