Estimating global frontier shifts and global Malmquist indices

The Malmquist index is a measure of productivity changes, of which an important component is the frontier shift or technological change. Often technological change can be viewed as a global phenomenon, and therefore individual or local measures of technological changes are aggregated into an overall measure, traditionally using geometric means. In this paper we propose a way of calculating global Malmquist indices and global frontier shift indices which provides a better estimation of the true frontier shift and furthermore is easy to calculate. Using simulation studies we show how this method outperforms the traditional aggregation approach, especially for sparsely populated production possibility sets and for frontiers that also change shape over time. Furthermore, our global indices can be used for unbalanced panels without disregarding any information. Finally, we show how the global indices are meaningful for calculating differences between frontiers from different groups rather than different time periods as illustrated in a small case study of bank branches in different countries.      

目标成本在轨道交通装备制造业生产维护中的应用研究

面对制造业成本竞争日益激烈的市场环境,轨道交通装备制造企业在成本控制方面不断创新和变革,在生产制造成本控制中对涉及生产运营的所有要素开展目标成本管理。当前,该行业正在推进智能制造和数字化转型升级,占制造成本比重不断增大的生产维护业务在践行目标成本管理方面还存在诸多问题。论文应用因果分析法,结合目标成本管理理论分析当前轨道交通装备制造业生产维护成本控制存在的问题,并提出完善该行业生产维护业务应用目标成本管理的对策,以促进轨道交通装备制造企业生产维护成本管理水平的提高。     

Price adjustment and market structure: A single-industry study

The administered price hypothesis of Gardnier Means has continued to attract a great deal of empirical attention. Unfortunately, the results of all this research have not been consistent. The present paper tries to circumvent the usual empirical difficulties by using a lagged adjustment model for a single industry with geographically separate markets. It examines the rate of price adjustment and the frequency of price changes for newspaper advertising rates for a sample of local papers in Ireland. Adjustment equations are run for each newspaper using labour and materials cost indices as explanatory variables. The partial adjustment coefficient estimates are then related to market structure and firm specific characteristics.     

Decomposing TFP growth in the presence of cost inefficiency,nonconstant returns to scale,and technological progress

A thorough understanding of changes in productivity measures is important to economists and policymakers, because productivity growth is a major source of economic growth. This article explores the relationship between changes in total factor productivity (TFP) growth, defined using an index number approach, and changes in returns to scale, cost efficiency, and technology. Several decompositions are developed, using alternatively production and cost frontiers. The last decomposition developed also allows for multiple outputs.The refereeing process of this paper was handled through W.H. Greene.     

Understanding Labour Turnover in a Labour Intensive Industry: Evidence from the British Clothing Industry*

ABSTRACT The clothing industry is both a quintessential global industry and one that is inescapably labour intensive. Despite more and more production shifting to low wage economies in the past decades, there remains a significant amount of clothing manufacturing in high wage economies. This study examines the drivers of change that are forcing restructuring in one such country and the outcomes of such changes for the organization of production. Because the changes have involved treating workers as a resource to be developed rather than a cost, preventing labour turnover has become a crucial component of this strategic repositioning. In presenting the results of a national survey of UK clothing manufacturers we find that high labour turnover rates persist. We discuss the historical background to this phenomenon and current trends, and then explore the principal variables that might explain these trends. We conclude with a discussion of the outcomes facing firms in this industry and comment on why managers resist comprehensive changes in organizational routines and the effort bargain.     

Sources of airline productivity from carbon emissions: an analysis of operational performance under good and bad outputs

This study incorporates carbon dioxide emissions in productivity measurement in the airline industry and examines the determinants of productivity change. For this purpose a two-stage analysis under joint production of good and bad outputs is employed to compare the operational performance of airlines. In the first stage, productivity index are derived using the Luenberger productivity indicator. In the second stage, productivity change scores derived therefrom are regressed using the random-effects Generalized Least Squares to quantify determinants of productivity change. The paper finds low cost carriers and average number of hours flown per aircraft having a positive impact on productivity under joint production model while demand variable negatively impacts on productivity under market model.     

An examination of the cost efficiency of banks in Taiwan and China using the metafrontier cost function

Using the stochastic metafrontier framework of Battese et al. (J Prod Anal 21:91–103, 2004), this study proposes to compare and measure the cost efficiency and cost frontier gap between the banking industry in Taiwan and China. It further identifies environmental variables that determine bank’s cost frontier gap between two countries. Data on 69 sample banks for years 2005–2009 are used in the empirical analysis and inference. The empirical results show that Taiwanese banks have in general the superior cost frontier of production, but inferior cost efficiency of operation than Chinese banks. Private banks in Taiwan have the best cost frontier, whereas foreign banks in China are most cost efficient among all banks in Taiwan and China. The empirical results also reveal that the majority of Taiwanese banks are undersized and that most banks in China are oversized. Finally, the regression results show that the financial market structure, institutional environment, and political development are significant determinants of the cost gap between the cost frontiers of banks in Taiwan and China. Therefore, programs related to changes directed toward a better bank production environment can be initiated to improve the cost technologies of banks in both Taiwan and China.     

Modeling technical progress and total factor productivity: A plant level example

Shifts in the production frontier occur because of changes in technology. A model of how a firm learns to use the new technology, or how it adapts from the first production frontier to the second, is suggested. Two different adaptation paths are embodied in a translog cost function and its attendant cost share equations. The paths are the traditional linear time trend and a learning curve. The model is estimated using establishment level data from a non-regulated industry that underwent a technological shift in the time period covered by the data. The learning curve resulted in more plausible estimates of technical progress and total factor productivity growth patterns. A significant finding is that, at the establishment level, all inputs appear to be substitutes.This paper was processed by N.R. Adam.     

Economic fluctuations,market power,and returns to scale: Evidence from firm-level data

Recent research on aggregate fluctuations, coupled with ongoing work in industrial organization, has renewed interest in the existence, magnitude, and cyclical pattern of market power and the extent of increasing returns to scale. By exploiting restrictions from dynamic theory and information from financial markets, we present a framework for generating quantitative evidence on market power and returns to scale. Tailoring the econometric model to firm-level panel data, we calculate the percentage differential between price and marginal cost (the Lerner index) in terms of the parameters from the econometric system. Results for firms in eleven industries indicate that there is a great deal of heterogeneity in the extent of market power. Industries with significantly positive Lerner indices tend to have substantial increasing returns in the production technology. We find that there is only a modest relation between our estimated Lerner indices and traditional measures of market power and that, when market power varies temporally, it is usually procyclical. Thus, variations in the markup of price over marginal cost may help dampen aggregate economic fluctuations.     

诠释深圳与香港集装箱港口的竞争力

本文从生产要素成本（主要包括劳动力、生产资料、资本等）、要素组织成本（主要包括组织机构、政策与规划、信息获取成本、审批程序等）、要素质量（主要包括产业规模、产业集群、个体要素）三个方面对深圳和香港集装箱港口的竞争力进行了实证分析,表明深圳的要素成本同香港相比,仍有比较明显的优势,但是深圳的制度成本比香港要高,至于生产要素的质量,深圳与香港的“硬要素”差距不大.但＂软要素＂的差距还比较明显.     

Western support for cleaner production in central and eastern European industry

This paper advocates a greater emphasis on preventive environmental measures when supporting CEE industry. Experience from projects carried out so far show that cleaner production deserves a high priority. The implementation of good housekeeping measures, at no or low cost, have brought about reductions of pollution and resource use in the order of 15–25%, thereby also improving production efficiency. Despite the cost effectiveness and other apparent advantages of a cleaner production strategy the Western actors are slow to grasp this opportunity. CEE industry, on the other hand, has unrealistic hopes for direct financial support for new technology and are less interested in gradual improvements of their process efficiency by a combination of technical and managerial measures. The introduction of preventive environmental strategies at an early stage of the reconstruction of CEE industry could be seen as a competitive advantage in the long run.     

Seasonality in industry specific indices

This study examines seaonality in three industry specific stock market indices; the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 20 Transportation, the S&P 40 Utilities, and the S&P 40 Financial. The results support the existence of a weekend effect in the transportation index. There is no evidence of a weekend effect in the utilities and financial indices. Both the transportation and financial indices exhibit the January effect. The utilities index, however, shows no evidence of a January effect. The finding of a weekend and a January effect at the industry level is significant because select mutual funds enhance the ability of investors to capitalize on such anomalies.     

煤炭企业博弈行为与产业集中度————基于斯塔克尔伯格模型的研究

运用改良的斯塔克尔伯格模型探讨了煤炭企业行为与煤炭产业集中度的关系,发现煤炭产业市场进入门槛以及大型煤炭企业与小型煤炭企业的边际生产成本直接决定了煤炭产业的集中度,我国煤炭产业进入壁垒过低,导致小型煤炭企业有利可图,大型煤炭企业与小型煤炭企业之间的生产成本差异,是造成我国煤炭产业集中度偏低的重要原因。     

Regional resource depletion and industry activity: The case of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico

Stable and declining oil and gas prices have changed the industry's price expectations and, along with depletion of promising exploration prospects, has resulted in reduced exploration. Even with intensive additional exploration, production in most U.S. areas is expected to decline. What does this imply for the drilling and petroleum industry suppliers in particular regions? How should planners in government and the private sector project and incorporate the consequences of these changes in their strategies? This paper answers these questions for the industry operating in the offshore Gulf of Mexico. Future oil and gas production, as well as demand for offshore drilling and production facilities, are shown to depend on the size distribution of undiscovered fields, their associated production costs, and oil and gas prices. Declining well productivity is a consequence of development of progressively smaller fields so that long-run drilling demand should not decline in proportion to the expected production decline. Calculations show a substantial payoff to the drilling industry, in terms of potential demand increases, if it can develop and implement cost reducing technologies. Implications of these results for other offshore producing areas such as the North Sea are also discussed.     

Decompositions of profitability change using cost functions

The paper presents a decomposition of a production unit’s cost ratio over two periods into explanatory factors. The explanatory factors are growth in the unit’s cost efficiency, output growth, changes in input prices and technical progress. In order to implement the decomposition, an estimate of the industry’s best practice cost function for the two periods under consideration is required. Profitability at a period of time is defined as the value of outputs produced by a production unit divided by the corresponding cost. Using the earlier work by Balk and O’Donnell, the paper provides a decomposition of profitability growth over two periods into various explanatory factors that are similar to the cost ratio decomposition except that change in outputs explanatory factor is replaced by two separate factors: an index of output price growth and a measure of returns to scale.     

鉴证咨询行业的成本控制问题及措施

随着我国经济体制改革的不断深入以及经济全球化的大体趋势,鉴证咨询行业得到了蓬勃的发展。在保证行业正常优质运行的情况下,节约成本可以给企业带来更多利润,促进企业资金周转加速,促使企业的发展空间拓宽。要解决鉴证咨询行业在成本控制当中出现的问题,则应当做好成本指标分解,建立成本控制组织体系,开发成本信息系统,建立切实可行的目标责任成本,综合发动企业各部门、各成员对于成本控制的积极性,从而形成合力。     

钢铁企业原材料采购决策探讨

2011年以后,钢铁的价格不断降低,使得钢铁行业不能够盈利或者盈利太低,当然这其中也有成本侵蚀和银行涨息的因素。随着信贷危机的不断发生,银行对于钢铁行业不再信任,甚至翻脸不认人,使得钢铁行业贷款的难度系数不断增加,所需要的成本也不断增加。所以钢铁行业要想继续赢得利润抵御风险、提高生存能力,运用科学合理的方法降低钢铁原材料的成本就显得尤为重要,这就必须对原材料的采购过程进行科学决策,以降低原材料成本,进而提高钢铁企业的盈利和生产能力。     

基于改进型主成分分析法的食品供应商评价模型研究

根据食品行业的特点建立供应商评价指标体系，利用改进型主成分分析法消除评价指标之间相关影响，减少指标选择的工作量，并通过专家打分及相关的评价指标建立判别模型对备选的供应商进行筛选，然后选择最优的供应商。最后通过实例分析验证了该方法的有效性，对企业选择物流供应商具有一定参考价值。     

Estimating and Testing Process Precision with Presence of Gauge Measurement Errors

Process capability indices have been widely used in the manufacturing industry. Those capability indices, quantifying process potential and performance, are important for any successful quality improvement activities and quality program implementation. Because of the simplicity and easy of understanding, the precision index C_p has gained its popularity for measuring process consistency. However, the quality of data on the process characteristics relies very much on the gauge measurement. Conclusions about capability of the process just only based on the single numerical value of the index are not reliable. In this paper, we not only conduct the performance of the index C_p with gauge measurement errors, but also present adjusted confidence interval bounds and critical values for capability testing purpose of C_p with unavoidable measurement errors. Our research would help practitioners to determine whether the factory processes meet the capability requirement, and make more reliable decisions.     

关于吉林人参产业存在的问题与思考

本文阐述了吉林省人参的产地,万良、抚松以及吉林人参产业的生产和发展现状,然后从种植成本、加工企业、品牌塑造意识和食品开发等方面论述了吉林省人参产业存在的问题。针对上述问题,进一步从科技、塑造品牌、规范生产以及食品研发等方面论述了加快吉林人参产业发展的路径。