How Safe Are the Harbors?

Abstract

With the growth of e-commerce has come the need for businesses to provide protection of personal, private data collected from internet users and consumers. The United States has favored a policy of industry self-regulation, while the European Union (EU) has responded to its consumer demands for privacy protection regulations and enforcement. Faced with the critical need for a middle ground, the US has proposed “Safe Harbor Privacy Principles” as a means of compromise with the EU. This article explores the market context of the Safe Harbor Principles, the European reaction, and the probable impact on businesses.     

Shutting up shop: understanding the international exit process in retailing

Internationalisation is a much-studied phenomenon. Exit from international markets has been less analysed. Where it has been studied, most work has been on motives and causes, with relatively little on processes. This article explores the process of international exit in a retail context. It examines the run-up to, announcement of and fall-out from the decision by Marks and Spencer (one of Britain's leading retailers) to close its French stores. The article concludes that understanding the process of market exit is at least as important both for theoretical and practical reasons as understanding the decision to exit or divest. Further research needs to be undertaken on market exit and the processes involved, in order to contribute further to the theory and practice of internationalisation.     

Some Reflections on U.S. Treaty Commitments

Abstract

The world oil price has risen significantly since the late 1990s and reached a record high in 2008. The recent oil price hike raises concerns regarding the possible negative effects of the rising oil price on the economy as in the 1970s. We investigate the effects of the oil price hike on the Korean economy using a Bayesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DGSE) model. We explicitly model the small open economy nature of the Korean economy and its oil usage and estimate the constructed model within a unified Bayesian framework. We also examine possible changes in the effects of world oil shocks on the Korean economy using counterfactual simulations. We find the adverse effects of world oil shocks as well as their importance in Korean business cycles have diminished due to reductions in the relative usage of crude oil in the economy, while world oil shocks themselves have changed relatively little over time.     

Spatial modelling of claim frequency and claim size in non-life insurance

In this paper, models for claim frequency and average claim size in non-life insurance are considered. Both covariates and spatial random effects are included allowing the modelling of a spatial dependency pattern. We assume a Poisson model for the number of claims, while claim size is modelled using a Gamma distribution. However, in contrast to the usual compound Poisson model, we allow for dependencies between claim size and claim frequency. A fully Bayesian approach is followed, parameters are estimated using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The issue of model comparison is thoroughly addressed. Besides the deviance information criterion and the predictive model choice criterion, we suggest the use of proper scoring rules based on the posterior predictive distribution for comparing models. We give an application to a comprehensive data set from a German car insurance company. The inclusion of spatial effects significantly improves the models for both claim frequency and claim size, and also leads to more accurate predictions of the total claim sizes. Further, we detect significant dependencies between the number of claims and claim size. Both spatial and number of claims effects are interpreted and quantified from an actuarial point of view.     

International Market Segmentation and Cross-Export Strategies Development Case Study: Iranian Furniture Industry

ABSTRACT

By developing an international market and significant differences between countries in this regard, segmentation becomes an increasingly important concept in marketing. In this article, the international market of Iranian furniture industry is segmented and cross-exporting strategies are developed to increase the market share of Iranian furniture in each segment. To achieve this, two distance functions are introduced based on correlation between export groups to cluster countries with k-means algorithm. After market segmentation for increasing sales in each segment, cross-exporting strategies are predicted by extracting association rules in each segment based on Apriori algorithm to set export baskets.     

新保守主义与布什的单边主义政策

新保守主义作为一种政治思想，从里根、老布什、克林顿、小布什、到现在的奥巴马政府。在不同的时期都对美国的外交政策产生了不同程度的影响，经历了它的产生、发展、繁极一时、最终一蹶不振。那么新保守主义对布什政府的外交产生了什么影响呢？在奥巴马时期又有什么变化吗？     

浅论微型企业从小企业中独立出来的意义

微型企业虽然比较小,但不管是在发达国家还是发展中国家其在增加就业、促进经济增长、增加雇员收入方面是一致的。然而我国对微型企业的重要性认识比较晚,直到2011年才把微型企业单独划型出来。文章从理论、政府、金融机构和微型企业本身四方面来对微型企业从小企业中独立出来的意义进行探讨。     

金融危机下加快启动农村消费市场问题的思考

改革开放以来,我国经济迅速增长,但从拉动经济增长的因素消费、投资、净出口三者的关系看,三者对我国经济增长的贡献不平衡,其中消费需求中的农村消费需求尤为不足。启动农村消费市场,将农村消费市场培育成新的消费热点,促进农村消费稳定增长,不仅是诱导当前我国消费快速增长的关键所在,而且是今后国民经济持续、稳定、健康发展的基本保障。     

推动企业生态经济管理的政策系统研究

推动企业生态经济管理的政策系统可由来政府与非政府两方面的强制、激励、压力和支持四大系统构成，本文详细分析了这四大系统，并指出综合政策系统的结构重心应由强制性与支持性政策措施为主逐渐转向基于激励与压力性政策措施。     

企业低碳行为与股东价值关系的实证研究

结合我国低碳政策背景，实证检验了我国企业低碳行为与股东价值的关系，研究发现：总体而言我国企业低碳行为有利于股东价值的提升，环境敏感行业的低碳行为与股东价值的关系更显著，但是与被动的低碳行为相比，主动低碳行为并来获得更大的股东价值。这表明我国政府制定的低碳政策取得了一定的效果，但是还需要进一步培育低碳产品需求、明确碳交易或碳税等低碳政策，从而使企业主动低碳行为获得应有的更大市场回报。