Job Mobility in Europe,Japan and the United States

Evidence about job mobility outside the United States is scarce and difficult to compare cross‐nationally because of non‐uniform data. We document job mobility patterns of college graduates in their first three years in the labour market, using unique uniform data covering 11 European countries and Japan. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we replicate the information in this survey to compare the results with the United States. We find that (a) US graduates hold more jobs than European graduates, (b) contrasting conventional wisdom, job mobility in Japan is only somewhat lower than the European average, and (c) there are large differences in job mobility within Europe.     

经济奇迹的助推器--日本、美国与欧洲质量奖综述

近年来,通过推行国家质量奖计划来提升企业的管理水平已成为许多国家强化和提高产业竞争力的重要途径,除了一些发达国家和地区外,许多新兴的工业化国家和发展中国家也都设立了国家质量奖。在全世界诸多国家质量奖计划中,影响最大的当推日本爱德华·戴明质量奖(EdwardDemingPrize)、美国马尔科姆·波德里奇质量奖(MalcolmBaldrigeAward)和欧洲质量奖(EuropeanQualityAward),这三大质量奖被誉为卓越管理与绩效模式的创造者和经济奇迹的助推器。一、日本爱德华·戴明质量奖1949年,为了引进和推广质     

Unions and Work Attitudes in the United States and Japan

Examining whether Japanese enterprise unions have a negative effect on employee job attitudes or whether they forge a stronger bond between the worker and the firm, our results indicate that union membership has no effect on Japanese employees' job satisfaction, but that there is some negative impact on company commitment. Much of the union effect on U.S. workers' job attitudes stems from lower job complexity, work autonomy, perceived promotion chances, and quality circle membership.     

Lessons from broadband development in Canada,Japan, Korea and the United States

Broadband network development does not always track closely a nations overall wealth and economic strength. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2005 the five top nations for broadband network market penetration were: Korea, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. The ITU ranked the United States sixteenth in broadband penetration.Aside from the obvious geographical and demographic advantages accruing to small nations with large urban populations, broadband development thrives when it becomes a national priority. Both developed and developing nations have stimulated capital expenditures for infrastructure in ways United States public and private sector stakeholders have yet to embrace. Such investments have accrued ample dividends including the lowest broadband access costs in the world. For example, the ITU reports that in 2002 Japanese consumers paid $0.09 per 100 kilobits per second of broadband access compared to $3.53 in the United States.Economic policies do not completely explain why some nations offer faster, better cheaper and more convenient broadband services while other nations do not. This paper will examine best practices in broadband network development with an eye toward determining the optimal mix of legislative, regulatory and investment initiatives. The paper will track development in Canada, Japan and Korea as these nations have achieved success despite significantly different geographical, political and marketplace conditions. The paper also notes the institutional and regulatory policies that have hampered broadband development in the United States.The paper also will examine why incumbent local exchange and cable television operators recently have begun aggressively to pursue broadband market opportunities. The paper will analyze incumbents’ rationales for limited capital investment in broadband with an eye toward determining the credibility of excuses based on regulatory risk and uncertainty. The paper concludes with suggestions how national governments might expedite broadband infrastructure development.     

杭州检验局查获不合格玩具转口贸易

近日，杭州检验检疫局销毁一批进口不合格玩具。这批玩具塑胶热气球是从香港空运进口，经检测，该产品的机械物理性能不合格，且塑胶材料中含20％以上的邻苯二甲酸酯（DEHP），存在较多的安全质量隐患及有害化学成分。目前，杭州检验检疫局查封了该批不合格品，并将检测处理结果告知企业，作销毁处理。这是杭州地区今年第二次查获来自香港的进口不合格玩具产品。     

美欧玩具标准的比较

我国玩具出口以欧美地区为主，欧美的玩具政策和标准主导着世界各国政策的制定，通过研究欧美最近更新的法规，可以更好地掌握玩具标准法规的发展趋势。     

Manufacturing environments in South Korea,Japan and the United States of America: A note

This paper reports a comparative analysis of the manufacturing facilities and the degree of automation of major manufacturing corporations in South Korea, Japan and the United States. We suggest that South Korea is behind Japan and the United States in manufacturing technology, but is aggressively incorporating automated equipment or processes into the manufacturing system.This project has been supported by a grant from the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry.     

Flawed Economic Models Have Misled RPM Policy: Changes in Canada,Europe and the United States

Some of the influential literature that supports the resale price maintenance efficiency view is flawed when it relies on presale services that do not modify the value-in-use of a good. Crucially, we consider that value-in-use may differ from prepurchase perceived value. We apply the value-in-use standard, which exposes the loss in consumer surplus in Bork’s model and reveals that even Bork’s dissenters significantly underestimate their calculated losses to inframarginal consumers. When consumer surplus is the antitrust/competition policy standard, our results suggest that a rule-of-reason regime where authorities or agencies bear the burden of proof can be unfavourable to consumers.     

义乌——玩具小企业实现对欧美出口增三成以上

面对苛刻的外贸标准，通过国际认证是一条捷径。在企业没有通过“ICTI”认证之前，面对欧美采购商，王铀锝也有过碰壁的经历。同样品质的游泳圈，欧美采购商在确定质量过关的·睛况下，还是犹豫着不下单，对此这位年轻的企业家记忆犹新。     

中、俄、美欧与中亚国家能源合作现状及前景

中亚地区拥有丰富的能源资源,欧亚各国都加强了与该地区的能源合作.中、俄、美和欧洲国家与中亚国家开展能源合作具有各自的优势和劣势,目前在中亚地区已形成"四面竞争"的能源竞争格局.未来中、俄、美欧在中亚地区能源领域的合作与竞争将继续存在,但由于该地区不具备左右国际关系和国际格局的战略地位和能力,并不会影响大国间的友好关系.这种合作与竞争的局面也有助于中亚地区的能源开发,进而有助于中亚地区的稳定与发展.     

A study of company profit-rate time series: Japan and the United States

Usinf the methodology of D.C. Mueller as well as the alternative model we propose, we estimate the long-run profit rate (normalized to the cross-company mean in each year to eliminate the effect of the general rise or decline in profitability) of each of 294 major Japanese manufacturing corporations using the time series of its profit rate over 1964–1980. Three of the major findings are (1) a company with a high (low) initial profit rate tended to earn a high (low) profit rate even in the long run, implying a persistence of intercompany profit-rate differences, and (2) across companies, the estimated long-run profit rates were similarly distributed between Japan (our estimates) and the United States (Mueller's estimates), but (3) the movement of profit rate is more volatile and can be less well explained by the model in Japan. Further studies on the time series of the company profit rate revealed that the cross-company variance of the normalized profit rate (which equals the coefficient of variation of the unnormalized profit rate) was smaller in Japan in every year from 1964 to 1972, which together with the observed larger interindustry profit-rate differences, suggests smaller intraindustry intercompany profit-rate differences in Japan. Some preliminary discussions are given to eplain these findings.     

New Venture Performance in China,Japan, and the United States: The Impact of Formalized Market Information Processes

New venture companies, starting from small entities comprising entrepreneurs and their teams, start to grow in scale by instigating formalized processes to enhance management efficiency. This includes the use of formalized processes for collecting and disseminating market information. Despite the fact that utilizing market information is one of the fundamental factors of market orientation, little is known about the way market information is processed in new venture companies. The first aim of this research was to investigate the impact of formalized market information acquisition and utilization on new venture performance. The second objective was to investigate the effect of organizational formalization on the acquisition and utilization of market information in new venture firms. The final goal was to explore the extent to which these relationships vary in different cultural contexts. Based on an extensive literature review and interviews with managers in China, Japan, and the United States, a conceptual framework is developed that relates formalized market information processes to new venture performance in the three countries. The conceptual model is tested with data collected from 453 new venture companies in these countries. The results suggest that the use of a formalized process of market information utilization has a positive effect on new venture performance regardless of country. The analysis also indicates that the effect of organizational formalization, in general, differs between countries. Organizational formalization is associated with increased formalized utilization of market information only in the United States; the relationship does not apply in the two Asian countries studied. Taken together, these results suggest that in the Asian countries, organizational formalization improves information collection, while in the United States, it also improves the utilization of information throughout the organization. One implication of these results may be the potential of added benefits accruing to organizational formalization in new ventures in countries with high levels of individualism and/or high levels of power distance, where organizational power is concentrated in formal vertical reporting relationships, as opposed to informal horizontal peer‐to‐peer networks.     

The Role of the Senior HR Executive in Japan and the United States: Employment Relations, Corporate Governance, and Values

Based on an original survey of senior human resources (HR) executives, this paper provides empirical data for a comparison of HR management structures and practices in Japan and the United States. In both countries, the headquarters HR function has shrunk and employment decisions have become more decentralized in recent years. However, because the pace of change has been more rapid in the United States, the gap with Japan has widened. Significant differences persist in other areas, such as the HR executive's role in strategic decisions, perceived power of the HR function, executive values, and the consequences of these values for organizational outcomes and corporate governance.     

Competitive forces and strategic choice decisions: an experimental investigation in the United States and Japan

Managers operate in a complex, uncertain environment and tend to form simplified models in order to cope with this environment and make competitive strategic decisions (i.e., cost‐leadership, differentiation, or focus). In this study, we use an experimental design to examine the strategic choice decision‐making process in firms located in the United States and Japan. We develop several main‐effect propositions regarding managerial selection of competitive strategies, depending on the competitive forces (buyer power, threat of substitutes, threat of new firm entry, and high intensity of rivalry) they are facing. We propose a main effect due to country of origin: Japanese managers prefer a cost‐leadership strategy more than American managers do. We also propose several interaction effects regarding cross‐national differences in strategy selection between Japanese and U.S. managers. To test our propositions, we collected experimental data from 316 U.S. executives and 459 Japanese executives. We assessed relative impacts of the competitive forces on strategic decision‐making using a multilevel regression analysis. The research findings indicated that high buyer power and high substitution threat were associated with a preference for cost‐leadership strategies, and Japanese managers were significantly more likely to prefer a cost‐leadership strategy than U.S. managers. We also found that, under conditions of high buyer power, U.S. managers were less likely than Japanese managers to enter a market with a differentiation or focus strategy. We found little support for other interaction hypotheses, suggesting points of similarity between U.S. and Japanese managers. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications of our results. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative analysis of layoff announcements and stock price reactions in the United States and Japan

Downsizing and layoffs are an important mechanism for U.S. firms to cope with their strategic and economic environment. In contrast, the Japanese tradition of lifetime employment limits the ability of firms to employ layoffs as a strategic measure, relegating its use to conditions of financial distress. This paper provides the first comparison of layoffs in Japan and the United States and examines stock price reactions to layoff announcements in each country from 1990 to 1994. Agency theory and Aoki's cooperative game theory are employed to discuss differences in the governance structures of U.S. and Japanese firms and their implication for stock price reactions. Results show that layoff announcements trigger negative returns for both U.S. and Japanese firms. Specifically, layoff announcements of U.S. firms are associated with a negative 1.78 percent abnormal return, while layoff announcements for Japanese firms are associated with a negative 0.56 percent abnormal return. To better understand the impact of layoffs, this study examines the relationships between stock price reactions and various layoff characteristics (such as whether the layoff is proactive or reactive or whether the layoff is the first in the industry). Implications of the findings are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stock Market Returns to Financial Innovations Before and During the Financial Crisis in the United States and Europe

Prior studies have focused on innovations in various contexts but largely excluded financial innovations, despite their notable importance. Not surprisingly, financial innovations account for a substantial portion of world economies and the huge market capitalization of banks. Therefore, the authors focus on studying the type, success, and causes of success of financial innovations. Using an event study and financial expert ratings, this study analyzes the types of and payoffs to 428 financial innovations by 39 major banks in North America and Western Europe between 2001 and 2010. The results indicate that security and credit instruments constitute the most common and insurance innovations the least common financial innovations, which vary substantially by economic cycles and location. The average cumulative abnormal stock market returns to a financial innovation are $146 million. They are twice as high in the United States as in Western Europe. Thus, the market considers financial innovations profitable, not harmful, despite their apparent responsibility for the financial crisis. Surprisingly, the cumulative abnormal stock market returns to financial innovations are higher in recessions than in expansions. The authors find that riskiness and radicalness of the innovation increases abnormal returns, while complexity decreases cumulative abnormal stock market returns. Two interaction effects stand out: Riskiness of financial innovations has higher cumulative abnormal stock market returns in the United States than in Western Europe. Radicalness has lower cumulative abnormal stock market returns in recessions than in expansions. The authors discuss important implications of the findings.