Report： China＇s power use falls 3.63% in April

China＇s nuclear power capacity is expected to reach about 5 percent of the country＇s total power capacity by 2020, according to National Energy Administration （NEA） on June 1 at a press conference.     

Do Japanese MNCs use expatriates to contain risk in Asian host countries?

We investigate the impact of host-country risk on the expatriation strategies of multinational firms, using data on Japanese subsidiary firms in manufacturing industries in 13 host countries in Asia. We find that country risk is negatively correlated with the degree of expatriation and that, rather than host-country risk, firm-specific factors (particularly capital intensity, ownership share of parent firms in subsidiaries and the age of the venture) explain most of the variation in the degree to which subsidiaries rely on Japanese expatriates. Contrary to previous studies, the capital intensity of production is a key explanatory firm-specific variable that correlates positively with the degree of expatriation. Japanese multinational companies do not rely on expatria127=tes to off-set host-country risk, but to mitigate risk to parent investment in subsidiaries.     

A local bicycle helmet ‘law’ in a Swedish municipality – the effects on helmet use

The municipality of Motala in Sweden introduced a local bicycle helmet ‘law’ on May 1, 1996. This is not a legally enacted ordinance, but instead a legislated recommendation backed up by information and education. Formally, the law applies to children (aged 6–12 years), although the intention is to increase helmet use by all cyclists. The objective of the present study was to quantitatively evaluate the impact of the Motala helmet law on observed use of helmets by children and adults. Bicycle helmet use was monitored in Motala (n = 2,458/year) and in control towns (n = 17,818/year) both before and after adoption of the helmet law (1995–1998). Chi-square tests showed that helmet wearing 1995–1998 increased in Motala among all bicyclists (from 6.1% to 10.5%) and adults biking on cycle paths (from 1.8% to 7.6%). Helmet use by school children aged 6–12 increased during the first 6 months after introduction of the law (from 65.0% to 75.7%) but then progressively decreased to the pre-law level. Considering children cycling on cycle paths and for recreation in housing areas, there was a tendency towards increased helmet use during the first post-law year, but this was followed by a reduction to a lower level in 1998 than in 1995. Logistic regression analysis taking into account data from the control towns indicated that the helmet law had a positive effect on children cycling to schools during the first 6 months, and a weak delayed but more long-term positive effect on adult cyclists on cycle paths. There were no positive effects on children in housing areas and on cycle paths. The Motala helmet law probably would have had greater and more lasting effects on helmet use by bicyclists, if certain problems had been avoided during the initiation phase. Moreover, although it did have a positive influence on both school children and adults, it is not legally binding, and hence no penalties can be imposed. Presumably, compulsory legislation would have a more substantial impact on helmet wearing than a non-mandatory helmet ‘law’ such as that introduced in Motala.     

Interpersonal relations in China: Expatriates’ perspective on the development and use of guanxi

The literature on social networks identifies relationship building through guanxi as an effective way for Western organizations to reduce their liability of foreignness in China. Even though it is individuals rather than organizations who build these relationships, the focus in previous literature has been on organizational outcomes, and only a handful of studies have attempted to explain how expatriates perceive guanxi relations are built and maintained. To help address this issue, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 36 Western expatriates working in China. Our findings suggest that guanxi is perceived to be an informal process that is used to build trust between individuals, which in turn can reduce the uncertainty around contract enforcement in China. We also find that the process for building guanxi between parties is initiated by the individual whose organization has less market power. Finally, the findings suggest that firms should be cautious if they elect to use agents as intermediaries to help connect to, and build relations with buyers and sellers.     

Edging out of the nest: emerging adults’ use of smartphones in maintaining and transforming family relationships

Abstract

The transition to adulthood, often accompanied by an emptying of the family nest, has implications for family relationships, identities and consumption practices. Despite this, the voices and experiences of emerging adults are largely missing from literature on family consumption. Emerging adult families typically combine digital natives and digital immigrants, but little is known about how their interactions around digital communications technology relate to emerging adult preoccupations with affiliation and autonomy. This interpretive study explores how emerging adults’ smartphones are bound up with a complex network of family communication and consumption practices, often across household, geographic and generational boundaries. Affiliation and autonomy emerged as intertwined rather than competing dimensions of participants’ smartphone use, contributing to the distribution and development of family as the nest empties.     

How well do anatomical-based injury severity scores predict health service use in the 12 months after injury?

There is an acknowledged need for valid and reliable injury scores, suitable for use at the population level, which can accurately predict the long-term outcome of injury. The objective was to quantify the extent to which the abbreviated injury severity score (AIS) and the functional capacity index score (FCI) predict use of health services in the 12 months following an injury event. A cohort of injured people (ICD-9-CM 800-995) aged 18 - 64 years was identified from Manitoba hospital discharge abstracts from January 1988 to December 1991. For each member of the cohort whose injuries could be mapped to an abbreviated injury scale unique identifier, a maximum AIS (maxAIS) and a maximum FCI (maxFCI) were obtained. The cohort was linked with hospital discharge abstracts, physicians' claims and deaths from the population registry for the 12 months following injury. Negative binomial regression was used to model the relationships between the severity scores and the three outcome measures, while controlling for potential confounding variables. In total, 20 677 (97%) eligible cases were identified, of which 16 834 (81%) could be assigned a maxAIS and 15 823 (77%) a maxFCI. MaxAIS and maxFCI were significantly associated with total days in hospital following injury, but explained little of the variation in any of the health service use outcome variables (maxAIS, partial pseudo r2 ranging from < 0.001 to 0.041; and maxFCI, partial pseudo r2 ranging from < 0.001 to 0.018). It was concluded that anatomical damage is only partly responsible for long-term injury outcome. Additional variables would need to be included in predictive models of health outcomes of injury before these models could be reliable.     

Does mobile money use increase firms’ investment? Evidence from Enterprise Surveys in Kenya,Uganda, and Tanzania

Private investment can be an important engine of economic growth in East African countries that are plagued with adverse economic conditions, despite recent growth rates. Against this backdrop, there has been substantial penetration of mobile money, moving beyond simple person-to-person exchanges towards adoption by private firms. This study explores whether there is a relationship between firm adoption of mobile money and firm investment. Using firm-level data that are nationally representative of the private sector in three East African countries—Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda—a positive relationship is found between mobile money use and firm’s purchase of fixed assets. This relationship is attributed to reduced transaction costs, increased liquidity, and increased credit worthiness associated with the use of mobile phone financial services. The finding is largely driven by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).     

Attributions to intuition in the venture founding process: Do entrepreneurs actually use intuition or just say that they do?

Even though entrepreneurs often cite the use of intuition as a basis for their venturing decisions, verifying that entrepreneurs are actually using intuition is very difficult. We distinguish between entrepreneurs' attributions to intuition and their actual use of intuition. We propose characteristics of entrepreneurs that increase the likelihood that they will attribute intuition as a basis for decisions during the venture founding process. We then delineate characteristics that make the development and effective use of entrepreneurial intuition more likely. Theoretical implications for researchers studying intuition and practical implications for entrepreneurs using intuition are discussed.     

Comparative analysis of innovative diffusion in the high-tech markets of Japan and South Korea: a use–diffusion model approach

In recent years, many scholars and practitioners have raised doubt as to whether or not conventional research on the diffusion of innovation can explain and predict the needs and behavioral patterns of consumers in the raiding and converging market environment. Thus, it has been suggested that the use–diffusion model would be a good alternative framework to study innovation diffusion. This study explores whether the new model is effective in explaining and predicting the needs and innovative behavioral patterns of consumers in the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) market in Japan and South Korea. Nation-wide surveys were conducted in Japan and South Korea for data collection, resulting in a large random sample (n = 500 in Japan and n = 500 in South Korea). Important findings of the study are: (1) product experience and sophistication of technology were found to be the most important factors in explaining the innovative diffusion process among IPTV users; (2) functional similarity, complementarity, and substitution effect were also main determinants for enhancing users’ satisfaction with IPTV services; (3) complexity and relative advantage were crucial measures of IPTV’s current technological level, functional performance, and quality with regard to services; and (4) a comparative analysis of diffusion patterns of IPTV between Japan and South Korea indicated that IPTV users in Japan appeared to be still in the phase of early adopters, while South Korean users have gone beyond to the phase of early majority in the adoption cycle.     

Actual use of overseas investment:39.85%↑

China's mainland reported a 39.85 percent surge in the actual use of invest- ment from other areas in the first eight months over the same period last year. Investment inflow reached US＄74.37 billion during the January to Septem- ber period,the Ministry of Commerce said on October 10.     

Managing millennials’ personal use of technology at work

Growing up with the internet and unparalleled access to technology, millennials (individuals born during 1981–1995, also known as Gen Y and Gen Me) extensively use various technologies for non-work-related reasons while at work. Both popular media and scholarly research have portrayed this issue negatively and have supported monitoring and restricting personal use of technology. However, if organizations are to attract and retain millennials—now the largest generation in the U.S. workforce—it is crucial to understand their characteristics and what drives them. Drawing on research on generational differences, organizational control, and cyberloafing, this article explains how unique characteristics of millennials lead them to engage in personal use of technology at work and how organizations might address this issue. Specifically, I contrast two one-sided approaches (deterrence and laissez-faire) that can lead to dysfunctional outcomes when used in excess and recommend more viable solutions. These solutions include establishing a workplace technology use policy based on shared understanding, fostering both relaxation and urgency mentalities, and training both millennials and their managers.     

The ‘Polychronicity - Multiple Media Use’ (P-MMU) scale: a multi-dimensional scale to measure polychronicity in the context of multiple media use

Our paper details the development of a new multidimensional scale to measure polychronicity, ‘the preference for multiple media use’ (the P-MMU). Previous measures of polychronicity are predominantly developed for an organisational context, or do not reflect the complexity required for the measurement of the behavioural phenomenon of multiple media use, within the context of Integrated Marketing Communications. Scale development procedures follow a review of literature and prior qualitative study, uncovering motives for individuals’ preference for multiple media use. The nine dimensional P-MMU scale demonstrates stability across two data sets, using a total sample of 317 Digital Natives. In the evolving research area of multiple media use, the P-MMU scale provides an appropriate measure for the study of this phenomenon.     

How reviewers’ use of profanity affects perceived usefulness of online reviews

This research explores the effects of profanity on perceptions of online reviews’ usefulness. Based on the prior research that described asymmetric attribution effects, we predict that when consumers see profanity in an online review, their reactions differ depending on the valence of the review. Specifically, when profanity is used in a negative review, it should reduce review usefulness because of decreased perceived reviewer objectivity. Among positive reviews, profanity increases review usefulness through greater perceived reviewer credibility. Through analysis of Yelp data, we show that the effect of profanity on usefulness depends on review valence. Experimentally, we demonstrate the opposing mediating effects of perceived objectivity and credibility on the usefulness of the review.     

Optimizing a restaurants seating capacity: use dedicated or combinable tables?

In general, restaurant tables that can't be pushed together to serve large parties are superior to combinable tables because of the loss of productive time that occurs when combinable tables are placed “on hold” while awaiting adjacent tables to become available.     

Economic Keywords in 2007 in China

RMB exchange rate The exchange rate of Renminbi, the Chinese currency,witnessed an appreciation of around six percent to one U.S.dollar this year.On Decem- ber 13,the central parity rate stood at RMB 7.3568 against one dollar, according to the Chinese Foreign Exchange Trading System,breaking the 7.36 mark.     

Do parental decision-making patterns predict compliance with use of child booster seats?

Booster seat use for 4–9 year olds remains the lowest of all age groups in many countries. The objective of this study is to examine whether parents’ decision-making patterns, as measured by the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, relate to car booster seat use. Israeli parents of 4–7 years old children (n = 398) answered a questionnaire about car safety and decision-making habits. Ninety per cent of parents reported having a booster seat; 70.5% reported consistent booster seat use in general and on short drives during the last month (booster seat use compliance index). Greater compliance index was positively related to a vigilant decision-making pattern, passenger compliance with rear seat belts and families with fewer children. Lower booster seat use compliance index was associated with buck-passing decision-making pattern. Health professionals and policy-makers should take into account parents’ habitual decision-making patterns when designing interventions for car booster seat compliance.     

Why do entrepreneurs use franchising as a financial tool? An agency explanation

When and why one type of entrepreneur (franchisor) attracts to its ventures another type of entrepreneur (franchisees) instead of passive investors is a central concern in entrepreneurship literature. Based on the informativeness principle of the principal–agent model, we claim that franchisees are not such an expensive financial tool as has been argued in the literature because their compensation (return) is more efficiently designed: it directly depends on variables which are under franchisees' control. We therefore link agency and financial explanations for franchising. Most of our findings show that, once the agency argument is controlled for, the higher the cost of alternative funds for the franchisor (estimated through different variables), the more the franchisor will rely on expansion through franchising as opposed to company-ownership. We interpret this as a clue that franchising is also used as a financial capital source.     

Korea Surpasses Japan in Investment in China

From January to May, Korea invested US$ 2.67 billion China, next to HK and Virgin Islands, as the third largest investor to China surpass ing Japan. Investment by Japan amounted to US$ 2.4 billion.     

Trends in China's Computer Market in 1997

Computers and communications equipment are China's focal points for development in the Ninth Five-Year Plan (FYP) period. With the development of computer technology, computer performance is improved and it is used in a wider range of fields, especially driven by the international trend for the information era. China has seen soaring demand on the computer market in recent years, and the computer     

Multinational Active in Civil Affairs in China

Twenty multinational giants ,which have rep resentative offices in China has passed the half year investigation and been awarded for their outstanding performance. Among the twenty, there are US -based Coke Cola, Mc Donald, France-based companies like Carrefour,