Firm Networking and Bribery in China: Assessing Some Potential Negative Consequences of Firm Openness

Economic openness, both in terms of increased international trade exposure and enhanced inter-firm networking, has been a key element of China’s economic emergence since the implementation of market reforms and the “opening-up policy” over 30 years ago. Unfortunately, these changes have also coincided with the increased incidence of bribery and corruption. Both in general, and in the specific context of China, research on the relationship between a firm’s tendency toward openness and its propensity to engage in bribery is scarce. This study seeks to fill this gap based on empirical evidence provided by a large sample of Chinese firms. The findings of the study reveal that firms’ increased networking and openness tend to occur contemporaneously with greater bribery and corruption. We suggest that this may be due to the misuse of guanxi-based networks that coincide with the presence of firms’ open network strategies, heightened by the potential loss of resource and capability heterogeneity (and hence reduced competitive advantages) in the context of openness. We further find that firms paying bribes do so as an attempt to overcome unnecessary bureaucratic processes and ineffective institutional support that might tend to hinder their development.     

A framework for the selection of Six Sigma projects in services: case studies of banking and health care services in Taiwan

This study develops a framework for effectively implementing service Six Sigma projects. The framework is composed of four phases: (1) initial project identification, which deploys candidate projects in accordance with a firm’s strategic goals, (2) project value assessment, which evaluates project’s value based on the financial return, cost, and its impact on employee behavior, (3) project complexity assessment, which examines scope, data availability, and risk associated with the project, and (4) project prioritization, which identifies Six Sigma projects and categorizes them into black belt and green belt categories. Two cases in banking and health care services are discussed to demonstrate the proposed framework.     

Maximum-Revenue and Optimum-Welfare Tariffs in International Mixed Duopoly: Does the Order of Firms’ Move Matter?

This paper examines the effect of privatization on the priority of the maximum-revenue tariff and the optimum-welfare tariff in a mixed oligopoly with partial privatization and foreign competition. Major findings of this paper are that: firstly, in a mixed duopoly with partial privatization and asymmetric marginal costs, when the marginal cost of the privatized firm is higher than a critical value, the optimum-welfare tariff will be lower than the maximum-revenue tariff regardless of the order of firms?? move; secondly, if the degree of privatization is sufficiently high and cost is symmetric, the optimum-welfare tariff will be higher than the maximum-revenue tariff; thirdly, if the degree of privatization is sufficiently high and the domestic firm is highly ineffective in production, under Stackelberg public leadership, the optimum-welfare tariff is low and then it is more possible that the optimum-welfare tariff is lower than the maximum-revenue one.     

美国货币政策对中国经济动态冲击的实证研究

本文对美国货币政策对我国实体经济的冲击效应进行了实证检验,结构化动态冲击分析表明,美国货币政策正向冲击(1)短期内会引起中国总产出、出口总额的增加,长期中则会导致中国总产出、出口总额的下降;(2)短期内会造成中国进口总额的上升,长期中最终会对中国进口总额产生负向冲击;(3)方差分解结果显示,美国货币政策的正向冲击对中国出口总额的影响最大。(4)美国货币政策对中国实体经济影响程度相对于国内部分学者的结论较小。     

医学蚊媒和蜚蠊的诱集监测技术研究

[目的]改进医学媒介昆虫蚊类和蜚蠊的诱集方法,提高口岸对蚊媒和蜚蠊的诱捕能力和监测技术。[方法]使用由本研究设计的多种昆虫诱集装置配合新型昆虫引诱剂,在福建口岸诱集蚊虫和蟑螂,进行效果初步验证。[结果]诱集实验捕获蚊虫5个种,共计1089只,致倦库蚊（Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus）为优势种;蜚蠊4个种,共计380只,德国小蠊（Blattella germanica）为优势种。诱集装置与新型诱剂的组合使用对蚊虫（t=8.190,P〈0.01）和蜚蠊（F=5.859,p〈0.05）的诱集效果均明显好于常规方法。[结论]采用诱集装置并配合新型引诱剂的方法能够获得较好的监测效果,该方法可用于口岸蚊媒和蜚蠊的诱集监测。     

博客营销：加入而不是控制

博客，英文blog，起初只是一种很“酷”的行为，只有那些思想时髦、另类的人喜欢在自己的博客里发表“一家之言”。现如今，博客的流行和普及大大超出人们的预料。现在世界上平均每5．8秒钟诞生一个博客，中国的博客数量已由2003年的20万增长到2005年的近1000万，预计2006年将达1520万。     

The Interaction Between Suppliers and Fraudulent Customer Firms: Evidence from Trade Credit Financing of Chinese Listed Firms

Journal of Business Ethics - This study investigates the interaction between suppliers and fraudulent customer firms from the perspective of reputation damage and reputation recovery. Specifically,...     

借鉴美国经验实施对中国服务贸易的开放式保护

中国加入WTO后,时服务业的开放做出了实质性承诺,但在服务业的开放和服务贸易发展进程中,运用合理的服务贸易保护措施,培育服务业的国际竞争力,亦成为我国在服务贸易自由化趋势下的长期任务和对策。中国服务业开放应坚持适度保护和逐步开放原则,此原则体现为开放式保护主义的形式。鉴于中国政府的促进行为还不完善,因此有必要借鉴发达国家的开放式保护经验。     

神经网络在实验室检测工作质量管理及控制中的应用

对实验室检测工作质量中存在的风险因素进行研究,形成风险评价指标体系,并运用BP神经网络建立风险分析评价模型,对风险评价指标进行量化评价,最终获得量化的实验室整体检测工作质量风险数据,为实验室有效管理提供科学决策依据。     

浅论电子商务中物流的作用与发展

通过对物流、商流、信息流和资金流演变发展过程和物流业在当今电子商务中作用的探讨。寻求在信息技术与电子商务迅猛发展的今天,传统运输业、物流业如何完善内部运作机制,加快自身建设和发展。