以金融配套创新地产融资新模式

深圳迈石资本基金管理有限公司董事长唐标晟先生是房地产投资领域资深专家,曾参与过在很多国家的投融资项目。他对中国房地产投资发展趋势,不仅有自己独到的见解,还有不错的运作模式。《国际融资》记者采访了他,请他发表看法     

The financing decisions of innovative firms

The paper examines the relation between forms of financing and the level of expenditure on research and development (R&D). The paper shows that the probability of issuing new equity rises monotonically with the level of expenditure on R&D, whilst the use of debt finance follows an inverted U curve, rising and then falling as R&D expenditure rises. The analysis confirms ‘control rights’ theories of financing, in which firms follow an established hierarchy of preferences for modes of financing, with debt preferred to equity since it involves less loss of control rights. The mode of financing is linked to characteristic types of innovation, with debt financing associated with incremental innovation and equity funding with R&D intensive innovation, as in pharmaceuticals. The paper concludes by suggesting a linkage between modes of financing, types of innovation and business systems, with the UK's innovation pattern linked to market financing contrasting with the relationship financing of bank oriented systems such as Germany.     

H3C助力金融行业打造务实创新的新一代数据中心

H3C于近日公布了一系列针对新一代数据中心的相关产品与研究成果,其中包括数据中心FCoE产品和软件特性、基于VEPA标准产品的研发动态、多款针对数据中心级核心交换产品S12500的业务模块,以及针对数据中心管理的iMC应用管理平台和服务运维管理组件等。这是H3C继发布IRF2（第二代智能弹性架构）、Blade5500系列刀片交换机等举措之后,对其倡导的统一交换架构数据中心解决方案的进一步完善,也是H3C在新一代数据中心领域的又一次大踏步前进。     

An investigation of ethical position and budgeting systems: Egyptian managers in US and Egyptian firms

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible impact of ethical position and national culture on budgetary systems. In particular, the present study examines the budgeting behaviors of Egyptian managers who work for Egyptian firms and Egyptian managers who work for US firms in Egypt. Based on a survey that was administered to 395 participants, our results suggest higher (lower) levels of budgetary participation for Egyptian managers working in US (Egyptian) firms, higher (lower) levels of incentive for Egyptian managers to create slack in US (Egyptian) firms, and more (less) frequent slack-creation behavior among Egyptian managers employed by US (Egyptian) firms. Significant differences were found in the ethical orientations of Egyptian individuals employed by US firms compared with those employed by Egyptian companies. Our results also suggest that ethical orientation helps mitigate slack-creation behavior.     

Taxing bitcoin: Incentivizing the difficulty adjustment mechanism to reduce electricity usage

This paper develops a model of the bitcoin market that views the bitcoin as a tradeable commodity whose supply is managed by the Bitcoin protocol. Miners utilize equipment and electricity to solve complex computational problems and the first miner to solve a problem is rewarded with bitcoins. The protocol adjusts the difficulty of the problem to target a constant growth rate in the supply of bitcoins over time. The model demonstrates that an increase (decrease) in the difficulty works in effect like a government’s placing an ad valorem tax (subsidy) on the price of a commodity. The rents that would have arisen from limiting supply, however, are wasted as electricity costs. It is shown that an actual tax on the price of the bitcoin can be used to displace the electricity costs. Using data from March 2014 to January 2019, it is estimated that the difficulty adjustment mechanism resulted in net welfare losses to the miners and buyers of bitcoins of 373.8 million USD. Average initial tax rates of 35% and 347.5% would have fully displaced the electricity costs and maximized their reduction, respectively.     

The price of power: Valuing the controlling position of owner–managers in French IPO firms

Going public often creates an agency conflict between the owner–manager and minority shareholders. This problem is especially severe in countries with poor legal investor protection, such as France. We examine the controlling position of owner–managers in French initial public offering (IPO) firms. We find that investors anticipate the increased agency conflict associated with a lock on control and lower firm value when the owner–manager is more powerful. Shareholder agreements in which the owner–manager agrees to share control with other pre-IPO owners enhance firm value. We also report that higher cash flow ownership by the owner–manager is positively related to firm value when he is not in full control. Finally, we document that the large (non-pecuniary) private benefits of control in France may motivate owner–managers to retain control after the IPO.     

How to build your network

Many sensational ideas have faded away into obscurity because they failed to reach the right people. A strong personal network, however, can launch a burgeoning plan into the limelight by delivering private information, access to diverse skill sets, and power. Most executives know that they need to learn about the best ideas and that, in turn, their best ideas must be heard by the rest of the world. But strong personal networks don't just happen around a watercooler or at reunions with old college friends. As Brian Uzzi and Shannon Dunlap explain, networks have to be carefully constructed through relatively high-stakes activities that bring you into contact with a diverse group of people. Most personal networks are highly clustered--that is, your friends are likely to be friends with one another as well. And, if you made those friends by introducing yourself to them, the chances are high that their experiences and perspectives echo your own. Because ideas generated within this type of network circulate among the same people with shared views, though, a potential winner can wither away and die if no one in the group has what it takes to bring that idea to fruition. But what if someone within that cluster knows someone else who belongs to a whole different group? That connection, formed by an information broker, can expose your idea to a new world, filled with fresh opportunities for success. Diversity makes the difference. Uzzi and Dunlap show you how to assess what kind of network you currently have, helping you to identify your super-connectors and demonstrating how you act as an information broker for others. They then explain how to diversify your contacts through shared activities and how to manage your new, more potent, network.     

How to build a blockbuster

Coming up with fabulously successful products takes more than creative people with groundbreaking ideas. Top executives need to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Since they control resources and have the power to cut through red tape, they can clear a path for the creative team to develop hit products.     

Financial constraints and the growth and survival of innovative start-ups: An analysis of Italian firms

We study the impact of measures devoted to relieving financial constraints for the growth and survival of Italian innovative start-ups. Using balance sheet data on innovative start-ups and information on the use of the Italian Central Guarantee Fund for small and medium-sized enterprises, we evaluate whether access to the fund, relieving financial constraints, helps innovative start-ups survive and grow. We find innovative start-ups benefit significantly more than similar control firms. We shed light on the relevance of policies aimed at reducing financial constraints for the growth and survival of innovative start-ups, an issue receiving increasing attention at the European level.     

Motivating managers to make investment decisions

Owners of capital frequently lack knowledge about investment opportunities. One alternative is to turn to a manager for assistance. The owner's problem of contracting for the services of a manager is treated as a problem in buying information. The surprising result is that it is sometimes possible to trade information even when the owner is unable to form his own assessment of the information's value. Under some conditions it is possible to write a managerial compensation contract which will induce the manager to act in the best interests of the owner. These conditions require owner knowledge of the manager's employment and investment alternatives and risk preferences as well as some, but not all, of the characteristics of the investment opportunities.     

如何打造好的商业模式

”资源”这二字．人人谈它,天天用它,但是很少有人明白它与好的商业模式的内在联系。好的商业模式在独特资源和交易的基础上为初创期企业指明方向,稳定挣钱,持续发展。     

“长城”是怎样筑就的——访中国银行个人金融总部副总经理赵春堂

借记卡是银行个人金融业务的重要载体,随着其功能的增强、应用范围的拓广以及用卡环境的优化,借记卡逐渐得到了更多消费者的认可和接受。在国内诸多银行卡品牌中,     

8 ways to build collaborative teams

Executing complex initiatives like acquisitions or an IT overhaul requires a breadth of knowledge that can be provided only by teams that are large, diverse, virtual, and composed of highly educated specialists. The irony is, those same characteristics have an alarming tendency to decrease collaboration on a team. What's a company to do? Gratton, a London Business School professor, and Erickson, president of the Concours Institute, studied 55 large teams and identified those with strong collaboration despite their complexity. Examining the team dynamics and environment at firms ranging from Royal Bank of Scotland to Nokia to Marriott, the authors isolated eight success factors: (1) "Signature" relationship practices that build bonds among the staff, in memorable ways that are particularly suited to a company's business. (2) Role models of collaboration among executives, which help cooperation trickle down to the staff. (3) The establishment of a "gift culture," in which managers support employees by mentoring them daily, instead of a transactional "tit-for-tat culture", (4) Training in relationship skills, such as communication and conflict resolution. (5) A sense of community, which corporate HR can foster by sponsoring group activities. (6) Ambidextrous leadership, or leaders who are both task-oriented and relationship-oriented. (7) Good use of heritage relationships, by populating teams with members who know and trust one another. (8) Role clarity and task ambiguity, achieved by defining individual roles sharply but giving teams latitude on approach. As teams have grown from a standard of 20 members to comprise 100 or more, team practices that once worked well no longer apply. The new complexity of teams requires companies to increase their capacity for collaboration, by making long-term investments that build relationships and trust, and smart near-term decisions about how teams are formed and run.     

Selling information to competitive firms

Internal agency conflicts distort firms' choices and reduce social welfare. To limit these distortions, principals dealing with privately informed agents often acquire information from specialized intermediaries, such as auditing and certification companies, that are able to ascertain, and credibly disclose, agents' private information. We study how the structures of both the information provision and the final good markets affect information accuracy. A monopolistic information provider may supply imprecise information to perfectly competitive firms, even if the precision of this information can be increased at no cost. This is due to a price effect of information: although more accurate information reduces agency costs and allows firms to increase production, it also results in a lower price in the final good market, which reduces principals' willingness to pay for information.     

政策性农业保险对粮食产出的激励效应

在"理性经济人"的假定条件下,基于生产者行为理论就农业保险财政补贴对粮食产出的激励效应进行了理论分析。研究表明,农业保险补贴可以通过两种途径影响粮食产出:一是通过提供较高保障的农业经营收入以鼓励农民加大农业生产投入,进而提高粮食作物的单位产出水平;二是通过对粮食作物和经济作物实施不同的保费补贴标准,引导农民改变不同农作物的种植面积进而扩大粮食作物的种植规模。就当前实施的农业保险补贴政策来说,由于绝大部分地区的保障水平都比较低,目前通过农业保险补贴来增加粮食产量的实际效应相当有限。如果政府想利用农业保险来增加粮食产出水平,可以通过适当提高粮食主产区农业保险的保障水平,为种粮大户构建政策性保险与商业保险相结合的农业保险模式,以及对粮食类作物和经济类作物保险采取差异化补贴政策来实现。     

The consequences to managers for financial misrepresentation

We track the fortunes of all 2,206 individuals identified as responsible parties for all 788 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement actions for financial misrepresentation from January 1, 1978 through September 30, 2006. Fully 93% lose their jobs by the end of the regulatory enforcement period. Most are explicitly fired. The likelihood of ouster increases with the cost of the misconduct to shareholders and the quality of the firm's governance. Culpable managers also bear substantial financial losses through restrictions on their future employment, their shareholdings in the firm, and SEC fines. A sizeable minority (28%) face criminal charges and penalties, including jail sentences that average 4.3 years. These results indicate that the individual perpetrators of financial misconduct face significant disciplinary action.     

如何建设绿色数据中心

目前,很多企业对大型数据中心“绿化”的认识仍然不足：在系统规划时,企业只关心数据中心的处理能力、磁盘阵列大小、网络如何规划、UPS如何配置等问题,而对数据中心的能耗、空调和环保设计还缺乏认识,或者根本没有对数据中心的节能、降耗和运营成本等进行综合的考虑。研究机构的统计显示,能源消耗已占到IT部门运营成本的30％～50％,与此同时,数据中心电力消耗每年仍以15％～20％的速度递增,2007年我国IT产品的总耗电几乎相当于三峡电站一年的发电量。因此,在能源日趋紧张的当今,利用各种新技术、新方案和管理手段,获得增容不增耗的绿色数据中心解决方案已成为行业发展的当务之急。     

Employee morale,non-financial performance measures,deployment of innovative managerial practices and shop-floor involvement in Italian manufacturing firms

The relationship between performance measures and the development of innovative managerial practices (IMPs) is far from clear. The deployment of IMPs often requires shop-floor involvement and this might intensify the level of importance of shop-floor non-financial performance measures (SFNFPMs) of Employee Morale. On the other hand, human resource managers have long been concerned with measures of lateness, absenteeism and staff turnover (core SFNFPMs relating to Employee Morale), but from a diagnostic rather than interactive standpoint. This study investigates whether the level of importance of SFNFPMs of Employee Morale in manufacturing firms should be ascribed to the deployment of IMPs or to shop-floor involvement (human resource) considerations. In late 2003, a survey of medium-large Italian manufacturing firms was undertaken. The Italian context was considered particularly appropriate because Italian firms lag behind in their application of contemporary management techniques, and, until the late 1990s, industrial relations were based on a conflict relationship. Our findings suggest that, contrary to human resources literature, the significant positive associations between the importance of SFNFPMs related to Employee Morale and the deployment of IMPs seem to be independent of shop-floor involvement. Furthermore, the significant positive association between training (one of the shop-floor involvement variables) and the level of importance of SFNFPMs related to Employee Morale is found to be dependent upon IMPs deployment.     

Communication of risk assessment information to risk managers

This article describes the results of a two-phase study of risk communication between risk assessors and risk managers (including policy makers). The first phase consisted of telephone interviews with 30 air quality risk managers from all levels (18 from local, state, and regional offices, and 12 from national offices). The second phase involved a focus group with 11 senior EPA risk managers representing a broad range of EPA national offices and programmes. The two-hour focus group elicited responses from the risk managers to specific examples of videotaped risk information created by agency risk assessors. The risk managers indicated their interests in hearing both qualitative and quantitative information about risk and emphasized the importance of discussing other information about the decision context. Similar responses to the videotaped risk information were elicited from a class of students at the Harvard School of Public Health. This exploratory work suggests that to better inform risk managers, risk assessors must also appreciate and present the broader context of the decision, and they must convey how uncertainties and weaknesses in the assessment may influence stakeholder perceptions of risk and the effectiveness of different risk management options. Further research on how to communicate risk information to risk managers is recommended.     

英国如何营造“和谐社会”？

胡锦涛总书记在关于提高构建社会主义和谐社会能力专题研讨班上指出,构建和谐社会是人类追求的目标,是马克思主义政党追求的理想,恩格斯曾深刻揭示社会主义和谐社会的精髓,即自由平等和公平正义的原则。在这方面,英国工党政府有一些做法,值得我们思考。