Business communities in the European confectionery sector: A U.K.-Finland comparison

This paper is based on the early stages of an international collaborative project investigating the structural changes of the confectionery sectors in Finland and the U.K. over the past two decades. An institutional perspective is used to extend conventional understandings of industries via the development of the sector concept. The network and community constructs are shown to be important devices for understanding the institutional character of a sector. Accordingly, the paper reveals the similarities and differences between the two national examples. An explanation is offered of the way domestic networks persist in both countries while contrasting community profiles are apparent.     

论瑞典社会民主党构建和谐社会的探索

瑞典式社会主义和谐社会经历了诞生、发展到成熟的过程。1932年秋社民党通过竞选上台执政,开始功能社会主义福利国家的尝试；1944-1975年是和谐国家建设的全面展开和建成；1982-1990年“保卫福利、重振经济”和谐政策的调整；1990-2000年建设自由与平等基础上相互关联的社会共同体；以2001年1 1月社民党第34次全国代表大会为起点,重建民主的人道的更加和谐的社会主义福利国家。     

基于主成份分析的江苏省各市区经济发展潜力评价

本文选取15项适当的主要经济指标构建了评价指标体系,基于主成分分析法和SPSS12.0数据处理,对江苏省13个市(区)进行了定量分析。根据各地区的综合得分以及排名评价了江苏各市区的经济发展水平同时指出了各地区社会经济发展不平衡的原因,提出相应的对策,为挖掘江苏社会经济发展的潜力提供了一定的借鉴作用。     

On the Use of Value Efficiency Analysis and Some Further Developments

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of Value Efficiency Analysis (VEA) in efficiency evaluation when preference information is taken into account. Value efficiency analysis is an approach, which applies the ideas developed for Multiple Objective Linear Programming (MOLP) to Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Preference information is given through the desirable structure of input- and output-values. The same values can be used for all units under evaluation or the values can be specific for each unit. A decision-maker can specify the input- and output-values subjectively without any support or (s)he can use a multiple criteria support system to assist him/her to find those values on the efficient frontier. The underlying assumption is that the most preferred values maximize the decision-maker's implicitly known value function in a production possibility set or a subset. The purpose of value efficiency analysis is to estimate a need to increase outputs and/or decrease inputs for reaching the indifference contour of the value function at the optimum. In this paper, we briefly review the main ideas in value efficiency analysis and discuss practical aspects related to the use of value efficiency analysis. We also consider some extensions.     

Applying efficiency measurement techniques to the measurement of productivity change

Deterministic frontier analysis (DFA), stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are alternative analytical techniques designed to measure the efficiency of producers. All three techniques were originally developed within a cross-sectional context, in which the objective is to compare the efficiencies of producers. More recently all three techniques have been extended for use in a panel data context. In the latter context it is possible to measure productivity change, and to decompose measured productivity change into its sources, one of which is efficiency change. However when efficiency measurement techniques, particularly SFA, have been applied to panel data, it has infrequently been made clear what the objective of the analysis is: the measurement of efficiency, which may vary through time as well as across producers, or the measurement and decomposition of productivity change. In this paper I explore the use of each technique in a panel data context. I find DFA and DEA to have achieved a more satisfactory reorientation toward productivity measurement than SFA has.     

A strategic human resource perspective of firm competitive behavior

Embedded within firms are unique stores of intangible human assets that likely influence the way firms compete. We argue that the human and social capital of a firm, particularly at the upper echelon and board of director (BOD) levels, contribute to the firm's awareness of the competitive environment and its motivation and ability to undertake numerous, complex, and forceful competitive actions. We also suggest that the firm's executive compensation systems moderate the effects of these intangible human assets on firm competitive behavior. By examining how human capital, intra-firm social capital, and executive compensation influence firm competitive behavior, we advance a strategic HRM perspective of firm competitive behavior and outline several implications for future research.     

Why I am a Psychology Major: An Empirical Analysis of Student Motivations

The underlying “architecture of the decision to pursue a degree in psychology was quantified using the Method of Sorting technique to identifying the critical issues necessary to make this choice. Multidimentsional scaling procedures were employed to construct a three-dimensional map representing the relationships between reasons for selecting psychology as a major. Freshman and senior psychology majors (N = 165) from a regional university and a large research-based institution rated the relative importance of items in their decision-making process. Hierarchical clustering procedures revealed seven different groups of students. Although significant differences associated with class standing were not found, institutional affiliation did influence cluster composition. Reflecting local emphases, students at the regional institution had a greater interest in Counseling Psychology, whereas those at the research-based school focused on Clinical Psychology. This semantic map and the associated item clusters arising from psychology student data provides an empirical basis for, amongst other things, course selection, faculty-initiated program design or revision, strategic niche marketing, and student retention.     

Binary effectivity rules

A social choice rule (SCR) is a collection of social choice correspondences, one for each agenda. An effectivity rule is a collection of effectivity functions, one for each agenda. We prove that every monotonic and superadditive effectivity rule is the effectivity rule of some SCR. A SCR is binary if it is rationalized by an acyclic binary relation. The foregoing result motivates our definition of a binary effectivity rule as the effectivity rule of some binary SCR. A binary SCR is regular if it satisfies unanimity, monotonicity, and independence of infeasible alternatives. A binary effectivity rule is regular if it is the effectivity rule of some regular binary SCR. We characterize completely the family of regular binary effectivity rules. Quite surprisingly, intrinsically defined von Neumann–Morgenstern solutions play an important role in this characterization.     

基于多元统计分析的封闭式基金业绩评价

本文引入在险价值(VaR)和基金折价率指标,利用因子分析和聚类分析方法对基金业绩进行综合评价。实证分析发现我国封闭式基金收益率优于市场收益率,少数几只基金业绩相对突出,实现低风险高收益的目标。但封闭式基金折价幅度较大,基金内部收益水平与外部评价状况背离,反映了市场投资者的投资非理性现象。     

微观经济杠杆值域的聚类分析——以我国能源类上市公司2003年数据为例

本文提出一个研究微观经济杠杆值域的新思路,按照“竞争性工商企业评价指标体系”中所确定的财务指标对2003年我国能源类19家上市公司进行聚类分析,把样本按财务指标值相近程度分为3类,然后对这3类公司的微观经济杠杆值域进行分析解释,得出2003年我国能源类上市公司按“竞争性工商企业评价指标体系”的财务指标分类后的微观经济杠杆值域。