On automated e‐business negotiations: Goal,policy, strategy,and plans of decision and action

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in automated e‐business negotiations. The automation of negotiation requires a decision model to capture the negotiation knowledge of policymakers and negotiation experts so that the decision‐making process can be carried out automatically. Current research on automated e‐business negotiations has focused on defining low‐level tactics (or negotiation rules) so that automated negotiation systems can carry out automated negotiation processes. These low‐level tactics are usually defined from a technical perspective, not from a business perspective. There is a gap between high‐level business negotiation goals and low‐level tactics. In this article, we distinguish the concepts of negotiation context, negotiation goals, negotiation strategy, and negotiation tactics and introduce a formal decision model to show the relations among these concepts. We show how high‐level negotiation goals can be formally mapped to low‐level tactics that can be used to affect the behavior of a negotiation system during the negotiation process. In business, a business organization faces different negotiation situations (or contexts) and determines different sets of goals for different negotiation contexts. In our decision model, a business policymaker sets negotiation goals from different perspectives, which are called goal dimensions. A negotiation policy is a functional mapping from a negotiation context to some quantitative measures (or goal values) for the goal dimensions to express how competitive the policymaker wants to reach that set of goals. A negotiation expert who has the experience and expertise to conduct negotiations would define the negotiation strategies needed for reaching the negotiation goals. Formally, a negotiation strategy is a functional mapping from a set of goal values to a set of decision‐action rules that implement negotiation tactics. The selected decision‐action rules can then be used to control the execution of an automated negotiation system, which conducts a negotiation on behalf of a business organization.     

Knowledge Networks and Careers: Academic Scientists in Industry–University Links*

abstract Careers are central to our understanding of the knowledge creation dynamics of network organizations. Based on the example of R&D project collaboration between firms and universities, this paper examines the emerging forms of career models that support knowledge flows between organizations. It explores how some large firms in the high‐technology sectors have sought to break away from the limitations of internal R&D and firm‐based careers for scientists by engaging in external collaborative projects to gain access to the open knowledge networks of university researchers. It examines how the firms seek to forge close institutional ties with their university partners and develop network career structures in order to engage academic scientists in joint knowledge production. It argues that firms have sought to extend their human resource and knowledge boundaries into the established internal labour markets of the universities with which they collaborate, leading to the formation of a pool of joint human resources with work experiences and career patterns straddling the two sectors. The paper develops the concept of an ‘overlapping internal labour market’ to provide a conceptual bridge between internal labour markets and network organizations.     

泛北部湾区域贸易自由化问题研究

本文首先对贸易自由化问题进行了界定，然后就泛北部湾地区开展贸易自由化的各项因素进行了论述。一方面，笔者列举了一系列利于在该区域实现贸易自由化的潜在性因素；另一方面，笔者也注意到区域内各国基础设施条件和经济基础差异较大，贸易商品的层次不同、贸易间的关联度差以及各国在涉及国家经济安全，产业体系建立等贸易自由化政策方面所表现的不同倾向又为泛北部湾区域贸易自由化进程增添了障碍。本文在深入分析这些因素的基础上，从产业层次角度提出实现区域内贸易自由化的进程模式和方法。     

Relationship between leader�Cmember exchange and organizational citizenship behaviors: Examining the moderating role of empowerment

This study addresses the moderating role of empowerment on the relationship between leader?Cmember exchange (LMX) quality and subordinates?? organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Using hierarchical multilevel analyses, we found that LMX is positively related to OCB. Likewise, we found that team-level empowerment climate is positively related to individual-level feelings of empowerment, which, in turn, positively moderate the positive effect of LMX on OCB.     

Valuation of Discrete Dynamic Fund Protection Under Lévy Processes

Abstract

This paper investigates the valuation of discrete dynamic fund protection (DFP) under Levy processes. Specifically, the analytical solution of discrete DFP under Lévy processes is obtained in terms of Fourier transforms. The derivation uses Spitzer’s formula and leads to a recursion on computing the characteristic function of the maximum protection-to-fund ratio using the Fourier inversion. DFP can then be valued efficiently and accurately via the fast Fourier transform. The pricing behavior of the discrete DFP is numerically examined using several Levy processes, such as geometric Brownian motion, jump-diffusion models, and variance gamma process. Numerical experiments confirm that the proposed approach produces highly accurate discrete DFP values within 1 second.     

Changes in the value relevance of accounting information over time: Evidence from the emerging market of China

We investigate the changes in the value relevance of accounting information among Chinese firms over the past two decades, during which accounting reforms are launched to provide decision makers with increased disclosure and higher quality financial information. We also investigate the factors that differentiate firms showing significant value relevance improvement from firms showing little improvement. We find increases in the value relevance of some financial variables and decreases in others, which suggests that accounting numbers help to explain the pricing process of stock shares although at different levels. In addition, we find that value relevance improvements are more pronounced for smaller firms, firms with lower growth rates, and those with greater asset tangibility. We also document that value relevance improvements are generally lower in an exuberant stock market. These results have implications for a variety of information users and policy makers in emerging countries which are reforming their accounting systems.     

Managing reverse logistics to enhance sustainability of industrial marketing

In this paper, a sustainable industrial marketing framework of latest requirement of green and sustainable operation is proposed. When literatures in strategy, marketing and operation have provided insight about the efficiency of reverse logistics and business value for the customer, the interrelationship is still under explored. This raises the question whether manufacturers could determine ecological friendly strategies to address their customer's environmental conscious needs and design the suitable solution to strike the balance between ecology and economics. Based on the case study of a medical product manufacturer, this study addresses this question by investigating how manufacturers identify the problem of reverse logistics; design and develop of sustainable product and service by enhancing the efficiency of operations, and market competencies that add value to their customers' business processes. Within the strategy for designing for effective reverse logistics, these findings contribute to understand the use of information system and technology for reverse logistics to enhance the customer's business process and provide value-added process for customer retention.     

Auditors’ decision-making under going-concern uncertainties in low litigation-risk environments: Evidence from Hong Kong

This study examines the audit opinions issued by auditors in a low litigation-risk environment at a time of high economic uncertainty – that of Hong Kong in the period immediately after the Asian financial crisis of 1997. Empirical research using United States data has shown that, contrary to professional guidance which restricts the issue of “disclaimer of opinion” only to situations where existing uncertainties prevent the auditor from forming an opinion, auditors tend to use the “disclaimer” report (in the going concern context) to signal more extreme client firm’s distress. In the high litigation-risk environment of the US, researchers have attributed this tendency to the idea that “disclaimer of opinion” reports are used by auditors to provide some protection against potential legal liability. The results of this study provide evidence that, even in the low litigation-risk environment of Hong Kong, auditors still use “disclaimer” reports to signal more extreme client firm financial distress. Thus, the maintenance of a high litigation-risk environment does not appear to be a necessary pre-requisite for high quality audits.     

Freedom of Association, Freedom of Contract, and the Right-to-Work Debate

The debate over union security arrangements is often presented as involving irreconcilable goals and values. Supporters of union security typically stress their importance to the union’s organizational strength and workers’ welfare. Right-to-work supporters, who favor banning such arrangements, typically emphasize employee freedom and choice. Our approach involves a unique comparison of both perspectives, which shows that neither perspective is completely compatible with safeguarding freedom. We therefore advocate reconciliation based on compulsory worker representation, which preserves the best freedom-enhancing properties of each perspective.