Growth and survival: The moderating effects of local agglomeration and local market structure

One of the central explanations of the high failure rates of de novo entrants is the liability of smallness. As a corollary, most prior literature has suggested that firms should experience survival benefits from growth. In this paper, we argue that survival benefits need to be balanced against the potential cost of rapid growth, and they are contingent upon the structure of the environment. We predict a curvilinear relationship between an entrant's growth rate and failure, and argue that the relationship is contingent upon the local agglomeration of economic activity and the local structure of competition. We test and find support for our predictions using firm‐level longitudinal data of all de novo entrants into the Canadian manufacturing sector between 1984 and 1998. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd     

中间与两极汇率制度演变趋势分析——基于两种分类方法的统计分析

“中空论”是近年来比较流行的汇率制度选择理论之一．文章分别采用Bubula and Otker—Robe事实分类法和IMF官方事实分类法对147个样本国家1990—2001年和1999—2006年的汇率制度发展趋势进行统计分析,以期发现在现实中各国汇率制度选择是否存在“中空”的趋势。研究发现就147个国家的总体样本而言,中间汇率制度确有下降的趋势,但是相对比例仍然很高,“中空”的趋势并不明显,而不同类型的国家汇率制度演变趋势不同。     

The role of ICTs in the servitisation and degradation of IT professional work

Recently IT work has been subjected to management approaches that apply production methods to service work. Specialised information and communication technologies (ICTs) used by IT professionals have played an important role in this ‘service turn’, but this has not been adequately explored in the literature. Via a qualitative study of IT professionals situated across the servitised IT functions of five UK‐based organisations, this article considers how these ICTs are inscribed with managerial logics that afford control benefits to managers while undermining professional autonomy and job quality. The article makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it sheds light on how ICTs introduced into organisational IT functions support managerial control objectives and impact the job quality of IT professionals. Secondly, it suggests that ICTs may infect the logic of professionalism that takes pride in the quality of the work performance with a dominant managerial logic that places an emphasis on meeting management objectives.     

Bottom-up sales forecasting through scenario analysis

A simple but effective bottom-up sales forecasting system, developed for a large New Zealand printing and packaging company, is described and analyzed. A central feature of the method is a procedure called “scenario analysis,” enabling the forecaster to incorporate in a systematic manner a large number of uncertainties in his or her assessment of the future.     

Comparing FTTH access networks based on P2P and PMP fibre topologies

There is an ongoing discussion in the market which Next Generation Access (NGA) architecture best suits future needs and which investment and cost differences exist. The discussion can be subsumed as P2P vs. GPON, which is somewhat misleading as this article reveals. The discussion is driven by the fact that the high capital cost and the long asset life time of fibre mean that the technology choices made today will dominate the opportunities for telecommunication business of all market players, incumbents, competitors, content providers and business and residential users for many years in the future.The paper analyzes the cost and other differences between Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) access network architectures and their related different wholesale approaches by using the well-known and understood steady state approach applied in other NGA analyses in the past. In addition to the steady state analysis a dynamic cost evaluation is included taking into account the different investment behaviour of the FTTH architectures over time. The results describe investment and cost differences between architectures, incumbents and wholesale based competitive operators. The analysis has been performed for different geotypes (clusters) of decreasing population density in a representative European settlement structure.     

Indigenous peoples’ nutrition transition in a right to food perspective

In indigenous communities the nutrition transition characterized by a rapid westernization of diet and lifestyle is associated with rising prevalence of chronic disease. Field work and literature reviews from two different policy environments, Argentina (Jujuy) and Canada (Nunavut), identified factors that add to indigenous peoples’ disease risk. The analytical framework was the emerging human right to adequate food approach to policies and programmes. Indigenous peoples’ chronic disease risk tends to increase as a result of government policies that infringe on indigenous peoples’ livelihoods and territories, undermining their economic system, values and solidarity networks. Policies intended to increase food security, including food aid, may also fuel the nutrition transition. There is a need to explore further the connection between well-intended policies towards indigenous peoples and the development of chronic diseases, and to broaden the understanding of the role that different forms of discrimination play in the westernization of their lifestyles, values and food habits. Food policies that take due account of indigenous peoples’ human rights, including their right to enjoy their culture, may counteract the growth of chronic disease in these communities.     

汛期到,『橙色兵团』不休息

6月30日,当人们还在享受周末的悠闲时,一桥头至五马路河堤一带却活跃着一群“橙色兵团”忙碌的身影.“廖师傅,往左边一点点,那边还有……”“高空车上的人员注意保持与导线的距离,时刻保持清醒头脑,安全第一”——走进一看,原来这是广西钦州供电局正在加班进行树木清障作业.     

A strategic skill based model of supplier integration and its effect on supply management performance

Supplier integration is a tool to help organizations gain competitive advantage. Strategic supply management skills and the supply management function's perceived status are hypothesized as antecedents to supplier integration leading to supply management performance. The sample for this study includes 152 executive level supply management professionals. The empirical results suggest that strategic skills and perceived status are essential antecedents to supplier integration and subsequent performance. Further, the relationship between strategic skills and performance is mediated by supplier integration. Results of a dominance analysis also suggest which strategic skills are most likely to explain status integration, and performance. These findings have significant implications for supply management theory and practice.     

Cost allocation of WCDMA and wholesale pricing for mVoIP and data services

This study estimates cost-based prices for wholesale voice and data services provided to 3G (WCDMA) MVNOs according to their distinct types. For estimation, 3G MVNOs are classified into different types, and the overall cost of WCDMA facilities are separated into voice and data components based on their subscriber rates, actual traffic rates, as well as efficiency consideration of traffic rates. The study then calculates cost-based wholesale prices of voice and data services for each of the 3G MVNO types. The result of this study shows that a cost-plus pricing scheme can help achieve the policy goals of the regulator, namely, lowering telecommunications tariffs and facilitating the introduction of new convergent-type services, far more effectively than the current retail-minus pricing scheme. The findings of this study may assist firms in developing business models based on 3G networks and telecom regulators in designing policies related to interconnection, mVoIP, prepaid calls, wholesale services, and network neutrality.     

Collectivism,individualism, and outgroup cooperation in a segmented China

A consistent theme in cross-cultural management research is that collectivists are more cooperative than individualists. We use Hofstede's measure for individualism–collectivism and combine it with an experimental measure of cooperation to test this relationship in China. In contrast to the established paradigm, we find that groups with higher individualistic scores are more cooperative than those groups with higher collectivistic scores. We attribute these results to groups being composed of outgroup members. In addition, we find that subjects from the more developed coastal area are more individualistic and cooperative than are subjects from inland China.

快速成形技术的应用及热点分析

基于快速成形技术的原理,展示了快速成形技术在快速模具制造、金属零件直接成形、反求工程等领域的广泛应用,总结了快速成形制造技术研究的热点,即研发新材料和新设备、提高成形精度、建立RPM的反求工程系统、建立成形技术的统一标准和扩大成形技术的应用领域。