Methodological choices in work-life balance research 1987 to 2006: a critical review

This study reviewed methodological choices (sampling frames, constructs investigated and measures used) in 245 empirical work-life balance papers published in a range of discipline-based peer-reviewed journals between 1987 and 2006. Results show that work-life balance studies need to establish greater consistency between the conceptualization of constructs and the operationalization of measures. There is also scope for well-designed field experiments to establish clear causal relationships between variables. Sampling choice in previous literature is somewhat constrained and may be enhanced by targeting single and same-sex parent families, manual and lower-skilled service workers, and employees providing eldercare. Researchers should also be more transparent in providing rationales for their choices of organizations or group lists used to target respondents. The findings have significant implications for understanding, interpreting, and utilizing the contemporary work and family literature.     

The Determinants and Motivations of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment: A Spatial Gravity Model Approach

Abstract

The study attempts to investigate the features and determinants of China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) into 138 countries and Chinese firms' investment strategies over the 2003–2009 period using an augmented gravity model with spatial linkages. The respective evaluations of China's OFDI are indicative of the important role played by non-financial OFDI. At the same time, Chinese firms prefer to invest in high-tech industries in developed countries while also focusing on the extraction of natural resources around the world. The empirical findings show that the host country's economic size has a significantly positive effect in terms of promoting Chinese OFDI. Chinese firms favour a complex-vertical platform in the developed countries while they prefer a market potential foreign direct investment (FDI) surrounding the host developing countries and an export-platform FDI in the petroleum exporting countries based on the surrounding market potential effect and spatial effect. The fuel extraction motive plays a key role in China's OFDI in line with the realities of Chinese FDI strategies in recent years.     

A Bayesian estimator for stochastic frontier models with errors in variables

A Bayesian estimator is proposed for a stochastic frontier model with errors in variables. The model assumes a truncated-normal distribution for the inefficiency and accommodates exogenous determinants of inefficiency. An empirical example of Tobin??s Q investment model is provided, in which the Q variable is known to suffer from measurement error. Results show that correcting for measurement error in the Q variable has an important effect on the estimation results.     

价值工程在观光型旅游产品的应用研究

文章旨在探讨旅游企业如何通过价值工程方法提高旅游产品的价值,进而提高其经济效益和社会效益。通过结合现有观光型旅游产品的现状,分析了观光型旅游产品设计中存在的问题,通过功能分析和成本分析,结合价值工程基本公式给出了提升旅游产品价值的途径,并针对交通和住宿问题提出了相应的改进建议。     

高职高专商务英语专业实践教学体系构建初探

科学的构建高职高专商务英语专业实践教学体系,对于加强学生职业能力和创新能力的培养,具有重要的意义。实践教学体系的建设应该结合专业特点、准确把握人才培养定位,不断优化和完善实践教学规范。本文认为,实践教学体系构建要符合高职教育的培养目标,以就业导向为基础,以职业技能为核心,以实习基地建设为保障。     

基于优势互补与双赢的科技合作机制构建研究——以“两广”科技合作机制构建研究为例

概述"两广"科技合作发展现状、科技差异、各自优势及科技合作机制构建的现实意义,基于优势互补与双赢,提出构建"两广"科技合作机制及配套措施。     

Identifying Critical Brand Contact Elements of a Tourist Destination: Applications of Kano's Model and the Importance–satisfaction Model

A destination brand comprises brand elements that lead tourists to form a brand impression of a destination. Based on a literature review, this study contributes to a model for exploring tourist destination brand contact experiences. The results from applying Kano's model and the importance–satisfaction model to a specific hot spring destination indicate that four types of contact elements can be identified as having different quality attributes. The contact elements related to staff's service efficiency, attitude and willingness of serving customers are identified as the critical brand contact elements for the tourist destination. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Bankruptcy Cost of the Life Insurance Industry Under Regulatory Forbearance

Abstract

In this study the Taiwan Insurance Guaranty Fund (TIGF) is introduced to investigate the ex ante assessment insurance guaranty scheme. We study the bankruptcy cost when a financially troubled life insurer is taken over by TIGF. The pricing formula of the fair premium of TIGF incorporating the regulatory forbearance is derived. The embedded Parisian option due to regulatory forbearance on fair premiums is investigated. The numerical results show that leverage ratio, asset volatility, grace period, and intervention criterion influence the default costs. Asset volatility has a significant effect on the default option, while leverage ratio is shown to aggravate the negative influence from the volatility of risky asset. Furthermore, the numerical analysis concludes that the premium for the insurance guaranty fund is risk sensitive and that a risk-based premium scheme could be implemented, hence, to ease the moral hazard.     

Revisiting the demand for money function: evidence from the random coefficients approach

This article employs second-generation random coefficient (RC) modeling to investigate the time-varying behavior and the predictability of the money demand function in Taiwan over the period from 1982Q1 to 2006Q4. The RC procedure deals with some of the limitations of previous studies, such as unknown functional forms, omitted variables, measurement errors, additive error terms, and the correlations between explanatory variables and their coefficients. Our main findings are as follows. First, the empirical results indicate that the values of the elasticities in the RC estimation are significantly different from those in other studies, because of the use of coefficient drivers. Second, by observing the time-varying behavior of the coefficients, we find some specific points in our time profile of coefficients; that is, we can make an association with real events occurring in Taiwan, such as the financial liberalization after 1989 and the Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998. Finally, we compare the predicted values via the time intervals and different specifications and find that we should adapt different specifications of the RC model to estimate each interval.