Digital Platforms and the Nature of the Firm

Abstract:

Digital platforms turn traditional approaches of the firm, which relied on the wage relation to explain the major difference between firm and market, upside down and underline the advantages of coordination through organization over coordination through market. This study aims to propose a definition of the firm able to integrate, besides the integrated firm, also hybrid forms such as networks of subcontractor/subcontracting firms as well as atypical forms such as digital platforms. By reactivating the firm-boundary problem, this article suggests putting valorization by labor at the heart of the firm’s decisions concerning integration. It suggests therefore a general definition of the firm as a techno-institutional center of capital valorization, provided that firms make profits by means of the appropriation of labor incorporated into their (productive, structural, intellectual) capital through institutional arrangements. By stressing the relation of production between the owners of the means of production and the direct producers, the approach of the firm supported here should allow to cover the different existing models of the firm, from the classical firm to hybrid models, around which the boundary debate has revolved, to digital platforms.     

What satisfies younger versus older employees,and why? An aging perspective on equity theory to explain interactive effects of employee age,monetary rewards,and task contributions on job satisfaction

In light of increasingly age-diverse workforces, organizations face the challenge of fostering job satisfaction among both younger and older employees. Combining equity theory with an aging perspective, we propose that due to age-related shifts in motives and goals, younger versus older employees’ job satisfaction will depend differently on monetary rewards (outcome side of equity theory), task contributions (input side of equity theory), as well as on imbalances (inequity) in the relationship between monetary rewards and task contributions. In a multisource study with 166 managers, we found that while younger employees were satisfied primarily by monetary rewards, older employees were satisfied primarily by their task contributions. Most importantly, a three-way interaction indicated that younger versus older employees react differently to two types of inequity: Being proportionally over-rewarded (i.e., receiving high monetary rewards for low task contributions) reduced older (but not of younger) employees’ job satisfaction. By contrast, under-reward inequity (i.e., receiving low monetary rewards for high task contributions) decreased younger (but not of older) employees’ job satisfaction. These age-dependent effects of job features on job satisfaction reveal important theoretical as well as practical implications.     

数字普惠金融对地方税收影响的实证研究

采用北京大学测度的2011—2018年数字普惠金融指数与地方税收面板数据，研究了数字普惠金融发展与地方税收之间的关系。研究发现，数字普惠金融能够显著地促进地方税收增长，在考虑了内生性等因素后，这一结论仍然稳健地成立。分位数回归表明，数字普惠金融在低分位数上对地方税收影响小且统计显著性弱，在高分位数上数字普惠金融对地方税收的影响大且统计显著性强。数字普惠金融对地方税收的影响存在门槛效应，在不同发展阶段，其对地方税收影响有显著差异。数字普惠金融促进税收增长主要是通过数字普惠金融覆盖广度提高和移动化、便利化等程度加深实现的。     

基于数字足迹的乡村旅游流空间结构特征--以浙江省湖州市为例

乡村旅游是乡村振兴的有效路径,也是近年来研究热点,而在乡村旅游流领域研究相对不足。以湖州乡村旅游地为案例,通过对大样本数字足迹的数据处理,分析乡村旅游流空间结构特征,总结空间行为偏好。结果表明:①乡村旅游数字足迹呈现全年双峰值、月度差异不大的时间特征,"双核"多组团的空间分布特征,以及古镇、古村、民宿等带有文化符号旅游景观导向的空间偏好特征;②网络密度0.27的乡村旅游流空间结构由连接度高的34个节点构成,除核心吸引的双核外,民宿集聚区构成了网络结构的核心点;③传统旅游吸引物、民宿集聚区等节点呈现较强的网络中心性,节点的网络结构特征反映乡村旅游流空间呈现的地理临近性,以及区域空间集聚、扩散与联动发展效应。依据研究结论提出"完善与发挥节点集聚扩散功能,增强节点对数字足迹的有效吸引力,提升乡村旅游经济发展质量,助力乡村振兴"的发展策略。     

CEO age and tax planning

This study investigates the association between CEO age and corporate tax planning. Using a sample of 11,537 firm‐year observations from the fiscal year 1997–2013, I find CEO age exerts an economically significant influence on firms’ tax policies, incremental to economic determinants identified in prior research. Specifically, CEO age is positively related to cash and GAAP effective tax rates, and negatively related to permanent book‐tax difference, suggesting that older CEOs are less likely to take actions to lower tax burden. The results hold across different model specifications and robustness tests to address potential bias arising from endogeneity, sample selection issue, and the confounding effect of CEO tenure.     

Beta and firm age

We document a robust pattern of beta declining over the age of a firm. We find that changes in systematic risk via firm characteristics and life-cycle stages are insufficient to explain this pattern. Moreover, standard proxies for the quantity and quality of information also explain this pattern only partially. To fully explain this pattern we rely on the increasingly important role of familiarity in financial decision making: familiarity is a determinant of beta and firm age is a proxy for the degree of familiarity that investors feel toward individual stocks. To illustrate the implication of our findings, we document that when we control for firm age there is support for the CAPM and its use as an input for the cost of equity capital calculation.     

Attitudes of ageing passengers to air travel since the coronavirus pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the demand for air transport. One passenger segment that has received relatively little attention is ageing passengers (defined as aged 65+), in spite of the fact that this group has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, and in recent years has been viewed as a potential growth market. Therefore, the aim of this brief paper is to analyse the attitudes of ageing passengers by assessing air travel plans in the next 12 months, examining the factors influencing future flying decisions, and investigating the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on perceived risks and experiences associated with flying. The findings show that over 60% of ageing passengers are planning to travel by air in the next 12 months, although the nature of their trips may change. Factors such as flexible ticket booking and quarantine rules do not appear to be key drivers affecting travel decisions and within the different stages of the air journey, getting to/from the airport is perceived as the safest stage. The findings suggest that there are various COVID-19 implications for airlines and airports serving this market segment, ranging from the use of self-service technology, the generation of commercial/ancillary revenues and the design of surface access policies.     

I am who I am: Sharing photos on social media by older consumers and its influence on subjective well-being

We are faced with an aging population whose longer lives need to be lived well. Extant marketing scholarship has largely neglected older consumers' behavior in relation to the social media realm and its influence on well-being. This two-stage qualitative study investigates subjective well-being, exploring whether and how sharing photos on social media increases the dimensions of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The findings indicate that photo-sharing is a powerful behavior in augmenting older consumers' well-being as it enables individual self-reflection, self-representation and transforms the individual experience into a collective one. Contributions include, that photo-sharing acts as a bridge in creating, reinforcing but also breaking bonds among older consumers, also a tension exists between the desire for autonomy and the need for relationships with others, and finally that the digital self is a component of subjective well-being in older consumers.     

数字地面模型新进展：TIN2.0、3D表面 塑型线和自由形态建模工具

竖向设计是人类在景观中进行的基本活动。人类对 室外空间的任何干预都涉及对地表形态的设计。在过去的几十 年中，数字设计的发展不仅改变了表现的方法，而且改变了设 计的过程。就地形建模而言，该技术实现了三维可视化和任务 自动化，例如土方计算和自动产生横截面。但在重点考察最新 的建筑信息模型(BIM)如何应用和实施这项技术时，不难发现 地形建模过程并没有充分利用技术带来的潜在优势。实际上， 三维建模工具、基于组件的建模和分析、设计验证，以及协同 设计是可以集成到数字地面模型中的。识别了现有数字建模解 决方案中的主要缺陷并为其进一步发展提供机会，提出了一 项整合性的数字地面模型建模过程，该过程引入了TIN2.0曲 面，对现有的TIN曲面进行了升级，允许在同一曲面中同时存 在规则三角网和不规则三角网，并开发了一套基于三维线和自 由形态设计工具的建模工具，推动风景园林信息模型框架的发 展以满足风景园林师及其他专业人士，如建筑师和土木工程师 进行地形建模的需求。通过案例研究对提出的建模过程进行了 测试和验证。结果表明，生成的数字曲面具有较高精度，可以 具象地表现地形，允许设计过程在三维线或自由形态设计工具 的基础上进行。所有地形建模均在三维数字模型上进行     

数字贸易政策国际比较、发展趋势及启示

随着信息通讯技术的发展,数字贸易作为一种新兴的国际贸易形式得以快速发展,在拓展国际贸易范围和边界的同时,也对全球贸易规则提出新的挑战。本文在分析全球数字贸易发展现状的基础上,重点梳理了美国、欧盟、日本等国家数字贸易政策发展脉络,以及数字贸易的未来发展趋势。然后,本文从中小企业的发展、平台企业的作用、数字贸易规则制定等方面提出对中国数字贸易发展的启示。本文认为,中国作为极具潜力的数字贸易大国,在数字经济发展的驱动下参与并推动建设国际数字贸易治理体系势在必行。