Measurement of formal harmonization progress:: The IASC experience

As a result of globalization, the accounting profession has become increasingly aware of the need to establish a single set of accounting standards that would be valid in the international arena. Recent events highlight the timeliness of this study, which provides an empirical measurement of International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) progress throughout its harmonization history. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, a new measure of the advances achieved through formal harmonization and second, to use this methodology to evaluate the IASC achievements all through its standard-setting activity. Our results prove that the IASC has made great progress in regard to the level of harmony achieved through the accounting standards it has issued or revised. Nevertheless, we conclude that the IASC needs to continue working towards greater formal harmonization. Our study also indicates research directions that could advance the study of formal harmonization. This specific area of research has generally been disregarded in the existing literature, a trend we would like to see reversed, considering that its application can provide valuable insight for standard-setting processes, especially now that the accounting community is so conscious of the need to advance the harmonization process.     

Monitoring trends of technological changes based on the dynamic patent lattice: A modified formal concept analysis approach

The strategic importance of monitoring technological changes is highlighted given the ever faster pace and increasing complexity of technological innovation. In this respect, patent citation analysis has been the most frequently adopted tool among others. However, patent citation analysis is subject to certain drawbacks that stem from only consideration of citing-cited information and time lags between citing and cited patents. This study proposes a formal concept analysis (FCA)-based approach to developing a dynamic patent lattice that can analyze complex relations among patents and monitor trends of technological changes. The FCA is a mathematical tool for grouping objects with shared properties based on the lattice theory. The distinct strengths of FCA, vis-á-vis other methods, lie in structuring and displaying the relations among objects from a massive amount of data. For the purpose of technology monitoring, the FCA is modified to take into account time periods and changes of patent keywords. A patent context is first constructed with the aid of domain experts and text mining technique. Two types of dynamic patent lattices are then developed by executing the modified FCA algorithm. A case study of laser technology in lithography for semiconductor manufacturing shows that the suggested dynamic patent lattice has considerable advantages over conventional patent citation maps in terms of visualization and informative power.     

试谈离散数学在计算机学科中的重要性

阐述了离散数学及计算机专业其他学科的基本概念，分析了离散数学与计算机专业其他学科间的关系。教师在教学过程中，将此关系在课堂中灌输给学生，让学生了解离散数学在计算机专业学科中所处的重要地位。学生在学习离散数学的同时，能明确该学科的学习目的，也能站在较高的层次把握好离散数学的学习。     

知识产权保护与自由贸易的冲突与协调

知识产权保护与自由贸易的冲突由来已久,TRIPS协议实施后,更引发了国家之间尤其是发达国家和发展中国家之间在贸易及其他利益方面的多种冲突,因此发达国家和发展中国家应加强在知识产权保护方面的协调,我国也应采取相应对策以减少知识产权冲突,充分发挥知识产权保护机制的积极作用。     

转型期我国市场化进程的多视角分析

本文从四个方面对转型期我国市场化进程进行了分析,一是产品市场与要素市场,二是下层市场组织与上层市场组织,三是正式经济与非正式经济,四是经济运行中的总量交易与每笔交易费用,并且对每个层次我国市场化进程发展中的问题及根源进行了制度经济学的剖析,从而为我国社会主义市场经济体制的完善提供有价值的参考.     

Financing enterprise development in sub-Saharan Africa

This paper examines some critical gaps in the financial infrastructurein sub-Saharan Africa, which have contributed to the poor performanceof productive investment by private agents. It first analysesthe performance of financial systems, encompassing both formaland informal financial sectors, in relation to the changingpolicy environment, and key features of the financial marketstructure. It then identifies those gaps in financial servicesthat have been particularly detrimental to private investment,enterprise growth and transformation. Finally, the paper considerspolicy implications drawn from East Asian experiences with respectto financial policies, institutional arrangements and marketintegration measures for financing enterprise development.     

Institutional distance among country influences and environmental performance standardization in multinational enterprises

This research compares and contrasts the findings in Aguilera-Caracuel et al. (2013) with the outcomes of applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) — a methodological strategy that gathers quantitative and qualitative information to explain complexity at the case level and generality across cases. Using the same sample of 128 multinational enterprises (MNEs) with headquarters and subsidiaries based in the USA, Canada, France, and Spain, we identify a set of relevant configurations of causes and conditions to explain environmental performance standardization. By avoiding separate treatments for each variable, which is typical in multiple regression analysis (MRA), we overcome prior limitations and propose a new way of understanding this phenomenon. In summary, our results significantly reinforce and complement the previous results.     

Should retailers harmonize marketing variables across their distribution channels? An investigation of cross-channel effects in multi-channel retailing

Retailers with more than one channel of distribution have to decide whether marketing variables such as conveyed image, price, and assortment should be harmonized across channels. This article presents an integrative model and survey results that shed light on this question; its focus is on stores, online shops, and catalogs. The results show that harmonization of marketing variables has advantages and disadvantages: on the one hand, it correlates positively with overall customer loyalty and cross-channel customer retention, i.e., one channel causes more sales in other channels. On the other hand, it also correlates positively with cannibalization within the distribution system. This suggests that general recommendations strictly favoring or disfavoring harmonization do not account sufficiently for the complexity of the problem and retailer heterogeneity.     

The effect of more rules‐based guidance on expense disclosure under International Financial Reporting Standards

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are often described as principles‐based; however, we show that IFRS and Australian pre‐IFRS expense‐related standards are more rules‐based than pre‐IFRS expense disclosure in New Zealand. Thus, we examine expense disclosure in New Zealand and Australia around IFRS adoption to provide evidence on the effect of more or less rules‐based standards on voluntary disclosure. First, we add to the rules versus principles‐based standards debate by finding higher voluntary expense disclosure under more rules‐based standards (e.g. IFRS). This contrasts with expectations, as we would expect fewer voluntary disclosures under more rules‐based standards as there would be fewer possible voluntary disclosures. Second, we document that New Zealand firms have significantly less voluntary expense disclosure than size‐ and industry‐matched Australian firms in both the pre‐ and post‐IFRS period. However, all measures of expense disclosure significantly improved post‐IFRS for New Zealand, whilst little change occurred for Australian firms. Thus, there is greater financial statement comparability across these countries post‐IFRS, but not full harmonization. Third, we show that the relationship between most firm characteristics and expense disclosure is weaker post‐IFRS. In addition, cross‐listed firms and loss‐making firms have a higher level of expense disclosure, as contrasted with firms in the investment and property industry which have a lower percentage of unspecified expenses but also report fewer voluntary expenses.     

Linking customer-employee exchange and employee innovative behavior

Employee innovative behaviors lay the foundation for organizational innovation and are of importance to business success, especially for service firms. Although these innovative behaviors are performed at the individual level, employees still need to have frequent exchanges with others, such as customers. As there is little research investigating customer-employee exchange (CEX) and its influence on employee innovative behavior in services, this study aims to fill this gap in a hotel context. The results of a survey with 180 respondents indicate that both the solidarity and harmonization components of CEX have positive effects on employee innovative behavior, yet the information exchange between customers and employees does not significantly influence employee innovation. Also, higher level of CEX leads to higher level of perceived social psychological climate for innovation. The mediating effect of social psychological climate in the relationship between CEX and employee innovative behavior is partially supported. The findings contribute to the understanding of the role of social exchanges in facilitating employee innovative behavior and provide implications for the management of employee innovative behavior in hospitality firms.