Auditor independence and nonaudit services: Director views and their policy implications

The external auditor's role and relationship with an audit client are not purely matters of private concern between the two parties. The rationale for the external auditor's work—indeed a primary justification for the existence of the public accounting profession—arises from the need for reliable financial information in order for our economy to operate smoothly. Thus the auditor, in certifying financial statements, performs a quasi-public function. The necessary relationship between auditor and client is one of complete independence. In recent years public policymakers including the U.S. Congress have questioned the propriety of auditors' performing nonaudit services for their clients. This paper reports the results of an empirical study of U.S. corporate directors who considered the propriety of allowing a firm's auditors to perform various nonaudit service engagements.The results show, especially in the case of systems design, increasing director concern and a lack of overall consensus as nonaudit services approach 40 percent of the firm's audit fee. Policy implications of the findings are considered.     

江苏省电力消费与产业结构的实证分析--基于多元线形回归分析

文章对江苏2000—2010年产业结构演变中三次产业的电力消费情况进行多元线形回归分析,通过对偏回归系数的计算与分析,提出需要注重产业融合发展,强化产业承载能力等建议。     

创建“大鹏国家级生态共生区”的探讨

珠江三角洲地区是中国改革开放以来经济发展最快的地区之一。伴随经济的发展,其资源存量和环境质量目前面临较大的生态安全风险。本研究以深圳大鹏地区为核心,聚焦深圳、香港、惠州在内的珠江三角洲东部区域生态系统,研究该区域社会、政治、经济、自然资源与环境的广义生态系统的演变,提出创建"大鹏国家级生态共生区"的建议,并分析了其现有基础条件,探讨了创建大鹏生态区需关注的重点领域。该建议以建设资源节约型和环境友好型社会为目标,通过建立一个社会、经济、自然资源可持续发展的广义生态系统的示范,探索经济与资源和生态环境系统和谐统一的发展模式。大鹏生态区的建立,对该地区加强城市环境危机管理和维护其生态系统稳定、安全将起到积极推动作用,并从生态角度提供城市区域发展的创新型模式。     

Cross-cultural study of channel relationship factors — Antecedents of satisfaction in a retail setting: A commentary essay

Channel relationships within and across diverse markets have been investigated for quite some time. Yet findings from these studies over the last forty years or so have been far from conclusive. Channel researchers Runyan, Sternquist, and Chung (forthcoming) investigate interrelationships between the behavioral constructs of role performance, dependence, conflict, satisfaction, and influence strategy in the U.S. and Japanese context. Reading this paper leads credence to the adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Indeed, a review of representative comparative channels research literature from the 1980s and post-2000 brings to surface striking similarities in terms of shaky conceptual frameworks, less than robust construct measures, and insufficient caveats in explaining and applying research findings. For channels research to gain relevance in today's globalized marketplace, greater sophistication is necessary in formulating and implementing comparative studies. An overarching framework is necessary to explain, if not incorporate, similarities and differences in channel interactions around the globe.     

土地利用国家干预的若干理论问题

研究目的:阐明土地利用国家干预的理论依据,为选择合理的干预方式、手段和力度提供理论支持,澄清关于土地宏观调控和微观规制的错误认识。研究方法:比较借鉴,逻辑演绎,实证分析。研究结果:土地利用国家干预的理论渊源包括经济学关于市场经济条件下“市场失灵”和“政府失灵”的理论,以及政治学、社会学关于个体失律、社会失范和价值目标的相关理论;土地利用国家干预具有坚实的合法性基础,也有其局限性;土地利用国家干预应包括宏观调控和微观规制两种方式,二者都是不可或缺的制度安排。研究结论:应当结合国家干预理论、土地特性和中国国情选择土地利用国家干预的方式和手段。     

Beta adjustment methods

This study is an analysis of the forecasting ability of adjusted and unadjusted betas. Based on the Canadian data for 252 stocks, random errors in betas are the most important reason for the poor predictive ability of individual security betas. Most of this random error is eliminated if securities are grouped into portfolios. However, further improvements in forecasting ability are gained by adjusting the security betas for bias and inefficiency. Five methods of adjusting the naive beta estimates have been tried, including two methods not tested before. These two, Vasicek's two-stage method and order-bias adjustment method, gave results generally superior to others.     

经济发展方式转型与经济软实力空间分布关联研究——以河南18个省辖市区域为例

经济软实力是决定经济发展方式转型的关键因子,经济软、硬实力的不同配置决定经济发展方式类型。经济软实力不仅内在具有推动经济发展方式转型的能力,而且还具有实现其转型的内在机理。通过河南省区域经济软实力空间分布及其与区域发展指数关联的实证分析,证明以提升经济软实力促进区域经济发展方式转变是经济发展的一种必然规律。     

Industrial salesforce satisfaction and performance with Herzberg's theory

Sales managers are seeking answers to facilitate the salesforce motivational process. This study empirically tested one of the most prominant motivational theories, which, some authorities consider the leading work formulated on the idea that satisfaction leads to performance. This study found no support for Herzberg's dichotomy or the correlation between satisfaction and performance.     

The relationship between brokers’ influence, strength of ties and NPD project outcomes in innovation-driven horizontal networks

This paper examines the impact of a broker's perceived use of power – position (i.e., coercive, reward and legitimate) and personal (i.e., expert, information and referent) – on strength of ties between network members and new product development (NPD) project outcomes. Our sample consists of 100 individuals drawn from 42 organizations that were involved in different innovation-driven horizontal networks. The results of structural equation modeling suggest that the perceived use of both personal power bases and position power bases by the broker are positively related to the strength of ties between members. Strength of ties, on the other hand, is positively related to NPD project outcomes of design performance and development time. Finally, results show that the relationships between a broker's use of different power bases and NPD project outcomes are fully mediated by the strength of ties between networks members. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.     

A State‐Price Volatility Index for China's Stock Market

This study derives a volatility index for China's stock market with similar properties to the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (the ‘VIX’). A long‐term benchmark of historic volatility expectations is here presented for China from 1996 to 2011, called the ‘China‐ State‐Price Volatility (SPV)’. Construction of this index involves the use of SPV methodology, using implied volatility calculated from options on the Hang Seng China Enterprise Index (HSCEI). Historic open–high–low–close volatility on the Shanghai Composite Index (SHCI) is also used to extend the benchmark prior to the availability of HSCEI options data. The China‐SPV successfully forecasts realised volatility for the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It also serves as a ‘fear gauge’ in that it monitors daily movements of the SHCI in the same way that the VIX monitors the S&P 500 index (Whaley, 2009). The China‐SPV evidences an increasing relation with the US market in terms of the dynamic correlation of levels and changes with the VIX since 2004.