Should there exist secondary markets for executive stock options?

This paper investigates the potential disadvantages of the secondary markets for executive stock options (ESOs). The benefits of such markets are evident, but they might also have negative effects for shareholders. Executives might, for example, use inside information to time their ESO selling. We investigate two personal motives of managers that can be assumed to affect their optimal selling decision, that is, managers' personal portfolio management issues and the use of inside information. We explore these motives by analyzing unique data from Finland, where there are secondary markets for ESOs. The results of the study support the traditional portfolio diversification hypothesis according to which managers tend to sell their ESOs when holding an ESO is equivalent to holding the underlying stock; that is, in such a case a manager's wealth is closely tied to the stock price of the firm. With respect to the use of inside information the results indicate that ESO selling activity is not related to future stock price behaviour, suggesting that managers do not use inside information to determine the selling time of their ESOs. These results imply that the existence of secondary markets for ESOs does not weaken the usefulness of ESOs as the management compensation, although the benefits of such markets are evident.     

Reforming the Direct–Indirect Tax Mix

This paper provides a new framework for evaluating the welfare effects of commodity tax reforms. It is shown that tax reforms are welfare improving if and only if they satisfy the following intuitive property: on average, consumer prices fall for commodities with high marginal excess burdens. The rule is then applied to analyze a shift from differentiated commodity taxation to direct flat-rate taxation of labour income. The welfare impact of such reforms can be decomposed into two effects: (i) the increase in welfare associated with substitution among taxed commodities, and (ii) the loss in welfare associated with substitution between commodities and leisure. On balance, a shift towards direct taxation is desirable when inter-commodity substitution effects are large relative to commodity–leisure substitution effects. The analysis allows us to reconcile the apparently conflicting results of the tax reform and optimal taxation literatures.     

企业处理顾客、供销商、同业者关系的战略观点

为了可持续发展,忠诚的顾客关系建立在企业集中战略资源满足顾客合理需求的基础上,是具有真实性、价值性和持久性的营销。稳定的供销关系,对于企业保证产品和服务质量、降低原材料采购和市场拓展成本、降低市场风险具有重要意义,是互惠互利、休戚与共的关系。而基于公平合作同业者关系,可以使企业与同业者分享技能、信息、技术和市场机会,分担成本。     

基于可持续发展观的企业财务政策选择研究

企业的财务政策是企业根据其目标和理财环境以及本身的财务实力制定的财务方针和策略，它大量涉及企业理财的谋略和企业的商业秘密，所以必须根据企业内外客观情况的变化，对政策不断加以修改补充，甚至更新替代。然而，这种更新与替代却是很难的，一方面旧的财务政策由于其内部韧性作用而得以维持；另一方面，人们由于心理中的惰性因素而倾向于维护自己已经熟悉的政策。本文探讨如何把可持续发展观引入企业财务政策的选择过程，以解决以上的矛盾。     

替代能源“全攻略”——核电篇

6月8日至9日,《中国电力企业管理》杂志社与上海决策者经济顾问有限公司共同在京主办了“第二届替代能源与电力国际峰会”。替代能源包括水能、核能和风能、太阳能、生物质能等非水电可再生能源。目前,替代能源特别是非水电可再生能源在我国电源结构中的比例很小,而落实党中央制定的能源发展战略,节约化石能源、降低单位能耗水平、推进建设资源节约型和环境友好型社会,必须大力发展替代能源,以确保能源产业特别是电力工业的可持续发展。为了促进替代能源的宣传和推广,本刊将对本次峰会上演讲嘉宾的发言,分专题作系列报道。     

Corporate Governance,Social Responsibility,and Data Breaches

We study whether corporate governance and social responsibility are related to data breaches. We find that socially responsible companies with smaller boards and greater financial expertise are less likely to be breached. The financial impact of a breach is visible in the long term. Specifically, data‐breach firms have –3.5% one‐year buy‐and‐hold abnormal returns. Additionally, banks with breaches have significant declines in deposits and nonbanks have significant declines in sales in the long run. Finally, we find that following a data breach, companies are more likely to replace their chief executive officer and chief technology officer as well as improve their governance and social responsibility.     

设计之上龙凤翱翔

说到龙凤，人们很容易想到古时宫廷中的物件，大到建筑，小到器皿、服装、首饰……龙凤图形随处可见。当龙凤从宫廷走向民间，人们对这个象征权贵吉祥的图形，更是钟爱有加。即使时间的河流已至21世纪的现代，尽管人们的审美观已发生巨大改变，但龙凤这个古老而独特的东方文化符号，依然为大多数人所追崇、喜爱，足见中国人对龙凤图形的情有独钟。     

全覆盖

终有会一天，人类居住的地球在任何需要的地方．都会有互联网接入信号的。在连续几个计划与投资破产、失败之后——包括比尔·盖茨——近两年，全球最知名的创新公司谷歌（Google）和“脸谱”（Facebook）在互联网普及方面均有令人瞩目的新动作。     

Trends in Approval Times for Genetically Engineered Crops in the United States and the European Union

Genetically engineered (GE) crops are subject to regulatory oversight to ensure their safety for humans and the environment. Their approval in the European Union (EU) starts with an application in a given Member State followed by a scientific risk assessment, and ends with a political decision‐making step (risk management). In the United States (US) approval begins with a scientific (field trial) step and ends with a ‘bureaucratic’ decision‐making step. We investigate trends for the time taken for these steps and the overall time taken for approving GE crops in the US and the EU. Our results show that from 1996–2015 the overall time trend for approval in the EU decreased and then flattened off, with an overall mean completion‐time of 1,763 days. In the US in 1998 there was a break in the trend of the overall approval time. Initially, from 1988 until 1997 the trend decreased with a mean approval time of 1,321 days; from 1998–2015, the trend almost stagnated with a mean approval time of 2,467 days.