Apologies and Transformational Leadership

This empirical investigation showed that contrary to the popular notion that apologies signify weakness, the victims of mistakes made by leaders consistently perceived leaders who apologized as more transformational than those who did not apologize. In a field experiment (Study 1), male referees who were perceived as having apologized for mistakes made officiating hockey games were rated by male coaches (n = 93) as more transformational than when no apology was made. Studies 2 (n = 50) and 3 (n = 224) replicated this effect in two vignette studies to enhance internal and ecological validity. Contrary to expectations in Study 3, there were no apology×leader gender interactions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Offshore Outsourcing

The offshore outsourcing of IT services has become increasingly important for the global IT industry and is creating new uncertainties for the IT workforce in the USA and Western Europe. It is easy to overestimate the benefits of offshore outsourcing, however, if only wage cost differentials are taken into account and the many hidden costs are ignored. The following article discusses the advantages and risks involved in the different phases of offshore projects and presents some conclusions with regard to prospects.

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*Senior Researcher, German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, Germany.

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**Research Assistant, German Institute for Economic Research, Berlin, Germany.     

跨国外包对接包方技术创新能力的影响研究

文章借鉴Antraes(2005)中间品选择模型,结合跨国公司国际化生产的动态特征构建南北方国家之间中间品生产合作的模型,从北方国家技术转移与接包方技术吸收能力建设两个视角探索接包方发展创新能力的因素,提出外包项目动态升级情境下接包方获得的创新激励效应。在此基础上,论文通过回归分析模型检验外包生产对当地创新能力的影响,结论表明,各地承接外包的出口对当地创新活动有显著的正效应。     

Outsourcing and pass-through

A large share of international trade occurs through intra-firm transactions. We show that this common cross-border organization of the firm has implications for the well-documented incomplete transmission of shocks across such borders. We present new evidence of an inverse relationship between a firm's outsourcing of inputs and its rate of exchange-rate pass-through. We then develop a structural econometric model with final assemblers and upstream parts suppliers to quantify how firms' organization of their activities across national borders affects their pass-through behavior.     

基于培训的企业外包服务探索

随着企业经营环境的改变,业务外包已经成为企业集中优势发展核心业务的有效手段,而人力资源外包正成为公司外包业务中的领头羊。培训职能是人力资源管理中最经常被外包的业务之一,但是在我国,培训外包成功的案例却不多。应针对我国企业培训外包服务市场的现况,企业和培训公司应该从改善自身问题入手,共同打造一个成熟的培训外包服务市场。     

Outsourcing and Competition Policy

We analyze optimal competition policy by a Competition Agency (CA) in a model with two countries, North and South, were a final good is produced by Northern oligopolistic firms using an input that can either be produced within the firm (vertical integration) or outsourced to Southern oligopolistic producers with lower labor costs (outsourcing). In the case where the final good is only consumed in the North, a CA in the South would optimally appropriate outsourcing rents through restrictions on the degree of competition among domestic firms. If the final good is consumed in both countries, we find that optimal competition policy in the South is marginally affected by the share of Southern consumption, leaving relatively important incentives to engage in rent-shifting. For a high enough share of Southern consumption, however, the interaction between the Northern and Southern CA is shown to be of the Prisoner’s Dilemma type, whereby the Nash equilibrium is Pareto-suboptimal and mutual cooperation on competition policy is globally desirable.     

Transformational leadership, creativity, and organizational innovation

This study proposes a model of the impact of transformational leadership both on followers' creativity at the individual level and on innovation at the organizational level. The model is tested on 163 R&D personnel and managers at 43 micro- and small-sized Turkish software development companies. The results suggest that transformational leadership has important effects on creativity at both the individual and organizational levels. At the individual level, the results of hierarchical linear modeling show that there is a positive relationship between transformational leadership and employees' creativity. In addition, transformational leadership influences employees' creativity through psychological empowerment. At the organizational level, the results of regression analysis reveal that transformational leadership positively associates with organizational innovation, which is measured with a market-oriented criterion developed specifically for developing countries and newly developing industries. The implications of the findings along with some potential practical applications are discussed.     

Outsourcing: Think more expansively

Outsourcing refers to the practice of a firm entrusting to an external entity the performance of an activity that was performed erstwhile in-house. Although off-shoring and offshore outsourcing to suppliers have dominated much of the recent discussion and debate on outsourcing in scholarly journals and the business press, the nature and scope of outsourcing that does not transcend national boundaries, and outsourcing to entities other than to suppliers is quite substantial. Against this backdrop, a five sources outsourcing framework delineating a broad array of outsourcing avenues available to firms is proposed. For the most part, lowering costs as a motive underlying off-shoring and offshore outsourcing have dominated recent discussion. Furthermore, in the aftermath of the rapid growth in offshore outsourcing in the services sector, the technological forces underlying these developments have been extensively written about. Against this backdrop, the relevance of considerations other than cost in the outsourcing decisions of firms, and the role of technology in automating and thereby either making redundant an erstwhile outsourced activity or performing the activity in-house are discussed.     

Outsourcing: Pros and cons

Overseas outsourcing of jobs is far more complicated than is generally understood. Pressures to outsource range from better-serving overseas markets to increasing the competitiveness of American business. Outsourcing—domestic and international—responds to management's desire to focus the firm's in-house activities on its core competence. A negative side to outsourcing results from companies doing so simply because “everybody is doing it.” They may be surprised by accompanying factors such as unexpected costs and complications, as well. Governmental policymakers need to realize that foreign companies outsource more business services to the United States than American firms send overseas.     

外包:集成整合视角

外包是企业集成整合外部资源、充分发挥自身核心能力的新商业模式。文章认为,外包一方面是企业融合市场的结果,另一方面是产品结构模块化的结果。外包架构由提供类似产品的发包商、为发包商提供竞争性组件的模块商、发包商之间的竞争性整合、模块商之间的竞争以及模块商对发包商的可能替代构成。厂商应尽可能模块化产品结构,充分利用发包商和模块供应商的制造优势,并利用模块化优势共同推动产品快速升级换代。     

Varieties of Transformational Solutions to Institutional Ethics Logic Conflicts

It is well established within the ethics and institutional theory literatures that institutions can have conflicting logics with ethical dimensions and that there are solutions to the conflicts. Within institutional, ethics, and change leadership theory, quantitative, mixture solutions such as distributive solutions have been frequently considered. The ethics, institutional, and change leadership theory literatures have recognized that there are qualitative transformational solutions that are different than quantitative mixture solutions. However and for the most part, with the notable exception of the Thornton et al. (Am J Sociol, 105(3):801–843, 2012) typology of solutions, the institutional, change leadership, and ethics literatures have not considered typologies of transformational solutions. And more specifically with respect to this article, the institutional, change leadership, and ethics literatures have not considered different types of transformational solutions to institutional logic conflicts with ethical dimensions. This article: (1) develops a typology of transformational solutions; (2) applies the typology with historical examples of conflicting institutional ethics logics within factory, cultural, and institutional social change leadership cases; and, (3) considers practical and theoretical implications for institutional ethics change leadership for achieving and/or resisting different types of transformational solutions.     

转型经济条件下商品市场秩序问题思考

本文从市场主体、市场交易行为、市场管理、市场理念几个方面对我国市场秩序混乱作了一般性描述 ,在此基础上 ,提出了国内商品市场有序运行的约束性条件 ,并提出了商品市场秩序的治理对策思考。认为首先应从制度创新的角度 ,通过推进市场进入、交易监管、市场信用、市场安全等方面的制度建设 ,来进一步优化市场运行环境 ;其次应从组织创新的角度 ,通过重塑商品流通的组织结构、流通环节、经营方式 ,来进一步规范市场运行秩序 ;最后从维护消费者权益的角度 ,通过立法、执法的完善和政府、中介组织以及消费者个人的共同努力 ,使消费者合法权利得到切实的保护。     

内部审计外包与审计独立性

近年来,同一家会计师事务所提供审计服务和内部审计外包服务,其独立性备受各界争议。本文以2007-2009年发生内部审计外包服务且披露非审计费用的A股上市公司为研究对象,以操控性应计利润作为审计独立性的替代变量,旨在验证内部审计外包对独立性的影响情况。     

企业物流业务外包风险分析及其对策

物流业务外包在给企业带来诸多收益的同时,也蕴藏着大量的风险。只有对企业物流业务外包风险进行系统分析,制定出加强物流外包业务管理、建立协调机制、信息共享机制的风险管理体系,才能有效地防范物流外包风险,实现企业物流外包发展战略。     

Transformational leadership and job performance: A social identity perspective

Drawing on social identity theory, this study provides a model explaining the underlying process through which transformational leadership influences creative behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors. Individual differentiation and group identification are proposed as social identity mechanisms reflecting the characteristics of personal and collective identity orientations that underpin the differential effects of transformational leadership behaviors on performance outcomes. The model is tested with data from a sample of 250 front-line employees and their immediate managers working in five banks in the People's Republic of China. Results of hierarchical linear modeling provide support for the model whereby group-focused and individual-focused transformational leadership behaviors exert differential impacts on individual differentiation and group identification. Furthermore, individual differentiation mediates the relationship between individual-focused transformational leadership and creative behavior, whereas group identification mediates the relationships between group-focused transformational leadership and OCBs toward individuals and groups. Implications for theory and practice are discussed and future research directions are outlined.     

论业务外包中的风险防范

外包是一种创新的经营管理模式.通过将非核心业务外包,企业可以集中精力于自身的核心业务,优化组织结构,精简企业人员,最大限度地发挥自有资源的效率,提高企业对市场环境变化的反应速度和适应能力.外包是合作企业之间一种博弈行为,在价值链优化过程中具有不确定性,存在决策失误的风险、被模仿的风险和丧失竞争优势风险,尤其是在产业结构变迁中可能会培养潜在的竞争对手,丧失企业未来发展机会.从博弈论角度看,要成功实施业务外包战略,企业需在坚持业务外包与满足顾客需求统一的目标下,树立合作竞争的意识;要充分利用信息技术构建企业间的动态合作联盟;要不断提升和保持自身的核心竞争力.     

校园招聘外包的合作关系管理

在校园招聘的活动过程中企业和外包商良好的合作关系,是外包活动有效实施的保证。影响企业和外包商合作关系的因素主要来源于企业自身、外包商和高校三个方面,完善的外包合同、有效的沟通和外包全程管理有利于构建良好的合作关系。     

Outsourcing, unemployment and welfare policy

The paper investigates the consequences of outsourcing of labor intensive activities to low-wage economies. This trend challenges the two basic functions of the welfare state, redistribution and social insurance when private unemployment insurance markets are missing. The main results are: (i) outsourcing raises unemployment and labor income risk of unskilled workers; (ii) it increases inequality between high- and low-income groups; and (iii) the gains from outsourcing can be made Pareto improving by using a redistributive linear income tax if redistribution is initially not too large. We finally derive the welfare optimal redistribution and unemployment insurance policies.     

承接跨国服务外包与我国经济增长的相互作用研究——与制造外包的比较分析

跨国服务外包成为我国经济新的增长点。本文对我国服务外包与工业、服务业增长的关系进行协整检验和格兰杰因果检验,并将其对比于制造外包与GDP的关系,结果表明:服务外包对经济增长的促进作用大于制造外包,并且服务外包对工业的促进作用大于对服务业的促进作用;而经济增长对服务外包的推动作用不明显。因此,我国大力发展服务外包具有一定的现实意义。