Declining global market share of Singapore's electronics exports: Is it a concern?

In contrast with the steadily rising shares of other regional exporters, Singapore's export shares in the global electronics market have been faltering in recent years. This has given rise to concerns about its export competitiveness. The drop in Singapore's global ranking can be attributed to shrinking exports of end products and low‐end electronics parts, as manufacturers relocate such assembly production out of Singapore to the regional economies. Fortunately, Singapore remains competitive in the export of high‐end intermediate electronics components, which are characterized by capability, technology, and automation‐intensive processes. While Singapore is progressing in the right direction, the climb up the high‐tech value chain needs to be further accelerated in order to maintain a technology gap with regional exporters. Besides accelerating its own industrial upgrading, Singapore needs to actively pursue measures that would help create a more integrated and competitive production platform for ASEAN, as well as to seek opportunities to service the rapidly enlarging consumer market in China. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

EU Agricultural Policy Reform: Evaluating the EU’s New Methodology for Direct Payments

The Common Agricultural Policy has changed significantly over time. Major changes are now introduced every seven years, with the last fundamental change agreed upon in 2013 for the period 2014-2020. Policymakers also agreed to a mid-term review in order to evaluate the performance of numerous new regulations. The Commission has elaborated a methodology for the evaluation and has already published some documents with initial results for past periods. This article reviews whether the methodology and database used by the Commission are in line with the highest standards for policy evaluation.     

The role of temperature for seasonal market integration: a case study of poultry in Iran*

Understanding market integration has greatly benefited from analysing and comparing variations in price transmissions. An important source of variation in agricultural markets is seasonal changes in production, consumption and transaction costs. A key factor driving seasonality in agricultural price is temperature, as supply and demand changes are triggered by seasonal temperature differences. In this paper, we study the seasonal variations in vertical price transmission focusing on the asymmetric price adjustment to analyse changes in the market interactions between the stages of the value chain. Our data reveal significant transitory effects of temperature on the price transmission process. Results of a panel threshold model suggest that the farm–wholesale price adjustments to deviations from the market equilibrium are more symmetric at higher temperatures. However, we do not find an effect of temperature on the wholesale–retail price relationship. Our findings can be rationalised with wholesalers making use of their market power to extend their margins in the upstream chain. Wholesaler market power is lower during warm periods, and price adjustment is more symmetric. Concerning the Iranian poultry value chain, our findings imply that temperature-related differences in market interactions should be considered in formulating policy interventions.     

Exploring the Influence of Leisure on Adjustment: Development of the Leisure and Spinal Cord Injury Adjustment Model

While recent studies have demonstrated the significance of leisure in the initial phases of spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation, the impact of leisure experience on adjustment and the dynamics of that influence have yet to be adequately clarified. Development of skills to effectively manage leisure becomes critical in the community reintegration process, especially for those who are at risk for poor social and psychological adjustment after injury. Although leisure activities may contribute to well-being among individuals with SCI, the lack of understanding of the dynamics of that influence offers little direction for selection of activity alternatives and design of leisure interventions. This study attempted to answer the following research questions: (1) Does leisure engagement influence the adjustment of individuals with SCI? (2) If leisure engagement does influence adjustment, what influence do variations in leisure activity have on the adjustment of individuals with SCI? (3) Does social support mediate the influence of leisure on adjustment of individuals with SCI? The leisure and SCI adjustment model was constructed to provide one possible explanation of the influence of leisure on the adjustment of individuals with SCI. The model proposed that: (a) leisure engagement has a direct influence on the adjustment of individuals with SCI and (b) leisure engagement has an indirect influence on adjustment to SCI through the promotion of social support. Results from structural equation modeling confirmed that the leisure and SCI adjustment model was an "acceptable" fit to data but left a sufficiently large amount of unexplained variance to suggest the need for further examination of alternative models of SCI adjustment. The use of multiple regression and bivariate correlations suggested that diversity, frequency, and intensity of leisure engagement were associated with the adjustment of individuals with SCI.     

Weltgetreidemarkt: Anhaltender Boom oder kurzfristige Spekulationsblase?

Zusammenfassung   Die Weltagrarm?rkte waren im letzten Jahr von stark steigenden Preisen gepr?gt. Wird diese Entwicklung durch fundamentale Faktoren gestützt oder handelt es sich um eine kurzfristige Erscheinung? Welche Rolle spielen dabei das Bev?lkerungswachstum und die Steigerung der Pro-Kopf-Einkommen? Was geht auf die Nachfrage nach biogenen Kraftstoffen zurück? Diese Fragen werden beispielhaft anhand des Weizenmarktes behandelt. Prof. Dr. Bernhard Brümmer, 39, ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Landwirtschaftliche Marktlehre am Department für Agrar?konomie und Rurale Entwicklung der Universit?t G?ttingen; Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Ulrich Koester, 70, ist Emeritus des Lehrstuhls für Landwirtschaftliche Marktlehre an der Universit?t Kiel; Prof. Dr. Jens-Peter Loy, 44, lehrt in der Abteilung Marktlehre des Instituts für Agrar?konomie an der Universit?t Kiel und ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Marktlehre an der CAU Kiel.     

The Technical Efficiency Impact of Farm Credit Programmes: A Case Study of Northern Germany

We analyse the technical efficiency of dairy farms in Schleswig‐Holstein that took part in the European Farm Credit Programme over the period 1987 to 1994. One goal of this programme is to increase the productivity of farms. We test whether participants show higher technical efficiency. We utilise a stochastic frontier model that allows for heteroscedasticity and estimation of determinants of technical inefficiency. Statistical tests indicate dominance of this model over alternative specifications. On average, we observe a high level of technical efficiency between 1987–94, but participation in the programme has rather led to a slight decrease. Thus, the programme seems to have failed to increase the competitiveness of farms.     

Business Planning Practices of Family‐Owned Firms within a Quality Framework*

Study purpose is to investigate the contribution of an integrated, interfunctional approach to quality management, inclusive of family/business interface management, to the success of 572 small family firms, using multiple measures of success (congruity and business revenues). A positive customer reputation was the most important business goal for 44.6 percent of firms. Interface and business management significantly explained business revenue and congruity between business and family while controlling for owner and business characteristics. Family/business interface management explained 9.7 percent of congruity variance and 8.2 percent of gross revenue variance, whereas business management explained 3.3 percent of congruity variance and 2.2 percent of gross revenue variance.     

Enhancing Moral Intensity: The Roles of Personal and Consequential Information in Ethical Decision-Making

This research explored how (a) information regarding consequences and (b) personal information regarding the potential victim influences perceptions of moral intensity and ethical behavioral intent. An experimental vignette research design was used and 314 professional managers participated. The results of the study indicated that personal information impacted ethical behavioral intent through its influence on perceptions of proximity. In contrast, consequential information's impact depended on the presence of personal information or prior knowledge. Implications for management and future ethical research are discussed.