制裁下的伊拉克石油工业

随着“石油换食品”计划的实施，伊拉克极端困难的经济、社会局面有了一些改善。目前伊原油产量已达500万桶／日左右，净出口量大约为200万桶／日。炼油能力维持在34.75万桶／日左右。伊最大的输油管道Kjrkuk—ceyhan(伊拉克基尔库克—土耳其港口杰伊汉)目前的输送能力为90万桶／日左右。最大的石油出口终端Mina—al—Bakr，吞吐能力可达130—140万桶／日。伊拉克一方面坚决抵制制裁，另一方面努力争取国际社会的同情与支持，积极寻求对外合作的机会。目前，伊政府已经与俄罗斯、法国和中国等国的石油公司签订了数十亿美元的油田开发合同，并正在同另外一些国家的石油公司频繁接触，以经济利益来换取这些国家的政治支持，争取早日打破联合国的制裁。     

深化体制改革完善成品油价格形成机制

2000年6月我国实现了成品油价格与国际市场接轨。但现行作价办法的调价时间滞后，价格接轨简单机械，管理模式仍受计划经济和行政管理的影响，造成成品油价格仅是从形式上与国际市场接轨，并未实现市场机制的根本接轨，因而难以充分发挥其调节市场供求、事理配置资源的作用。从管理体制上看，价格管理的指导思想、职能和手段落后于现实市场经济体制改革的步伐，不仅遏制了现行油价机制的积极作用和应有活力，同时还造成了部分油品价格游离于接轨机制之外，油价体制和油价体系不完整。为此，建议政府进一步转变管理职能，以间接管理为主，维护市场4秩序，真正实现服务型管理的新模式，同时，本着责、权统一的原则，进一步扩大两大集团的定价自主权；联系国内市场状况，实现成品油市场机制的有机接轨；根据不同油品的产销特点，逐步实现航空煤油、石脑油、重油等产品的企业自主定价，并按照市场规则，理顺专项用油的价格。     

信息时代中小企业的营销创新分析

当今社会科学技术突飞猛进，知识经济初见端倪，信息革命正迅猛的改变人们的生存环境，人们开始从工业社会进入信息时代，信息技术在企业广泛渗透到生产开发，经营管理的全过程中，成为他们发展的基本依据和重要手段。信息化正从整体上引导着企业经济和社会发展的进程。信息技术将成为企业经济发展的关键因素。从改革开放的初期开始，中小企业就不断涌现，成为推动我国经济发展的一支重要力量。中小企业的优势在于：自身规模小，机制灵活，且产品价格低，能满足人们多样化需求。随着我国加入WTO，电子商务的构建，信息时代的来临，信息化正从整体上引导着企业经济和社会发展的进程。激烈的市场竞争环境使我国中小企业日益暴露出竞争力量差，技术力量薄弱的自身劣势。中小企业普遍存在管理水平低下，资金和人才缺乏，信息化程度低下等问题。     

iTV: A major opportunity for financial services,or not?

Interactive television has arrived, thanks to substantial technology investments that have been made by Sky and others. It is growing in importance as innovative interactive applications are developed for broadcast programmes (eg the BBCi service and Big Brother), and for advertising — and will develop further when broadband deployment gets to critical mass. Readers should not expect a television-variant of the world wide web, however. This was tried during 2000–2002 in the form of web look-alike, interactive ‘walled garden’ sites, and failed to attract critical mass footfall. The model has evolved and now revolves around interactive content synchronised with broadcast, which offers financial services companies an interesting new way to increase awareness and to differentiate the service presentation. Furthermore, over the next ten years, broadband is expected to usher in a new era of personalised television — in which specialised broadcasts (such as personal pensions advice programmes) can be made available on demand. The observations in this paper are mainly drawn from the UK, where digital television penetration is high; the lessons can be applied more broadly, however, and are relevant to any organisation thinking of promoting its service through entertainment channels.     

Road infrastructure and economic development in the periphery: the case of A55 improvements in North Wales

This paper examines the impact of a major road improvement programme on the economic development of North Wales. The paper identifies the economic impacts of the road on a selection of firms and organisations in North Wales, and provides a modelling framework to examine the static and dynamic effects of road improvements. Road improvements across North Wales are found to be a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for economic development in this peripheral area.     

Global economy gathering strength

Encouraged by a highly expansionary economic policy, the global economy is enjoying a rapid upturn. Utilisation of capacity is high in many sectors, particularly in the growth centres of the USA and East Asia, where China leads the field. With inflationary risks on the increase, most countries are now shifting the focus of economic policy. Fiscal policy in particular can be expected to provide little in the way of further stimulus. In addition, there has been a turnaround in interest rates in many countries. Yet how quickly can the monetary reins be tightened without jeopardising growth or endangering price stability?     

New ways of achieving debt sustainability beyond the enhanced HIPC Initiative

In 1996 the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched by the Bretton Woods institutions to reduce the external debt burden of low-income countries (LICs) to sustainable levels in a reasonably short period of time because debt constitutes an obstacle to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. In some HIPCs, however, debt sustainability has been in danger despite debt relief under the HIPC Initiative. Debt relief is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for development. It can do no more than play a catalytic role. The question, then, is how to achieve debt sustainability beyond the HIPC Initiative.