Private Exporters Receive Help in Guangdong

The government of Guangdong will step up its support to export-oriented private businesses which play an increasing role in the southern province＇s foreign trade and overseas investment.     

Steps to Help You Save Money

You have a nice salary, but you still feel short of money. At the end of each month, you often ask yourself, ＂Where has all my money gone＂？ To help you better manage your salary, here comes some money saving tips. Following them your daily expense will be cut off easily, but still keep the quality of your life.     

Foreign Makers Help Build Up Ship Industry

IntensifiedcompetitionwillhelpChina'sship-buildingindustryincreaseitscompetitiveness.Duringthepastfewyears,foreignshipbuildershaveworkedwithbigshippingcompanies,localgovernmentsandlocalshipbuilderstobuildshipyardsalongthecoastalregionsinChina.Foreign-providedcapital,advancedmanagementexpertiseandtechnologiesandmarketingcapabilitieshavecomplementedChina'sskilledandexperiencedworkforceandhavecreatedagoodmatch.AccordingtotheChinaShipbuildingIndustryAssociation,jointventureshipbuildersanddomest…     

Can Marketing Help in Tackling Food Waste?: Proposals in Developed Countries

One third of food destined for human consumption is wasted globally, and much of the food waste that comes from high-income or developed countries is caused by poor marketing practices, consumer behavior, and consumption patterns. The present study focuses on developed countries to propose some marketing actions that could help in reducing food waste. A comprehensive analysis was carried out for each marketing variable, to provide a snapshot of actions and proposals that are being developed. Our study highlights the relevance of marketing in contributing to reduce food waste, through the removal of “Buy one, get one free” sales promotions, clarifying date labeling, or raising food waste awareness campaigns. The main contribution of this study is the proposal of marketing actions that help in tacking food waste.     

Commitment to Employees: Does It Help or Hinder Small Business Performance?

This study used a sample of 4,637 small businesses to test the relationship between organizational commitment to employees (OCE) and company performance. OCE was significant in all five of the performance models. The results of the employee productivity model revealed a significant positive relationship between OCE and company performance, suggesting that small businesses might be able to realize some benefit in employee productivity from OCE programs. In addition, results from the return on assets, return on sales, return on cashflow, and employee growth models indicated that some OCE programs might be more beneficial to small businesses than others. Potential antecedents of OCE were also examined. Company size, owner education, and gender of the owner had positive relationships with OCE. Partial support was also found for a positive relationship between owner experience and OCE. Differences in the results of this study compared to studies for larger corporations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Does Heterogeneity Help in Overcoming the Public Goods Dilemma in a Sequential Contribution Environment?

This paper compares behavior of heterogeneous groups with homogeneous groups in public goods production. In heterogeneous groups members differ in their opportunity costs of contribution, while in homogeneous groups, members have the same opportunity costs. Members of three-player groups sequentially make all-or-nothing contributions towards the production of a public good where contribution decisions, payoffs, and opportunity costs of preceding players in the group are known to each group member. We find that heterogeneous groups perform better than homogeneous groups controlling for average opportunity costs at the group level. Our results also indicate that subjects develop an endogenous contribution norm to sustain public goods production where subjects in the first positions, and subjects with relatively low opportunity costs contribute most often.     

Emerging Innovation in Emerging Economies: Can Institutional Reforms Help Russia Break Through Its Historical Barriers?

This article investigates Russia's historical and current innovation initiatives through the lens of institutional theory, utilizing the triple‐helix innovation model, which we have extended to include the context of Russian culture. The Russian government has embarked upon a national innovation policy and has committed billions of dollars with the goal of developing a knowledge‐based economy to enhance participation in the global arena, while simultaneously diversifying away from energy and natural resources. Historically, Russia has typically not succeeded with innovation beyond the idea, and sometimes product development, stages. Our primary conclusion is that the inadequacy of formal and informal institutional support has created historical barriers in Russia, some of which are currently being addressed to develop an innovation ecosystem encompassing a more supportive institutional infrastructure. The article concludes with implications for US firms and universities involved with innovation activities in Russia. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Can Mobile Money Help Firms Mitigate the Problem of Access to Finance in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT

Mobile money is a mobile-phone-based financial tool that can transfer money safely and quickly across a wide geographical area. Mobile money has transformed the way businesses in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa operate. Nowadays, banks team up with mobile-money-service providers and pay interest on deposits and grant loans based on financial transactions in mobile-money accounts. In this paper, these recent developments are investigated in order to determine whether the adoption of mobile money by firms can actually help them mitigate the vexing problem of access to finance. To answer this question, the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys Program data set for the year 2013 is used, thus making the study applicable to the present time. The results obtained, after controlling for a large number of firm-level characteristics and using a newly introduced measure to identify access-to-finance status of the firms, indicate that firms which use mobile money are more likely to obtain loans or lines of credit. Further analysis shows that the firms that use mobile money are more productive than other firms in the region.     

Six Measures to Help SMEs out——An Interview with the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology

With the global economic turmoil and the changes in Chinese economic pol- icies in 2008,small,and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)have all felt the early-coming of a"cold season".They have been undergoing extreme dif- ficulties in doing businesses due to a series of factors including decreasing     

Will You Help Me Please? The Effects of Race,Gender and Manner of Dress on Retail Service

This research attempts to determine if a customers visible physical characteristics influence retail service delivery. The results of this study suggest that black and male customers wait significantly longer than white and female customers at retail customer service counters. In addition, females are more likely to experience a positive transaction outcome than males.