Diffusing ‘best practice’ in Chinese multinationals: the motivation,facilitation and limitations

With increasing global integration, the diffusion of ‘best practice’ is a critical activity in MNCs, particularly for those from developing countries which have recently joined global markets. Recent research has suggested that ‘reverse diffusion’ is an important approach to the internationalization of management. However, there is little empirical evidence in support of this argument. This paper draws on in-depth case studies of the UK subsidiaries of Chinese MNCs to explore the nature and characteristics of diffusion activities. It confirms that ‘reverse diffusion’ played a positive part in the internationalization process of these companies, although the impact on the home firms is limited. It also found that new forms of management transfer are emerging in these Chinese MNCs. This suggests that the diffusion of ‘best practice’ in MNCs can be varied with different national and organizational characteristics.     

Globalization of HR at function level: four UK-based case studies of the international recruitment and selection process

A series of the changes are being wrought on a range of IHRM functions – recruitment, global staffing, management development and careers, and rewards – by the process of globalization highlighting the difference between globally standardized, optimized or localized HR processes. However, our theoretical understanding of the issues involved is still driven by concepts rooted in global staffing strategies based on the management of small cadres of international managers, such as expatriates. The fragmentation of international employee populations and the changing structure and role of international HR functions has raised three important questions. The first concerns the study of globalization processes at functional level (staffing) and whether this can provide useful insights for the IHRM literature. The second concerns the indicators that best evidence globalization of staffing at the functional level, and whether these might form the basis of useful future research. The third concerns the patterns or strategies within the global HR recruitment activity of organizations across domestic and overseas labour markets and whether these patterns can be explained by existing theory. This paper reports on a study of firm-level developments in international recruitment and selection, drawing upon an analysis of four case studies each conducted in four theoretically derived contexts of centralized or decentralized control and co-ordination, and focus on domestic or overseas markets. It examines the disparities between policy and practice through interview of HR actors at corporate level and in country operations.     

英国皇家学会院士制度概述及其启示

英国皇家学会是最早实施院士终身制(即院士制度)的学会之一。皇家学会的宗旨和职能、机构设置、院士增选制度等不仅对英国皇家工程院和不列颠学院等其他英国国家级学会产生重要影响,也被其他国家建立院士制度广泛借鉴。通过对英国皇家学会的法律地位和定位、职责、内部治理结构以及皇家学会院士及其选举过程进行详细介绍,分析了皇家学会院士制度的优势和存在问题,并参考英国经验,从组织机构、院士待遇、院士增选过程、院士影响力发挥等4个方面对我国院士制度改革提出了具体建议。     

PPP模式在英国保障性住房中的应用

英国是住房保障体系比较完善的西方国家,也是在住房保障中运用PPP模式较为成熟的国家,自20世纪中期开始形成了一套以PPP模式为基础的住房保障措施。文章首先介绍了英国住房保障的发展过程以及其住房保障的特点,然后对三种主要PPP模式——大规模自愿转让(LSVTs)、臂长管理组织(ALMO)、私人主动融资(PFI)的基本内容,操作方法,结构形式等进行分析,最后结合英国经验对我国当前城市住房保障存在的问题进行评述,为住房问题研究和政策制定提供参考。     

Size effect,methodological issues and ‘risk-to-default’: evidence from the UK stock market

The hedging effectiveness of dynamic strategies is compared with static (traditional) ones using futures contracts for the five leading currencies. The traditional hedging model assumes time invariance in the joint distribution of spot and futures price changes thus leading to a constant optimal hedge ratio (OHR). However, if this time-invariance assumption is violated, time-varying OHRs are appropriate for hedging purposes. A bivariate GARCH model is employed to estimate the joint distribution of spot and futures currency returns and the sequence of dynamic (time-varying) OHRs is constructed based upon the estimated parameters of the conditional covariance matrix. The empirical evidence strongly supports time-varying OHRs but the dynamic model provides superior out-of-sample hedging performance, compared to the static model, only for the Canadian dollar.     

Asset pricing dynamics

This paper is concerned with the issue of dynamics in financial data and asset pricing models such as the CAPM. A literature review in this area is undertaken and highlights the need for a modern time series econometric approach in asset pricing. Such an approach is discussed and deals with problems related to structural breaks and microstructures, dynamics in the mean and variance process, and non-stationary regressions and cointegration. An empirical application using UK stock market data demonstrates the merit of the proposed methodology in correcting market model regressions.     

Risk communication and the FSA: the food colourings case

Food colourings and flavourings have a long history. Spices and preservatives have been added to foods for millennia in order to make them last longer and taste better. Herbs, spices, pepper and salt, and other natural flavours and preservatives remain popular to this day. But over the last century or so the food and drinks industry has in many cases replaced or added to naturally occurring preservatives and colourings with synthetic compounds. All natural and artificial colours, flavours and preservatives that are added to food and drink have been tested and approved as safe by the regulatory authorities in the western world. However, campaigners in several nations, particularly the UK, have attempted to have some artificial colours and preservatives banned on public safety grounds, ranging from alleged skin allergies and asthma to hyperactive children. None of these allegations has been substantiated for any individual substance by the regulatory authorities. This paper evaluates how the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) communicated the scientific findings of the so‐called Southampton study, which claimed to demonstrate a link between the consumption of a mixture of six artificial colours and one preservative and hyperactivity in children, and was published in September 2007 in the medical journal, The Lancet. The study is based on a content analysis of UK‐based newspapers from March 2007 to July 2008, as well as interviews with staff at the UK FSA, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), industry representatives, academics (including Professor Jim Stevenson who was the supervisor of the food colourings study at Southampton University) and campaign groups.     

2012年英国强制性第二支柱养老金改革及其对中国的启示

英国养老金制度体系的问题是公共养老金保障不足,职业养老金覆盖范围有限。英国自2012年10开始实施“自动注册”的强制性第二支柱计划,该计划涉及面广,分阶段实施,在实施过程中具有一定的弹性,由雇主和雇员共同缴费,国家给予一定的财政补贴,通过养老金监督局和信托制度（NEST）,增加指导,辅助实施。文章分析了此项改革的来龙去脉,并认为此项改革是英国养老金一揽子改革的重要组成部分,既是对过去30余年公共养老保险私有化改革引起的问题的修补,也是完善养老金体制的重要突破。英国此项改革的一些做法值得中国借鉴。     

英国科研评价体系探析及其启示

英国于2014年首次启用REF对全国高等教育研究机构进行科研评价,REF在评价单元、评价指标、评价方法等方面较RAE有实质性变革,一定程度上代表了国际科研评价发展的新趋势。分析了REF的特点和走向,以及中英科研评价体系的异同,提出了我国科研评价体系的模式选择。     

Financial fraud,scandals, and regulation: A conceptual framework and literature review

Abstract

This perspectives article surveys publications in business history and constructs a conceptual framework for researching fraud and other dubious financial practices, their determinants and their consequences. The prevalence and nature of the practices studied are mainly determined by individual traits, firm governance and control, the economic environment, and regulation. Contemporaries make sense of dubious practices by constructing narratives, possibly framing them as scandals, which are likely to lead to attempts at regulatory change. It is primarily the socio-economic impact of dubious practices that determines whether regulation becomes fundamentally stricter. Existing agendas for reform strongly influence the substance of regulatory responses.