Utilizing Printed Media to Understand Desired Leadership Attributes in the People's Republic of China

Using news media as a reliable source, we content analyzed stories on business leaders in two major official Chinese newspapers in three different time periods over the past 20 years. Results show that the reform has brought an increase in stories of business leaders, and in coverage of the desirable leadership attributes relating to Confucian virtues, communist ideologies, and modern management philophies. The results suggest that, by publicizing and adorning specific leaders in both government and business sectors in the official media, the government reinforces the traditional values that are consistent with communist ideologies, and at the same time, it also introduces Western management values to suit the current needs of the society. The results of our study echo the findings of empirical studies on Chinese values that used data collected using other methods. We therefore encourage future research to use the printed media as a potentially valuable source of data for tracking changes in social phenomena in a society over time.     

对西部基层商业银行提高经济增加值的思考

实施以经济增加值为核心的绩效考核,在金融资源匮乏的西部欠发达地区,基层行面临着经营核心目标与业务计划体系的统一、经营效益增长与市场份额增长的关系、产品定价机制问题、相对单一的信贷资产结构与降低经济资本占用、财务核算体系中业务风险体现不充分等两难选择。西部基层行必须从转变经营理念,完善组织结构,构建与完善管理信息系统、业绩评价系统、部门预算等方面创造条件为推行经济增加值奠定基础。在经济资本约束下,西部基层行在经营管理工作中要牢固树立价值最大化的经营理念,平衡好规模与效益的关系,加快经营结构的调整及强化风险管理等。     

现代审计活动中的行为研究

审计作为一种独立的经济监督活动,具体表现为审计人员个体与群体组织的一系列有序的行为,而审计行为与其它行为一样,需要进行科学与合理的规划、领导、组织和控制。因此,在现代审计活动中,必须注重对审计行为的研究,把握个体行为、群体行为两者的内在联系和相互作用,充分调动审计人员的工作积极性和主观能动性,增加审计群体的凝聚力,促进审计组织活动的有效进行。     

独立董事报酬水平和薪酬结构设计分析

目前，我国独立董事薪酬制度存在严重的效率问题。研究发现，最优薪酬水平取决于独立董事的风险偏好、收入预期、工作能力和生产函数；最优薪酬结构取决于独立董事的风险偏好、收入预期，与其工作能力和生产函数无关；风险厌恶程度较高的独立董事适宜偏重货币工资激励。     

论我国机构投资者对股票市场的反稳定作用

运用数理统计的基本原理，指出导致近几年中国股市非理性下跌的最直接原因，是以证券投资基金为主的机构投资者超常规发展。在目前的情况下，不宜继续提倡大力发展机构投资者，应努力恢复股票市场对中小投资者的吸引力，实现中国股市投资主体之间的“生态平衡”，从而支持中国股市长期稳定和谐发展。     

Buyer-Type Effects in Conservation and Preservation Property Values

Properties can be bought by government agencies, land trusts, or private entities for conservation and preservation purposes, such as farmland preservation, wildlife refuges, other conservation, and cultural and historical preservation. There is variation in the dollars paid per acre across properties and across buyer type. An option value model based on future potential land uses is used to explain much of this variation. The data used in our analysis is sales transactions data for conservation and preservation purposes from throughout the United States. We find that much of the value of conservation properties is derived from future potential land uses, including housing, timber, recreation, and conservation. We confirm that public versus private buyers value options differently, which makes sense from a public good point of view, if markets are thin.     

The Announcement Effect of an Airport Expansion on Housing Prices

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the announcement of a new airport hub on housing prices near the airport. While numerous studies of airport noise have found that high noise levels reduce property values, few have been able to measure the announcement effect on values. The results indicate that after controlling to extraneous influences, housing property prices in a 2.5 mile band from the Greensboro/High Point/Winston Salem metropolitan airport declined approximately 9.2% in the post-announcement period. In the next 1.5-mile band, house prices declined approximately 5.7% in the post-announcement period.     

Social reporting by islamic banks

The last thirty years have witnessed the appearance and rapid expansion of Islamic banking both inside and outside the Islamic world. Islamic banks provide financial products that do not violate Sharia , the Islamic law of human conduct. The Islamic principles upon which the banks claim to operate give an important role to social issues. Applying these principles, we develop a benchmark set of social disclosures appropriate to Islamic banks. These are then compared, using a disclosure index approach, the actual social disclosures contained in the annual reports of twenty-nine Islamic banks (located in sixteen countries) to this benchmark. In addition, content analysis is undertaken to measure the volume of social disclosures. Our analysis suggests that social reporting by Islamic banks falls significantly short of our expectations. The results of the analysis also suggest that banks required to pay the Islamic religious tax Zakah provide more social disclosures than banks not subject to Zakah .     

Involving suppliers in product development: Insights from R&D directors and project managers

While there is increasing evidence that involving suppliers in new product development (NPD) is important, and for many firms even inevitable, there is also evidence that not all such efforts are successful. Firms aiming at implementing this strategy effectively have to pay close attention to several contingency factors on the organizational level and properly manage supplier involvement on the project level. The exploratory case study research underlying this article explores key issues to be considered when involving suppliers in NPD and the counter measures they can take. Our research shows that companies differentiate between so-called “know-how” and “capacity” projects, and that they manage them differently. Furthermore, this research shows that firms outside the automotive and high-tech manufacturing industries are likely to intensify supplier involvement in the future.     

Machine learning in individual claims reserving

Machine learning techniques make it feasible to calculate claims reserves on individual claims data. This paper illustrates how these techniques can be used by providing an explicit example in individual claims reserving.