An empirical analysis of the stage model of Business-to-Business relationships in South Korea: a longitudinal study

In this study, we develop and evaluate a framework for investigating the relationship between firm performance and exit intentions—that is, when the termination of Business-to-Business (B2B) relationships involves both conflict and cooperation. This study adds to extant research by demonstrating the importance of temporal changes; the proposed framework highlights the change processes in B2B relationship exit intentions. At time point T, the results suggest that the long-term relationship stage is stable. At time point T + 1, we find that the final relationship stage is dynamic. We demonstrate that several structural-temporal relationships among the investigated links (i.e. conflict-cooperation, conflict-firm performance, and cooperation-firm performance) decrease.     

REGIONAL FINANCIAL INTEGRATION IN SUB‐SAHARAN AFRICA – AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION OF ITS EFFECTS ON FINANCIAL MARKET DEVELOPMENT

This article examines the effects of political agreements on regional financial integration (RFI) on financial market development and access to and cost of finance in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). Our results suggest that RFI positively affects financial development – measured very broadly as ratio of liquid liabilities to gross domestic product (GDP) – when combined with a sufficient level of institutional quality. If institutional quality is below a threshold level, RFI apparently has negative effects on financial development. However, we cannot find any significant effects of RFI on the ratio of private credit to GDP or on the efficiency of the banking sector. Regarding the effects of RFI on access to and costs of finance of enterprises in SSA, our results are mixed. We can find no significant effect of RFI on access to finance for all firms in the aggregate, but the results indicate that RFI actually impedes small firms' access to finance. Furthermore, there is a significant positive influence of foreign bank involvement on the severity of the credit constraint for small enterprises, while we do not find such an influence for large enterprises. These results provide some support for the foreign bank barrier hypothesis in the context of RFI.     

Effects of Chinese Imports on Relative Wages: Microevidence from Chile*

The increasing prominence of China in world trade raises important questions about the impact of this on importer countries. In this paper, we address the issue of how import competition from China has affected relative wages in the Chilean manufacturing industry. Using plant‐level data for the period 1996–2005, we find that increasing imports from China have depressed relative wages in sectors with higher Chinese‐import penetration. Our results show a significant reduction of relative wages, between 4 and 25 percent, for those sectors that have experienced the largest increases in Chinese imports. We also find that this effect is particularly strong for small firms, while large firms are unaffected.     

第四种电子商务形式的兴起

团购即为一个团队向商家采购,国际通称B2T(Business To Team),是继B2B,B2C,C2C后的第四种电子商务模式.团购 B2T,本来是"团体采购"的定义,而今,网络的普及让团购成为了很多中国人参与的消费革命.网络成为一种新的消费方式,所谓网络团购,就是互不认识的消费者,借助互联网的"同聚人的力量"来聚集资金,加大与商家的谈判能力,以求得最优的价格.     

Quantifying the Economic Return to Participatory Extension Programmes in Ireland: an Endogenous Switching Regression Analysis

This article examines the effectiveness of a government funded extension programme. Farm‐level data are used to assess the economic impact of dairy discussion groups, a common participatory extension method. The evaluation focuses on whether discussion group participants have improved farm profits, which is estimated with an endogenous switching regression model. This method controls for self‐selection bias due to unobserved characteristics, such as the farmer’s ability, that may affect both participation and farm profitability. After controlling for this potential bias, we find that the economic returns to discussion group membership are positive, thus supporting government targets to enrol more farmers in discussion groups.     

The end of economic transition

The transition from plan to market was the largest natural experiment in economics ever. Now, 20 years from the start of transition, all former socialist countries are market economies at the middle stage of economic development, and convergence with neighbours, if not with the developed world, is largely achieved. With hindsight, it is clear that economists have spent too much time debating proper sequencing of reforms and the fine‐tuning of reform packages. At the same time, the magnitude of the output and consumption fall in some countries was vastly underestimated, while the benefits of reforms have taken longer to materialize than expected. Successful practitioners of reform praise perseverance during and after the initial setbacks and willingness to make political compromises. At the conclusion of the natural experiment, transition economics has all but vanished as an academic discipline, although it played a crucial role in the formation of modern political economics.     

Budget impact of erlotinib for maintenance therapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Objective:

Assess the budgetary impact of adding erlotinib for maintenance therapy (MTx) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from a US health plan perspective.

Methods:

A budget impact model was developed to analyze the costs (drug, administration, adverse events) associated with adding erlotinib MTx to a hypothetical 500,000 member US health plan. Treatment durations and dosing were derived from randomized controlled trials, FDA labeling, and National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. Treatment patterns and assumptions were based on market research data, the SEER registry, and published literature. Cost data were obtained from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services payment rates and a drug pricing database. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess uncertainty.

Results:

Overall health plan expenditures increased by $0.010 per member per month (PMPM). The main driver of additional cost was the erlotinib drug cost (～$66,000) with the administration ($464) and side-effect ($47) costs being relatively modest. One-way sensitivity analyses showed that the results were most sensitive to the proportion of members receiving MTx; however, the PMPM did not exceed $0.013.

Conclusions:

The overall budget impact to a health plan of expanding the use of erlotinib from the 2nd/3rd-line advanced NSCLC setting to include the maintenance setting was relatively small. This was primarily due to the proportion of patients who would receive erlotinib MTx, the low cost of side-effects and minimal cost of drug administration. Additional research may be warranted to estimate the relative clinical and economic impacts of erlotinib MTx versus alternative MTx treatments.     

Internet Usage Within B2B Relationships and Its Impact on Value Creation: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions

ABSTRACT

The Internet has been described as a major disruptive technology that has changed the face of B2B exchange relationships. This paper considers the Internet and its inherent ability to support value creation within business-to-business relationships. The paper outlines four key characteristics that describe the Internet's attributes relative to value creation and proposes that the Internet's effect depends upon properly aligning these attributes with the economic and relational factors driving value creation. In particular, the paper proposes a contextual relationship between Internet usage, joint action, and the resources shared between exchange partners.     

Assessing the Legitimacy of Stem Cell Research: An Instrumental Valuation Principle Approach

Research on embryonic stem cells has elicited much public and political debate. By promoting the use of the Instrumental Valuation Principle, it is argued here that institutionalists can offer a framework for policy analysis that ensures that the debate on stem cell research is informed by the instrumental use of knowledge and that it is not controlled by upper-level hegemonic powers. Our contention is that the first decade following the initial harvesting of human embryonic stem cells (1998-2008) in the United States was characterized by institutional and policy responses that created a non-deliberative environment that hindered the process of instrumental valuation of stem cell research. This paper concludes that the current conditions of limited corporate involvement are favorable toward a democratic discussion of the legitimacy of stem cell research, but this will require overt challenges to political elites' attempts to control the creation and flow of instrumental knowledge on stem cell research.     

从DNA复制看企业文化传播

从生物学的独特视角，将细胞分裂的方式、特点以及DNA的复制过程与企业文化在企业内部的传播过程进行类比，可看出企业文化传播与细胞分裂具有相似性。企业可以借鉴细胞分裂的特征构建合理的企业文化传播模式，帮助企业成功地传播自己的文化，增强企业的核心竞争能力。