跨采会的引擎:上海跨国采购促进中心

作为全国最大的口岸城市和经济中心,上海拥有比较发达的商业产业体系及设施,还有着服务业领先开放和城市信息化较早发展的相对优势,越来越多的跨国采购商选择在上海设立全球采购地区总部及分拨中心。     

跨国采购洽谈会:中国机会,世界机会

2004跨国采购洽谈会（中国上海)-中国最具影响的跨国采购洽谈会，将于2004年9月22日-24日再度在上海举行。海内外许多采购商和供应商对这次跨国采购洽谈都十分关注，纷纷要求了解详情。我们特别作了一个专辑，以飨读者。     

Financial Literacy Explicated: The Case for a Clearer Definition in an Increasingly Complex Economy

This study explicates the concept of financial literacy, which has blossomed in use this century. Scholars, policy officials, financial experts and consumer advocates have used the phrase loosely to describe the knowledge, skills, confidence and motivation necessary to effectively manage money. As a result, financial literacy has varying conceptual definitions in existing research, as well as diverse operational definitions and values. This study dissects the differing financial literacy definitions and measures, urging researchers toward common ground. A clearer definition should improve future research, in turn helping consumers better understand and adapt to changing life events and an increasingly complex economy.     

Local Sourcing in China: The Case of Braun Electric (Shanghai) Co. Ltd

Increasingly, multinational enterprises manufacture locally in China, for reasons of cheap labour or as a means of more efficiently penetrating the vast Chinese market. However, the literature suggests a range of problems associated with local manufacturing, such as the sourcing of locally produced components and materials. This study looks into the case of Braun Electric (Shanghai) Co Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Braun AG of Germany, which produces electric foil shavers in China, examining its reasons for local sourcing, associated problems and resulting strategies. The case study is based on a two-week research visit to the company in January 1996.     

Skills and complexity in management of IJVs: Exploring Swedish managers’ experiences in China

Recent Chinese growth and development has had a tremendous impact on the world economy, especially in terms of the absorption of a significant amount of global foreign direct investment (FDI). Most of this FDI has taken the form of joint ventures between local and foreign firms. Some researchers typically see this as a race by local firms to learn from and eventually outperform foreign firms. The aim of this paper is to explore the evolving experiences, concerning acquired knowledge, resourcing, and control activities, of managers in Sino-Swedish joint ventures. For this purpose, a theoretical framework based on Buckley, P. J., Glaister, K. W., and Husa, R. [(2002). International Joint Ventures: Partnering skills and cross-cultural issues. Long Range Planning, 35, 113–134] and Child, J., and Yan, Y. [(2003). Predicting the performance of International Joint Ventures: An investigation in China. Journal of Management Studies, 40(2)] is developed. Within this framework—The Actor Oriented Approach—four propositions emerge. These are then tested against nine Swedish cases in China. The cases are based on data from a study of Swedish expatriate CEOs. Based on the findings a five stage, sequential approach to foreign firm entry and evolution into foreign markets is constructed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the model's more general applicability and suggestions for further research.     

The benefits of e-business adoption: an empirical study of Swedish SMEs

The global nature of business today and the advances in information and communications technologies have compelled corporations to employ emerging technologies in order to remain competitive. In recent years electronic business has been adopted by many corporations to improve operational efficiency, profitability, and to strengthen their competitive position. This study examines the impact of web-based e-business on the small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. The analyses of data collected for this study provide valuable information to the executives of manufacturing and service SMEs. The findings show that the SMEs in the sample have benefited from e-business implementation in both operational and performance areas of their organization.     

Sourcing ethics in the textile sector: the case of C&A

During the last years competition in the textile sector has increased, putting financial returns under considerable pressure. As a result, production has shifted to low wage countries in the third world. This has raised the relevance of ethical procedures. This paper analyses how C&A, as one of the largest Western apparel companies, organises its sourcing ethics, notwithstanding the financial pressure in the market. Based on interviews with Asian suppliers of C&A during the second half of 2000, we review the opinions of external stakeholders about the sourcing ethics of C&A. Finally, we evaluate C&A's sourcing ethics from a theoretical perspective.     

Opportunity‐Based Strategic Orientation,Knowledge Acquisition,and Entrepreneurial Alertness: The Perspective of the Global Sourcing Suppliers in China

Taking the perspective of global sourcing suppliers in China, this paper investigates how the supplier firms acquire market and technical knowledge from the outsourcing partnerships differently based on their strategic orientations regarding the exploitation of opportunities versus resources. We find that suppliers whose strategy formulation is driven by the aggressive pursuit of valuable opportunities tend to be able to learn more from the outsourcing partners. Our results also show that market and technical knowledge acquisition of the supplier firms has a positive effect on employees’ alertness to opportunities. In addition, organizational innovativeness plays an important role in determining how effectively knowledge can be utilized by employees to identify novel opportunities.     

Leveraging Reputational Risk: Sustainable Sourcing Campaigns for Improving Labour Standards in Production Networks

Ethical or ‘socially sustainable’ sourcing mechanisms mandating labour standards among the suppliers and subcontractors that organisations source goods and services from are becoming more common. The issue of how labour activist groups such as trade unions can encourage organisations to adopt and strengthen these mechanisms within domestic production networks is largely unexplored. Using three cases of domestic sustainable sourcing campaigns developed by unions in Britain, the strategies used by labour activists, the characteristics of the organisations targeted and the motivations of lead firms for improving sourcing practices are analysed. The article makes a significant contribution by demonstrating that organisational susceptibility to reputational risk is a key factor influencing the capacity of activist groups to convince and compel their targets to improve sourcing practices. It argues that different types of organisations are susceptible to reputational damage in different ways, that risk events provide opportunities for unions to strengthen their leverage against target organisations, and that the multidimensional nature of corporate reputation needs to be better considered for understanding how campaigns are framed and executed.     

Sourcing patterns of export‐platform foreign affiliates: The case of Japanese affiliates in Mexico

This study investigates the sourcing patterns of Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico, which mainly export to the United States and Canada. We propose a novel approach to estimate intermediate input elasticities of exports by sourcing country. We find that, on average, Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico source intermediate inputs from third countries, including the United States and Canada, rather than from Japan and Mexico, suggesting that Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico are mainly integrated into the vertical production networks back and forth between Mexico, the United States and Canada. In turn, Japanese foreign affiliates selling domestically in Mexico source intermediate inputs not only within the North American Free Trade Agreement countries but also from Japan. In addition, we find that export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico use more labour‐intensive production than do foreign affiliates selling domestically in Mexico. This suggests that saving labour costs is one of the motives for export‐platform foreign direct investment in Mexico.     

African Entrepreneurs and International Coordination in Petty Businesses: The Case of Low-End Mobile Phones Sourcing in Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper examines the contribution of African entrepreneurs to world trade through global coordination. Unlike the multinational giants which earn impressive profit through global sourcing, small African entrepreneurs survive by identifying opportunities in petty businesses and exploiting narrow profit margin. Through careful economic calculation, they buy low-end goods from one part of the globe and sell them in the other part. Their self-interest activities enhance global well-being. This paper begins with an Austrian perspective of international entrepreneurship and global coordination. The theory is illustrated by African entrepreneurs who source Shenzhen-made mobile phones in Hong Kong and sell them in Africa. By arbitraging price differentials, they earn pure entrepreneurial profit. A detailed case study of the global coordination of a Tanzanian entrepreneur will be presented. This paper concludes that, as a result of the effort of African entrepreneurs, low-end mobile phones manufactured in Shenzhen are shipped to Hong Kong and consumed by people in Tanzania, bringing benefits to all parties concerned. The case study fully illustrates the principle of the ‘invisible hand’ in the global market.     

Appetizing learning in Swedish comprehensive schools: an attempt to employ food and tasting in a new form of experimental education

The word taste has several meanings: biopsychological, and cultural and social. Taste also influences food choice, though there is a widespread belief that tasty food is not synonymous with healthy eating patterns. In Sweden compulsory school daily meals are provided and Home Economics is a compulsory subject, while tasting lessons form an additional experimental form of education. The aim of this study has been to make a general evaluation of tasting lessons in four fifth‐year classes. The focus of the results is on pupils’ learning about, and interest in, food, and the opinions and reflections of teachers, catering staff and school heads. The participants were three professional focus groups comprising staff from four schools, and 48 pupils (eight groups with boys and girls in separate groups) from the same schools. Results showed that the children were prepared to be exposed to different foodstuffs, and the adults were prepared to be exposed to new educational methods. Two stages of children's learning have been described in connection with tasting: practice and experience, and verbalization and reflection.     

Private firms in China: Building legitimacy in an emerging economy

Firms are legitimized by their environments if they survive and prosper. But firms can also proactively build legitimacy to enhance their long-term growth prospects. This is vital for private firms based on emerging economies given the weak protection for private property. This article examines ways in which private firms in China build legitimacy for themselves and their industries. Through field interviews with firm founders and top managers in China various legitimization strategies and the conditions under which they can be used are examined. The authors also conducted follow-up interviews in Taiwan to investigate legitimacy-building strategies there. Though more advanced, Taiwan's economy shares many cultural traditions with Mainland China, and it presents firms with similar legitimacy-related challenges. Interviews with managers of multinationals operating in China were also conducted to determine what they are learning from the legitimization strategies of the indigenous Chinese firms.     

Swedish SMEs' Establishment of Business in Russia: A Case Study

This case study analyzes Swedish SMEs' establishment of business in Russia. The study is based on data from a project whose objective was to help Swedish SMEs enter the Russian market. Findings indicate that market visits positively affected the managers' view on the Russian market. Interviews with four SMEs that had been successful in establishing business in Russia highlight the importance of finding a local partner with access to working market channels. A conclusion drawn is that innovativeness, flexibility, and commitment are characteristics that the exporting SMEs and their Russian partners need to share.     

在WTO被诉现状凸显我国贸易争端形势更趋复杂

2006年至2012年,我国在WTO被诉的争端案件快速增长,共被诉30起。尤其是进入2012年,共14个成员向世贸组织争端解决机构提出27起争端,是2011年(8起)的3倍多,也是2003年以来诉诸世贸组织争端解决机制案件最多的一年,我国被诉WTO争端案件高达7起;2012年日本首次在WTO争端机制对我国提起诉讼,而2012年当年日本就对我国提起2起争端诉讼,显示了我国面临的贸易争端形势更为复杂。     

在WTO被诉现状凸显我国贸易争端形势更趋复杂

2006年至2012年,我国在WTO被诉的争端案件快速增长,共被诉30起。尤其是进入2012年,共14个成员向世贸组织争端解决机构提出27起争端,是2011年（8起）的3倍多,也是2003年以来诉诸世贸组织争端解决机制案件最多的一年,我国被诉WTO争端案件高达7起;2012年日本首次在WTO争端机制对我国提起诉讼,而2012年当年日本就对我国提起2起争端诉讼,显示了我国面临的贸易争端形势更为复杂。