Globalization frustrated: The case of white goods

This paper challenges the common view that mature industries are always ripe for global strategies. Based on data from the European Domestic Appliance industry, this paper shows how changing economic conditions can diminish the value of global strategies. Critical in these shifts were simultaneous rises in demand for variety (that eroded the benefits of scale and continental market share) and decreases in manufacturing scale (that permitted new supply options), which reduced the extent of the strategic market to national dimensions. They added complexity that decreased the profitability of the global players and increased that of national strategies. The fluctuating fortunes of leading firms are shown to have been caused primarily by choices of strategy, not by national factor costs.     

A note on odds in the cattle futures market

This paper investigates the odds of generating a 100-fold return in the cattle futures market. We employ cattle futures data for the period October 11, 1978, through July 31, 1979, to compute the probability of obtaining such a return. The tests are constructed to give the investor the benefit of the doubt whenever doubt exists. The most conservative finding is that the probability is one in approximately thirty-one trillion. Assuming that the return is made in the most efficient way possible, this probability falls to approximately 1.5×10⁻¹⁶.     

Applying continuous improvement to teaching in another culture

As international business programs proliferate, the mixing of many cultures in the classroom creates new teaching challenges. This paper reports on how an American accounting professor coped with cultural differences at INSEAD in France. Student evaluations for the first course taught at INSEAD revealed a variety of problems that the professor tried to resolve by applying the principles of continuous improvement in the next course he taught. Confronting the students directly with the problem, enlisting their aid in improving the course, and eliciting specific feedback all combined to substantially raise the level of student satisfaction. The principles applied in this intervention are broadly applicable to college professors, not only those working with “international” students.     

Market efficiency and cointegration: Some evidence in Pacific-Basin black exchange markets

This paper investigates the efficiency of the black exchange markets in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The study applies unit root and cointegration tests to examine black exchange market efficiency of Pacific-Basin countries. The generating process of black exchange rates appears to be a random walk. This is consistent with Gupta (1981) and other foreign exchange rate unit root test studies. Johansen cointegration tests are performed for these black exchange markets together with Japan and Singapore. The results suggest that there is at least one unit root among the black market exchange rates. Hence, black exchange markets are not collectively efficient.     

Principles of Australian Quarantine

This article provides an overview of the report on Australia’s quarantine policies and procedures, Australian Quarantine. The Report proposes fundamental changes to Australia’s approach to quarantine and recommends: the development of a partnership between industry, governments and the general public; the establishment of a statutory authority to develop Australia’s quarantine policy and to ensure national delivery of quarantine services; acknowledgment of the importance of maintaining Australia’s unique natural environment; the need to redress the imbalance between the plant and animal sectors; development of a more formally structured process for conducting risk analyses; and expanding the scope of quarantine beyond the ‘barrier’ to cover pre-border, border and post-border activities.     

SOME ANALYTICS OF WHY CONDITIONAL IRRs CAN CONTAIN GROWTH RATE RELATED MEASUREMENT ERROR

This paper investigates the consequences of incorrectly modelling the investment outflow/benefit inflow relationship on estimates of the internal rate of return (IRR) prepared by using cash recovery rates (CRRs). The main result of this paper is that CRR-based estimates of the IRR will contain such bias if and only if either the duration of the assumed shape of the investment outflow/benefit inflow relationship is less than the duration of the true investment outflow/benefit inflow relationship for all rates of interest or the duration of the assumed shape of the investment outflowlbenefit inflow relationship is greater than the duration of the true investment outflowlbenefit inflow relationship for all rates of interest. This result is then applied to the case where both the true and the assumed shape of the investment outflow/benefit inflow relationships have benefit inflows that change exponentially over time. It is shown that if the exponential rate of change is mis-specified the resulting CRR-based estimate of the IRR will contain systematic bias monotonically related to the rate of growth.     

基于胜任力结构的企业家才能分析

一、企业家才能的相关理论在西方经济学界,人们认为劳动、资本、土地、企业家才能四部分构成了生产要素,在这四种生产要素中企业家才能则是其灵魂性的要素。企业家才能是指企业领导的经营管理和创新能力,包括创新能力、合作精神、敬业精神、竞争意识、冒险精神、自信、判断能力     

引进战略投资者的谋略

一、正确界定战略投资者 战略投资者是指与标的企业业务联系紧密、以谋求长期战略利益为目的、持股量较大且长期持有、拥有促进标的企业业务发展的实力并积极参与公司治理的法人投资者.与一般法人投资者相比,战略投资者持股的安定性更强、集中度更高、参与公司治理的积极性更大,因而是一种积极持股者和安定性股东.     

集团公司现金回收管理系统的建立与控制

中国经过20多年改革开放的风雨历程，正在进入竞争日趋激烈的世界大市场，融入国际经济大循环。在现代企业制度相继建立后，要在竞争中取胜，必须彻底转变在计划经济体制下的行政性、经验性、粗放型的管理模式，使之向市场化、知识化、集约化的方向发展，实现经营管理的现代化。随着科学技术不断进步，市场竞争日益激烈，生产经营日趋复杂，企业规模不断扩大，跨地区、跨行业经营的集团公司不断涌现，这就对集团公司的管理提出了较高的要求。本文只探讨集团公司的现金回收管理问题。