GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS AND RELATIVE LABOUR DEMAND: A GEOMETRIC SYNTHESIS OF NEOCLASSICAL TRADE MODELS

Technological advancements and reductions in trade tariffs have made it increasingly profitable for firms to separate their production into individual tasks, creating global value chains (GVCs). The theoretical literature on the distributional effects of GVCs is large, but ambiguous. Since the early conception of Jones' general equilibrium model in 1965, there seems to have been a tendency to repackage (part of) this model, generating apparent conflicts and implicit overlaps. This paper goes back to the basics by using the dual nature of the production model in Jones to provide a geometric exposition of the main channels by which GVCs can affect the relative demand for skilled labour. The explanatory power of this figure is vast. First, it can synthesize the ambiguous literature in a coherent and intuitive framework and show how subtle modelling differences can have widespread effects on key predictions. Second, it can serve as a conceptual framework and as a guide to empirical analysis. Third, it can be used as an illustration of key models explaining global value chains. Ultimately, the proposed figure can be used as a pedagogical tool for policy makers and (under)graduate students alike, without the need to understand complex algebra.     

Measuring industrial upgrading: applying factor analysis in a global value chain framework

ABSTRACT

A key question for promoting international competition is how to improve the position of countries and industries in global value chains (GVCs). The first step is to properly measure industrial upgrading in GVCs. This is not a trivial issue because upgrading has not been defined unambiguously. Several authors have used different (and sometimes related) measures, all of which indicate certain aspects of upgrading. Rather than trying to find the single, ultimate measure of upgrading, we propose a different approach. We examine the multidimensionality of industrial upgrading, using eight indicators in factor analysis. Four of the eight indicators adopt the GVC perspective and include, for example, the growth of the share in value-added exports. We provide three quantitative dimensions of industrial upgrading: process upgrading, product upgrading, and skill upgrading. With these dimensions, we compare and analyze the upgrading of different countries and industries using the World Input–Output Database.     

Measuring Smile Curves in Global Value Chains

The logic of the ‘smile curve’ in the context of global value chains (GVCs) has been widely used in case studies of individual firms, but rarely identified at the country-industry level by using real data. This paper puts forward a proposal, based on an inter-country input–output model, to consistently measure both the gain of value added and the position of countries and industries when they join GVCs. This allows for better identification and mapping of economy-wide smile curves in a given conceptual value chain. Using the World Input-Output Tables, we identify the Information and Communications Technology exports-related smile curves for China and the United States (US), which provide an intuitive and visual representation of who gains value added and jobs through joining GVCs, and to what extent. Further insight into the distributional implications of GVC expansion, based on our analysis of labour markets for China and the US, provides a strong support for the so-called ‘Paradoxical Pair of Concerns’ between developed and developing countries. Our empirical results show that gains through joining GVCs may vary greatly across different skill levels of labour domestically, a fact that has, at least in part, been a driver of the backlash against globalization and the rise of trade protectionism.     

Measuring China’s domestic production networks through Trade in Value-added perspectives

Evaluating the role and performance of China's participation in Global value chains (GVCs) has been a hot policy and research issue in recent years. However, most GVCs-related literature about China focuses on country-to-country relations; less attention has been paid to China's domestic value chains (DVCs). GVCs should have their domestic foundations since strong linkages across domestic firms and regions can improve productivity through gains from specialization, which make domestic industries more competitive in GVCs in turn. This paper applies the so-called Trade in Value-added (TiVA) concept and the decomposition of domestic-regional trade in TiVA terms to re-measure the inter-industrial and interregional linkages in China's DVCs. We show that TiVA-based measures can significantly enrich our understanding on both the structure change of China's regional economy and the position and participation degree of Chinese regions in DVCs.     

Fragmentation and agglomeration matter: Japanese multinationals in Latin America and East Asia

This paper analyzes micro data of Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) to investigate differences between Latin America and East Asia from various viewpoints of their corporate activities. One of the crucial factors to make a sharp contrast is the development of international production/distribution networks utilizing the benefit of fragmentation and agglomeration. Japanese firms have played an important role in developing international production/distribution networks in East Asia while they have not yet either constructed a critical mass of industrial clusters or formulated efficient vertical chains of production in Latin America, where proper international commercial policies are the key for success.     

Is There Any Ethical and Moral Consideration in the Theory and Practice of Global Business Social Darwinism?

Abstract

This article has revisited the interchangeable meanings of morality and ethics in today's global business practices. This article argues that in the theory and practice of the global business Social Darwinism, there is no room for ethics and morality because the competitive international business ideology promotes the “survival of the fittest.” Furthermore, the purpose of this article is to first define the distinction between morality and ethics and their application in the real world of today's business; second, to analyze the ideological foundation of the international business practices of Social Darwinism in relation to global production, consumption, profitability, and efficacy.     

Structural analysis of international trade: Environmental impacts of Norway

Final demand purchases initiate production processes that ultimately lead to environmental impacts. With the increase in international trade, many production processes occur outside of the country of final consumption. Whilst several studies have evaluated the pollution embodied in consumption and trade flows, few studies have investigated the structural linkages between domestic consumption and production in foreign regions. In this article we apply three complementary approaches to study the production network leading from the Norwegian economy to domestic and international environmental impacts: (1) the consumption perspective identifies final demand purchases that produce environmental impacts; (2) the production perspective identifies the production processes generating the pollution for a given demand; and (3) structural path analysis is used to provide the linkages between the global production networks linking consumption and production. We find that the three approaches provide different, but complementary information. For policy to focus on both sustainable consumption and production, all three approaches are required to fully identify environmentally important sectors in an economy.     

New empirical assessment of export price competitiveness: Industry-specific real effective exchange rates in Asia

This study constructed the industry-specific real effective exchange rate (I-REER) as a new measure of export competitiveness by industry. By aggregating I-REERs to a country-level I-REER for nine Asian economies, we assess the effect of REER appreciation on real exports by employing both static common-correlated effects (CCE) estimator and cross-sectionally augmented distributed lag (CS-DL) estimator (a dynamic version of the CCE estimator) to control for heterogeneity in the impact of unobservable common factors. The degree of REER’s negative effect is found to have declined in recent years, which may imply that growing global value chains (GVCs) tend to mitigate the negative effect of REER appreciation on exports. As is well known that Asia is characterized as active regional trade and investment through GVCs, further regional integration would make Asian economies have less concern about policy coordination for regional exchange rate stability in Asia.     

国际垂直专业化的测量及差异分析

根据Hummels et al.Hummels al.(2001)的国际垂直专业化指数,采用中国的投入产出表,从承接国(或地区)视角,测量中国27个工业行业1997-20111997 2011年的国际垂直专业化程度,并借鉴北京大学中国经济研究中心课题组(2006)的方法,测算中国与OECD国家和非OECD国家(或地区)的国际垂直专业化程度。研究结果表明:加入WTO后,中国的国际垂直专业化程度上升较快,分行业来看,资本密集型行业(包括技术密集型行业)的国际垂直专业化程度得到较快提升,而劳动密集型行业的国际垂直专业化程度较低;分伙伴国(或地区)来看,中国与OECD国家的垂直专业化程度更高,主要是高技术密集型行业,但是中国与非OECD国家(或地区)各行业的垂直专业化程度上涨幅度较大,尤其是资本密集型行业。     

Home and away: preparing students for multicultural management

University business schools are key providers of future managers, and in the UK, business and management students are an increasingly international and diverse body. How do their learning experiences draw on these resources of diversity and multiculturalism to prepare students for working in a global economy? This article draws on two studies of business and management undergraduate students at a new UK university. Each was in a different university school, using different research methods. Both came to similar conclusions; that strongly ethnocentric attitudes prevailed among home, UK students, systematically leading to feelings of exclusion and disadvantage among international students, whatever and wherever their origins. However, in terms of gaining understanding and skills in the field of multiculturalism, it was the international students who had the advantage. The implications for preparation of students for careers in the global economy are explored, and the positive results of some subsequent initiatives discussed.     

Entry shock,culture shock: Socializing the new breed of global managers

Recent graduates in the field of international business face not only the entry shock of making the transition from school to work, but also the culture shock of working in foreign countries or with joint ventures and foreign subsidiaries. Using survey data collected from 459 recent recipients of masters degrees in international business, this article explores the special problems new entrants into the field of international business face in their first few jobs and suggests organizational strategies for more effectively socializing these new global managers. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

中小企业开展电子商务的浅析

在未来的经济发展进程中，中小企业必将广泛的应用电子商务及其相关技术，以提高企业的管理、生产效率。提高企业对市场的应变能力和竞争能力。电子商务及其相关技术也必将成为中小企业参与国内、国际市场竞争的利器。本文在分析了中小企业在开展电子商务过程中存在的问题及原因基础上，就中小企业在开展电子商务时必须清楚和把握的几个重点问题进行了探讨。     

The ‘expat factor’: the influence of working time on women's decisions to undertake international assignments in the oil and gas industry

This article examines the effect of working time on women's willingness to go on expatriate assignments in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. The research draws upon an analysis of two case study firms' international assignment and working time policies, semi-structured interviews with 14 human resource staff responsible for policy design and implementation, and a survey of the views of 71 women expatriates, supported by in-depth interviews with 26 of the survey respondents. The research identifies an ‘expat factor’: assignees state that long hours are inherent in expatriation and necessary to further their careers. However, in practice, working time is not excessive and flexible working practices are utilised. Hours of work have little effect on women's decisions to undertake long-term assignments but alternatives such as short-term and commuter assignments are unpopular as their working patterns are disruptive to family life. This article contributes to theory development by linking two discrete frameworks that explain women's career choices when they strive to balance their career goals with their families and by identifying a career compromise threshold when expatriation is rejected in favour of family considerations. A model is proposed to link working time/patterns to women's international assignment participation.     

The Bridging Role of Expatriates and Inpatriates in Knowledge Transfer in Multinational Corporations

Drawing on the knowledge‐based view of the firm, this article provides the first empirical study that explicitly investigates the relationship between different categories of international assignees and knowledge transfer in multinational corporations (MNCs). Specifically, we examine (1) the extent to which expatriate presence in different functional areas is related to knowledge transfer from and to headquarters in these functions and (2) the extent to which different categories of international assignees (expatriates vs. inpatriates) contribute to knowledge transfer from and to headquarters. We base our investigation on a large‐scale survey, encompassing data from more than 800 subsidiaries of MNCs in 13 countries. By disaggregating the role of knowledge transfer across management functions, directions of knowledge transfer, and type of international assignees, we find that (1) expatriate presence generally increases function‐specific knowledge transfer from and, to a lesser extent, to headquarters; and that (2) the relevance of expatriates and former inpatriates varies for knowledge flows between headquarters and subsidiaries. Additionally, we discuss implications for research and practice, in particular regarding different management functions and different forms of international assignments, and provide suggestions for future research. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

PFA管材标准研制打造国际一流品质

如何提升具有耐腐蚀、良好机械性能的全氟烷氧基含氟聚合物（以下简称PFA）管材的产品质量，以满足高端用户需求？文章通过对借鉴ASTMD6867标准，结合以往生产经验和现有的企业标准进行比较研究，制定出PFA管材可操作性强、具有国际先进水平的企业标准的过程和重点要素进行了阐述，并进一步说明采用国际标准对企业发展的重要意义。     

Sources of support and expatriation: a multiple stakeholder perspective of expatriate adjustment and performance in Malaysia

This research tests the role of perceived support from multinational corporations and host-country nationals for the adjustment of expatriates and their spouses while on international assignments. The investigation is carried out with matched data from 134 expatriates and their spouses based in foreign multinationals in Malaysia. The results highlight the different reliance on support providers that expatriates and their accompanying spouses found beneficial for acclimatizing to the host-country environment. Improved adjustment in turn was found to have positive effects on expatriates' performance. The research findings have implications for both international human resource management researchers and practitioners.     

我国国际机场运营效率研究——基于DEA模型的评估与优化

运用DEA模型评估我国30家国际机场的效率,并从投入和产出上指出了无效机场的优化路径。实证结果显示,机场在总体上运营稳定,但大部分仍处于无效生产前沿面上。导致机场运营无效率的原因包括纯技术和规模两方面,其中前者是东部地区机场无效的主要原因,而后者则是中西部机场无效的最大根源。机场效率的优化会因其规模报酬特征而异。最后针对不同类型机场给出了提高效率的建议。     

文化影响下的企业国际营销对策研究

从理论角度阐述了文化在企业国际市场营销活动的重要性及其影响力;并从了解、熟识和精通文化的逻辑顺序列举了企业的国际营销对策。通过对比三种营销策略的优缺点,以求企业有清楚的认识和合理的定位,根据其所处生命周期的不同阶段、实力以及企业经营战略来选择适合自身的营销对策。     

产品责任法的国际冲突及法律适用问题

随着国际交往的日益密切和国际贸易的不断发展．产品生产和销售日益国际化。由于各国产品责任法规定不一．全球化致使产品责任案件大量发生。文中从世界各国处理涉外产品责任问题的方法为依托,阐述了产品责任法的国际冲突及法律适用问题。