Owners’ rule-based decision-making in family firm strategic renewal

We explore the process and consequences of family firm owners applying informal rules to decision-making in the context of later-generation family firms attempting strategic renewal. Based on the case studies of two firms in a Nordic country where the owners serve as non-executive board members, and following institutional action theory, we propose that informal rules – based on historical precedents and cumulative experience – applied to a family firm’s decision-making play many roles. They sustain family traditions over time, transfer experience over generations and depersonalise family members’ use of power. In addition, the rules on governance structure, governance processes and the content of the strategies form a hierarchy and can both facilitate and hinder the renewal.     

Still Big in Bangkok? An Empirical Analysis of the Regional Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment in Thailand

This paper analyses regional Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Thailand. Its determinants are identified using a unique assembled panel dataset comprising all 76 Thai provinces during the period 1985–2005. The work is premised on the view that foreign investors consider various determinants of location choices in each province (including labour costs, Gross Provincial Products (GPP) per head, areas of industrial estates, communication and transportation issues, population characteristics, educational attainment, population density and distance from the centre of town to the main ports of Thailand) as well as government incentives, before deciding to undertake FDI in a given region. Our econometric model estimates suggest that government regional policy, and the effect of zoning in particular, however, has a significant and positive effect on regional FDI, drawing FDI to those zones where the greatest incentives are on offer. The other possible determinants of FDI amongst regions are largely shown to be insignificant.     

农村宅基地使用权制度面临的问题及对策

我国以"一户一宅"为基本特征的农村宅基地使用权制度,为广大农民不断改善居住条件,维护"住有所居"基本权利提供了保障.但是,在经济社会背景发生了巨大变化的条件下,农村宅基地使用权制度的一些缺陷和不适应性开始更多显现,其中,较突出的是不少地方农村宅基地使用很难确保公平和达到集约节约利用的要求.论文在对部分地方进行的农村宅基地使用权制度改革的实践和探索进行评析的基础上,提出了一些解决当前存在矛盾与问题的建议.     

微观企业全要素生产率测度方法的比较与应用

微观企业TFP通常是不可观测的,它的估计面临内生性、联立性等诸多问题。在系统分析微观生产函数估计所面临主要问题的基础上,经过蒙特卡洛模拟法,比较了微观生产函数最新估计方法的优劣,发现广泛应用的OP、LP和ACF参数估计方法,倾向于高估微观企业的TFP,而De Loecker、GNR和联合估计的TFP测度方法能够得到TFP的稳健估计,增加值类生产函数估计倾向于高估微观企业的TFP,并且高估TFP的离散程度。将前沿TFP测度方法用于中国生产要素错误配置问题的研究,发现要素再配置具有显著的TFP促进效应,但是低于Hsieh和Klenow(2009)政策模拟的估计结果。据此,提出以微观企业TFP开展实证研究的对策建议。     

软件企业智力资本对企业成长的影响机制研究

在知识经济时代,企业的竞争优势已经从土地、资金转向企业拥有的知识、技能、经验,即企业的智力资本,在软件业,智力资本的地位尤为重要,本文的目的是探讨智力资本对软件企业的成长机制,认为顾客资本是整个智力资本的关键,智力资本的其他的维度通过顾客资本促进企业成长,而企业的过程资本则对智力资本与企业成长的关系具有调节作用。     

职业经理人、组织地位赋予与企业创新——来自家族企业的经验证据

职业经理人与家族企业有效融合是促进企业创新的先决条件。聚焦家族企业赋予职业经理人组织地位这一融合途径,探究家族企业赋予职业经理人组织地位对企业创新的影响。结果表明,家族企业赋予职业经理人组织地位能够促进企业创新;相较于约束型社会情感财富,延伸型社会情感财富对职业经理人组织地位赋予与企业创新关系具有更显著的促进作用。异质性分析发现,处于经理人市场发达地区、从属高技术行业以及信息透明度较高的企业,职业经理人组织地位赋予对企业创新的促进作用更显著。进一步研究发现,职业经理人的企业家精神在职业经理人组织地位赋予与企业创新关系中发挥中介作用。研究结论可为理解家族企业如何与职业经理人有效融合,进而促进创新提供新的经验证据。     

Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Family farming in various guises has been the dominant ownership and governance system in primary production over recorded history. This outcome has been controlled by farmers and their families, possibly due to tradition, opportunities, personal characteristics, skill sets and the nature of primary production. Of these, it is hypothesised that the farmers’ personal characteristics play a major part in the choice, and continuance, of current ownership and governance systems. Equally as important, they, and therefore the land ownership system, play a part in the efficiency of production systems and improvement of the biological and production environment.The benefits and difficulties of commonly used ownership systems in Western society are reviewed. Using a sample of New Zealand (NZ) farms, a comparison of the managers’ features for owner/operator, partnership and corporate based systems is presented. There were significant differences in many variables including the farmers’ age, education, number of children, asset levels, years on the current farm, and similar, but more importantly, the farmers in the ownership system groups had differing personal characteristics. Significantly, despite the corporate based farms employing more professional assistance, the profit levels were similar across ownership systems leaving the farmers’ characteristics the main factors correlating with system choice. However, governance systems per se are only marginally correlated with production systems and efficiency.As successive generations of farmers are unlikely to have different characteristics, and corporate based systems continue to exhibit similar profit levels, relatively simple family based systems will continue to dominate farm land ownership and control. The trends suggest family farms will increase in size and involve family conglomerates facilitating the management of larger, and in many cases multiple, farms. While currently there are few differences in biological efficiency between ownership systems, given the efficiency benefits of size and scale, this could well change with the increase of family conglomerates. Relative to increasing corporatisation, the continuance of family based ownership and governance will also be of benefit to the environment. When developing land policies, these highlighted relationships should be taken into account. This study is a first to consider personal characteristics relative to ownership.     

Why do satisfied customers switch? Focus on the restaurant patron variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement

Company efforts to make customers switch from competitive brands to their own or induce them to repurchase their own brands are very important in their marketing activities and in this regard studies of customer variety-seeking orientation and level of involvement in decision making play a crucial role in explaining customers’ product selection activities. The purpose of this study intends to examine interrelationships among customer satisfaction, loyalty, and switching intent in family restaurants and verify the moderating effect of customer variety-seeking orientation and purchase decision involvement. A total of 305 patrons in Korea participated. The results showed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Participants expressing a high level of satisfaction were more likely to switch restaurants. Whether customers feel loyalty determines their switching intent. There were moderating effects related to customer variety-seeking orientation in the causal relationships between customer loyalty and switching intent. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.     

The role of family decision makers in festival tourism

This study assessed the role of family decision makers in participating in a festival according to five stages of festival participation. A survey process was conducted using two sampling groups: the sample for families with children and the sample for families without children. According to the results of the study, a number of marketing implications were generated. For example, the husband was revealed to more actively join transportation-related activities including driving, deciding travel routes, automobile safety checks, and filling up with gasoline. The wife was a strong decision maker in selecting restaurants or menus in the festival tourism management process. Likewise, the role of the wife is very significant, from suggesting the festival participation at the first stage to determining a revisit to the festival at the last stage. However, the children or joint decision-making patterns were not distinctive as they are said to be in other tourism literature. Findings of the study are expected to offer valuable insights for all festival stakeholders including festival vendors, local government, local residents, and festival organizers.     

Examining the relationship of work–family conflict to job and life satisfaction: A case of hotel sales managers

The study was designed to clarify the ambivalent relationships between work–family conflict (WFC) and measures of satisfaction. Both the direct and indirect effects of WFC on job and life satisfaction were investigated. Job satisfaction was also separated into two components: affective reaction and cognitive appraisal. Data were collected by a field survey of 121 sales managers from 26 hotels in China. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated a critical role of one's affective reaction to his/her job in the relationship between WFC and life satisfaction. Specifically, the present study found that both work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) have significant negative association with an individual's affective reaction to his/her job, while only FIW reduced the cognitive appraisal of a job. Further, affective reaction, rather than cognitive appraisal, had a significant positive correlation with life satisfaction. Finally, FIW was negatively associated with life satisfaction. The results suggest the strategic role of family friendly human resource polices in hotels.