The influence of management and auditors on consolidation decisions

Historically, the decision over whether or not to consolidate was guided by bright-line rules, which outlined the minimum percentage of ownership required in a subsidiary for it to be considered controlled by a reporting entity and thus included in the consolidated financial statements (CFSs). Today, U.S. GAAP and IFRS use a principles-based approach, which is guided by the concept of control to determine whether a subsidiary is to be consolidated in the CFSs. In this context, a debate exists between managers and auditors about which subsidiaries should be consolidated. To deepen our understanding of how managers and auditors grapple with consolidation decisions, we interviewed several CFOs and audit partners to determine if they are anchored to legalistic mechanisms or if, instead, they are strategically developing ways to support the consolidation decision. Based on our interviews, we find that opportunistic transactions—criticized at the time of the rules-based approach—still exist due to the search for legalistic mechanisms that protect underlying choices influenced by economic incentives. Such results are crucial for analysts and investors to properly interpret consolidated financial performance.     

Understanding conflicting perspectives in event planning and management using Q method

There is a need to better understand the interests of actors in the planning and management of major events. The diversity of actor perspectives about an event creates a wicked problem set that event organisers and public officials find difficult to understand, let alone address. This paper focuses on problem identification as one stage in the event planning and management process. It explores how problem structuring can contribute to more effective planning and management of actors' interests. The value of Q methodology is explored through a case study of the Australian World Rally Championship. Four perspectives are identified in the problem structuring process: the Skeptics, the Materialists, the Middle-grounders and the Supporters. The findings demonstrate that Q methodology is effective in identifying the depth and breadth of different problem perspectives, providing insights into the importance of different perspectives, and can be used reflexively to anticipate and manage potential conflict.     

我国企业风险监测与预警体系构建

行为资产定价等传统风险监测模型的提出和发展,对企业运用风险管理理论进行风险监测具有重要的指导和推动作用。由于诸多不确定因素的存在,各类风险监测模型均体现出各自所独有的优势及不足,国内企业在实际应用中应认真分析自身所处的内部和外部环境,选择适合自己的方法。具体可基于宏观经济风险、泡沫经济风险、国债风险、外资风险等层面设计相应指标,从企业自身经营环境中获取指标体系中各监测指标的具体数值,进而依据综合评价值对风险的水平与程度进行预警预报。     

Structuring technological information for technology roadmapping: data mining approach

Most research on technology roadmapping has focused on its practical applications and the development of methods to enhance its operational process. Thus, despite a demand for well-supported, systematic information, little attention has been paid to how/which information can be utilised in technology roadmapping. Therefore, this paper aims at proposing a methodology to structure technological information in order to facilitate the process. To this end, eight methods are suggested to provide useful information for technology roadmapping: summary, information extraction, clustering, mapping, navigation, linking, indicators and comparison. This research identifies the characteristics of significant data that can potentially be used in roadmapping, and presents an approach to extracting important information from such raw data through various data mining techniques including text mining, multi-dimensional scaling and K-means clustering. In addition, this paper explains how this approach can be applied in each step of roadmapping. The proposed approach is applied to develop a roadmap of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to illustrate the process practically.     

浅析汽车产品可靠性工程及其构建

汽车可靠性工程学是把可靠性工程学的最基本的方法和原理结合汽车工程的问题,形成以研究汽车可靠性设计、分配、预测、试验、评价、维修性等为主要内容的应用型科学。本文阐述了汽车产品可靠性工程内容及设计构建的方案。     

浅谈高寒地区建筑节能设计

本文论述了高寒地区建筑节能设计的环节及要点。     

Organizational structuring and project team structuring in integrated product development project

For a superior project result, integrated product development (IPD) project need to have stage-specific management approaches where the front-end structuring supports and strengthens the management of the project and the team during the execution stages. In the current study we focus on relationships on the organizational level variable during the front-end stage of the project, organizational structuring, with a project execution level variable, project team structuring to study the impact on product design glitches and project performance in the concurrent project environment. We hypothesize that managing the overall product development projects with integrated organizational structuring at the front stage and project team structuring during the development and project implementation stages can lead to reduced product glitches which can enhance the overall IPD project performance. We test our hypothetical model using data collected from the US automotive industry. Our data supports all the three proposed hypotheses. Discussion and implication of the empirical results, limitations of the current study, and recommendations for future studies are also provided.     

北京的区域功能和城市布局

一个地区的局部区域的功能是由这个区域所在的位置、资源、地理自然环境、历史发展和它在全地区中承担的职能分工所决定的。本文从北京的城市功能出发，分析了北京市的空间构造和各区县在首都城市功能中的定位，以及这些区县近年来各种要素的变化，并讨论了它们在发展变化中存在的问题。     

Costly information production and optimal capital structuring: Theory and implications for finance and accounting

By considering a broad class of securities offerings that we termcapital structurings, a firm can always avoid pooling with firms whose prospects are poorer. This result implies that firms need not indulge in costly information gathering, hoping thereafter to signal to investors. One application allows us to describe a new theory of capital structurings, in which firms choose their capital structure not (as in traditional capital structure signaling theory) to signal privately known prospects, but rather to signal that no (productively useless) investigation of prospects has been pursued. A second application addresses the issue of the impossibility of informationally efficient capital markets: firms are capable of establishing conditions under which investors will recognize informational efficiency. The authors wish to acknowledge helpful comments by participants in seminars at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the Univeristy of Tsukuba. Particular thanks go to Adam Brandenburger and an anonymous referee. Naturally, any remaining errors are the responsiblity of the authors. C.J.J. is on leave at the Council of Economic Advisers. This article reflects the opinions of the authors and not that of the Council of Economic Advisers. Much of the work for this article was conducted while E.H.R. was on leave at the Institute of Socio-Economic Planning at the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan.     

自然垄断产业市场结构重组的目标、模式与政策实践

为促进自然垄断产业的有效竞争 ,提高经济效率 ,许多国家都对自然垄断产业实行市场结构重组政策。本文将探讨自然垄断产业市场结构重组的基本目标 ,5种主要市场结构重组模式及其特点 ,并分析一些经济发达国家和中国在自然垄断产业实行市场结构重组的政策实践。