Effects of Network Embeddedness on the Relationship Between Environmental Volatility and Interfirm Contracts

Purpose: This study examines the effects of an embedded network on the contractual relationship between exchange parties under conditions reflecting varying levels of environmental volatility and investigates the role of an important network factor—the embedded network—in the contractual relationship between manufacturers and their suppliers.

Methodology: The empirical test was conducted with manufacturing companies in the context of manufacturer–supplier relationships. Construct measures were based on existing measures and previous research. Measurement reliability and validity were established using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis and an overall measurement model was assessed with structural equation modeling using LISREL.

Findings: The results of a survey of manufacturers indicate that firms in an embedded network preferred “soft” contracts even when they face volatile environments, whereas those facing volatile environments in a less embedded network preferred “hard” contracts with explicitly specified written requirements. Network partners carefully evaluated embedded networks (a critical factor that has not received enough attention) before forming contractual relationships in a network perceiving interfirm relationships differently.

Originality: The study introduces network embeddedness to explain governance mechanisms in volatile environments and shows that the explicit recognition of embedded network may facilitate the development of contracts with specific provisions as the contractual relationship evolves.     

用换土垫层处理软弱土地基

文中简述了砂垫层在处理软弱土地基中的应用方法及注意要点。     

救助投机、挤入效应与国有企业预算约束硬化

国有银行的＂救助投机＂行为促进了国有企业的＂预算软约束＂和不良贷款的积累。在政府、银行与国有企业之间的长期动态博弈中,由于预算硬约束企业的出现给国有银行提供了改善贷款资产组合的机会,提高了银行在与政府的救助投机博弈中的议价能力,要求政府给予更多的流动性注入,这会产生银行贷款资产中预算硬约束企业贷款占比不断增加的挤入效应。这种挤入效应累积到一定程度,政府的救助将变得非社会最优的,进而政府将停止救助,国有企业的预算约束也随之硬化。     

基于软土地层混凝土灌注桩施工的研究与设计

文章结合混凝土灌注桩的相关理论,介绍了混凝土灌注桩的种类和施工方法,并对软土地层桩基进行了设计,合理计算出单桩静载力和桩基强度,并对桩基强度进行复核,按其构造进行配筋,最后,总结性地提出了本灌注桩相关的结论和建议。     

Reformulating Environmentally Constrained Traffic Equilibrium via a Smooth Gap Function

Various government laws have recently been enacted to alleviate the environmental deterioration of transportation systems. Environmental constraint is a valid means to explicitly reflect various environmental protection requirements imposed by the government. In this paper, we examine the environmentally constrained traffic equilibrium problem (EC-TEP), which is a fundamental tool for modeling and evaluating environmental protection requirements. Specifically, we provide an equivalent reformulation for the EC-TEP. The proposed reformulation adapts the concept of gap function to simultaneously reformulate the nonlinear complementarity conditions associated with the generalized user equilibrium conditions, environmental constraints, and conservation constraints as an equivalent unconstrained optimization problem. This gap function reformulation has two desirable features: (1) it can handle a general environmental constraint structure (linear or nonlinear; link-based or area-based) and a general link and route cost structure, enhancing the modeling adaptability and flexibility; (2) it is smooth and unconstrained, permitting a number of existing efficient algorithms for its solution. A gradient-based solution algorithm with a self-regulated averaging stepsize scheme is customized to solve the reformulated unconstrained optimization problem. Numerical examples are also provided to demonstrate the modeling flexibility of the proposed EC-TEP reformulation.     

The Visual Representation of Border Tourism: Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Dokdo in South Korea

The demilitarized zone (DMZ) and Dokdo mark South Korea borders with North Korea and Japan respectively. Each borderland is a socially constructed symbolic cultural landscape shaped in part by tourism. In this study, a sample of 2202 online images was inspected using content‐semiotic analysis to understand how visual representation of border tourism works. It was found that visitors via social media and government censorship play major roles in constructing representations of (i) alienated borders with iconic war heritage attractions at the DMZ and (ii) an alienated and isolated Dokdo. Both borders highlight patriotic/nationalistic ‘flagging’ and the gaze across. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

筏板基础下碎石桩改良软土地基性能的数值研究

为解决传统碎石桩加固软土地基研究中忽视碎石桩侧向膨胀的问题,在对筏板基础下碎石桩排水荷载条件下加固软土地基的性能进行评估的基础上,利用PLAXIS 3D数值模拟方法研究了桩间距、直径和桩长等参数对筏板基础长期性能的影响,同时分析了各参数对筏板基础整体沉降、弯矩和碎石桩侧胀的影响。结果表明：1）软土中碎石桩的存在显著降低了筏板基础的沉降和弯矩;2）碎石桩的侧向胀形分布取决于其位置的深度;3）筏板基础的沉降、弯矩和侧向胀形随着间距与桩径比的减小、面积置换率和碎石桩长度的增加而增加;4）采用长厚比为0.75的碎石桩加固软土,可以达到良好的加固效果。研究结果对于全面了解筏板基础下碎石桩改良软土的侧胀性状具有重要意义,对于今后类似工程加固设计具有参考借鉴价值。     

混合所有制改革能有效化解国有企业产能过剩吗*

在深化国有企业混合所有制改革的政策背景下,相比于采用正向逻辑来研究国有企业与其他所有制企业产能过剩的成因与化解机制异同,本文通过逆向逻辑构造反事实因果推断,即国有企业经过混合所有制改革身份属性发生变更后产能过剩能否得到化解,来探究国有企业产能过剩的制度性成因。在实证分析中,本文通过PSM—多期DID方法识别了国有企业混合所有制改革对于其产能利用率的政策影响,分析了不同市场结构下国有企业规模对产能利用率影响的非线性关系,明晰了国有企业混合所有制改革化解产能过剩的作用途径,探究了产能过剩的制度性根源与衍生因素之间的传递效应。     

THE IMPACT OF GREATER AUTONOMY ON EFFICIENCY OF WORK AND QUALITY OF SERVICES IN PUBLIC SERVICE PROVIDERS: A CASE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

ABSTRACT: The paper analyses impact of greater autonomy on efficiency of work and quality of services in public service institutions. Autonomy is one of the key principles of New Public Management that, according to the theory, increases performance in public service providers. However this assumption has been scarcely researched in practice. To narrow this gap, the experimental reform that implemented greater managerial and financial autonomy in 13 Lithuanian state vocational schools was chosen for research. In order to analyse the impact of autonomy after the reform, maximally similar institutions (those that underwent the reform and that did not) are compared using quantitative (incl. counterfactual analysis) and qualitative methods. The results indicate that institutions that have been reformed tend to have better efficiency and quality of services, even though this relationship is not causal. Moreover, the research challenges the notion that such results came from greater autonomy. Finally, the logic of the NPM of as to why more autonomous institutions perform better is also challenged.     

企业、银行和政府三方还贷博弈研究

预算软约束已成为国有企业改革的阻碍因素,并影响经济转型期的政企、银企关系,而政府对于债务的软预算约束是企业信贷违约的原因之一,根据企业还贷过程中相关利益者的相互博弈,建立一个企业、银行、政府之间三方博弈模型来分析它们之间的行为及其目标差异对企业信贷违约的影响。模型分析表明：政府出于政治和经济利益的考虑,通过补贴银行和企业来实施对企业还贷的软预算约束,而银行在衡量了政府补贴和清算得失之后有可能对企业再贷款。解决预算软约束和企业信贷违约的关键在于＂政府、银行、企业＂之间的关系处理,企业完全按市场化运作,建立科学的法人治理结构,让政府从企业中逐步退出,硬化企业的预算约束环境,从而降低企业的信贷违约的概率。