Computer networking among executives: A case study

Group Support Systems may be “distributed”; for nonsimultaneous use by being embedded in a Computer‐Mediated Communication System (CMCS). In this manner, large groups may use them for complex tasks over an extended period of time. Will executives use such systems, and what are their reactions? This case study of elites engaged in formulating recommendations for the White House Conference on Productivity demonstrates that executives can use such systems, given that “critical success factors”; are met. Perceived information richness is strongly correlated with perceptions of productivity enhancement as a result of system use.     

Stock Returns,Productivity, and Corruption in Eight European Fast-Emerging Markets

This article addresses the impact of productivity, corruption, and trade openness on the stock returns of 265 industrial companies listed in eight Eastern European fast-emerging markets, over the 2004-2013 period. Through a three-factor model that includes both measures at firm level and macro-level control variables, our findings suggest that country corruption index is negatively correlated with the total annual return of the stocks of the listed industrial companies of our sample. Moreover, the most productive firms are featured by higher stock returns, while leverage seems not to be a key predictor of stock returns. In addition, the article uncovers innovative evidence about trade openness that is negatively correlated with stock returns due to its connection with the recent financial crisis. That is, firms operating in markets that are more open to trade show a higher degree of interconnection with other economies and are more likely to undergo the effects of negative fluctuations from foreign markets during the economic crisis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Barriers to ‘industrialisation’ for interwar British retailing? The case of Marks & Spencer Ltd

Research on international differences in retail productivity has highlighted formidable environmental barriers to the ‘industrialisation’ of mass retailing as a driver of declining British interwar productivity growth in this sector (and in services more generally). We examine evidence for such barriers, using a case study of a firm that built its interwar expansion strategy on ‘American’ retail methods – Marks & Spencer (M&S). We find that, rather than facing barriers to the adoption of American mass retail practices, M&S reaped major productivity gains from this process. This adds further evidence to an emerging literature rejecting the barriers to industrialisation thesis for retailing.     

Pyrrhic victories – anticipating the closedown effect

Previous studies with empirical evidence on social responsible driven closedowns have identified a productivity increase effect that occurs during the process of organizational closedowns, known as the closedown effect. Our proposition is that this effect can be anticipated as a consequence of a closedown decision. Encountering four different non social responsible closedown cases, of various durations, we statistically test this proposition. Further, we identify a need for an analytical distinction of the phases of the closedown process, in terms of the primary ‘advanced notice period’ and the secondary ‘countdown period’. Based on the analysis, and with this distinction, we are able to conclude that the productivity increase effect can be anticipated during the countdown period. The comparably longer time frame in the Studding case provides the strongest support for our proposition. From the analysis we suggest hypotheses for further research.     

对“历史转向世界历史”的一种解读——基于资本主义发展史视角

对“历史转向世界历史”的本质视角解读，是一个长期被忽视的问题，导致基于该立论的任何现实问题分析无法达到科学全面的目的。因此本质视角解读是必要的。从资本主义发展史及其形成、发展、成熟四个层次上分别对“历史转向世界历史”的本质内涵、前提、过程和完成四个方面进行解读，就完成了这样一种系统的本质视角上的解读。这种解读的完成不但有助于对“历史转向世界历史”本身的完整把握，也必然有助于进一步对现实问题分析的科学化、全面化。     

广东省各行业的收敛性及其对经济增长的贡献

文章从部门这个新角度分析了广东省经济增长和差异问题。分析表明，工业和其他三产对劳动生产率增长的贡献高达64％。运用新古典收敛模型检验各部门之间是收敛还是发散，结果表明，部门之间存在很大的异质性。交通运输业是显著发散的，其他三产也显示出了微弱的发散，农业、批零贸易餐饮业则是显著收敛的，建筑业收敛但不显著。对劳动生产率差距的分解表明，广东省劳动生产率的增长，95％左右来源于增长效应，其余5％来源于份额效应。     

Performance pay and changes in U.S. labor market dynamics

A shift in the design of labor compensation occurred at around the mid-1980s in the U.S. and deals with an increased role of performance pay in driving the cyclical movements of wages. Using a DSGE model we show that this structural change accounts at least qualitatively for many observed changes in the U.S. labor market dynamics. It generates the disappearance of the procyclical response of labor productivity to non-technology shocks and the reduction of the contractionary effects of technology shocks on hours. Moreover, it is conducive to a drop in the volatility of output, a parallel increase in the volatility of wages and to changes in unconditional correlations consistent with what documented in the U.S. between the pre- and post-1984 periods.     

Employment Growth Determinants in New Firms in Eastern Germany

The unification of both Germanies and the introduction of the market economy in eastern Germany came as a shock to existing firms and led to an enormous boom in the establishment of new firms. The first section of this paper shows that during the period under observation (January 1991--June 1995) the number of firms nearly doubled and in 1995, nearly 50% of all jobs were to be found in firms established after 1991. Shortly after unification, a kind of "start- window" existed during which the conditions for establishment, growth and survival of firms were extraordinarily good. The next section deals with the determinates of the growth of these newly founded firms. Most determinants have been selected on the basis of the most recent studies by Brüderl, Preisendörfer and Ziegler (1996), and Storey (1994). The analysis included not only establishment characteristics but also strategic factors such as the technological status of the establishment, the proportion of sales in interregional markets, and a corporate competitive strategy indicator. A comparison of these results with other studies shows that the determinants that affect employment growth in new firms in eastern German are apparently the same as in western Germany and Britain, albeit to different extents.     

Productivity and the Euro-Dollar exchange rate

This article analyses the impact of productivity developments in the United States and the euro area on the euro-dollar exchange rate. The article presents a new measure of relative average labour, productivity (ALP) which does not suffer from the biases implicit in readily available relative ALP data. Importantly, the patterns of these series differ widely. Employing the Johansen cointegration framework, four models are estimated using four different productivity proxies. Our results indicate that the extent to which productivity can explain the euro depreciation varies with the productivity proxy used: readily available measures explain most, our new, preferred measure least. In all models, however, productivity can explain only a fraction of the actual euro depreciation experienced in 1999–2000. JEL no. F31, C32, O47 The views expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Central Bank or its staff.     

中国商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率及最优规模

基于12家商业银行1997～2005年间的数据，对商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率和最优投入规模的实证研究结果表明，我国商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率是正的，且其大小受银行规模和时间的影响；四大商业银行信息技术资本的边际生产率小于中小规模商业银行；银行整体的信息技术资本边际生产率随时间呈现不断增长的趋势；四大商业银行信息技术投资已经超过了最优规模，而中小商业银行尚未达到最优规模。四大商业银行应该着重提高信息技术资本的利用率，完善互补机制，而中小商业银行应进一步加大信息技术的投资量。研究结果证明，当前“信息技术生产率悖论”在我国商业银行中并不成立。