Risk and Return in the 20th and 21st Centuries

The single most important contemporary issue in finance is the equity risk premium. This drives future equity returns, and is the key determinant of the cost of capital. The risk premium – the expected reward for bearing the risk of investing in equities, rather than in low-risk investments such as bills or bonds – is usually estimated from historical data. This article starts by summarising new evidence on historical returns in twelve major world markets from the authors' recent book, 'The Millennium Book: A Century of Investment Returns'. The authors show that the historical equity risk premium has been lower than previously believed, and argue that the future risk premium is likely to be lower still. They discuss what this implies for the cost of capital, stock market values, and companies' target rates of return. They suggest that many companies are seeking too high a rate of return and thus run the risk of under-investing.     

产业集群"溢出效应"研究——供应链视角

产业集群这一合作竞争的组织形式,带来了供应链总利润的增加,波特称之为“溢出效应”。本文在剖析了产业集群实质的基础上,从供应链的视角定量地研究并揭示了产业集群“溢出效应”现象背后深刻的机理:产业集群内供应链成员通过相互之间的分工协调,降低集群内库存成本并缩短提前期,也显著降低了集群内的交易成本。该机理的研究和揭示为给我国企业经营管理带来有益的启发和借鉴。     

迈克尔·波特"权衡"论的竞争演化诠释

本文认为对迈克尔.波特竞争战略理论中"两种战略优势同时兼得"和"必须在两种基本战略之中权衡和抉择"存在误解,从产业动态演化视角分析了波特所持观点及其演变,提出了产业演化的三阶段背景和二维战略空间中的产业模式演化曲线,以及"权衡点"概念,认为波特的两种论断是在不同情形下作出的,互不矛盾;波特实际上认为经过"权衡"选取一种基本战略是特定产业模式成熟而又缺乏重大创新的特定时期不得不采取的战略措施;在"权衡点"前后,企业可以按照波特第一、第三两个"经典条件"实现两种优势同时兼得;避免或打破"权衡"最重要的途径是首创一项有战略意义的重大创新。     

Distribution: Japan's Hidden Advantage

For the exporter the distribution channel is critical. It determines the presentation of products to the customer. It is often argued that the complexity of Japanese distribution channels is an important barrier to Western exporters. Whilst this is true, Japanese exporters faced an equal hurdle in exporting to the West. The key to overcoming this hurdle has been a strategy of significant investment by Japanese companies in distribution. This strategy is a central – although often unrecognised – factor in the success of Japanese exporters to the West. It is Japan's "hidden advantage".     

财政调整、机会主义与财政成本研究

转型国家在面对经济转型过程中的各种困难和危机时一般都通过财政调整来摆脱困境,走向经济稳定增长。然而,财政调整的过程往往伴随着财政成本的积累。从政府作为一个"经济人"的角度来考察财政调整,会发现政府在财政调整过程中的机会主义行为,即尽可能将财政调整向后延迟、用长期财政调整成本来代替短期财政调整成本是其理性选择。我国财政调整的渐进性恰恰就是通过积累长期财政成本来减少短期财政成本以降低财政调整的难度和改革的阻力的。     

Made in Europe: Small Companies

This is the third report on the 'Made in Europe' research programme. Earlier reports concentrated on the maturity of implementation of 'best practice' in both the design and manufacturing processes of larger European companies. Here, the authors shift the focus to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) particularly in Britain and Italy. While few SMEs are in the world-class category, small company practices are customer-oriented, responsiveness-focused and concerned with new products. SMEs' competitive edge typically comes from speed, responsiveness and closeness to customers. SMEs exhibit a greater level of confidence than larger companies in their ability to make change, but neglect training and education. Within the SME sector there are sharp differences between micro (5–20 employees), small (21–50) and medium-sized (51–200) companies while those which are subsidiaries of larger companies have significantly higher levels of best practice. There are differences between countries and regions.     

在校大学生就业见习基地——"校企携手"合作模式探讨

针对目前高校毕业生严峻的就业形势,及高校毕业生工作经验欠缺的现状,创建"校企携手"合作模式,使在校大学生能够有机会走进企业实习锻炼,为企业建立低成本的人才储备,同时为在校大学生增加工作经验及就业筹码,实现企业与学生的互利共赢.     

天津滨海新区托盘标准化研究

本文提出了几点促进滨海新区托盘标准化的建议,使新区物流以较低的成本与国际物流相接轨,提高物流运作效率和服务质量,使企业真正能找到"第三利润源泉"。     

Are Brand Promotions Just a Zero-Sum Game – or Can They Increase the Size of the Pie?

Packaged goods companies now "spend" more on promotions – special offers, in-store displays and the like – than on media advertising. Until recently, it was generally believed that while promotions benefit individual brands, they usually do not result in an increase in overall category sales. Recent research, however, suggests that promotions can increase total category sales in a wide range of circumstances. This article starts by discussing the relationship between brand promotion and category sales, outlines research to date, and then describes the author's own most recent research on this topic. It concludes by pointing to implications for managers.     

Playing the regulation game – the rise and demise of British Caledonian

Privatisation means that an increasing number of UK companies have to "play the regulation game". Business success will be determined not just by conventional strategy choices but also by regulatory strategy. British Caledonian is a striking example of one such company. Its financial fortunes ebbed and flowed with shifts in regulatory policy. BCal's chosen strategy – rapid expansion to build an alternative network to compete with British Airways – was always likely to be highly risky. But the risks were increased by regulatory controls which denied B Cal access to the UK's major airport at London Heathrow. In these regulatory conditions BCal's chosen strategy was almost certainly mis-conceived. It should have changed its regulatory strategy or – failing success – changed its business strategy. Changing neither was a recipe for the airline's eventual demise.     

EVA及其对我国上市公司的意义

EVA是经济增加值的简称 ,是经过调整后的税后营业净利润扣除全部资金成本后的余额。EVA考虑了包括股权资金在内的全部资金的成本 ,体现了企业在某个时期创造或毁坏的价值量。与会计利润相比 ,EVA易于理解且不易被操纵 ,根据其所设计的“奖金银行”是一种有效的激励机制 ,并且向企业提供了一个单一的、协调的目标 ,避免了多目标的混乱。EVA指标对当前我国的上市公司具有特别突出的意义 ,应用EVA来评价上市公司有利于规范我国上市公司的融资行为、投资行为和股利分配行为 ,并约束上市公司的“内部人控制”。应加快研究适合我国国情和上市公司实际的EVA计算方法 ,把EVA作为我国上市公司业绩评价和相关部门制订政策时的参考指标之一。     

Social Network Reputation Management: An International Study

Managing social networks is not without cost and thus it is reasonable to assume that larger companies would have better defined strategies than smaller ones. The research explores this assumption and offers an integrity management model, based on 189 different size companies taken from the three major world stock markets representing North America and Asia. Results supported that larger companies are slightly more responsive but smaller firms seem to respond more quickly. Given the potential negative impacts to brand image there appears to be a pervasive lack strategic framework as most firms were not monitoring, integrating or leveraging social media adequately.     

Positioning for the future

The next two years is a make or break period for companies, and the way business leaders respond will determine winners and losers for the next decade. Deloitte's UK Chief Executive and Global Chairman, John Connolly , explains how.     

Irish Ports: Commercialisation and Strategic Change

For many countries, ports are critical to trade flows. If they operate efficiently, the whole economy benefits – and if not it suffers. Worldwide, they have recently been candidates for commercialisation or even privatisation. This case history describes the commercialisation process in the Irish Republic, which gave leading ports freedom to manage their own affairs as separate, independent, publicly-owned companies. The country's unprecedented economic growth, which was export-led, increased the pressure on the ports sector and may even have masked continuing inefficiencies and difficulties at individual ports. The Irish Government is now pressing ahead with reform of the remaining, smaller ports, using the experience of the first phase of commercialisation.     

Economy Stimulating Needs No Protectionism

With the economic crisis continues to expand around the world, the economy in every country or region has been affected, and the protectionism began to show, with some countries carried out economy-stimulating policies with a protectionism trend. For example, USA government listed an item of ＂Buy American＂ in the stimulating plan, while France asked the automobile manufactur- ers not to close down plants in the country to protect the employment. Besides, some countries take technical measures to trade in the aim of limiting the inflow of foreign products, in order to protect local companies.     

FDI对国内投资的挤入挤出效应研究——兼论WTO过渡期结束后宁波的对策

对宁波市1990-2005年数据的实证研究表明,宁波FDI对国内投资的挤入挤出效应呈中性。为避免FDI对国内投资"挤入效应"的衰减、"挤出效应"的凸现,宁波应该尽可能引导和鼓励FDI投向第三产业、投向有较强关联度的产业,并积极引进具有较强技术溢出效应的企业。     

成本的广义化趋势与国际贸易的“全成本”观

成本是使用或耗费各类资源要素而引起的代价或价值牺牲。形成成本的资源要素具有本质上的有用性、数量上的稀缺性、归属上的产权性和计量上的价值性。导致成本发生的经济资源不仅包括劳动、资本、土地、管理等传统要素,而且包括制度、生态环境、"可持续性"等新兴要素,成本的承担主体可能有企业、政府、社会乃至后人,其他支付方式包括货币或非货币支付、直接或间接支付、自己(本国)或他人(他国)支付等。从本质上说,国际贸易是产权的跨国(或地区)转移,它会通过种种途径和机制影响各国的生产、消费、经济社会制度、资源要素流动、生态环境乃至今人和后人的生活水平,其间发生的成本包括了由生产成本、交易成本、环境成本和代际成本构成的"全成本"。比较优势是国际分工与贸易的基本动因,其本质是对商品成本的相对比较。因此,"全成本"才是形成一国参与国际分工与贸易的比较优势的基础。     

Viagra(ization) or Technoromanticism

Viagra can rather obviously be termed "techno-romantic"--literally it is a technology to make sex possible. But technoromanticism is also a philosophical term referring to the belief that advances in technology serve "truth" "unity" and "wholeness" according to Coyne (1999). Surprisingly many pharmaceutical companies seem to have developed "Viagra" or at least substances that were very similar, but to have ignored and/or rejected commercializing them. This article assumes that the primary activity of research and development in pharmaceutical companies is to produce texts that interpret chemicals as "meaningful." Assumptions of what constitutes (medical) meaning within prevailing technoromanticism have seen R and D as a form of "production" that demands rejection of "consumption." This technoromanticism succeeded in rebuffing the sexual "techno-romanticism" of Viagra in the company studied, but Viagra's enormous commercial success has reversed priorities. R and D's meaning system has proven to be no match for Viagra-ization--the article examines the resulting crisis in meaning systems.     

Corporate “green gold”: State policy implications for wind and solar energy buyers

Renewable energy (RE) is “green gold” for corporate energy buyers, and big companies have been using their influence and scale to advocate for state policies that will make it easier to buy RE. For most companies, however, getting to 100% RE is still a long slog through the current policy landscape. With that in mind, this article highlights policy implications at the state level that can advance or impede corporate RE energy buying. The article also provides case studies based on four states whose varying policies create different opportunities for companies to buy RE. The goal is to demonstrate the potency of state energy policy and to recommend shifts in the policy landscape so companies can meet their RE targets.     

我国专业自驾游公司的现状与突围——以深圳为例

深圳的自驾游在全国起步最早,业态最多,竞争也最为激烈。在新的形势下,专业自驾游公司有必要进行清晰的市场定位和科学的发展策划。通过深入调研各种形式的自驾游公司,最终摸索出一条适合专业自驾游公司的发展道路。本文为深圳专业自驾游公司大胆提出了"金字塔"的市场细分、"三高"的市场定位、"三级跳"的营销目标以及"八爪鱼"的盈利模式等一系列的发展对策。深圳专业自驾游公司如能贯彻以上思想,定能杀出一条血路,独拥一番天地。