Globalization,Human Resource Practices and Innovation: Recent Evidence from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey

This study examines the triangular relationship that connects the degree to which a workplace is internationally engaged, the extent to which it innovates, and the human resource practices it adopts. By pooling various years of data from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey, a nationally representative data set, we found that certain practices, such as variable pay and autonomy training, are more likely to be used in international workplaces. We subsequently found that for an international workplace, the use of variable pay contributes very little to workplace innovation while autonomy training has a positive relationship with innovation.     

Migration and child development during the food price crisis in El Salvador

Migration is often used as parts of both ex post and ex ante strategies to mitigate risks to household incomes. There is little empirical evidence, however, of the way that migration actually helps households in times of shocks. In this paper, I describe how the peak of the worldwide food price crisis affected anthropometric statistics among young children in El Salvador, and how households with access to international migrants were not affected as negatively as households without such access. In 2008, El Salvador experienced food price inflation of 15%, and the evaluation of Red Solidaria, El Salvador’s conditional cash transfer program, shows that height-for-age (HAZ) Z scores among children under 3 years old declined by 0.2 standard deviations on average. In this paper, I use the Red Solidaria evaluation data to assess whether children in households with access to remittances or international migrants were better off than households without access to migration income. Using both repeated cross-sectional data and individual panel data, I find that as theory would expect, children in households with access to international migrants have much lower declines in their HAZ scores.     

国内外大宗商品市场间信息溢出效应的实证研究——基于 DAG 方法与溢出指数模型

基于多维信息溢出视角,本文采用有向无环图和溢出指数方法,选取2006年6月2日至2015年12月25日的周度数据,从期货和现货两个层面实证分析国内外大宗商品市场间信息溢出效应及其动态变化趋势。结果显示,国内外大宗商品市场的收益率溢出指数呈现出先上升后下降的趋势,而波动率溢出指数则呈现明显的突变特征;国际大宗商品市场对中国大宗商品市场影响较大,在信息溢出方面处于主导地位,我国大宗商品市场的国际影响力相对较小,但呈现逐步增强的趋势;此外,国际大宗商品市场的金融属性强于我国,并且在2012年,我国大宗商品的去金融化趋势明显。     

A dynamic stochastic analysis of international patent application and renewal processes

This paper formulates a dynamic stochastic model to examine the joint patent application and renewal behaviors under an international patent-protection regime. The framework makes it possible to utilize both the cross-sectional (multi-country application) and the time-series (patent renewal) dimensions of available international patenting data to estimate the private value of patent protection, and allows us to distinguish more aspects of patent returns. The evolution dynamics of the value of European patents in pharmaceutical and electronics industries are examined. Estimation results indicate that pharmaceutical patents are endowed with higher initial returns, thus their owners tend to seek patent protection in more countries than electronics patent holders. However, pharmaceutical patents become obsolete at a much faster pace than electronics patents, and consequently they have lower renewal rates and shorter lives.     

Trade in data services : The international context

This article explores the importance of data services within the service sector, and particularly with regard to international trade in services. International economic agreements have traditionally only dealt with trade in manufactured products and ignored the services, which now make up the largest economic sector. Some international organizations, encouraged particularly by the USA, are beginning to confront the problem of defining an open international framework covering foreign direct investment and trade in services. The national interests of different countries are explored, in the light of their existing data resources and their desire to build them up or be able to access foreign databases.     

Multisectoral nutrition planning: a post-mortem

Multisectoral nutrition planning emerged in the early 1970's as a bold new approach to combating malnutrition in low-income countries. Conceptually elegant and operationally ambitious, it blossomed on paper but collapsed in practice notwithstanding vigorous promotion by international assistance agencies. This essay reviews the meteoric rise and fall of the multisectoral approach and then proceeds to examine its theoretical underpinnings. The essay concludes by identifying 12 lessons learned that, if heeded, can help the current generation of intersectoral initiatives against malnutrition to realize their potential. In retrospect, it was a mistake to assign responsibility for nutrition to economic planners and scientists who possessed little political influence or operational authority. Nutrition requires high-level political sponsorship if it is to command resources, be integrated with established ministerial responsibilities and have staying power. Nutrition planning bcame attractive to basically conservative governments anxious to accommodate international benefactors without having to accept more fundamental reforms; the analysis of malnutrition causality focused primarily on attributes of the malnourished and their families, not on the social, economic, and political order around them.     

Technological change and multinational growth in international telecommunications services

Revolutionary technological and institutional changes, introduced since mid-seventies, are drastically altering the quiet functioning of international telecommunications markets, traditionally characterized by a strong multilateral oligopoly. In such multilateral oligopoly firms had little scope and opportunity for any form of international growth. Since the early eighties the scope for international growth of telecommunications carriers is emerging as a critical issue in international telecommunications. The economics of multinational firms and international trade make it possible to assess the role of technology gaps in the modernization process, international telecommunications tariff asymmetries and global outsourcing as the determinants of multinational growth of telecommunications carriers and their international strategies.     

Communication Flows in International Product Innovation Teams

Recently, we have witnessed a strong growth in the internationalization of many firms' product development activities. However, the lack of attention devoted by scientific research to the management of international innovation contrasts sharply with the importance attached to it as a cornerstone of international business success. Although several empirical studies and normative theories have specified the communication requirements in innovation teams, an empirically based insight is definitely needed on the communication requirements and requirements that prevail in the complex context of international innovation teams, in which the participants are located in different company units, countries, and cultures. This article addresses the following research question: viewing international innovation as an interfunctional activity, what are the communication requirements an international innovation team is facing, and what are the communication capabilities (interface mechanisms) that may be adopted to initiate, develop, and launch the new product effectively and efficiently? An extensive case study research project was designed to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework. Over a two year time period, the research team has investigated selected innovation projects in four European multinational corporations. The analysis of the case study data suggests five requirements that determine the effectiveness and efficiency of communication in international product development teams: network transparency, knowledge codification, knowledge credibility, communication cost, secrecy. To cope with these communication requirements, organizations may create firm level capabilities (parallel structures, cross‐functional and inter‐unit climate, communication infrastructure, goal congruence) and team level capabilities (core team, team leadership, formalization, procedural justice). The evidence from the in‐depth case study research indicates that these mechanisms provide a parsimonious and powerful approach to address the communication requirements in international product innovation teams. After the information processing framework proposed by Tushman and Nadler [124], the adoption of these mechanisms is expected to improve innovation effectiveness. This holds important consequences for the management of international product innovation projects. First, the innovating firm must balance centralization and decentralization, employ formal as well as informal strategies, and integrate ad‐hoc and permanent strategies. Second, it highlights the critical role of the project leader. Given the fact that companies often select the most available person, rather than the best person for the job, the allocation of light weight project leaders may create heavyweight problems in international teams. Third, following the argument in favor of procedural justice, the absence of involvement may severely hinder cross‐functional commitment to international innovation projects. Fourth, the innovating firm must also actively manage the communication flows with external parties. Failure to do so may result in flawed specifications, and a limited understanding about product design and market strategies.     

国际石油体系的形成、发展与展望

近几十年来,国际石油体系一直存在并发挥作用,以市场为基础的自动调节机制在这一时期内是基本有效的.尽管国际石油市场经常出现波动,但是国际石油体系出现了合作与规范的特征.在统一的国际石油市场形成以后,国际石油体系各行为体在维护市场稳定方面更容易达成妥协和合作.在国际石油体系形成、发展并逐步完善的过程中,美国发挥了最重要的作用.依靠政治、经济、军事等全方位的优势,美国有效地主导着国际石油体系,并作为其全球战略的重要组成部分.在较长的时期内,国际石油体系仍将存在并发挥重要作用.国际环境和国情决定了中国的石油需求只能越来越多地依靠国际市场解决,积极参与国际石油体系是中国现实的选择.     

中国纺织品服装在美国市场的竞争力分析

本文采用WTO官网统计数据和中国海关统计数据,运用TC指数、RCA指数以及RSCA指数三个国际竞争力主要测量指标来反映中国纺织品服装在美国市场的竞争力。结果表明,中国纺织品服装在美国市场有很强的竞争优势。最后结合目前全球经济危机下中国纺织品服装出口疲软现状,提出我国对美纺织品服装出口的相应建议。     

Flexibility in internationalization: is it valuable during an economic crisis?

This study investigates the value of the strategic flexibility provided by firms' international investments during an economic crisis, defined here as an unanticipated significant downturn in the economy. To avoid below‐par performance, firms need to adapt quickly to this significant change in their environment, making real options very valuable to them. Although firms' international investments can potentially provide such flexibility, this issue has not been empirically examined in a context of such dramatic negative change. We consider two types of international investments by firms in this regard, foreign direct investments and export‐related international investments, developing two measures that directly assess the flexibility derived from each that are new to the literature. Based on these measures, we find evidence that both types of international investments provided valuable flexibility for Korean firms during the economic crisis conditions. This study contributes to the literature by showing that firms with real options investments in place have a greater ability to flexibly adapt their overall operations in line with unforeseen negative environmental change, in contrast to firms without such investments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Financing and other issues in telecommunications development

Implementation of telecommunications infrastructure throughout developing countries is a prerequisite to national development. The fundamental question, argues Dr Parker, is how can developing countries pay for the capital investment in the necessary telecommunications equipment. The need is to encourage an institutional structure that can stimulate innovative, lower-cost appropriate rural telecommunications technologies without imposing excessive risks on the national telecommunications monopoly. With sucessful models to follow, it will be easier to achieve consensus between developing country borrowers, international lenders and telecommunications manufacturers.     

Competition in wholesale markets: Do MNOs compete to host MVNOs?

This paper extends previous research examining wholesale market shares of mobile network operators (MNOs). This study demonstrates that wholesale market concentration has decreased over time because of the increase of competition of MNOs for hosting mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). However, differences in wholesale market shares between MNOs have not disappeared. We propose that those operators that are late entrants in a market and belong to an international group with a proactive attitude towards hosting virtual operators positively influences wholesale market shares of MNOs. The empirical analysis is based on a panel data from 2000 to 2010 corresponding to MNOs and virtual operators in five European countries with high development of the virtual mobile industry. By closely examining KPN we show how being an international mobile group specialising in the wholesale market across Europe has enabled it to exploit complementarities that exist between traditional and virtual businesses.     

Productivity and Wage Effects of Firm-Level Collective Agreements: Evidence from Belgian Linked Panel Data

How do firm-level collective agreements affect firm performance in a multi-level bargaining system? Using detailed Belgian-linked employer–employee panel data, our findings show that firm-level agreements increase both wage costs and labour productivity (with respect to sector-level agreements). Relying on approaches developed by Bartolucci and Hellerstein et al., they also indicate that firm-level agreements exert a stronger impact on wages than on productivity, so that profitability is hampered. However, this rent-sharing effect mostly holds in sectors where firms are more concentrated or less exposed to international competition. Firm agreements are thus mainly found to raise wages beyond labour productivity when the rents to be shared between workers and firms are relatively big. Overall, this suggests that firm-level agreements benefit both employers and employees — through higher productivity and wages — without being very detrimental to firms’ performance.     

世界经济格局演变中的国际货币格局调整

世界经济发展史表明世界经济格局的演变必然会引起国际货币格局的相应变化,然而历史也同样表明,二者的演变与调整并非协调一致。文章以世界经济格局演变为线索来分析国际货币格局调整的轨迹。在此基础上,对货币格局的调整趋势做出预测,概括出世界经济格局演变中的国际货币格局调整的特征,针对国际货币格局调整得出相应的结论和启示。     

The coordination structure of international collaborative technology arrangements

As the pace and breadth of technological progress increases around the world, companies both large and small are forming international collaborative arrangements as the basis for developing competitive advantage from technology. Management of these arrangements requires the creation and maintenance of a wide variety of strategic and operational interdependencies within and between companies. The paper introduces a method for developing a representation leading to a system level understanding of the coordination structure of international collaborative arrangements. The method is based on recent advances in coordination theory and object oriented domain analysis. We apply the method to represent four international collaborative arrangements. The representations that result are then used as data to identify five basic modules of the coordination structure of international collaborative arrangements: strategic management, intra-firm management, joint management, technology exchange and customer interaction. The proposed method leads to increased organizational learning of the goal oriented coordination processes for which managers are responsible when establishing international collaborative technology arrangements.     

中国战略性技术及其产业化的七大问题

在国际经济竞争越来越激烈的今天，大国之间的竞争更多地表现为战略技术的竞争和战略产业的竞争。所以，无论美国还是欧盟，无一不是把发展自己的战略技术和战略产业放到了重要的地位。中国作为一个大国，要想在世界竞争格局中获得相对优势地位，没有自己的战略技术和战略产业是不可能的。但是，中国发展自己的战略技术和战略产业，也存在着相当的困难。这些问题有些是来自战略技术和战略产业自身属性的，有些则是根源于中国基本经济结构和产业发展水平。21世纪是战略技术和战略产业竞争的世纪，谁拥有更多的战略技术并成功地使其产业化，谁将在未来的竞争中胜出。中国要在这样一场竞争中获得优势位置，必须解决好自身所面临的七个重大问题。即战略产业的高度战略化和低度市场化、高度战略化与高度市场化、低端技术市场化与高端技术政治化、巨量资金需求与筹资渠道狭窄、绝对比较劣势与相对比较优势、跟踪战略与超越战略、国家意志与民营载体。     

The multidimensional effect of financial development on trade in Africa: The role of the digital economy

The issue of how financial development affects international trade has gained much attention in the literature, both theoretical and empirical, without investigating the various transmission channels of financial development on international trade. Significantly, how the digital economy modulates the effects of financial development on trade remains unexplored. Our study addresses these research gaps using panel data from 47 African economies spanning 1990 to 2019. Our findings based on the dynamic system GMM approach show that the direct impacts of financial development and the digital economy have been crucial in driving international trade in Africa in the short and long runs. Second, in the short and long runs, the digital economy serves as a vital channel through which financial development has the most significant impact on trade in Africa. Third, the robustness checks by excluding countries endowed with natural resources in Africa provide robust evidence that digital technology and finance matter for trade. Further, the study discloses an important novelty in that the marginal effects on trade increase when financial development in Africa interacts with the digital economy. In light of these findings, we conclude that policy reforms should focus on policies that encourage the development of the digital economy and its use in the financial sector in Africa.     

International price comparisons: An area of further research

The keen interest by politicians, regulators, and competition authorities in international price rankings has sparked a series of management consultancies to produce regularly studies that purport to compare and rank prices for mobile wireless services across the world. These rankings, so they claim, are the Swiss Army knife of competition analysis. A country that ranks lower on a list is declared a laggard or noncompetitive and thus supposedly is in need of regulatory intervention. Such claims require scrutiny and further analysis. An accurate price comparison should follow the scientific method and include a testable hypothesis, a properly designed study methodology, and accurate data collection and interpretation. One such ranking exercise is produced biannually by Finnish management consultancy Rewheel. The present review fills a void with its analysis of the Rewheel study and suggests that it is a highly simplistic international price comparison exercise. The methodology of Rewheel assumes an unrealistic world where consumers only care about how much data they can get for a certain budget (i.e., price), and all other competitive differentiators (i.e., plan and quality differences) and costs differences (e.g., size of network built) are irrelevant.     

国际贸易理论的最新发展及其与传统贸易理论的比较分析

尽管在分析经济学时采用比较研究的方法在国外已经十分流行,但是国际贸易学方面的比较研究却仍然薄弱。本文分析了国际贸易理论的最新发展,采用比较研究方法将其与传统贸易理论进行比较分析,以有利于正确把握国际贸易发展的新趋向,适应我国经济进一步参与国际贸易以及经济全球一体化发展的需要。