Risk Sharing,the Cost of Equity and the Optimal Capital Structure of the Regulated Firm

This paper considers the relationship between the regulator’s pricing decision and the allocation of risk between consumers and shareholders. Consumers are willing to trade-off price variations against a lower expected price. Prices are higher in adverse economic conditions, but shareholder returns are not necessarily lower. It might be optimal to insure shareholders against market risk, so that consumers could thereby achieve a lower expected price. The allocation of risk between consumers and shareholders depends on the capital structure of the regulated firm, and a very special set of conditions must apply for the social optimum to be 100% debt finance with the firm operating on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis.      

Host Country’s Intellectual Property Rights and Firm’s Equity Participation

There has been an important debate on whether the degree of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in a host country affects the choice of ownership structure of a transnational firm (TNF) for its affiliate. It is argued that a TNF’s equity participation in its affiliate is used to exert control and to protect its assets. Firms with greater equity ownership can control better the extent of the technology spillover, and thus compensate for weaker IPR protection in the host country, than can firms that do not have as large an equity participation in their affiliates. Using a unique data set of a newly developed country’s (South Korea) TNFs, this paper shows that there is a negative relationship between a host country’s standards of IPR protection and a TNF’s equity participation.      

Foreign Direct Investment,Imports and Innovations in the Service Industry

The paper analyses for the first time empirically the impact of foreign competition due to inward foreign direct investment and imports on the innovation activities using data of German service firms. Based on the hypothesis that foreign competition has a disciplining effect on domestic markets derived from the manufacturing sector, a positive impact can be expected on innovation in the service sector, while other theoretical considerations do not absolutely support this optimistic view. In the empirical analysis, variants of two probit models are estimated for a sample of 2,019 service firms to explain their product and process innovation activities. The results show that both foreign direct investment and imports have highly significant positive effects on product and process innovations. Vice versa, the export and foreign production activities of domestic firms support innovations, too.     

Expropriation and control rights: A dynamic model of foreign direct investment

This paper studies the strategic interaction between a foreign direct investor and a host country. We analyze how the investor can use his control rights to protect his investment if he faces the risk of “creeping expropriation” once his investment is sunk. It is shown that this hold-up problem may cause underinvestment if the outside option of the investor is too weak, and overinvestment if it is too strong. We also analyze the impact of spillover effects, we give a rationale for “tax holidays” and we examine how stochastic returns affect the strategic interaction of investor and host country.     

Asset specificity,firm heterogeneity and capital structure

This paper presents an empirical investigation of the importance of specialized assets and other unique characteristics of a firm in explaining the variance in capital structure across firms. The results show that firm-specific effects contribute most to the variance in leverage, suggesting a strong link between strategy and capital structure.     

Conflicts and value co-creation in project networks

The present study aims to (i) extend knowledge of the nature of conflicts and of their influence on value co-creation in project networks and (ii) contribute to the management of conflicts to enable value co-creation.This work is based on an action research methodology conducted during a five-year case study of a firm operating in the Information and Communication (IT) industry. Three dimensions of conflicts are identified: (i) types, (ii) timing and (iii) effects. An understanding of these dimensions facilitates the management of conflicts. Two levels of intervention are isolated: (i) the strategic level and (ii) the operational level. The paper offers a new understanding of conflicts that should precede their management, which is crucial to enabling project network value.     

Organizational structuring and project team structuring in integrated product development project

For a superior project result, integrated product development (IPD) project need to have stage-specific management approaches where the front-end structuring supports and strengthens the management of the project and the team during the execution stages. In the current study we focus on relationships on the organizational level variable during the front-end stage of the project, organizational structuring, with a project execution level variable, project team structuring to study the impact on product design glitches and project performance in the concurrent project environment. We hypothesize that managing the overall product development projects with integrated organizational structuring at the front stage and project team structuring during the development and project implementation stages can lead to reduced product glitches which can enhance the overall IPD project performance. We test our hypothetical model using data collected from the US automotive industry. Our data supports all the three proposed hypotheses. Discussion and implication of the empirical results, limitations of the current study, and recommendations for future studies are also provided.     

吸收外商直接投资与产业结构优化升级--"十一五"时期利用外资政策目标的思考

作者认为，改革开放以来吸收外商直接投资的成效。证明这是实现我国产业结构优化升级的一条重要途径。未来在全面建设小康社会进程中。要把继续利用外商直接投资促进产业结构进一步优化升级作为重要政策目标。作者分析了在国内经济方面出现的若干新形势、新要求和新任务；还分析了在国际方面跨国直接投资和产业转移出现的新机遇。针对未来的新形势、新任务，作者提出了利用外商直接投资促进产业结构优化升级的新认识和对策措施。     

Risk management and finance along value chains of Small Island Developing States. Evidence from the Caribbean and the Pacific

The paper analyses agricultural risks and risk management in selected Small Island Developing States which are part of the African Caribbean Pacific country group. Focus is on the value chains of fruits, vegetables and spices. A survey was conducted in Grenada, Jamaica, Fiji and Vanuatu, aimed at identifying sources of risk which are most important to value chain stakeholders; the nature and quality of existing and potential risk management mechanisms; and the possibility of enhancing them in view of improving the functioning of the value chains. The sample included farmers, processors, traders, retailers, extension agents, Government officials and private services providers. Results reveal limited ability to handle price and production variability, due to lack of both horizontal and vertical co-ordination along value chains, reduced use of support services, notably credit and underinvestment in equipment. In addition, lack of demand contributes to make insurance markets incomplete and characterised by undersupply or lack of customised products. Promoting light forms of vertical and horizontal co-ordination, such as production contracts and producers’ associations, as well as value chain-based credit and finance may address some of the issues highlighted.     

Environmental dynamism,capital structure and performance: a theoretical integration and an empirical test

An ongoing argument in financial management has been how to craft a capital structure which maximizes shareholder wealth. This question has gained prominence within the strategic management field because of the apparent link between capital structure and the ability of firms to compete. By integrating models from organizational economics with the strategic management literature, we are able to theorize that a firm’s capital structure is influenced by environmental dynamism, and that the match between environmental dynamism and capital structure is associated with superior economic performance. Our large‐scale empirical analyses provide supportive evidence for the proposition that competitive environments moderate the relationship between capital structure and economic performance. From a theoretical standpoint, these findings provide another link between capital structure and corporate strategy. More importantly, we are able to move the discussion beyond the limitations of financial risk and incorporate the strategy concept of decision making under uncertainty. For practical application, these findings offer informed advice for managers on how to craft a capital structure. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Competing capitalisms: capital investment in American,German, and Japanese firms

This study explains one way the home country institutional environment causes strategy differences across firms from different countries. It contrasts the investment conduct of American, German, and Japanese firms in the 10 largest manufacturing industries. We find profound national differences among these firms that are stable across industries. These differing conducts are tied to the institutional environments of the home market. The shareholder firms of the United States make investments primarily in response to expected investment returns, measured by Tobin’s Q ratio. The coalitional firms of Germany and Japan make investments primarily in response to the availability of internal finance, measured by operating cash flow. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Location,governance, and strategic determinants of japanese manufacturing investment in the united states

A firm's decision to manufacture abroad depends on location, governance, and strategic factors. Governance factors are firm-specific. In spite of this, most empirical studies of foreign direct investment (FDI) have been conducted at the industry level (making it impossible to look at firm-specific determinants), and only a handful have considered governance, location, and strategic factors simultaneously. This paper is the first large sample study of the determinants of foreign direct investment at the product and firm-level. It examines the impact of location and governance factors, and of four types of strategic interactions, on a Japanese firm's propensity to manufacture in the U.S. The results support the view that foreign direct investment is explained by location, governance, and strategic variables. Economies of scale and trade barriers encourage Japanese FDI in the U.S. The larger a Japanese firm's R & D expenditures, the greater the probability it will manufacture in the U.S., but this is not the case for advertising expenditures. Some strategic factors are also important: Japanese firms with medium domestic market shares have the highest propensity to invest in the U.S. There is evidence of follow-the-leader behavior between firms of rival enterprise groups, but none of ‘exchange-of-threat’ between American and Japanese firms. Japanese investors are also attracted by concentrated and high-growth U.S. industries.     

Korea's Direct Investments in China: Technology, Experience, and Ownership Factors in Performance

This paper is designed to empirically examine what determines the performance of Korea's foreign direct investment (FDI) in China. Three main determinants are hypothesized to influence the performance of Korea's FDI. They include technology, internationalization experience, and ownership patterns associated with Korea's investments in China. Data were collected from surveys with 91 Korean investors. Our empirical analysis suggests that the labor intensity of technology involved in FDI and the appropriateness of manufacturing technology to the local conditions influence the investment performance. In addition, the results indicate that the internationalization experiences of the Korean investors also affect the profitability of FDI. Another finding of note is that the level of local ownership had a positive impact on performance. But, more interestingly, its effects were moderated by the investor's prior internationalization experiences; in other words, the investors with limited internationalization experiences performed well on a minority ownership venture.     

风险评估及其在油气管道方面的应用

简要介绍了风险评估方法的基本概念，风险评估方法的演进以及管道风险评估的常用方法，详细讨论了风险评估方法在油气管道应用方面的发展状况，理论与方法研究，并结合有关资料提出了意见和建议。     

中国15个省市 FDI 技术外溢潜力的比较研究

本文在对 FDI 技术外溢效应相关文献分析的基础上,构建了 FDI 技术外溢潜力指标,并利用2007～2011年的面板数据测度了中国15个省市的 FDI 技术外溢潜力,结果表明：各个省市 FDI 技术外溢潜力存在着较大差异。其中,北京、广东、江苏、福建、浙江发生 FDI 技术外溢的潜力较大,而贵州、山西、湖南、安徽较小,其他省市居中。因此,具有较高潜力的省份应该给予外商投资企业更高的投资激励吸引外资企业以获取技术外溢,潜力较小的省份应该采取提高本地企业技术水平、改善投资环境等措施来与外资企业接轨。     

Different paths to universal access: The impact of policy and regulation on broadband diffusion in the developed and developing worlds

The authors examine the broadband digital divide by analyzing the impact of policy and regulation on broadband Internet diffusion. Their multiple regression analysis shows factors that determine broadband diffusion in technologically developed countries do not necessarily have the same impact in less developed countries. They show that in technologically developed countries, there is greater broadband diffusion in countries that make a higher financial investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs), have effective governing practices at the national level, have higher levels of education, and are more urban. In technologically developing nations, a competitive telecommunications sector and higher investment in ICTs lead to greater broadband diffusion, with investment having an even larger impact in the developing world than in the developed world. In addition, stronger democratic political institutions, higher levels of national income and lower levels of income inequality increase diffusion, but the presence of a national telecommunications regulatory authority has a negative impact. These results suggest that the path to widespread availability and use of broadband requires different strategies depending on a nation's level of technological development.     

Economic and strategic considerations surrounding Chinese FDI in the United States

The growth of outward investment from China has generated expressions of concern from policymakers in the United States regarding the economic and national security impacts of such investments. While inward foreign direct investment (FDI) has come to be viewed by most observers as generally imparting net economic benefits to the host economy, acquisitions of US companies by Chinese multinational companies (MNCs) have been criticized on several grounds. One is based on the mode of entry itself: some critics believe that entry by acquisition brings lower benefits than greenfield entry. A second and more prominent concern is that acquisitions of US companies by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) may be motivated by non-commercial objectives which, in turn, make those acquisitions of questionable value to the host economy. In this paper, we argue that Chinese FDI in the United States is more likely to take the form of acquisitions than greenfield investments for the foreseeable future. However, there is no strong case to be made that the host country economic benefits from Chinese FDI would be larger if entry took place primarily through greenfield investments. Furthermore, most of the alleged costs to the US economy from inward FDI from China are either unlikely to occur or are already anticipated by existing US laws and regulations, thus necessitating no additional, specific legislation.

高等学校基本建设投资项目财务评价

从微观角度，依据我国现行财税制度和价格体系的要求，阐述了高校基本建设投资项目财务评价的职能、原则、内容、重要意义，以及评价指标的确定和计算方法。     

我国服务业FDI结构、技术进步与经济增长

服务业外商直接投资可分为生产性服务业外商直接投资和消费性服务业外商直接投资,二者对国家经济增长有着不同的影响。本文从技术进步的角度,利用面板模型,研究了我国不同类型服务业外商直接投资对经济增长的影响,并分别讨论了东西部地区服务业外商直接投资对技术进步和经济增长的差异性影响。研究结果表明生产性服务业外商直接投资对经济增长和服务业技术进步均有明显促进作用,消费性服务业外商直接投资对经济增长有促进作用,但对服务业技术进步有阻碍作用,且这一趋势在我国东西部地区之间存在显著差异。     

土地财政、产业结构演变与税收超常规增长——中国“税收增长之谜”的一个分析视角

本文考察了最近10多年来我国税收增长速度一直显著高于GDP增长速度的现象。特别从地方政府土地财政激励与产业结构演变的角度考察了当前中国特定体制下地方政府做大财政资源产业的经济与政治激励。基于1998-2003年中国地级城市面板数据．我们实证考察了地方政府协议土地出让对财政占GDP比例的当期和滞后影响。最后．本文从土地财政角度对税收增长可持续性进行了初步评估。