The Stampede Toward Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Fact or Fiction?

This paper questions recent conclusions that the trend in primary plan type toward defined contribution plans and away from defined benefit plans is due to increased pension regulation. Analysis of data from IRS 5500 filings by pension administrators shows that at least half of the trend is due to a shift in employment mix toward firms with industry, size, and union status that have historically been associated with lower defined benefit plan rates. Not more than half of the trend can be attributed to a "stampede" by firms with given industry, size, and union status toward defined contribution pension coverage.     

Collective Bargaining Coverage under Trade Unionism: A Sociological Investigation

Does high union density lead to high collective bargaining coverage? Since collective bargaining is seen as the raison d'être of trade unions, this is often assumed to be the case; some observers think that union density is ‘a floor’ below which collective bargaining coverage is unlikely to fall. With its very high union density, Denmark is a case in point. This article investigates the collective bargaining coverage issue in the Danish case, based on an individual-level employee survey with 1720 respondents. Collective bargaining coverage is shown to be much lower than union density, and some methodological issues in this connection are considered. In order to find some possible explanations for this surprising finding, the question of variance of collective bargaining coverage between groups of employees is discussed in the light of theories of service society and recent research results and theories. The impact of central variables is investigated through multivariate analysis, and it turns out that by far the most important variable predicting an employee's collective bargaining coverage is a variable mostly neglected in comparative analyses: occupational status. Salaried employees have a much lower collective bargaining coverage than manual workers in Denmark, and some possible reasons for this are given.     

The Coverage of Collective Pay-setting Institutions in Britain, 1895–1990

Fewer than 50% of British employees now have their pay and conditions affected by collective pay-setting institutions — collective bargaining or wages councils. This paper charts the historical context for the current picture of a decollectivized Britain, constructing a time series on coverage from 1895 to 1990. Extant estimates and sources of coverage data are presented and discussed alongside estimates drawn from a source used only sparingly before now — the number of workers affected by changes in wage rates of national agreements or wage orders. The recent decline in collective bargaining coverage is the most prolonged ever recorded and has been noticeably steeper than the fall in union density, such that the proportion of British workers covered is lower now than in the 1940s. With the abolition of wages councils in 1993, collective pay-setting machinery now affects the pay and conditions of fewer workers than it did in the 1930s.     

The Changing Importance of Lifetime Jobs, 1892–1978

Individual-level data on the job tenure of 2,981 workers surveyed by the California Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1892 are used to estimate the extent of lifetime jobs in that era. Among nonunion, native-born men the proportion in jobs with eventual tenure of 20 or more years was about half, and among foreign-born men a fourth, the rate among men in the modern workforce, consistent with the hypothesis of a fundamental change in employment relations over time. Changes for women were even more pronounced but of a different character.     

Unpacking Union Density: Membership and Coverage in the Transformation of the Israeli IR System

To understand the transformation of the industrial relations (IR) system in Israel, we propose a four-group typology according to workers' membership in unions and coverage of collective agreements. Using this typology, and relying on various data sources, we estimate that in 2000 membership was 40 to 45 percent, and coverage was about 56 percent, down from 80 to 85 percent for both measures in 1981. The data also reveal the emerging differences among the four groups, including income differentials. Moreover, comparing workers' actual membership and coverage with their preferences suggests that the system has not yet reached equilibrium. The study demonstrates that only a four-group typology succeeds in surfacing the complex nature of union decline.     

Pension Type and Retirement Wealth

In this article I analyze the effect of a shift from defined-benefit pensions to defined-contribution pensions on retirement wealth. Regressions results suggest that workers with a defined-benefit pension appear to have more retirement resources than those who either have no pension or have a defined-contribution pension, although individual savings is generally insufficient. I use the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), which contains data on individuals 51 to 61 years of age.     

基于图像处理的印版网点面积率检测

检测与控制印版网点面积率是印刷质量控制的重要环节,本研究提出了一种检测印版网点面积率的新方法,利用常规的显微摄影仪器拍摄印版上的网点区域获得数字图像,采用阀值分割的方法对数字图像进行二值化处理,利用膨胀和腐蚀的方法消除图像中的噪点,再去除图像边缘不完整的网点,然后计算印版的网点面积率。经过实验验证,该方法可以获得比较精确的网点面积率检测结果,能够满足印刷生产中的印版网点面积率检测的需要。     

Cash Balance Plans and the Distribution of Pension Wealth

Recent pension plan conversions by numerous large employers have sparked debate about the merits of cash balance plans. This article compares pension wealth in traditional defined benefit (DB) plans and cash balance plans for a national sample of covered Americans aged 51 to 61. The simulations indicate that replacing DB plans with cash balance plans would redistribute pension wealth from those with long-term jobs to those with multiple short-term jobs and from those with substantial pension benefits to those with more limited benefits. Perhaps unexpectedly, women at midlife in 1992 with DB coverage would lose wealth in cash balance plans, but future cohorts of women are likely to fare better.     

Pension Substitution in the 1980s: Why the Shift toward Defined Contribution?

The relative decline of defined benefit (DB) pension plans, and growth of defined contribution (DC) plans, has been often noted but not extensively explored. This paper reports on the construction of a new longitudinal company-based data set on pension plans for the years 1980-86 (including all U.S. companies with large plans, and a 10 percent sample of companies with small plans, at any point during this period). The decline in DB coverage is primarily due to fewer participants in companies maintaining such plans, while very little of the growth in DC coverage is due to companies terminating DB plans. Also, multinomial logit analysis of manufacturing company choices indicates that the higher administrative costs of DB plans lead new adopters to favor DC plans, but this explains little of the tremendous growth in DC plans. In addition, higher industry variability and capital intensity, and smaller company size, lead new adopters to favor DC plans.     

Opening the Black Box: The Internal Labor Markets of Company X

This paper sets out to analyze an internal data set on a Taiwanese auto dealer employing three distinct types of workers. The effects of jobs and levels are positive on both the salary and bonus equations, albeit smaller under a fixed effects than under OLS; however, when factoring in individual fixed effects, the reductions in the bonus equations are greater than those in the salary equations. With changing economic conditions, any consequent variations are greater in bonuses than in salaries, with the most extreme variations being felt by higher ranking employees than lower-level workers. Promotion premiums between levels are smaller than the average differences in pay, and although wage variations do exist within and between levels, the greater effect is on bonuses rather than salaries. The variations in both salaries and bonuses, defined by the coeffficient variations, are also greater in those years when demand is high, as opposed to years of low demand. Entry and exit behavior is observed at all levels, although it is more likely to occur among the lower levels of the hierarchy. Finally, we present strong evidence in support of the cohort effect. Overall, our findings confirm the prevalence of internal labor market (ILM) theories.     

美国石油贸易变化趋势及其对全球的影响

近年来美国石油贸易格局发生了重要演变,主要体现在两个方面:一是原油进口量总体呈下降趋势,对外依存度大幅下滑,同时,原油进口来源发生重要变化;二是2011年美国出现60年来首次油品净出口,2012年以来油品净出口量进一步增加.美国石油贸易结构的变化趋势将对全球石油贸易格局产生重要影响,为全球其他主要石油消费国获取原油资源腾出更多空间,同时使油品出口导向型国家或地区面临更大挑战,也增加了中国主要石油公司海外炼厂开拓市场的难度.美国能源自给率提高为其他石油消费国的能源独立和能源安全提供了参考和借鉴.     

How Media Coverage of Corporate Social Irresponsibility Increases Financial Risk

Research summary: This article explores the relationship between corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) and financial risk. We posit that media coverage of CSI generates risk by providing conditions that increase the potential for stakeholder sanctions. Through analyzing an international panel of 539 firms during 2008–2013, we find that firms receiving higher CSI coverage face higher financial risk. We show that the reach of the reporting media outlet is a critical condition for this relationship. Once the outlet has a high reach, the severity of CSI coverage is a boundary condition that further reinforces the effect. Our findings complement existing theory about the risk‐mitigating effect of corporate social responsibility by illuminating the risk‐generating effect of CSI coverage. For executives, these insights suggest complementary strategies for corporate risk management. Managerial summary: This article examines the effect of negative news on financial risk. It shows that negative media articles regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues increase a firm's credit risk. It also provides a detailed analysis of the impact of an article's reach and severity, i.e., how many readers are exposed to the article and how harshly it criticizes the firm. The results allow to quantitatively assess the risk that emanates from negative ESG news. For executives, three strategies are derived for limiting a firm's exposure to this risk: balancing corporate social responsibility programs with operational safety programs, reporting suboptimal environmental and social performance transparently and proactively, and avoiding acquisition targets and markets with a legacy of negative news. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Corporate spinoffs and analysts' coverage decisions: The implications for diversified firms

Research summary: This paper investigates how spinoffs improve the quality of analysts' research about diversified firms, theorizing that these deals may induce analysts to revisit their earlier coverage decisions. The gains resulting from these shifts are expected to be more pronounced when a firm undertakes a legacy (rather than a non‐legacy) spinoff, which removes the business that may be constraining analysts' coverage decisions in the first place. Consistent with this argument, firms that undertake legacy spinoffs experience greater improvements in the composition and quality of their analyst coverage than their non‐legacy counterparts, and in their overall forecast accuracy and stock market performance. Taken together, these findings shed light on the relationships among the scope decisions, analyst coverage, and valuations of diversified firms. Managerial summary: Existing research has established that when companies undertake spinoffs, analysts produce more accurate forecasts about the divesting firms than they did prior to those deals, and the stock market performance of those firms also improves relative to pre‐spinoff levels. This paper explores the effects of legacy spinoffs (the spinoff of a firm's original or “legacy” business) for forecast accuracy and stock market performance. Firms that undertake legacy spinoffs are found to enjoy greater improvements in forecast accuracy and stock market performance than their non‐legacy counterparts. These findings are driven by the fact that legacy spinoffs induce analysts to revisit their existing coverage decisions to a greater extent than non‐legacy spinoffs, contributing significantly to the economic benefits of these deals for shareholders. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Research notes and communications management and organizational change: A note on the railroad industry

Hypotheses which relate top-level managers' age, years of company and industry service, and education to strategic change are studied with a sample of 855 managers from 27 railroads. Results generally support hypotheses that younger managers and those with less experience are more likely to alter their strategies with changing environmental conditions.     

Collective Bargaining Coverage of Union Members and Nonmembers in the Public Sector

Arguably, models of union status and union wage effects in the public sector should' consider workers in three categories: not covered, covered nonmember, and covered member. Estimates show that stronger union security laws are associated with higher percentages of covered members and nonmembers, that right-to-work laws do not affect union coverage or membership relative to where no union security law exists, and that the wages of covered members are higher than those for covered non-members.     

Housing Transactions and the Changing Decisions of Young Households in Britain: The Microeconomic Evidence

In this second of two related papers in this issue, the causes of declining levels of housing transactions in Britain during the 1990s are explored. The lower transaction levels resulted partly from the changing behavior of young individuals. Both household formation and owner–occupation rates of these groups also fell sharply. Using panel data, we investigate the causes of reduced new household formation and owner–occupation, finding that changes in the income distribution away from young cohorts have been an important factor.     

New Product Development in Rapidly Changing Markets: An Exploratory Study

Rapid technological change can be both a blessing and a curse. For example, investors and firms of all sizes hope to reap the rewards that may arise from the apparent convergence of the computer, telecommunications, and entertainment industries. With the high level of uncertainty inherent to such rapidly changing markets, however, those potentially dazzling returns are counterbalanced by a daunting level of risk. John Mullins and Daniel Sutherland suggest that firms operating in such markets require NPD practices that can mitigate risk, manage uncertainty, and, of course, increase the likelihood of new product success. To gain insight into the NPD practices that can meet those challenges, they conducted in-depth interviews with managers who were directly involved in NPD projects at US WEST, Inc., a large, multinational firm in the telecommunications industry. The study focused on identifying practices that help the firm bring new products into rapidly changing markets quickly, efficiently, and effectively. A key objective of their study was to go beyond the basics—for example, the use of cross-functional teams—to identify specific practices that allow the firm to address the various levels of uncertainty that characterize its markets. They identify three levels of uncertainty that confront firms operating in rapidly changing markets. First, potential customers cannot easily articulate needs that a new technology may fulfill. Consequently, NPD managers are uncertain about the market opportunities that a new technology offers. Second, NPD managers are uncertain about how to turn the new technologies into products that meet customer needs. This uncertainty arises, not only from customers' inability to articulate their needs, but also from managers' difficulties in translating technological advancements into product features and benefits. Finally, senior management faces uncertainty about how much capital to invest in pursuit of rapidly changing markets as well as when to invest. The study identifies six practices that help the firm address the uncertainty and risk inherent in its rapidly changing markets. For example, market research in this firm's NPD process focuses more on probing than it does on measuring. Involvement of prospective customers in idea generation and the use of prototypes early in the NPD process help the firm uncover customer needs and market opportunities. Large-scale, quantitative market research focuses primarily on determining market size and price points.     

Perspective: Changing Product Development Strategy—A Managerial Challenge

By changing its product development strategies to match more closely the wants and needs of the marketplace, a firm can transform product development into a formidable competitive weapon. Just as formidible, however, is the effort that this transformation requires. Established organizational structures and corporate politics present significant barriers to acheiving fundamental changes in product development strategy. Christer Karlsson and Pär Åhlstrom present a case study of one firm's efforts to build capabilities for creating new products quickly and efficiently. Rather than focus on the content of the firm's product development strategies, however, they emphasize the process this electromechanical manufacturing firm used for changing its product development strategy. Drawing on their experiences as clinical researchers in this effort, they describe key lessons learned during the change process, and they offer suggestions for managing the process of changing product development strategy. They highlight five key lessons learned during the strategy development process. First, rather than viewing product development as a line function, a firm should view product development as a key executive area with responsibility for the company's competitive position. Second, market issues are the responsibility, not only of marketing, but also of product development and production. Third, to avoid corporate myopia, management control systems must consider not only time and money, but also acheivement of goals. Fourth, strategic planning flows more smoothly if the participants start by mapping the firm's past and present position before attempting to define the desired position. Finally, formulation of a product development strategy is the responsibility of a multifunctional team of executives. Managers should keep a few rules in mind when devising a process for formulating a product development strategy. First, adopt a learning strategy throughout the change process. Formulation of a product development strategy involves many abstract concepts, and a successful strategy requires cross-functional consensus. Second, combine tangible, direct activities with long-term strategic aims. Third, avoid the pitfall of best practice. The form that the product development organization takes depends, to a great extent, on the type of development work. Finally, before discussing future strategies, the strategy formulation process should focus on analyzing the current situation.     

政府创新激励干预下的分析师关注与企业研发投入——以“中国制造2025”与“一带一路”为例的实证研究

随着股票市场与企业研发活动的联系愈发紧密,分析师关注与企业研发投入的关系受到的关注也越来越多。虽然现有以公司治理过程中各主体为核心研究两者关系的文献取得了一些成果,但外部政府干预的作用却在一定程度上被忽视。本文以“中国制造2025”和“一带一路”为例,对分析师关注作用于企业研发投入的机制和政府创新激励对该机制的影响进行分析。在基于文献建构理论假设的基础上,引入A股制造业企业2013~2018年的数据作为样本,使用双重差分方法对机制假设进行了检验。实证结果显示:分析师关注对企业研发投入有负向的直接影响,但政府创新激励的信号发出后分析师关注对相关企业的研发投入又具有独立于原有效应之外的正效应。这一结果表明,一般情况下分析师关注会基于“施压机制”抑制企业的研发投入,而政府创新激励的出台则能创造条件使这种“施压机制”激励企业为研发活动投入资金,在一定程度上缓解分析师关注原有的消极影响。     

What Do Employees Know About Their Pension Plan?

Original survey data based on 529 respondents in a large organization are used to analyze how much employees know about various features of their occupational pension plan. While the level of understanding was quite low among all employees, it was quite high among those for whom the knowledge matters most in terms of their behavioral decision making. Our results show that rather than being optimal labor contracts that workers enter into with full knowledge at the time of employment, pension contracts are more like contingent claims contracts evolving under conditions of uncertainty and incomplete information.