Extinction accounting and accountability: Empirical evidence from the west European tissue industry

Recently, human activities are more and more invasive with respect to biodiversity. Several studies highlighted the key role played by accountants in contributing to the development of tools able to support company in assessing, reporting, and disseminating, as well as accomplishing, the preservation of natural species and ecosystems (King and Atkins, 2016). Corporate reporting of environmental information might increase the credibility of forest certifications, given that some scholars argued that certified forests are not often run, in a sustainable way. Moreover, certifications sometimes cover harmful forest practices (Elad, 2014) and do not ensure a good quality of environmental reporting and performance. The research question therefore intends to explore how extinction accounting and accountability (EAA) is able to reflect ex post the company's business strategy and, at the same time, influence ex ante its formulation by easing the prevention of deforestation risk and addressing the issue of credibility through specific actions. In more detail, the “Emancipatory Framework for Extinction Accounting and Accountability” (EFEAA) (Atkins and Maroun, 2018) was tested using content and interpretative analyses based on the reports inherent to top four companies working in West Europe in the tissue industry, where the preservation of forest heritage is a “compulsory route” for assuring the business sustainability, in terms of both raw material renewal and brand reputation. The findings highlighted the first attempt to carry out a qualitative research over the management of forest issues. In our study, companies tend to report advantages arising from the use of forest, but this kind of disclosure is too generic without providing evidence over the ecosystem services forests produce. Moreover, firm size affects the quantity and the quality of disclosure. At last, managerial implications and future research avenues are outlined and discussed.     

秦迁陵县粮仓设置体系探讨--以出粮机构粮食来源问题为中心

除仓官外,秦迁陵县内的出粮机构还包括田官、离乡及司空等。它们并非都建有独立粮仓,所出粮食的来源也不尽一致。田官不设粮仓,它的出粮地是公共粮仓中的一间专属仓房。离乡建有供应该乡粮食开支的独立粮仓,且粮仓数量与该乡人口规模有关。小乡可能仅有一座粮仓,故有时会产生因储备不足而需要仓官额外输粮的问题。司空、发弩及■舍三者既未建有独立粮仓,也不如田官那般在公共粮仓内占有一间仓房,它们向外供应的粮食全都是由仓官转输。总之,秦迁陵县内设置的粮仓包括县级公共粮仓和离乡粮仓两类。田官、司空、发弩及舍虽承担了部分出粮职能,但并未给县内粮仓体系带来影响。     

黑龙江森工林区林业产业结构演变趋势及优势产业选择

采用灰色预测方法对黑龙江森工林区2018—2027年林业三次产业产值进行预测,并在此基础上利用动态偏离-份额分析方法对此阶段黑龙江森工林区的林业优势产业进行选择。结果表明:2019年黑龙江森工林区林业产业结构将演变为"三、一、二"模式;林业第一产业中的林木育种和育苗、经济林产品的种植和采集业可作为优势产业进行重点发展和管理。因此,提出优化黑龙江森工林区林业产业结构的相关建议:继续巩固发展林木育种和育苗、经济林产品的种植和采集这两个优势产业;推动加工制造业向深加工、精加工的方向转变;加强林业旅游与休闲服务业的竞争力。     

Hen housing system information effects on U.S. egg demand

The U.S. egg industry has been moving rapidly towards “cage-free” aviary housing as an alternative to conventional cages for hens. A choice experiment was used to evaluate the U.S. public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes including housing system, color, size, and certifying agency. A significant difference in WTP for hen housing systems was found using video information treatments describing hen housing systems. When respondents were shown videos of egg production systems, they were indifferent between cage-free aviary and the alternative enriched colony hen housing system whereas with no video information the respondents clearly preferred the cage-free system. Results point towards potential public misunderstanding of the costs and benefits associated with the “cage-free” egg label designation and highlight potential discrepancies between industry commitments and informed consumer preferences.     

河北省产业承接的技术溢出效应研究

京津冀协同发展战略上升为国家战略,河北加快承接京津产业转移的步伐,对河北经济转型升级和科技创新能力提升具有重要意义。以河北省为研究对象,基于2005-2016年的数据,使用DEA的曼奎斯特指数方法测算出河北省十二年的技术进步变化情况,并以此为核心变量建立技术溢出模型实证检验了产业承接的技术溢出效应。研究结果发现,河北存在承接区际产业的技术溢出效应,但FDI的技术溢出效应并不显著;R&D经费投入对河北技术进步的促进作用最为明显,而人力资本投入对技术进步的拉升作用较小。     

Copper trade and production of copper,brass and bronze goods in the Oldenburg monarchy: copperworks and copper users in the eighteenth century

This paper explores trade connections – or the lack of such – between copperworks and copper processing plants in the Oldenburg Monarchy in the eighteenth century. Domestic customs areas, high tariffs on raw material export and import bans sought to encourage domestic copper and brass goods production of Norwegian copper raw material, however this was only realised halfway. The raw material from Norway was largely exported, and copper and brass materials used to produce copper-, brass and bronze goods were imported from all over the world. The copperworks and processing plants in the Monarchy never became strongly integrated due to several reasons. First, shareholders of copperworks acquired favourable credit deals abroad, and preferred to export the copper, and second, copper materials had different features and processing plants used all sorts of copper inputs in the making of goods, not only copper raw material. Norway produced mostly gar copper, so copper plants and coppersmiths had to turn elsewhere for other types of copper. Production of copper and brass goods increased, but did not meet the domestic demand partly due to a strong foreign competition. The optimal goal of ‘mercantilist theory’ regarding copper and brass import substitution was not reached.     

A spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier model for panel data incorporating a model of technical inefficiency

By integrating Battese and Coelli’s (1995) model and the spatial autoregressive model (SAR), a spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier model for panel data is developed. The main feature of this frontier model is a spatial lag term of explained variables and the joint structure of a production possibility frontier with a model of technical inefficiency. The model addresses both spatial dependence and heteroskedastic technical inefficiency. This study applies maximum likelihood methods considering the endogenous spatial lag term. The proposed model nests several existing models. Further, an empirical analysis using data on the Japanese manufacturing industry is conducted and the existing models are tested against the proposed model, which is found to be statistically supported. The findings suggest that estimates in the existing spatial and non-spatial models may exhibit bias because of lack of determinants of technical inefficiency, as well as a spatial lag. This bias also affects the technical efficiency score and its ranking.     

市场化程度对花卉产业组织影响实证分析

以刘易斯市场规模分析框架为基础,采用2008—2014年中国各省区市花卉产业的面板数据,对市场化进程与花卉产业组织的关系进行实证分析,结果表明:市场化程度对企业数量、小企业数量和小企业比例具有正向影响作用,市场化是促进花卉产业组织演化的重要因素,有利于优化花卉产业组织的规模和结构。因此,政府应该从市场组织与制度完善角度维护好市场竞争秩序,企业应该提升核心竞争力而不是简单扩大规模。     

政企分开政策驱动下国有森工企业转型路径研究

回顾了国家的林业政策,梳理了黑龙江国有森工企业的转型要素,分析了国有森工企业转型发展路径的影响因素。基于政企分开的政策因素与企业的发展需要,结合国有森工企业转型存在的现实问题,分别从企业转型能力、企业转型意愿和企业转型方向3个方面阐述政企分开政策对国有森工企业转型的驱动作用。在此基础上,提出在政企分开政策驱动下国有森工企业转型发展的实现路径,并从重新定位政府与市场关系、注重培育国有森工企业内部组织平台化转型路径和构建品牌转型路径3个方面进行国有森工企业转型发展的路径研究。