Plunging into the sea, again? A study of serial entrepreneurship in China

While it stands to reason that serial entrepreneurs—individuals who have founded more than one new venture—should achieve higher levels of success than novices, to date researchers have found little support for this proposition. Is this rather perplexing result only limited to the developed countries in which most research has been conducted? Or is it indicative of a general phenomenon, and hence requesting the need for new theory? We explore these questions by testing the existing theory in two geographic regions in a rapidly emerging transition economy—China. Data from 440 Chinese entrepreneurial ventures suggest that experienced entrepreneurs are better at developing networks, and at managing organizations than novices, but like their counterparts in developed countries, do not necessarily achieve higher levels of venture performance. Implications for theory, as well as for entrepreneurship in the context of transition economies are addressed.     

Euro conversion and return dynamics of European financial markets: a frequency domain approach

Using a frequency domain approach, we compare the spectra of equity market index returns for the 12 Euro-zone countries, the UK, the US, and Japan, over several time frames before and after the introduction of the Euro. In the immediate aftermath of the Euro-introduction, we find a reduced volatility over all frequencies, in which no strong cyclical components are present. However, in the long run, equity markets exhibit a volatility increase: the larger European equity markets develop dynamics that exhibit strikingly similar patterns, while the smaller European equity markets appear to follow dynamics closely resembling white noise. The similarity in dynamics is a likely candidate to explain the increase in correlation among the European markets. Furthermore, the European equity markets initially exhibited dynamics that resembled those of the US, while after the introduction of the Euro, the dynamics of the European Markets exhibits patterns similar to those found the UK. This suggests a change in the dynamic interdependency between the UK and the European markets and an increased convergence of UK market behavior with that behavior dominant in the Euro-zone. The findings may provide important implications for investors seeking to take advantage of international diversification.     

The effects of interactive leadership on human resource management in Singapore's banking industry

Reviewing the literature about interactive leadership and its effects on human resource management in business organizations, this paper proposes that interactive leadership has two major components: interaction skills and team building. Both components have positive effects on employees' trust in their leaders, on employees' motivation and employees' commitment to their companies. Based on these hypotheses, the paper develops an empirical test of the effectiveness of interactive leadership in Singapore's banking industry. Seventy-seven middle-level managers participated in this study by responding to a questionnaire about their leaders, their motivation, their commitment and their trust in these leaders. The results support the hypotheses and suggest some important implications for human resource management in business organizations, especially for human resource management in Oriental societies.     

Comparative research in industrial relations: helping the survey cross frontiers

There has been a relative dearth of comparative, cross-national research which has followed a survey-based approach. This partly reflects the difficulty that researchers encounter in collecting such information, either via primary collection or the secondary matching of existing survey material. This paper addresses these difficulties and suggests ways in which their impact can be minimized. It notes that such difficulties are much more severe in the case of secondary matching and are thereby likely to constrain the scope of this approach. They are not totally absent in primary collection and it is suggested that there are limits to what can be achieved during data collection to promote the development of like data-sets across countries. This indicates that great care must be taken in interpreting data so obtained. Despite such limits and cautions, it is nevertheless concluded that the survey approach can be an important adjunct to the process of understanding why the world of work varies across frontiers.     

Energy balance climate models and general equilibrium optimal mitigation policies

In a general equilibrium model of the world economy, we develop a two-dimensional energy balance climate model featuring heat diffusion and anthropogenic forcing driven by global fossil fuel use across the sphere of the Earth. This introduces an endogenous location dependent temperature function, driving spatial characteristics, in terms of location dependent damages resulting from local temperature anomalies into the standard climate-economy framework. We solve the social planner's problem and characterize the competitive equilibrium for two polar cases differentiated by the degree of market integration. We define optimal taxes on fossil fuel use and how they may implement the planning solution. Our results suggest that if the implementation of international transfers across latitudes is not possible then optimal taxes are in general spatially non-homogeneous and may be lower at poorer latitudes. The degree of spatial differentiation of optimal taxes depends on heat transportation. By employing the properties of the spatial model, we show by numerical simulations how the impact of thermal transport across latitudes on welfare can be studied.     

Demand for Customized Products, Production Flexibility, and Price Competition

We examine markets where, in addition to production of standard (core) products, mass customization is technologically feasible. We compare a setting where a monopolist provides both standard and custom goods to a setting where an entrant joins the custom market and find customers' tastes affect the social desirability of entry. The entrant is unconcerned about the impact of its custom production on the incumbent's core product market and in some cases may supply more custom products than is socially desirable. Entry enhances (reduces) social welfare if consumers' core valuations are positively (negatively) related to their value added for customization.     

Concentrated supply chain membership and financial performance: Chain- and firm-level perspectives

This study reports evidence that concentrated 3-firm supply chains achieve superior financial performance, and that supply chains’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of chain concentration and chain duration. Results from firm-level analyses suggest that the profitability benefits of supply chain relationships are captured predominantly by downstream chain members, whereas cash cycle benefits are realized throughout the supply chain. Firm-level tests also reveal that chain members’ financial performance varies systematically with measures of downstream bargaining power, downstream relationship duration, and degree of supply consolidation. The study's chain- and firm-level analyses employ data extracted from sample firms’ publicly available financial reports, including their major customer disclosures under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 131 (1997) and 14 (1976).