美国小企业技术创新政策环境分析

美国政府十分重视小企业技术创新政策环境建设。1953年,美国成立了小企业管理局,鼓励小企业参与联邦层面的技术创新活动,并相继出台了一系列支持小企业技术创新的政策和措施。目前,美国已经形成了一个集法律、财税政策、政府采购、配套服务体系为一体的小企业创新体系。在这套体系下,美国政府和非政府组织、私人投资者及小企业形成了良好的合作关系,共同推动美国创新能力的提高和经济发展。美国政府为小企业技术创新创造良好环境的做法和经验,值得我们深入研究和学习借鉴。     

美国海峡群岛国家公园环境教育实践经验及对中国的启示

海洋海岛类国家公园是中国国家公园体系的重要类型之一,开展环境教育建设对于国家公园公益性的发挥具有重要作用。本文根据美国海峡群岛国家公园的实地考察及资料分析环境教育特点,总结环境教育实践经验,提出对中国海洋海岛国家公园环境教育体系建设的启示。结论如下：（1）海峡群岛国家公园环境教育具有生态系统及景观特殊性、教育场所弱可达性及教育方式多元性。（2）海峡群岛国家公园环境教育体系以教育内容和支撑体系为主体架构,其中教育内容划分为海岸、海岛、沿海（潮间带与泛洪区）、海下区域4类,支撑体系涵盖管理、资金、解说、传播、人才5个方面。（3）中国海洋海岛国家公园环境教育可在统筹管理、解说规划、人才培养等多方面予以借鉴,以探索符合中国国情的海洋海岛国家公园的环境教育建设模式。     

美国和蒙古国煤炭资源开发条件简析——中国煤炭企业国际化战略系列谈(五)

美国和蒙古国煤炭资源都很丰富。对中国企业来说,美国法律法规健全,但法规程序和环境要求高,投资开发存在较大难度;蒙古国资源开发程度相对较低,但投资环境(信誉程度)相对较差,特别是法律政策在实际运行中较难把握。在两国开展矿产资源投资开发均需注意防范风险。     

Classifying a customer as a national account

A recent article [Stevenson and Page, Industrial Marketing Management 8, 94–100 (1979)] addressed the issue of how industrial marketers determine if their firms can use national account marketing. Once that decision is made, a next logical step is to determine which customers should be classified as national accounts. This article discusses appropriate classification criteria that industrial marketers can use to make such decisions. The information presented here is based on a study of national account marketing.     

Agricultural disaster payments in the southeastern US: do weather and climate variability matter?

Governments around the world are forced to react to disasters caused by weather. The agricultural sector is particularly susceptible to weather extremes and adverse climate conditions. In the US, agricultural disaster payments account for a significant part of total agricultural subsidies. The payments, and their distribution, are more important in the areas most affected by disastrous weather events, usually coinciding with areas of pronounced impact of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In this article, the impact of weather and climate, as well as some economic variables, on disaster payments is analysed using county level data from four states in the southeastern United States. The results suggest that weather and climate variables explain most of the crop disaster payments at the county level while socioeconomic variables do not, suggesting that advancements in weather and climate forecasts could be helpful in planning for disaster compensation.     

Marketing research by a small industrial firm: A case study

There is a growing need today for industrial marketers to conduct marketing research and use the results in making profitable business decisions. This paper describes a marketing research study conducted by a small industrial firm and discusses the nature and extent of its impact on the firm's operations. Several implications and practical guidelines are derived for industrial marketers in general, based on the firm's marketing research experience.     

Retailing strategy for customer growth and new customer attraction

The image that current and potential customers have of a retail store affects the magnitude of patronage at that store. In attempting to increase store patronage, management of a retail store must look to people who already are customers, as well as to people who are not current customers. The appropriate strategy depends upon the dimensions used by people in their evaluation of the store. The hypothesis is tested that the strategy used for gaining increased patronage from customers may have to differ from that used to gain patronage from noncustomers.Field survey techniques were used to collect data from 225 adult females. Respondents evaluated three large retail department stores, which were believed to have distinct images in the minds of female shoppers, on the basis of a set of 12 semantic scales that represented various store attributes. Each respondent indicated frequency of shopping at each store. The data were analyzed by two different multiple discriminant analyses. For the customer growth strategy, the semantic scale measures were used to develop a discriminant model for each store to determine which attributes would be the best predictors of shopping frequency. The analysis relevant to the strategy of new customer attraction differed. First, shoppers were classified as loyal to one store on the basis of their rates of shopping at each store. Second, the 36 attribute measurements (12 scales for 3 stores) were factor analyzed, and three factors were extracted. Those attributes which loaded highest on each of the factors for each store were used as predictor variables in the discriminant analysis.The results of this study indicate that different marketing strategies may be required for increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers. In addition, consumers do not necessarily differentiate similar type retail stores on the same dimension.