Privatisation and the management of IR in electricity distribution

Pro-privatisation literature suggests that the transfer of ownership clarifies managerial objectives and fosters new patterns of industrial relations. However, change in the external environment will be mediated by the needs and perceptions of actors within the process and may expose managers to a range of contradictory pressures.     

Case study: Targeting demand-side management for electricity transmission and distribution benefits

This paper shows how a vertically integrated utility develops a least-cost transmission and distribution (T&D) plan that considers demand-side management (DSM) to defer capacity expansion necessary for serving growing demand. The plan is the result of applying dynamic optimization techniques to a T&D planning area in the service territory of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), the largest privately owned utility in the USA. In the case study area alone, DSM enables PG&E to reduce the present value of its planned investment in local T&D from $112.3 million to $77.3 million over a 20-year period.     

Productivity differences in multiple output industries: An empirical application to electricity distribution

Given that electricity distribution is undertaken via a network, it is expected that costs of production are affected both by the nature of the network and the volume of physical output distributed via the network. This two-dimensional concept of firm size, that is involving network size (number of customers) and the level of physical output (kWh), also corresponds to the distinction between productivity measures of returns to density and returns to scale.This approach has been used to specify a restricted multioutput cost function and to estimate this function for the Norwegian electricity distribution industry through the use of a flexible functional form (translog). The results indicate that no economies of scale are present in the industry even for small plants when measured correctly, but that economics of density are present.     

Environmental selection and retail change

In Finland and the other Nordic countries the debate on structural change in retail trade has been mainly concentrated at the macro-level. Reasons for the changes have been sought in the economic, technological and social structures, and in changes in these structures. Committees and others connected with community planning have played a central role in the debate. Considering the extent of the debate, there has been relatively little real research, and the various studies have generally been based on a limited number of variables.In view of the social importance of retail trade, it might seem surprising that researchers have shown so little interest in the structural changes in retail trade and in the results of such changes. The explanation probably lies in the lack of theory, and maybe also in problems connected with the availability of material.Research now needs to focus more on individual stores. This article presents a study intended to re-focus the debate on structural change in retail trade by studying the reasons for the closure or survival of operations in the rural store. The results emphasize external factors: the environment selects those stores that are best suited to its purposes.     

美国的服装零售系统给予中国的借鉴

1.国内服装零售系统的现状分析 所谓服装零售系统是指将服装及其所有权转移到消费者的所有活动的一系列组织机构.服装零售系统不仅包括大量的零售商,还包括批发商、代理商等.     

Underpricing and IPO ownership retention

An agency-theory model of IPO management retention is presented and empirically explored. The model is based upon the differences between the investment public’s and underwriters’ fears of the consequences of management entrenchment and other agency problems. The model suggests that IPO underpricing should be a curvilinear hump-shaped function of retention. A large-sample empirical exploration verifies the curvilinear relation.     

Board ownership and IPO returns

This study examines the role of the board of directors for IPO pricing irregularities. Theory suggests that initial underpricing may be the result of asymmetric information and the long-run underperformance may be the result of managerial mismanagement of new funds due to agency conflicts. A strong board of directors can potentially reduce both asymmetric information and agency problems. We find that the structure of the board is related to IPO pricing anomalies. Initial returns are directly related to share ownership by insiders and the percentage of independent outsiders, and long-run returns are directly related to share ownership by insiders.     

Employee ownership in enterprises in Africa and Asia

This paper examines wider employee share ownership in developing and newly industrializing countries with particular emphasis on Africa and Asia. The first section reviews the available evidence on the extent of wider employee share ownership. The second identifies the key issues relating to the implementation of wider employee share ownership: the objectives for employee ownership, the financing of employees' stakes, the role of trade unions, employee participation in decisions and the life-cycle of employee ownership. It is suggested that attempts to develop employee ownership face similar, but more intense, problems as in advanced industrialized nations. A wide-ranging research agenda is identified.     

Wages Councils,retail distribution and the concept of the “cut-off”

If proposed amendments to the Industrial Relations Bill remove protection afforded to some groups of workers by the Wages Councils system, an alternative will have to be found. In retail distribution a case can be made out for operating a bipartite system with voluntary negotiation above, and statutory wage protection below, a “cut-off” point determined on the basis of turnover.     

Determinants of retail sales in SMSAs

This paper develops a theoretical model to explain consumer behavior in the context of spatially extensive retail markets. Several socio-economic variables influencing total and per capita retail sales are identified and their effects on sales are predicted. The theoretical framework presented in this paper serves to link location theoretic arguments to the retail trade arena and to provide a guideline for the empirical work reported. The empirical work encompasses nine retail trade sectors plus retailing in the aggregate. Good results are obtained for total sales and credible results for per capita sales using data from 229 United States SMSAs.     

Savings and retail price reform in a queue-rationed economy

The paper addresses the effect on consumer saving behavior of queue rationing and of price reform in a Soviet-type economy in a lifecycle framework with overlapping generations. It is shown that consumers save less for retirement in a queue-rationed exchange economy with black markets than they would in a free-market system with the same endowments. The expectation of price reform is thus likely to cause an increase in consumer savings. In addition, an analysis is given of the effect of the increase in controlled prices on the black market prices and on the prices of unrationed goods.     

中小零售企业物流服务问题与对策探讨

中小零售企业在我国的零售业中占有重要地位,但其发展却因物流服务问题受到制约。通过对我国中小零售企业现状及其物流服务状况的分析,提出了当前中小零售企业物流服务存在的突出问题,并针对这些问题对其物流服务的改进策略一实施共同物流进行了探讨。     

Price dynamics, retail chains and inflation measurement

We use a large scanner price dataset to study grocery price dynamics. Previous analyses based on store scanner data emphasize differences in price dynamics across products. However, we also document large differences in price movements across different grocery store chains. A variance decomposition indicates that characteristics at the level of the chains (as opposed to individual stores) explain a large fraction of the total variation in price dynamics. Thus, retailer characteristics are found to be crucial determinants of heterogeneity in pricing dynamics, in addition to product characteristics. We empirically explore how the price dynamics we document affect price index measures.     

浅析窃电现象及反窃电措施

文章认为电已成为人类社会生存和发展进步所不可缺少的一种重要能源,它不仅给人类带来光明,更重要的是推动了现代化大生产和现代科技的进程。但是随着经济的发展和用电量的增大,尤其伴随着市场经济体系的建立,窃电问题变得越来越突出,国家为此蒙受了巨大的经济损失。窃电问题不仅困扰电力企业的发展,也严重影响了国家的经济建设和社会的稳定。     

Psychological ownership and organizational optimism amid China's corporate transformation: effects of an employee ownership scheme and a management-dominated board

Ownership reform was introduced to Chinese state-owned enterprises in the early 1990s, to allow employees to own a share of their enterprises and to bring changes to the underlying structure of governance. However, effectiveness of this reform has yet to be ascertained. This study examines the effects of the new employee stock ownership scheme and board compositions on the attitudes employees hold towards their jobs and organizations, as well as their perceptions of ownership. We developed a theoretical model on how participation in a stock ownership scheme (an employee's characteristic) and the composition of the board of governance (a firm characteristic) may be linked to job satisfaction and, in turn, to outcome variables such as psychological ownership and organizational optimism. This model was tested on 510 employees randomly sampled from ten stock-holding enterprises in urban Shanghai. Results indicate that participation in a stock ownership scheme has a positive effect on attitudes towards ownership, but that a board dominated by senior managers leads to gloomy perception of a firm's future. These effects were partially mediated by the satisfaction that employees felt in their jobs. The implications of these findings for management practices in China are discussed.