Sustainable development and research and development intensity in U.S. manufacturing firms

Across manufacturing sectors, mounting regulatory pressures motivate the adoption of innovative sustainable practices to help address and improve environmental performance. Sustainable practices, however, face many challenges to minimize negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources. This study seeks to understand the effect of research and development intensity on dimensions of environmental performance in manufacturing firms. Using data from U.S. corporations over the period from 1991 through 2015, we find that sustainable practices are associated with a higher level of negative environmental ratings. In addition, the level of environmental concerns tends to decrease with firm investments in research and development intensity over time. These findings suggest that bigger firms are likely to report a higher level of environmental concerns due to their experimentation with sustainable practices. These firms are also likely to reduce negative environmental ratings over time and realize economies of scale with sustainable manufacturing.     

Internationalization of R&D and Operations in Dominant Product U.S. Firms

Abstract

An empirical study of a sample of 38 U.S. dominant product firms operating in manufacturing industries was undertaken to trace the patterns of internationalization of R&D and operations. First, the results of our analysis revealed that internationalization of R&D and operations were a significant part of the evolving internationalization strategies of the dominant product firms we studied. Second, while internationalization of operations was influenced by international configuration via global standardization, the internationalization of R&D was influenced by international configuration via national responsiveness and by competitive positioning via differentiation. Third, the results highlight the fact that the internationalization moves of dominant product firms are not all similar, but depend on the international configuration and competitive positioning pursued by the firms.     

Economic uncertainty,oil prices,hedging and U.S. stock returns of the airline industry

This paper examines the impacts of economic policy uncertainty and oil price shocks on stock returns of U.S. airlines using both industry and firm-level data. Our empirical approach considers a structural vector-autoregressive model with variables recognized to be important for airline returns including jet fuel price volatility. Empirical results confirm that oil price increase, economic uncertainty and jet fuel price volatility have significantly adverse effect on real stock returns of airlines both at industry and at firm level. In addition, we also find that hedging future fuel purchase has statistically positive impact on the smaller airlines. Our results suggest policy implications for practitioners, managers of airline industry and commodity investors.     

Trading off learning and performance: Exploration and exploitation at work

Employees are increasingly given control over how they learn, and their choices for training are diverse and varied, yet employees must balance competing demands. On one hand, they are expected to be increasingly efficient in their current job duties – on the other hand, they are expected to develop new skills and competencies that enable them to adapt and respond to changing job demands. Drawing from the organizational learning literature, we propose a model of worker and work characteristics that inform choices between two mindsets related to learning at work. The first mindset is exploration, or the pursuit of learning outside one’s current knowledge domain; the second mindset is exploitation, the refinement/deepening of one’s existing knowledge stock focusing on the task at hand. We further propose that these strategic choices, or trade-offs, influence employee learning and performance in unique ways, with different implications for both routine and adaptive performance. Finally, we incorporate the notions of feedback loops and risk assessments that influence ongoing decisions between exploration and exploitation mindsets. Recommendations for future research and extensions of the theoretical model are also proposed.     

美国城市郊区化与都市区发展

一、美国城市化扩散与都市区的形成　　 1 美国城市郊区化过程美国从 19世纪末到 2 0世纪初开始城市郊区化过程 ,这一阶段多为富人对较高生活质量的追求而在通勤铁路线上出现“卧城”或称“乡村别墅区”。在2 0世纪 2 0～ 30年代 ,纽约、芝加哥等大城市郊区城镇人口开始超过市中心人口 ,但总体来说这一时期的城市人口超出郊区人口。二战后由于汽车与高速公路的发展推动了“大众郊区化” ,联邦政府和地方政府投入巨资兴建高速公路 ,至 2 0世纪 6 0年代高速公路网已深入乡间 ,中间阶级和高收入的蓝领工人纷纷涌入郊区。从 194 0年到 1970年 ,…     

中、美小企业生存环境探析

美国的小企业在美国的经济发展中起到了举足轻重的作用。美国政府为小企业的发展提供了比较完善的社会环境,这些环境有利于美国小企业的发展。我们可以从美国的小企业的生存环境中借鉴成功的经验,为我国中小企业的发展创立有利条件,加快我国中小企业的发展。     

Deregulation, Mergers, and Cost Savingsin Class I U.S. Railroads, 1974-1986

In this paper we attempt to disentangle the effects of deregulation on rail costs from those directly attributable to mergers. We estimate that cost reductions obtained from mergers ranged from a high of 33% for the Burlington Northern to a low of a 3% cost increase for the CSX. However, firms not engaged in significant merger activities experienced similar cost differentials indicating that consolidation was not a prerequisite for cost savings. We conclude that although mergers did confer some benefits on the participating firms, they were not a prerequisite for railroads being able to achieve substantial cost savings.     

浅谈国有企业人力资源开发与管理

现代企业的生存与发展受众多因素影响和制约。其中,最重要也最根本的因素就是企业的劳动者——人力资源,他是企业所有资源中最宝贵的。文章以湖南省交通科学研究院(以下简称"科研院")的发展经历为例,表明人力资源开发与管理在企业发展过程中发挥着举足轻重的作用,探讨了其在人力资源管理方面的成功经验。     

美军训练开发流程及其优化研究

训练开发是促进美军战斗力提升的重要手段。本文简要介绍美军训练开发流程,研究其如何利用精益六西格玛原理进行流程优化,最后提出对我军改进训练工作的建议。     

浅议西部油气资源开发对策与措施

西部拥有丰富的石油天然气资源,积极开发和利用西部的油气资源,将促进我国能源结构优化,增加能源供应的安全性,促进西部地区社会经济的发展,实现能源的可持续发展战略,实现西部资源优势向现实经济优势的转变,将是西部油气资源开发面临的主要问题,文章针对西部油气资源现状,从长远利益出发,以可持续发展的观点,分析未来西部油气资源开发的措施与对策。     

The impact of oil on equity returns of Canadian and U.S. Railways and airlines

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between oil price movements and equity returns of railways and airline in Canada and the U.S. Using a robust set of oil measures, which includes both West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Western Canadian Select (WCS) data, this research finds that railways and airlines react uniquely to oil price movements. Specifically, equity returns of railways in Canada and airlines in the U.S. tend to be negatively impacted by positive movements in WTI. Equity returns of airlines in Canada and railways in the U.S show limited evidence of any impact. Additional estimations suggest that equity returns of airlines react asymmetrically and that information regarding oil price movements may gradually diffuse over time. With the changing North American energy landscape (e.g., oil sands and shale oil), the increased reliance on transporting crude oil via railways should lead academics and practitioners to further research in this area.     

美军武器装备质量管理机制研究

武器装备质量是武器装备形成战斗力的关键要素。本文主要从竞争机制、监督机制、评价机制、激励机制四个方面对美军武器装备质量管理机制的主要内容作了分析,以期对我军武器装备质量建设有所启发和借鉴。     

美国优秀企业的简朴管理对中国企业的启示

中国的企业管理普遍存在着机构臃肿、庞杂等一些问题。简朴管理是中国要解决这些问题的一种有效的管理方法。我们可以借鉴美国的部分企业在简朴管理方面的经验,对其简朴管理的关键思路进行分析并阐述,进而推理归纳出一些适合中国的发展变革思路。     

Predictability of tail risks of Canada and the U.S. Over a Century: The role of spillovers and oil tail Risks☆

We examine the tail risk spillovers between Canada and U.S. stock markets using over a century data, and also account for the roles of tail risks of other advanced economies (France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK) and oil-market tail risk. We use the “best” tail risk measure obtained from different variants of the Conditional Autoregressive Value at Risk (CAViaR) model developed by Engle and Manganelli (2004) in the predictive model and compare its performance with that of an AR(1) benchmark model. We find strong evidence of risk spillovers between the two stock markets. We find contrasting evidence for the predictability of oil-market tail risk, with positive predictability in case of the net oil exporter and negative in case of the net oil importer. Further results using tail risks of other advanced economies (combined) support possible diversification potential for Canadian stocks in the presence of market risks of advanced economies other than the U.S. Our findings have implications for investors and are robust to various out-of-sample forecast horizons, alternative data frequencies, data splits, and 1% and 5% VaRs.     

美国物流六十年及启示

回顾了物流在美国的发展和研究状况,从历史和学术研究史的角度看,对深入认识物流的本质和未来发展趋势都有着重要的作用。同时,美国物流的发展史对我国的物流发展也有着积极的借鉴作用。     

英国城乡规划的经验及启示——写在《英国城乡规划》第14版中文版出版之前

英国的规划体系注重经验与惯例的积累,在针对城乡规划的基本矛盾———如何应对未来的不确定性时,采取了指导型的开发规划与自由裁量式的开发控制模式,使得城乡规划有能力去处理多样的需求以及不断变化的问题。当前中国规划体系在面对社会经济转型的过程中仍暴露出许多问题,结合中国国情参考英国经验将有助于中国规划体系的构建和完善。     

美国次贷危机及对中国的启示

介绍了美国次级抵押贷款市场的演变,对此次次级抵押贷款市场危机爆发的诱因进行了详细探讨,同时结合中国住房抵押贷款市场的现状,对中美两国住房抵押贷款市场之间的相同及差异点进行比较分析,指出中国政府在防范住房抵押贷款风险方面应该予以重点关注的几个领域。     

落实科学发展观 加强节约集约用地——白山市节约集约用地对策探索

要破解土地资源瓶颈,提高土地利用效率,就必须在科学发展观的指导下,坚持节约集约用地,加快实现土地资源从粗放利用向节约集约利用的根本性转变,从而使有限的土地产出最大的经济效益、社会效益和生态效益。本文以白山市为样本,分析了白山市用地现状及存在的主要问题,提出了节约集约用地的对策建议。     

The effect of external supply knowledge acquisition,development activities and organizational status on the supply performance of SMEs

Given the increasingly strategic role of external resources, acquiring knowledge about current suppliers and the broader supply market is an important and demanding task for the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function of a firm. Performance-improvement-oriented application of external supply knowledge present further challenges for the function. To examine this, we draw on the knowledge-based view and develop a hypothesized model in which supply knowledge acquisition drives PSM exploration and exploitation orientations which in turn mediate the organizational status of PSM function in terms of supply performance. We test the model on an SME-focused and survey-based dataset, using structural equation modelling. Our results indicate that an exploitative orientation is associated with knowledge gained from the supply base, whereas an explorative orientation is predominantly associated with supply market knowledge and less with supply base knowledge, suggesting natural pairings. The findings also show how an exploitative development orientation mediates the positive association of the PSM function's organizational status with supply performance. Driven by supply base knowledge, a status-empowered exploitative PSM orientation may suppress supply market based explorative orientation in resource-scarce SMEs, thus appearing to serve as the sole path to supply performance. Our research contributes by pointing out the significance of the knowledge-resource, and the knowledge-based view, in understanding performance in PSM.