The rise and rise of IFRS: An examination of IFRS diffusion

We seek to understand the ever-increasing push towards the international harmonization of accounting standards and particularly the inexorable rise of standards produced by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the primary justifications for the increasing recognition given to these standards (IFRS) are economic, we question whether the empirical evidence to date has yielded convincing support for these arguments. We therefore offer an alternative explanation for the origin and diffusion of IFRS that incorporates social and political factors. Outsourcing the manufacture of accounting standards to a single private agency appears to be a rational, lower cost option – lowering both economic and political costs for individual states as long as they continue to retain residual decision rights with respect to the adoption of IFRS. However, such outsourcing must also be perceived to be legitimate. IFRS confer institutionalized legitimacy because they possess three characteristics required of a technology for global governance. These are sponsorship by powerful interest groups/regulators, internationality and plasticity. We therefore conclude that the widespread diffusion today of IFRS can at best be only partially explained as an economically rational phenomenon. Rather, the demand for legitimate action in the face of tightly coupled and complex global markets is at least equally important in generating support for IFRS.     

经济全球化中的"价值链"和"经济租"初探

"全球价值链"的表现形式之一是今天称霸全球的跨国公司,它的快速生长是最近全球化进程中最突出的现象;由于它正在覆盖全球市场,正在改变经济生活中的支配关系和利益分配,由于"全球价值链"治理的目标是追求"经济租",而且"经济租"由于"全球价值链"的大扩展而超越了"要素回报"的经济学意义,改变了经济中的分配格局,因此"价值链"不再是一个商业战略和管理问题,而是一个经济学问题;"市场"的概念也应当随经济的全球化而重新定义。目前中国和其他发展中国家面临的全球化挑战,就是在"全球价值链"的笼罩下谋求生存和发展。     

Evolution of global airline strategic alliance and consolidation in the twenty-first century

Global airline strategic alliances have emerged since the late 1980s, and their number has slowly risen through the years. Will the number of such alliances continue to proliferate? Or will airlines consolidate with one another to form mega-carriers? In this paper, the likelihood of various airline consolidation and alliance development possibilities was examined based on a number of high-level trends and forces. The most probable near-term industry alliance and consolidation structure is described, accompanied with a probable path of evolution. These predictions have important implications for managers of strategic alliances, carriers who are currently in an alliance as well as carriers who are planning to join one.     

全球价值链下中小企业技术创新能力影响因素研究——基于文献分析视角

中小企业如何跨越全球价值链"低端锁定"是一个极富挑战性的课题,通过对国内外全球价值链下企业技术创新能力研究的梳理,一方面界定了全球价值链下中小企业技术创新能力的概念,探讨了全球价值链下中小企业技术创新能力生成与提高机理;另一方面,系统地总结了全球价值链下中小企业技术创新能力影响因素,并就全球价值链治理模式、企业战略、市场创新等因素对企业技术创新能力的影响进行了分析。     

制度变迁、国际货币改革与中国的选择

文章认为国家经济价值的提高产生了对制度创新的需求,国际货币制度不均衡的关键原因是国家的经济价值。作为公共产品,由集体行动所供给的国际货币制度由于搭便车和外部性产生滞后效应。在陷入集体行动困境的现实国际货币体系中,由单个国家（中国）或自愿合作的国家集团（欧盟或亚洲货币区）所主导的诱致性的制度变迁是一种有效的边际改革,将会带来由美元主导的不稳定的国际货币体系变迁到多元的稳定的国家货币体系。由于中国的国家经济价值不断提升,国际货币制度的稳定需要人民币国际化。中国应该内外兼修,使人民币成为亚洲货币联盟的“锚”货币。     

The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines in the Social Screening of Investments

Social screening of investments calls not only for investment policy and criteria, but also for information about companies, their policies, practices and performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and its June 2000 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have the potential to significantly improve the usefulness and quality of information reported by companies about their environmental, social and economic impacts and performance. The GRI aims to develop a voluntary reporting framework that will elevate sustainability reporting practices to a level equivalent to that of financial reporting in rigour, comparability, auditability and general acceptance. This will be a welcome and efficient supplement to the questionnaires, interviews, press releases, media reports and other sources of information traditionally used for screening in investment decision making – social/ethical and mainstream. The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index, the Jantzi Social Index and the Innovest EcoValue'21 analytical platform, together with the SRI community, are all likely to benefit from GRI-style sustainability reports. One of the GRI's key challenges is to accommodate the broad variety of disclosure needs and expectations of a wide range of report users and company stakeholders. To maximize the usefulness of the GRI Guidelines, report users, including the SRI community, need to be engaged in the process of developing and refining the Guidelines over time. The GRI Guidelines are emerging as an important instrument in enabling companies to communicate with their stakeholders about performance and accountability beyond just the financial bottom line.     

The Changing Face of Entrepreneurship in Germany

This paper explains individual start-up activities on the basis of both person-related characteristics and the regional context. The analysis is based upon micro data from the GEM adult population survey. Both individual and regional variables have an influence on the decision to become self-employed. There are considerable differences between nascent opportunity entrepreneurship and nascent necessity entrepreneurship. Whereas the results for opportunity entrepreneurship are in line with theoretical predictions the factors influencing necessity entrepreneurship are far more difficult to determine. The most significant change between 2001 and 2003/2004 is the reversal of the influence of a change in the regional rate of unemployment on nascent entrepreneurship activities.      

Informal Investment in Transition Economies: Individual Characteristics and Clusters

This paper investigates the factors driving informal investment in Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia. Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, we find that the low rates of informal investment activity and the small amounts of investments in these countries are driven by entrepreneurial behaviors consistent with limited market economy experience. We extend prior studies by investigating the role of business ownership, and identify significant differences between individuals with and without business ownership experience in terms of having start-up skills, knowing an entrepreneur and fearing failure. Cluster analysis identifies seven distinct groups of informal investors, and reveals the heterogeneity in terms of investors’ age, gender, level of education, amount of investment, start-up skills, ownership status, income, opportunity perception and country of residence.      

我国制造业中小企业在跨国公司全球产业链中的价值定位

国际生产体制已进入网络化发展的新阶段,全球制造业正面临着产业链的重构,跨国公司将逐步把我国纳入其全球战略体系,实现全球一体化的生产、销售和研发。我国企业面临的国内国际竞争越来越激烈。对于我国制造业中小企业而言,当务之急是以跨国公司对华投资战略调整为契机,基于全球生产网络进行科学合理的价值定位,然后通过配套生产、OEM、合同制造、战略联盟等方式进入跨国公司全球产业链,向“小而精”、“专而强”方向发展。同时要适度进行产业链节点的横向扩张和纵向延伸,从而实现产业链升级。     

Empirical Findings on Business–Society Relations in Europe

Based on a theoretical exploration in a previous article, this paper empirically analyzes which issues of SD are taken into account by corporations and stakeholders in what way, and to what extent the concept of sustainable development (SD) can be achieved through stakeholder relations management (SRM) on the corporate level. An important basis for this empirical analysis is a referential framework, which specifies 14 issues of SD. In a first empirical step, the literature-based framework has been operationalized for the business world by analyzing sustainability reports. In a second empirical step, the operationalized framework served as the basis for a survey of selected MNCs. The analyses of the sustainability reports and the survey show how MNCs deal with particular issues of SD and what role they perceive particular stakeholders play. A key conclusion of the article is that SRM indeed promotes SD, but that it is no alternative to predictable government regulation.