Combating deceptive advertisements and labelling on food products – an exploratory study on the perceptions of teachers

People are becoming more health conscious nowadays, but most of them are not able to adopt a lifestyle with adequate physical exercise and a healthier eating pattern. Many attempt to compensate by taking ‘health foods’. Despite the recent economic recession, the functional food market is expanding rapidly in Asian countries. Recent statistics indicate a huge increase in weight loss and functional food product advertising expenditure in Hong Kong and other Asian countries. In a large scale survey conducted by the Hong Kong Consumer Council on advertisements, it was found that 85% of the medicines, health food and therapies sampled contain questionable claims and misleading messages, which was the second most problematic category of the survey. In addition, young people do not understand much about modern food processing, in particular with regard to low energy and functional foods, and they know very little about modern food marketing strategies. The situation is potentially detrimental to consumer welfare, especially to the younger generation. This study was conducted to reflect critically on implications of the issue on the health and well‐being of young people in Hong Kong. Attempts are made to explore directions for designing relevant and effective education programmes to empower young people's abilities in understanding food advertising strategies and making informed decisions on food choice. This paper begins with a critical review of the current situation with regard to Hong Kong. Then, the results of an interview survey and a questionnaire survey on pre‐service and in‐service teachers’ perception towards misleading food advertising and labelling are reported. The situations at schools are defined and problems faced by teachers in providing relevant consumer education programmes to students are identified. Finally, some prospective foci for further investigation of this important issue, with a view to developing students’ critical skills in evaluating claims offered in food advertisements, will be considered.     

Testing Multiple Non-Nested Factor Demand Systems

This article explains how to obtain straightforward extensions of the most popular univariate non‐nested statistics, and of the RESET‐test, to a multivariate context and examines how to use these tests to compare alternative factor demand systems. The empirical application involves the classical Berndt–Khaled KLEM data set. A statistically adequate specification is determined for each competing factor demand system. The empirical results are interpreted for each system, the models are compared on the basis of multivariate paired and joint non‐nested procedures and practical indications about what to expect if these tests are applied to alternative factor demand specifications are provided.     

Instrumental variable estimation based on grouped data

The paper considers the estimation of the coefficients of a single equation in the presence of dummy intruments. We derive pseudo ML and GMM estimators based on moment restrictions induced either by the structural form or by the reduced form of the model. The performance of the estimators is evaluated for the non-Gaussian case. We allow for heteroscedasticity. The asymptotic distributions are based on parameter sequences where the number of instruments increases at the same rate as the sample size. Relaxing the usual Gaussian assumption is shown to affect the normal asymptotic distributions. As a result also recently suggested new specification tests for the validity of instruments depend on Gaussianity. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the accuracy of the asymptotic approach.     

功能金融、融资效率与中小企业融资——远图1号集合资金信托计划案例

本文通过对远图1号集合资金信托计划案例的分析。认为应充分发挥不同市场及成员的功能优势并有效加以整合,打破银行渠道单一间接融资的局限,实现功能金融对社会资源的高效配置,才能有效解决中小企业新的融资难问题。     

在“世界现代田园城市”视域下建设成都旅游产业功能区的思考

本文分析了田园城市是统筹城乡发展的一种城市化理想形态。在分析成都建设"世界现代田园城市"的内涵、发展战略步骤,阐述了成都如何建设旅游功能区的具体规划思路。     

对产业集群的反思

产业集群研究的一个重点就是探索集群存在的原因,西方学者倾向性地认为产业集群是竞争优势的重要来源。文章通过文献资料法和对比批判论证法对国外案例进行批判性分析来重新探讨西方主流观点的合理性。研究结果表明,功能性聚集和物理性聚集有着本质区别。以此为立足点来说明是否采用集群发展这个模式应该结合当地的具体实际情况来进行具体分析,切莫盲目模仿。     

功能金融理论与我国金融体系的稳定性和效率性

功能金融理论认为,金融体系具有便利清算和支付、聚集和分配资源以及分散风险的功能.一个稳定和富有效率的金融体系通过有效发挥这三大核心功能,能够极大地促进一国国民经济的增长.根据该理论,本文通过研究我国金融体系上述三大功能的发挥程度来判断其稳定性和效率性.大量实证资料表明,我国金融体系虽然能够最大限度地动员社会储蓄,便利各种交易的清算和支付,但是其储蓄-投资转化率低下,资源配置功能弱化,风险分散和转移能力不高.因此,应在提高投资转化率、创新金融工具和技术、建立高效融资平台、改善公司治理机制和信息披露机制等方面完善我国的金融体系.     

日语教学中的功能交际法

在日语教学中 ,合理使用功能交际法 ,实现语言素材情景化和教学过程的交际化 ,尽可能地为学生提供相关的接近交际的交际情景 ,可以提高学生的语言综合能力及交际能力。     

区域文化对市场经济环境形成的影响研究

区域文化对市场经济环境的形成具有重要的作用。在深入分析区域文化对市场经济环境形成作用机理的基础上,结合我国区域经济发展实际,从政治文化对政治体制变革的影响,经济文化对经济组织创新的影响,伦理文化对竞争环境建立的影响,以及宗教文化对科学意识培养的影响等四个方面,论述了区域文化对市场经济环境形成的作用路径,说明区域文化对市场环境的形成具有内源性的影响。     

The role of top management team diversity in shaping the performance of business model innovation: a threshold effect

Business model innovation is one of the firm’s most important strategic decisions. Top management team (TMT), as the critical decision-makers, has essential influence upon such decisions. However, the role of TMT diversity in shaping the performance of business model innovation is less explored in the literature. Based on a sample dataset of 906 observations of small and medium enterprises from China Startups Stock Market during the period of 2009–2011, we find that TMT diversity exhibits a significant threshold effect on the relationship between business model innovation (in terms of novelty-centred and efficiency-centred business model) and firm performance. More specifically, when TMT functional diversity arrives at a certain level, the positive relationship between novelty-centred business model and firm performance becomes more pronounced. On the other hand, the positive relationship between efficiency-centred business model innovation and firm performance will be more significant when TMT tenure diversity increases to a certain level.