Symbiotic International Business Networks: Collaboration between Small and Large Firms

As the drivers of globalization remove barriers that traditionally segmented the competitive environments of small and large firms, firms of all sizes are beginning to share the same competitive space. Symbiotic arrangements are evolving through which smaller firms enter the value chains of larger firms, to the benefit of both sides. Using a conceptual framework with illustrative examples, this article explains how smaller firms can use symbiotic, collaborative arrangements with larger firms to overcome inherent constraints of size and to achieve the efficiencies required for world‐class competitiveness. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons,Inc.     

装配生产型供应链上下游企业间的联系与知识传递

在装配生产型供应链中,生产商与供应商之间技术关联程度较高,随着技术变化速度加快,它们之间的知识传递问题也越来越重要。本文综合装配生产型供应链的产品特征、供应链组织结构、上下游成员间关系、知识传递的行为和知识创造,针对上下游企业之间的知识传递问题构建了一个广泛的研究框架,并且对各个概念进行了细化分析,讨论了影响知识传递的重要因素和影响方式。     

中国知识服务业国际竞争力分析及发展对策研究

目前中国正在大力倡导发展知识经济,建立创新型社会。要提升一个国家的创新效率,就不能忽视知识服务业的发展。本文通过对中国知识服务业各部门进行国际竞争力分析,得出中国知识服务业的发展还处于起步阶段,每个部门的国际竞争力水平存在差异,并对此提出了相关的发展对策。     

Regional Productive Complementarity and Competitiveness

A positive international environment favors growth of the several economies in a given region, but it does not assure that the differences in the economic potential of the several countries are reduced in this process. Alternatively, the presence of productive complementarities might foster competitiveness and contribute to increasing the degree of homogeneity, even in situations of adverse terms of trade. This article reviews the experience of six sub-regional groups in Asia and Latin America in the last two decades. Latin America has recently benefitted from significant improvement in terms of trade and yet the economies in that region remain as different in their relative economic potential as they were in the beginning of the 1990s. In Asia, however, the negative impact of terms of trade has not blocked a quite fast pace of GDP growth; furthermore, productive complementarity has led to an increasing convergence of the several economies, with a sharp increase in their share of the international market. There are clear lessons from the Asian experience.     

New Firms and Regional Employment Change

This article analyzes the relationship between regional start-up activities and employment change in subsequent years for the West German planning regions. I find that the number of start-ups in a particular region is determined to a high degree by the prevalent sectoral structure. To eliminate this influence sectorially adjusted new-firm formation rates are calculated. These rates reflect a clear core-to-periphery decline. The relationship between the level of regional start-up activities and employment change comes out to be rather weak. In contrast to the common wisdom the coefficients for the impact of the entry rate on regional employment indicates a negative contribution of regional start-up acitivities.     

International Opportunity Recognition among Small and Medium‐Sized Family Firms*

Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key element in the entrepreneurial process. It has been recognized that network ties, activeness and alertness, and prior knowledge are related to how entrepreneurs recognize new opportunities. However, it is unclear how important these factors are when a firm explores opportunities for entry into a foreign market. In this exploratory case study, covering the international opportunity recognition of eight family‐owned small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), we found that the firms in question mainly recognized international opportunities by establishing new formal ties rather than using existing informal or family ties. The findings also indicated that due to the small size and the flexibility of the management team in family SMEs, these firms were able to react quickly to new international opportunities. However, there was no direct relationship between the prior knowledge of the firms and their international opportunity recognition. In addition, we found that trade exhibitions formed the primary context for the international opportunity recognition of the SMEs in this study. These findings motivate a set of five propositions that may lead to further studies on this topic.     

流通产业与区域经济协调发展的耦合研究：以浙江省为例

流通产业在区域经济发展过程中,承担着商品流通和物资交换的功能,我国流通产业长期受被动成长路径的影响,与区域经济发展的耦合程度成为影响区域经济发展的重要因素之一。文章以浙江省为例,构建耦合度和耦合发展度指标,研究发现：（1）两系统耦合度呈现短期波动、长期平稳的状态,区域经济发展指数明显受到宏观环境的影响滞后于流通产业发展指数;（2）耦合发展度在2005-2013年期间可划分为过渡阶段和协调发展阶段,随着产业集群升级和经济增长方式转变初现成效,流通业内生增长机制逐步形成;（3）预测期内两系统耦合度为优,耦合发展度快速提高,预计在新常态背景下表现更为稳定;（4）依然需要通过创新驱动,优化产业结构,发展相关产业等,促进流通产业和区域经济的持续协同发展。     

International Competitiveness and the Single Currency

This article puts together the results of a five-year comparative study of UK and Irish manufacturing exporters and discusses its implications for currency unions and particularly the Euro. Overall, the results indicate a positive linkage between exchange-rate stability and individual firms' competitiveness. Irish exporters have benefited from their government's approach to European Monetary Union (EMU) and will continue to do so. The research identifies changes in firm-level competitive activity that occur where the exchange rate is fixed, and argues that exchange-rate stability leads to sustained long-run competitive advantage for firms located within the currency area (over those that are not). European currency while existing Euro-zone countries will be assessing whether they have benefited from it. At the same time, countries elsewhere in the world may need to consider abandoning their independent currencies in favour of the dollar, the Euro, or the Yen.     

European Family Firms in International Business: British and Greek Tramp-Shipping Firms

This article traces the similar paths and common characteristics of British and Greek tramp-shipping companies over the last 130 years through a comparative and international perspective. Despite the tendency of companies to adopt corporate and managerial forms, British and Greek tramp-shipping firms remained first and foremost family firms. The strength and the viability of these firms were networks, on a local, national and international level – networks whose cohesion was based on trust and a particular business culture that was developed in the maritime regions whence they came, centred on family firms involved in international business.     

Fostering International Technology Transfer Through Climate Technology Networks Between European and Latin American Universities

Based on experiences gained in the frame of a networking scheme that involves universities from Latin America and Europe, this article addresses international technology transfer (ITT) of climate technology through networks bridging current knowledge and technology gaps between academia, businesses, authorities, and civil society. It is argued that higher education institutions (HEIs) can make a substantial contribution to a sustainable socioeconomic development in Latin America (LA) and at the same time reduce its social vulnerability to climate change impacts. Most research and development in LA is carried out in HEIs, not in industry. Consequently, research agendas are uncoupled from business needs, and university research remains largely uncommercialized. Further, spillover effects, which may benefit businesses in the home country, remain limited. This article raises some opportunities for Latin American HEIs to drive the improvement of local adaptive capacity through ITT and creation of the corresponding capacities, especially in terms of research and development, consultancy, and qualification of human capital in the field of climate technologies. It is argued that climate change poses many challenges to all sectors of society, and the improved international transfer of knowledge and climate technology may result in reducing social and economic vulnerability to future climate impacts in LA. Finally, some recommendations are given that may support current efforts to reduce the overall vulnerability to climate impacts through fostering the social and economic development in Latin America by means of ITT.     

Company–specific Factors and International Competitiveness

This article arises from concern about the inadequacy of the theoretical and empirical evidence on the costs and benefits to business of the EU single currency. It uses a survey of companies in the UK (which has not had a stable currency regime) and Ireland (committed to the ERM) together with the "process" dimension of the Buckley et al (1988) 3-P model of the international competitiveness of the firm to highlight implications for exporters of long-term government commitment to exchange-rate stability. The results indicate a positive link between currency stability and three measures of "process" competitiveness: commitment to international business, economies of scale and economies of scope.     

海关转运便利化简

转运体系包括基础设施、法律框架、相关机构、操作流程及涉及转运货物、运输周转过程的其他因素．实用的转运体系有利于确保区域贸易的连通性,特别是对内陆国家而言,该体系尤为重要。     

物流现代化与区域产业竞争力研究

产业竞争力一直是区域经济发展战略研究的前沿问题,也是企业成功的基础.随着竞争的加剧与成本的提高,制造企业开始花费大量时间来接受低库存(或零库存)、精细制造、准时制和全面质量管理以及快速反应等概念.资源共享是提升区域产业竞争力的关键因素,而这需要以现代化物流能力作为支撑,供应链管理与现代化物流是结合在一起的,企业只有通过供应链集成一体化,才能达到提高竞争力的目标,物流现代化是提升区域产业竞争力的基石.要提高区域产业竞争力,必须从多方面着手推动物流现代化进程,使物流走在前面.     

Technological Collaboration: Bridging the Innovation Gap between Small and Large Firms*

This paper analyzes how technological collaboration acts as an input to the innovation process and allows small and medium‐sized enterprises to bridge the innovation gap with their bigger counterparts. Based on a large longitudinal sample of Spanish manufacturing firms, the results show that though technological collaboration is a useful mechanism for firms of all sizes to improve innovativeness, it is a critical factor for the smallest firms. The impact of this collaboration varies depending on innovation output and type of partner. Specifically, the impact of collaboration in small and medium‐sized firms is more significant for product than process innovations. Regarding type of partner, vertical collaboration—with suppliers and clients—has the greatest impact on firm innovativeness, though this effect is clearer for medium‐sized enterprises than for the smallest firms.     

国际贸易中的风险转移与所有权转移

国际贸易中的货物所有权与风险何时转移 ,两者是否同时转移 ,这直接关系到买卖双方的切身利益。由于各国法律在这一问题上存在较大的差异 ,这无疑增加了国际贸易复杂性和风险性。根据主要贸易国的法律、联合国国际货物买卖合同公约及国际贸易惯例的有关规定 ,在国际贸易中货物所有权与风险转移并非是在同时发生的 ,有关规定也比国内法更为复杂 ,这应引起进出口企业及涉外商务人员的高度重视 ,以确保货物或货款收取的安全性。     

国际知识流动、国际贸易与经济运行

知识对经济增长起着重要的作用。知识跨国界的流动使得各国可以利用国外先进科学技术，促进经济发展。贸易作为联系国内外市场的重要方式，是知识在国际间流动的重要渠遣。从中间投入品进口、机器进口及其他输入；外国直接投资；通过出口学习，三个方面根据西方经济学家的实证分析成果总结出知识通过贸易在国际间流动及其及经济运行的关系，并对我国政策的制定提出几点建议。     

The Russian Tax System and Its International Competitiveness

The last several years were very favourable to the development of the Russian economy. While this has partly been the consequence of favourable conditions on the international markets for raw materials, the economic policy of President Vladimir Putin, including the tax reforms initiated at the end of the 1990s, also played a major role. Our authors examine in detail the effects of the tax reforms to date and point out the room for further improvements under Putin’s successor, Medvedev.     

Service Firms Heterogeneity,International Collaborations and Export Participation

The paper investigates the relationship between service firms’ international collaboration strategies and export decision. It proposes an extension of the recent class of models of firm heterogeneity, intermediation and international trade according to which service firms can engage in a collaboration agreement with a foreign partner in order to favour their market access and distribution activities overseas. The paper analyses the empirical relevance of this model by means of a new survey dataset providing information on the internationalization activities of 814 Norwegian firms in the service sectors for the period 2004–2006. The econometric results point out that international collaboration, both on existing and on innovative services, is indeed an important factor to foster service firms’ decision to enter the export market.