Organising international supplier relations: An exploratory study of Western purchasing in China

This paper analyses Western purchasing in China in order to investigate the motives for sourcing, the specific requirements of the area and, in particular, the base and features of supplier relationships. It reports recent experiences of seven companies based in Finland, including two global companies, two units with foreign ownership and three Finnish SMEs. Prevalent in Chinese sourcing are long-term supplier relations, but no partnership relations have been established. The companies build their supplier relations gradually and they all emphasise a long-term viewpoint to Chinese sourcing. Commitment of the Chinese partner is a key challenge, overcoming of which would help companies to avoid and solve, e.g. quality problems. The study shows that, for the Western supply personnel, key competences and tools for bridging the psychic distance are social skills and interest in the Chinese culture.     

芯钢管混凝土节点的芯管壁厚与节点承载力关系的数值分析

对一种已经通过试验研究的钢管混凝土结构的新型节点进行数值分析。这种节点将钢管混凝土柱的钢管在节点区间断,在节点区设置芯钢管,使梁中的纵筋在节点中直通、梁与节点区混凝土成为一体可靠的传递梁中的弯矩、剪力及轴力。本文利用数值分析弥补模型试验数量少的缺陷。选择不同芯钢管壁厚的节点模型进行非线性有限元分析,得出芯钢管壁厚对节点承载力的影响规律。分析结果表明芯钢管壁厚是影响节点承载力的主要因素之一。     

The lexicographic composition of abstract games

The lexicographic composition of reflexive and complete binary relations (which are often called abstract games) is studied. The necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for a lexicographic composition of quasi transitive relations to be quasi transitive.The case of acyclicity of lexicographic composition of two relations is also investigated. Received: September 25, 2000; revised version: November 28, 2000     

INTEREG: A Twenty-region Input–Output Model for Italy

Since the regional scale turns out to be the scale at which fiscal devolution is likely to be accomplished in Italy, and that at which trade and growth interdependencies as well as regional convergence can be most conveniently investigated, a new 20-region input–output model for Italy seems to be a useful tool of analysis. Although various regional and interregional models have been constructed since the 1950s, none has been implemented for the whole system of 20 Italian administrative regions considered in their tight mutual dependence; also, the pool approach has not been greatly favoured, even in situations where direct information on regional trade is lacking. The main purpose of this paper is to report on the structure of the model, the rather complex procedure used in the model construction and the adopted solution technique. Some space is devoted to the problems encountered in handling regional trade endogenously in an input–output setting and to a comparison between the pool approach, used in the Italian model, and other current techniques. The paper also reports on some preliminary results regarding the regional impact of fiscal policy.     

On the cost-benefit of the regionalisation of the National Health Service

In this paper we analyse in formal terms the desirability of the regionalisation of a National Health Service. The policy consists of a devolution process, i.e. the increase in the health services provision to be decided by a region and financed by an increase in its revenues. The change is a marginal one, as it regards the part of supply of the health services exceeding a minimum standard, which for purposes of equity is maintained uniform in the national territory. As the central government is responsible for this component of the provision of health care (a federal “mandate”), the level of the said component is chosen by this authority and financed by federal taxation. Moreover, the government also applies an equalisation scheme based on the difference between a standard level of tax revenues and the revenues which the region is deemed able to raise for this purpose. Within the theoretical context of welfare improving reforms with distortionary taxation, we derive two conditions which focus on the regional, as well as the social, convenience of regionalisation. Received: May 5, 1999 / Accepted: January 21, 2000     

Inter-local relations and trans-scaling through finance in Poland

Inter-local cooperation is difficult to measure. In Poland, however, the data-set concerning financial transfers between local government budgets (one of the most popular quantitative measures of cooperation) has never been described in scientific literature. This paper aims at contributing to fill this gap. On the basis of the budget expenditures of all Polish local governments, we applied two research methods: OLS regression and Heckman two-stage regression. The results show that the decision whether to get into cooperation, and the decision on the extent of involvement are driven by different factors.     

Fiscal federalism in rentier regions: Evidence from Russia

When does sub-national fiscal autonomy prompt regional growth and recovery and, under what conditions, does it have adverse effects? We argue that unearned income streams, particularly in the form of revenues from natural resource production or from budgetary transfers from the central government, transform regions dependent on these income sources into rentier regions. Governments in these regions can use local control over revenues and expenditures to shelter certain firms, i.e., natural resource producers or loss-making enterprises, from market forces. Using fiscal data from 80 Russian regions from 1996 to 1999, we test this hypothesis in both cross-sectional and panel specifications. Our results indicate that tax retention, which is a proxy for fiscal autonomy, has had a positive effect on regional reform and investment since the break-up of the Soviet Union. However, we also find that this effect decreases as rentable income streams to regions increase. Journal of Comparative Economics 33 (4) (2005) 814–834.     

地方财政体制权责不对称问题研究

地方财政体制权责不对称已经成为分税制后我国地方财政管理体制运行中的一个较为突出的问题。主要表现为：事权划分原则性不强且缺乏法制化基础导致了政府间事权下移，地方政府级次过多与“倒轧账”式的分税模式引起了地方政府间财权上移，转移支付制度不规范造成了地方政府间财力差距日益扩大。为此，我们应选择相应的治理对策来完善我国地方财政体制。     

我国省际间财政差异趋势与影响因素的实证研究

本文通过1980-2005年间的样本数据,揭示1980年以来我国省际间财政差异的变化趋势,以及这种变化趋势的影响因素.我们的研究表明,在财政收入方面,受地区经济差异加大的影响,1994年以后财政收入差异有扩大态势,而分税制改革有助于缩小省际间财政收入差异.在财政支出方面,1995年以后财政支出差异呈上升趋势,这是地区间经济发展水平差异与分税制共同作用的结果,但是前者的作用远远大于后者.因此,缩小省际间财政差异的途径除转移支付外,还应当主要致力于缩小省际间经济发展水平差异.     

上市公司的关联交易及其信息披露

本文分析了上市公司的关联方关系和关联交易,针对目前存在的上市公司关联交易信息披露问题,提出了一些对策及解决办法。