Exploring the factors that drive consumers to use contactless delivery services in the context of the continued COVID-19 pandemic

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the launch of contactless delivery services. This research integrates resource matching, service quality evaluation, and perceived value theories to explore the factors that promote the use contactless delivery services. The data was obtained through questionnaire surveys, and research hypotheses were verified through the structural equation modelling approach. With the exception of convenience, the results show that privacy, reliability, security, and flexibility have a significantly positive effect on consumers' intention to use “contactless” delivery services through consumers' perceived value. This study contributes to the literature by introducing theoretical frameworks from various paradigms and enriches the academic research on existing theoretical structure models. It also helps optimize resource allocation and realize the social environment related to coexisting with the COVID-19 pandemic.     

‘It’s a Harsh Fact of Life with the RMA’: neo-liberalism and the realities of community sports facility development by the private sector in New Zealand

Despite the importance of facilities as primary sites for delivery of leisure and sport services, there has been a scarcity of academic literature on the provision of community sports facilities and the processes through which they are developed. In particular, this paper provides empirical analysis of leisure facility provision with a focus on practice and experience of policy and planning actors. By employing a case study approach and semi-structured interviews, the study identified a sharp contrast between the discourse of neo-liberalism and the realities of a highly regulated environment for the private sector under a national legislation of New Zealand, namely the Resource Management Act 1991. While both public and private actors recognised benefits of the resource consent process in mitigating the negative environmental impacts and facilitating public input, the findings also revealed its potential impediments to both private and philanthropic developments and their potential resultant benefits to communities and social citizenship due to its costly, restrictive and undifferentiated nature. Consequently, the paper suggests that future research needs to examine empirical evidence of how social citizenship and citizen engagement are enhanced by both public and private sectors through planning and development of community sports facilities and services.     

Designing awareness campaigns to counter human trafficking: An analytic approach

Human trafficking – the trade of persons for the gain of others – is a pervasive societal issue. Ongoing trafficking recruitment calls for targeted prevention strategies for individuals and communities at risk. Awareness campaigns, arguably the most common form of trafficking prevention, are intended to alert individuals to the tactics used by traffickers and provide them with practical strategies to avoid deception and exploitation. However there is a shortage of technical solutions regarding the analysis, impact assessment, and evaluation of alternatives related to implementing awareness campaigns. We present a resource allocation model that can be used to determine the allocation of funds that maximizes increases in trafficking awareness among at-risk populations. We apply this model to determine the allocation of a limited budget among different types of prevention programs in at-risk populations in Nepal. For each awareness campaign, we estimate a production function that relates the amount invested to the associated change in awareness. When allocating limited resources, decision makers must balance competing interests, and we illustrate the impact of three allocation policies on trafficking awareness. The model presented in this article is a first attempt to help decision makers evaluate how to allocate funds in the context of trafficking awareness.     

创新生态系统视角下价值共创如何影响企业创新绩效——一个有调节的中介模型

以创新生态系统为视角，引入创新资源互动与生态系统规范机制为中介变量和调节变量，探究价值共创如何影响企业创新绩效。基于307家企业样本数据，运用结构方程模型、Bootstrap和层级回归方法对数据进行分析。研究发现：创新生态系统中，价值共创不完全直接影响企业创新绩效；创新资源互动部分中介价值共创对企业创新绩效的影响；生态系统规范机制部分正向调节价值共创对创新资源互动的影响。最后提出，创新生态系统调控方与企业要差异化地制定提升创新绩效的实施方案，营造活跃的创新资源互动氛围，形成并完善系统内生态规范机制。     

Financial openness and Chinese regional growth imbalance: New insight from spatial spillovers

This paper uses spatial panel methods and Chinese provincial data from 2003 to 2017 to study the spatial spillovers of financial openness on economic growth. The results show, first, a positive direct effect and an overall negative spatial spillover of financial openness on provincial growth. Second, there are two spatial spillover channels: a positive growth externality and a harmful resource competition among provinces. Third, we estimate the state dependence and dynamics of spatial spillover, and find that the negative spatial spillover is smaller in provinces with high levels of financial openness and in the long term; thus, the negative spatial spillover declined over time. These results are robust to the choice of SDM and GNS spatial econometrics methods and under different spatial weight matrices.     

Does bond market development enhance the banking sector’s efficiency in resource allocation? Industry-level evidence from Korea

Korea’s financial system used to be bank-based, with banks playing the leading role in financing corporations. As highlighted by Park et al. (2019), however, bond markets have developed rapidly in Korea and other Asian countries. The corporate bond market competes with banks as a source of finance for large borrowers. As such, bond markets may affect banking sector operation, a process known as disintermediation. In this paper, we examine whether bond market development improves the efficiency of resource allocation in Korean bank lending. We propose two channels through which bond market development affects the efficiency of bank lending. Since the two channels have opposing effects on the efficiency of banking, the issue must be settled by empirical analysis. We find that bank loans are much less efficient than bond financing in allocating resources across industries. Furthermore, banks are particularly inefficient in resource allocation in industries that rely more on bond financing. This suggests that competition from bond financing does not improve allocative efficiency of bank loans.     

Maximizing political vote in multiple districts

This paper models a resource allocation problem in the political context. Voters and political candidates of two parties are positioned in each of n given electoral districts. We assume that each voter will vote for the candidate he is more attracted to. This attraction is modeled by an attraction function. Each of the parties now attempts to allocate a finite budget to maximize their objective, which is either the popular vote or the number of districts, in which the party has a majority. Individual scenarios are examined with respect to leader-follower solutions and Nash equilibria. The paper then describes a dynamic model that successively allocates existing funds plus additional donations to candidates in different electoral districts.     

The effects of board structure on corporate performance: Evidence from East African frontier markets

The effectiveness of the well-known corporate governance practices may not be universal due to fundamental differences in the environments under which firms operate. By using hand-collected data from all the non-financial firms listed on the unexplored East African frontier markets (i.e., Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), we examine the effect of board characteristics on the performance of firms. Our results show that board size has a negative and significant effect on firm performance. The presences of foreigners and civil servants on the board play positive roles on financial performance, where the agency and resource dependence theories apply. Further, we find that board members with higher education also contribute to firm performance. These findings still hold when we consider the 2008–2009 financial crisis period. Overall, we show that in a business climate where ownership is largely dominated by few shareholders, the conventional governance mechanisms do not work effectively.     

基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构设计研究

为使铁路调度集中系统更好地满足运输组织需求,提升运输组织效率,阐述我国铁路调度集中系统运用现状,针对存在的系统功能区域化割裂、系统部署灵活性较低、系统建设和运用成本高等问题,结合铁路调度集中系统运用特点,提出基于云计算技术的铁路调度集中系统架构方案,将铁路调度集中系统部署在由云平台资源层、云平台服务层、云平台用户与接口层组成的云平台上,按需分配系统资源并动态扩充系统边界,提升系统资源利用率,提高业务协调性和计划编制的统一性,减轻运输人员的劳动强度,保障铁路运输生产的安全稳定。