Systemic Cooperative Actions among Competitors: the Case of a Furniture Cluster in Brazil

The purpose of this article is to describe cooperation practices observed in competitors companies in a furniture cluster in Brazil. The literature refers to it as coopetition. The research method was the multiple case study. The main research technique was the semi-structured interviews with practitioners of the cluster. The study created a theoretical framework for cooperative practices in industrial clusters formed by four types of practices: logistics, marketing and sales, formation of the workforce, and innovation and technology. The study investigates these four types of cooperation in five large companies that compete in the same market, the anchor companies of the cluster. The only entirely complied type of collaboration is the formation of the workforce of the cluster. In the other practices, cooperation involving competitors is lower than reported in the literature. The main reason for this low cooperation is excessive rivalry and mutual distrust in the cluster, and competition by differentiation, which partially prevent the gain of scale provided by cooperative actions.     

Trust transfer from manufacturer to private label brand: The moderating role of grocery store format

Guided by the theory of trust transfer, the present study sheds new insights on the role of trust in manufacturer brand on trust in private label brand (PLB), perceived risk and willingness to buy (WTB). The moderating role of grocery store format between trust in manufacturer brand, trust in PLB and WTB is also examined. The empirical data were collected by means of a written survey instrument from consumers. The hypotheses were analyzed with maximum-likelihood estimation. The results revealed the positive influence of perceived manufacturer brand quality on trust in manufacturer brand and trust in PLB. The positive linkage between trust in manufacturer brand and trust in PLB is also supported. The negative influence of trust in manufacturer brand and trust in PLB on perceived risk was revealed and the positive impact of trust in manufacturer brand and trust in PLB on WTB was also confirmed. The findings provide support for the negative link between perceived risk and WTB. Additionally, perceived risk partially mediates the relationships between trust in manufacturer brand, trust in PLB and WTB. Furthermore, store format moderates the impact of trust in manufacturer brand and trust in PLB on WTB. Theoretical and managerial implications are presented based of the research findings.     

Work, leisure, and tourism in the Pacific Rim

This issue of JBR is the consequence of a call for a special issue on Work, Leisure, and Tourism in the Pacific Rim. Who the special issue editors are presumably prompted submissions related to tourism or hospitality. The articles in the issue relate to the business aspect of tourism, and they show the diversity in tourism research. The study of entertainment in Macao's future presents stakeholder views. The wine tourism paper is not on demand or tourism behavior but addresses supply side issues. The articles on employees' work-family conflict moderating life and job satisfaction and telepresence affecting the demand for tourism have business ramifications. The paper on empowerment pursues applying Western views in applying a concept in the East. The study of tourists' perceptions on safety broaches some important analysis issues. The paper on using diagrams to improve survey research has broad ramifications for survey research, particularly regarding getting and using complex data. The final article addresses effectiveness and offers ideas that apply to application of DEA in business research.     

长沙走马楼吴简商业税献疑

吴简中出现了很多关于"僦钱"、"地僦钱"的记录,这些简牍给研究者带来了很多困难,其实这种制度与汉代有密切关系,西汉中期以后边郡战事频繁,物资转运甚重,因而雇佣民车转运粮草很普遍,汉简常见"就人"、"就直"和"就钱"等,其反映的含义与粮草的转运密切相关。吴简中的僦钱不是商业性之"租赁费",而是转运税,是一种政府定期征收的财政税目,而"地僦钱"账簿表示的就是一种记录临湘侯封地征收转运税的总账簿。     

内蒙古白彦花矿区煤炭资源开发可行性及对策研究

煤炭是我国最重要的基础能源,在我国能源消费结构中一直居于主导地位。随着国民经济的增长对煤炭资源的需求不断增加,煤炭的供给不足已经凸显。内蒙古是我国煤炭资源的富集地区,是我国重要的基础能源基地,应该合理开发和利用矿区煤炭资源,避免开采过程中造成土地资源浪费、生态环境破坏等。白彦花矿区地处"老少边远"地区,其开发和利用不仅可以促进当地经济发展而且可以调整全区的煤炭产业结构;煤炭市场具有广阔的前景。但是其规划和开采必须依靠科技,制定目标,协调环境发展合理开发并综合利用。     

ICP-MS法测定小麦淀粉中的钯

将试样先在微波消解仪中消解,在1.5%HNO3溶解后,用ICP-MS法直接测定药用辅料小麦淀粉中微量钯。对试样处理方法、Pd元素分析谱线、基体的影响、背景校正、仪器分析参数等进行了研究,确定了最佳实验条件。测定范围为0~19.9μg/L,加标回收率为98.0%,相对标准偏差为2.6%。该方法操作简便、快速、准确。     

Czech privatisation 25 years later

Privatisation is still a hot political topic today and divides economists as well as politicians and the general public. The paper aims to capture the Czech privatisation in its historical, economic and political contexts. The first part explains the difference between transitional privatisation and standard privatisation. The second part examines the interests in the privatisation process. The third part discusses the privatisation methods used in the Czech Republic. The fourth part offers an international comparison.     

葡萄酒中恶霜灵残留液相色谱-串联质谱检测

[目的]建立了葡萄酒中中恶霜灵残留量的液相色谱-串联质谱分析方法。[方法]样品直接注入液相色谱仪,经AgilentXDB-C18色谱柱分离,以0.1%甲酸水溶液和乙腈为流动相进行梯度洗脱。以电喷雾正离子（ESI＋）模式电离,多反应监测（MRM）模式检测,基质匹配标准溶液外标法定量。[结果]恶霜灵2-400μg/L范围内呈线性相关,相关系数（r）均大于0.999;其定量限为5μg/L。葡萄酒样品在5、10和20μg/L添加水平时,恶霜灵的回收率范围分别为91.5%-111.2%,相对标准偏差（RSD）分别为6.2%-8.6%,可以满足葡萄酒中恶霜灵残留量的检测需要。[结论]本方法无需前处理,灵敏度高,选择性好,同时定性定量,对葡萄酒中恶霜灵含量的测定及评估更为准确。     

The Impact of Financial Incentives and Perceptions of Seriousness on Whistleblowing Intention

The purpose of this article is to qualitatively describe and critically explain the discursive construction of employee co-operation negotiations in Finland as an arena for management-by-fear. The article consists of a theoretical review, covering the legislative basis of co-operation negotiations and recent research on management-by-fear. The empirical study consists of media texts and company media releases in Finland in 2012–2013. The main conclusions are that there are distinctive features in the co-operation negotiations that enable and enforce the possibility of management-by-fear, and thus destructive leadership. The process, supported by law and very much against the original aim, enhances authoritative leadership, objectification of employees, distortion of information and misleading, and the negative consequences thereof. The process is an employer-invited discursive dance where the employee has to follow through the set steps and in the set rhythm, with the media orchestrating the tune and managing the fear. The study adds a valuable element to the research areas of downsizing, bad management, and the discursive construction of these phenomena.     

原产地管理 全球之难

原产地是全球贸易协调中的难题，而中国正在谋求各管理职能部门间的相互配合、相互沟通，在越来越广泛的全球贸易中达到与各贸易伙伴更深人的交流与合作。     

WAGE DIFFERENTIALS AND EMPLOYMENT IN A TWO-SECTOR MODEL WITH A DUAL LABOUR MARKET

The concept of a dual labour market is analysed in a two-sector general equilibrium model. The primary sector pays efficiency wages, while there is no connection between efficiency and the relative wage level in the secondary sector. The two sectors produce different goods. Capital is assumed sector-specific. The results under different conditions in the labour market (market clearing, minimum wages and levelling of the wage distribution) are derived analytically. Comparative statics are discussed by applying a linearized version of the model. The outcomes may be used to explain observed differences in wage and employment distributions in the US and Europe.     

2000—2009年黑龙江省主要食品和药品行业出口概况分析

分析2000—2009年黑龙江省主要食品和药品行业的概况。食品行业前五年出口额年均小幅下降,2000—2008年增幅平稳,2009年出口额下降。出口市场相对集中稳定,初级产品出口比重大,但工业制成品的年均增幅不断上升,出口产品结构稳定。医药行业以出口为主,出口市场较分散且主要向发展中国家出口。     

Resources prospectively: How actors mobilize resources in business settings

Actors work with resources in putting their business plans into practice, some of which are close-at-hand and some at arm's length to that business. Furthermore, actors can transform and translate resources in more or less complex ways in bringing them into the realm of a business activity, for instance through a single transactional market exchange or a series of social exchanges, the economic dimensions of which are very much in the background. The IMP group's framings of resources in the Actors, Resources and Activities (ARA) approach and in the Resource Interaction approach form this paper's conceptual focus. The paper examines three cases of actors mobilizing resources and emphasizes: (1) The prospective or future-oriented quality of resources, in connection with actors' business plans and activities; (2) The distinct rules, customs and practices in settings that individuals recognize to be more or less economic and more or less social; and (3) The roles and identities of individuals alongside their business units.     

Too Small or Too Big to Survive: Foreign Direct Investment and Divestment in Breweries

The paper focuses on both the economic and noneconomic multilateral relationships inside and outside the TNCs’ own business networks in the processes of the firms’ internalization on the example of foreign direct investment and divestment in breweries in the UK and Poland. The mode of TNCs’ entry in breweries in the mature economy of the UK and transformation economy in Poland is less country specific and more associated with the international environment of network relationships. The paper presents both structures of the international networks connections as well as the ways they have been created. The system analysis is used.     

The Behaviour of Graduates in the SME Labour Market: Evidence and Perceptions

This paper uses three surveys of graduates' and undergraduates' evaluations and perceptions of the conditions of work in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.K. The first survey addresses the relationship between the actual career profiles of graduates and their perceptions of work in small vis-à-vis large companies. The second survey is a large-scale national study of U.K. graduates' employment patterns. The third survey asked undergraduates how they expected working conditions might differ across firm size. The distribution of graduates across firm size is presented; this shows graduates to be disproportionately employed in larger firms. The work of graduates across firm size is then described in terms of earnings; work bargaining and fringe benefits; training and the internal labour market; and the work environment. For each facet, perceptions about work conditions are also explored. The evidence shows the working conditions for graduates are lower quality in SMEs and that graduates broadly perceive this to be the case. The implications for policies which overlook these conclusions are discussed.     

Patterns of Corporate Ownership and Privatization in Visegrad Countries

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes merger and acquisition activities in Visegrad Countries (the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia). The analysis established linkages among the FDI, Privatization and M&A activities and reports the characteristics of transactions in the region in a comparative spirit. The findings indicate that majority of activities in the region involved foreign investors from Western Europe and USA. The M&A activities were concentrated in manufacturing segments such as automobiles, food processing, glass and clay, service segments such as telecom, utilities and financial services. The study also revealed some pre and post transaction ownership patterns in respective countries as well as methods of acquisition.     

激光星间通信中不同光学终端的研究

光学终端在激光星间通信中扮演着重要的角色.研究了单个光学望远镜及光学望远镜阵用作激光星间通信中的光学终端时的系统性能,从电磁辐射入手,分析比较了单个光学望远镜及光学望远镜阵的增益及光学接收终端的方向图与相关参数的关系.仿真不仅论证了激光星间通信需要极精确的指向角度,而且得出结论:使用光学望远镜阵作为激光星间通信系统的光学终端具有更大的优势.     

Understanding the Level of Marketing Activity in the Leisure Sector

The level of marketing activity in services businesses has been widley debated in the services literature. The article reviews the application of marketing analysis, planning and control activities in one area of the leisure sector: wildlife attractions, zoos and safari parks. The analysis combines a literature review with secondary data collection and semi-structured personal interviews with senior managers at key establishments. The findings highlight the use of recongnised strategic and tactical marketing concepts which are subsequently related to a recognised model of services marketing. The relevance of the services marketing model is seen to vary for different groups of establishments. The terms minimalists, entrepreneurs and planners are used to reflect the level of marketing activity undertaken.     

Aufschwung in Deutschland festigt sich trotz weltwirtschaftlicher Risiken

The German economy is already in the fifth year of a moderate upturn, which will continue in 2018. Global economic activity is also expanding rapidly. The increase in economic policy uncertainty seems to have few adverse effects on the world economy. The economic policy agenda of the new US government carries both risks and opportunities for the economic outlook for the US and the world. The Joint Economic Forecast predicts consumer prices in advanced economies to increase by 1.9% in 2018 and expects a change in the ECB’s policy.     

Meaning transfer in celebrity endorsements: an explanation using metaphors

The concept of meaning transfer is relevant in the context of celebrity endorsements but rarely tested because of its complexity. This study integrates the basic tenets of meaning transfer model in celebrity endorsements and metaphor theory in marketing. The study builds on the literature on the various streams in celebrity endorsements and notes the contradictions in each. Thereby, it presents a conceptual model of meaning transfer using metaphors as the explaining thread. The model is validated using empirical data collected through a metaphor elicitation method. Based on the results, four propositions are developed related to celebrity metaphors and metaphor transfer in celebrity endorsements. The findings suggest that celebrity meaning(s) could be explained through metaphors and the metaphors may be transferred to a brand from a celebrity endorser via an endorsement. The propositions developed in the study have important implications for researchers and practitioners in celebrity endorsement.