The performance of British manufacturing in the Post-War long boom

This article questions the notion which has gained ground recently in the writing of Booth and others that British manufacturing did not fail in the post-Second World War long boom, 1950–1973. By all the traditional measures of performance – output growth rates, productivity growth rates and levels, exports, and profitability – it can be re-affirmed that British manufacturing was out-competed by her rivals. Booth, Broadberry and others have also argued that manufacturing is of less importance to economic growth than services; this too is questioned.     

THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF VOLUNTARY ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Abstract.  New trends in studies on the governance of natural assets include substantial consideration of the role of voluntary initiatives. A traditional economic view states that there is a trade-off between being green and being competitive. According to that view, no voluntary environmental action is expected to occur. To undertake an in-depth analysis of the scope for voluntary action, this paper reviews empirical literature that analyzes the relationship between manufacturing firms' environmental initiatives or performance and economic results. This review moves beyond the general test of the 'pay to be green' hypothesis, preferring instead to systematize empirical results in more specific research questions. Empirical findings of the reviewed literature generally support that there is no penalty for being green. In addition, the typology of firms, the methods utilized for implementing environmental initiatives, the intensity of abatement efforts and stockholders' valuation of green firms have all been shown to have a sizeable influence on the actual economic results of environmental action or management. Consequently, the findings of this paper challenge the traditional strategic theory that predicts widespread free-riding; it holds major implications for environmental policy-making and environmental business decisions.     

美国制造业怎么啦?

2004年1月16日,美国商务部发布了一份题为《美国制造:一项帮助美国制造业者应对挑战的综合战略》报告。该报告分析了美国制造业目前面临的挑战,提出了具体的应对措施。本文根据报告的主要内容,分析了美国制造业的现状,介绍了美国政府将采取的主要对策。     

Agility index in the supply chain

To achieve a competitive edge in the rapidly changing business environment, companies must align with suppliers and customers to streamline operations, as well as working together to achieve a level of agility beyond individual companies. Consequently, agile supply chains are the dominant competitive vehicles. Embracing agile supply chain requires asking some important questions, namely: what exactly is agility and how can it be measured? Moreover, how can agility be effectively achieved and enhanced? Due to the ambiguity of agility assessment, most measures are described subjectively using linguistic terms. Thus, this study develops a fuzzy agility index (FAI) based on agility providers using fuzzy logic. The FAI comprises attribute’ ratings and corresponding weights, and is aggregated by a fuzzy weighted average. To illustrate the efficacy of the method, this study also evaluates the supply chain agility of a Taiwanese company. This evaluation demonstrates that the method can provide analysts with more informative and reliable information for decision.     

Growth in manufacturing output in Ireland between the Union and the Famine: Some evidence

Pre-Famine Ireland is perceived to have undergone a process of deindustrialization as a result of trade with Great Britain. This article presents evidence that manufacturing output growth was positive and sufficient to keep pace with or exceed population growth. The textile industry in which the bulk of the manufacturing labour force was employed performed relatively poorly, though this was largely due to an internal shock in the form of technical and organisational change in the linen industry rather than trade with Britain. Concentration on the performance of the textile sector has distracted attention from the good performance in other sectors.     

以培育稀缺要素和嵌入价值链实现“代工模式”转型

在特定的开放战略作用下，中国企业与跨国公司之间形成了相对稳定的“国际代工”关系。这种经济成长模式推动了经济繁荣，也带来一系列问题。但现有文献关注的是发达国家生产组织环节的变化，基本上不关注发展中国家的代工行为。这种情况要求我们必须研究因应策略，推动我国“国际代工模式”的转型。本文提出了通过“培育稀缺生产要素”和“深化全球价值链嵌入”等实现“国际代工模式”升级的不同途径。     

Schedule evaluation in unstable manufacturing environments

This paper provides a new approach to validate the feasibility of schedules of multiple-step mixed-model unstable manufacturing environments with different changeover times. Traditionally, continuous lines in a manufacturing process run the same sequence in order to minimize WIP inventory and lead time. Nevertheless, multiple reasons such as different product mixes or setup times can lead managers to run different sequences in continuous lines. Unfortunately, lack of reliability of supply and demand in these environments makes it difficult to manage product inventories and often leads to starvation due to the discoordination between the schedules of both lines. This approach is based on a new type of visual representation of schedules and an estimate the probability of starvation. It assumes stochastic supply and demand and a predefined schedule sequence based on batches of different sizes.     

美国对外贸易政策变迁轨迹研究(1776-1940)

本文主要是研究美国对外贸易政策变迁轨迹(1776-1940),包括美国对外贸易政策的背景、从1776-1940年的美国对外贸易政策、美国对外贸易政策对工业和农业的影响。     

智能制造对企业颠覆性创新的作用机理——来自扎根理论的海尔案例研究

在新一轮科技革命浪潮中,制造企业基于智能制造带来的颠覆性创新效应,既能把握市场先机,也易于实现“创新逆袭”。智能制造如何赋能企业颠覆性创新?围绕这一问题,以海尔集团深度访谈质性数据为基础,采用扎根理论对一手数据与二手数据进行编码,结果发现,生产模式变革、组织结构演化、合作网络创新是颠覆性创新的重要影响因素。由此,构建智能制造企业颠覆性创新理论模型,解析智能制造企业颠覆性创新实现与演化机理,以期为新时代背景下,中国企业更好地激发自身智能制造潜能,推动颠覆性创新提供参考。     

银行主导型金融对制造业企业技术进步的影响——基于技术距离的视角

制造业企业的技术发展离不开适宜类型的金融支持。那么,我国以商业银行为主导的金融体系对其具有怎样的影响？本文从技术距离视角出发,通过构建熊彼特内生增长模型探究银行主导型金融体系对制造业企业技术进步的影响效应及作用机理,并运用中国工业企业数据库与城市数据库的匹配数据进行实证检验。研究发现：当制造业企业远离技术前沿时,银行主导型金融对其技术进步具有明显的促进作用,但随着企业接近技术前沿,该作用将由正转负。相较于国有和抵押资产丰富的制造业企业,银行主导型金融对技术进步的负向作用在非国有和抵押资产匮乏企业中出现较早。机制检验表明,在远离技术前沿阶段,银行主导型金融能够激励制造业企业创新从而促进其技术进步,但在接近技术前沿后,银行主导型金融难以通过激励企业创新驱动其技术进步。研究结论对如何深化金融供给侧结构性改革、增强金融服务制造业之功效具有一定的指导意义。