Learning-by-doing and input demand of a rate-of-return regulated firm

The significance of learning by doing to input demand of a cost-minimizing rate-of-return-regulated firm is examined. Using a panel data, the results indicate that the firm's cost and input demand decisions are both influenced by learning-by-doing. The firm's cost and the rate-base (capital) input requirements decline as learning-by-doing measured by cumulative production expands. However, LBD may have different effects on the non-rate-base inputs (labor and fuel) considered in this study. While LBD ambiguously reduces fuel usage, it moderately increases labor employment. In addition to changing input intensity, LBD also influences returns to scale and elasticity of substitution.     

旅游者价值视角下乡村旅游影响因素探析

以乡村旅游中旅游者价值为切入点,分析旅游者参与乡村旅游的动机及旅游者感知价值构成要素,找出了乡村旅游开发中影响旅游者感知价值的主要因素,提出在乡村旅游中应从提高旅游者感知价值出发提高旅游者满意度和忠诚度,使旅游者产生品牌忠诚而重复购买,以推动我国乡村旅游实现产业升级和可持续发展。     

中国制造业集聚的实证研究：基于企业规模异质性视角

本文基于中国制造业集聚的数据,从企业规模异质性视角出发,检验中国制造业集聚经济效应。首先考察影响制造业集聚的一般因素,然后重点考察了企业规模因素对集聚经济的影响机制。研究发现：除了运输成本优势、劳动力成本等影响制造业集聚的一般因素之外,企业规模异质性也对集聚经济效应产生影响。最后通过构造隐含企业规模因素的集聚经济新变量,对企业规模异质的集聚经济效应进行检验。本文的研究发现,小型企业的专业化经济和竞争效应大于大中型企业。这一结论不仅反映了不同规模企业对制造业集聚影响的差异,也说明了小型企业对制造业集聚的重要性。     

Mixed Duopoly,Merger and Multiproduct Firms

The literature on mergers has extensively analyzed the decision to merge by private firms, but it has not considered the decision to merge by private and public firms. We assume that when a private firm and a public firm merge (or when one of them acquires the other), they set up a multiproduct firm in which the government owns an exogenous percentage stake. In this framework, we show that the decision to merge by firms depends on the degree to which goods are substitutes and on the percentage of the shares owned by the government in the multiproduct firm.     

China’s value-added tax reform,firm behavior and performance

China reformed value-added tax (VAT) by removing investment from the tax base in northeastern provinces in 2004, which is a “natural experiment” of its tax system. Using difference-in-differences method, this paper for the first time investigates the impact of VAT reform on China firms’ fixed asset investment, employment behavior, innovative activities, and productivity, and furthermore discusses the impact of firm behavior on industrial structural upgrade and employment with a firm-level panel data of large and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises in China. We find that VAT reform significantly promotes firms’ fixed asset investment, and increases firms’ capital-labor ratio and productivity; while enhancement of firms’ productivity is mainly achieved by means of substituting labor with capital, rather than independent technology innovation; meanwhile, VAT reform distinctly decreases employment. Our findings have essential policy implications on the extension of VAT reform in the entire China.     

提升我国会计师事务所核心竞争力的路径选择——基于资源论观点的分析

要提升我国会计师事务所的核心竞争力,必须首先拥有产生核心竞争力的核心资源即注册会计师;其次要拥有整合核心资源的适当手段即有效的制度;同时,还必须拥有具有企业家才能的整合核心资源的优秀主体.     

The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance work systems

This article demonstrates that a diversity and equality management system (DEMS) contributes to firm performance beyond the effects of a traditional high‐performance work system (HPWS), which consists of bundles of work practices and policies used extensively in high‐performing firms. A DEMS typically includes diversity training and monitoring recruitment, pay, and promotion across minority or other disadvantaged groups. Our analysis of quantitative data from service and manufacturing organizations in Ireland confirms that HPWS practices are associated with positive business performance and finds specifically that DEMS practices are positively associated with higher labor productivity and workforce innovation and lower voluntary employee turnover. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Labor Regulations,Employment and Wages: Evidence from India's Apparel Sector

While India is among the world's largest producers and exporters of apparel products, the sector has not performed to its potential. This study analyzes why this might be so from the perspective of the structure of production in the sector, the most striking aspect of which is a firm size distribution heavily dominated by small firms. Using nationally representative firm‐level and labor force survey data, we argue that the dominance of firms operating at scales too small to apply modern production and management technologies is one proximate reason for India's relative underperformance. Further, we note that India's labor regulations and the associated enforcement regime are important policy drivers of Indian firms' tendency to avoid placing “too many workers under one roof”.     

Corporate risk management and firm value: evidence from the UK market

The paper evaluates the effect of corporate risk management activities on firm value, using a sample of large UK non-financial firms. Following recent changes in financial reporting standards, we are able to collect detailed information on risk management activities from audited financial reports. This enables us to gain a better understanding of risk management practices and to investigate value implications of different types of hedging. Overall 86.88% of the firms in the sample use derivatives to manage at least one type of price risk. The hedging premium is statistically and economically significant for foreign currency derivative users, while we provide weak evidence that interest rate hedging increases firm value. The extent of hedging and the hedging horizon have an impact on the hedging premium, whereas operational risk management activities do not significantly influence the market value of the firm.     

家族创始人职业经历与企业财务保守行为研究

基于创始人自身特征的异质性,文章研究了家族创始人职业经历与企业财务保守行为的关系。研究发现,与家族创始人具有企业部门职业经历的企业相比,创始人具有公共部门职业经历的企业财务杠杆更低,短期借款占比更小,现金持有更多,且连续三年采用低杠杆的可能性更高。进一步地,企业所处行业的产品市场不确定性越高,家族创始人公共部门职业经历与企业财务保守行为的正相关关系越强。此外,家族创始人具有公共部门职业经历的企业会计及市场业绩均更好。研究表明,家族创始人具有公共部门职业经历的企业财务决策更为保守,原因在于这类家族创始人的风险厌恶程度较高,使企业更易形成相对保守的文化氛围。文章从创始人职业经历异质性的角度发展了家族企业财务保守成因的研究,以及管理者个人特征与企业财务决策关系的研究,同时有助于投资者识别企业财务风险。