Spillovers from foreign direct investment and firm growth: technological,financial and market structure effects

This article examines spillover effects from inward investment on domestic firm growth in the case of a developed host country. The emphasis is placed on the role of the technological gap between domestic and foreign firms in identifying the importance of technology diffusion from the presence of multinationals. An augmented production function is employed to account for technological, financial and market structure effects. Based on a sample of 2589 manufacturing firms operating in Greece between 1992 and 1997, the analysis provides evidence that the significance of spillovers varies with the relative technological position of domestic firms and is higher in the middle and upper quantiles of the growth distribution. It was estimated that a unit increase in the foreign presence in Greek industry raises output growth by 7% on average, in a five‐year period, after controlling for technological differences among firms. This result is consistent with the ‘absorptive capacity’ hypothesis that the technological capability of the host country relates positively to FDI spillover benefits.     

A closer look at the productivity advantage of foreign affiliates

In analyzing firm productivity in Belgium, this article shows empirically that both scale and efficiency contribute positively to the typical productivity advantage of foreign affiliates. Stochastic production frontier estimation using the translog functional form indicates that foreign subsidiaries exploit economies of scale more fully and benefit from better (transferred) technological capabilities than Belgian national firms (i.e., Belgian owned firms without subsidiaries abroad). Belgian multinational enterprises (MNEs), i.e., Belgian owned firms with at least one subsidiary abroad, resemble foreign‐based MNEs in possessing specific technological advantages. While the increasing globalization has facilitated the realization of scale effects across borders, this article shows that the development of technological capabilities/advantages is still a prerequisite for MNEs to compete successfully abroad.     

“Work is my passion”: The different affective,behavioural, and cognitive consequences of harmonious and obsessive passion toward work

This study applies the dualistic model of passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) to the work setting and examines the relationships between harmonious passion (characterized by a strong but controllable desire to engage in an activity), obsessive passion (characterized by an internal pressure to carry out an activity), and optimal functioning outcomes at work. Harmonious passion associated positively with: mental health; three elements of flow (i.e., concentration, control, and autotelic experience); vitality, and affective commitment. These relationships were partly mediated by satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In contrast, obsessive passion directly and negatively predicted mental health and weakly but positively predicted autotelic experience. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed. Copyright ©2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What is a multinational corporation? Classifying the degree of firm-level multinationality

The degree of firm-level multinationality is a key dimension that spans all theoretical frameworks, levels of empirical analysis and domains of investigation in international business research. There is, however, no agreed approach to defining or measuring firm-level multinationality. This is reflected in inconsistent approaches to sample selection and empirical testing, and it has curtailed the advancement of the discipline. We propose that instead of searching for the elusive, all-encompassing definition of an MNC, international business scholars should instead agree on a classification system for the degree of firm-level multinationality. We illustrate the advantages of this approach by constructing a simple classification system that takes into account the firm's breadth and depth of multinational engagements. We illustrate our matrix of firm multinationality by classifying a novel sample of over 1000 firms from seven countries, and we demonstrate how it can guide theory development and empirical testing. We also provide examples of potential future research directions.     

Seven challenges to combining human and automated service

We introduce this special issue by addressing seven key challenges associated with managing hybrid human-automated service systems. These consist of the following:

• 1 What strategic and tactical issues arise when managing hybrid service systems?
• 2 How should the core “value proposition” be set?
• 3 What special considerations arise in the design and implementation phases?
• 4 How can service delivery be managed to identify systemic problems and to address service breakdowns?
• 5 How can communications with clients improve the functioning of service systems?
• 6 What performance measures should be used to monitor process, outputs, client perceptions, and financial outcomes?
• 7 How can we coordinate the various interdisciplinary activities needed to address the previous six issues?

We consider these challenges after first characterizing the historical evolution of service delivery, reviewing some of the literature in the administrative sciences, and proposing a conceptual framework. Copyright © 2009 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1999年至2010年呼伦贝尔市重要湿地遥感动态变化研究

以1999年、2002年和2010年3期TM/ETM影像为数据源,综合应用RS与GIS技术,以呼伦贝尔市西南六县为重点研究区,对其湿地进行专题信息提取和分类,了解呼伦贝尔湿地近10多年来的动态变化。结果表明：近11年来,研究区湿地面积萎缩严重,总面积减少3 522.07 km2,变化率为36.5%。其中新巴尔虎右旗和陈巴尔虎旗湿地面积减少最多,变化主要包括湿地向非湿地的转变和草甸沼泽湿地向草本沼泽湿地的转变。初步反映了呼伦贝尔盟湿地的退化现状,为进一步加强湿地保护与生态恢复提供了依据。     

高校教育用地分类及现状调查分析——以吉林大学为例

随着社会不断发展进步,能够有效利用的土地资源越来越稀缺。对高校教育用地集约利用的研究逐年增加,但却鲜有对高校教育用地分类及现状调查分析的专题研究。借鉴《高校用地集约评价技术规程》,构建吉林大学教育用地分类体系,运用吉布斯·马丁的多样化指数对各类用地分析的基础上,绘制洛伦兹曲线得到各分类指标值,并结合Arc GIS软件阐述用地现状调查的过程,希望对高校教育用地的研究起到一定参考作用。     

国企改革的分类治理研究

国有企业改革作为我国经济改革的核心,先后经历了不同的改革方案与治理模式,学术界亦不断提出各自的药方。本文力图回顾大讨论、反思已有改革、提出新的分类治理。     

CLASSIFYING MONETARY ECONOMICS: FIELDS AND METHODS FROM PAST TO FUTURE

Abstract We propose a simple, yet sufficiently encompassing, classification scheme of monetary economics. It comprises three fundamental fields and six recent areas that expand within and across these fields. The elements of our scheme are not found together and in their mutual relationships in earlier studies of the relevant literature; neither does this attempt aim to produce a relatively complete systematization. Our intention in taking stock is not finality or exhaustiveness. We rather suggest a viewpoint and a possible ordering of the accumulating knowledge. Our purpose is to promote discussion on the evolving nature and internal consistency of monetary economics at large.     

DS-optimal designs in one way ANOVA

Characterization and construction of optimal designs using the familiar optimality criteria, for example A-, D- and E-optimality are well studied in the literature. However the study of the Distance Optimality (DS-) criterion introduced by Sinha (1970) has very recently drawn attention of researchers. In the present article, we consider the singularly estimable full rank problem of estimating the full set of elementary treatment contrasts using the DS optimality criterion in the set up of a one way ANOVA model. Using a limit argument it turns out that a CRD in which difference between any two allocation numbers is at the most unity is uniquely DS-optimal. Acknowledgement. We are thankful to Prof. B. K. Sinha for suggesting the problem to us and many helpful discussions with him. We are also thankful to the referees for drawing our attention to the reference of Bischoff (1995) and many helpful comments.