Business associations and their potential contribution to the competitiveness of SMEs

This paper examines the relations between small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and business associations. It identifies sectoral, local and national dimensions and reports survey results in Britain that evidence the range of services supplied and demanded. The paper reviews the theoretical understanding of how associations operate and how they can be expected to relate to their SME members. Using this framework the paper then assesses, largely using new survey evidence, the types of associations most relevant to SMEs, their characteristics, and their services. The paper concludes by arguing that SMEs are one of the least well represented groups of business, their interests are often likely to be swamped in association governance either by large businesses or by employee–status individuals. In general there are also limits to development of services through business associations, although there is strong variation between businesses by sector, location and size. The author concludes that contributions by associations through specific services to individual companies appears to be relatively limited. The chief contribution of associations to competitiveness of their member businesses appears to be their improvement of collective industry standards, e.g. through codes of conduct, information, collective events, benchmarking and management seminars.     

Working Towards Empirically-Based Continuous Improvements in Service Learning

This empirical study reports the implementation and assessment of service learning in management education. Principles of Management students worked in teams to support Campus Kitchens, a national program affiliated with colleges and universities, in recovering surplus food and delivering it to community members. Student perceptions regarding civic engagement and social responsibility, application of skills, and professional development were assessed. Two complete cycles of implementation and assessment are chronicled. The sample size for Cycle 1 was 123 students and for Cycle 2 the sample size was 91 students. The authors describe how empirical as well as anecdotal data drove the changes made to improve the service-learning experience.     

关于有效激发员工组织公民行为的思考

组织公民行为是指组织中的个人表现出超越角色标准以外的行为;它是不求组织给予奖赏,仍然能自动自发、利他助人,关心组织绩效的行为(Organ,1988)。许多研究者都认为组织公民行为能持久提升组织的整体绩效。本文试图在揭示组织公民行为实质的基础上,探讨激发员工展现出组织所期待的公民行为的有效途径。     

教育不公平与马太效应：一个理论模型

从一个理论模型出发,指出民主社会中的马太效应具有内生性。因为社会的贫富差距导致人们接受的教育水平不同,而教育水平的不同又影响了人们政治决策的判断力。穷人有限的政策判断力限制了他们通过投票对政治决策的影响,因此,民主社会同样会存在不民主的政策。     

The Bard of Savagery: Thorstein Veblen and Modern Social Theory

The hypothesis of this paper is that a detailed history of a specific location and period is more effective for isolating the important characteristics of institutions than studies which span multiple millennia across the globe. To illustrate this hypothesis, I examine three Italian city-states in the period between eleventh and sixteenth centuries. This was a time when the "commercial revolution" was underway in these city-states. As a result, there were institutional innovations in settlement patterns, work organization, and self-governing institutions to help provide for mutual defense and for the internalization of gains from long-distance trade. I contrast this case study with the methodology and findings employed by Douglass C. North, John J. Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast (2009) in Violence and Social Orders. Rather than analyze the importance of beliefs and the protection of property rights as in prior work of theirs, the authors here focus on the "Schumpeterian competition" between impersonal organizations as an effective institutional form to control violence. Moreover, the timeframe of their book extends to "all recorded human history." In contrast to North, Wallis, and Weingast's approach, I concentrate on Genoa, Florence, and Venice in an effort to explain more effectively the emergence of the public/private divide and the relationship between politics and economics in modern industrial society. Experimentation in medieval Italy in mediating conflict between newly emerging classes, innovating in public finance to support the military, and focusing on broad civic participation in the political process had a lasting impact on the development of the state as an institution.     

The Impact of Institutional Characteristics on Return–Earnings Associations in Japan

In this paper, we report the result of investigation into the impact of institutional characteristics on return–earnings associations in Japan. It is found that the strength of return–earnings associations in Japan is inversely affected by the extent to which a firm's shares are cross-held, the degree of a firm's holding of real estate assets relative to other assets, the amount of a firm's investment in equities of other firms, and the degree of a firm's reliance on debt financing, while it is positively affected by the extent to which a firm's shares are owned by foreign investors. We also provide evidence suggesting that reported earnings are less value-relevant in Japan than in the US, and that the pervasive use of conservative accounting practices in Japan is well manifested in the return–earnings association. Collectively, our results indicate that future research on cross-national differences in the value relevance of accounting disclosures must pay more attention to institutional environments unique to countries concerned.     

试论转型期中国政治文化结构的整合与创新

深入剖析一国政治文化的内部结构及其相互关系,对于了解该国政治体系的运作具有重要意义。转型期中国政治文化在精英和大众层面都存在着社会主义意识形态、传统政治文化、民主政治文化三种类型的交织与分化。当代中国政治文化应以发展和权利、民主、法治为核心理念的中国特色的社会主义公民文化为指向,探寻其整合与创新的路径。     

加强城市经济学科的建设与发展

进入21世纪以来，我国的城市经济学研究直面时代重大问题，加强与其他学科交叉渗透研究，采用多样化研究手段，为我国城市化和城市经济的发展提供了重要的理论指导。然而，我们也看到城市经济学理论体系建设存在的不足。近期应加强城市发展的成本效益分析、城市化的方针政策研究、城市可持续发展研究、城市建设的规划与设计研究以及城市文化与文明研究。     

高职学生社会实践社团化运作模式优势分析——以徐州工业职业技术学院绿色环保协会为例

社会实践活动已经成为高职院校开展大学生思想政治教育的重要途径,得到了高职院校广大师生的重视。而学生社团是学生为满足个人兴趣、爱好、专业技能增长需求的群众性学生组织,是第二课堂的有机组成,是校外文化的重要载体。高职学生社会实践活动具有目的性更加明确、连续性更强、效果更为突出、有专业知识支撑和影响面广等优势,这种优势为这种模式的有效实践打下了基础。