Firm performance and corporate finance in New Zealand

Low productivity growth in New Zealand has been a paradox. We study New Zealand firms’ profitability, in terms of profit margin and return on assets (ROA), from the viewpoints of productivity enablers using firm-level panel data. We find that tangible fixed investment and a research and development (R&D) tax incentive are associated with higher profitability performance. In addition, the firm size is found to be a key determinant of profit margin. By contrast, we do not find any evidence that intangible investment can improve the profitability. The global financial crisis has not changed the leverage effect on ROA in New Zealand, while the impact of R&D became more prominent after the crisis.     

国内外健康旅游研究述评

基于叙述性文献综述法梳理国内外健康旅游的研究脉络,研究发现国内外对于健康旅游的研究内容和方法具有较大差异。国内健康旅游的研究仍处于起步阶段,研究内容集中于资源开发、产业现状及发展对策等方面,研究中多采用定性研究的方法。国外对于健康旅游的研究范围则从单一类型的水疗旅游逐渐向医疗旅游、保健旅游、旅游动机等细分领域拓展,研究方法的选择更加多元,定性、定量以及定性和定量相结合的方法均具有相当的比例。希望通过对国内外健康旅游研究差异的分析,找到国内在该领域研究的不足,为国内未来在健康旅游领域的研究和健康旅游产业的发展提供思路和指导。     

荷兰食品产业与创新概述

从食品产业来讲,荷兰是一个强国,在全球享有很高声誉,而产学研协同创新是荷兰食品产业取得成功的关键。本文对荷兰食品产业及发展方向、主要食品研发机构和企业,以及"食品谷"等做了简要介绍,以加深对荷兰食品产业的了解,推动中荷在食品领域的合作。     

The Evolving Structure of Chinese R&D Funding and its Implications for the Productivity of Agricultural Biotechnology Research

China’s research and development (R&D) policy has changed considerably over recent decades, and great changes occurred in 2006 when the main programme objective of China’s R&D changed from the 863 Programme and 973 Programme to the National Science and Technology Major Project. One topic that has drawn extensive attention is whether the investment reform improved R&D productivity in China. Using a unique panel dataset from 160 universities, this paper examines the effect of the investment reform on productivity improvement in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. We use a panel count data model with a dynamic feedback mechanism to model the knowledge production process. Strong evidence indicates that the investment reform greatly contributes to knowledge output production in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. We also find that the input quality is more important than the absolute quantity; human research capacity exhibits the greatest contribution to the output of patents; past knowledge accumulation helps produce more patents; and entry barriers to patent production exist in China’s agricultural biotechnology sector. Moreover, the patent explosion in China may have been largely caused by improvements in the human capital input quality.     

Replication and translation of co-innovation: The influence of institutional context in large international participatory research projects

Stakeholder involvement in research processes is widely seen as essential to enhance the applicability of research. A common conclusion in the extensive body of literature on participatory and transdisciplinary research is the importance of the institutional context for understanding the dynamics and effectiveness of participatory projects. The role of institutional context has become increasingly important in view of large international research projects implementing shared participatory methodologies across countries (for example within Horizon 2020 and within CGIAR programmes), which each have different institutional contexts. Despite the generally accepted importance of the institutional context for understanding the unfolding of participatory and transdisciplinary research projects, surprisingly little research has actually looked into its role in greater detail. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by studying how a set of participatory principles and methods in a European project on integrated pest management (denoted as co-innovation in the project under study) was applied by researchers and advisers operating in a single international research project under the institutional conditions of four countries. The principal finding of this study is that, although constraints and enablers of participatory research at the personal level (e.g. researcher identity) were similar across the studied countries, research organisation- and community-based constraints and enablers differed, as well as those at the level of the overall innovation system. The institutions at different levels interact and create country-specific histories and path-dependencies, which lead to different degrees of propensity and preparedness, and hence different starting positions for participatory approaches. Consequently, when participatory research methods and approaches are applied in different contexts following a one-size-fits-all approach they may be less effective if not translated to institutional conditions at different levels. The study suggests that large international participatory research projects make provision in their design for careful selection of project team individuals, the composition of teams, and pay attention to the room for manoeuvre that the project, institute and national contexts provide for participatory research. To support the adjustment of participatory approaches to local institutional conditions, large international projects would benefit from fostering learning spaces that enable reflection on translation to local contexts and are capable of connecting to a wider network of decision makers and influencers that can facilitate institutional change in organisations and innovation systems.     

基于目标值的土地警素指标的预警研究 ——以上海市土地类指标为例

研究目的:探寻基于目标值的土地运行关键指标预警研究的方法,及时提出警戒信息与调控措施。研究方法:采用趋势预测法对警素指标的未来值进行预测,用年均增长率函数倒推法确定目标值倒推值,结合预测值与目标值倒推值确定2015—2020年弹性警界线,采用统计误差理论所得出3σ法则来确定警度界限的区间,采用景气信号灯法判别警情,黄色信号灯表示轻警、红色信号灯重警,采用情景分析法分析不同减量化目标下警情的变化趋势。研究结果:上海市建设用地总规模若按减量递增10%,则2018年后需要保持零增长,若减量递增30%,则增量还有一定上行空间;工业用地占比的预测值在未来5年内都处于红色预警,但警情有较为合理的自下降趋势。研究结论:建设用地应遵循"五量并举"的调控思路,努力实现规划建设用地"负增长"目标;而工业用地则通过加强分类引导,采取二次开发、复合利用等措施,优化用地结构,使工业用地占比回落到正常区间。单一警素指标预警适用于时间序列较长且有目标值的指标,未来的研究重点应在单项预警的基础上,构建以土地要素为核心的多要素安全综合预警体系。     

The Land Administration Domain Model – A literature survey

The international standard for land administration, LADM, ISO 19152, has been the subject of numerous research activities during the last one and a half decade, with topics ranging from technical implementation issues and the registration of real property to legal and organisational aspects. However, some areas have been more researched than others.The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the research as evidenced by research publications 2001–2015 to discuss the distribution of interest areas within LADM research.In total 184 publications on LADM have been analysed in the study. The result shows that technical and real property registration issues have been in focus throughout the surveyed period, whereas there has been less focus on research on legal and organisational matters. There has, however, in recent years been an slight increase in legal research, whereas research on organisational matters, such as efficiency and how to organise and manage interests in land and the benefits and costs for implementing the standard, still is lacking in comparison with the other investigated fields of research, and should be an important area to research now during the implementation phase of LADM.     

A new professionalism for agricultural research for development

There have been repeated calls for a ‘new professionalism’ for carrying out agricultural research for development since the 1990s. At the centre of these calls is a recognition that for agricultural research to support the capacities required to face global patterns of change and their implications on rural livelihoods, requires a more systemic, learning focused and reflexive practice that bridges epistemologies and methodologies. In this paper, we share learning from efforts to mainstream such an approach through a large, multi-partner CGIAR research program working in aquatic agricultural systems. We reflect on four years of implementing research in development (RinD), the program’s approach to the new professionalism. We highlight successes and challenges and describe the key characteristics that define the approach. We conclude it is possible to build a program on a broader approach that embraces multidisciplinarity and engages with stakeholders in social-ecological systems. Our experience also suggests caution is required to ensure there is the time, space and appropriate evaluation methodologies in place to appreciate outcomes different to those to which conventional agricultural research aspires.     

The public R&D and productivity growth in Australia's broadacre agriculture: is there a link?

This paper investigates the dynamic relationships between research and development (R&D) expenditure and productivity growth in Australian broadacre agriculture using aggregate time series data for the period 1953 to 2009. The results show a cointegrating relationship between R&D and productivity growth and a unidirectional causality from R&D to TFP (total factor productivity) growth in Australian broadacre agriculture. Using the dynamic properties of the model, data from beyond the sample period are analysed by employing the variance decomposition and the impulse response function. The findings reveal that R&D can be readily linked to the variation in productivity growth beyond the sample period. Furthermore, the forecasting results indicate that a significant out‐of‐sample relationship exists between public R&D and productivity in broadacre agriculture.     

The Evolution of Marketing Channel Research Domains and Methodologies: An Integrative Review and Future Directions

Marketing channels are among the most important elements of any value chain. This is because the bulk of a nation's manufacturing output flows through them. The intermediaries (e.g., distributors, wholesalers, retailers) constituting marketing channels perform specific distribution functions, such as transportation, storage, sales, financing, and relationship building, better than most manufacturers. Over his distinguished career, Louis P. Bucklin investigated many questions about the structuring and functioning of marketing channels using conceptual, empirical, and microeconomics model-based methodologies. Today, the academic marketing literature contains hundreds of articles that have employed these three broad classes of methodologies to investigate issues of channel intermediaries’ interorganizational relationships, for example, power-dependence, relational outcomes, conflict and negotiations, and manufacturing firms’ channel strategy, for example, channel structure, selection, coordination and control. So far, however, there has been no review of how the three different methodologies have contributed to advancing knowledge across this set of channels research domains. This paper is the first that aims to (1) chart how channels research employing each of the three classes of methodologies – conceptual, empirical, microeconomics model-based – has evolved over seven decades along with current trends; (2) review the contributions and shortcomings of research to date using these methodologies; and (3) suggest future research opportunities using these methodologies, separately or in an integrated fashion.