Is empowerment really a contributory factor to service quality?

This article investigates how empowerment of front-line staff affects service quality in mass and technological services. A questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews were conducted. Analysis of the questionnaire data revealed that although there was a moderate association between empowerment and service quality in mass services, the relationship was not statistically significant in technological services. The interview data explain these results and highlight important differences between mass and technological services, both in the type of staff and in the nature of tasks undertaken. Moreover, it was apparent that there were difficulties in implementing empowerment in mass services.     

Underlying Demand for Licensed Childcare Services in Urban Japan*

There is growing concern regarding the problem of children waiting for licensed daycare services in Japan's metropolitan areas. In addition to the large number of children on the publicly announced waiting lists, there is an even larger group of underlying demanders, who would otherwise choose to apply for licensed childcare services if the waiting lists were not so long. The present paper attempts to use the contingent valuation method to estimate the underlying demand for licensed childcare services in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. As a result, we find that the underlying waiting rate for licensed childcare services is much higher than the publicly announced waiting rate; that the shortage of service supply for children aged below 1 year old is especially prominent; and, that the total number of children (age ≤ 3) in the status of underlying demand even exceed the present enrolment considerably.     

Share issuance and cross-sectional returns: International evidence

Share issuance predicts cross-sectional returns in a non-U.S. sample of stocks from 41 different countries. Issuance predictability has greater statistical significance than either size or momentum, and is similar to book-to-market. As in the U.S., the international issuance effect is robust across both small and large firms. Unlike the U.S., the effect is driven more by low returns after share creation rather than positive returns following share repurchases. Issuance return predictability is stronger in countries with greater issuance activity, greater stock market development, and stronger investor protection. The results suggest that the share issuance effect is related to the ease with which firms can issue and repurchase their shares.     

On the existence of single-price equilibria in a matching model with divisible money and production cost

The present paper investigates Zhou's (1999) money search model, where money is divisible, agents can hold any amount of money and production of goods is costly, and presents a sufficient condition, expressed in terms of exogenously given parameters, for the existence of single-price equilibria.     

Aid and trade

This paper surveys the recent theoretical and empirical literaturethat explores the relations between aid and trade and asks aboutthe complementarity or substitution effects at work. We distinguishbetween the effects of aid on trade flows and on trade policies,of the donor as well as the recipient countries. Special focusis given on trade facilitation, or ‘aid for trade’.     

弥补中国供应链缺陷

中国元器件供应商日益强大,然而,他们的前景如何呢? 随着20世纪90年代中国消费者对拥有手机的强烈渴求,国际和中国本土电子制造商都赚得盆满钵满。但是对深圳晶峰科技开发有限公司来说,手机响铃音却更像是死亡