How Chinese Agricultural Immigrants Affect Farmers in the Russian Far East

China’s international position as a net creditor nation provides it with foreign exchange that it has invested in Asian and African countries. One example is China's investment in the Russian Far East (RFE). Thousands of Chinese agricultural workers have migrated to the RFE in recent decades. They are often welcomed by Russian farmers who face a labor shortage and by local residents who can buy cheap vegetables from them, but there are others who resent their presence in the region as competitors. Our study is the first empirical study of this relationship. Our results demonstrate economic benefits to the Russian households. There are, however, some negative repercussions of Chinese farmers in the RFE, and the governments of both China and Russia need to manage the situation wisely.     

Toward a model of governance and legality in transforming economies: Empirical evidence from China

This article develops and empirically examines a model of governance and legality of organizations in countries under significant system transformation. While previous research has focused on issues of governance structures, this study suggests that organizational legality is equally important. An analysis of survey data from 127 Chinese managers demonstrates that governance and legality are distinct dimensions. We suggest that an application of this empirically corroborated model to other transformational economies may reveal different configurations of the organizational field, mirror contrasting reform strategies, and indicate the possibility for alternative routes of organizational transformation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Risks of deflation versus risks of excessive inflation in Europe

Economists are currently divided over the question of what represents a more immediate threat to the global economy — deflation or excessive inflation. Using stochastic simulations, this article extrapolates the likely inflation rates in individual European countries and the euro area as a whole. The results indicate that as the financial crisis continues to subside, policymakers should be vigilant about expeditiously rolling back the unconventional monetary policy measures implemented during the crisis.     

Metaphors and organizational identity in the Italian public services

This article calls in question the stereotyped image of the lazy and idle employee, lacking motivation or a sense of responsibility. In analysing three case histories in the secretarial offices of a major university department, in a registry office and in a specialist ward in a medium-size hospital, we discovered an unexpected world of cooperation, commitment and initiatives. In this research attention focuses on the operators’ point of view, i.e. the complex interactions with the public, the symbolic frames created to justify one's own role and routine, the metaphors used to explain the dilemma of a difficult everyday life. Running a service means offering a non-material product in which personal attitudes, organizational abilities and communication codes all play a decisive role. Perhaps the observation of small communities at work may help us to find that lost way out of the labyrinth of the Italian public administration.     

Start‐up Motivations and Growth Intentions of Minority Nascent Entrepreneurs

Firm growth is widely considered to be a measure of success for entrepreneurial businesses. Data indicate that there are systematic differences between minority and nonminority‐owned firms with respect to growth. Black entrepreneurs are 50 percent more likely to engage in start‐up activities than white entrepreneurs, however, black‐owned firms are smaller and less profitable than their white‐owned counterparts. Following the effort–performance–outcome–logic of expectancy theory and using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), our paper investigates the differences between black and white entrepreneurs' motivations to start and intentions to grow a new venture. Findings indicate that there are significant differences in motivations between black and white entrepreneurs both in starting and in their intentions to grow the new venture. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Un análisis de la gestión por competencias en la empresa española De la teoría a la práctica

This paper is about the competency management, a technique for human resources management aimed at improving the performance of employees and organization performance. Specifically, there are concerns about the high degree of implementation of this technique and its relationship with management performance in specific industries with various economic outcomes.     

Organizational coping with institutional upheaval in transition economies

The radical change in corporate governance systems is fundamental to the period of institutional upheaval characterizing transition economies. Using an institutional theory framework, this paper develops a model of responses to this change. The model is tested with data from 1,723 firms in 22 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. The results suggest that a firm’s adaptation to the new governance order will be facilitated or hampered depending on the characteristics of the institutional and organizational contexts it faces. A major implication of the study is the need to consider cultural and contextual embeddedness in explaining how governance systems transform.     

Integrated Management of Land Use Systems under Systemic Risks and Security Targets: A Stochastic Global Biosphere Management Model

Interdependencies among land use systems resemble a complex network connected through demand–supply relationships. Disruption of this network may catalyse systemic risks affecting food, energy, water and environmental security (FEWES) worldwide. We describe the conceptual development, expansion and practical application of a stochastic version of the Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM), used to assess competition for land use between agriculture, bioenergy and forestry at regional and global scales. In the stochastic version of the model, systemic risks of various kinds are explicitly covered and can be analysed and mitigated in all their interactions. While traditional deterministic scenario analysis produces sets of scenario‐dependent outcomes, stochastic GLOBIOM explicitly derives robust outcomes that leave the systems better‐off, independently of which scenario applies. Stochastic GLOBIOM is formulated as a stochastic optimisation model that is critical for evaluating portfolios of robust interdependent decisions: ex‐ante strategic decisions (production allocation, storage capacities) and ex‐post adaptive (demand, trading, storage control) decisions. As an example, the model is applied to the question of optimal storage facilities, as buffers for production shortfalls, to meet regional and global FEWES requirements when extreme events occur. Expected shortfalls and storage capacities have a close relationship with Value‐at‐Risk (VaR) and Conditional Value‐at‐Risk (CVaR) risk measures. A Value of Stochastic Solutions is calculated to illustrate the benefits of the stochastic over the deterministic model approach.