Who are better monitors? Comparing styles of supervisory and independent directors

This paper compares the unobservable style effect between independent directors and supervisory directors on firm performance. Utilizing the unique Chinese board system with both independent and supervisory directors and a large panel data of 2,240 public firms from 2003 to 2017, this paper finds that both supervisory and independent style is crucial in determining variations of firm performance. The effects of both independent and supervisory director style are less significant when the “type II” agency problem is more severe in a firm. Moreover, outside independent director style is more effective when information costs are low or when firms need more outside resources, while inside supervisor director style is more effective when there are no major internal changes. Finally, the results also suggest that increasing qualified supervisor representations are beneficial to firms.     

CEO power and annual report reading difficulty

We examine the impact of CEO power on reading difficulty of corporate annual reports. We find that CEO power is positively related to reading difficulty, implying that annual reports of corporations with powerful CEOs are difficult to read and understand. More importantly, we find that the relation between CEO power and reading difficulty is moderated by earnings performance or corporate governance. Additional findings suggest that this relation becomes stronger for firms with lower financial reporting quality or for CEOs with shorter tenure. Our study not only joins the debate on the consequences of powerful CEOs but also uncovers several factors that moderate the relation between CEO power and annual report reading difficulty.     

Mongolian nomadic culture and ecological culture: On the ecological reconstruction in the agro-pastoral mosaic zone in Northern China

After analyzing the grassland environmental characteristics and nomads vs. agrarian land use styles and their ecological and environmental influences in the arid and semiarid agro-pastoral mosaic zone in northern China, it was concluded that Mongolian nomadic culture is more close to the basic principles of the ecological culture in the modern sense. Mongolian nomadic culture has advantages over agrarian culture in ecology and environmental care, sustainable utilization of grasslands, and in sustainable human social economic development in the region. Generally speaking nomadic culture prevents desertification; whereas, agrarian culture facilitates desertification. Confliction between nomadic protection and agrarian destruction of grassland ecosystem is essentially focused on the problem of regional and even global ecological safety. Obviously, protection of ecological safety should be given priority because human social and economic existence, as well as development depend on and are decided by the vulnerable ecological safety in the arid and semiarid areas. Therefore expansion of cropping into the fragile ecosystem of arid lands was unfortunate. The long term sustainable management of these grassland ecosystems could benefit from reversal of policies that are exacerbating the problems of land degradation, and from the adoption of land use practices that have been successfully applied for centuries by Mongolian herders. Protection of grasslands and nomadic culture is far more important or even vital to the subsistence and sustainability of human and all other beings, compared to the protection of agrarian lifestyle and land cultivation. Protection of ecologic safety is protecting the premise and fundamental bases of economic and social development in the area. It is important to derive the rational elements of nomadic culture in construction of ecological culture, and in the ecological reconstruction in northern China. Based on analyzing and reasoning in line with the quintessence of nomadic culture summarized, some proposals on ecological reconstruction in the area are presented.     

基于协同平台的高校教师科研绩效评价体系

在研究组织人员行为绩效评价体系的基础上,分析了传统的KPI(key performance indicator)评价方式所面临的主要问题,提出针对高校教师科研绩效进行分类建模,并设计相应的绩效指标、绩效算法及评价体系来解决问题。最后,用某院教职工2015—2019年在协同信息管理平台上的行为数据,检验了该体系的有效性及合理性,并针对基于协同平台的高校教师科研绩效评价体系的结果分析,提出高校科研管理及绩效激励方案。     

政府部门绩效审计评价：基于预算的视角

随着政府绩效审计在我国的逐步开展，政府绩效审计评价已成为当前理论和实务界探讨较多的领域，评价指标的设置和评价方法的选取更是焦点。本文在回顾近年来我国政府绩效审计评价研究的基础上，从预算这一独特的视角，探讨了我国政府部门绩效审计评价指标的构建和评价方法的选择。     

个人主动性:21世纪的新型工作模式

当前，对组织中雇员积极行为的研究，是人力资源管理领域的一个新的潮流。而个人主动性作为一种积极的工作模式，正是其中的一个焦点。本文系统地介绍了个人主动性的内涵、维度（自发性、前瞻性和克服困难）及其行动系列。在此基础上，本文探讨了个人主动性对于个人、组织绩效的重要意义，并提出了提升个人主动性的有效策略。     

末位淘汰——管理中的一柄“双刃剑”

末位淘汰作为一种管理手段在企业界被广泛采用,在实践中具有优缺点,实施末位淘汰要根据企业的实际情况,选择一个部门或几个部门进行。同时要注重培育良好的绩效文化,让刚性的末位淘汰变得充“满柔性”以有利于末位淘汰制的实施。     

When is it coevolution?

This paper evaluates the differences between Norgaard's and Winder et al.'s approach to socio-environmental coevolution. Winder et al. emphasize the evolutionary dynamics of coevolutionary change. These were omnipresent in Norgaard's work but they have not been adequately explored by other ecological economists. I argue that Winder et al.'s definition of coevolution is in essence the same as Norgaard's and that their real differences are, how they see coevolution applied and how far they are willing to draw a priori a line between evolutionary and non-evolutionary socio-environmental dynamics. My thesis is that at this stage a more open approach to evolutionary dynamics and coevolution a la Norgaard is a wiser strategy than Winder et al.'s narrower approach.     

Non-commitment in performance evaluation and the problem of information distortions

Auditing is modeled in a sequential game without commitment. The manager must decide whether and where to audit a worker's output, taking into account all interim information he has obtained. The worker will work just hard enough (and show it) to divert the manager from making an audit or cover up, withholding information about his work to make an audit more difficult. This usually raises the costs of setting work incentives, so incentives are softened, sometimes drastically. Moreover, when a worker's on-the-job information is valuable for entrepreneurial decisions, work incentives must be softened to improve the internal flow of information.     

基于生态足迹理论的生态经济系统发展能力分析

本文介绍了加拿大生态经济学家William教授提出并由其学生Wackerngel完善的生态足迹模型，总结了前人基于该模型得出的Shannon-Weaver公式、Ulanowicz的发展能力公式，指出该公式能更好地反映区域生态经济系统的发展能力。利用全国、广东省、四川省、四川南充市等不同区域2001年生态足迹计算结果、计算出不同区域层面上的生态系统多样性和发展能力分别为1.9367、1.7947、2.0526、1.1049，说明其生态足迹的发展能力均超过生态存量的发展能力。选取了四川省南充市作为特定区域进行生态足迹和生态足迹效益的时间序列计算，进行生态经济系统多样性和发展能力的动态变化分析。最后．指出提高生态经济系统多样性指数和发展能力的一条重要途径是增加生态足迹的多样性。