Successful programs wanted: Exploring the impact of alignment

Alignment between formulation and implementation of business strategy can be important for achieving successful programs. The authors have explored the development of a program management alignment theory. Statistical testing showed that interaction between the study model variables was found to be multidimensional, complex, and subtle in influence. Thus, the authors conclude that programs have both deliberate and emergent strategies requiring design and management to be organized as complex adaptive systems. Program life‐cycle phases of design and transition were often formed from an unclear and confusing strategic picture at the outset, which can make those phases difficult to control. Learning was established as an underlying challenge. The study model demonstrated continuous alignment as an essential attribute contributing toward successful delivery. This requires program design and structure to adopt an adaptive posture.     

Inflation Triggers in Transition Economies: Their Evolution and Specific Features

Analysis of thirty inflation episodes in sixteen European transition economies, using the probit panel model with fixed effects, uncovers inflation triggers that overlap with those obtained in either developing or developed countries or both. However, we found some transition-specific features. Thus, the relative contribution of the triggers evolves as transition progresses, such that the early dominance of the output gap, the fiscal deficit, and elections are subsequently subdued by a rise in food and oil prices, the exchange rate regime, and the current account deficit. The last two triggers could be linked to deep financial integration in Europe and the consequent large flow of capital toward European transition economies in the 2000s, a phenomenon not observed in any other part of the world. In addition, the exchange rate regime as an inflation starter in transitional Europe may be due to its convergence with developed Europe and the resulting real appreciation of currency.     

Wage and employment effects of a wage norm

Most transition countries used tax‐supported wage norms in the early 1990s, as a part of their market liberalization programmes. This article analyses how a firm‐level tax (or subsidy) on deviations from a pre‐set wage norm may promote employment by rotating the labour demand curve perceived by the workers’ union around the value of the norm. We derive the conditions under which it yields a positive employment effect. We test the effect of the norm on the wages on a sample of Polish firms in 1990 and 1991. The data support the role of the wage norm on the position of the perceived labour demand curve and the role of the tax rate on its slope.     

外部经济冲击对我国进出口贸易的影响——基于新兴市场经济体的研究

本文从贸易和金融渠道对我国受到其他新兴经济体的外部冲击的可能性进行了评估,并借助GVAR(Global Vector Auto-Regressive)模型方法,考虑了世界各国的交互影响来分析新兴市场国家的宏观经济波动对中国进出口产生的影响。研究发现,区域内的新兴经济市场对我国影响更为显著,韩国、印度、中国香港发生宏观经济波动时对我国进出口贸易可能造成较大的影响。基本上,中国对外贸易对韩国遭受冲击后的反应快且大,但受影响时间较短,人民币汇率波动在应对外部冲击时发挥了一定作用。中国和印度贸易合作关系大于竞争关系。     

Equity Risk Premium Puzzle: Evidence from Indonesia and Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the equity risk premium puzzle in the Indonesian and Sri Lankan stock markets in order to identify the relationship between the volatility of excess returns and the equity risk premium. The asymmetric impact of negative shocks on the equity risk premium is also examined using threshold and exponential GARCH-M models. We analyse data on the excess returns of the Indonesian and Sri Lankan stock markets from 2004 to 2013, and we find that the impact of the conditional volatility of excess returns on the equity risk premium is not significant in either country. Instead, we find an impact from negative return shocks on the equity risk premium only in Sri Lanka. Therefore, we conclude that investors are not compensated for the conditional volatility of the excess returns in these two markets, while Sri Lankan investors are compensated for the risk of negative shocks.     

Do Transition Economies and Developing Countries Have Similar Destinies?

This paper evaluates the potential of transition economies for achieving sustainable improvements in living standards vis-à-vis developing countries based on their productivity performance. The comparison is made using a bootstrapped Malmquist productivity index and its technological and efficiency change components. The results of estimation indicate that transition economies enjoy significantly higher increases in technical efficiency than developing countries with comparable rates of real GDP growth. Therefore, these results suggest that the former group of countries may have better growth prospects than the latter group, giving empirical support to Stern and Fries’ (Foreign Policy 111:164–165, 1998) optimism that transition economies are the “tiger” economies of tomorrow.

战略性新兴产业技术创新路径的共生模式研究

培育和发展战略性新兴产业是我国近期提出的国家重点发展战略。战略性新兴产业是新兴产业与新兴技术深度融合的产业,因此,技术创新对战略性新兴产业的发展显得尤为重要。基于战略性新兴产业技术创新路径的视角,通过对战略性新兴产业技术创新制约因素的分析,提出技术创新路径的共生模式。该模式能够把自组织创新、集合原生创新、次生模仿创新整合到最佳技术创新状态,从而推动战略性新兴产业又好又快成长。     

Idiosyncratic use of credit facilities by consumers in an emerging economy

A worldwide increase in household debt since the turn of the century has created considerable concern about the indebtedness of households, especially those in emerging economies that have been hit particularly hard by the global economic slump. In this study, the credit consumption of consumers in Swaziland (N = 264) was investigated by means of a survey that aimed to identify and describe factors that encouraged consumers' use of credit, the influence of credit on their buying behaviour when choosing major household appliances or furniture as well as consumers' knowledge of the conditions of credit facilities that were available for their use in retail. Findings revealed that consumers unequivocally appreciate the convenience that is associated with credit, specifically to cope with unexpected purchases, to benefit from special offers and opportunity to afford expensive goods. These advantages apparently negate the negative consequences such as high interest rates and strain on household budgets. Mean scores that were obtained in the knowledge test that only reflected upon credit agreements that respondents have actually entered into in the past, confirmed their ignorance pertaining to their contractual obligations and their consequent vulnerability. Consumers' age and gender seem to have noteworthy consequences for efforts to enhance informed consumer decision‐making. Younger females were significantly better informed that their older counterpart while the reverse was true for males, although differences were not significant. The significant inverse relationship between income and the LS‐means for the credit knowledge test differ from findings in developed countries and provide valuable opportunity for further investigation.     

长株潭国家级烟草物流园竞争力研究

长株潭烟草物流园区作为国民经济的重要基础设施,对振兴湖南烟草行业具有重要的现实意义。文中分析了物流园区的竞争力,进而从技术、制度、规模、人才、交通、经济、低碳等方面对长株潭国家级烟草物流园的竞争力进行了研究。     

河南省战略性新兴产业发展的现状分析与策略选择

近年来,河南省以高新技术产业为主体的战略性新兴产业发展较快,成效显著,但同时也存在着总量规模小,产业集中度低,创新能力弱,体制、机制不完善等问题。十二五时期,河南省战略性新兴产业的发展面临着国内外激烈竞争的格局,存在着巨大的挑战和前所未有的机遇。从产业基础、资源禀赋、发展实践等多方面来看,河南省发展战略性新兴产业的策略选择,应定位于依托传统优势产业发展战略性新兴产业,并通过制定差异化的产业政策、推动传统优势产业的链式发展、发挥老工业基地的示范带动作用等措施来实施这一策略。