The Status of Training and Development in U.S.-People's Republic of China Joint Ventures

Abstract

A random sample of 177 U.S.-People&s Republic of China joint ventures was selected from 705 such undertakings identified. The questionnaire was based on three forms of Training Magazine&s annual survey. It was translated into Chinese, and cross-translated to insure accuracy, after validation by U.S. managers with experience in China and Chinese business experts. After many follow up efforts, a response rate of 36% was achieved. The survey revealed types of training currently offered and planned during the next two years, and the methods used. Comparisons were made with similar studies conducted in the United States and the Republic of Korea.     

美军联合电子战中管理职能探析

美军认为,信息化战争中把握好联合电子战运行过程中的关节点对顺利实施电子攻防起着事半功倍的作用。本文结合管理理论,对美军联合作战条令中电子战的理论和实施进行了研究,以期对我军电子战的实施和管理提供参考。     

战略匹配对合资企业绩效的影响研究——基于中美合资企业的实证研究

关于合资企业的研究从不同学者分别论述了合资企业的战略、组织和文化的匹配性对合资企业绩效的影响。本文通过研究合资企业在合资运营之前战略匹配对中外合资企业四类绩效指标的影响研究。研究结果发现,目标一致(战略匹配)对合资企业满意度和总体竞争力有显著影响,而资源互补(战略匹配)对合资企业绩效无显著影响。     

浅析美军联合军官管理制度发展

随着诸军种联合作战的规模和频率不断增加,为改进联合作战能力,美军对联合作战指挥结构进行了改革,出台了联合军官管理制度,对联合军官的选拔、教育和晋升等作出了具体的规定。     

Efficiency and Technological Change in the U.S. Brewing Industry

This study demonstrates that the measurement of technological change and economic efficiency are tightly linked. Efficiency measures may depend on carefully controlling for technological change, while tests of technological change may be sensitive to empirical model specifications. Moreover, the study underlines Solow's (1994) and Romer's (1994) admonition that econometricians should pay attention to industry and institutional evidence in building models of technological change. The empirical results presented here suggest that there has been substantial technological change in the U.S. brewing industry from 1950 to 1992. This occurred in the form of a dramatic shift in technology beginning with the introduction of super breweries in about 1972. There has also been a substantial increase in scale economies, which undoubtedly caused many inefficiently small firms to exit the industry during the 1960s and 1970s. Further results suggest that a more complete specification of technological change and the stochastic nature of the frontier production function leads to higher and more tenable estimates of efficiency.     

U.S. Strategic Trade Policy and the Competitiveness of the U.S. Construction Industry in Developing Country Markets

SUMMARY

U.S. government trade policy increasingly reflects “strategic trade” beliefs that, because competition in markets is imperfect, governments can act strategically to affect trade flows and enhance national welfare. The U.S. National Export Strategy targets the infrastructure sector in twelve developing countries as a strategic opportunity for U.S. construction firms. This paper examines whether U.S. government export promotion initiatives effectively implement strategic trade policy by providing appropriate support to these firms in that target market. It concludes that, within limits, they do.     

Profitability and Efficiency in the U.S. Life Insurance Industry

This study explores the relationship between cost inefficiency and profitability in the U.S. life insurance industry. Earnings have particular importance to life insurance companies because earnings and capital determine the viability of the insurer. Since the life insurance industry is mature and highly competitive, cost efficiency may be the main driver of profitability. We derive cost efficiency using the stochastic frontier (SF) method allowing the mean inefficiency to vary with organizational form and the outputs. In addition, the estimation of the cost efficiency measure takes into account the underlying accounting concepts that generate the data and, consequently, the product mix (long-duration policies vs. short-duration policies) to avoid distorted estimates. Our results suggest that cost inefficiency in the life insurance industry is substantial relative to earnings, and that inefficiency is negatively associated with profitability measures such as the return on equity. The analysis of inefficiency and organizational form suggest that stock (shareholder-owned) companies are as efficient and profitable as mutual (policyholder-owned) companies.     

中外合资企业文化差异:冲突与融合

合资企业不仅是中国利用外国资金的基本形式,也是中国引进先进技术和设备,学习国外先进管理经验的重要渠道.但是,必须看到由于中外合作双方来自不同的国家和地区,其社会政治法律制度不同,文化背景不同,由此而形成的经营理念、管理决策思维、企业行为方式等也有着很大的差异,因此在合作过程中出现管理冲突是不可避免的.正确认识中外双方的文化差异,努力搞好不同文化的融合,消除管理冲突,对促进合资企业的发展有着极为重要的意义.     

Competition and Conflict in the U.S. Atlantic Coast Menhaden Industry

Abstract . Fluctuations in the harvest of menhaden off the U.S. Atlantic coast, a common property resource, have caused competition and conflict among the small number of companies, two large and several small, which operate in the fishery. With no strong central management, the resource is not being exploited to the optimum and increased fishing pressure and effort bring, cyclically, a peak catch followed by contraction in catch and industry. The industry, state agencies and federal offices disagree on corrective measures. Restriction of the fall harvest off the North Carolina coast to replenish the stock would call for an extraordinary sacrifice by the North Carolina industry—costing it between $4.4 and $6.8 million to provide increases between $6.6 million and $8.4 million in gross revenues for the rest of the industry from Maine to Florida. This raises problems of equitable sharing of the burden. A bioeconomic computer model quantifies short and long run impacts that must be faced.     

Explaining the Choice Among Regulatory Plans in the U.S. Telecommunications Industry

We investigate why different states in the United States choose different regulatory plans in their telecommunications industry. We present a simple theoretical model and an empirical analysis of the issue. We find that a state is more likely to replace rate-of-return regulation with incentive regulation when: (1) residential basic local service rates have historically been relatively high; (2) allowed earnings under rate-of-return regulation in the state have been either particularly high or particularly low; (3) the state's leaders tend to come from both major political parties, rather than from a single party; (4) the state's urban population is growing relatively rapidly; and (5) the bypass activity of competitors in the state is less pronounced.     

Learning Through Joint Ventures: A Framework Of Knowledge Acquisition

Joint ventures (JVs) are becoming an increasingly important organizational form in international business. When JVs are formed, valuable learning opportunities may be created for the venture partners. The primary objective in this paper is to explore the conditions under which firms exploit JV learning opportunities through the acquisition of knowledge. A framework of knowledge acquisition by JV partner firms is proposed. Using JV partner organizations as the primary level of analysis, the paper identifies various factors that influence the acquisition of learning, its value to the learning organization, and the migration of knowledge from the JV to the parent. Two firm specific learning-based concepts are developed: alliance knowledge accessibility and knowledge acquisition effectiveness.     

美国版权产业保护政策的历史演变与启示

美国的版权保护,对内逐步提高版权保护水平;对外先是游离于当时国际主流版权保护体系之外,后是主动融入国际主流版权保护体系,并在全球推行美国的版权保护霸权。美国的版权保护做法对中国具有借鉴意义。     

On the Technically Efficient Organization of an Industry: A Study of U.S. Airlines

In nonparametric analysis of production efficiency, the focus of attention is typically on the individual firm. In this article, we evaluate efficiency in resource utilization at the industry level. We propose an integer programming model to measure the extent of input saving possible if the observed output level of the industry is allocated to an optimal number of identical firms. This approach is applied to data for U.S. airlines covering the period 1970–84. Our results confirm that there were too few airlines prior to deregulation and suggest that there were too many firms during the early years of the post-deregulation era.     

Comparison of Frontier Efficiency Methods: An Application to the U.S. Life Insurance Industry

The objective of this paper is to provide new information on the performance of efficiency estimation methods by applying a wide range of econometric and mathematical programming techniques to a sample of U.S. life insurers. Average efficiencies differ significantly across methods. The efficiency rankings are well-preserved among the econometric methods; but the rankings are less consistent between the econometric and mathematical programming methods and between the data envelopment analysis and free disposal hull techniques. Thus, the choice of estimation method can have a significant effect on the conclusions of an efficiency study. Most of the insurers in the sample display either increasing or decreasing returns to scale, and stock and mutual insurers are found to be equally efficient after controlling for firm size.     

中美钢铁贸易摩擦原因探究——美国钢铁工人联合会的影响作用

近年来在中美钢铁产业频发的贸易制裁案中,美国钢铁工人联合会不仅是这些案件的发起者,也是推动者.特别是美国金融危机后,政治因素越来越上升成为影响中美钢铁贸易摩擦的重要因素.     

Antecedents and Effects of Parent Control in International Joint Ventures

Using a sample of 90 US–China manufacturing joint ventures, this study empirically tested a grounded-theory model of the antecedents and the effects of the structure of parent management control in international joint ventures. The results suggest that competitive and cooperative dynamics occur simultaneously between joint venture partners. On one hand, the relative bargaining power between the partners, derived from the negotiation context and from contributing critical resources to the venture, respectively, is a determining factor in management control; and the level of operational control exercised by a partner over the venture has a positive effect on the extent to which this partner's strategic objectives are achieved. On the other hand, the quality of the interpartner working relationship was found to have a strong, positive relationship with the achievement of strategic objectives for both partners.     

美国炼油行业污染物排放标准对我国的启示

美国的污染物排放标准技术含量较高。标准内容详尽、复杂,不仅有技术数据,而且还规定如何执行这些技术的条款。研究美国工业行业污染物排放标准,有助于我国类似行业标准的制修订,可以有效提高我国排放标准的科学性和可执行性。     

美国振兴先进制造业的政策措施及启示

从20世纪70年代开始,美国制造业的大批量生产模式开始走下坡路。日本经济的兴起,以丰田汽车为代表的日本汽车工业新的生产和管理模式的成功,向世界表明大批量生产的威力已到了尽头。为振兴先进制造业,美国分别从技术、财政、信息网络、教育、企业运作模式、企业联盟等方面制定了一系列政策与计划,对其进行支持。美国所采取的这些政策措施,对于我国在“十一五”规划中如何更有效促进先进制造业的发展,具有重要的启示。     

中国新的合资企业应记取的历史教益

随着跨国公司开始恢复与中国伙伴进行合作的兴趣,过去中外合资企业的一些经验教训值得记取。