Auction winning,social dynamics and non-compliance in a payment for ecosystem services scheme in Indonesia

Conservation auctions for payment for ecosystem services (PES) are useful to identify the levels of incentives that will cover the opportunity costs of farmers supplying ecosystem services. Although auctions are increasingly used for allocation in PES schemes, the factors that lead to their successful implementation and eventual environmental outcomes are poorly understood in developing countries. We investigated the socio-economic and institutional contexts that led to smallholders' auction winning and eventual compliance using linear mixed-effects models, and post-auction and post-contract surveys. We employed a case study of a conservation contract preceded by a sealed-bid, multiple round, uniform price auction for watershed services from coffee farmers in Lampung, Indonesia. The auction participants presented low education levels, low asset endowments and small plot sizes. The study obtained evidence that farmers with larger plot areas were more likely to win the contracts, suggesting economies of scale. Most farmers considered the auction a fair self-selection mechanism to allocate contracts where allocation was not influenced by power or social rank. Non-compliance was associated with labor availability constraints, short duration of land ownership and existence of previous conservation applications, suggesting lax of capability to invest in applying conservation agriculture. Final bids were however not good predictors of compliance, among other factors, calling into question the potential of auctions to elicit the actual incentive from the farmers. Ensuring that farmers understand the purposes of auctions for effective contract allocation beyond a mere game and identifying farmers that might encounter difficulties fulfilling the contract could increase the likelihood that such a PES scheme would be successful.     

“真有之情”与“应有之情”：内部人身份感知对员工创新行为的双重影响机制

“内部人”或“自己人”是本土组织中较为常见的一种非正式身份划定。然而,“内部人”这种特殊身份往往因为其所蕴含的角色期待,而面临如何行使这一角色的尴尬。一方面,“内部人”跟组织和领导有了不同于“外部人”的关系,而对这一身份倍加珍视,并对组织形成了较为强烈的情感依附;另一方面,本土组织对“内部人”的角色要求达成了长久的共识,内部人必须付出更多以维护这一特殊身份,内部人的责任更大。针对上述现象,文章从角色认同和自我归类理论出发分析,内部人所表现出的员工创新行为究竟是“真有之情”还是“应有之情”在驱使,或是二者兼而有之。文章的基本假设是,“内部人”做出创新行为一个可能的选择不是简单地依靠情感,而是同时“无奈地”通过承担义务的方式来进行创新行为,这一组合机制是其面对自身身份以及身份本身蕴含的角色期望而构建的一种行为选择。这一研究从过去主要关注员工创新行为如何激发,转向对员工情感动机和义务动机组合与员工创新行为关系的研究。这一研究模型将内部人身份、情感承诺、感知义务与员工创新行为结合起来,拓展和深化了员工创新行为的研究。     

Buyer Loyalty in Business Markets: Can the Firm and Salesperson Get What They Truly Desire?

Purpose: Prior literature has acknowledged multi-foci customer loyalties (loyalty to the selling firm and salesperson-owned loyalty) and argued that both entities (selling firms and salespersons) foster customer loyalty through respective loyalty-capturing efforts (relationship investments). However, scholars have not investigated the influences of different types of interfirm relationship-specific investment (RSI) activities and salesperson behaviors (brand-building and guanxi behavior) on customer loyalty to the selling firm and salesperson-owned loyalty, especially their simultaneous (interaction) effects. The current research attempts to address this issue and examines the impacts that RSIs and salesperson behaviors have on customer loyalties.

Methodology/approach: A survey of seller–buyer dyads was conducted to test the proposed theoretical model and hypotheses. Using 192 dyadic data from customers and salespersons in the Chinese business-to-business contexts, this study specifies the direct and interactive effects of sellers’ RSIs and salespersons’ behaviors on customer loyalties.

Findings: Results indicate that selling firms’ loyalty-capturing efforts—property-based and knowledge-based RSIs—have different influences on two types of customer loyalty. Salespersons’ relationship investments—brand-building and guanxi behaviors—also have asymmetric impacts on customer loyalty. Counterintuitively, salespersons’ loyalty-capturing efforts weaken the relationships between firms’ RSIs and customer loyalties.

Originality/value/contribution: This study specifies different types of relationship investments and examines their respective and interactive impacts on two types of customer loyalty—loyalty to the selling firm and salesperson-owned loyalty. The findings indicate that firms’ and salespersons’ efforts may lead to unexpected and unintended effects on multi-foci loyalties. Therefore, the current study enriches our knowledge about multi-foci loyalty management and relationship marketing.

Practical implications: Because firms’ and salespersons’ loyalty-capturing strategies exert positive direct influences on loyalty to the selling firm and salesperson-owned loyalty, both entities may actively leverage relationship investments’ impact on customer loyalty. However, as the interactive effects derived from concurrent loyalty-enhancing activities are negative, firms need to clearly assess the nature and

characteristics of their relationship with buyers and properly design relationship investments and guide salesperson behaviors. Managers should use property-based RSIs as a primary safeguard of customer loyalty to the selling firm. Meanwhile, internal branding and training programs can help salespersons develop brand building behaviors and better understand the potential unintended outcomes that different behaviors may induce. Aligning a branding goal between the firm and salespersons can benefit both parties while avoiding counter-productive outcomes.     

技术标准战略、技术贸易壁垒与出口竞争力的关系——基于浙江出口美日欧的实证研究

本文在量化技术标准战略和技术贸易壁垒的基础上,利用浙江1995-2007年出口美日欧三国的数据构建了时间序列/截面数据模型,实证研究了浙江技术标准战略以及国外技术贸易壁垒的实施对浙江出口美日欧市场竞争力的影响程度。研究结果显示:浙江技术标准战略、国内技术获取、国际市场购买能力等因素与浙江产品出口美日欧市场的竞争力存在显著正相关关系,同时来自美日欧FDI的负向影响和技术贸易壁垒的正向影响都与传统观点不符。在此基础上,本文对提高浙江出口竞争力提出了具体的政策建议,包括将技术标准战略和外国技术贸易壁垒分别作为提高出口竞争力的内部动力和外部动力,以及高度重视从省外的技术获取等。     

家具产业集聚外部驱动因素的实证研究——来自1988～2008数据的PCA与Granger检验分析

通过分析获取了产业集聚外部动因有效的变量,采集1988～2008年家具产业两位数的相关数据,研究家具产业基尼系数、家具产业国内消费量、出口量、全国固定投资额、居民消费水平5个变量的关系,以家具产业基尼系数为被解释变量建立PCA模型,并提取方差进行回归分析,并对变量间进行了格兰杰因果关系检验。结论表明投资与家具产业集聚是双向因果的关系,国内家具消费与家具产业集聚是弱的双向因果关系,家具出口则是单向因果关系。揭示出家具产业长期以来的低附加值生产方式,在没有或外部需求出现较强波动时,可能会造成多米诺骨牌效应,从而加快产业集聚反向替代的进程。     

Status and financial performance of organic vegetable farming in northeast Thailand

In line with the national sustainable agriculture development policy of the Government of Thailand, organic vegetable farming (OVF) promotion projects have been implemented in several provinces of the country. Based on data collected through a questionnaire survey of 172 sample vegetable farmers in Mahasarakham Province of northeast Thailand, this study firstly assessed the status of OVF and then, analyzed the financial performance of three main vegetables cultivated, namely: morning glory, green onion and Chinese kale. Finally, sensitivity analyses of the financial performances for all three vegetables were conducted under four assumed scenarios with respect to price of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and yield and price of organic vegetables. The findings of the analysis on the status of OVF revealed that organic vegetable farms accounted for very small percentage of the total area used for all vegetables in the study area. Results of the financial analysis also showed that OVF was much less financially attractive than conventional vegetable farming due to low yield which usually does not come with premium price of the vegetables. Still farmers are growing organic vegetables on small scale primarily for household consumption. The findings of the sensitivity analyses indicated that the removal of direct or indirect subsidies for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and appreciation in the yield and price of organic vegetables can enhance the financial performance of OVF. In view of the possible rejection of radical policies that encourage OVF by discouraging conventional vegetable farming, this study suggests appropriate policy measures that could directly provide incentives for organic vegetable production and consumption.     

新时期群众美术工作者实现素质提升的探索

群众美术工作做为群众文化工作的重要组成部分,美术活动的组织创作、辅导、展览,是群众美术工作的重点。如何提高美术专业人员素质,增强服务意识,发挥美术专业人员的作用,是提升群众美术工作的关键。     

论上市公司会计报表粉饰行为的识别及其防范

近几年我国证券市场出现的几宗大案使人们对会计报表的粉饰有了极大的关注,本文通过对上市公司报表粉饰的动机、常用手段的分析,提出了识别会计报表的粉饰的有效方法,以提高广大投资者识别盈余管理等粉饰方法的能力。