AEBF,Responding to the Crisis

The 11th Asia-Europe Business Forum（AEBF11）,organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade（CCPIT）, was held at the China World Hotel in Beijing from October 21 to 23, 2008.With the theme＂Seize the Trend,Time for Action,and PublicPrivate Partnership＂, the business forum ran in parallel with the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit. In the context of an increasingly grave global financial crisis, the AEBF11 attracted the concern and interest of national leaders, a variety of enterprises, and the public.     

The art of wasting time: sociability,friendship, community and holidays

Slow tourism is motivated by the desire for personal and communal well-being. It emerged as an antidote to the fast-paced imperatives of global capitalism that urge the entrepreneurial self to speed up and work harder to achieve and demonstrate desired social status. The entrepreneurial self can be understood in the contexts of neoliberalism and the class- and gender-based histories of time-thrift and rational recreation; the entrepreneurial self uses leisure time purposively in the pursuit of status, avoids idle pursuits and has restricted capacity to experience leisurely social relationships. In this article, it is argued that leisurely social relations can be reclaimed by letting go, even temporarily, of time-thrift and the compulsion to use leisure time purposively. Data drawn from in-depth interviews with repeat visitors at two Australian caravan parks revealed that for the period of their holiday the tourists relax, refuse to be driven by schedules, socialise with other tourists and feel no compulsion to use time purposively. The key reasons the tourists return to the parks each year were for the friendships and the sense of community they experience as part of the holiday. Slow tourism by its very nature rejects time-thrift, however, as the movement is harnessed by global capitalism, slow tourism risks becoming a source of conspicuous consumption. The findings of this study suggest that friendship and community thrive more readily in conditions where the need to achieve and demonstrate social status is discarded along with time-thrift.     

The global agglomeration of multinational firms

The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What drives the offshore agglomeration of multinational firms in comparison to the agglomeration of domestic firms? Using a unique worldwide plant-level dataset that reports detailed location, ownership, and operation information for plants in over 100 countries, we construct a spatially continuous index of agglomeration and analyze the different patterns underlying the global economic geography of multinational and non-multinational firms. We present new stylized facts that suggest that the offshore clusters of multinationals are not a simple reflection of domestic industrial clusters. Agglomeration economies including technology diffusion and capital-good market externality play a more important role in the offshore agglomeration of multinationals than the agglomeration of domestic firms. These findings remain robust when we explore the process of agglomeration.     

Summer Date with Zaragoza 2008

Expo Zaragoza 2008 regulated by the B.I.E. （the International Expositions Bureau） is an International Exposition adressing a ,specific theme＂Water and Sustainable Development＂.     

数码相机：即将退市的精品

如今新品数码相机的冲击会让这些老将们失去往日的光彩。不过,经典还是会给我们留下深刻的记忆, 如果您对哪款DC喜欢的话,如果您还想拥有它的话, 就趁最后的时机快快购买吧。     

时尚烛台燃起浪漫

在芬芳的花朵簇拥下的浮水蜡花朵,娇艳欲滴,在水中还可以继续燃烧;独特造型的蓝色海螺中,装着黄色的蜡烛,顿显浪漫情调;而香橙蜡烛点起来满室的甜蜜清香,更是让人久久不忍熄去。     

世界AIP潜艇大全

AIP是“不依赖空气推进装置"的英文缩写,如今它已为人们普遍接受。AIP 潜艇日渐风靡各国海军,并大有引领常规潜艇发展之势。     

北美车展：汽车设计与制造新潮

今年1月8日,北美最大的国际汽车展——底特律车展正式开幕。目前它已成为展示世界汽车设计与制造新潮的舞台。     

Are there any real benefits from office automation?

Installing office automation technology may save your company time and money, or it may not. Some of the variables affecting success include using the equipment for specific beneficial goals, experimenting to see what results are achievable, and providing good support systems.