Austrade Commissioner Tells Australian Market

As a large country with 7.69 million sq.km, is Australia a vast market for Chinese products such as cars and some traditional arts and crafts as people expect? With such questions bear in mind, China‘s Foreign Trade interviewed Mrs.Liu Bing, Commissioner of The Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). Let‘s hear what she said.……     

Export Market for Australian Beef Industry

Abstract

The aims of this paper are to examine the constraints and potentials for Australian beef industry on world export markets, and to identify the implications for other beef exporting countries. The survey of beef export constraints suggested that the effect of world beef price and cost of feed grains reduced beef export returns. The relative importance of these variables was tested using a linear regression model. The coefficients of these variables are statistically significant at 10 and 1 per cent levels, and the results suggest that world beef price and cost of feed grains are important determinants of Australian beef exports. The findings of this study also reveal that Australia is highly restricted in its access to world beef markets by the impact of rigid import controls, tariffs and other trade barriers including export subsidies provided by foreign countries for their own exports. Australia needs to give priority to diversification of export markets, particularly in the emerging markets in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, where reduced tariff barriers are expected to improve market access. Australia also needs to increase productivity, improve cost efficiency, and undertake market research and promotion in order to be more competitive in the long run and to capture a sizeable market share from its major competitors.     

自然就是美--NB自然美国际事业集团董事会主席蔡燕萍的创美人生路

创业——从一张美容椅开始。蔡燕萍1947年生于台湾彰化，在家里7个孩子中排行第4。由于家道中落，幼小的燕萍不得不做手工帮衬家用，初尝了生活的艰辛。当时她暗暗发誓：走出贫穷，拒绝悲哀。她去缝纫初习班做教师，去服装店做设计师，去化妆品公司做专柜小姐，干得都比别人用功且出色。     

Stock Market Liquidity and Firm Value: An Empirical Examination of the Australian Market

We document a positive relation between stock liquidity and firm value. We examine the mechanism through which stock market liquidity enhances firm value by dividing firm value, as measured by Tobin's Q, into three components, namely, operating income to price, leverage, and operating income to assets. Using the switch to broker anonymity as an exogenous shock to market liquidity, we show that the increase in liquidity around the shock leads to an increase in firm value. Our results suggest that higher firm value for more liquid stocks seems to stem from enhanced stock prices rather than from better operating performance.     

International Competition in the Australian Wire Market 1880–1914

By 1914, over 35 per cent of Britain's net national wealth was held abroad: a proportion unequalled by any country before or since. This essay suggests that this substantial volume of overseas investment was by no means as harmful to the British economy as many earlier scholars have maintained. If the modern definition of foreign direct investment is used, namely that which involved control over the assets acquired, getting on for half of Britain's overseas investment stock turns out to have been direct, and hence the result of positive entrepreneurial effort, for example to secure raw materials abroad or to surmount tariff barriers. This general discussion is supplemented by estimates of the industrial and geographical composition of Britain's foreign direct investment.     

The Role of Independent Expert Reports in Australian M&A Market

This paper examines the role of independent expert reports in Australian M&A market. Using a comprehensive sample of 2888 transactions between 1991 and 2013, I find that a “neither fair nor reasonable” opinion forces the acquirer to increase the offer premium by 5%, ceteris paribus. The finding remains robust after controlling for the target's bargaining power measured by the residual values of initial premiums that are not explained by observable firm‐deal characteristics. The target that has a weak bargaining position tends to receive less effect of an unfavorable report. In addition, a “fair and reasonable” opinion increases the probability of success, while the unfavorable report does not affect the transaction outcome. I identify the causal effect of expert opinions by differences‐in‐differences analysis using the Duke case decision.     

Market Discipline and Deposit Guarantee: Evidence from Australian Banks

This study examines depositor market discipline of Australian banks and its interaction with the 2008 deposit and wholesale funding guarantee. Prior to 2008 market discipline is found for Australian‐incorporated banks. Depositors did not distinguish between major and small banks, but some differences in the degree of market discipline were found for foreign bank subsidiaries. Following the introduction of the 2008 guarantees, market discipline was reduced except for nonhousehold depositors at banks that did not access the wholesale guarantee. Market discipline is also evidenced at foreign bank branches, but weaker for those accessing the wholesale guarantee.     

“丰田制造”输在责任管理不到位

被日本人引以为荣的“丰田制造”,在虎年之初遭遇“二月逆流”。 继去年9月,丰田以前排脚垫可能脱落而妨碍油门操作引发事故为由,要求380万辆汽车的用户取下脚垫;去年11月又宣布对426万辆汽车进行自主修理;今年1月再次决定针对油门踏板的隐患召回约230万辆汽车。     

General Commissioner of Expo Zaragoza 2008 Visited CCPIT

On February 2, 2007,Emilio FernándezCasta(n)o, General Commissioner of Spain-based Expo Zaragoza 2008, visited CCPIT to negotiate the relevant issues concerning the Chinese Pavilion in Expo Zaragoza 2008 with Exhibition Department of CCPIT.     

An Exploratory Study of Regulatory Failure in the Australian Home Mortgage Market

Regulators have long been interested in protecting consumers borrowing for a home as it is likely the single greatest financial obligation they will undertake. In this paper we examine the approach taken in Australia to mandating the disclosure of simple comparison data to reduce the complexity involved in the home loan decision. This article highlights that while the form of the legislated disclosure significantly improves decision accuracy, the failure of the regulator to account for the consumer's purchase behavior and lenders' motivations has undermined its effectiveness. We provide a number of recommendations for how to rectify these failings, principally that regulators need to consider the role of borrower information search and lender motivation as part of any regulatory reform.     

Liberalisation and Regional Market Integration: Turkish and Australian Automotive Sector Experience Compared

With similar production strategies and shared policy objectives forming a common background in both countries, plans to liberalise automotive production and trade emerged in Turkey and Australia after 1980. The subsequent outcomes of these attempts to abandon protection were to diverge, however, and the future viability of these two formerly heavily protected markets has now come to depend increasingly upon access to regional trade blocs. Examination of the path followed by these two economies as they adjust to the consequences of automotive liberalisation clarifies not only comparative economic performance in key areas of industry and trade, it also highlights the influence of differing levels of multi‐state economic integration, as these processes create, or fail to create, new opportunities for manufacturing economies operating in their individual regional geographic settings.     

抓住机遇迎接挑战再创辉煌--《中国海关》新年致辞

2002年新年的钟声已经敲响.中国的改革开放和现代化建设又步入了新的阶段,全国海关的改革和建设也踏上了迎接挑战、充满希望的新征程.在这辞旧迎新的日子里,我代表海关系统4万干部职工,通过<中国海关>,向长期以来关心支持海关改革和建设的社会各界朋友,致以最美好的祝愿和最诚挚的问候!     

Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises as a China Market Entry Option: An Australian Case Study

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the experience of a large Australian company, Amcor Ltd., in establishing and operating a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in China. Amcor has made a deliberate decision to reject the joint venture option, which has been by far the most common form of foreign investment in China, and to instead proceed with directly establishing a WFOE. Problems experienced by Amcor will be highlighted as well as the ways in which these problems have been overcome, providing a valuable framework for other foreign companies wishing to pursue the WFOE market entry option.     

The Internet,Strategy and Performance: A Study of Australian Export Market Ventures

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of the Internet, firm-specific characteristics, market characteristics, and export marketing strategy on export marketing performance. The unit of analysis was an individual product/market export venture. Data were gathered via a self-administered mail survey of 315 Australian firms involved in exporting. The findings indicate that, when the Internet was used for communication purposes and to provide the firm with a competitive advantage, it had a significant impact on export marketing performance. Firm-specific characteristics and export marketing strategy also had a significant impact on export marketing performance.     

What Cognitive Science Tells Us About Ethics and The Teaching of Ethics

A relatively new and exciting area of collaboration has begun between philosophy of mind and ethics. This paper attempts to explore aspects of this collaboration and how they bear upon traditional ethics. It is the author's contention that much of Western moral philosophy has been guided by largely unrecognized assumptions regarding reason, knowledge and conceptualization, and that when examined against empirical research in cognitive science, these assumptions turn out to be false -- or at the very least, unrealistic for creatures with our cognitive structures. The fundamental tension between the Western idea of morality (as basically rule-following) and the way in which people actually confront and experience moral dilemmas is a result of our failure to take the insights of cognitive psychology seriously. This failure has had a dramatic impact on not only how we teach ethics, but how we attempt to live out lives.     

Dumping and Subsidy Cases at the ITC: Voting Discretion and Commissioner Attributes

Every year, the United States evaluates the protection of intellectual property rights in foreign markets in the context of its Special 301 review. U.S. trading partners that are found to provide inadequate protection are designated as priority countries. This article quantifies the increase in U.S. receipts of royalties and license fees from countries after they were designated as Special 301 priorities, using an econometric model of U.S. royalty receipts from 33 countries over the period 2001–2008. The priority designations between 2001 and 2007 are associated with a cumulative $5.4 billion increase in annual U.S. royalty receipts.     

Every Picture Tells a Story: Digital Video and Photography Issues in Business Ethics Classrooms

Digital video and photography are becoming aspects of everyday business activities, allowing for the quick modification and distribution of images. From development of websites to the editing of a single photograph on a desktop PC, people are using digital images in many business contexts. However, important business ethics issues are emerging concerning the malleability and veracity of digital images as well as their rapid dissemination on the Internet. Activities with digital video and photography in business ethics classrooms can underscore a number of philosophical and moral concerns involving the nature of perception and documentation as well as surveillance. The era of video and photography as reliable witnesses to human interaction is gradually passing; they are becoming recognized as highly malleable media that give photographers wide leeway in modification, leading to issues involving the trustworthiness of photographic documentation in business contexts. Various exercises and scenarios that explore image modification issues are included in this article. Hands-on exercises can also be effective; students who create and subsequently edit digital portraits of themselves in the context of a business ethics class can gain valuable perspectives on role-taking and the ethical implications of deceptive communications.     

The Impact of Strategic Market Entry Considerations on the Financial Performance of Chinese Investment in the Australian Mining Industry

While anecdotal evidence exists that many Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) have failed due to a range of factors, it is also clear that some Chinese OFDI has been very successful. There is little empirical research so far on the financial performance of Chinese OFDI and its influencing factors. This study seeks to fill these research gaps. Using a sample of companies that have received major Chinese OFDI and are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, we examine the financial performance of Chinese OFDI. The study found that performance varied substantially and depended on the influences of several entry factors, including entry timing, developmental stage of the target companies, and ownership level. Using multiple theoretical frameworks, including the institutional perspective, resource‐based view, and transactional cost theory, we discuss the causes of these influencing factors and outline their consequences. Several practical implications are proposed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.