Economic reforms,efficiency and productivity in Chinese banking

This paper analyzes the impact of banking reforms on efficiency and total factor productivity (TFP) change in Chinese banking industry. Using an input distance function, we find that joint-equity banks are more efficient than wholly state-owned banks (WSOBs). Furthermore, both WSOBs and joint-equity banks are found to be operating slightly below their optimal size, suggesting potential advantages in expansion of their businesses. Overall, TFP growth was 4.4% per annum for the sample period 1993–2002. Joint-equity banks experienced much higher growth in TFP (5.5% per annum) compared to the WSOBs (1.4% per annum).      

关系取向对员工满意影响的实证研究

在现有文献中,有关关系取向对员工满意影响的研究尚属空白.(1)通过15位服务人员的深度访谈,对关系取向的内涵进行定性探索;(2)预调查对量表的信度和效度进行评价并修改部分问项;(3)对天津连锁药店的86位店长和217位销售人员的正式问卷调查表明:关系取向、关系交换与员工满意正相关;个体文化差异对关系交换有负向影响,而对关系取向有正向影响.研究结果可以指导经理们提高上下级关系管理的有效性.     

The Economics and Bioeconomics of Folk and Scientific Classification

Synopsis This paper is the product of a collaboration between a biologist (Ghiselin 1997) who works on the philosophy of classification and an economist (Landa 1981, 1994) who works on the ‘Economics of Identity’: how and why people classify people based on identity in the context of a theory of ethnic trading networks. In developing the ‘bioeconomics’ (the synthesis of economics with biology) of classification, we crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries—anthropology, economics, sociology, biology, and cognitive psychology including evolutionary psychology’s ‘fast and frugal’ heuristics. Using a bioeconomics approach, we argue that folk classifications—the classifications used by ordinary persons—have much in common with scientific classifications: underlying both is the need for economy of information processing in the brain, for the efficient organization of knowledge, and for efficiency of information acquisition and transmission of information to others. Both evolve as a result of trial and error, but in science there is relatively more foresight, understanding, and planning.     

Organising international supplier relations: An exploratory study of Western purchasing in China

This paper analyses Western purchasing in China in order to investigate the motives for sourcing, the specific requirements of the area and, in particular, the base and features of supplier relationships. It reports recent experiences of seven companies based in Finland, including two global companies, two units with foreign ownership and three Finnish SMEs. Prevalent in Chinese sourcing are long-term supplier relations, but no partnership relations have been established. The companies build their supplier relations gradually and they all emphasise a long-term viewpoint to Chinese sourcing. Commitment of the Chinese partner is a key challenge, overcoming of which would help companies to avoid and solve, e.g. quality problems. The study shows that, for the Western supply personnel, key competences and tools for bridging the psychic distance are social skills and interest in the Chinese culture.     

承包型CM模式与跨流域调水工程建设管理

在分析跨流域长距离调水工程特点的基础上,提出对大型跨流域调水工程采用承包型CM模式并分析其应用优点和条件。     

考虑违约距离的上市公司危机预警模型研究

在上市公司财务危机预警中,违约距离起着重要的不可替代的作用,仅考虑财务指标并不足以完全解释企业财务危机发生的原因.文章应用Merton模型对2002～2004年ST公司和相应配对公司的危机发生之前的违约距离进行了研究,发现危机公司违约距离在危机发生前第三年明显低于正常公司的相应值,违约距离比传统财务指标能更早地预警到企业财务危机的发生.结合违约距离因素的危机预警模型能更明显地提高模型的危机判断正确率.     

Parallel Neutrality

This paper develops the notion of parallel-neutral technical change for inputs and outputs. It is shown that parallel-neutral technical change generalizes existing radial notions of neutral technical change. A taxonomy of the structural consequences of parallel-neutral technical change is developed.     

Aggregation of Directional Distance Functions and Industrial Efficiency

Three main objectives are pursued in this paper. First, we intend to analyze the aggregation problem of directional distance functions from a constructive viewpoint. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions concerning the structural properties of the production technology and of the nature of groups of firms. Indeed, exact additive aggregation holds for a linear technology and for a direction solely defined in the output space. Second, since these conditions are somewhat restrictive, we are interested in providing a measure for the aggregation bias through the relationship between industrial and structural technical efficiency. Finally, we show that this aggregation bias is a lower bound for industrial allocative efficiency.     

The evolution of inter-organisational social capital with foreign customers: Its direct and interactive effects on SMEs’ foreign performance

Taking a longitudinal approach, we analyze how the evolution of different dimensions of social capital between an SME (Small and Medium enterprise) and its key foreign customers directly influences the firm’s foreign performance growth. Moreover, we utilize a contingency approach by introducing two dyad-specific characteristics into the analysis: psychic and geographic interorganizational distances. Our findings contribute to the international business literature on social capital and suggest that while an investment in social capital with distant foreign customers always reinforces SMEs’ foreign performance development, relational and cognitive social capital have the same positive effects only for low levels of interorganizational psychic distance.     

Distance-sensitivity of German exports: first evidence from firm-product level data

This article uses a tailor-made new data set of 7 580 251 observations for German exports at the firm-product-destination level to estimate a gravity equation and to investigate the link between the amount of firms’ exports and the distance to destination countries. It is shown that, in line with stylized facts based on aggregate data, the quantity of exports declines significantly with distance within a firm for a given product.