Industrial districts and innovation: the case of the Spanish ceramic tiles industry

This paper examines the case of the Spanish ceramic tiles industrial district, with special emphasis on collective knowledge creation and innovation processes. Following a brief review of the literature based on industrial district characteristics, a framework with which to guide the empirical research is presented. The framework includes a set of conditions under which knowledge flows across firms' boundaries and how institutions shape knowledge diffusion. These include: (1) firm attributes; (2) the role of local institutions; (3) the importance of the social context; (4) lack of legal protection for innovations; (5) knowledge transmission mechanisms; and (6) specific outcomes of the district. These conditions are illustrated by using a comparative study, of which the key findings are as follows. First, the Spanish ceramic tile industrial district is characterized by small-sized firms, specialization and important product and technological overlaps. Second, there is the important role played by institutions, including academic and research institutions, as well as the relevancy of the social context and the lack of patents and other legal rights. There is also an intensive use of knowledge transmission mechanisms, such as the creation of firms, human resource mobility and informal channels of communication and, finally, a specific district technology and common perception of markets.     

工业用地配置、空间异质性与工业效率

本文基于2007—2012年中国2 408个区县样本的工业用地出让数据和工业企业数据,对城市工业用地配置过程中关键因素进行测度,并利用计量模型对其影响工业效率的作用路径加以验证。主要结论包括：(1)降低内生交易费用与外生交易费用,降低工业用地使用成本,提升城市工业用地配置市场化程度均能显著提升地区工业效率水平;(2)区县距城市中心距离对内生与外生交易费用、市场机制的作用均具有正向调节效应,对价格机制表现的集聚效应具有负向调节效应,并且在不同等级城市的效应不同;(3)开发区政策的实施对外生与内生交易费用的作用均具有负向调节效应。中国城市工业用地配置制度变革的核心在于发挥价格机制作用,政府在优化产权配置结构的同时,须注重优化工业用地的交易过程,从产权配置结构与产权交易结构两个方面保障工业效率最大化。     

特许经营的理论分析:交易费用和生产成本的观点

作为一种现代化的流通方式和组织形式,特许经营极大地促进了现代商业的发展。但在理论上,特许经营并没有得到详细、系统的阐述。本文从交易费用出发,对特许经营的理论进行了分析研究,并从生产成本的角度对交易费用理论进行了补充。最后,在综合考虑生产成本和交易费用的基础上,对特许经营的规模经济和成本优势进行了阐述。     

Same same,but different: the heterogeneous nature of subcontractors inside Italian industrial districts

Abstract

This paper investigates the structural features and performances of small firms interacting inside regional production networks, with particular regard to Italian industrial districts specialized in footwear production. A typological classification of the various participants in the supply chains is introduced and used to interpret the performances of the main groups identified, focusing on a five-year period following the 2008 financial crisis. The empirical investigation is conducted using an innovative archive containing detailed information on a large share of Italian micro and small firms that are generally excluded from most firm-level databases. The results show that, inside industrial districts, subcontractors are best described as a set of heterogeneous agents with distinct identities and idiosyncratic approaches to the market. The most widely diffused type of supplier still retains most of the structural characteristics traditionally described by the literature. However, industrial districts are also characterized by the presence of advanced forms of subcontractors whose organizational structure differs from that of a traditional supplier: in fact, such producers share more commonalities with end product firms. The analysis of the performances indicates that advanced subcontractors displayed better results during the period 2008–2012, while traditional suppliers tend to occupy a peripheral position in most subcontracting networks.     

Evolution and relocation in fashion-led Italian districts: evidence from two case-studies

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about how, in advanced countries, industrial districts specialised in traditional manufacturing industries evolve as a consequence of new challenges linked to the globalization process. Using a multiple case study design, the study examines the evolution of two fashion-led Italian districts: the Montebelluna sportswear system and the Vibrata-Tordino-Vomano clothing district. Our findings reveal that cluster firms’ ability to shift from manufacturing to other activities providing higher returns along the global value chain is key to understanding the effect of globalization and relocation processes on the cluster's long-term competitiveness. As illustrated in this study, weak learning districts are the most threatened while innovative districts are able to enact a selective process of relocation, substituting outplaced activities with more valuable ones and attracting inward investments.     

供应链成员企业的交易成本及其博弈分析

本文分析了供应链成员企业之间交易成本的影响因素,对成员企业之间单次交易的交易成本以及多次交易成本的产生过程进行了深入的剖析。提出时点交易成本、总交易成本、边际交易成本等新概念,给出了描述这些概念的函数曲线图,对多次交易过程进行了博弈分析,进一步导出交易成本的计算式。最后运用文中结论对交易成本进行了实证分析。     

基于制度经济学视角分析产业集群组织内部企业边界

产业集群内的企业在利润最大化的驱使下不断增加企业边界,在企业内部的生产成本和交易成本的制约下不断缩小企业边界在这两种相反效应的共同作用下,企业边界将达到边际收益等于边际成本时的规模,企业实现利润最大化。企业生产边际成本要包含企业内部交易成本。     

政策执行中交易成本的构成探析

政策执行效率的评估,除了衡量具体的政策执行成本以外,政策执行中产生的交易成本也应该纳入政策执行效率的评估中。实际上,交易行为和交易成本在政策执行中大量存在,对其内涵、构成及影响因素的了解,能够帮助我们选择合适的政策执行治理结构,保证政策执行效率和政策目标的顺利实现。     

Competition in the public school sector: Evidence on strategic interaction among US school districts

This paper provides evidence on strategic interaction among local school districts. The analysis makes use of a significant change in the institutional environment for school districts in Michigan in 1996, when the state established a voluntary inter-district choice program. The school districts' participation decisions are modelled as discrete choice decisions using a spatial latent variable model. Strong effects are found saying that lagged adoptions of neighbors positively affect the current probability of participation. A simple test exploiting limitations of student mobility in inter-district transfers suggests that the driving force for interdependencies among adoption decisions was competition for students.     

现代服务业与工业城区的功能优化——以上海市宝山区为例

从剖析工业城区的发展特征入手,深入探讨了工业城区发展现代服务业的必要性和可能性,认为现代服务业发展不仅是工业城区功能优化的需要,也是工业城区彰显特色和优势的需要.结合上海市宝山区的发展,指出有选择地培育现代服务业的特色部门,有助于推动工业城区的功能优化.     

中部地区的“三农”问题与跨越式发展路径探讨

中部地区"三农"问题突出,"三农"问题是中部崛起的重点和难点。促进中部崛起,要利用自身资源优势和区位优势,充分发挥后发优势,实现中部地区的技术跨越与和谐崛起。     

Antecedents of trust in industrial districts: an empirical analysis of inter-firm relations in a Turkish industrial district

Structural features and institutional settings of industrial districts, rather than contracts as a co-coordinating mechanism, promote trust in exchanges between firms in industrial districts. Based on this assumption, the paper explores the antecedents of trust in a Turkish industrial district at three levels: institutional environment; institutional arrangements; and inter-firm exchanges. In relation to institutional environment, dominant institutions of the Turkish economy – mainly state and finance – and their policies that undermine the role of SMEs in economic development are studied. In this context a third institution, the ‘district association’ that has a vital role in promoting trust-based governance has been analysed. At the second level, formal and informal institutional arrangements that govern the web of exchanges between firms are surveyed. The third level of analysis is directed at entrepreneurs and their attitudes towards family, friendship, expertise and reputation are studied. The research site is the Merter textile district in Istanbul. Data for second and third levels of analysis has been collected through structured interviews and is analysed quantitatively. For institutions and institutional environment, data has been collected mainly by in-depth interviews and is supported by secondary data. Research findings show that informal institutional arrangements are more important than formal arrangements and reputation and expertise of the other firm is more important than family-friendship connections as antecedents of trust.     

Entrepreneurship and regional dynamics: the case of Chile

ABSTRACT

During the last 20 years, social and political consensus has afforded the successful gradual implementation of entrepreneurship policy in Chile, transforming the country into one of the world’s most productive entrepreneurship ecosystems. However, the excessive political and economic centralization that has characterized Chile raises the question of whether spatial dependence influences entrepreneurship and what factors have led to this condition. By applying spatial econometric tools to data from 320 districts in Chile during the period 2013–2014, we conclude that there is spatial dependence among districts in Chile in relation to the creation of new businesses and that the immigrant population, the presence of different categories of universities and local patenting capacity are the variables with the greatest positive effect on this dependence.     

工业物联网技术链、产业链、价值链互动机理研究

工业互联网是物联网的关键技术体系,可以实现工业设备的微型化、智能化、信息化和网络化。本文通过对工业互联网技术链、产业链、价值链的分析,研究了“三链”之间互动关系的机理;以电力、油气行业为案例分析工业互联网产业需求和技术供给情况,并对工业互联网的产业化提出相应的建议。     

Industrial development and social welfare: A case study of Iran

Nowadays, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare are of profound import in many countries. This study sought to shed some light on the impact of industrial development on the Iranian social welfare. The Iranian Social Welfare Composite Index (SWCI) and Sen Welfare index (SEN) considered as proxies of Iranian social welfare. To gauge the impact of industrialization on social welfare, Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) bound testing was utilized. The econometric models estimated using annual data from 1967 to 2015 and presented in terms of long-run and short-run dynamic relationships. The results indicate that industrial development had a significant impact on the Iranian social welfare and this impact has been stronger in the long run. In addition, oil revenues, inflation, unemployment and the Iraq-Iran War have had a significant impact on the Iranian social welfare during the period under review. Despite the contradictory impact of industrialization on the various dimensions of welfare, the results show that the industrial development has had a positive impact on the social welfare in Iran. So, the government can boost the effects of industrialization on social welfare by controlling its negative effects.     

路径依赖、锁定效应与产业集群发展的风险——以美国底特律汽车产业集群为例

基于自然资源禀赋驱动、传统企业带动所形成的产业集群不仅有着明显的路径依赖特性,而且其结构及功能较为单一。正是这种路径依赖和较为单一的产业结构容易形成锁定效应。这种锁定效应使得产业集群面临结构性风险、网络型风险及外源性周期性风险。美国底特律汽车产业集群因路径依赖引起锁定效应,使其产业集群难以转型升级,缺乏创新、路径单一、成本过高、结构僵化,最终导致底特律的破产。     

Strategic decisions regarding the vertical integration of human resource organizations: evidence for an integrated HR model for the financial services and non-financial services industry in Germany,Austria and Switzerland

We examine the drivers of vertical integration for an integrated and unified HR-process model for 42 large companies from the financial services (13 companies) and the non-financial services sector (29 companies). The basis of this paper is formed by the results of a survey analysing the structures, processes and sourcing activities of human resource organizations. We sent the survey to 500 companies in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The survey is based on an integrated process model that uses an employee life-cycle approach and differentiates between eight HR activities.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to gain insights into the current status of HR outsourcing and understand the differences between the financial services and the non-financial services industry. Second, to develop a theory-based framework (transaction-cost, resource-based, principal agent) enabling us to derive and test eight hypotheses using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)-regression analysis in order to examine the determinants of the vertical integration of HR processes. Third, to analyse the impact of the vertical integration of HR departments on company performance and characteristics. We find significant differences in the level of vertical integration between the HR subprocesses analysed. Even the processes with increased outsourcing activities (i.e. a lower degree of vertical integration) still show a relatively high proportion of in-house production.

Regression analysis reveals a significant negative interrelationship between the relative size of the HR department compared to company size and vertical integration. This finding holds for the HR subprocesses ‘Personnel Administration’, ‘Payroll and Benefits’, and ‘Off Boarding’. Second, we find a significant negative correlation between financial performance in terms of Return-on-Equity and vertical integration of ‘HR-IT’. We also find support for the theoretical framework for the subprocess ‘HR-Top Management’. Six hypotheses (out of eight) are supported by the analyses; two of these are highly significant.

Three major findings are noteworthy when analysing company performance and the vertical integration of HR departments. First, we find that large companies (in terms of total staff and total assets) display significantly high levels of vertical integration for subprocesses which include a large amount of manual work and crucial managerial, controlling and reporting tasks (‘HR-Top Management’ and ‘HR-Controlling and Reporting’). Second, large companies (in terms of total company staff) show lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’. Third, companies that show superior financial performance in terms of Return on Equity (RoE) display lower levels of vertical integration for the HR subprocess ‘HR-IT’.     

资产评估成本法的经济价值论基础研究

成本法是资产评估最基本的一种方法。本文对成本法及其价值论基础———生产费用论,进行了全面系统的研究。并论述了存在正交易费用的情况下应用成本法的合理性。     

The Industrial Training Act and the hotel and catering industry: a case study*

The 1964 Industrial Training Act had three main aims. The first was a quantity objective, aimed at obtaining “an adequate supply of properly trained men and women at all levels in industry” second was a quality and efficiency objective, aimed at securing “an improvement in the quality and efficiency of industrial training” and the third was an equity objective, designed to “share the costs of training more evenly between firms”. In general, the Act attempted to achieve these objectives through Industrial Training Boards with their levy-grant systems and advisory services. The purpose of this article is to present the results of a case study which examined the effects of the 1964 Act on training in the hotel and catering industry. The methodology used will be outlined and then the results will be presented and interpreted. Some evidence will be provided on the extent to which the objectives of the Act have been achieved.     

财务经营、管理与治理:财务职能的重新解构

企业的性质可从生产或技术的组织、稀少性价值增进与调控的机制、产权联合与团队生产的载体三个层面来认识。在这三个层面上，企业活动实际上是通过不同类型的交易展开的，因而企业应视为一种交易的集约机构。相应地，企业的财务活动也是以买卖的交易、管理的交易、限额的交易而展开的，分别行使具体的财务经营职能、财务管理职能、财务治理职能，并共同地、联合地完成财务的基本职能，即配置企业拥有或控制的财务资源，这种观点可称为一职能说。