Determinants of exchange-rate regimes for currencies of developing countries: Some preliminary results

The breakdown of the Bretton Woods system gave the LDCs an opportunity to move away from exchange-rate regimes based on pegging to a single currency. Relatively few chose to do so, thus providing some evidence that, from their point of view, the recognized advantages of more flexible exchange-rate arrangements are more than outweighed by the recognized drawbacks.The aim of this article is to set up a suitable econometric model and use it for a preliminary assessment of the quantitative significance of various factors affecting the choice of exchange-rate regimes by the LDCs.     

The training of Chinese managers: a critical analysis of using overseas training for management development

Chinese policy makers are aware that developing China's managers is crucial to creating competitive advantage in the post-WTO period. Consequently, large numbers of Chinese managers have been sent abroad, particularly to Western and developed countries, on management training courses in order to bring new ideas and approaches to their organisations. This paper questions whether these training programmes have successfully achieved their objectives. An empirical study is adopted to invite the opinions of different stakeholder groups involved in the training process (526 participants). Specific characteristics of China's overseas management training are discussed and problem areas are also explored.     

Management,managers, and revolution

Management and managers play a critical role in revolutionary societies. During revolutions the increased demand for and decreased supply of managers create a costly management gap. Revolutionary governments face significant problems in mobilizing and developing managers for state-owned enterprises and in motivating private sector managers who face eroding social status and changing societal values. Meeting the management needs in the state enterprises requires significant efforts in management training as well as organizational changes. With the private sector the government's task involves identifying areas of goal congruency and developing cooperative relationships around these. Conflictive relationships with some segments of the private sector complicate the task. This article's emperical basis is derived primarily from the Nicaraguan experience. A final section suggests avenues for further research on management and revolution.     

以制度规范我国私营企业职业经理人的管理

在西方发达国家,职业经理人已经成为现代企业经营管理活动中一支重要的专职化的管理队伍,而在我国,随着市场经济体制的逐步建立,私营经济虽然已经取得了长足的发展,但私营企业引入职业经理人的现状却不容乐观,在职业经理人管理中还存在诸多问题。文章认为,应进一步规范我国私营企业职业经理人管理制度：加强法规建设,政府要为建立职业经理人管理制度创造良好环境;完善相关机制,企业要为建立职业经理人管理制度搭建良好平台;健全培训机构,社会要为建立职业经理人管理制度提供有效服务;培植诚信理念,个人要为建立职业经理人管理制度树立信用价值。     

Problems and training needs of small business in Transkei

This note reports the findings of a survey of the problems and training needs of 121 small business owner‐managers in Transkei The average response rate was 83 per cent, with 63 per cent of the towns achieving a response rate of over 70 per cent Retailers made up the largest part of the sample (45 per cent). It was ascertained that the owner‐managers experienced management problems and that existing training was not meeting their needs.     

The benefits of special drawing rights for less developed countries

Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) have existed for almost 10 years. This paper examines the implications of the SDR facility for LDCs. First, it is shown that the distribution formula for SDRs may be inappropriate. Second, the paper documents the way in which LDCs have used their allocated SDRs. Third, an attempt is made to estimate approximately the value of the benefits derived by LDCs from the SDR scheme. It is shown that the scheme could have been modified to yield further benefits for LDCs.     

The Effects of Creative Culture on Real Earnings Management*

Creativity and innovation have been identified by senior executives as some of the most desired characteristics of corporate culture. Accordingly, managers strive to build these cultures within their organizations. However, research in psychology suggests that these attempts may have unintended negative consequences. In this study, I predict and find that managers in a more (versus less) innovative company culture will engage in higher levels of real earnings management (REM). I then test two construal level theory (CLT)-based interventions designed to reduce REM. As I predict, I find that in more innovative corporate cultures an intervention that makes downside risk more salient reduces REM, but an intervention that encourages managers to consider the “big-picture” impact of their decision reduces REM to a greater extent. Unexpectedly, I also find that the effect of the “big-picture” intervention reverses in a less innovative corporate culture leading to an increase in REM. My findings contribute to the emerging accounting literature regarding REM. I also extend the psychology literature investigating the link between opportunistic behavior and creativity, and I also expand research into how interventions based on CLT can affect judgment and decision making in an accounting context.     

International Technology Diffusion: Effects of Trade and FDI

There has been little analysis of the effect of inward FDI on international R&D diffusion, especially in LDCs, although FDI has become the core of international production and LDCs have been receiving an increasing share of world FDI over the past few decades. Using data from 57 countries from 1988 to 2001, we find that both FDI and trade serve as important channels of international technology diffusion. However, there exist heterogeneous effects of FDI in DCs and LDCs. For inward FDI to promote technology diffusion in LDCs, a certain threshold of human capital has to be reached.     

Developing Countries and Environmental Protection: Contract Design in Perfectly Correlated Environments

I study the problem faced by an asymmetrically informed supranational governmental authority (SNGA) with limited funds that wishes to design an international environmental agreement (IEA) for less developed countries (LDCs). The SNGA cannot contract directly with polluting firms in the various LDCs, but it must deal with such firms through their national governments. I study this tripartite hierarchical interaction for two LDCs. My principal result is that despite the perfect correlation in the private information of the governments and the firms across the two countries, and in contrast with the result contained in Batabyal (1998a), the SNGA cannot implement a first-best IEA.     

Unlocking Productive Entrepreneurship in Africa's Least Developed Countries*

Abstract: In Africa's least developed countries (LDCs), escape from poverty and convergence to living standards of more advanced economies depends critically on structural transformation and the emergence of productive entrepreneurship that would accelerate growth and job creation. So far, however, subsistence agriculture has been the main source of employment in these countries, while a dynamic private sector in industry or high value‐added services has remained elusive. Utilizing the flow approach to labor markets, this paper complements the empirical literature and numerous surveys on small and medium enterprise (SME) constraints and develops a theoretical framework that examines the main obstacles to entrepreneurship in Africa's LDCs. The paper posits that given the persistent frictions in product and labor markets as well as skill shortages that characterize these economies, development of productive entrepreneurship cannot be left to markets alone. The policy analysis suggests that the state has an important role to play. Well‐targeted government interventions including training of potential entrepreneurs and workers can help to establish more modern and highly productive SME clusters that Africa's LDCs need.     

MNCs and Sustainable Business Practice: The Case of the Colombian and Peruvian Petroleum Industries

Multinational corporations (MNCs) play an increasingly important role in the economic development strategies of many less developed countries (LDCs). At the same time the sustainable development of LDCs requires economic growth to be accompanied by environmental protection and greater social equity. This paper contributes to the literature concerned with MNCs' contribution to the sustainable development of LDCs. The concept of sustainable business practice (SBP) is proposed as relevant to understanding MNCs' contribution, and an analytical framework incorporating the content, context, and process of SBP is used to examine what SBP might consist of, as well as those conditions important for its widespread adoption. Results from a study examining the Colombian and Peruvian petroleum industries show that despite important contributions by MNCs to sustainable development, SBP is not yet widespread. The study also shows the importance of external institutional pressures—principally in the form of local legislation—for MNCs' contribution to the sustainable development of LDCs. Finally the paper shows how the process of change toward more SBP is closely linked to the external context in which MNCs operate, the characteristics of their internal context, and the internal and external processes linking these contexts.     

Unit root tests of capital mobility in the less developed countries

Conclusions This article contributes to the ongoing debate on international capital mobility in the LDCs. The extent of capital mobility has been assessed in a time-series context, performing unit root tests on the adjusted current account for thirty-seven developing countries. The results show that the hypothesis of capital mobility cannot be rejected in a large number of countries.     

基于ANP理论的管理者职务晋升决策研究

建立一个全面、客观、公平、公正的组织管理者晋升机制,对于组织人力资源管理工作和组织的长远发展有着重要的实践意义。组织如何合理、准确地评价和选拔各级管理者,将是组织可持续发展的关键。为此,在讨论了管理者晋升流程的基础上,本文运用ANP理论,建立了管理者评价指标体系,构造了基于ANP的决策模型,并对管理者进行了决策评价。算例结果表明,ANP法的决策思路为科学、合理提拔优秀管理者提供了理论支撑,具有很好的实际参考价值。     

Industrial processing and location: A study of tin

This paper finds no economic case for greater processing to be carried out in the tin-producing less developed countries (LDCs). First, tin constitutes a necessary but insignificant part in the production of most of the tin-using intermediate products so that the domestic availability of tin per se does not confer an important advantage to the tin-producing LDCs in the production of the intermediate goods. Second, the demand for the final products, which use the tin-using intermediate goods, is strongly related to the level of economic development so that this demand, and so the demand for tin, is not likely to be high in the tin-producing LDCs.     

关于建立班级学风管理机制的研究

高校的学风是大学的灵魂,是大学精神的集中体现。优良学风是高校提升社会知名度的品牌,是高校师生激情励志、调整心态和规范行为的标尺,是衡量高校教育教学水平和人才培养质量高与低的重要标志之一。本文就如何构建班级学风管理机制进行探讨,对于加强和完善高校学生学风建设具有一定的借鉴意义。     

福建省科技管理存在的问题及对策

科技事业的良性发展不仅仅取决于经济社会发展的合理需求,还需要政府的科学管理。分析福建省科技管理中存在的问题,并提出相应的对策,具有重要的现实意义。福建省科技管理存在着思维模糊、职能不清、科学决策不足等问题。在新的历史机遇面前,我们应以科学发展、跨越发展的标准,优化科技管理方式,实现科研管理到创新管理的转变。     

Social indicators,growth and distribution

The recent focus on a basic-needs approach to development has rekindled interest in the relationship between growth, income distribution and indicators of welfare. This paper provides some statistical evidence to support the view that for low-income LDCs, growth is necessary to bring about welfare improvements, as measured by aggregate social indicators. Historically for that group, growth rather than distribution is significantly correlated with indicators. For middle-income LDCs, the scope for improving welfare through redistribution is larger, as supported by correlation analysis results. The statistical evidence is consistent with economic theory and relevant for an effective integration of basic-needs objectives into a strategy of growth and equity.     

管理学课程建设的思考与实践

课程和课程体系建设是整个专业培养方案的基础,是实现专业培养目标和定位,提高教学水平和质量的重要保障。管理学作为财经类专业的基础性和核心课程,涉及专业广,影响范围大,因此,加强管理学课程建设,全面提高管理学教学质量和效果具有重要意义。     

Expectations Management and Beatable Targets: How Do Analysts React to Explicit Earnings Guidance?*

This study investigates security analysts' reactions to public management guidance and assesses whether managers successfully guide analysts toward beatable earnings targets. We use a panel data set between 1995 and 2001 to examine the fiscal‐quarter‐specific determinants of management guidance and the timing, extent, and outcomes of analysts' reactions to this guidance. We find that management guidance is more likely when analysts' initial forecasts are optimistic, and, after controlling for the level of this optimism, when analysts' forecast dispersion is low. Analysts quickly react to management guidance and are more likely to issue final meetable or beatable earnings targets when management provides public guidance. Our evidence suggests that public management guidance plays an important role in leading analysts toward achievable earnings targets.     

The emergence of Third World multinationals: Indian joint ventures overseas

The more industrialized LDCs are emerging increasingly as exporters of capital (or of technology in several forms). This paper draws on the recent experience of Indian MNCs to reexamine the factors which give rise to Third World multinationals. The author summarizes the current state of research in the analysis of LDCs MNCs, drawing upon specific MNC literature and other related literature on trade and technology. He deals with the evidence on Indian capital exports, placing it in the broader context of technology exports, discussing some examples of interest and drawing comparisons with foreign investment by some other LDCs. He assesses the Indian experience, using the distinctions drawn by Dunning's ‘eclectic’ theory but concentrating on the processes of technical change that underline the growth of its MNCs. The final section draws some tentative conclusions.