China's Banking Reform

This article discusses the main problems facing the Chinese banking system and concludes that, despite serious problems, the risk seems small that, in the near future, a financial crisis will occur that will pose severe problems for the international financial system. An internal financial crisis, however, could occur. Without government support, the economic viability of many of China's banks is questionable. The government and central bank authorities acknowledge the situation and have taken some steps toward reform. The most serious threat to the banking system lies in the accumulation of non-performing loans (NPLs)--many of them policybased loans extended by state-owned banks to money-losing state-owned companies with little expectation that they would be completely repaid. China has been taking measures to keep the problem from worsening and has created four asset management companies to dispose of NPLs that still have value. Since the Chinese economic reforms began in 1978, Chinese authorities have made significant progress in modernising their banking system, although they still have a long way to go. However, there are several ameliorating factors that still keep its financial and foreign exchange system viable. China's continued high rate of growth and high savings rate have funneled deposits into the banking system, while a $20-30 billion annual trade surplus together with an inflow of foreign direct investment at about $40 billion per year have resulted in an accumulation of foreign exchange reserves exceeding $200 billion. China does not carry an unusually heavy debt burden, either domestic or international, although its short-term borrowing in foreign currencies has been increasing. China does not currently face a serious risk of either a domestic or international liquidity crisis--unless, of course, a severe and prolonged world recession occurs that adversely affects Chinese exports as well as the inflow of foreign direct investment.     

China: A Major Economic Power?

For almost quarter of a century since the U.S. normalization of diplomatic relations with China and the beginning of economic reforms under the leadership of Deng Xioaping, two incidents virtually coinciding together, the PRC has achieved impressive, although not unprecedented, rates of economic growth. The future rate of growth of the Chinese economy will depend not only on continuing economic reforms, but also having a tolerable level of social unrest, and achieving a reasonable level of entrepreneurial and bureaucratic efficiency. On the international side, growth will require access to world markets for Chinese exports, continued access to foreign capital and technology, and regional peace. On current reckoning it seems that economic growth of anything between five and seven percent may continue for the forseeable future. This paper tries to analyze the problems and the prospects of China emerging as a major economic power and it's economic and political implications.     

Assessing the Consequences of Converting to Organic Agriculture

In the wake of the public controversy over genetically modified crops, organic production is sometimes hailed as the true “sustainable agriculture”. Its advocates claim that it enriches biodiversity, increases soil “health” and provides more nutritious foods. This paper summarises the results of a three year, multi‐disciplinary study of one major unit undergoing transition from non‐organic to full organic status. Researchers examined whole farm nutrient budgets, insect diversity and the wider environmental economics of organic production compared with non‐organic management. The result was a mid‐term example of multi‐disciplinary science, though some way short of interdisciplinary science. The evidence suggests that organic production can result in measurable environmental gains, which can be valued in economic terms. The full environmental account, however, remains elusive. Yet its significance could prove vital for the future of diversified rural economies in the UK Interdisciplinary minded agricultural and environmental economists are encouraged to extend this pilot initiative in the light of the important policy contribution that such additional research could provide for the improved valuation of sustainable agriculture. The authors conclude that there is a plausible case for an Organic Stewardship Scheme attached to the Rural Development Regulation.     

Contagion as a domino effect in global stock markets

This paper shows that stock market contagion occurs as a domino effect, where confined local crashes evolve into more widespread crashes. Using a novel framework based on ordered logit regressions we model the occurrence of local, regional and global crashes as a function of their past occurrences and financial variables. We find significant evidence that global crashes do not occur abruptly but are preceded by local and regional crashes. Besides this form of contagion, interdependence shows up by the effect of interest rates, bond returns and stock market volatility on crash probabilities. When it comes to forecasting global crashes, our model outperforms a binomial model for global crashes only.     

The scope for collusion under fractional defections

This paper examines the scope for firms to collude in an oligopoly supergame, when firms defect by producing a fraction of their best response outputs. Such deviations from the collusive equilibrium are termed fractional defections. We show that the joint profit maximizing output level cannot be sustained under fractional defections and identify the most collusive output level. The paper also investigates the ability of firms to collude as both demand and the number of firms in the industry vary. The results reveal that the degree of collusion is inversely related to the level of demand and that high levels of concentration may in fact be inimical to collusion.     

Barriers to Managing Diversity in a UK Constabulary: The Role of Discourse

The literature on diversity management has tended to obfuscate some of the theoretical and methodological shortcomings associated with research in this area. Specifically, the literature tends to make a number of rather naïve assumptions about the experiences and aspirations of disadvantaged groups. This paper seeks to problematize the universalist and partisan tendencies that typify much of the diversity literature by focusing on the issue of 'resistance'. Using a form of discourse analysis informed by Foucauldian principles, the paper explores how 'resistance' to diversity initiatives is expressed by both 'dominant' and 'subordinated' groups in a UK police force. It is argued that 'resistance' is better thought of as a discursive resource that can be drawn upon to justify or account for one's own organizational experiences and, in turn, the need to both justify and account for one's experiences is located in broader discursive fields that reproduce dominant ideologies of liberal democracies. The theoretical implications of this position are discussed and a case is presented for more critical and theoretical approaches in the diversity management literature.     

HR professional development: creating the future creators at the University of Michigan Business School

This article focuses on the development of mid‐ to senior‐level HR professionals through a public program offered at the University of Michigan Business School. We suggest that developing HR professionals requires a theory of competencies about what HR professionals must know and do and a development experience based on those competencies. We highlight how we have created a competency model over the last decade and designed our HR executive programs to deliver against this model. We also show the pedagogical techniques used to deliver these competencies. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Continuity and Change in Mergers and Acquisitions: A Social Identity Case Study of a German Industrial Merger*

abstract It is crucial from an employee's point of view to perceive some degree of stability even in times of major organizational change. This paper examines the role of a sense of continuity for organizational identification after an organizational merger. We argue that mergers and acquisitions so often end in failures partly because the change is designed in discontinuous ways and employees do not feel they are doing the same job after the merger as before. Such discontinuous change engenders a critical tension between positive and negative effects of identification that has not yet been fully understood. To deepen the understanding of this tension, in‐depth interviews were conducted in a recently merged German industrial company. Based on these qualitative data we demonstrate how features of the post‐merger company structure and the way it was implemented may have eroded organizational identification. Finally, we propose a parsimonious model to be tested by future research, in which the sense of continuity is consisting of both observable as well as projected continuity.     

Employee attitudes,customer satisfaction,and sales performance: assessing the linkages in US grocery stores

Using store‐level panel data for a major supermarket company, we investigate the linkages between employee attitudes, customer satisfaction, and sales performance, while controlling for observed and unobserved differences across stores. We find that employee attitudes positively affect customer satisfaction with service but do not affect customer satisfaction with quality or value. Additionally, we find that customer satisfaction with service positively affects sales performance. Our results suggest that employee attitudes affect sales performance through their impact on customer service. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.