Inefficiency of sponsored research

I consider two models of sponsored research — one is the model where researchers get funded until (if ever) a research project experiences the first failure (bad news model), the other one is the model where the winner (if any) of a research race is rewarded (good news model). In either case, the researchers start working on a project of unknown quality. The quality of the project is identified with its ability to generate failures or successes, in the first and second models, respectively. The rate of arrival of success conditioned on the quality of the project is an increasing function of the total time spent on research. I find equilibria in both models and show that in case of two competing researchers, one of the researchers experiments inefficiently long, in the bad news model or in the good news model when either the winner takes all, or the laggard is punished. In the good news model where the laggard is rewarded, the equilibrium outcome is efficient.     

Strategic R&D Location by Multinational Firms: Spillovers, Technology Sourcing, and Competition

This paper develops a model of strategic interaction in R&D internationalization decisions between two multinational firms, competing both abroad and in their home markets. It examines different incentives for foreign R&D faced by a technology leader and a technology laggard. The model takes into account the impact of local inter firm R&D spillovers, (noncostless) international intra firm transfer of knowledge, and the notion that internal R&D increases the effectiveness of incoming spillovers. Analytical results suggest that greater efficiency of intra firm transfers and greater R&D spillovers increase the attractiveness of domestic R&D for the technology leader if the technology gap with the laggard is large. The lagging firm, in contrast, increases the share of foreign R&D as foreign technology sourcing becomes more effective. Competition encourages the leading firm to engage in foreign R&D to capture a larger share of profits on the foreign market, whereas the laggard concentrates more R&D at home to defend its home market position.     

Training,adverse selection and appropriate technology: Development and growth in a small open economy

Recent diffusion models cannot explain why the success of technology diffusion depends so critically on developing countries’ human capital levels. This paper examines three main issues. First, we endogenize both appropriate technologies and human capital formation. Second, we refine the human capital accumulation process by introducing uncertainty about worker quality and training efficiency. Finally, we allow for international diffusion of technology as a function of the host country’s endogenous ability to absorb technological spillovers. The resulting model is one of uneven growth where trade amplifies worker quality problems in laggard countries. In contrast, technology spillovers are shown to generate additional incentives to accumulate human capital in the laggard country, since this allows for faster adoption and diffusion of foreign technology in the future.     

我国制造企业在战略导向下的管理模式创新研究

当前,我国已经成为世界制造业大国之一,但还不是制造业强国。管理模式落后和创新能力不足是制约我国制造企业发展的最主要因素。分析了现阶段我国制造企业管理模式与国外先进模式的差距,并结合战略导向时期企业管理模式的新要求制定了我国制造企业管理模式的创新方向。     

欠发达地区中小企业发展的战略模式选择——以青海省为例

青海中小企业起步晚、数量少、基础力量薄弱。在这个"大企业强省、小企业富民"的时代,大力发展中小企业,对实现青海"富民强省"战略有巨大的推动作用。本文结合青海省产业发展的现状,提出了依托优势资源的互补战略、依托特色资源的特色战略、依托稀缺资源的专精战略、依托旅游资源的虚拟战略,供青海中小企业发展选择战略模式。     

中部地区承接产业转移的SWOT分析及其对策研究

中部地区在承接产业的过程中存在一些突出的问题,如产业配套能力欠缺、现代物流业落后、环境污染和资源浪费现象严重等,严重制约了中部地区承接产业转移的健康发展。本文运用SWOT分析理论,从中部地区的优势、劣势、机遇和威胁等方面展开,研究中部地区承接产业转移的思路,从产业配套完善、物流建设、政府作用、环境保护和区域间合作等多个角度提出相应的政策建议。     

基于RFID技术的信息采集模式在供应链管理中的应用

在分析现有供应链中由于落后的信息采集模式而增加成本的基础上,首先介绍射频识别(RFID)技术,然后从底层硬件结构开始,采用由下到上的构建方式,论述了如何在供应链管理中应用这种先进的信息采集技术。以此为基础,并与互联网进行整合,提出了实时一体化供应链管理的构想。最后详细分析了这种新的供应链管理模式所具有的优势和在具体应用可能遇到的问题。     

When companies improve the sustainability of the natural environment: A study of large U.S. companies

In light of the call for companies to abandon current approaches to environmental management, this study adds to the environmental strategy literature and uses the evidence of competitive dynamics among companies to identify a mechanism by which companies invest in proactive environmental strategies and thereby improve the sustainability of the natural environment. An examination utilizing fixed effects regressions on a sample of large U.S.‐based companies reveal that even after controlling the number, environmental and financial performance of leading (environmental) companies, laggard (environmental) companies are more likely to invest in proactive environmental strategies when their leading peers display higher sustainability orientations. Neither the expectation of government regulation nor social movement pressure was found to be influential in this relationship. Therefore, the future dominance of companies' investments in the sustainability of the natural environment will be driven by companies themselves as long as competitive advantages are expected.     

THE ECONOMICS OF ABSENCE: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

Abstract. Worker absenteeism constitutes a significant loss of work-time and therefore has important implications for both household income and firm productivity. Despite this, the economics profession has been somewhat laggard relative to other disciplines in addressing the phenomenon. The situation is, however, changing, with recent years witnessing a mild flurry of activity. The aim of this paper is to maintain, and if possible, enhance this momentum. We do this firstly by developing some basic theoretical ideas which we consider to be central to an economic analysis of absence. In particular, we address the often cited claim that observed absence is unequivocally inefficient. Second, by reviewing some of the key contributions, we attempt to assess where the literature on the economics of absence stands at present, as well as suggesting some potentially fruitful lines of future enquiry.     

Sector variation and ecological modernization: towards an analysis at the level of the firm

This paper is the first of a series of two in which the authors consider ecological modernization of state environmental policy in the context of individual firms. This is explored through three themes: the influences of industrial sector, company size and type of environmental regulation. In this paper, the significance of industry sector is explored and the authors show how lead and laggard sectors react in quite different ways. In the second paper (Vol. 7 No. 5), the theme of variability to the challenge of ecological modernization through the study of the impact of firm size and response to regulation is pursued. Throughout, the authors emphasize the need to understand the context in which firms operate and perceive their environment if we are to make progress in our knowledge and refine appropriate policies, tools and mechanisms to help steer industry on a more sustainable path. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

刍议新形势下的高校机关效能改革

机关是高校的门面,代表高校的形象,肩负着服务、参谋、协调、管理等职能。目前,由于高校行政化等因素的不良影响,不少高校的机关机构臃肿、职责不清、办事拖沓、高高在上、服务意识薄弱;"门难进,脸难看,事难办,话难听"的情况时有发生。在高等教育大众化,信息化社会的新形势下,改进高校机关效能,提高服务质量势在必行,本文试图对高校机关效能低下的原因进行分析,阐述高校机关效能革命的必要性,并提出对策。     

Business incubation models and institutionally void environments

This paper builds a conceptual framework of business incubation models in institutionally void environments, a relevant yet understudied topic in the extant literature. On the basis of a qualitative approach based on the analysis of five case studies drawn from a sample of business incubators in Egypt, and grounding on the literature on institutional voids, we posit that there is a necessity for two different incubation models in institutional laggard environments, typically found in, yet not limited to, developing countries. In particular, we show evidence that the two models supply and facilitate different needs of entrepreneurs, in different stages of entrepreneurial life cycle. We further argue that the incubation model choice is contingent on the incubator sponsors, i.e. affiliation of the incubator, mainly through available resources and imposed objectives. Finally, we offer implications for policy makers who can use the framework to design the regulations in a way that will stimulate appropriate incubator creation and hence sustain local entrepreneurship, as well as for incubator managers who can follow the findings to position their incubation model in line with their resources, capabilities and objectives.     

A Process Perspective on Organizational Failure: A Qualitative Meta‐Analysis

An important stream of the organizational failure literature has proposed process models to describe how firms fail. Despite much progress, this stream is currently at a crossroads. Previous process models try to capture how failure unfolds in singular models that describe organizational failure as the result of either inertia or extremism or as a mixture of both. However, it remains unclear how these competing explanations are related and what underlying mechanisms explain why organizational failure processes unfold as they do. We address these issues by examining failure processes using a qualitative meta‐analysis research design. The qualitative meta‐analysis allows us to analyse and synthesize the wealth of previously published single‐case studies in order to develop process models of organizational failure. The most salient finding of our analysis is that failure processes converge around four distinct process archetypes, which we name imperialist, laggard, villain, and politicized. Each process archetype can be explained by the interplay of distinct rigidity and conflict mechanisms. Differentiating the four process archetypes and explaining the underlying mechanisms helps to resolve some contradictions in the previous failure process literature.     

The Effect of Import Competition on Firm Productivity and Innovation: Does the Distance to Technology Frontier Matter?

How does foreign competition affect growth and innovation in China? Using our unique measures of proximity of Chinese firms and industries to the world technology frontier, we find that despite vast sectoral heterogeneity, Chinese manufacturing industries have undergone rapid technological upgrading over the period of 2000–06. The distance to the world production frontier of firms and industries plays an important role in shaping the nexus between the competition pressure from foreign imports and domestic firms' growth and innovation behaviour. Our results support the theoretical predictions of Aghion et al. (2005, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 701–728) that import competition stimulates the domestic firms' productivity growth and R&D expenditure if firms and their industries are close to the world frontier, but discourages such incentives for laggard firms and industries. The two forces highlighted by the model operate for imports under the ordinary‐trade regime, for collective and private firms, and for imports originated from high‐income countries. Our findings are robust after controlling the influence of foreign investment, the reverse causality of regressors and the short‐term business cycle fluctuations.     

Outward FDI from Central and Eastern European Countries

In Central and Eastern Europe, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has not yet become as a prominent factor in the regions reintegration into the world economy as trade liberalisation used to be in the early 1990s or inward foreign direct investment is currently. In the terminology of the investment–development path, with the notable exception of the Russian Federation, the region is in stage 2, whereby inward flows are still growing faster than outward flows. This article argues that a combination of the latecomer status of the regions transnational corporations and the transition shock can explain most of that laggard situation. It hypothesises that the enlargement of the European Union (EU) would give a major push to the outward foreign direct investment flows of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), on condition that adequate government policies to promote those investments are put in place. The impact on the investment–development path, however, is uncertain, because accession to the EU is often accompanied by a surge in foreign direct investment inflows, too. Finally, the article also looks at the options available to deal with the specific problems of the Russian Federation in relation to capital flight, including ways of regularisation and potential return to the home economy.     

Deciphering the UK's business investment performance

• ? Absent June 2016's Brexit vote, growth in business investment would have been much faster and the UK would be sharing in a global “investment boom”. Or so the Bank of England claims. But the reality is more complicated. What is striking is just how subdued investment growth has been across countries.
• ? Survey evidence presented by the Bank suggests that recent business investment growth has been less than a third of what might have been achieved absent Brexit. The UK has also been highlighted as an investment laggard among major economies.
• ? Headline investment growth has certainly been relatively weak since 2016. Uncertainty around future UK‐EU trading arrangements may have resulted in some investment being deferred or cancelled. And the Brexit‐related fall in sterling will have pushed up the cost of imported capital equipment, cutting demand.
• ? But a collapse in investment in the North Sea sector has had a significant effect on headline investment growth. On an excluding‐extraction basis, UK business investment rose at the same pace as the US (ex‐extraction) and faster than Japan in 2016 and 2017, while average annual growth rises from 1.0% to 2.4%.
• ? What is striking about the recent performance of business investment in the UK and other G7 members is how subdued growth has been across economies. Despite a favourable environment, no major advanced economy has seen investment rise at the type of rates that the Bank predicts the UK, but for Brexit, should be now enjoying.
• ? Sectoral shifts, the rise of intangible investment and the consequences of technooptimism offer some reasons as to why measured investment may have become less sensitive to economic upswings. These same factors suggest that 1990s‐style growth in private investment is unlikely in the UK (or elsewhere) even once Brexit uncertainty has cleared. Indeed, our own medium‐term forecasts see business investment growth across major economies continuing to run at a relatively subdued pace.

     

Engaging in duty of care: towards a terrorism preparedness plan

Abstract

A minor digression, if you will: it has been over 30 years since I (referring to lead author) first wrote on the topic of terrorism and its potential impact on conducting business in a global context. The most vivid memory I have relative to that initial foray into this new topic was making a presentation at the annual summer American Marketing Association (AMA) conference in Chicago. I got halfway through the paper and I started to hear jeering noises emanating from the audience. As I remember (it is not a pleasant memory), the audience thought that I had lost my mind and that the reviewers of the paper allowed this rubbish into the AMA meeting (the implication was that they must have been drinking at the time). This is a true account of the presentation and when I left the session, I would be dishonest if I didn’t tell you that I had made a terrible error and there would be significant ramifications to my young academic career. Yet, no country is untouched by global terrorism today, and the ramifications for global organizations are escalating year by year.     

Confidence sets for the date of a break in level and trend when the order of integration is unknown

We propose methods for constructing confidence sets for the timing of a break in level and/or trend that have asymptotically correct coverage for both I(0) and I(1) processes. These are based on inverting a sequence of tests for the break location, evaluated across all possible break dates. We separately derive locally best invariant tests for the I(0) and I(1) cases; under their respective assumptions, the resulting confidence sets provide correct asymptotic coverage regardless of the magnitude of the break. We suggest use of a pre-test procedure to select between the I(0)- and I(1)-based confidence sets, and Monte Carlo evidence demonstrates that our recommended procedure achieves good finite sample properties in terms of coverage and length across both I(0) and I(1) environments. An application using US macroeconomic data is provided which further evinces the value of these procedures.     

Bias of OLS Estimators due to Exclusion of Relevant Variables and Inclusion of Irrelevant Variables

In this paper, I discuss three issues related to bias of OLS estimators in a general multivariate setting. First, I discuss the bias that arises from omitting relevant variables. I offer a geometric interpretation of such bias and derive sufficient conditions in terms of sign restrictions that allows us to determine the direction of bias. Second, I show that inclusion of some omitted variables will not necessarily reduce the magnitude of bias as long as some others remain omitted. Third, I show that inclusion of irrelevant variables in a model with omitted variables can also have an impact on the bias of OLS estimators. I use a running example of a simple wage regression to illustrate my arguments.