Work with China, not Just for China

For the last decade, China has represented the fastest growing economy on the planet. It first tapped its vast resources as a cheap manufacturer due to the low cost of labor and favourable exchange rat...     

Applying Rawlsian Approaches to Resolve Ethical Issues: Inventory and Setting of a Research Agenda

Insights from social science are increasingly used in the field of applied ethics. However, recent insights have shown that the empirical branch of business ethics lacks thorough theoretical grounding. This article discusses the use of the Rawlsian methods of wide reflective equilibrium and overlapping consensus in the field of applied ethics. Instead of focussing on one single comprehensive ethical doctrine to provide adequate guidance for resolving moral dilemmas, these Rawlsian methods seek to find a balance between considered judgments and intuitions concerning particular cases on the one hand and general principles and theories on the other. In business ethics this approach is promising because it enables decision-making in a pluralist context with different stakeholders who often endorse different or even conflicting cultural and moral frameworks without giving priority to any of them. Moreover, the method is well founded in political theory. A taxonomy of different kinds of applications is developed, and classified according to the purpose, the content, and the type of justification. On the basis of this taxonomy an inventory of 12 recent applications is made. In terms of the purpose and content of the method the applications are rather diverse. Two conceptual obstacles for applying Rawlsian methods are identified, viz. inclusiveness and the communitarian objection that people have to become detached from their personal life. It is found that methodological questions, such as the question how to retrieve the relevant empirical data, are scarcely addressed in the literature. To advance the use of empirical approaches in general, and that of Rawlsian approaches in particular, it is important not only to use empirical data but to use methodological insights from social sciences in order to further advance the field of empirical ethics. It is recommended that stakeholders be given a more active role in the assessment and justification of these methods.     

现代资本结构理论的演进及评析

现代资本结构理论从MM定理开始,经历了以信息对称为分析框架的旧资本结构理论阶段和以信息不对称为分析框架的新资本结构理论阶段,其中以MM理论和代理成本理论影响最大。虽然资本结构理论的研究成果不断丰富和发展,但至今未能建立起一个与实践经验相吻合的理论框架模型。     

Gender-Based Differences in Perception of a Just Society

In this study, 191 subjects, 93 male and 98 female undergraduate business students, were asked to respond to a 51 item questionnaire to examine their perception of what constituted a "just society". The subjects agreed on 16 characteristics which a just society would have. Out of 51 there were only 10 statements whereon average responses showed significant differences based on gender.     

贸易结构优化三阶段论及我国所处阶段的实证检验

贸易商品结构优化包涵静态贸易结构优化理论和动态贸易结构优化理论。国际贸易理论的发展就是对三个基本问题：国际贸易的动因、国际贸易的结构和国际贸易的利益作出合理的解释。其中,贸易动因是决定其它两个问题最为根本的因素。利Balassa提出的“显性比较优势”作为检验指标,对我国现有贸易动力进行实证检验,得出我国贸易结构正处于第一阶段向第二阶段过渡的结论。     

对资本结构理论中几个认识误区的澄清

西方资本结构理论在形成过程中设置了一些假设,使其得出的一般性结论与客观现实存在一定差距,容易引起认识上的误区。本文首先论证了资本结构理论几个相关公式的关系及影响因素,接着阐释了对资本结构理论几个认识误区的澄清。     

可持续消费——绿色乌托邦?

在我们对中小企业做社会责任理念推广的时候，经常碰到一个令人尴尬的问题：“我们做的是可持续产品，可是我们的产品比那些廉价劣质的产品难卖多了”。怀着一腔热血，更为了营造可持续产品的良好市场环境，我们尝试协助他们推广可持续产品，倡导可持续消费，每每和业内人士交流，第一反应是“好事情”，接下来就是“不好做”；事实也确实如此。我们和方方面面的人士交流过，大家给的定义就是“难以实现的好事情”。其实，可持续消费和企业社会责任一样，相当多的消费者在现实中有着很多的具体行为，只不过很多被冠以节约消费或者奢侈消费。     

The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action

The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.     

The Retailing Literature as a Basis for Franchising Research: Using Intellectual Structure to Advance Theory

This study evaluates the foundational intellectual structure of franchising research over the last four decades. Based on 1718 articles from a sample of 40 journals, we use co-citation analysis, employed in both multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, to evaluate 67,073 citations and determine the theoretical underpinnings of franchising research. As the results indicate, the retailing literature has had an integral influence on studies related to franchising. To advance this research domain, we develop a three-dimensional typology (franchise structure, consumer exchange, and strategic intention) based on established and emergent franchise-related topics. The typology indicates six suggested topics for examination to advance franchising research based on the domain's accomplishments to date.     

The Institutionalization of Fair Trade: More than Just a Degraded Form of Social Action

The context of economic globalization has contributed to the emergence of a new form of social action which has spread into the economic sphere in the form of the new social economic movements. The emblematic figure of this new generation of social movements is fair trade, which influences the economy towards political or social ends. Having emerged from multiple alternative trade practices, fair trade has gradually become institutionalized since the professionalization of World Shops, the arrival of fair trade products in the food industry, and the establishment of an official “fair trade” label. With the strength that this institutionalization has generated, fair trade can now be considered a real trade system that questions, as much as it renews, the traditional economic system. In parallel, this transformation has exacerbated the tensions within the movement, which can be characterized as a clash between a “radical, militant” pole and a “softer, more commercial” one. However, it is not the actual institutionalization of fair trade which is being debated among fair trade actors on either side of the fence, but rather the challenges inherent in finding an economic institutionalization acceptable to social economic movements. Therefore the institutionalization process of fair trade should not be seen as mere degradation of social action, but rather as typical of the institutionalization process of new social economic movements. If we need to worry about the highjacking and alteration of the fair trade movement by the dominant economic system, the opposite is no less likely, as new social economic movements contribute to an ethical restructuring of markets.     

虚拟企业与耗散结构理论

作为系统论的新发展,耗散结构理论主要研究一个系统从无序向有序,从低序向高序转化的机理、条件和规律。将耗散结构理论的思想和方法用于解决管理领域的问题,需要满足耗散结构的一般性判据。虚拟企业是多个企业自发形成的一种自组织结构,具有耗散结构的特征。虚拟企业系统中的耗散结构特征表现在开放性、远离平衡态和序参量的存在。     

金融结构理论对我国金融结构调整优化的启示

R.W.戈德史密斯的金融结构理论是西方金融理论中的重要流派。该理论分析了决定金融发展的因素、金融结构与金融发展对经济增长的引致效应以及各国金融发展中的普遍规律性趋势。戈德史密斯认为,金融发展的实质就是金融结构的变化,金融相关比率是衡量金融结构演变程度最重要的数量指标;世界上存在一条主要的金融发展道路,在这条道路上,金融结构的变化呈现出一定的规律性。金融结构理论的研究方法和基本框架对我国金融结构调整和结构优化具有重要启示。     

基于分形理论的广西城市体系空间结构研究

城市是人口和经济的聚集地,城市体系空间结构具有分形几何特征。将分形理论与中心地理论相结合,通过城市体系的关联维数模型计算出广西城市体系空间结构的分维值,发现广西城市体系的空间分布是具有分形特征,城市体系自组织演化在空间结构方面具有优化趋势,可以强化中心、极化南宁核心地位,重点扶持桂林、柳州、北海三个副中心建设,构建"一枢纽、二港口、三通道、四辐射"大通道体系和点轴面相结合发展的广西城市体系空间结构。     

马克思主义中国化理论的结构与解读

深入分析马克恩主义中国化理论的结构,切实把握思想政治理论的解读方法,是当前高校提高思想政治理论教育针对性和实效性,继而实现和推进马克思主义中国化、时代化、大众化所面临的重要而紧迫的任务。解析马克思主义中国化理论的结构,既需要关注学界现有研究成果,学会合理借鉴理论界已有模式,辅以马克思主义哲学作支撑,也需要满足对马克思主义中国化理论进行概括和描述的需要。依托马克思主义中国化理论结构,构建通俗易懂讲清理论“是什么”、深入浅出分析理论“为什么”、学会运用理论“怎么办”的理论解读方法．才能还原马克思主义理论解读的本意,为当前高校思想政治理论教学走出困境提供某些有益的借鉴。     

出口商品结构理论综述

出口商品结构理论隐含在各种国际贸易理论之中,可归纳为3个方面:以比较优势论和要素禀赋学说为代表,建立在比较优势基础上;以幼稚产业保护理论为代表,建立在产业结构升级基础上;以新贸易理论为代表,建立在国际市场份额基础上.不同的理论有不同的适用条件,应遵循的原则包括:国家利益原则和产业结构与出口商品结构联动原则.     

The Just Price: Three Insights from the Salamanca School

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, members of the Salamanca School engaged in a sustained and sophisticated discussion of the issue of just prices. This article uses their contribution as a point of departure for a consideration of justice in pricing which will be relevant to current-day circumstances. The key theses of members of this school were that fairness of exchanges should be assessed objectively, that the fair price of an article is one equal to its ‘value’, and that the best indicator of that value is the price that article commonly fetches in an open market. This article tries to bring to light the attractiveness of those views in order to guide current practice by contrasting them with alternative views, showing their connection with intuitively attractive basic standards, and linking them to commonly shared intuitions.     

Maximizing Human Potential: Capabilities Theory and the Professional Work Environment

Human capabilities theory has emerged as an important framework for measuring whether various social systems promote human flourishing. The premise of this theory is that human beings share some nearly universal capabilities; what makes a human life fulfilling is the opportunity to exercise these capabilities. This essay proposes that the use of human capabilities theory can be expanded to assess whether a company has organized the work environment in such a way that allows workers to develop a variety of human capabilities. This mode of analysis is put forward as a complement to the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who has suggested that the key to promoting human well-being in the workplace is the maximization of flow experiences.     

一个概率知识在经济分析上的应用

本文通过对一个简单概率知识的分析和推广,发现在经济问题中的一些应用,并给出实例分析.