Joint ventures in the ASEAN countries

Many developing countries see in joint ventures a convenient means of pursuing their economic development in their own way without forgoing the benefits to be derived from foreign investment capital and know-how. The following article presents some of the findings of an empirical study by the author in the ASEAN countries. He addressed his inquiries on motivation, advantages and drawbacks of enterprises with local participation to 77 joint ventures as well as 29 fully foreign-owned firms.     

An equilibrium displacement approach to oligopoly market analysis: an application to trade in the Korean infant formula market

This article uses an equilibrium displacement model (EDM) to assess the impact of a change in trade policy in the Korean infant formula market that is assumed to be oligopolistic. Domestic oligopolists compete in a market for a homogenous good with importing firms who enjoy the same level of market power as the domestic producers. Within an EDM framework, we investigate how the market adjusts to a new equilibrium in response to an external policy shock that improves access to foreign goods. Our empirical work consists of two steps. We first econometrically estimate the market demand elasticity and market power parameter. Then, using these estimates, we simulate our EDM model to assess the distributional effects of tariff cuts and other changes in marginal cost. Simulation results show that, with a lower market price and increased consumption, the change in consumer surplus resulting from tariff reduction is unambiguously positive, but that the change in social welfare can be in either direction, depending on who receives market rents associated with imports. When importing firms are domestic, the domestic welfare change is definitely positive. However, in the case of foreign importing firms, the direction of the welfare change crucially depends on the demand elasticity.     

Cotton market integration and the impact of China's new exchange rate regime

This article studies the integration of China's cotton market with the international market, especially the U.S. market. Investigating the futures prices from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in the U.S. and the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) in China with several time series models, we find that a long‐run cointegration relationship exists between these two series. The two markets share price transmissions, and based on results from an Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model, we find their price volatilities are similar. We argue that China's recent exchange rate reform and its gradual liberalization in bilateral cotton trade since it joined World Trade Organization have had important impacts on these futures markets. Based on these findings, several important economic and policy implications are derived.     

Dynamic Benchmarking of Mass Transit Systems in the United States Using Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Productivity Index

For more than five decades, the federal, state, and local governments have subsidized mass transit systems through sales, gasoline, and property taxes with an expectation that it would improve mobility to low‐income citizens, reduce carbon footprints and traffic congestion, and facilitate regional economic growth. However, in times of financial crisis and chronic government budget deficits, the inefficient use of a mass transit system can increase public outcry over the wasteful spending of government funds and taxpayers’ monies. To find ways to utilize mass transit systems more efficiently across the United States, this paper aimed to identify the benchmark transit practices that every mass transit system can emulate and then continuously improve its performance. To achieve these goals, this paper analyzed the multiple years of past performances of 262 mass transit agencies in the United States using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index and then provided practical guidelines for enhancing mass transit efficiency.     

The Interaction Effects of Social Norms and Dissatisfaction toward Drinking on Willingness to Visit and Comment on Binge Drinking Prevention Facebook

This study examines motivational factors (Facebook prevention-social norms and dissatisfaction with drinking experiences) to encourage college students to visit and comment on a binge drinking prevention Facebook page with an experimental design. The study found that when college students were lowly dissatisfied with drinking experiences, they significantly changed their willingness to visit and comment on the Facebook page promoted in the binge drinking prevention PSAs based on prevention-social norms. However, those who are highly dissatisfied with alcohol drinking did not change their willingness to visit and comment on the Facebook page based on the levels of prevention-social norms. This study discusses the role of prevention-social norms and dissatisfaction with alcohol drinking in engaging with binge drinking prevention Facebook page, guided by the Uses and Gratification model and elaboration likelihood model (ELM).     

Political Market Power Reflected in Milk Pricing Regulations

We investigate revealed political market power reflected in the pattern of price discrimination by end use that is the hallmark of U.S. milk marketing orders. We show that the pattern of prices that would maximize producer profits, if producers operated a cartel with monopoly power in a regional market, is far above actual government-set price differentials between milk used for fluid products and that used for manufactured products. The pattern of actual price differentials is consistent with political welfare weights for producers relative to consumers that are small compared to the weights that would yield maximum producer profits.     

Leveraging open innovation to improve society: past achievements and future trajectories

Open innovation (OI) is an approach which describes a purposive attempt to draw together knowledge from different contributors to develop and exploit innovation. It has become clear that OI directly benefits organisations' economic performance and resilience, but researchers, practitioners, and policy makers became also convinced that OI might be the way forward to tackle the world’s most pressing societal challenges, representing unresolved Grand Challenges, which can only be weathered by diverse sets of collaborative partners that join forces. Although anecdotal evidence points at how OI practices can be employed to achieve societal impact not only in private firms but also in public organisations, very little understanding exists ‐beyond anecdotal‐ to link OI to societal impact. This special issue has the ambition to start the discussion and establish a framework as the stepping stone to tackle this complex research gap.     

Occupational Composition Within Multinational Firms: Evidence From Korean Employer-Employee Matched Data

Using Korean employer-employee matched data, we investigate the difference in occupational structure between domestic and multinational firms in manufacturing sectors. The main result shows that the occupational composition of the multinational firms is more skewed toward high-skills and service occupations than domestic firms. Furthermore, we find the heterogeneous labour structure among multinational firms upon types and locations of foreign affiliates. The multinationals that are establishing production plants or locating their affiliates in emerging countries tend to be composed of relatively smaller share of high-skills and service occupations than those with foreign R&D centres or business branch or with affiliates located in advanced countries.     

A Socio-cognitive Model of Sustainability Performance: Linking CEO Career Experience,Social Ties,and Attention Breadth

Journal of Business Ethics - Achieving sustainability as a firm outcome is increasingly a concern for CEOs. Attention breadth (executive attention where attention is focused on a variety of areas...     

From classical to contemporary leadership challenges

This article explored the Aeneid, Virgil's foundation epic of the Latin canon, from a values‐based leadership perspective, which is defined as the moral foundation underlying stewardship decisions and actions of leaders. Specifically, we juxtaposed the resonant leadership elements of vision, culture, and values—and their corresponding equivalent Roman themes of fatum, pietas, and virtus. Using a thematic analysis approach, we coded the following eight values: integrity, good judgment, leadership by example, decision making, trust, justice/fairness, humility, and sense of urgency. We found that while the Aeneid extols prototypical values, the epic instructs that truly effective leadership is not about being a monochromatic prototype. Rather, the epic reveals that the essence and privilege of effective leadership demands reflection on the dynamic relationship between the leader and the led toward a better, envisioned future.