思想解放，制度创新，文化宽容——中国崛起的荷兰经验

大国的崛起必须汲取每一个国家的历史经验和教训，荷兰就为我们提供了一个典型案例：思想解放推动了历史的发展，制度创新带来了绝对的竞争优势，而宽容的文化构筑了和谐社会的基石。世界第一个跨国股份公司——荷兰东印度公司的兴衰之道，也可以为走向世界的中国企业所参照。     

创新、核心竞争力与区域经济可持续发展——西部经济可持续发展的荷兰经验

现阶段,在我国经济发展过程中,区域间经济发展很不平衡,差距不断扩大,这种状况显然不利于我国经济的整体发展和和谐社会的建立。实现区域间协调发展,促进我国整体经济快速稳定增长已成为一个重要问题。西部地区作为欠发达地区,要想迎头赶上,必须不断识别和培育区域核心竞争力。因为只有具有核心竞争力,才能保持区域经济发展的可持续性,而创新是区域核心竞争力形成的关键。     

第三只眼看广东投资软环境--荷兰、法国驻广州总领事访谈

广东的投资软环境到底怎样?从本期开始,本刊将陆续刊登各国驻广州总领事对广东投资软环境的看法。"在商言商,应实事求是。家和地区。所以,国家与国家之间可以有不同的意见,但最好不要对企业界施加任何影响,这是中国     

加强穗瑞合作擦亮广州品牌——"哥德堡号"访问广州系列活动组委会主任、广州市副市长王晓玲访谈

瑞典“哥德堡号”仿古木帆船从2005年10月2日启航,经历了9个半月的艰苦航行后,于2006年7月18日如期抵达广州,圆了重走海上丝绸路之梦。由国王卡尔十六世·古斯塔夫和王后西尔维娅带领的瑞典访问团亦开始了正式访问活动。“哥德堡号”访穗,成为广州市民津津乐道的一件大事。     

“巴黎春天”花盛开——上海益民百货、巴黎春天总经理访谈录

去年的早春时节，上海一家以经营高档名牌服饰闻名的豪华商厦“巴黎春天”，在外资经营管理了５年后，终于因连年的巨额亏损而易主，业界惋惜声不绝于耳；与此同时出人意料的是，接管该商厦的竟是一家中资企业——上海益民百货股份有限公司。     

品牌建设的中国经验

<正> 品牌竞争力是企业最持久的核心竞争力,企业品牌竞争力的强弱决定着地区和国家竞争力的强弱。在全球化竞争时代,中国企业应该提升自己品牌的竞争力,在相当大的程度上也代表着国家的形象和实力,更是维系我们民族未来竞争力的基石。日本的前首相中曾根康弘曾经在国际交往中说:"索尼是我的左脸,松下是我的右脸。"在他心中,索尼和松     

品牌建设的中国经验

品牌竞争力是企业最持久的核心竞争力，企业品牌竞争力的强弱决定着地区和国家竞争力的强弱。日本的前首相中曾根康弘曾经说在国际交往中说：“索尼是我的左脸，松下是我的右脸。”在他心中，索尼和松下是日本最具竞争力的品牌。中国企业在品牌建设方面已经走过了20多年的历程。总结这方面的经验对于推动中国品牌的成长大有裨益。     

Country Resources,Country Image,and Exports: Country Branding and International Marketing Implications

ABSTRACT

A country's economic, political, and socio-cultural institutions have always been regarded as important determinants of a company's exports and international marketing strategies. With the recent thinking about countries becoming more like a brand, these factors should impact a country's marketing and branding strategies. There has been a call for more research on how countries can use their institutions and resources to enhance their globalization efforts. This study intends to fill this gap by examining the relationships between country institutions and resources, country image, and exports based on institution theory and resource advantage theory. Both archival and primary data for 24 countries over 12 years (1995–2006) were used to assess a random-effects panel data model. The results reveal the significance of economic development and communication infrastructure on exports. In addition, country image was found to indirectly affect exports. The theoretical and practical implications on country branding and international marketing conclude the article.     

Country Equity

Abstract

The idea of country branding, while controversial, has gained broad acceptance and is actively practiced at the national and regional levels. A number of new research studies are indicative of the growing interest and importance of the topic. This article focuses on practical opportunities for South Africa to become more adept at using marketing communications to promote itself to critical international audiences.     

The Environmental Commitment of Consumer Organizations in Denmark, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Belgium

Consumer organizations have traditionally been concerned with protecting, informing, and educating the "weak" consumers. These policies were deemed necessary because of the unequal power balance and conflicts of interests between consumers and producers. Since there are also conflicts between the interests of nature on the one hand, and consumers and producers on the other, this article discusses the rationale of consumer organizations' involvement in environmental issues while considering their original objectives. More specifically, it is aimed at identifying the commitment of several European consumer organizations with respect to environmental issues during the past two decades in order to assess whether and how environmental issues are internalized in consumer policy across time.     

Safety of playgrounds in The Netherlands

Abstract

In this paper the results are presented of a national survey on playground safety in The Netherlands. Thirteen trained inspectors each inspected 51 playgrounds in their own region. In total, 663 playgrounds with 7150 pieces of playground equipment were subjected to an inspection. The following safety criteria were inspected: entanglement, surfacing material, installation and maintenance aspects. The results show that one out of every three pieces of playground equipment fail on one or more criteria. The number of pieces of equipment that fail in playgrounds operated by local authorities or recreational companies is higher than that in playgrounds operated by voluntary associations. The smaller the playground the higher the number of failures per piece of equipment

The time has come for experts to provide the operators with information which will improve the safety level. More funding should be provided for the local authorities to prevent the occurrence of accidents.     

Urbanization and start-up rates in different geographies: Belgium,the Netherlands,and Sweden

This study addresses the mediating role of settlement patterns in the relationship between urbanization and start-up activity. Places do not operate in a vacuum and to understand the effect of “own” density on start-up patterns, we need to account for the urban spillovers or borrowed size that they may experience from other places nearby. The results can explain the empirical ambiguity in the relationship between urbanization and start-up patterns: the relationship between urbanization and start-up rates becomes more similar between countries when controlling for country-specific settlement patterns by including a spatially lagged urbanization variable and variables measuring the distance to urban centers. Accounting for the relative location of places and relevant sorting effects, we find that “own” density has a consistently negative effect on start-up activity. Yet, access to other places has a generally positive effect. This implies that nearby regions profit from the advantages offered by urban environments without having to deal with the costs involved.     

Globalization,Coordination, and Subsidiary Performance-Evidence from Companies in an Advancing Country

ABSTRACT

We investigate an important issue in globalization, the relationship between production capacity of a global company's subsidiary and its performance, where the subsidiary's relative size of production capacity is regarded as its globalization level. Analyzing the field data on 42 Korean companies engaged in global operations, we reached preliminary conclusions. First, the optimal level of subsidiary globalization represented by its relative production capacity does not exist. This lack of significance subsides when we associate the globalization level with global coordination between the headquarters and its subsidiary. Global coordination turns out to be a significant factor, either direct or moderating in relation to the globalization level, in determining the subsidiary's performance. We also found that the type of coordination supporting the subsidiary's innovation is different from that enhancing its operational efficiency: for the subsidiary's innovation capability, indirect coordination is effective, whereas direct coordination can be detrimental. In addition, we report effects of other factors such as global experience, host country and target market characteristics on the subsidiary performance.