Symbiotic International Business Networks: Collaboration between Small and Large Firms

As the drivers of globalization remove barriers that traditionally segmented the competitive environments of small and large firms, firms of all sizes are beginning to share the same competitive space. Symbiotic arrangements are evolving through which smaller firms enter the value chains of larger firms, to the benefit of both sides. Using a conceptual framework with illustrative examples, this article explains how smaller firms can use symbiotic, collaborative arrangements with larger firms to overcome inherent constraints of size and to achieve the efficiencies required for world‐class competitiveness. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons,Inc.     

Slowdown Trade Surplus Growth

According to Ma Kai＇s economic planning report submitted to the NPC session on March 5th,（Ma Kai is the Minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission）,the government has listed the slowdown in trade surplus growth and the steady expansion of external investment as major tasks for 2008.     

On the complementarity of money and credit

I propose a model where agents choose to conduct their business using two payment instruments, money and bilateral credit. A friction in the timing of transactions rationalizes the use of both instruments and makes it optimal for agents to use money as a means of settlement for credit. Money and credit complement each other. With anticipated inflation, complementarity implies that the credit to money ratio decreases with inflation.     

Convergence in International Unionism, etc. The Case of Canada and the USA

Industrial relations systems differ across countries, yet their outputs converge. Canada and the USA are a striking example. Over the past two decades, private and public membership and density, employer opposition, and bargaining have converged. These findings contradict the conventional wisdom and invalidate the recommendation that the USA emulate Canadian policy.     

Table of Contents Volume 22 2003

Volume Contents

Table of Contents Volume 22 2003     

Ideational item Avoiding the pitfalls of managementThink

Productive, structured, and efficient thinking is often the only kind encouraged by companies—at least, until they notice that such thinking can harden into unimaginative and rigid patterns. Every manager and every company needs to take time to try out new thinking patterns and look at possibilities in new ways.     

Accounting variables as determinants of systematic risk in Malaysian common stocks

The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial accounting variables and systematic securities risk in a small and developing capital market, namely the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Factor analysis was used to group and identify the financial variables into independent dimensions. The possible bias due to multicollinearity between accounting data was ameliorated by selecting one representative variable from each factor profile of the firm. Evidence has shown that financial ratios/profitability ratio and, to a certain extent, activity ratio are important determinants of the systematic risk of a common stock. Contrary to most of the reported findings in other markets, the results show a negative relationship between leverage ratio and systematic risk, for which we have no explanation.     

Political, Ideological and Economic Determinants of Abortion Position: An Empirical Analysis of Stale Legislatures and Governors

A bstract . The Supreme Court's decisions in the 1989 Webster and 1992 Casey cases shifted the focus of abortion legislation from the federal to the state level. In light of this shift, the factors that affect the position taken by state level office holders on abortion is examined using state level data. Results of a probit analysis show that a governor's position on abortion is significantly influenced by the governor's ideology as well as the abortion demand of his or her constituency. Similar probit analyses for state senates and stale houses shows that a constituency's abortion demand as well as factors representing the constituency's demand for access to legal abortion services significantly affect the position both legislative bodies take on abortion. Policy maker's ideology is found to play a significant role in shaping state senates' position on abortion, but not the positions of state houses'. This last result is consistent with the proposition that policy makers who have a narrow constituency, such as state house members, have less freedom to make decisions based on their own ideology and are more beholden to the views of their constituency, all else equal.