Behind M&;As in China and the United States: Networks,learning, and institutions

Few scholars would dispute the argument that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are different in China and the United States, but we know little about how they differ. This article reports one of the first studies that systematically compares and contrasts how M&As differ in these two countries. While prior research on M&As tends to emphasize economic and financial explanations while treating firms as atomistic actors severed from their institutional and network relations, we develop a new theoretical framework based on relational, behavioral, and institutional perspectives. We not only consider firms as learning actors embedded in network relations, but also compare and contrast their M&A patterns between China and the United States, two distinctive institutional contexts. We find that both a firm’s structural hole position and its learning orientation (exploration/exploitation) in alliances have direct and joint impacts on subsequent M&As. Further, such impacts differ across the two countries, due to their institutional disparities.     

Aux armes, citoyens: Cyber security and regulation in the United States

Government policy for cyber security in the United States relies on voluntary and cooperative action by the private sector and has, until now, explicitly rejected the use of mandate or regulation. This stands in contrast to other defense and homeland security issues, such as those involving border protection or transportation, where government intervention is the norm. The decision to rely on voluntary action for cyber security reflects influential trends in security policies, deregulation, and the government's relation to the Internet that continue to shape US policy even after the attacks of September 11. The result is an ineffectual policy that underestimates the role of government.     

Enterprise Unions in the United States

Through a case study of a large industrial company ( TRW ) , this paper examines the history and functioning of independent local unions ( ILUs ). TRW's ILU plant wages were about the same as those at affiliated union plants and higher than those at nonunion plants. The premium explains why TRW and other companies discarded ILUs in favor of a "new" nonunion model. Yet ILUs can remedy some of the defects in that model and thus belong on the policy and research agenda     

Privatizing Highways in the United States

We review the experience of both private toll-roads built in the United States during the 1990s, and argue that the problems they encountered could have been avoided if the length of the franchise contract would adapt to demand realizations. We also argue in favor of adjudicating private toll-roads via BOT-type contracts in competitive (Demsetz) auctions. The lessons of this paper are relevant since growing congestion and troubled government finances have made private toll-roads increasingly attractive in the United States.     

Youth Apprenticeship in Britain: Lessons for the United States

Britain's effort to introduce youth apprenticeships over the past decade offers important general lessons about the role of employers in school-to-work initiatives. In particular, the incentives facing employers work against efforts to provide skills training. Alternative arrangements for such programs are suggested that create incentives for employers to improve the skills of youth apprentices.     

Antitrust in the Internet Era: The Legacy of United States v. A&P

Review of Industrial Organization - Critics from both the right and the left claim that modern antitrust doctrine, rooted in consumer welfare, is inadequate to handle the challenges of the...     

Wage and Performance Appraisal Systems in Flux: A Japan–United States Comparison

Unionized Japanese and American firms made changes in their wage and performance appraisal systems during the 1990s that were inspired by features of each others' traditional employment systems. Although Japanese firms made greater changes in the wage–setting process compared to American firms, outcomes in Japan changed little. Even with these changes, the wage and performance appraisal systems in the two countries retain distinctive characteristics. In the American firms'"segregation" between white– and blue–collar employees and high– and low–performers remains a feature of wage and performance appraisal systems; the Japanese system maintained its characteristic "integrated" form, but underwent moderate modifications.     

Managerial Values Across Cultures: Australia, Hong Kong and the United States

The relationship between personal managerial values and a range of important organisational variables has increasingly been recognised. Personal values are shaped by the wider cultural milieu in which the individual is socialised. Managers from different cultural contexts may therefore be expected to possess different work and business-related values. However, exposure to a more universalistic managerial ethos may also generate a degree of similarity in managerial values across cultural contexts. In order to examine these issues, the values and expectations of managers in Hong Kong (N = 653), Australia (N = 505) and the United States (N = 1,060) were compared. Both differences and similarities were revealed, leading to speculations about the relative impact of culture versus roles on managerial values.     

Employers' Unfair Advantage in the United States of America: Symposium on the Human Rights Watch Report on the State of Worker's Freedom of Association in the United States, continued

Articles featured in the symposium:
Author's reply to Wheeler–Getman–Brody papers by Lance Compa, School of Industrial and Labor Relations
The Wagner Act Model: A Toxic System beyond Repair by Roy J. Adams De Groote, School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
Choosing an Interpretation of the Right to Freedom of Association by Sheldon Leader, Department of Law and the Centre for Human Rights, University of Essex     

Has the United States Overinvested in Housing?

Several economists have concluded that housing investment has been excessive relative to industrial investment in the U.S. Most blame provisions of the federal income tax that favor owner-occupied housing.
This paper poses the question within a two-sector neoclassical growth model which permits the social return to housing to differ from that to non-housing. The model is estimated using national income accounts and capital stock data from 1929 to 1983. The conclusion is that the return to housing capital is about half that to non-housing capital and that the housing stock should be about 75% of its 1983 volume.     

Lessons from broadband development in Canada,Japan, Korea and the United States

Broadband network development does not always track closely a nations overall wealth and economic strength. The International Telecommunication Union reported that in 2005 the five top nations for broadband network market penetration were: Korea, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Denmark and Canada. The ITU ranked the United States sixteenth in broadband penetration.Aside from the obvious geographical and demographic advantages accruing to small nations with large urban populations, broadband development thrives when it becomes a national priority. Both developed and developing nations have stimulated capital expenditures for infrastructure in ways United States public and private sector stakeholders have yet to embrace. Such investments have accrued ample dividends including the lowest broadband access costs in the world. For example, the ITU reports that in 2002 Japanese consumers paid $0.09 per 100 kilobits per second of broadband access compared to $3.53 in the United States.Economic policies do not completely explain why some nations offer faster, better cheaper and more convenient broadband services while other nations do not. This paper will examine best practices in broadband network development with an eye toward determining the optimal mix of legislative, regulatory and investment initiatives. The paper will track development in Canada, Japan and Korea as these nations have achieved success despite significantly different geographical, political and marketplace conditions. The paper also notes the institutional and regulatory policies that have hampered broadband development in the United States.The paper also will examine why incumbent local exchange and cable television operators recently have begun aggressively to pursue broadband market opportunities. The paper will analyze incumbents’ rationales for limited capital investment in broadband with an eye toward determining the credibility of excuses based on regulatory risk and uncertainty. The paper concludes with suggestions how national governments might expedite broadband infrastructure development.     

Product Design Innovation and Customer Value: Cross‐Cultural Research in the United States and Korea

Innovation is one of the key drivers of success that a firm must utilize to develop a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate is especially important for a firm's survival in dynamic, changing environments. Customer demands are constantly changing, and more purchases are made when a firm's product design incorporates what customers perceive as cutting‐edge innovations. Satisfying customer demands is a distinct challenge for product designers because firms must develop a clear understanding of what aspects of design the customer wants. Although the importance of design has increased, very little research has been done to explain the relationship between product innovation and product design. Studies indicate that design innovation may create greater customer value through improvements in design value. Previous research has been limited and has not provided a clear concept of design innovation or defined the relationship between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper seeks to offer a conceptual definition of design innovation, and to define the link between design innovation and marketing competencies. This paper utilizes cross‐cultural research to discover how these concepts differ due to cultural differences between the United States and Korea. This research contributes substantially to our understanding of the relationship between design innovation and customer value.     

经济奇迹的助推器--日本、美国与欧洲质量奖综述

近年来,通过推行国家质量奖计划来提升企业的管理水平已成为许多国家强化和提高产业竞争力的重要途径,除了一些发达国家和地区外,许多新兴的工业化国家和发展中国家也都设立了国家质量奖。在全世界诸多国家质量奖计划中,影响最大的当推日本爱德华·戴明质量奖(EdwardDemingPrize)、美国马尔科姆·波德里奇质量奖(MalcolmBaldrigeAward)和欧洲质量奖(EuropeanQualityAward),这三大质量奖被誉为卓越管理与绩效模式的创造者和经济奇迹的助推器。一、日本爱德华·戴明质量奖1949年,为了引进和推广质     

Flawed Economic Models Have Misled RPM Policy: Changes in Canada,Europe and the United States

Some of the influential literature that supports the resale price maintenance efficiency view is flawed when it relies on presale services that do not modify the value-in-use of a good. Crucially, we consider that value-in-use may differ from prepurchase perceived value. We apply the value-in-use standard, which exposes the loss in consumer surplus in Bork’s model and reveals that even Bork’s dissenters significantly underestimate their calculated losses to inframarginal consumers. When consumer surplus is the antitrust/competition policy standard, our results suggest that a rule-of-reason regime where authorities or agencies bear the burden of proof can be unfavourable to consumers.