How do controversial foreign country images affect consumers?

Research shows that controversial political–economic, social, and environmental country images affect consumer responses to foreign products. This study adds to the existing evidence by examining the contingent role of subjective country knowledge and (domestic vs. foreign) country image congruence in the relationships between foreign country image and two major determinants of country-driven (anti-)consumption: foreign product judgements and consumer animosity. The findings draw on survey data (N = 400) on Spanish consumers' views of China and Chinese apparel products. The results indicate that higher subjective knowledge about social and environmental issues (negatively) affecting the foreign country can lead to attenuated (positive) relationships between such country images and foreign product judgements. Further, more negative foreign product judgements can result from incongruent country images—that is, when consumers are more critical of the foreign than of their home country in political–economic, social, and environmental areas. Instead, there is limited support for the hypotheses involving consumer animosity as an outcome. Implications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed.     

Stuck at the bottom: Role of tacit and explicit knowledge on innovation of developing-country suppliers in global value chains

We take a social exchange theoretical perspective of innovation to develop and test a model of the intervening role of tacit and explicit knowledge exchange in explaining innovation of developing-country suppliers in non-equity-based global value chains (NEGVCs). Results of structural equation modelling for a sample of Bangladeshi suppliers embedded in apparel NEGVCs show that tacit and explicit knowledge fully mediate the associations between network competence and both low value-added and high value-added innovation contingent on the quality of network relationships. We also found that both tacit and explicit knowledge contribute more to low value-added innovation than to high value-added innovation. The managerial and policy implications of our findings as to why developing-country suppliers in NEGVCs are stuck in low value-added activities are fully discussed.     

Some Comments on Embeddedness, Knowledge Transfer, Industry Clusters and Global Competitiveness

This paper develops a dynamic theoretical framework for global competitiveness, which describes the relationships among organizations in an industry cluster. The spiral for knowledge transfer, culture variables and embeddedness influence knowledge transfer. Embeddedness and knowledge transfer are the key determinants of industry clusters that lead to global competitiveness. Industry clusters are characterized by external economies, generalized reciprocity and flexible specialization.     

公众参与环保行为中的性别“悖论”

现阶段我国公众环保行为存在明显的性别"悖论",即女性参与环保行为并不比男性突出,与国内际主流观点不一致。剔除掉同质因素外,其原因并不是由于妇女家庭责任的减少,也不是其感性倾向的异化,而是妇女通过学校教育和电视媒体等社会教育渠道获得的专业环保知识较少,进而降低其环保意识,迟滞其环保行为。文章最后提出了提升妇女参与环保行为的对策建议。     

Knowledge matching in the technology outsourcing context of online innovation intermediaries

This paper focuses on innovation matchmaking by online innovation intermediaries that operate as technology outsourcing services. These services connect employers wishing to commission individuals to complete technical activities to individuals with knowledge to undertake the project. We present three new metrics based on the statistical mechanics of complex networks to assess forms of knowledge matches between the knowledge required by employers’ projects and the knowledge offered by service providers. Based upon the results, we identify several challenges open innovation intermediaries, employers, and providers face: structuring knowledge to identify providers who can provide solutions beyond the immediate exigencies of the problem, choosing a provider among many potential matches, and choosing an online innovation intermediary when several suitable alternatives exist. The metrics provide insight into potential solutions to these challenges. We conclude with recommendations to improve the service offerings of online innovation intermediaries.     

新生代农民工参与养老保险约束条件及路径设计

新生代农民工作为一个庞大的社会群体进入城市,推动着中国工业化、城市化进程加快,他们有着强烈的市民化需求却因养老保险的缺失而严重受阻,不但有损新生代农民工切身利益,也不利于和谐社会构建。基于新生代农民工养老保险构建过程中所面临的各种约束,应以新生代农民工可持续就业为核心、以政府为主导、以土地流转为途径、以自身保障意识为前提的发展模式,确保新生代农民工养老效益得到有效保障。     

Innovation, Imitation and Intellectual Property Rights: A Note on Helpman's Model

This note analyses the effect of the policy of tightening Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the rate of innovation in the North and on the welfare in both North and South in a model which is otherwise identical to Helpman (1993) except in the concept of knowledge capital. We assume that the South based imitated products do not contribute to the knowledge capital in the North. It is shown that the tightening of IPR raises the rate of innovation in the North and may improve the welfare of both North and South. These results are significantly different from those in Helpman (1993).     

农民工市场失灵及其矫正

农民工短缺现象的出现至少在一定程度上说明了农民工市场失灵,难以依靠市场自身的力量调节供求关系。市场失灵不仅造成用工短缺,也使社会福利受损。农民工市场失灵,除了不完全竞争、信息不完全等一般因素外,还与该市场发育不成熟、制度安排不合理密不可分。近年来一系列有关农民工政策的出台,在一定程度上可使失灵的市场得到矫正。     

中国知识服务业国际竞争力研究

中国知识服务业的发展还处于初步阶段,国际竞争力水平存在较大差异,中国要建立创新型社会,就要注重知识服务业的发展,要从战略高度制定知识服务业相应的发展规划,建立相应的支撑体系,发挥政府职能作用,培养和引进专业人才,发展壮大知识服务企业等。     

An intelligent service matching method for mechanical equipment condition monitoring using the fibre Bragg grating sensor network

Due to the advantages of being able to function under harsh environmental conditions and serving as a distributed condition information source in a networked monitoring system, the fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor network has attracted considerable attention for equipment online condition monitoring. To provide an overall conditional view of the mechanical equipment operation, a networked service-oriented condition monitoring framework based on FBG sensing is proposed, together with an intelligent matching method for supporting monitoring service management. In the novel framework, three classes of progressive service matching approaches, including service-chain knowledge database service matching, multi-objective constrained service matching and workflow-driven human-interactive service matching, are developed and integrated with an enhanced particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm as well as a workflow-driven mechanism. Moreover, the manufacturing domain ontology, FBG sensor network structure and monitoring object are considered to facilitate the automatic matching of condition monitoring services to overcome the limitations of traditional service processing methods. The experimental results demonstrate that FBG monitoring services can be selected intelligently, and the developed condition monitoring system can be re-built rapidly as new equipment joins the framework. The effectiveness of the service matching method is also verified by implementing a prototype system together with its performance analysis.