The association between dividend payout and firm growth: Australian evidence

We report that whereas firms with high earnings distributions tend to have low‐to‐moderate growth (consistent with conventional theory), firms with low earnings distributions run the range between high and low performers. We interpret our findings for firm growth and payout policy in relation to the firm's location on the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix that combines high/low growth with high/low market share. Our findings suggest that the market has difficulty in distinguishing between these types of firms. A concern is that investor preferences as an outcome may be focussed on dividend‐paying firms at the expense of younger growing firms in need of retained earnings.     

Forecasting using supervised factor models

This paper examines the theoretical and empirical properties of a supervised factor model based on combining forecasts using principal components (CFPC), in comparison with two other supervised factor models (partial least squares regression, PLS, and principal covariate regression, PCovR) and with the unsupervised principal component regression, PCR. The supervision refers to training the predictors for a variable to forecast. We compare the performance of the three supervised factor models and the unsupervised factor model in forecasting of U.S. CPI inflation. The main finding is that the predictive ability of the supervised factor models is much better than the unsupervised factor model. The computation of the factors can be doubly supervised together with variable selection, which can further improve the forecasting performance of the supervised factor models. Among the three supervised factor models, the CFPC best performs and is also most stable. While PCovR also performs well and is stable, the performance of PLS is less stable over different out-of-sample forecasting periods. The effect of supervision gets even larger as forecast horizon increases. Supervision helps to reduce the number of factors and lags needed in modelling economic structure, achieving more parsimony.     

Identifying and mapping forest-based ecotourism areas in West Virginia – Incorporating visitors' preferences

This study identifies and maps forest-based ecotourism areas in West Virginia by incorporating visitors' preferences. Relative weights for ecotourism destination criteria were obtained using the Analytic Hierarchy Process based on a survey of 777 participants. The study classified the state into five levels of naturalness with areas under Class I being the least natural and Class V being the most natural. The presence of wildlife was found to be the most important criterion and slope was found to be the least. Results also showed significant variations in visitors' preferences. Areas under Class IV and Class V in both weighted and unweighted ecotourism maps covered more than half of the state's area, suggesting high prospects for promoting forest-based ecotourism in the state. The results further showed that each class changed in size when visitors' preferences were applied. The ecotourism maps created provide useful insights for visitors, destination managers, and decision makers.     

What threatens retail employees' thriving at work under leader‐member exchange? The role of store spatial crowding and team negative affective tone

Thriving at work is a positive psychological state that captures employees' joint experience of learning and vitality. Building on the socially embedded model of thriving , we first propose the positive relationship between leader‐member exchange (LMX) and retail employees' thriving at work. We then explore store spatial crowding as a contextual constraint on this relationship. To better reveal this contextual impact, we further contend that team negative affective tone mediates the cross‐level moderating effect of store spatial crowding on the LMX–thriving linkage. Using two‐wave survey data collected from retail employees and their store managers across 89 stores of a grocery retail chain, we found empirical evidence on our multilevel‐mediated moderation model. This study highlights the importance of considering wider contextual features as boundary conditions to thriving. Our results suggest theoretical modifications to the existing thriving model and offer implications on the practical interventions that retailing organizations can take to develop a thriving workforce.     

提高电缆下线工艺生产效率的创新设计

本文以中国中车动车生产中的电缆下线工序为研究对象，运用工业工程与TRIZ 创新方法相结合的方式对该工序生产效率进行提升。作者根据现有工艺流程进行作业分割，对分割出的每一步作业进行连续多次测时，将测量数据统计分析得到改进空间大的作业，分别运用目视化管理、视线轨迹追踪等工业工程类的方法进行改善，通过改进挂线架、剪线表和卷线机解决了上述发现的问题。同时，本文对整个系统建立功能模型，通过功能分析找出问题的关键因素, 运用一系列的TRIZ 的工具解决问题。     

城镇化与城乡收入差距——基于省域面板模型的分析

本文运用全国数据，考察城镇化与城乡收入差距的动态变化关系，发现1990～2014年城镇化与城乡收入差距之间呈倒U型变化，其拐点在2005年。根据1996～2013年省域面板数据特征，使用空间面板模型进行分阶段检验，结果表明，1996～2004年城镇化扩大了城乡收入差距，而在2005～2013年城镇化缩小了城乡收入差距。同样利用1996～2013年省域面板数据，估算每个省份城镇化对城乡收入差距的影响效果，结果显示，城镇化缩小城乡收入差距的地区一般为东部沿海省份。可见，城镇化是否产生缩小城乡收入差距的效应是有阶段性和地区差异性的。就目前及未来而言，可以把城镇化作为缩小城乡收入差距的一个手段。但其真正发挥这个作用，还依赖于有关政策的完善与创新。对经济发展阶段较滞后的地区而言，应积极促进城镇化缩小城乡收入差距效果的到来。     

Retail-center viability and urban form: a micro analysis

Location is commonly axiomatically stated as the most important real estate feature. However, little attention is given to the urban system that reveals how location is configured, and how that configuration sustains the viability of site-specific retailing activity in the metropolitan region. In this paper, we use block-level, GIS-aided spatial data that reveal the physical qualities of the retail center’s built environment as well as employment and business activity. Thereby, we examine a hypothesis that retailing viability is linked to urban form and set out to determine a statistical relationship. Retail sales data indicate the viability of businesses in two matched shopping centers, urban and suburban, each anchored by an identical big-box retailer downsized to a neighborhood supermarket, with pedestrian-friendly orientation and proximity to housing. The paper concludes with regression estimates of the urban form determinants of business viability by various distances from the retail center.     

丝路带西北段区域金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配问题研究

近年来由于环境问题带来的压力，绿色产业的发展越来越受到政府和人民大众的重视。绿色产业在发展的过程中面临各种资金问题，需要金融增加供给并改善供给结构来支持绿色产业的发展。本文探讨了金融供给与绿色产业发展的理论渊源，并选取丝路带西北段区域为研究样本，首先用基尼系数匹配法测算各指标的基尼系数值从而找出该区域金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配中存在的问题，接着运用熵权TOPSI匹配法计算二者匹配度与理想解之间的贴近度，最后得出陕西贴近度最高，金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配度最好的结论，并根据实证结果提出了相应的对策建议。     

中国FDI区位决定因素研究(1986—2009)

关于中国和其他经济体的外商直接投资(FDI)区位决定,绝大部分研究仅仅关注决定因素的选择,而忽略了决定因素及其重要性可能会随一个国家或地区FDI的特性的变化而变化。而且,这类研究也几乎不考虑空间数据的特征。文章以中国为对象,顾及省域变量的空间特征,采用空间面板数据分析方法,并通过分阶段方式来捕捉FDI决定因素及其重要性,研究结果表明,空间特征确实在中国省域引进FDI中具有影响作用,FDI决定因素及其重要性会随时期动态变化。上述发现对中国各级政府以及跨国公司都具有重要政策和决策意义。