A dynamic systems perspective on fine art and its market

This article focuses on dynamic systems theory applied to art systems, especially the social system of art. By this integrative approach, the field of art and culture can be linked to, as well as profit from, other fields where systems-theoretical approaches have been influential, such as sociology, psychology, communication theory and the natural sciences. We show that systems models help to describe and conceptualize essential phenomena characteristic of the fine arts, such as pattern formation, reduction of complexity, and self-reference. Pattern formation can be observed in emerging artistic styles, fashions and trends. The property of self-reference becomes tractable by using the concept of endosystems, i.e. systems that include participating observers and second circularity feedback. The consequences of such dynamics are uncertainty, destabilization, and diversification. Endosystemic modeling promises to capture core properties not only of contemporary art, laying an emphasis on novelty and self-reference. Endosystems are appropriate models of further social systems, especially markets systems, which pose problems for foresight. Within the horizon of foresight that is at all possible in endosystems, three futures scenarios are worked out for the art system.     

产品定价的艺术

产品定价水平的优劣,直接体现着企业管理水平的高低,在一定程度上决定着企业的竞争力与持续发展的潜能。     

The art of designing markets

Traditionally, markets have been viewed as simply the confluence of supply and demand. But to function properly, they must be able to attract a sufficient number of buyers and sellers, induce participants to make their preferences clear, and overcome congestion by providing both enough time to make choices and a speedy means of registering them. Solutions to these challenges are the province of market design--a blend of game theory and experimental economics. Roth, a professor of both business and economics at Harvard, is a leading market designer. He and his colleagues have rescued failing markets by, for example, designing labor clearinghouses through which U.S. doctors get their first jobs and auctions through which the Federal Communications Commission sells licenses for parts of the radio broadcast spectrum. They have also created marketlike allocation procedures that involve neither prices nor an exchange of money; these include systems for assigning children to schools in Boston and New York and for facilitating exchanges of kidneys. Computers enable the design of "smart markets" that combine the inputs of users in complex ways: In kidney exchange, they run through every possible match of donors and recipients to arrange the greatest possible number of transplants. In the future, computers may make it possible to auction bundled goods, such as airport takeoff and landing slots. As online markets--like those for jobs and dating--proliferate, a growing understanding of markets in general will provide virtually limitless opportunities for market design.     

The necessary art of persuasion

Business today is largely run by teams and populated by authority-averse baby boomers and Generation Xers. That makes persuasion more important than ever as a managerial tool. But contrary to popular belief, the author asserts, persuasion is not the same as selling an idea or convincing opponents to see things your way. It is instead a process of learning from others and negotiating a shared solution. To that end, persuasion consists of four essential elements: establishing credibility, framing to find common ground, providing vivid evidence, and connecting emotionally. Credibility grows, the author says, out of two sources: expertise and relationships. The former is a function of product or process knowledge and the latter a history of listening to and working in the best interest of others. But even if a persuader's credibility is high, his position must make sense--even more, it must appeal--to the audience. Therefore, a persuader must frame his position to illuminate its benefits to everyone who will feel its impact. Persuasion then becomes a matter of presenting evidence--but not just ordinary charts and spreadsheets. The author says the most effective persuaders use vivid--even over-the-top--stories, metaphors, and examples to make their positions come alive. Finally, good persuaders have the ability to accurately sense and respond to their audience's emotional state. Sometimes, that means they have to suppress their own emotions; at other times, they must intensify them. Persuasion can be a force for enormous good in an organization, but people must understand it for what it is: an often painstaking process that requires insight, planning, and compromise.     

The profitable art of service recovery

In services, mistakes are a fact of life. No matter how hard companies try, they can't prevent the occasional late flight or missed delivery. But they can learn to recover from them. Consider how Club Med-Cancun turned a service nightmare into a memorable experience. When a flight to Cancun left New York six hours late, made two unexpected stops, ran out of food, and had a rough landing, the vacationers on board were certain their holiday was ruined. But the Club Med manager greeted the travelers with food and music and chauffeured them back to the resort. In the end, the vacationers had a better time than if the flight had gone like clockwork. Service recovery starts with identifying the problem. The Bank of Maine in Portland pays customers $1 for writing a letter about the service they received. American Express uses an "800" number to solicit customer complaints. Once they've identified a problem, service companies must act fast. When Smith & Hawken realized that it was taking months to resolve customers' problems by mail, the company decided to use the phone instead. Most important, service companies should encourage frontline employees to deviate from the rules when necessary. Some companies use role playing to help employees develop the creative thinking needed to deal with unusual situations. Sonesta Hotels uses a game in which teams win points for coming up with good solutions to realistic problems. Also, employees must have the authority and responsibility to act on their beliefs-to make phone calls, credit accounts, or send flowers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The future of art in postcultural democracy

Has the future of art fallen irredeemably into the grip of the ‘creative industries’ directed by a consortium of public and private cultural entrepreneurs? Is democracy the natural guardian of artistic independence? Or has the cultural policy agenda of neoliberal democracy solidified into a managerial instrumentalization of art geared to the functions of the market and the state? European Cultural Policies: 2015 provides a model introductory text for a discussion of these vital issues in near future forecast. The authors of the report are independent curators operating from dissident research groups whose aim is to challenge the dominant neoliberal model of cultural enterprise and offer viable alternatives to it. This paper examines the report's diagnosis of a symptomatic cultural predicament and its proposals for future recuperation.     

The international accounting course state of the art

The objective of this article is to report to professors interested in developing or updating an international accounting course the experience of other professors who are already teaching such a course. The information presented here is based on review and analysis of international course syllabi offered at 31 U.S., Canadian, British and New Zealand universities.     

Performance measurement: The state of the art

Measuring performance is a complex subject, but one which practitioners in the public sector need to get to grips with. What follows is a reader's guide to the available literature and suggestions as to how this should be approached.     

The effect of director experience on acquisition performance

Prior research finds that firms hire directors for their acquisition experience, regardless of acquisition quality (whether their prior acquisitions earned positive or negative announcement returns). Using several short- and long-run measures, we examine the effects of directors’ acquisition experience on the acquisition performance of firms hiring them. We find that board acquisition experience is positively related to subsequent acquisition performance, demonstrating that firms appropriately value experience. Beyond experience itself, however, the quality of directors’ prior acquisitions is also important. Our results suggest that firms may be better served to select directors based upon both past acquisition experience and acquisition performance.     

生态农业产业化初探

文章探讨了生态农业产业化的意义及措施。     

金融自助服务进入精益服务时代

世纪之交是中国金融业厉兵秣马加速金融改革的时期，金融自助服务以其先进的经营手段赢得了中国银行业极大的重视，随着ATM应用的普及，银行用户越来越意识到ATM的作用不仅是存款和取款，更重要的是它能增加银行与客户接触的渠道．客户通过ATM可以感受到银行的服务品质．而银行也希望通过ATM进行客户关系管理．掌握客户信息，有针对性的推出营销服务。可以说．在当今激烈的市场竞争时代，金融自助服务是银行获得差异化竞争优势的重要方式之一。     

Media art futures

The artworks and debates surrounding the media art scene are used in this article as indicators of advanced research into the state of network communications and what they can tell us about the possible futures of both art and the globalisation process, insofar as both depend on the state of telecommunications. In particular, the article focuses on the claims of locative media art that small mobile devices provide a utopian platform for social experiment. The theme of mobility is then investigated, distinguishing the freedom of capital to move from the stringent controls on human migration.     

The acquisitiveness of youth: CEO age and acquisition behavior

I demonstrate that acquisitions are accompanied by large, permanent increases in Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation, which create strong financial incentives for CEOs to pursue acquisitions earlier in their career. Accordingly, I document that a firm's acquisition propensity is decreasing in the age of its CEO: a firm with a CEO who is 20 years older is ∼30%$\sim 30\%$ less likely to announce an acquisition. This negative effect of CEO age on acquisitions is strongest among firms where CEOs likely anticipate or can influence high post-acquisition compensation, and is absent for other investment decisions that are not rewarded with permanent compensation gains. The age effect cannot be explained by the selection of young CEOs by acquisition-prone firms, nor by a story of declining overconfidence with age. This paper underscores the relevance of CEO personal characteristics and CEO-level variation in agency problems for corporate decisions.     

The governmentality and accountability of UK national museums and art galleries

This study furthers our understanding of the role of governmentality mechanisms in relation to other-forming and self-forming accounts of art organisations, by using empirical data collected from interviews with senior managers of UK national museums and art galleries (MAGs) and from secondary published sources. The findings highlight how governmentality mechanisms had power-effects through the creation of knowledge about MAGs and the resistance strategies of MAGs. Whilst the governmentality mechanisms were expected to ensure the automatic functioning of disciplinary power, in some instances the government directly intervened to over-ride decisions taken by senior managers when these conflicted with political imperatives.     

Futures of art in retrospect

This article questions certain current assumptions taken as decisive for the future of art. One such notion is that the future of art can be predicated on media technologies. But art history is not a straightforward progression from one state of media practice to another. Art does not respond to the paradigm shifts which are normal to the advance of science. The impasse struck by early 20th century avantgarde modernist innovation would seem to underpin a necessary cultural transition to the time-based and networked collaborative practices of electronic technology in the aesthetic sector. This paper challenges that assumption and puts in question the very nature of art history itself. Artistic originality is not simply unpredictable but a conundrum of negative dormancy resistant to futurist study as explored in these pages. Art does not submit to forecasting, programming or normalization. In this sense, art has no future.     

History repeats itself: The acquisition method and nonrecurring charges

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued Statement No. 141 (R) that replaces Statement of Financial Accounting Standard No. 141, Business Combinations. The new standard mandates use of the acquisition method, which requires expense treatment for acquisition-related transaction costs. Expense treatment is a departure from purchase accounting procedures, but is consistent with past guidance of Accounting Principles Board Opinion No. 16 for the pooling-of-interests method. Restoration of historical and controversial accounting procedures resurrects past outcomes. This study utilizes econometric techniques to predict outcomes of the acquisition method. Evidence indicates that expensing acquisition-related costs may improve transparent reporting. The results, based on 638 business combinations from 1994 through 1998, support the expectation that expense treatment for acquisition-related costs increases the likelihood that these costs appear more frequently and are greater in magnitude.     

Human information processing research in accounting: The state of the art

Accountant's interest in decision making is resulting in a growing body of research based upon theories and models from the psychology of information processing. This paper presents a classification of information processing variables which have been studied by psychologists which serves as a framework for organizing information processing research in accounting. It then reviews and evaluates the existing accounting literature based upon three research approaches: the lens model, probabilistic judgment, and cognitive style. Finally, directions for future research in this area are suggested.