Governing business process offshoring: Properties,processes, and preferred modes

This article examines an important yet understudied issue—the governance mode for business process offshoring (BPO). By applying transaction cost economics and organizational control perspective in the global BPO context, we suggest that BPO's governance mode (foreign captive, joint venture, and independent vendor) is determined by task features, such as knowledge specialization, information security, and process codifiability, and by needed process integration, horizontally between departments and units within the provider and vertically between the provider and its global client and its local subcontractor. Findings from our analysis of 308 global BPO units in India and China confirm our hypotheses.     

Corruption and FDI: Does the Use of Distinct Proxies for Corruption Matter?

Abstract

The relationship between FDI and corruption/institutional quality in host countries has been widely analyzed. However, the use of distinct samples and indicators for corruption tends to hinder the interpretation and outcomes of econometric assessments. The aims of this paper are to assess the extent to which the use of distinct proxies for corruption provides diverse evidence regarding the relationship between corruption and FDI, and to assess whether controlling for other indicators of institutional quality reinforces the effect of corruption indicators on FDI inflows. In order to accomplish these goals, we estimate a set of multivariate logistic models using 96 countries over the period 2000 to 2010. The results evidence that using distinct proxies for corruption variables, as well as controlling for other types of the countries’ institutional quality, generate distinct outcomes. In isolation, a country’s transparency and its citizens’ corruption perceptions fail to impact on FDI whereas a bribe-free environment is conducive to FDI inflows. When we control for the human, social and economic development of the countries, the impact of a transparent and bribe-free context on FDI attraction is enhanced. Overall, it is clear that in order to become a large recipient of FDI a country has to guarantee a transparent and bribe-free environment, characterized by low income taxes, high literacy rates and generalized economic freedom (own labor and property control by citizens).     

我国沪深股市同配性和网络导航现象研究——基于复杂网络理论

分别按照地区、行业、市值三种分类标准对我国沪深市场股票进行分类,以股票为网络节点,研究了三种分类标准下的股票同配性,进而研究了行业分类标准下的网络导航现象。结果表明:上海市场和深圳主板市场在阈值较高、按行业分类时表现出较为明显的同配性;沪深股市在阈值较低时表现出一定的异配性,而当阈值达到一定程度时表示出较强的同配性;网络导航现象体现了股市中异类股票间的相互影响作用;中国股市存在较多的网络导航现象;在较长时期内造成该现象的主要原因是分类标准不准确、股票涉及共同的炒作概念、具有共同的股权投资对象、新股上市日期相近等,短期内的原因还包括消息面或事件性的驱动因素。     

中国社会创新的阶段性特征——基于“政府—市场—社会”三元框架的实证分析

社会创新已经成为全球社会发展中的热门概念,各国政府纷纷大力推动社会创新并将其纳入公共治理变革的重要内容。社会创新的主体界定、创新模式、扩散路径等成为理论界和实践界关注的焦点,但是大部分实证研究都是基于西方国家案例的讨论。近年来,社会创新实践在中国也风起云涌,文章基于"政府—市场—社会"的三元分析框架,通过多样本的统计分析来揭示中国社会创新的创新主体、创新领域、创新模式及环境影响因素等阶段性特征。研究发现,中国社会创新可能的阶段性特征是:主体以社会部门为主,政府、市场参与为辅,其机遇和空间来源于治理变革中的政府、资本化竞争的市场及发展中的公民社会分别在社会管理创新的策略驱动、企业社会责任的趋势引领和可持续性发展的需求带动下相互博弈的互动过程。在这一互动格局中,政府部门的监管政策对社会创新发展具有重要的影响。     

中日贸易中的隐含碳排放——基于跨国投入产出表的分析

贸易与环境具有密切的联系,贸易往来中隐含着对气候变化造成重大影响的“碳泄漏”问题.笔者以投入产出法为基础建立经济模型,计算出1990年～ 2000年间中国对日本有CO2的净出口并细化到产业部门层面,分析了中日两国24个产业部门出口到对方国家的CO2排放量,证明中国产业部门的碳密集度更高.此外,通过虚拟“无贸易”状态,估计出双边贸易使两国的总体CO2排放在下降.日本应该为中国的部分CO2排放负责,而中国大多数产业部门都可利用与日本贸易的机会学习日本的清洁能源技术,降低碳排放密集度.     

信贷投放、财政支出与经济增长关系的实证研究——基于中国1994-2011年的数据检验

在对相关文献进行梳理分析的基础上,设计了信贷投放、财政支出与经济增长关系的理论模型,并以1994-2011年的数据为依据,运用协整分析、格兰杰因果检验、误差修正模型的分析框架,对三者之间的关系及相互影响进行了实证检验,测度了信贷投放、财政支出对经济增长的贡献程度。研究结果表明,信贷投放、政府支出是经济增长的原因,且存在长期稳定的均衡关系;从短期来看,信贷投放对经济增长的贡献更大;从长期来看,财政支出规模的扩大及结构的优化将更有利于经济的长远发展。     

从泰勒规则到伊文思规则——美联储利率决策框架的演变及未来发展

本文对美联储20世纪90年代以来的利率决策规则的演变作了分析论述,并将该演变过程划分为三个阶段。本文着重对最近的创新规则——采用通货膨胀预期和失业率作为利率决策阈值的"伊文思规则"作了分析和比较,并对其局限与挑战以及近期可能的走势作了分析和预期。在此基础上,本文对美联储未来可能的利率决策规则的理论基础、关键要素、决策框架作了分析预期,并作出前瞻性猜想,提出美联储未来在常规状态下的利率决策规则可能回归传统泰勒规则,同时纳入名义GDP要素,同时将更加注重经济增长率目标和货币供应总量指标,并可能更加倾向于采用灵活的通货膨胀目标,以及前瞻性数据。     

The effect of financial constraints,investment policy,product market competition and corporate governance on the value of cash holdings

This study empirically investigates the value shareholders place on excess cash holdings and how shareholders’ valuation of cash holdings is associated with financial constraints, firm growth, cash‐flow uncertainty and product market competition for Australian firms from 1990 to 2007. Our results indicate that the marginal value of cash holdings to shareholders declines with larger cash holdings and higher leverage. However, firms that are more financially constrained, that have higher growth rates and that face greater uncertainty exhibit a higher marginal value of cash holdings. These findings are consistent with the explanation that excess cash holdings are not necessarily detrimental to firm value. Firms with costly external financing and that also save more cash for current operating and future investing needs find that the market values these cash hoarding policies favourably. Finally, there is limited evidence of an association between various corporate governance measures and the value of cash holdings for a shorter sample period.     

Dealer spread and portfolio selection under price risks: evidence from the gold service industry

The bid and ask quotes as well as portfolio selection decisions of gold dealers who face a gold price risk are investigated within a continuous-time framework. The research integrates into a systematic analysis the decision of asset allocation in financial economics as well as the decision of a bid–ask spread in a market microstructure. The holding rate of gold is correlated to the intensity and jump size of the Poisson process, which is a hedging demand for gold assets against the risk of extreme events. According to empirical analysis from the gold service industries, the gold spread return is related to the expected return, volatility and jump risks of gold prices.     

Guanxi Networks,Buyer-Seller Relationships,and Farmers' Participation in Modern Vegetable Markets in China

The aim of this study is to investigate the joint effects of small-scale farmers’ guanxi networks and buyer-seller relationships on their marketing behavior in China. A survey of 167 vegetable farmers shows that farmers' guanxi networks have significant effect on trusting relationship building with buyers and on their investment behavior for transactional specific assets. Guanxi networks also help to improve farmers’ participation in modern high-value markets (e.g., supermarkets and international markets) and encourage relational transactions. Farmers’ modern market participation will be further enhanced by trusting buyer-seller relationships with buyers and complying with buyers' quality requirements. The application of formal contracts, on the other hand, is closely related to farmers’ trusting relationships with buyers and transactional specific assets for vegetable transactions. Some policy implications are discussed.