The tortoise and the hare: the impact of employment instability on firm performance

The main objective of this study is to assess the influence of employment instability on firm performance in a sample of publicly traded firms. Competing theoretical arguments are considered with regard to likely outcomes associated with employment instability. A large sample of cross‐sectional time‐series data is then analysed using generalised estimating equations (GEE) regression techniques. Results indicate that employment instability is negatively associated with firm performance, although the relationship is also demonstrated to be quadratic (an inverse U‐shaped relationship). This suggests that the main relationship varies depending upon the level of employment instability. Industry characteristics are also examined as moderators of this main effect. The results suggest a disordinal interaction effect for industry differentiation, where employment instability is negatively associated with firm performance for firms in highly differentiated industries and positively associated in less differentiated industries.     

人才培养目标与教学管理水平的关系整合——以高职土建类专业为例

高职土建类专业人才培养目标与教学管理有着密切的关系。教学管理对人才培养目标的实现产生多方面的影响,主要体现在目标管理、过程管理、绩效管理三个方面,在明确学生学习目标、激励学生学习动力、调动学生学习积极性、引导学生全面发展等方面具有举足轻重的作用。为了更好地实现人才培养目标,应实现教学管理重心从传统的过程管理向目标管理和绩效管理的根本性转变。     

How about selling commodity futures losers?

This paper explores the benefits of extending the investment universe to commodity futures, from the perspective of momentum traders. We find that the growth-optimal portfolio includes negative (positive) weights on commodity futures losers (stock winners). Motivated by this finding, we construct a joint momentum strategy, buying stock winners and selling commodity futures losers, and show that it generates an average monthly return of up to 1.91% and provides much lower skewness (0.04) and kurtosis (1.27) than a traditional stock momentum strategy. It also greatly improves profitability, especially in unfavorable market states, and thus effectively manages tail risk.     

影响酒精酵母发酵效果的因素研究

酒精酵母发酵作为现代工业的一个重要指标,酒精酵母的发酵效果也受到了人们的重视。在同样的条件下使酒精酵母拥有更好的发酵效果是工业造酒想要达到的目标。通过实验来探究在酒精酵母发酵过程中影响其生长速度与繁殖的因素。酒精发酵过程中蔗糖会分解成果糖和葡萄糖,酵母发酵过程中首先利用葡萄糖而后利用果糖,果糖就会成为残留物,使得其产生差异性。通过实验发现影响酒精酵母发酵效果的因素有温度、通风、pH、尿素、糖比例等。     

New development: Fiscal reform in South Korea: looking back and moving forward

ABSTRACT

At first glance, it seems that South Korea’s three fiscal systems (mid-term expenditure framework, top-down budgeting, and performance management) function well. However, each fiscal system operates separately and they are inefficient because they follow past practices. This article explains what the problems are and how to overcome them.     

Varying Coefficient Regression Models: A Review and New Developments

Varying coefficient regression models are known to be very useful tools for analysing the relation between a response and a group of covariates. Their structure and interpretability are similar to those for the traditional linear regression model, but they are more flexible because of the infinite dimensionality of the corresponding parameter spaces. The aims of this paper are to give an overview on the existing methodological and theoretical developments for varying coefficient models and to discuss their extensions with some new developments. The new developments enable us to use different amount of smoothing for estimating different component functions in the models. They are for a flexible form of varying coefficient models that requires smoothing across different covariates' spaces and are based on the smooth backfitting technique that is admitted as a powerful technique for fitting structural regression models and is also known to free us from the curse of dimensionality.     

What and How to Communicate CSR? The Role of CSR fit,Modality Interactivity,and Message Interactivity on Social Networking Sites

The current study explored how organizations can build credibility of their CSR communication in social media. In particular the study investigated the role of CSR fit, modality interactivity and message interactivity through a 2 × 2 × 3 experimental design (N = 299). The results suggest that promoting CSR activities with a good fit for the organization leads to greater credibility. Message interactivity also leads to greater credibility perception by way of imbuing a sense of social presence and openness to communication; however, modality interactivity did not significantly influence credibility. Additional analysis suggests an interaction between CSR fit and message interactivity that makes fit critical in low-interactivity settings. Implications for public relations research and practice are discussed.     

How credible is the North Korean threat?

We perform event analysis on particular episodes of tension in the Korean peninsula between 2000 and 2008, and investigate the effect of the events on South Korean financial markets (stock markets, bond yield spreads and the exchange rate) given that South Korea would be the first affected by a military aggression from North Korea. Surprisingly, in nearly all cases, these events, which have often been dramatized in the world media, have no significant impact on either of these variables or only a very small one. We also find no significant impact of events on listed firms that would a priori be likely to suffer from increased tension between the two Koreas. Since financial markets often contain better predictions than expert opinions or surveys, these results strongly suggest that the North Korean threat is non‐credible.