Tolerance for uncertainty and the growth of informationally opaque industries

Hofstede's [Hofstede, Geert H. 1980. Culture's consequences: international differences in work-related values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.] cross-country psychological survey of IBM employees finds that some countries (societies) are systematically less tolerant of uncertainty, while uncertainty-tolerance is shown by some theoretic models to be essential to the growth of emerging sectors about which less is known. This paper first uses Durnev, Morck, and Yeung's [Durnev, Art, Morck, Randall, and Yeung, Bernard. 2004. Value-enhancing capital budgeting and firm-specific stock return variation. The Journal of Finance. 59(1): 65–105.] methodology to identify these informationally opaque industries. The hypothesis is then made that countries characterized by high uncertainty aversion (measured by Hofstede's indicator, and two other alternative indicators) will grow disproportionately slower in industrial sectors where information is less available. Using the Rajan and Zingales [Rajan, Raghuram G. and Zingales, Luigi. 1998. Financial Dependence and Growth. American Economic Review. Vol. 88(3): 559–586.] “difference-in-differences” methodology, which is relatively free from the endogeneity problem, the study provides robust evidence of such an industrial growth pattern in 34 countries and 36 manufacturing industries. It also shows that national uncertainty aversion is not driven by underdevelopment of financial sector, inadaptability of civil law systems, lower level of economic or human capital development, labor market inflexibility, or any of many other institutional factors. The results remain robust when religious (Catholic vs. Protestant) composition is used as an instrumental variable for national uncertainty aversion. The international evidence presented helps explain why some countries are slower in embracing “new” (vs. traditional) industries.     

涉外企业税务审计中的几个问题

《涉外税务审计规程》对涉外税务审计工作的顺利开展发挥了重要作用,但也存在一些问题。为此,根据新时期的新要求,要充分运用电算化审计技术,适当调整和补充底稿范本,合理选择审计程序,不断推进涉外企业税务审计工作的科学化、规范化和程序化。     

HEDONIC PRICING MODELS FOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION MARKS

Abstract.  This paper attempts to link Chinese numerology to the determination of vehicle registration mark (VRM) prices in Hong Kong through the hedonic pricing analysis. The values of different patterns of the numbers and Roman alphabet letters are examined. We find that there is a very strong preference for the number '8', that visually appealing patterns add great values to a VRM and that the non-transferable VRMs are more expensive than transferable ones. We also show that their prices move in tandem with the Hang Seng Index. The findings suggest that the government can raise revenue by auctioning off intangible assets containing alphanumerical identification marks.     

Multiple generation product life cycle predictions using a novel two-stage fuzzy piecewise regression analysis method

Product life cycle (PLC) prediction plays a crucial role in strategic planning and policy definition for high-technology products. Forecast methodologies which can predict PLCs accurately can help to achieve successful strategic decision-making, forecasting, and foresight activities in high-technology firms, research institutes, governments, and universities. Over the past few decades, even though analytic framework strategies have been proposed for production, marketing, R&D (research and development), and finance, aiming at each stage of PLCs, forecast methodologies with which to predict PLCs are few. The purpose of this research is to develop a novel forecast methodology to allow for predictions of product life time (PLT) and the annual shipment of products during the entire PLC of multiple generation products. A novel two-stage fuzzy piecewise regression analysis method is proposed in this paper. In the first stage, the product life-time of the specific generation to be analyzed will be predicted by the fuzzy piecewise regression line that is derived based upon the product life-time of earlier generations. In the second stage of the forecast methodology, the annual shipment of products of the specified generation will be predicted by deriving annual fuzzy regression lines for each generation, based upon the historical data on the earlier generations' products. An empirical study predicting the life-time and the annual shipment of the 16 Mb (Mega bit) DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) PLC is illustrated to validate the analytical process. The results demonstrate that two-stage fuzzy piecewise regression analysis can predict multiple generation PLT and PLC precisely, thereby serving as a foundation for future strategic planning, policy definitions and foresights.     

中国企业海外并购的特点及成因分析

进入21世纪后，我国企业掀起了海外并购的浪潮，在这次并购浪潮中表现出并购总额持续上升、单宗交易额不断增大、并购行业向多方面扩展、并购主体多元化等新的特点。这次并购浪潮形成的原因主要有：我国经济实力的增长、我国企业对战略性资源的渴求、人民币的持续升值、外汇储备的快速增长、国家政策的转变、全球产业结构的调整等。     

经济全球化与城市功能

<正> 经济全球化对城市的影响极其深远,它使得世界城市体系形成,大都市连绵区更具活力,首位城市逐渐主宰世界经济,城市功能成为衡量城市竞争力的重要指标。随着中国经济实力的不断增强,参与世界市场的力度增加,中国需要几个国际城市,提高中国城市体系在世界城市体系中的地位。为实现这个目标,中国的大城市应该实行以城市功能高级化为核心的“目标管理”模式。     

NONPROFIT EMPLOYEES' MACHIAVELLIAN PROPENSITIES

Nonprofit organizations are held to high ethical standards due to their charitable missions serving the common good. Incidents of fiscal mismanagement within the nonprofit sector make it relevant to assay the ethical principles of employees. This study examines the level of Machiavellian propensities of US nonprofit employees. Results indicate Machiavellian propensities do exist in certain nonprofit employees and these employees agree with questionable behavior. Policy makers and oversight agencies may find these results useful in developing corporate governance and accountability measures for nonprofit organizations. Furthermore, board of director members may use these results to monitor employee actions and address management training.     

FDI对我国劳动力市场均衡发展的积极效应

FDI投资规模的扩大缓解了我国劳动力市场供大于求的非均衡状态,同时,FDI通过扩大对熟练劳动力的需求以及对员工的培训和外资企业的技术扩散效应提高了我国的劳动力素质.外资企业市场化、法制化的劳动力资源配置机制和管理手段也对我国的企业起到了积极的示范作用,促进了劳动力的自由流动和劳动力薪酬制度的合理化,健全了我国的劳动力市场制度建设.FDI从这三个方面对我国的劳动力市场均衡发展产生了积极的效应.     

森工企业员工工作满意度评价及其改善

应用MSQ的简单形式对森工企业员工工作满意度进行测评 ,总体分值低 ,与员工期望存在很大差异。改善员工满意度应从产业开发 ,发展地方经济、社区共管 ,改善生产、生活设施 ,管理重心下移 ,提高员工收入水平等方面采取措施     

论墨家思想的要指“强本节用”

司马谈在《论六家要指》中对先秦至汉初诸子思想进行了一次大的总结与评价，指出了各家要指所在，将墨家思想的要指总结为“强本节用”。司马谈对墨家思想及要指的评判，不仅仅是从学术角度出发，更重要的是从治国角度出发而作出的评定。