Collaborative cost-cutting: productive efficiency as an interdependency between public organizations

Collaboration between public sector organizations is typically understood as a response to complexity. Agencies collaborate in order to address complex, cross-cutting policy needs that cannot be met individually. However, when organizational size is a constraining factor in public service efficiency, collaboration can also reduce costs by capturing scale economies unavailable to organizations of sub-optimal size. Using organization theory, the article conceptualizes these two different triggers for public sector collaboration, and builds a framework for tracing their wider impact upon the formation, operation, and outcome of inter-agency partnerships. The framework is illustrated, and its implications for future research are explored.     

基于生态位理论的浙江省区域农产品质量竞争力评价研究

[目的]把握区域农产品质量竞争力不仅是促进区域农产品富有竞争力的积极方法,也是稳步提升农产品质量安全的重要做法。[方法]文章运用生态位态势理论,构建了以区域为评价主体的农产品质量竞争力评价体系,并从两个层面对浙江省各地级市农产品质量竞争力进行研究。在纵向层面上,测算了各地级市农产品质量竞争力生态位宽度,对各地级市农产品质量竞争力状态进行了评价和排序。在横向层面上,测算了各地级市农产品质量竞争力生态位重叠度,对各地级市农产品质量竞争力的合作程度进行了评价与区分。最后整合运用生态位协同、生态位扩充等理论,提出浙江省各地级市提升农产品质量竞争力发展策略。[结果]通过区域农产品质量竞争力生态位宽度研究发现,杭州和宁波的农产品质量竞争力较强,其生态位宽度分别为0.103 6和0.103 2,而丽水和舟山农产品质量竞争力相对居后,其生态位宽度分别为0.079 0和0.075 6;通过区域农产品质量竞争力生态位重叠度研究发现,可将全省划分为西北平原区域、东南部沿海区域和西南部山地区域等3个区域,各区域内部地级市可通过协同合作提升农产品质量竞争力。[结论]根据各地级市生态位宽度和生态位重叠度的差异,应采取生态位扩充、生态位协同、生态位分离的策略,从而因地制宜提升区域农产品质量竞争力。     

The exchange regime and trade balance in Turkey

Over the last 15 years, high trade deficits have become a source of external vulnerability for the relatively stabilized Turkish economy. This corresponds to the period where authorities have been following a floating exchange rate regime. Thus, this study aims to empirically show whether the adopted exchange rate regime has an impact on the trade balance for the period of 1987 Q1 to 2015 Q2. Estimation results indicate that there is a long-run relationship between the real effective exchange rate and trade balance under both fixed and floating regimes in Turkey, but there is no evidence for the J-curve hypothesis.     

Advance selling of new products to strategic consumers on flash sale platforms*

Flash sale (FS) is a new business model that offers discounted products in limited numbers over a short period. In this paper we discuss the impact of strategic consumers on advance selling (AS) of new products on FS platforms. We first study the impact of strategic consumers on competing retailers adopting AS to sell a homogeneous new product. And find that the retailers’ AS profits and inventory quantities decrease with the strategic customers’ valuation and valuation decreasing rate. Then we analyse whether FS can mitigate the impact of strategic customers on retailers adopting AS for new products. We consider a newsvendor model involving only one retailer adopting AS to sell a new product. We derive the results by comparing this model with two counterpart models, namely the classical newsvendor model with no strategic customers and a newsvendor model with strategic customers where the retailer does not use FS under AS.     

Political Economy of Regional Integration: The Northeast Asian Model Revisited

It is found that the intra-regional trade share or functional integration plays an important role in the institutionalization of regional integration not only in the European Union (EU) but also in Northeast Asia. The crisis factor, which is measured by the regional economic growth rates, is empirically significant in Northeast Asia but not in the EU. This situation confirms the crisis model for Northeast Asia that emphasizes the stimulating role of crisis for the institutionalization of regional integration. However, the political leadership factor is not empirically significant in Northeast Asia and in the EU, and this finding does not support the political leadership model that emphasizes the facilitating role of political leadership for the institutionalization of regional integration.     

Information and Knowledge as Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes and Intentions to Buy and Recommend Fair-Trade Products

The authors propose and empirically test a causal model to understand how the availability of fair-trade information and consumer knowledge about this issue affect consumers’ attitudes and intentions toward fair-trade products. The model is built upon the attitude-behavior paradigm and the premises of agency theory. It is tested through structural equation modeling with a sample of 292 Spanish consumers. The findings are that consumers do not have good knowledge about fair trade and that this is significantly determined by the lack of information about this in the market. It is also observed that consumers’ perceptions about the availability of fair-trade information have negative effects on their concern about this issue and that such information as is available is not effective in reducing consumer skepticism. The research represents an extension of previous fair-trade literature because the role of information and communication in improving consumer attitudes and buying intentions has rarely been explored in the case of ethical products.     

抵押物处置与农房抵押贷款困境：基于演化博弈的分析

研究目的:分析农民住房财产权抵押(简称农房抵押)贷款困境的主要原因以及抵押物处置对农房抵押贷款行为的影响机理。研究方法:演化博弈论。研究结果:农房抵押贷款发展面临困境的关键在于金融机构惜贷,而抵押物处置难是激发金融机构惜贷的重要原因,但是降低抵押物处置难度只是推动农房抵押贷款发展的必要而非充分条件。研究结论:要促进农房抵押贷款发展,除了必须降低抵押物处置难度外,还需要构建完善的农房抵押贷款制度体系。     

Organizational attention and learning under regulatory intervention: Governmental investigation into auto engine quality

We examine the efficacy of government regulation on a firm's product. We draw on the behavioural approach of organization research in order to understand the micromechanisms whereby the regulatory intervention process affects corporate operation. We suggest that while government investigations may limit the improvements in product quality by distracting a firm's attention, this unintended outcome depends on the extent to which the firm engages in a substantive problem‐solving process with the regulator during an investigation process. A longitudinal analysis of the US government's investigation into motor vehicle engine production offers overall support for our argument. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications that our findings present to learning theory and institutional literature. Copyright © 2017 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economic Impacts of the Possible China–US Trade War

This article uses a multi-country global general equilibrium (GE) model to numerically simulate the effects of possible China–US trade wars. We introduce an endogenous trade imbalance structure with trade cost into the model which helps to explore both tariff and non-tariff trade war effects. Our simulation results show that China will be significantly hurt by the China–US trade war, but negative impacts are affordable. The US can gain under unilateral sanction measures to China, but will lose if China takes retaliation measures. Comparing the effects under mutual trade war, China will lose more than the US. Introducing non-tariff barrier trade wars will intensify the negative effects, and comparatively negative effects to China are larger than to the US. Mexico’s involvement in trade war with the US will strengthen the negative effects and comparatively hurt the US more. Under non-cooperative and cooperative Nash bargaining equilibrium, the US can gain more than China in trade war negotiation, which means the US has stronger bargaining power than China. Additionally, trade wars between China and the US will hurt most countries and the world especially in GDP and manufacturing employment, but benefit their welfare and trade.