A challenge for the G20: Global debt brakes and transnational fiscal supervisory councils

Debt-to-GDP ratios have grown to unprecedented levels in many industrialised economies. To combat this threat, the authors call for a global debt brake following the Swiss or German example. The debt brakes should be incorporated into national constitutions and monitored by independent transnational fiscal councils, which should conduct regular evaluations of national budget plans in order to ensure that they meet the requirements stipulated by the debt brake.     

The motivation of international entrepreneurship: The case of Chinese transnational entrepreneurs

The ventures of transnational entrepreneurs (TEs) are a new business phenomenon, representing a fluid context in which established arrangements may be expected to change. In terms of one particular relationship, motivation has been found to be a key construct in international entrepreneurship (IE) research, with two established features of motivation comprising entrepreneurial vision and its implementation. At the same time, nationality has been found to be a consistent influence on entrepreneurial orientation through the impact of culture. Employing qualitative case study methods, this paper investigates these relationships in the new context of the internationalization of Chinese TEs socially embedded in their host and home countries. Subtle changes in established patterns of IE motivation are detected, and Chinese cultural influence may also be weakening to meet the environment of host countries.     

Planning for the baby boomers' healthcare needs: a case study

Will the impact of baby boomers, as they age, be a bonanza or a bust for the healthcare system? A range of perspectives prevail, from increasing in-patient admissions capacity to accommodate the sheer numbers, to the creation of a variety of healthcare services and delivery channels that address their unique requirements. This case study presents a top 100, regional hospital's approach to this dilemma. The strategic marketing process using segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) was employed to guide the administration's planning and decision making.     

Determinants of website traffic: the case of European fashion apparel retailers

The globalization process together with the extraordinary growth in the use of Internet offer firms new growth opportunities. Retail firms are using a multichannel approach, involving the Internet, in their internationalization strategies. Website traffic as measured by unique users and online awareness is among the measures for assessing the success of the online channel. There is little evidence, however, linking website traffic and the characteristics of the retail multichannel internationalization process. In order to fill this gap, this paper analyses the factors explaining the retailer's international website traffic. Website traffic data for a sample of European fashion apparel retailers are modelled as dependent on characteristics of the organization and of its physical and virtual internationalization strategy. Following the results of several linear regression models, we infer the complementarity of online and offline channels in the international operation, as well as the contribution of social networks as traffic generators.     

基于网络关联与组织演化双重视角的中国跨国公司成长策略研究——来自欧美发达国家的经验借鉴与启示

从网络关联和组织演化两个方面,通过案例分析的研究方法,对欧美跨国公司的成长经验进行归纳和理论梳理。研究表明:在网络关联方面,欧美跨国公司的成长表现为网络广度的不断扩展与深度的不断加强,并且作为网络中心的母国或母公司在加强网络深度时更侧重于对发达区域的投资;在组织演化方面,欧洲和美国的跨国公司的组织模式选择存在差异性。在此基础上,结合中国跨国公司的成长与发展现状,从网络关联程度与组织模式选择两个方面提出中国跨国公司成长的相关策略。     

Education and training as a strategy for improving worker health and safety: a survey of U.S. apparel companies

Maintaining a healthy work force is becoming increasingly important to apparel manufacturers today. The purpose of this study was to examine the issues involved in worker health and safety, particularly that of educating and training production workers. Data were generated from responses to a mailed questionnaire by 134 upper level managers in companies located throughout the United States. Results indicated that educating workers was an important concern for managers, ranking second to controlling workers' compensation costs. Chi-square analysis showed that there was a significant difference between those who used education and training as a cost-reduction strategy and a decrease in workers' compensation costs. Education and training was reported as a component of ergonomics and safety programmes by over three-quarters of those who were developing and implementing such programmes. The findings from this study suggest that apparel manufacturers should seriously consider the importance of education and training programmes as a cost-reduction strategy as well as a means of improving the safety and health of production workers.     

European vs. American approaches to institutionalisation of business ethics: the Spanish case

This paper reports on a study of the largest Spanish corporations concerning the status of corporate ethics policies. The research project, the first of its kind in Spain, has two parts. First, the types of formal documents the companies use are analysed, including those dealing with ethical values or norms. Three groups of companies are distinguished: the first group has no formal documents dealing with ethical values, and the reasons given for not having any ethical statement are discussed. A second group has one document mentioning ethical values (generally the vision and/or mission statement), and a third group has in place two or more documents (one generic and the other more detailed, such as a code of conduct). The findings show that the latter group is more proactive than the former in implementing measures for promoting business ethics throughout the organisation. In the second part of the research, the study analyses the differences between companies whose headquarters are in Spain, Europe and USA regarding the arguments, the focus and the practices used to formalise business ethics.     

应知识经济企业人力资源需求的高校人才培养分析

随着社会主义经济体制制度的不断完善,人们的生活水平发生了翻天覆地的变化.在信息化和知识化的市场背景下,人力资源已经成为了促进和推动科技进步,帮助企业健康城战的核心要素,与此同时还担当着促进人类财富增长,经济进步的重要任务.高等教育是在知识经济体系下应运而生的栽体,负责向社会输送具有专业化的知识人才,它的发展必须时刻的走在知识经济的前沿地位,在知识经济的发展过程当中起到重要作用,本文结合个人多年实际工作经验,就知识经济企业人力资源需求的高校人才培养展开探讨,希望能够起到抛砖引玉的作用.     

Small and medium-sized transnational corporations: Trends and patterns of foreign direct investment

This paper provides an analysis of small and medium-sized transnational corporations (TNCs). Statistical evidence is provided on trends and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). There are virtually no countries for which consistent and systematic FDI data are available by firm size, but data complied by or made available to the author for the UNCTAD Programme on Transnational Corporations allow an analysis of broad characteristics, trends and patterns.FDI by SMEs is more concentrated in developed countries than that by large TNCs. However, small and medium-sized TNCs, especially those from Japan, are increasingly investing in developing countries. Although absolute size of FDI is still small, SMEs account for a large share in terms of the number of investment cases and the number of parent firms. South and East Asia became the primary host region of small and medium-sized TNCs during the 1980s and early 1990s. The industrial distribution of FDI by SMEs in developing countries is quite wide, but concentrated in electrical goods, chemicals, textiles and some services industries. SMEs also engage in non-equity investments.Transnational Corporations Affairs Officer United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Geneva, SwitzerlandThe author is grateful for advice and comments by Hafiz Mirza     

Regulatory competition between company laws in the European Union: The Überseering case

The strengthening of choice of law in the field of company law by the recent decision of the European Court of Justice in the Überseering case may lead in the near future to the mutual recognition of national business forms by the EU Member States. This will mean an increase in regulatory competition between company laws. But will this competition necessarily lead to an improvement in the quality of company laws, or could the opposite be the case? What would be the appropriate features of a regulatory framework that would guide a competitive race of company laws to the top and not to the bottom?     

浅谈案例教学法在企业培训中的应用

案例教学最初是在军事中应用较为普遍,后来发展到医学、法律和管理方面.作为管理教学中的案例却有着明显的区别.要求必须是真人真事、具有典型意义,较好的借鉴性.作为一个案例应该有多个方案,没有标准答案,能综合所学知识,对受教育者起到引导作用,因此应该具有较强的普遍性和现实意义.     

浅谈案例教学法在企业培训中的应用

案例教学最初是在军事中应用较为普遍,后来发展到医学、法律和管理方面.作为管理教学中的案例却有着明显的区别.要求必须是真人真事、具有典型意义,较好的借鉴性.作为一个案例应该有多个方案,没有标准答案,能综合所学知识,对受教育者起到引导作用,因此应该具有较强的普遍性和现实意义.案例教学的目的是提高学生分析能力,培养解决问题能力、决策能力,使学员从被动的填鸭式学习转变为主动学习,让学生成为学习的主人,能充分发挥学生的逆向思维和发散思维.     

Policing Transnational Commerce: Global Awareness in the Margins of Morality

Transnationals operate in what may be called the margins of morality because the historical, cultural, and governmental mores of the world's nation-states are not uniform. There is a gray area of ethical judgment where the standards of the transnational's home country differ substantially from those of the host country. Following the argument of institutional theory in providing stability and meaning to social behavior, in matters of moral conduct the transnational is likely to yield to at least four policing authorities: (1) itself, in terms of the integrity of its management and by decision-making that follows its own code of ethics, (2) other corporations within its competitive set, (3) governmental agencies including those of the host country, and (4) public exposure, which includes the media as well as non-governmental agencies such as offshore watchdog groups. The fourth mechanism, public exposure, is thought to be the most effective in policing transnational conduct.     

跨国零售企业行为分析框架:以沃尔玛为例

近年来,外资零售企业在华投资及扩张行为已引起人们普遍关注,急需从理论与实践两方面深刻解读其扩张机理.文章基于零售企业性质与资源特征视角,以邓宁的三优势模式为理论依据,运用规范分析与案例分析相结合的方法,系统分析了零售企业对外直接投资的决定因素,揭示了三优势模式之于跨国零售企业的特定内容,提出了跨国零售企业对外直接投资行为分析的一般理论框架.     

Trade and the (dis)incentive to reform labor markets: The case of reform in the European Union

We study the relation between international trade and the gains to reform labor markets by removing firing restrictions. We find that trade linkages imply substantially smaller benefits to reform than those calculated in the closed economy general equilibrium model of Hopenhayn and Rogerson [Hopenhayn, Hugo, Rogerson, Richard, 1993. Job Turnover and policy evaluations: a general equilibrium analysis. Journal of Political Economy 101 (5), 915–938 October]. When economies trade, labor market policies in one country spill over to other countries through their effect on the terms of trade. A key finding in the open economy is that the share of the welfare gains from domestic labor market reform exported substantially exceeds the share of goods exported. Thus, with international trade, a country retains little to no benefit from unilaterally reforming its labor market. A coordinated elimination of firing taxes yields considerable benefits. We also find that the U.K. benefits from labor market reform by its continental trading partners. These insights provide some explanation for recent efforts toward labor market reform in the European Union.     

人力资本与服务贸易差额:来自跨国面板数据的证据

本文首先分析了人力资本对服务贸易差额的影响机制与作用途径,然后利用51个国家1990-2012年的跨国面板数据考察了人力资本对服务贸易差额的影响,研究结果表明:在控制了模型的内生性和动态性后,对于所有国家和发达国家样本而言,不论以何种指标作为人力资本的代理变量,人力资本均对服务贸易差额具有显著的正向影响。对于发展中国家而言,由于其人力资本水平和人力资本质量与发达国家存在较大的差距,其平均受教育年限和加权的高等教育入学率并未对服务贸易差额产生显著的正向影响,但健康人力资本的增加能够显著改善其服务贸易差额。分类型的研究还发现,教育人力资本对生产性服务贸易差额的促进作用要更强,而健康人力资本对消费性服务贸易差额的影响要更大。本文的研究结论为我国扭转服务贸易逆差,优化服务贸易结构提供了可能的路径。     

服务型跨国公司全球化扩张:动因与路径选择

由于服务业的特殊性质以及投资环境的不断变化,服务型跨国公司全球化扩张的动因及方式与传统制造业跨国公司有所不同.产业结构升级、服务需求与供给、技术进步及公司自身发展等因素是服务型跨国公司进行全球范围扩张的动因,而实现扩张的路径有国际服务贸易、对外直接投资和对外联盟三种方式.     

跨国零售与我国供货商矛盾:政策角度的剖析

零售业是一个国家引导生产、促进消费的重要经济领域.零售业的采购行为会影响上游制造业产品的定价和交易量.我国零售业的过度开放为拥有巨大资本实力和丰富经营经验的跨国零售的进入与扩张提供了极大的便利.外资政策制定与跨国零售相对市场优势地位形成、流通政策缺陷与跨国零售不规范行为密切相关.认为政策重点应该从"数量"转移到"质量"、增加"选址"等方面的政策内容,并保障政策执行.     

Legitimating Transnational Standard-Setting: The Case of the International Accounting Standards Board

The increasing use of transnational standard-setting bodies to address quality uncertainties and coordination issues across the global economy raises questions about how these bodies establish and maintain their legitimacy and accountability outside the sovereignty of democratic states. Based on a discussion of the legitimacy challenge posed by global governance, we provide an overview of mechanisms by which such bodies can defend their legitimacy claims and examine the actual mechanisms used by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the IASB staked its initial credibility on technical competence and independence, it has increasingly emphasized due process norms in its claim for support. Our analysis evaluates the IASB due process against the cultural benchmarks established by domestic standard-setters in the USA and UK and against a normative model of procedural legitimacy. These comparisons help us to understand the modifications that were made in the hope of due process adding legitimacy to accounting standard-setting beyond the state. They also reveal the broader political context of competing legitimacy criteria that confronts transnational standard-setters.