Foreign-currency transactions and the recovery of German industry in the aftermath of the First World War: the case of Schering AG

While historians have for a long time recognized the importance of the First World War to the general flow of history, business economists do not fully appreciate the impact of the war on commercial relationships. The First World War transformed the political, economic, and social context, in which business was done, forcing companies to develop new strategies and activities, some of which were almost unimaginable before August 1914. This article focuses on one aspect of doing business: foreign exchange management. It argues that Schering AG and its parent, like many German companies after the First World War, were obliged to refocus their activities around their foreign exchange exposures and that the management of foreign exchange issues contributed to a much tighter relationship between businesses, government, and business associations than had existed before the war and for which some aspects of Germany's system of corporate control were not well adapted to handle.     

我国天然气专业技术标准的现状与设想

概括了我国天然气专业技术标准发展的现状，并通过与国际标准和国外先进标准比较，以及针对现场分析中存在的问题，提出了应采用完善《天然气专业标准体系表》，加快与国际接轨和“采标”的速度等办法来推动我国天然气专业标准化工作的发展。     

美国银行关联交易监管演变考及借鉴

美国对银行业对外关联关系监管经历从“状态限制”到“行为限制”的发展过程,其理论基础是基于对银行独立市场判断能力的维护。我国应借鉴美国经验,加强对银行业关联交易的立法和外部监管,强化商业银行的内部控制;在监管中要兼顾效率和公平,加大对非公允关联交易的处罚力度,并赋予监管者一定的自由裁量权;不断修改、完善监管制度。     

世界银行卡产业发展研究

随着全球经济的复苏和银行卡受理环境的改善,近年来世界银行卡产业保持着迅捷的增长势头,银行卡作为支付手段对现金和支票的替代作用也日益明显。本文从总量指标和人均指标两方面对当前世界主要国家和地区银行卡产业的交易状况进行了实证研究,分析了全球银行卡市场在区域和品牌上的分布结构,并对该产业近年来的发展趋势进行了总结与探讨。     

Industry aspects of takeovers and divestitures: Evidence from the UK

This paper examines takeover and divestiture activity at the industry level for the population of UK firms over the period 1986–2000. Consistent with US research, takeovers in the UK cluster both across industries and over time. The evidence for divestitures indicates clustering across industries only. The paper further investigates whether broad and specific industry shocks (e.g., growth, free cash flow, concentration, deregulation, foreign competition, technology, stock market performance) explain takeover and divestiture clustering at the industry level. The results suggest that broad shocks increase (decrease) the likelihood of takeovers (divestitures), although not significantly for takeovers. Specific industry shocks that increase the likelihood of takeover activity include low growth, the threat of foreign competition and high stock market performance. For divestitures, high industry concentration and deregulation increase activity. Little evidence is found for deregulation as a significant factor in explaining takeover activity.     

金融行业对实体行业的尾部风险传导研究——基于实体企业金融化视角

本文基于我国金融资本超额回报率的事实,在市场套利分析框架下实证检验了实 体企业金融化是抑制还是加剧了尾部金融风险溢出。数值模拟结果表明：从杠杆率来看,实体 企业金融化对杠杆率具有“双刃剑”效应,然而,实证结果发现,从长期经济后果来看,实体 企业金融化却显著提高了杠杆率,基于Altman-Z值的风险分析进一步发现企业破产风险显著 上升,从而加剧了尾部金融风险溢出。文章的研究结论有利于全面观察实体企业金融化带来的 的实际效果,也揭示了金融行业对实体行业的风险传导过程中的一个风险源,对于实体经济和 金融领域关于企业金融化效应的研究具有参考价值。     

信息化对制造业升级的影响机制研究

信息化对制造业升级的影响日益深远，但其影响机制也更加复杂。通过微观、宏观双视角定性论述，借助GMM模型对中国283个城市2004-2014年的面板数据进行定量测度，探讨了信息化对制造业升级的影响机制。结果显示：信息化与制造业升级存在倒U型关系，当信息化程度未跨过风险拐点时，其对制造业升级会产生促进作用；信息化程度跨过风险拐点后，信息化对制造业升级的促进作用呈下降趋势。研究表明信息化并不总是促进制造业升级，信息化是机遇也是挑战，各地区需要因地制宜，结合自身工业化水平来发展信息化。     

Natural and anthropogenic influences on the year-round temperature dynamics of air and water in Postojna show cave,Slovenia

Air and groundwater temperatures were measured in a rimstone pool in Postojna Cave, to advise evaluation of the impact of natural and anthropogenic influences related to heat being initially transmitted into cave air by visitors. Such heat can accumulate both in the rock mass and in water. Results show that attention must be paid to temperature changes of rimstone pool water rather than those of cave air, especially during the winter. Thanks to good ventilation deep inside the cave, short-term air temperature increases related to higher visitor numbers have not influenced flowstone precipitation or the cave fauna. However, this situation might change if winter visitor numbers increased greatly. This study does not support a suggested increase in winter visits (currently the tourism low-season) and reduction of summer visits (currently the tourism high-season).     

How to overcome the implementation gap in ecosystem services? A user-friendly and inclusive tool for improved urban management

One of the main issues with the concept of ecosystem services is its absence on the ground in concrete operational decision-making contexts; that is, an implementation gap. In this study, we investigated if this gap could be overcome through the use of open-source data and free tools, and the adoption of a short-term participatory process. We tested these methods in the context of a project in the urban metropolitan area of Bordeaux (Communauté urbaine de Bordeaux: CUB) in France. The ecosystem services were defined using a participatory approach involving local stakeholders, and then selected scenarios were simulated to test the impact of various development or conservation plans. The study addressed three main questions: (1) Is it possible to adopt a simple methodological approach that overcomes the implementation gap through the development of a user-friendly and inclusive method? (2) What is the added value of a participatory approach? (3) With regards to four scenarios in this territory, what are the ES trends in the selected biophysical and monetary indicators, and will knowledge of these trends help planners to shape a sustainable trajectory for the territory?     

Purchasing natural personal care products in the era of fake news? The moderation effect of brand trust

Natural personal care products are gaining popularity due to their benefits in terms of health and well-being. However, consumers are wary of these products and are guided by the fake news circulating about them. Since natural product consumption offers several personal and environmental benefits, it would be worthwhile to understand consumers’ tendency to let fake news influence their consumption decisions. Accordingly, the current study examined the association of fake news and purchasing behaviour towards natural personal care products, utilising Stimulus-Organism-Behaviour-Consequence (SOBC) as the theoretical framework. The study proposed openness to change as the stimulus, perceived benefits and perceived risks as organismic internal states, purchase intentions as the behaviour, and the propensity of believing and acting on fake news as the consequence, which is further associated with system trust. The model was tested by analysing data collected from 390 existing consumers, considering the moderation effect of brand trust and controlling the effect of age and gender. The findings confirmed that openness to change is associated with perceived benefits and risks. Furthermore, perceived benefits and system trust are associated with purchase intentions, which are, in turn, associated with the propensity of believing and acting on fake news. The study presents several novel contributions to theory and practice.