Problems in Knowledge Management: A Case Study of a Knowledge‐Intensive Company

Knowledge management has become an important tool in staying ahead in the competition between companies. In this article five different phases of the knowledge management process are distinguished: acquiring knowledge, codifying knowledge, disseminating knowledge, developing knowledge and applying knowledge. The occurrence of knowledge management problems is demonstrated in a case study in a knowledge‐intensive company. Most of the problems in this case occur in the first three phases of the knowledge management process. It is recommended that the company monitors on a regular basis, starting from its core competencies and its strategy, what essential knowledge their employees are lacking and encourages them to acquire it. Furthermore, the company should ensure that employees have time to codify their knowledge regularly and that adequate information systems are in place and kept up‐to‐date. The dissemination of knowledge can be improved by working in different teams, coupling junior with senior employees, and by the exchange of new knowledge between employees on a regular basis by encouraging the development of communities of practice and by the systematic creation of learning histories.     

产业结构竞争力研究--以辽宁省为例

产业结构竞争力是产业竞争力的重要组成部分.产业结构竞争力是产业结构协调化和高度化的综合.产业结构协调化是指各产业之间、产业内部各行业之间的比例和发展速度要相互协调.产业结构高度化是指各产业之间、产业内部各行业之间的产值结构和资产结构的高度化.产值结构高度化是指低质量产品、中等质量产品、高质量产品的产值比重由前向后提高,技术、知识密集度低的产品向技术、知识密集度高的产品的产值比重由前向后提高等.资产结构高度化是指国民资产的部门分布由基础产业比重大依次向加工工业和技术产业比重大演进,产业部门的质量联系日益紧密,产业循环和上升过程的联动功能不断加强,资产结构适应经济发展和需求结构变动而演进和变动机制日益健全等.     

基于产业集群的可持续发展研究——以东莞IT产业集群为例

产业集群发展能增强企业竞争力 ,并带来区域经济的发展。但是 ,在产业集群的可持续发展过程中存在诸多问题。以东莞IT产业集群发展为例 ,指出提高集群可持续发展意识、加强区域创新网络的建设、增强高素质人才的培养、完善政府的宏观调控作用和培育产业集群文化乃是产业集群可持续发展之良策     

New Evidence on the Export‐led Growth Nexus: A Case Study of Malaysia

This paper revisits the highly debated export‐led growth hypothesis in a number of different ways using Malaysia as a case study. First, the hypothesis is tested in terms of labour and total factor productivity growth as a potential channel via which exports can affect or be affected by GDP growth. Considering the impact of imports on GDP and productivity growth serves a similar purpose. In addition, GDP is trade‐adjusted to avoid the double‐counting problem arising from the national income identity. Second, the relationships are examined using the relatively recent Toda and Yamamoto (1995 ) causality tests. These results have major implications and are necessary to reassess the effectiveness of trade policy as a strategy for economic development.     

Aesthetics in displacement – Hmong,Somali and Mexican home‐making practices in Minnesota

Personalizing a residential environment has long been recognized among the dimensions of home. Little research though has focused on understanding the home‐making process of aesthetic construction under conditions of displacement. Questions still abound: What does the notion of aesthetics entail in displacement? Do immigrant groups construct a sense of difference in the home, and if so, how? And, what can impede their efforts? Answering these questions sheds light on the opportunities that arise when interdisciplinary connections between architectural, housing and consumer studies are formed. Using data from in‐depth interviews conducted in the homes of three displaced groups now living in Minnesota (Hmong, Somali and Mexicans), this paper explores the above questions and proposes theoretical and practical directions for supporting diverse housing needs. Delving into the living and socializing areas, the discussion uncovers the material and immaterial forms that aesthetic constructions can take: from decorative objects to colours, textures, materials, light levels, furniture placement and type as well as sound and smell. Interviewees varied in the number of cultural expressions they employed and degree to which they invested time, energy and funds to personalize their homes. Their efforts though were often purposive: a means to connect to a homeland, pass down one's cultural traditions to future generations, foster alliances with others from the same cultural group and a form of constructing difference. Particularly insightful are the impediments those interviewed endured in constructing an aesthetic they resonated with. Factors like spatiality, religious beliefs, regulations, income limitations, construction norms and availability of objects to purchase often suppressed their attempts to transform the spaces they lived in into places they can relate to, threatening in the process the group's cultural identity definition and creating stress in their lives. Given that home‐making is found to be inextricably tied to consumer studies through behaviours like purchasing products, the paper closes with the implications of rethinking aesthetics as well as directions for future research.     

Convergence Rates to Output Growth in a Global World: The Roles of Openness and Government Size

In this article, we examine the effects of three openness measures on 54 industrial and emerging economies' output growth over the “globalization years” of 1986–2004. Controlling for standard determinants of the Solow growth model in panel data, we find positive effects of openness on real output growth. While we find support for higher convergence rates under the open economy, the convergence rates in this article for both samples are remarkably close to the 2% level documented in Mankiw et al. (1992) Mankiw, G., Romer, D. and Weil, D. 1992. A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2): 407–437. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. The inclusion of G/Y, however, reduces the speed of convergence more substantially in industrial economies.     

出口开放、市场邻近与异质性企业工资差距——基于中国工业企业数据的实证研究

本文基于贸易引力方程和新经济地理学的研究框架,将出口开放纳入市场邻近指标的测算,利用中国区域间投入产出、地理距离和贸易数据,构建了城市层面出口内生的市场邻近指标。并在匹配企业数据和相关城市控制变量的基础上,通过两阶段最小二乘回归实证检验了其对企业工资差距的影响。研究发现:出口内生的市场邻近程度的改善有利于促进企业工资水平的提升,且引入控制变量和考虑内生性问题后的结果均十分稳健;但这对不同类型和不同地区企业的影响并不一致,出口内生的市场邻近水平的提升尽管会带动出口和高MA地区企业工资的上涨,但却不利于非出口和低MA地区企业工资的改善,从而扩大了企业工资差距。由此本文从改善出口开放与市场邻近水平入手,提出了化解企业工资差距难题的相关建议。     

世界大型事件活动对旅游业的影响及对中国的启示——以历届奥运会和韩国世界杯为例

大型事件旅游活动对举办地具有深远的经济意义和社会意义。以历届奥运会和2002年韩国世界杯足球赛为实例,简要分折世界大型事件活动对举办国旅游业发展的影响及对中国的启示。     

物流产业对产业结构优化的实证分析——以河北省为例

产业是社会生产力发展的结果,是社会分工的产物,随着社会分工专业化程度的提高逐渐出现各式各样的新兴产业,物流产业的发展就是社会分工专业化程度的最好体现,是社会生产效率提高的产物,是社会经济发展的根基。通过实证分析物流产业对河北省产业结构的影响,得出结论:河北省物流产业的发展降低了第一次产业结构比重,提高了第二、三次产业结构比重,总体来讲提升了河北省三次产业结构水平。虽然物流产业的发展在一定程度上带动了经济增长,提升了产业结构水平,但第一产业结构比重的显著下降说明了忽视了农村物流建设,导致影响了农村经济的发展,拉大了城乡经济水平差距。因此,也可以说明物流产业发展不均衡是城乡二元结构的主要原因。     

Mining, Displacement and the World Bank: A Case Analysis of Compania Minera Antamina's Operations in Peru

The transformation in the structure of the world mining industry over the last decade has opened up enormous new regions for mineral exploration and development by transnational mining companies in countries in the South. This new access has inevitably brought mining companies into conflict with local communities. With the involvement of transnational advocacy networks and new global publics, these conflicts have prompted a growing transnational debate on the principles that ought to govern mining and community relationships. One effort to provide guidance on this question comes from the World Bank's Operational Directive 4.30 on Involuntary Resettlement. This paper examines the regulatory impact of this policy upon relationships between mining companies and communities, as well as its "legitimation effect" in providing standards which, once met, can serve to certify a degree of responsible behaviour on the part of the company. The analysis of the effects of the directive is taken up in the form a case study involving a transnational mining company operating in the Andes of Peru and the local communities impacted by its land acquisition project.     

Formulating Trade Policy in a Small Hydrocarbon‐dependent Economy: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago

We examine the status of Trinidad and Tobago's trade policy regime based mainly on the WTO's Trade Policy Review 2005 and to a lesser extent the Review of 1998. The paper highlights the areas identified by the WTO that the country needs to address to ensure compliance with the rules, disciplines and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreements and the existence of a trade regime characterised by little or no distortions. It undertakes this discussion against the background of Trinidad and Tobago's role as a founding member of CARICOM and the increasing influence of this body in determining its trade policies in particular and economic policies in general. The study highlights the progress made by Trinidad and Tobago in establishing an outward‐oriented trade regime since embracing reforms in the mid‐1980s. However, the need for much deeper reforms is stressed if the country is to realise its ambitious objective of becoming the manufacturing base and the commercial, trans‐shipment and financial hub of the western hemisphere. Further, it points to the inextricable link between the country's economic fortunes and international petroleum prices, and increasing over‐reliance on the hydrocarbons sector. Consequently, it stresses the need for getting its diversification strategy ‘right’ if it is to minimise the fallout effects associated with the bust that inevitably follows a petroleum boom.     

Exchange‐rate Misalignments in Duopoly: The Case of Airbus and Boeing

We examine the effect of exchange‐rate misalignments on competition in the market for large commercial aircraft. This market is a duopoly where players compete in dollar‐denominated prices while one of them, Airbus, incurs a large fraction of its costs in euro. We estimate price elasticities for big aircraft, and construct a simulation model to investigate how companies adjust their prices to deal with the effects of a temporary misalignment and how this affects profit margins and volumes. We conclude that, due to the duopolistic nature of the aircraft market, Airbus will pass only a small part of the exchange‐rate fluctuations on to customers. Moreover, due to features specific to the aircraft industry, such as customer switching costs and learning‐by‐doing, even a temporary departure of the exchange rate from its long‐run equilibrium level may have permanent effects on the industry.     

Productivity and Learning‐by‐exporting: A Firm‐level Analysis of Indian Manufacturing

In this paper, we examine whether firms become productive by learning through exporting. To this end, we estimate the production function using microdata of Indian manufacturing firms operating in the period 1991–2001. In contrast to studies on developed countries, our results provide evidence that Indian manufacturing firms are experiencing a rise in productivity through entering export markets and thus experience the learning effect. We also find that there is a productivity rise prior to exporting. Therefore, our results also support the self‐selection mechanism for exporting.     

The impact of the yuan‐dollar exchange rate on Mexican manufacturing exports to the US: A cointegration approach

This paper makes use of three econometric methods and three time intervals to evaluate the long‐term effects of several key variables on Mexican manufacturing exports to the US . The evidence across econometric techniques and sample periods systematically indicates that: (i) a real depreciation of the yuan‐dollar exchange rate reduces Mexican manufacturing exports by lowering the price of Chinese goods in the US market; (ii) a depreciation of the peso‐dollar real exchange rate generates a strong supply‐side effect due to the high import content of Mexican manufacturing exports, which ultimately leads to lower (rather than higher) sales in the US ; and (iii) external demand and labour productivity are positively related to manufacturing exports, whereas real wages are negatively related. Therefore, a falling external demand for Mexican manufacturing products or a real depreciation of the Chinese currency could, to some extent, be offset by increasing labour productivity faster than wages. These findings reflect two fundamental problems of the Mexican economy: (i) low investment in high‐quality formal instruction and proper training programs, which gives rise to severe bottleneck points for faster labour productivity growth and (ii) excessive reliance of the export‐oriented manufacturing industry on foreign suppliers of intermediate inputs.     

全球视角下农产品价格上涨的原因探析

2006-2008年,以我国粮油为代表的主要农产品价格大幅上涨。在全球化背景下,农产品价格上涨是由下述三个因素共同影响推动而成的:美元贬值和石油价格上涨;需求强烈、供给增加缓慢的国际农产品供求状况;国内"供弱需强"的供求关系和政府保护的"两难悖论"。此外,国内其他因素如经济持续快速增长、流动性过剩、人民币升值等也间接影响着农产品价格的波动程度。     

基于电商产业空间集聚与集群重构的区域人才培养研究——义乌商圈“电商产业园”“淘宝村”为例

以淘宝村电子商务产业园为代表的电商集聚是近些年电子商务产业中典型的经济现象,其实质是电子商务产业化与传统产业电子商务化的发展进程。初期电商群体以个体户的形式嵌入在传统商圈与产业集群中,分享供应链体系,随着规模效应的作用,分工细化,新兴岗位不断出现与发展,电商产业化带动了空间集聚与集群重构。人才需求的结构性变化与人力资源市场的动态供应在电商产业集聚的各个阶段发挥着重要的支撑作用。人力资源市场中需求与供给的互动为区域人才的培养提出了新的要求。     

Embedding Decision Support in E-Sourcing Tools: Quotes, A Case Study

In the everyday business world, the sourcing process of multiple goods and services usually involves complex negotiations that include discussion of product and service features. Currently, this is a high-cost process due to the scarce use of tools that streamline negotiations and assist purchasing managers' and providers' decision-making. With the advent of Internet-based technologies, it became feasible the idea of tools enabling low-cost, assisted, fluid, on-line dialogs between buyer enterprises and their providers located anywhere. This article presents Quotes, an iSOCO's commercial application that, in addition to cover the whole sequence of sourcing tasks, incorporates decision support facilities based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques that successfully address highly challenging issues in automated negotiation within a single and coherent framework.