Friendships of Virtue,Pursuit of the Moral Community,and the Ends of Business

It is argued here that business firms can and do provide an incubator that enables the Aristotelian category of friendships of advantage to develop into friendships of virtue. This contradicts other literature that views acquaintances of utility as the business norm, and expresses pessimism concerning more advanced virtuous development of friendship within the business firm. It is argued here, however, that this virtuous development is integral to the Kantian social aim of pursuing a moral community, an aim which declares the appropriate moral motivation for business, and that certainly should incorporate a role for developing virtuous relations as a component of that pursuit. An atmosphere that encourages the development of relations of virtue is feasible, exists in real business, and is optimal for pursuit of moral business communities.     

市场经济分配机制的基本特征

本文认为,市场经济分配机制是按生产要素自发形成的价格进行分配的机制,其本质特征是物本位;资本居于支配地位;其作用的结果是财富分配非均衡化,从而导致贫富差距逐渐扩大乃至贫富两极分化;经济危机或经济周期波动是缓和贫富两极分化矛盾的特殊形式;社会主义按劳分配、共同富裕的制度,为克服市场经济分配机制的固有缺陷奠定了基础。     

Ethical Values as Part of the Definition of Business Enterprise and Part of the Internal Structure of the Business Oganization

The orientation of this paper is that there is no special science of "business ethics" any more than there is one of "medical ethics" or "legal ethics". While there may be issues that arise in medicine or law that require special treatment, the ways of relating to such issues are derived from a basic ethical stance. Once one has evolved such an ethical stance and thus has incorporated a fundamental mode of relating to her or his fellow human beings, the "how" to deal with various ethical "issues" will follow as a natural consequence of one's ethical stance or modality. It is not necessary, in the formation of one's fundamental ethical stance to know if one is a utilitarian or a deontologist. It is doubtful whether Buddha knew what kind of ethics he was practising. If one conceives of ethics as something extrinsic to various disciplines and attempts to first practise a discipline and then to apply ethics to modify the results of that discipline it is entirely possible that conflicts will result between what is perceived of as the proper pursuit of that discipline and the ethical considerations. The argument of this paper is that it is more efficacious (in addition to being more true) to take ethical considerations into account in the construction of the definition of the discipline. This paper is devoted to showing that business and ethics are not two different and competing fields of interest (thus requiring a discipline of business ethics to be grafted onto the study of business enterprise), but that ethical concerns are part and parcel of the very concept of a business enterprise and the internal operation of a business organization.     

Neighbors and the evolution of the comparative advantage of nations: Evidence of international knowledge diffusion?

The literature on knowledge diffusion shows that knowledge decays strongly with distance. In this paper we document that the probability that a product is added to a country's export basket is, on average, 65% larger if a neighboring country is a successful exporter of that same product. For existing products, growth of exports in a country is 1.5% higher per annum if it has a neighbor with comparative advantage in these products. While these results could be driven by a common third factor that escapes our controls, they align with our expectations of the localized character of knowledge diffusion.     

产业转移对环境影响的实证分析

产业转移对环境的影响因污染外部性的大小而异。本文通过对外部性不同的污染分别建立模型,实证分析了产业转移对环境的影响,结果表明:产业转移与水污染的关系为N型曲线,与气污染的关系为正的线性关系,与固体废弃物的关系为倒N型关系,就目前所处的阶段看,产业转移与外部性大的污染为正相关关系,与外部性小的污染为负相关关系。     

The role of clustering in the growth of new technology-based firms

This study analyses the relationship between clusters and the growth performance of new U.S. technology-based firms. It is argued that firms benefit because clustering provides access to specialized resources that cannot be developed internally. The empirical results indicate that distance from a cluster is negatively related to growth, but clustering has a greater positive impact on biotech firms. Proximity to a cluster within a diverse metropolitan area is associated with superior growth performance only for firms that rely heavily on broad, downstream supply chain effects (that is, for information and communications technology firms).     

Dynamic Minimization of Worst Conditional Expectation of Shortfall

In a complete financial market model, the shortfall-risk minimization problem at the terminal date is treated for the seller of a derivative security F . The worst conditional expectation of the shortfall is adopted as the measure of this risk, ensuring that the minimized risk satisfies certain desirable properties as the dynamic measure of risk, as proposed by Cvitanić and Karatzas (1999) . The terminal value of the optimized portfolio is a binary functional dependent on F and the Radon-Nikodym density of the equivalent local martingale measure. In particular, it is observed that there exists a positive number x * that is less than the replicating cost x_F of F , and that the strategy minimizing the expectation of the shortfall is optimal if the hedger's capital is in the range [ x *, x_F ].     

中国企业跨国并购交易完成率决定因素分析

本文通过对2000~2015年期间804起中国企业宣告的跨国并购交易作为样本研究发现,并购目标的选择会影响中国企业跨国并购交易完成的可能性。从宏观层面来看,东道国/地区的制度质量与跨国并购交易成功的可能性正相关。从目标方企业特征来看,作为目标企业,如果是私人目标会增加跨国并购交易完成的可能性。从交易特征来看,如果收购采用现金支付方式会减少中国企业跨国并购交易完成的可能性。     

Beyond Employment: An Examination of Modes of Service Provision in a Deprived Neighbourhood

The aim of this article is to show that despite the growth in service employment, the formalisation of services is neither as all-pervasive as such growth .suggests nor is it a natural and inevitable process. Through case study of a deprived neighbourhood, this article finds that the vast majority of service remain informally provided, that it is not the poorest households who acquire the largest proportion o f their services informally and that informal services are not used purely out of economic necessity. Therefore, the predominace of informality is unlikely to be confined to deprived neighbourhoods. The problem, however; given that those who purchase fewest fornal services also acquire fewest informal services, is that iformal modes of provision seem to reinforce rerther than reduce the socio-economic inequalities produrced by employment.     

Retailers' control of reference price given product category and level of competition

This paper examines the conditions that make reference price manipulation beneficial to retailers. The paper offers a modelling approach that is based on two distinct dimensions: product category, and degree of market competition. The model shows that reference price manipulation in a competitive market is less beneficial to retailers than it is in a monopolistic market. Reference price manipulation of a specific product is most advantageous to retailers when it is a frequently purchased, low-priced product in a monopolistic market. For an infrequently purchased, high-priced product in a competitive market, reference price manipulation is less beneficial. The analysis gives rise to policy implications that could potentially improve consumer welfare.     

Some Economic Issues and Policy Implications of Studies on the Competitive Effects of Advertising Expenditures

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine some of the litersture in Economics that concerns itself with the economics of advertising and to present some of the public policy implications of the results of these studies.

It is found that it is unlikely that advertising expenditures are subject to increasing returns to scale, thus probably do not lead to an increased concentration of industry for this reason.

A study is presented that deals with competition by advertising expenditures and product differentiation in the U.S. cigarette industry. It is found that advertising expenditures. during the 1956–68 period, were not effective in obtaining sales from competitors, although they may have had the affect of inducing new customers to buy the product. The effect of anti-smoking commercials is examined, and it is found that. although they may have had some effect on cigarette smoking. it is doubtful that they provide the impetus for the decreases in advertising expenditures in this particular industry.     

Origin of rumor and tone of message in rumor quelling strategies

Past studies have shown that, while refuting rumors, certain strategies, such as the introduction of a stimulus that deflects allegation, are superior to mere refutation. In this study, the originator of a rumor and the tone of a refutational message are proposed as factors that influence the success of rumor quelling strategies. It is shown that no refutation is superior when the originator is a negative stakeholder, whereas other types of refutation are more effective when the stakeholders are neutral or positive. Further, a conciliatory tone is uniformly superior to an inflammatory tone.     

财政支出政策对宏观经济影响的时滞分析

本文在建立财政支出与各宏观经济变量的向量自回归模型基础上,利用脉冲响应函数和方差分解方法,分析财政支出政策的时滞.我们发现,我国财政支出增加对国民产出、民间部门投资和出口影响的时滞都为3个月,对最终消费影响的时滞为2个月;财政支出增加对全社会固定资产投资的影响程度最高,其次为国民产出,而对最终消费和出口的影响程度最低;财政支出增加对国民产出、全社会固定资产投资和出口的影响具有持久性,对最终消费影响的周期为5个月左右.     

The reversibility of different types of capital flows to emerging markets

We investigate whether some types of capital flows are more likely to reverse than others during currency crises. Earlier statistical testing has yielded conflicting results on this issue. We argue that the problem with the earlier studies is that the degree of variability of capital flows during normal or inflow periods may give little clue to their behavior during crises and it is the latter that is most important for policy. Using data for 35 emerging economies for 1990 through 2003, we confirm that direct investment is the most stable category, but find that contrary to much popular analysis, private loans on average are as reversible as portfolio flows.     

The crisis of American business

This paper is a response to the preceding papers. It is maintained that American business is failing to live up to its obligations to society. One reason for this is acceptance of what De George calls the Myth of Amoral Business. Businessmen believe that morality is either not applicable to business or that business has a special morality of its own. Several arguments are advanced to show why this is not true. A second reason business is failing to fulfill its obligations is that egoism seems to be an essential feature of capitalism. Harrington believes that this should be changed, but that attempts to change it are bringing about a more collectivist society. Kirk sees no need for change because he believes capitalism the best possible economic system. It is argued in reply that they are both mistaken because their analyses are based on outmoded ideologies which impede rather than aid us in solving problems caused by the irresponsibility of business. Gene G. James is Professor of Philosophy at Memphis State University. He is Managing Editor of The Southern Journal of Philosophy. He is the author of a number of articles on ethics and political philosophy, and is co-author of a logic text.     

中国新疆与周边国家边境贸易便利化水平研究

贸易便利化已经成为当前世界各国及国际组织普遍关注的热点问题。本文以中国新疆边境贸易为研究对象,通过选取反映边境贸易便利化发展的14个指标,构建评价边境贸易便利化的指标体系,运用综合评价分析法,测算中国新疆与周边国家边境贸易便利化水平。研究结果表明:中国新疆的边境贸易便利化水平相对最高,其次是哈萨克斯坦,吉尔吉斯斯坦的边境贸易便利化水平最低;中国新疆除了铁路口岸设施质量、互联网使用人数的便利化水平值低于俄罗斯,其余的测评指标便利化水平值均高于周边国家,但指标整体的便利化水平值相差不大,且水平值很低,整体的边境贸易环境仍需改善。     

甲骨文中国:组织变阵的动因

中国是甲骨文公司在众多国家和地区中唯一使用本地语言公司标识的国家,这是LarryEllison亲自批准设立的,足见其对中国市场的重视     

“三分天下”与关注集中度

尽管看起来甲骨文公司不断传递出来的并不一定都是正面积极的消息,但从公关的角度来说,受到公众的关注本身就是成功,接下来需要做的就是如何把“正确”的信息通过“正确”的途径传递给“正确”的人的事情了     

全球竞争格局下的甲骨文

对甲骨文强大的实力,特别是其在企业业务应用市场的实力,很多人并没有更多的认识,因此其被戏谑为“沉睡的巨人”     

跨国公司的两个平衡点

“跨国企业尤其是在高科技行业的跨国企业中,组织架构的核心决定因素主要有两个:第一是贴近市场,第二是监管或者制度化。”易观国际咨询事业部赵欣认为“,这两者好比天平的两端。”贴近市场主要是指对本地市场的反应速度和本地需求的理解程度,这需要一线部门和人员的创业精神,也是衡量大型跨国企业所强调的扁平化管理和以客户需求为中心的重要因素。但与此同时,在天平的另一端,大型跨国企业还要讲究制度化、战略执行的贯彻力,包括财务、人事和信息的流程化。什么样的组织架构适合中国实际上所有的跨国公司,尤其是美式风格的企业在中国组织架…