Professionalization in Action: Accountants' Attempt at Building a Network of Support for the WebTrust Seal of Assurance*

This paper examines the attempts by the North American accounting institutes to develop a new market in e‐commerce assurance based on their claims to professional expertise through the WebTrust project. Employing actor‐network theory in an in‐depth longitudinal field study, we investigate how WebTrust was originally developed and promoted as a seal of business‐to‐consumer assurance, which largely failed to generate support in the marketplace. Proponents were subsequently able to generate more interest in the eyes of managers of online organizations by reshaping WebTrust as a flexible set of principles and criteria for systems advice and business‐to‐business assurance. Our analysis suggests that attempts to expand the accounting profession's domain of expertise reflect a trial‐and‐error process where the outcome achieved may be far from the vision that motivated the institutes into undertaking the project in the first place. We further show that the initial network of support for such projects can be quite fragile and dynamic as various actors reposition themselves around the shifting meanings attributed to the project.     

部分城乡结合地区居民收入差距的调查

当前城乡结合地区居民收入水平较高,但差距较大,城市化、就业结构、社会保障等对城乡结合地区居民收入分配有较大的影响。改善当前城乡结合地区的居民收入分配状况,需要政府和市场共同发挥作用。     

混业经营条件下金融监管效率的比较研究

近年来,主要发达国家均放弃了对金融分业经营的严格规定,实行混业经营,金融混业经营浪潮再度掀起。随着各国金融业混业经营趋势的逐渐明显,我国现阶段实行的分业监管模式显然已经缺乏发展的基础。从前瞻的角度看,分业监管模式在防范和化解金融风险、维护金融业有序竞争的监管功能方面面临弱化的处境。因此对目前的中国而言,选择一个适当的金融监管模式,对金融业进行更有效率的监管就显得十分必要。文章正是以混业经营为背景,对美国1999年金融监管模式改革前后的金融监管效率进行了比较分析,希望对我国未来金融监管模式的建立有一定的借鉴     

基于可持续发展准则的绿色城市设计交通策略——来自《绿色城市主义》的启示

针对当前我国城市交通面临的现状和困境,急需探索一种可持续发展的绿色交通途径和方法。论文重点介绍了欧洲城市所采取的公共交通优先、小汽车友好型城市和低技生态型自行车交通等改善城市交通的策略,以期为我国可持续发展的城市交通规划建设提供借鉴与参考。     

Initiation of business relationships in service-dominant settings

Industrial companies today are becoming increasingly service-oriented and therefore need to shift from selling hardware to valuing services and managing customer relationships. A new and particularly significant challenge for these companies is how to initiate relationships which is an issue that has received surprisingly limited scientific attention. The aim of this study is to develop a conceptualization that explores the dynamics in the relationship initiation process in service-dominant settings. Narratives from three sellers of professional services, augmented with narratives from a buyer's view, form the empirical basis of the study. The dynamics in the relationship initiation process are clarified with three new concepts: status, converter, and inhibitor. The paper concludes with implications of the new conceptualization and suggestions for future research.     

国有商业银行个人理财业务存在的问题与对策探讨

本文论述了国有商业银行个人理财业务存在的问题与原因，并提出促进国有商业银行个人理财业务发展的对策。     

An assessment of value creation in mobile service delivery and the moderating role of time consciousness

This study focuses on the perceived utilitarian value of a new service delivery mode, the mobile channel. The authors develop a framework that incorporates three mode-specific benefits - time convenience, user control, and service compatibility - as well as two costs - perceived risk and cognitive effort - as antecedents of perceived value. Because of the pervasiveness of time criticality as a value-added characteristic of the mobile channel, they also investigate the moderating influence of consumers’ time consciousness. They empirically investigate the model using mobile brokerage services as an illustrative application. The results reveal that the identified antecedents, with the exception of service compatibility, have a strong impact on mobile channel value perceptions, which in turn influence behavioral intentions. The authors also find that time consciousness moderates the aforementioned relationships.     

Does Gravity Matter in a Service Economy?

This paper estimates gravity equations for bilateral services trade in a sample of 28 countries. It finds that the standard gravity variables of economic size and geographic proximity are significant factors in services trade. It also reveals positive effects of linguistic ties on services trade. There is evidence of a positive link between regional trade arrangements and services trade. Much of that effect appears to reflect the impact of bilateral goods trade on services trade. This implies that efforts to enhance goods trade—bilateral or multilateral—should lead to more services trade as well. JEL no. F13, F15, L80     

对乡镇劳务输出的思考

构建和谐社会,关键在农村,难点在农村。当前,“三农”问题是党中央国务院最关注的问题之一,最近几年,农民外出打工已经非常普遍。本文结合实际,就农民外出打工现象存在的问题提出了自己的思考。     

企业总部的都市化与都市经济的总部经济化

都市经济的总部经济化正在成为我国许多大城市经济发展的一种重要趋势.这是一个主要由企业总部的都市化所驱动的过程,也是企业在企业总部都市化的收益超过企业总部都市化成本的条件下理性选择的结果.因此,处在这一阶段的城市地方政府主要应在规范和放松对总部企业的规制以及提高行政服务效率上下功夫.