Effects of employees’ opportunities to influence in-store music on sales: Evidence from a field experiment

The effects of in-store music on consumer behavior have attracted much attention in the marketing literature, but surprisingly few studies have investigated in-store music in relation to employees. By conducting a field experiment in eight Filippa K fashion stores in Stockholm, Sweden, we investigate whether it is beneficial for store owners to give employees more opportunities to influence the in-store music. We randomly assigned the stores into a treatment group and a control group, with the employees in the treatment stores having the opportunity to influence the in-store music through an app developed by Soundtrack Your Brand (SYB). The experiment lasted 56 weeks and sales data were also gathered 22 weeks before the experiment, resulting in a total of 4626 observations. Our results show that sales decreased by 6% when the employees had the opportunity to influence the music played in the store, and the effect is driven by a reduction in sales of women's clothing. Interviews with the employees revealed that they had diverse music preferences, frequently changed songs, and preferred to play high-intensity songs. Employees thus seem to make choices regarding the in-store music that reduce sales, implying that store owners might want to limit their opportunities to influence the background music.     

效率视角下"一带一路"沿线国家创新影响力研究

从效率差异视角构建国家创新影响力评价方法，揭示“一带一路”沿线国家创新要素流动倾向性以促进交流合作。运用DEA模型测算各国创新效率，根据DEA原理识别国家间的认可关系，构建创新网络并用节点特征向量中心度表示各国创新影响力，分析创新影响力类型、创新网络特征及创新投入冗余率与产出不足率。结果发现，各国创新效率存在显著差距;各国分别处于创新网络中心、核心和边缘位置，国家创新影响力依次递减;按照创新要素相对强度，沿线国家可分为6种创新类型;最后，提出沿线国家间开展创新交流与合作的必要性和途径。     

“两网融合”背景下贸易经济专业人才培养模式探讨

本文总结梳理了“两网融合”复合型贸易经济专业人才培养的现状和新的要求,分析了“两网融合”复合型贸易经济专业人才培养的发展方向。从建立教学和科研复合型教学团队模式、信息化平台和实验室“多媒介”培养模式、“两网融合”平台全流程内部审计型人才培养模式、“课程思政+专业技能”结合教学模式等四个方面总结模式创新的基本途径。     

Robust consumption‐investment problem under CRRA and CARA utilities with time‐varying confidence sets

We consider a robust consumption‐investment problem under constant relative risk aversion and constant absolute risk aversion utilities. The time‐varying confidence sets are specified by Θ, a correspondence from [0, T] to the space of the Lévy triplets, and describe a priori drift, volatility, and jump information. For each possible measure, the log‐price processes of stocks are semimartingales, and the triplet of their differential characteristics is almost surely a measurable selector from the correspondence Θ. By proposing and investigating the global kernel, an optimal policy and a worst‐case measure are generated from a saddle point of the global kernel, and they constitute a saddle point of the objective function.     

Applying the counseling-learning approach to a tourism-related massive open online course

ABSTRACT

This study discusses how to apply counseling-learning (CL) principles to a particular e-learning solution for teaching a tourism-related subject via a massive open online course (MOOC). Several effective caring patterns in achieving learning-related goals and being part of a community according to the CL principles are presented and discussed using the MOOC “eTourism: Communication Perspectives” as a case study. The study underlines how the MOOC platform can act as a place for contents enjoinment and active learning. Moreover, the active role of social media for increasing the engagement of learners in the proposed activities and for developing a sense of the community is identified. In particular, Facebook and Twitter can act as places for community building and informal social interactions among learners that last beyond the completion of the course, which in turn can be a valid aid for continuing the relationships among instructors/learners and learners/learners, and for reaching new ones.     

基于模糊评价模型的物流管理专业实践教学体系研究

考虑物流管理专业实践教学的特性,从实践环节、创新与创业、管理机制、教学团队等方面构建了实践教学指标体系,并运用模糊综合评价法进行评价分析。研究结论表明,毕业实习、毕业论文、学科竞赛、创新与创业项目对物流管理专业实践教学的影响较大。     

高校中级财务会计课程教学改革探讨

中级财务会计是会计学专业的一门主干课程,起着承上启下的重要作用,但在教学过程中还存在许多问题,如重理论轻实践、考核体系单一、教学环节缺乏思政元素等。论文针对这些问题,尝试提出改革教学方式、深化校企合作、多元化考核、强化会计人员职业操守等建议,旨在进一步提升教学质量,突出学生的主人翁地位。     

Relationship between city size and firm productivity – A new interpretation using the Chinese experience

This paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between city size and firm productivity by focusing on agglomeration, selection (market competition), and sorting (presence of firms with diverse productivity) effects using Chinese firm-level data for 1998–2013. Contrary to the existing literature, our parametric regression estimates from nearly two million firms show that when the selection effect is controlled, productivity advantage in big cities is reversed. This outcome is explained through a quantile regression showing the existence of left-sided sorting (inefficient firms sort themselves to larger cities) in big cities which is not captured in existing empirical literature. We further find that (1) left-sided sorting is stronger in exporters than non-exporters; (2) is also generated mainly in enterprises with high asset-liability ratios; and (3) selection has a positive effect on firm productivity, suggesting that market competition is key in an explanation of the rapid growth of big cities in China.     

高校知识溢出与企业创新绩效

本文利用全样本数据探讨了作为创新和知识溢出微观主体的高校对企业创新绩效的影响。本文通过ArcGIS测算了2007-2015年上市公司所在地周边全部高校数量，并以企业研发投入金额、发明专利衡量企业创新水平，利用Anselin et al（2000）的KPF方程，采用双聚类OLS检验高校知识溢出对企业创新行为的影响效应与机制。研究发现：第一，高校知识溢出对企业研发创新投入和有效创新产出均具有显著促进作用；第二，知识溢出效应具有显著的地理邻近性特征，而行政边界关联影响较弱；第三，高校知识溢出通过提高企业研发投入，提升员工和管理层人力资本，进而影响企业创新绩效。进一步研究表明，空间异质性、高校异质性、企业异质性、中心城市集聚效应、高铁开通等因素导致高校知识溢出效应存在差异。