Supply chain finance: A three-party decision model with suppliers' guarantees for retailers

Under the premise that financing constraints frequently occur in the supply chain, this paper investigates the financing model of the supplier providing guarantee for the retailer under symmetric and asymmetric information. The optimal solutions of the retailer, the supplier, and the bank are studied by using the Stackelberg game. Results show that increasing the supplier's guarantee proportion can effectively improve the bank's reasonable margin rate and increase the supplier's profit. Under the condition of asymmetric information, the bank can increase the probability of credit loan in the supply chain by reducing the cost of spot check and setting up a reasonable fine limit.     

How the Internet Promotes China's Exports: A Firm‐level Perspective

The development of information and communications technology (ICT), particularly the Internet, has reduced trade costs. However, it remains unclear whether these reduced costs are reflected in the “extensive margins” of firms’ exports (which refer to the probability of firms exporting) or the “intensive margins” (which refer to the value of firms’ export). To test this, we used the concepts of information cost and binary margins, an augmented trade model of firm heterogeneity, a two‐stage Heckman estimation, and data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey of Chinese firms in 2012. The results revealed that reduced trade costs from the use of ICT were positively related to extensive margins but that the connection with intensive margins was not significant. The results lead to the conclusion that reduced information costs related to a firm's exporting behavior were primarily reflected in variable trade costs. This study offers theoretical and empirical evidence for China's policies towards the Internet, which are relevant for the export of manufactured goods. The government should encourage the use of ICT to enhance firms’ export opportunities while facing current trade policy uncertainty.     

A social network supported CAI model for tacit knowledge acquisition

Freehand sketching is one of the most important and commonly used methods of generating and sharing budding ideas during the conceptual development portion of the preliminary phase of design. To develop one’s skills, prolonged practice, acquiring instant feedback and suggestions while practicing are invaluable. The two key and indispensable parts of learning draftsmanship are viewing and commenting on large numbers of free hand sketches. However, due to insufficient educational resources, instructors must spend most of their time engaged in class-room teaching, reducing the time allotted for one-on-one discussion and specialized assistance. Furthermore, the lack of sketch grading criteria can prevent students from developing proper insights into the essentials of sketching. As a result, students neither receive personalized feedback nor acquire adequate training in critiquing freehand sketching skills. These factors decrease learning effectiveness and negatively impact learning motivation. In order to solve this problem, this research has created a discussion platform on Facebook that utilizes the learning characteristics essential to developing proficiency in freehand sketching. It includes practice, observation, and comments. It has been found that this cultivates the subjects’ ability to judge freehand sketch quality and increases learning motivation and effectiveness through the process of peer-assessment. After participating in the one-semester teaching experiment, the abilities of the experimental group were significantly better than those of the control group, demonstrating that the online sketch discussion platform has a significant impact on freehand sketch learning.     

农户生态耕种行为及其影响因素研究——以江西省为例

[目的]为清晰识别影响农户生态耕种行为的主要因素,以期为加强耕地生态保护、保障农作物质量安全、提升农户耕种收益、实现农业现代化目标提供参考。[方法]基于江西省11市47县(区)1488份农户微观调查数据,在分析农户生态耕种特征基础上,运用二元Logistic和Probit模型对农户生态耕种行为影响因素开展实证研究。[结果]农户生态耕种10种具体行为的采纳情况差异明显,其中施用有机肥采纳程度最高,生态农业模式采纳程度最低。农户采纳生态耕种整体水平不高,但仍具备进一步推广的潜力。家庭劳动力比重、生态耕种成本认知、新型农业经营主体、法律法规认知、生态耕种收益认知、生计分化和生态环境认知等解释变量是影响农户生态耕种行为的主要内部因素,政府补贴、农田基础设施、生产交流程度、耕地质量变化和生态耕种信息获取难度等则是主要的外部影响因素。[结论]政府及基层管理部门应在推动农户非农就业生计、大力培育新型农业经营主体、加强生态耕种宣传与推广、完善政策扶持与管控机制等方面制定针对性的政策措施。     

我国城市化与城乡收入差距非线性动态关系实证研究

探讨城市化对城乡收入差距的影响效应，对于我国经济高质量发展具有重要意义。本文基于1978—2015年的相关数据，采用平滑转换回归（STR）模型研究了我国城市化对城乡收入差距的非线性影响效应。研究发现，城市化与城乡收入差距两个变量之间的动态关系适合使用非线性的LSTR2模型来刻画，并且我国城市化缩小了城乡收入差距。考虑了经济增长和产业结构升级因素后，城市化还是缩小了城乡收入差距，经济增长因素也能够缩小城乡收入差距，但是产业结构升级因素却拉大了城乡收入差距。     

声誉在企业社会责任与绩效之间的作用——以商誉作为声誉度量方式的讨论

作为企业社会责任影响绩效的一个重要途径，声誉对于企业社会责任的研究具有重要意义。目前，在实证研究中声誉没有一致认可的度量方法。本文以商誉作为声誉的度量方式，采用上市公司2012—2017年的平衡面板数据，对企业社会责任与绩效的关系进行了实证研究，并进一步讨论了声誉在企业社会责任与绩效之间的作用。研究显示:当以商誉作为企业声誉的度量指标时，企业社会责任正向影响企业的声誉；在企业社会责任影响绩效的过程中，声誉没有起到调节作用，但起到了显著的中介效应。因此，企业主动承担社会责任，不仅可以造福于社会，还能提高自身绩效。     

金融产业集聚对制造业转型升级的影响研究——基于省际面板数据的中介效应检验

本文运用中国2013—2016年的省际面板数据，引入社会融资规模、R&D经费投入两个中介变量，构建中介效应模型来考察金融产业集聚对制造业转型升级的直接效应和间接效应。研究结果表明，金融产业集聚不仅对制造业转型升级起到直接促进效应，而且分别通过以下两种路径方式对制造业转型升级产生一定的正向促进效应，即“金融产业集聚→社会融资规模增量→制造业转型升级”和“金融产业集聚→社会融资规模增量→R&D投入→制造业转型升级”。因此，进一步汇聚金融产业资源、扩大资本规模、支持科技创新，将有效促进中国制造业转型升级。     

Hotel school alumni’s intentions to use communication channels – a cross-generational comparison study

ABSTRACT

Alumni communication is vital in sustaining the relationship between alumni and their alma maters. This research investigated four cohorts of alumni, and their intentions to use a range of traditional and digital communication channels, including social media. An online questionnaire was sent to 8060 alumni and resulted in 595 usable responses, yielding a 7% response rate. The research results showed that alumni have the highest intentions to use the alumni e-newsletter and the alumni Website and the lowest intentions to use social media, e.g., Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Among alumni cohorts, significant statistical differences in their intentions to use these communication channels were identified. Given our findings, alumni communication staff are encouraged to leverage different communication channels targeting alumni in different age groups.     

Modelling with flexibility through the business cycle: using a panel smooth transition model to test for the lipstick effect

ABSTRACT

Consumer spending typically declines during periods of economic distress, but observers have noted that lipstick purchases appear to increase during recessions, which is often referred to as the lipstick effect. However, the existence of such effect has remained empirically unconfirmed. Using weekly retail scanner data on lipstick sales from 2006 to 2016 in the United States, we applied a Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) demand model to test the relationship between economic distress and lipstick sales. This flexible demand specification allows regression coefficients to vary as a function of an exogenous macroeconomic variables and fluctuate asymmetrically, non-linearly, and time-varyingly across an unlimited number of regimes. Empirical results show the income elasticity of demand for lipstick decreased rapidly from 0.31 to 0.05 during the 2007–2009 recession, then slowly rebounded to 0.31 by the second quarter of 2014, thus first empirically confirming the existence of the lipstick effect.