The distribution of regional earnings in the UK

Utilizing a micro sample of 7317 individuals extracted from the General Household Survey 1973, we show that money earnings and real earnings vary considerably across British regions even when other factors such as education and industry mix are held constant. We also find that real earnings do not follow the pattern of money earnings; if anything, quite the reverse. Whereas monetary rewards are the greatest in the South East of England, real rewards are the greatest in the Midlands and the North East of England. Scottish regions, however, appear to fare the worst in both money and real terms.     

Experimenting with Supply Chain Learning (SCL): Supplier Diversity and Ethnic Minority Businesses

This paper reports on an innovative UK-based ‘Supply Chain Learning’ (SCL) initiative to encourage the corporate sector to consider supplier diversity in respect of ethnic minority businesses. This follows academic and policy interest in programmes to empower ethnic minority enterprises to achieve breakout to mainstream markets and business growth. The first phase of the initiative, entitled Supplier Development East Midlands (SDEM) is examined. By adopting an inter-organisational action learning approach, some of the key attributes of the programme are delineated, focusing on the recurrent action-reflection cycle taking place in a learning group comprising SDEM, LPOs (Large Purchasing Organisations) and small EMSs (Ethnic Minority Suppliers).     

论我国旅游消费者的权益保护

旅游已逐渐成为我国人们生活中必不可少的消费娱乐活动,但随之产生的旅游消费者的权益保护问题也暴露出来。我国还尚未制定出一套完善的旅游法律体系、旅游信息的不对称、旅游消费者自身的法律意识薄弱,我国旅游消费者的合法权益在实践中无法得到有效的保护,这在一定程度上制约了我国旅游经济的发展,为了进一步促进旅游业的发展,我国必须采取各种措施保护旅游消费者的合法权益。     

Inter-firm scalar linkage in India: A class within the small scale industry

Along with the growing industrial sector, functional complementarity between large and small scale enterprises has become a widely prevalent phenomenon. Expanding the base of the industrial production leads to division of processes where large and small scale units operate as complementary to each other. Such complementarity and division of labour between the different sized units results into cost minimization, and acceleration in growth of the manufacturing sector.However the extent and the pattern of functional complementarity (between large and small scale enterprises) is likely to be conditioned by market as well as institutional factors. Therefore, in order to examine the impact of interscale complementarity in terms of growth as well as of distribution of gains across large and small scale enterprises it is very important to learn about the nature of interfirm linkages and the process through which linkages get established. It is in this context, the present paper furnishes details based on a case study of Textile Machinery Parts Manufacturing (TMP) industry in a metropolitan city (Ahmedabad). The industry represented is constituted by a large number of small scale firms that are engaged in fabricating replacement parts for the users of machinery equipments (i.e. Textile Mills) who operate on a large scale. Owing to wide range of products, and in case of some parts higher frequency of replacement, the TMP industry, at least till recently, has sustained a large number of small firms.The major findings of the analysis are: (i) The incidence of inter-firm linkages is limited to about a third of the small scale firms; (ii) Among various forms of linkages the marketing linkages are the most predominant (iii) The linkage relationship has been a positive factor in determining the performance of the small scale firms; (iv) Personal contacts play an important role in inter-firm linkages, thus benefits of linkage relationship are mainly confined to a small social-group of industrialists; (v) While the small scale suppliers operate under a highly competitive market, the buyers often enjoy oligopsonist's advantage; hence the gains of competitive efficiency tend to favour the large scale sector.     

区域经济合作中地方政府政策选择的博弈分析——以山东半岛城市群为例

根据经济实力的差距将同一区域内的城市分为两种不同类型的组合,通过对每种组合中两个不同城市之间的合作分别进行静态和动态博弈分析,指出：区域合作可以有效促进城市群整体的发展,其中政府任期和政绩考核、政策干预以及利益分配比例是影响区域合作成败的三大重要因素。同时,结合山东半岛城市群区域合作实践中存在的问题和不足指出,只有在三大因素科学协调的基础上,区域经济一体化才能朝着持续、良好的方向发展。     

Accreditation of engineering programs: an evaluation of current practices in Malaysia

The curriculum for undergraduate engineering courses in Malaysia is becoming increasingly structured, following the global trend for quality assurance in engineering education, through accreditation schemes. Generally, the accreditation criteria call for the graduates from engineering programs to demonstrate a range of skills, from technical problem solving to soft skills and an aptitude for lifelong learning. In order to comply with these criteria, accreditation schemes are adopted as a quality assurance measure. This paper shall introduce the characteristics of the engineering accreditation scheme in Malaysia. The impact of the accreditation scheme on the quality of these engineering programs shall be evaluated. Data collection is in the form of benchmarking and questionnaires. The evaluation criteria shall be in terms of benefits to the institution, academic faculty, students, and the challenges encountered. A discussion on the evaluation shall include the supposed dichotomies which arise from this accreditation process, namely the compromise between research versus teaching; and the value of engineering knowledge whether as an academic pursuit or catering to industry’s needs. Ultimately, this paper shall address a fundamental question related to undergraduate teaching in engineering: whether accreditation is a necessary prerequisite in maintaining high standards in engineering programs in Malaysia.     

Does the currency regime shape unhedged currency exposure?

This paper examines how unhedged currency exposure of firms varies with changes in currency flexibility. A sequence of four time periods with alternating high and low currency volatility in India provides a natural experiment in which changes in currency exposure of a panel of firms is measured, and the moral hazard versus incomplete markets hypotheses tested. We find that firms carried higher currency exposure in periods when the currency was less flexible. Our results support the moral hazard hypothesis: that low currency flexibility encourages firms to hold unhedged exposure in response to implicit government guarantees.