The evolution of Japanese management: lessons for U.S. managers

To find the key to the success of Japanese economic performance since World War II, Marsland and Beer explore five main "environmental" factors used by Japanese firms to build a successful human resources management approach: Japanese social values, the structure of private enterprise, the structure of labor markets, the historic development of the Japanese employment system, and the structure of Japanese management. This discussion shows that post-war Japanese management, faced with rapid change, introduced new concepts and techniques that reinforced and maintained certain social values and traditions that fit well with human resources management objectives. This skillful blend of new ideas with traditional values enabled the Japanese to achieve superior economic performance.     

A location-based comparison of health care services in four U.S. states with efficiency and equity

This paper examines the efficiency and equality in geographic accessibility provided by hospitals. We use the criteria efficiency, availability of the service, and equality. Quantitative measures are defined for all criteria, and are measured using a geographical information system. We then compare existing locations with optimal locations satisfying two objectives, one that minimizes hospital–patient distance, and another that captures as many patients as possible within a pre-specified time or distance. The results of our study indicate that the existing locations provide near-optimal geographic access to health care. Some potential for improvement is indicated.     

A comparison of multifactor productivity calculations of the U.S. agricultural sector

Since the late 1970s, there have been fourteen studies that have estimated multifactor productivity (MFP) growth rates for the U.S. agricultural sector. The estimates of average annual MFP growth rates have ranged from 1.15 to 1.94 percent per year for studies using the gross productivity approach. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons for these different estimates. We consider theoretical and empirical factors and do not find any single reason that satisfactory explains the variation. The alternative estimates appear to be most sensitive to the coverage of years.     

中、美关于或有事项的确认和比较

由于或有事项的不确定性特征 ,使得对或有事项的确认、计量及会计实务核算存在许多差异。美国对或有事项的确认较为全面 ,对或有损失、或有利得也进行了规范 ,强调了对或有损失的计量 ,且考虑了货币时间价值。中国对或有事项的确认、计量进行细化 ,但不全面。本文综合中美对或有事项的规范的长处 ,提出了指导会计实务核算的操作方案     

Estimation of output loss from allocative inefficiency: A comparison of the Soviet Union and the U.S.

This paper presents two different estimates of the output loss resulting from allocative inefficiency in the Soviet Union and the United States. Surprisingly, the evidence from our examination of nine industrial sectors during the period 1960–1984 shows only small differences in measured allocative inefficiency between the United States and Soviet economies. Instead of immediately rejecting this result as the product of unreliable data and insurmountable methodological difficulties, we present a plausible explanation for the unexpectedly strong performance of Soviet-type economies in the allocation of labor and capital across sectors. If true, the finding of relatively low levels of resource misallocation implies that the source of poor economic performance in Soviet-type economies must be due to technical inefficiency, slow technological change, and/or production of the wrong mix of outputs.     

Temporary layoffs in the U.S. unemployment insurance system: A comparison of two experience rating methods

This study presents a comparison of temporary layoff behavior caused by the two most common methods of experience rating in the U.S. unemployment insurance system, the reserve ratio and the benefit ratio methods. Differences in layoff paths arise from different adjustment processes. Under the former, layoff rates adjust gradually to their optimal levels whereas under the latter, layoff rates adjust instantaneously. This leads to important differences in average layoff rates. However, neither method is judged to be superior in all circumstances.     

Career Barriers Experienced by People with Chronic Illness: A U.S. Study

This paper examines the career barriers and attitudes of people working in the U.S. with chronic illness. Chronic illness is distinct from disability, with often variable symptoms; symptoms may also be invisible or ambiguous. Social cognitive career theory and illness studies provide the theoretical framing for the specific career barriers of this population. Data comes from interviews with 23 working individuals with chronic illness. The results show that career barriers come from the illness itself (its symptoms and uncertainty), other??s reactions to illness, and institutional rules. Misconceptions about illness, pity, and perceptions that people with illness either can??t handle challenging work or that they will soon exit the workforce due to their illness were frequently mentioned. Peoples?? career paths are influenced in characteristic ways, with patterns of plateauing, redirecting, retreating, and self-employment. They also report a reprioritization of career and personal goals. The findings aim to distinguish the chronic illness experience and its career barriers to help people with illness and their employers develop effective approaches and strategies for working with illness.     

中美金融控股公司比较分析

文章从美国金融控股公司的发展特点出发,总结相关可借鉴的经验,同时结合我国实际情况,得出一些启示,以期对我国的金融控股公司顺利发展有所裨益。     

The role of U.S. Investors in international equity market inflows,outflows, and net flows for selected emerging asian markets

This paper investigates the relationship between international equity flows and returns in the eight largest emerging Asian markets from 1988 through March 2002. Both the feedback-trading hypothesis, which states that past returns affect flows, and the information hypothesis, which states that flows affect returns, are tested. Volatility effects are included, and effects of the 1997 Asian crisis on the relationships are also studied. While past studies have focused on net flows, this paper investigates outflows and inflows separately to determine whether their behavior patterns follow those of net flows.     

Entrepreneurship and survival dynamics of immigrants to the U.S. and their descendants

Many studies have explored the determinants of entering into entrepreneurship and the differences in self-employment rates across racial and ethnic groups. However, very little is known about the survival in entrepreneurship of immigrants to the U.S. and their descendants.We adopt a modeling framework based on duration analysis, which takes into account both the fact that the stock of entrepreneurs initially observed represents a selected sample and the inability of observing in the data the exit time for some spells. Unlike previous studies, we find a lower survival probability in entrepreneurship for Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants, which does not carry on to their U.S.-born descendants. We also find that these two immigrant groups tend to enter entrepreneurship from unemployment or inactivity and they are more likely to exit towards employment in the wage sector, suggesting that entrepreneurship represents for them an intermediate step from non-employment to paid employment.     

Men and women as managers: A significant case of no significant difference

What does it all mean? We've reviewed five studies involving almost 2,000 people compared on a total of 43 scales. We've studied matched pairs and controlled for level of managerial achievement. And after all is said and done, we have detected a total of two overall differences between male and female managers. One of these, involving managerial work motivation, favors females: Their work motivation profiles are more “achieving” than those of their male counter-parts. The other difference, pertaining to interpersonal competence, favors the male managers: They are more open and candid with their colleagues than are females. Add to these the more titillating than significant anomalies of differing back-up style preferences and we are left with one conclusion: Women, in general, do not differ from men, in general, in the ways in which they administer the management process.Managers themselves and their subordinates concur. It seems that the disproportionately low numbers of women in management can no longer be explained away by the contention that women practice a different brand of management from that practiced by men. Whereas this may amount to good news in some quarters, we ought not be prematurely elated by discovering that women manage just the way men do. Carolyn Sherif has pointedly called attention to the fact that all is not necessarily well in today's male-oriented management activities.We of course view management in its more global aspects: The important issue to us is how an individual manages in relation to achievement criteria. Individual achievement and organizational health ultimately depend on the way management is practiced. And we now see that the way management is practiced is not related to the sex of the manager — the issue is generic rather than gender-bound.     

A comparison of American and international prototypes of successful managers

In the present study, similarities and differences between prototypes of successful managers were examined across four cultural groups: Americans, Europeans, Asians, and Latin Americans. Managers from the hospitality industry (N = 366) used an 84–item attribute inventory to rate a successful middle manager. In addition, Americans' stereotypes of ethnic managers were compared with prototypes held by managers from those ethnic cultures. Specifically, American managers' perceptions of Asian and Hispanic managers were compared against Asian and Hispanic/Latin American managers' prototypes. A high level of correspondence in prototype characteristics was found across the four cultural groups. In addition, American‐defined ethnic manager stereotypes also contained profiles similar to cultural prototypes. However, important differences were also detected on many managerial characteristics. Implications of the findings for cross‐cultural congruence and areas for future research are discussed.