Entrepreneurial profitability and persistence: Chile versus the U.S.A.

This article empirically evaluates the main determinants of business performance, focusing on the emergence and sustainability of profits for an emerging economy such as Chile. Furthermore, the paper compares the results obtained with Chilean data to those for the U.S.A. This comparison is interesting because of the recent emergence of some literature that relates geographic location to performance. The results show that the industry effect is more important in Chile than in the U.S.A., that the persistence of rents in Chile is explained more evenly for reasons associated to business-, industry- and corporate-specific effects, and that the path to lower rents is more difficult to revert in Chile than in the U.S.A.     

The changing role of U.S.-based MNCs: A financial perspective

An increasing number of US.-based multinational companies have adopted a strategy of “inward-oriented” diversification in the 1980s. This article focuses on the ensuing financial performance of these firms, especially as compared to that of a group of U.S.-based domestic corporations. Specifically, well-known performance and risk measures are applied to a sample of multinational and domestic firms based in the U.S. The data are analyzed over three five-year periods (1979-1983, 1980-1984, and 1981-1985). The overall results, while providing total support for a few of the major issues and lending partial support to the others, seem to indicate that U.S. multinationals may have adopted a successful strategy in response to a changing global economic environment.     

Present barriers to technology transfer: U.S. to Eastern Europe versus U.S. to Mexico

Technological innovations offer much promise for widespread technology transfer on a global basis. Yet, without taking social, economic, or political considerations into account, companies cannot transfer technology as effectively. Of particular importance is understanding technology transfer vis-à-vis emerging markets such as Mexico and Eastern Europe.     

The Euro versus the U.S. dollar: an overview

The creation of the euro will prove to be a remarkable development in international relations and carries far-reaching implications for the international monetary system. The objectives of this paper are four-fold. The first objective is to provide a brief overview of previous monetary unions in Europe. It covers three surviving monetary unions and two that failed. The second objective is to provide a review of major developments leading to the creation of the euro. The third objective is to analyze the opportunities and threats associated with the euro. The fourth objective is to provide an overview of the on-going debate as to whether the euro will be a serious challenger to the U.S. dollar.     

U.S. textile and apparel faculty members and their work environments

The study examined textile and apparel faculty members' perceptions of their work environment in the context of demographic variables. A better understanding of current textile and apparel work environment perceptions can be used by faculty members to recruit new staff; increase the advancement, satisfaction and retention of current staff; and provide graduate students who are considering a position in higher education with realistic expectation. A total of 337 International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) members participated in the study by completing the Work Environment Scale and a demographic questionnaire. (The ITAA is a global organization of textile and apparel faculty members that is U.S. based but has members from most regions of the world.) Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine whether a relationship existed between the work environment measures and demographic variables. A significant relationship was found between the perceptions of work environment and the demographic variables of academic rank, level of education and size of institution.     

Governmental versus self-regulation of derivative markets: examining the U.S. and Brazilian experience

This paper contributes to the discussion on the choice between governmental regulation and self-regulation of derivative markets (i.e., by financial exchanges) by analyzing in a comparative manner these two alternative regulatory mechanisms and by focusing on regulatory, instead of market, failures. Four types of failures are discussed in the case of governmental regulation: (1) the costs to run regulation bureaus, collect information and monitor the markets, (2) the credibility of the proposed mechanism, (3) rent seeking behavior by constituencies directly or indirectly affected by the regulation, and (4) constraints on financial innovation. Regarding self-regulation, three failures are discussed: (1) lack of competition between exchanges and alternative suppliers of derivative contracts, (2) agency problems in the organizational structure of the exchange, and (3) nonsocially optimal provision of goods. To illustrate this analysis, we contrast the regulation of derivative markets in the U.S. and Brazil. The former is as an example of strong governmental regulation, whereas the latter is an example of how self-regulation can function without strong governmental support (and, sometimes, with governmental actions that apparently run against market efficiency).     

The Retail Travels of the U.S. Greenback: A Comparative Study of Currency Substitution Along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican Borders

This currency substitution study explores the extent of retail firm-level U.S. dollar acceptance in Canada and Mexico. Employing a stratified random sampling approach of retail business in the border region, results demonstrate that all Mexican firms (N = 300/300) and nearly all Canadian (N = 257/261) firms accept the U.S. dollar in retail transactions. Of greater interest is the difference between firms in the two countries in how acceptance of the U.S. dollar is operationalized. On average, U.S. dollar sales of Canadian border firms comprise just 3.4% of total sales whereas U.S. dollar sales of Mexican firms encompass 23.7% of total sales. Our results also indicate a stark contrast as to the effective exchange rate for U.S. dollar acceptance— Canadian firms typically charge a premium (2.1% on average) while 69.3% of Mexican firms transacted business at a discount (?0.8% on average). Additional analyses further refine the currency substitution distinctions between Canadian and Mexican firms in the sample including a logistical regression which reveals significant differences as to firm-level predictors of U.S. dollar acceptance (whether at a discount or premium).     

Values and the Perceived Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility: The U.S. versus China

This study examines the effects of nationality (U.S. vs. China) and personal values on managers’ responses to the Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility (PRESOR) scale. Evidence that China’s transition to a socialist market economy has led to widespread business corruption, led us to hypothesize that People’s Republic of China (PRC) managers would believe less strongly in the importance of ethical and socially responsible business conduct. We also hypothesized that after controlling for national differences, managers’ personal values (more specifically, self-transcendence values) would have a significant impact on PRESOR responses. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of practicing managers enrolled in part-time MBA programs in the two countries. The results indicate that nationality did not have a consistent impact on PRESOR responses. After controlling for national differences, self-transcendence values had a significant positive impact on two of the three PRESOR dimensions. Conservation values such as conformity and tradition also had a significant association with certain dimensions of the PRESOR scale. William E. Shafer is an associate professor in the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His primary research interests are professionalism and ethics in accounting and corporate social and environmental accountability. His publications have appeared in a variety of academic and professional journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory; Accounting Horizons; Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; Business Ethics Quarterly; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Accountancy; and The CPA Journal. Kyoko Fukukawa is a lecturer in marketing at Bradford University School of Management and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research interests include ethical decision-making in consumption and business practices; corporate social responsibility (CSR) of MNCs concerning their policies and strategic communication; and CSR and corporate branding. Her publications appear in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Corporate Citizenship and others. Grace M. Lee is an assistant professor is the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. Her primary research interests are corporate financial disclosure and corporate social responsibility disclosure in the Greater China Region. She has published in the Journal of International Financial Management and Accounting and the Journal of Information Systems.     

美国电子消费品市场:商机多多

微欢公司创始人比尔·盖茨"未来智能化家庭媒体中心的构想"的演讲揭开了在美国拉斯维加斯举办的2005年度国际消费电子展(CES)的序幕.盖茨先生在演讲中称,消费者将在21世纪的第一个十年迎来"数字生活方式",即:以电脑为中心,连接高清晰度数字电视、MP3、DVD、数码相机、手机、游戏机甚至手表.让消费者生活在数字化的"声色世界"中.随着宽带的普及和数字设备的降价,数字化的发展速度超过了人们预期.     

Volatility and shock interactions and risk management implications: Evidence from the U.S. and frontier markets

The study affords comprehensive evidence of shock and volatility interactions between stock markets of each of the twenty four frontier markets and the U.S. for the period 2006:01 to 2015:07. The results from the recent EDCC-GARCH model of Nakatani and Teräsvirta (2009), which permits for concurrent estimation of shock and volatility interactions as well as dynamic conditional correlations (DCC) across assets, shows unidirectional shock and volatility transmissions from the U.S. to the frontier markets. The conditional correlation between the U.S. and each frontier market is very low or negative, offering diversification benefits to U.S. investors. The DCC exhibits slow decay and is insignificantly impacted by previous period's shocks. The results are very intuitive for optimal portfolio allocations using the traditional capital-based as well as the risk-based allocations. The risk parity approach to portfolio management increases (reduces) allocations to lower (higher) risk assets to improve portfolio diversification while increasing the risk-adjusted returns.     

谈美国的经济现象与美元的财富效应

众所周知，美国是世界上经济实力最强的国家，同时也是贸易逆差最大的国家。那么，长期以来美国的巨额贸易逆差与经济增长却能同时并存，依然维持着美国经济的强势，这在世界上也是绝无仅有的经济现象。这里尽管原因很多，但从国际金融的角度分析，笔者赞同这样一种观点，即美元作为国际上流通量最大、流通范围最广的币种，其货币的特殊利益所带来的财富效应，已成为支撑美国经济发展的重要因素。现在，我们暂且不从理论上进行探讨，而只对美国经济现象的一系列数字加以分析，就会发现其中的奥妙，值得深入思考。在国际金融领域中，美国的国…     

Integration of U.S. Macroeconomic Accounts: A Progress Report

This article reviews the results of this joint agency effort to provide complete and integrated U.S. accounts. It discusses the new data prepared as a result of this effort and the proposed work plan to eliminate some of the major differences within the U.S. accounts and between the U.S. accounts and the new international guidelines.JEL Classification E010     

Regulating product safety: The informational role of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Those familiar with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission know that it often deals with product safety issues. Nevertheless it is not generally recognized as a safety agency. This paper undertakes a comprehensive review and analysis of the FTC's safety-related activities. It also presents a preliminary evaluation of the potential for FTC safety-related activities to improve consumer product-related safety as compared to other, more traditional, forms of safety law and regulation. It recommends that the FTC make greater use of its unfairness authority to provide safety information during the period of product use in contrast to the Commission's current focus on regulating pre-purchase information.

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Zusammenfassung Die Regulierung der Produktsicherheit: die informationelle Rolle der U.S. amerikanischenDie Federal Trade Commission ist häufig mit Fragen Wettbewerbsbehörde FTC. der Produktsicherheit befa\t. Dennoch gilt sie nicht als generelle Sicherheitsinstanz. Der Beitrag bietet einen überblick über die Aktivitäten der FTC, die Fragen der Sicherheit berühren, und analysiert dabei die Regulierung werblicher Aussagen zur Produktsicherheit, der Unterlassung von Produktinformationen zur Produktsicherheit vor dem Kauf sowie der Sicherheitsinformationen während des Gebrauchs eines Produktes. Zugleich versucht der Beitrag eine vorläufige Bewertung dieser FTC-Aktivitäten zur Verbesserung der Produktsicherheit im Vergleich zu anderen, eher traditionellen Formen der rechtlichen Regelung der Produktsicherheit. Der Autor schlägt vor, da\ sich die FTC stärker der Regulierung der Sicherheitsinformationen während der Produktverwendung widmet, statt — wie bisher — den Schwerpunkt auf die Regulierung der Information vor dem Kauf zu legen.

     

U.S.-Canadian trade liberalization and adjustment mechanisms: A survey

The prospect of bilateral trade liberalization requires an understanding of contemporary work on the adjustment process. This survey of recent models by principally Canadian economists examines the methodological foundations of this research. It is found that the new trade adjustment models are just beginning to incorporate key elements of industrial organization effects such as intra-firm trade and non-tariff barriers to trade. More progress in these areas is required.