Sense and sustainability revisited: the limits of total factor productivity measures of sustainable agricultural systems

Many economists have advocated and applied total social factor productivity (TSFP) (i.e., total factor productivity estimated with both market and non‐market inputs and externalities, and with all factors valued at social prices) as a single all‐embracing measure of agricultural sustainability. This paper reviews the conceptual and practical issues in measuring TSFP and shows that no one measure alone will be theoretically or empirically robust as an indicator of sustainability. TSFP is a conceptually flawed measure since inclusion of non‐market inputs and outputs and social price‐based valuation, in most cases, violates the theoretical basis underlying those estimates. Trends in TSFP also have limited value in diagnosing the nature of sustainability problems, unless changes in productivity are related to underlying changes in technology, human and physical infrastructure, and indicators of resource quality. More attention needs to be given to defining key indicators of agro‐ecosystem health and relating these measures to trends in productivity. This analysis must be sufficiently disaggregated and for a long enough time period to allow for spatial and temporal variability inherent in agricultural production. Secondary data at the district level on both conventional inputs and outputs and resource quality have recently allowed more quantitative estimates of sustainability and its causes. With limited data, yield growth decomposition analysis can often be used to provide valuable insights into sustainability problems. Meanwhile, there is a need to invest in long‐term experimental and panel surveys of farmers and their fields for key production systems in order to provide long‐term data that will allow full productivity accounting, using more formal statistical procedures. Regardless of the approach selected, the findings of this paper strongly suggest a need for economists, agronomists and soil scientists to collaborate in integrating approaches in order to provide more robust and informative measures of sustainability.     

Human resources in Sino-foreign joint ventures: selected case studies in Shanghai,compared with Beijing

This article examines HRM in joint ventures (JVs) in Shanghai compared with those in Beijing using a case-study approach. It focuses primarily on issues relating to labour contracts, rewards and benefits, social insurance, trade unions and personnel policies, and describes current developments in China in each of these areas. In order to place these JV human resource practices in context, we also draw on interviews in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Shanghai and Beijing. Taking as a starting point a summary of traditional SOE 'iron rice-bowl' ( tie fan wan ) practices in the management of personnel, we ask to what extent HRM in the present JV sample differs from traditional methods and to what extent 'iron rice-bowl' practices continue despite foreign ownership. The extent to which HR practices in JVs are distinct from those in contemporary SOEs is also examined. We conclude that, although, as one would expect, foreign ownership has modified traditional practice, the degree and extent to which this is true varies widely. There is strong evidence of institutional and organizational continuity in 'iron rice-bowl' practices in both JVs and SOEs. Finally we propose a framework for categorizing the companies investigated in terms of their distance from traditional 'iron rice-bowl' HR practices and proximity to 'imported' practices. This consists of two 'pure' and two hybrid categories: pure 'iron rice-bowl'; hybrid I (predominantly local); hybrid II (predominantly imported): and, finally, pure imported. In this schema, the companies examined do not however group neatly according to whether they are JVs or SOEs.     

浅议我国生态环境保护的制度建设——基于环境库兹涅茨曲线的视角

为实现人与自然的和谐,对生态环境的保护日益重要。文章通过对环境库兹涅茨曲线进行剖析,揭示了环境保护事业的关键特征;并指出我国迫切需要加强生态资源产权制度改革,完善绿色税收制度,建立环保基金制度及公众参与制度,以实现对生态环境的保护。     

专业服务业跨国公司全球资源的利用研究

专业服务业是一个比较特殊的服务领域,它具有许多特殊的性质。本文试图从全球资源利用的角度对专业服务业跨国公司进行探讨,分析专业服务企业资源特性,并针对专业服务业跨国公司的全球经营优势,对其全球资源利用进行研究。     

Human Resource Ecosystem and its evolutionary rules

The paper, based on the concept and the elements of human resource ecosystem （HR Ecosystem）, studies the function and structure of HR Ecosystem, introduces the entropy theory to define the content of entropy of HR Ecosystem, constructs the corresponding distinctive model to distinguish the direction of the evolution of HR Ecosystem and the evolutionary entropy model, and applies the models to demonstrate the evolutionary rules of HR Ecosystem. The study shows that the entropy theory can be well applied to the analysis on HR Ecosystem and that it opens up a new field in the research of human resource management and provides a new effective technical method.     

我国企业绩效管理分析

绩效管理是帮助企业维持和提高生产力,实现企业战略任务和目标最有效的手段之一,它日益成为组织人力资源管理的重要手段。但目前,绩效管理问题又被公认是困扰企业经理人的首要问题。     

我国发展绿色物流的对策研究

党的十七大报告强调指出,必须把建设资源节约型、环境友好型社会放在工业化、现代化发展战略的突出位置,这对于我国物流业走绿色化发展之路具有明确的指导意义。针对我国绿色物流发展中存在的问题。应采取相应的对策,以促进绿色物流业健康发展。     

我国油气资源税由从量计征改为从价计征的政策效应——基于双重差分法的计量分析

基于双重差分法,对西部地区油气资源税由从量计征改为从价计证的政策效果进行评估,以单位产值能耗、污染排放量和人均资源税收入作为政策效果变量,实证研究表明,油气从价税改革促使西部地区单位产出能耗相对于样本均值下降了7.90~8.55个百分点,污染排放量减少约1556吨,人均资源税收入相对于样本均值增加了2.74~3.03个百分点,通过采用不同处理方法进行稳健性检验后,以上结论仍然成立。     

中国地区间研发资源错配测算与影响因素分析

随着中国的研发投入总量进入世界第一梯队,研发投入(资源)的配置状况成为决定研发产出效率的关键因素之一。本文基于一个包含研发资源价格扭曲的多部门竞争均衡模型,以2001—2016年各省份规模以上工业企业数据为样本,对中国地区间研发资源错配情况及其影响因素进行全面考察。研究发现:(1)各省份之间的研发劳动错配高于研发资本错配,多数省份倾向于过度配置研发资源,省份之间研发资源配置效率总体上呈逐步改善趋势,纠正错配可以使研发产出提升约16%;(2)东部各省份研发资源配置相对较为合理,但研发劳动配置略有不足,中部、西部和东北各省均存在不同程度的研发资源过度配置现象,东部和西部的研发资源配置效率一直在改善,东北和中部则没有表现出持续的改进态势;(3)市场发育程度、偏向性政策扶持、地区创新环境是研发资源错配的主要影响因素,在研发资源过度配置地区,这些因素的作用更为显著。本文的启示是,在当前全面实施创新驱动发展战略的大背景下,政府相关部门在积极引导全社会加大研发投入力度的同时,还应以市场为导向,进一步优化不同地区间的研发资源配置,实现研发效率的提升和经济的高质量发展。     

Resource utilisation Efficiency: A South African Provincial Evaluation

The objective of this paper is to analyse the utilisation of production capacity and total under‐utilisation in order to identify weak‐performing industries across the nine South African provinces. Detecting inefficiencies within the different provinces will help to identify where sound managerial or government intervention is required, which can contribute to the future success of the New Growth Path Framework and the Strategic Integrated Projects. Using a multistage data envelopment analysis model at the subnational level, several categories of production factors are explored: intermediate demand, labour, capital, as well as taxes and subsidies. The results emphasise South Africa's weak infrastructure and the failure to effectively promote stability in managing factor inputs. The results further illustrate that industry scale efficiency for water and electricity are poorest across all provinces, highlighting the current water and energy supply concerns in South Africa and problem areas associated with the National Development Program.