One size doesn’t fit all: A project designing small-scale economic development projects

The authors describe an innovative active learning strategy for a course on the economics of developing countries—a project designing a small-scale economic development project. Student teams research issues faced by developing countries and identify a specific problem in a specific locale. Students then create a detailed, feasible plan to alleviate the problem. Student plans include five key components: justification, implementation, budget, funding and evaluation. After having implemented this project for six years, the authors believe it has the potential to enhance learning and improve analytical, creative problem-solving and research skills. Results from a spring 2017 survey, where students respond favorably to the project, are discussed.     

Differences in perceptions about food delivery apps between single-person and multi-person households

The growth in mobile communications is a significant reason attributed to the O2O commerce explosion in China. Mobile applications have seized this opportunity adapting it to restaurants and food delivery services, recognized as an alternative strategy to increase sales revenue and for consumers to conveniently receive products and services. This study was designed to specifically explore five salient quality attributes representing convenience, design, trustworthiness, price, and various food choices associated with food delivery apps in consideration of their impacts upon user-perceived value, attitudes and intention to continuously use. Results determined that user trustworthiness was the most important quality attribute of the food delivery app business. Additionally, this study found that single-person households placed most importance upon quality attributes for ‘various food choices,’ ‘price’ and ‘trustworthiness.’ Comparatively, multi-person households placed most importance upon ‘design,’ ‘convenience,’ and ‘trustworthiness.’ Managerial implications, limitations and recommendations for future research are provided.     

Can tourism be a key sector in reducing income inequality? An empirical investigation for Turkey

The aim of the study is to investigate the nexus between tourism and income inequality by employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) test cover the period 1974–2015 in Turkey. Findings indicated that the variables are cointegrated and an increase in tourism has a positive effect on income inequality, while economic growth and trade openness have a negative effect both in the long-run and short-run. Results also denote that tourism will decrease income inequality with the expansion of tourism activities and the spread of tourism throughout society. In other words, the tourism-related Kuznets Curve hypothesis is valid for Turkey.     

Replication and translation of co-innovation: The influence of institutional context in large international participatory research projects

Stakeholder involvement in research processes is widely seen as essential to enhance the applicability of research. A common conclusion in the extensive body of literature on participatory and transdisciplinary research is the importance of the institutional context for understanding the dynamics and effectiveness of participatory projects. The role of institutional context has become increasingly important in view of large international research projects implementing shared participatory methodologies across countries (for example within Horizon 2020 and within CGIAR programmes), which each have different institutional contexts. Despite the generally accepted importance of the institutional context for understanding the unfolding of participatory and transdisciplinary research projects, surprisingly little research has actually looked into its role in greater detail. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by studying how a set of participatory principles and methods in a European project on integrated pest management (denoted as co-innovation in the project under study) was applied by researchers and advisers operating in a single international research project under the institutional conditions of four countries. The principal finding of this study is that, although constraints and enablers of participatory research at the personal level (e.g. researcher identity) were similar across the studied countries, research organisation- and community-based constraints and enablers differed, as well as those at the level of the overall innovation system. The institutions at different levels interact and create country-specific histories and path-dependencies, which lead to different degrees of propensity and preparedness, and hence different starting positions for participatory approaches. Consequently, when participatory research methods and approaches are applied in different contexts following a one-size-fits-all approach they may be less effective if not translated to institutional conditions at different levels. The study suggests that large international participatory research projects make provision in their design for careful selection of project team individuals, the composition of teams, and pay attention to the room for manoeuvre that the project, institute and national contexts provide for participatory research. To support the adjustment of participatory approaches to local institutional conditions, large international projects would benefit from fostering learning spaces that enable reflection on translation to local contexts and are capable of connecting to a wider network of decision makers and influencers that can facilitate institutional change in organisations and innovation systems.     

What Initiatives Are British Food Retailers Taking to Improve Children’s Health and Nutrition?

Along with food manufacturers, retailers contribute directly to the national diet. While efforts to reformulate private-label products have been assessed, little research considers other voluntary initiatives to impact public health. We explore efforts targeting children’s health and nutrition. Making use of the corporate social responsibility reports of the seven leading retailers from 2006 to 2011, we examine the types of actions, by which retail chains and when. Before 2008, most retailers reported on initiatives promoting children’s nutrition education and physical activity in schools. Since 2009, references to such programs have decreased, with a shift toward child wellness. We find that retailers differ in approaches and commitment. Those with larger market shares mention initiatives more frequently. Most activities are related to nutrition education, developing cooking skills, and promotion of physical activity and not product reformulation. Our research suggests these efforts are not coordinated, might be misplaced, and do not persist over time.     

卖空限制与收益可预测性——A股融资融券制度的证据

基于A股市场融资和融券余额的巨大差距,本文拓展了Hong et al.(2016)的理论模型,在融券端和融资端分别找到了影响股票收益率的变量:融券比率(融券余额/流通市值)和融资回补天数(融资比率/日均换手率)。进一步,本文利用组合价差法和Fama-MacBeth横截面回归法,实证检验了A股市场中融券比率与融资回补天数解释和预测股票收益率的能力。实证结果表明,在存在融券限制条件下,融券比率相比融券回补天数(融券比率/日均换手率)能更好地代表套利者对股票价格高估程度的看法,根据融券比率构建的等权重多空组合能带来月均1.58%的显著收益;而由于融资约束相对较少,融资回补天数相比融资比率(融资余额/流通市值)能更好地代表套利者对股票价格低估程度的看法,根据融资回补天数构建的等权重多空组合能带来月均1.28%的显著收益。实证结果与本文存在融券数量限制下的理论模型相符,且该收益率不能被多因子模型和常规股票特征所解释。     

Food industry structure in Norway and Denmark since the 1990s: Path dependency and institutional trajectories in Nordic food markets

Structural changes in Norwegian and Danish food industry since the 1990s is analysed as a path dependent response to the neo-liberal turn. Norway entered the 1990s as a protected market and Denmark as case of an export oriented industry. These developmental strategies are rooted in early 20th century industrialisation and influenced by institutional transformations in the 1990s, such as EU and WTO. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are studied in the context of changing political environments. Explaining two different trajectories, we combine path dependency theories and a Polanyi inspired ‘varieties of capitalism’ framework with corporate strategy theories on food industry M&As. We identify two different types of path dependent development, a self-reinforcing in Denmark and a transformative ‘breaking point’ in Norway.     

基于目标值的土地警素指标的预警研究 ——以上海市土地类指标为例

研究目的:探寻基于目标值的土地运行关键指标预警研究的方法,及时提出警戒信息与调控措施。研究方法:采用趋势预测法对警素指标的未来值进行预测,用年均增长率函数倒推法确定目标值倒推值,结合预测值与目标值倒推值确定2015—2020年弹性警界线,采用统计误差理论所得出3σ法则来确定警度界限的区间,采用景气信号灯法判别警情,黄色信号灯表示轻警、红色信号灯重警,采用情景分析法分析不同减量化目标下警情的变化趋势。研究结果:上海市建设用地总规模若按减量递增10%,则2018年后需要保持零增长,若减量递增30%,则增量还有一定上行空间;工业用地占比的预测值在未来5年内都处于红色预警,但警情有较为合理的自下降趋势。研究结论:建设用地应遵循"五量并举"的调控思路,努力实现规划建设用地"负增长"目标;而工业用地则通过加强分类引导,采取二次开发、复合利用等措施,优化用地结构,使工业用地占比回落到正常区间。单一警素指标预警适用于时间序列较长且有目标值的指标,未来的研究重点应在单项预警的基础上,构建以土地要素为核心的多要素安全综合预警体系。     

PBL教学法与案例教学法在高校商科教学中的结合应用

PBL教学法和案例教学法是商科教学中较为常见的方法,本文分析了两种方法的应用以及各自存在的局限性。文章以商科市场营销学为例,为解决各自存在的问题,将两种方法在实战中相结合,以实现课堂效果的优化,满足现代社会对商科专业人才的要求。     

台湾代客记账业发展之沿革

中小企业在台湾的经济起飞与稳定增长占有非常重要而独特的地位。台湾中小企业受限于规模以及成本考虑,大多不愿雇佣专任会计或聘请会计师,处理记账及报税事宜。因此代客记账业应运而生。代客记账业因收费低廉、勤快、服务态度好,在台湾存在已有六十多年历史,对中小企业的成长与经济发展颇有贡献。2004年6月2日,台湾各方争议已久的＂记账士法＂公布施行,对于台湾代客记账业制度的建立有着重要影响,其影响幅度值得研究。本文希望对台湾代客记账业提供一了解的管道。