The impact of environmental management systems on financial performance in fashion and textiles industries

With rising environmental concerns from consumers and stakeholder groups, environmental management has become an important responsibility for today's fashion and textiles manufacturers. The production of fashion and textiles related products often requires high levels of energy and water consumption, and emits large quantities of pollutants to the environment. Therefore, the adoption of environmental management systems (EMSs) is important and could have a significant impact on these firms' operational performance. This study presents empirical evidence on the performance impact of EMS adoption in the fashion and textiles related industries (FTIs). Although EMSs have emerged as a passport to business in the FTIs, their actual impacts on firms' financial performance have not been explored. We reveal that the adoption of ISO 14000, the most popular EMS, improves manufacturers' profitability in the FTIs over a three-year period as measured by return-on-assets (ROA). Based on our sample, we find that profitability improvement started during the implementation stage and continued at least one year after the firm obtained ISO 14000 certification. We also find that profitability improvement is mainly due to improvement in cost efficiency, measured by return-on-sales (ROS). Specifically, certified firms improved up to 2.9% in ROA and 3.3% in ROS over the three-year period since they implemented ISO 14000. We conclude that there is a positive impact of EMS adoption on firms' financial performance in the FTIs.     

Financial globalization, financial crises and contagion

Two observations suggest that financial globalization played an important role in the recent financial crisis. First, more than half of the rise in net borrowing of the U.S. non-financial sectors since the mid-1980s has been financed by foreign lending. Second, the collapse of the U.S. housing and mortgage-backed-securities markets had worldwide effects on financial institutions and asset markets. Using an open-economy model where financial intermediaries play a central role, we show that financial integration leads to a sharp rise in net credit in the most financially developed country and to large asset price spillovers of country-specific shocks to bank capital. The impacts of these shocks on asset prices are amplified by bank capital requirements based on mark-to-market.     

我国房地产金融业存在的问题和对策

我国房地产金融存在的问题主要归结为制度缺陷,集中表现在资金来源渠道单一、房地产金融体系不完备、资金融通效率低下和风险高度集中。这些缺陷很大程度上制约了中国房地产业的长期健康发展,应该通过金融体制的改革,建立开放统一的房地产金融体系。同时,在房地产金融体系不完备的情况下,政府应谨慎出台房地产调控政策,以保护房地产业健康发展。     

浅析电流互感器的应用

电流互感器是一种特殊变压器,主要用于将电力系统中的高电压大电流按一定比例转换成低电压、小电流,为测量装置和继电保护的线圈提供电流;实现对一次设备和二次设备的隔离。其工作原理和变压器相似,所不同的是在变压器的铁芯内,产生交变主磁通是由一次绕组两端所加的交流电压的电流产生。电流互感器主要用于将电力系统中的高电压大电流按一定比例转换成低电压、小电流,即不管一次侧电流有多大,二次侧一般都是5A。供给仪表、仪器、继电器等作为测量、保护用。     

粉煤灰在混凝土中的应用

粉煤灰不仅可以改善混凝土的各项性能,延长混凝土结构的使用寿命,还可以综合利用,变废为宝,变害为利,同时能够起到大幅度减少耗费能源多、严重污染环境的硅酸盐水泥的用量。     

论财务管理在企业管理中的地位

财务管理在企业管理中有着重要的地位和作用,文章从其特点、目标、新理念等,分析了财务管理在企业管理中的中心地位。     

融资约束、代理成本与企业创新效率——来自上市高新技术企业的经验证据

本文在构建高新技术企业融资约束指数及测度高新技术企业创新效率的基础上,理论分析并实证检验了高新技术上市企业融资约束与创新效率的关系。结果表明,融资约束会在一定程度上降低企业的代理成本、减轻代理问题的负面影响,从而支持了融资约束的上升会促进高新技术企业创新效率提高的理论观点。     

滤棒储存输送柔性转弯装置的设计探讨

本文针对滤棒自动输送系统中滤棒储存输送装置中转弯半径过大,设计一种小转弯半径装置,及其工作原理和主要结构、应用场合的展望。