Creating Brand Names That Work

When it comes to brands, what's in a name is everything—a product is not a brand until you name it. What you call your product makes a difference. In addition to making the product yours and no one else's, a good brand name can create a competitive edge by being memorable, by communicating the special qualities of the product, and by setting the stage for a line of future products. Lorna Opatow brings practical experience to this article in which she identifies the problems and the promises in choosing brand names, and then provides guidelines for creating, developing, and evaluating them prior to testing for market acceptance.     

US cities in transformation : Urban policy in an advanced economy

This article reports on the main findings of the work of the US National Research Council Committee on National Urban Policy. The committee concluded that the most important single force affecting the future of US cities was the structural transformation of the international and national economies. A new urban system is emerging in the USA, fuelled importantly by the growth of service and knowledge-based industries. Future urban policy in the USA should be incremental in nature-the efficacy of policies and institutional reforms will have to be judged in light of how well they address the impact of economic and market forces on urban areas.     

Technological change in the military aircraft industry

This paper analyzes technological change in the U.S. military aircraft industry. It divides this technological change into two components, methods of production and product quality innovations. The basic findings of this paper are obtained from a comparison of the F-4 and F-15 technologies. The results show that new production technologies reduce the costs of manufacturing a weapon system, but that product improvements substantially increase costs.     

美国小企业技术创新政策环境分析

美国政府十分重视小企业技术创新政策环境建设。1953年,美国成立了小企业管理局,鼓励小企业参与联邦层面的技术创新活动,并相继出台了一系列支持小企业技术创新的政策和措施。目前,美国已经形成了一个集法律、财税政策、政府采购、配套服务体系为一体的小企业创新体系。在这套体系下,美国政府和非政府组织、私人投资者及小企业形成了良好的合作关系,共同推动美国创新能力的提高和经济发展。美国政府为小企业技术创新创造良好环境的做法和经验,值得我们深入研究和学习借鉴。     

美国和蒙古国煤炭资源开发条件简析——中国煤炭企业国际化战略系列谈(五)

美国和蒙古国煤炭资源都很丰富。对中国企业来说,美国法律法规健全,但法规程序和环境要求高,投资开发存在较大难度;蒙古国资源开发程度相对较低,但投资环境(信誉程度)相对较差,特别是法律政策在实际运行中较难把握。在两国开展矿产资源投资开发均需注意防范风险。     

美国海峡群岛国家公园环境教育实践经验及对中国的启示

海洋海岛类国家公园是中国国家公园体系的重要类型之一,开展环境教育建设对于国家公园公益性的发挥具有重要作用。本文根据美国海峡群岛国家公园的实地考察及资料分析环境教育特点,总结环境教育实践经验,提出对中国海洋海岛国家公园环境教育体系建设的启示。结论如下：（1）海峡群岛国家公园环境教育具有生态系统及景观特殊性、教育场所弱可达性及教育方式多元性。（2）海峡群岛国家公园环境教育体系以教育内容和支撑体系为主体架构,其中教育内容划分为海岸、海岛、沿海（潮间带与泛洪区）、海下区域4类,支撑体系涵盖管理、资金、解说、传播、人才5个方面。（3）中国海洋海岛国家公园环境教育可在统筹管理、解说规划、人才培养等多方面予以借鉴,以探索符合中国国情的海洋海岛国家公园的环境教育建设模式。     

Racialization and Rescaling: Post‐Katrina Rebuilding and the Louisiana Road Home Program

This article examines the interlocking nature of racialization and rescaling in post‐Katrina New Orleans, focusing specifically on the implementation of the Louisiana Road Home program, the largest housing recovery program in US history. Based on interviews and long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, I conceptualize the Road Home program as a racialized spatial strategy to revalorize disaster‐devastated spaces and enhance the exchangeability of damaged property. I trace the logic of rescaling in post‐Katrina New Orleans and reveal the ways in which state policies to accelerate the turnover time of flood‐damaged housing reflect and reinforce the racialization of space. New Orleans stands as a valuable laboratory for the study of government intervention under conditions of widespread upscaling, downscaling and outscaling processes, pushing trends found elsewhere to their limits while revealing the negative consequences of rescaling for local institutions and residents. The article illustrates the localized dynamics of rescaling in times of crisis and offers a novel processual account of the drivers and consequences of rescaling processes in a disaster‐impacted territory.     

美国的制度霸权与国际经济机制——以国际货币基金组织为例

后冷战时代,美国逐渐从传统的权势霸权转向制度霸权.国际货币基金组织(IMF)作为掌管国际金融体系的重要国际经济机制,被纳入美国的制度霸权战略中.美国通过或正式或隐性的权力对IMF进行渗透,使之成为美国维持和巩固霸权地位的有力工具.     

Post‐merger strategy and performance: evidence from the US and European banking industries

The banking industry has one of the most active markets for mergers and acquisitions. However, little is known about the type of operational strategies adopted by banking firms in the years following a deal. For a sample of bidding banks in the USA and Europe, this study compares the design and performance implications of different post‐merger strategies in both geographical regions. Using accounting data, we show that European banks pursue a cost‐cutting strategy by increasing efficiency levels vis‐à‐vis non‐merging banks and by cutting back on both labour costs and lending activities. US banks, on the other hand, raise both interest and non‐interest income in the post‐merger period.