Business Ethics Index: Latin America

For almost 10 years, the Business Ethics Index (BEI) has measured consumers’ perceptions of business ethical behavior in the USA and numerous other countries. This article expands the BEI to five Latin American countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia). The BEI of Argentina and Bolivia were similar in magnitude to the USA, whereas those for Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico were distinctly higher. The component sub-indices showed divergent patterns. The major ethical concerns for Brazil and Bolivia concerned service, whereas Mexico and Argentina complained about overpricing.     

农产品讨价还价行为：尼日利亚奥甘州牛肉零售定价案例研究

对市场上的商品缺乏标准的度量和分级是发展中国家（如尼日利亚）农产品市场的一个主要特征。由此导致价格标签很少被使用，事实上也很难实施。在尼日利亚的大部分地区，农产品和非农产品的批发和零售价格都是由激烈的讨价还价所决定的。分级和商品质量的随意性，意味着价格可能无意地被一些不相干的因素影响。在尼日利亚商品交换过程的研究方面，很少有对商品讨价还价行为进行实证研究的。本文的主要研究目的在于：①从市场期间、买方特征和性别等方面，比较牛肉零售价格的形成方式；②估计牛肉价格形成与所考虑的决定因素之间的关系。研究在四个独立的城市市场进行，研究结果表明，针对不同性别的买方，买方价格和卖方价格的形成方式没有差异；针对不同着装的买方（特征），在讨价还价中的方式也没有差异；但讨价还价的时间在统计上则显著影响。统计上来看，多数零售价格变量的平均值早晨比晚上较大。     

中国非正规经济(上)

第八届开放时代论坛于2010年10月16日至17日在北京大学召开。本届论坛由北京大学中国社会与发展研究中心、开放时代杂志社和北京大学社会学系联合举办,主题为"中国非正规经济"。规模庞大的"非正规经济"本为发展中国家的普遍现象,然而在中国这一作为世界上最大的发展中国家的发展经验广为世人瞩目之际,中国的"非正规经济"却并未得到相应的重视与研究。摆脱主流经济理论和"现代化"模式的误导,摒弃意识形态的争执,正视中国非正规经济的现实,从"社会保护"和"人本发展"的角度,探讨人道、经济、可持续的中国发展之路,乃为本届论坛主题设立的缘起与主旨。本届论坛涉及的议题包括:中国发展与非正规经济实践、非正规经济与非正规就业、非正规经济与社会流动、非正规经济与社会发展等。以下专题根据现场录音整理,并经发言者阅校和编辑删节,小标题为编者所拟。由于篇幅所限,本刊将分两期发表本届论坛的研讨内容。     

Infant industry protection and industrial dynamics

A perennial case for industrial policy is based on the protection of young or emerging industries. Despite a natural association with concepts of life cycles, industrial policy has not been analyzed in the context of an industry life-cycle model. In particular, an important life-cycle characteristic, the potential for very large changes in the rate of net entry, is ignored. In this paper, we demonstrate how the impact of industrial policy depends critically on the entry and exit dynamics within an industry. We construct a model of technology adoption in which the number of firms is endogenous, and derive a set of novel predictions about the effects of protection on firm technology decisions. Specifically, we show that permanent protection can induce earlier adoption, but also decreases the probability that a given firm adopts the new technology. Likewise, we demonstrate that reducing the duration of protection results in faster adoption than permanent protection, but also reduces a given firm's probability of adoption. Finally, we show that, for industries characterized by flexibility in firm numbers, protection does not change the rate of technology adoption but does increase the size and probability of a shakeout (large scale net exit).     

Understanding voter orientation in the context of political market orientation: is the political customer king?

Abstract

This article develops a conceptual framework and measurement model of political market orientation (PMO). The relationships between different behavioural aspects of PMO and the attitudinal influences of such behaviour are analysed, and the study includes structural equation modelling to test several hypotheses. While the results show that political parties focus on several different aspects of market-oriented behaviour, especially using an internal and societal orientation as cultural antecedents, a more surprising result is the inconclusive effect of a voter orientation on PMO. This lends support to the argument of ‘looking beyond the customer’ in political marketing research and practice. The article discusses the findings in the context of the existing literature on political marketing and commercial market orientation.     

Variable selection for dynamic measures of efficiency in the computer industry

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) measures of efficiency are very sensitive to the choice of variables for two reasons: the number of efficient firms is directly related to the number (n) of variables and the selection of the n variables greatly affects the measure of efficiency. A methodology is proposed which identifies the optimal number of variables, and which identifies the contribution of each variable to the measure of efficiency. The computer industry is used as an example to illustrate the method.     

A Review of Institutional Alternatives to Collateralized Lending

Abstract: Rural producers’ access to formal finance has often been limited by their inability to provide collaterals, particularly in the form of registered or certified land titles and tenancy contracts or assets which are auctionable as well as by laws that make foreclosure difficult. This paper reviews some of the alternative institutional arrangements (possibilities) for reducing and overcoming collateral requirements such as third party guarantees, ownership of tradeable assets, credit guarantee schemes, group lending, credit‐savings linkages, incremental and loan repayment‐dependent lending, portfolio diversification and an efficient legal system for contract enforcement. It also specifies the land policy and tenure reforms that are desirable, especially in the direction of formal land titling or legally specified rights to the use and ownership of lands, the consolidation of land holdings and the provision of proper cadastres for land and assuring that titles are secure.     

Analyst Forecasts and the Cross Section of European Stock Returns

We examine revisions to earnings forecasts by equity analysts and their role in predicting stock returns. We provide evidence that European stocks with net upward revised forecasts earn higher future returns than otherwise similar stocks. This effect is not concentrated in small stocks, stocks with low analyst coverage, or stocks with low book‐to‐market ratios. We find differences in the return continuation patterns of stocks with upward versus downward revisions, namely, bad news travels quickly, but good news travels slowly. This result is consistent with investors' attaching greater significance to poor earnings forecasts, but adopting a wait‐and‐see approach to good news.