Gender differences within early stage and established small enterprises: An exploratory study

This paper examines 2 years of data from GEM Canada in order to develop new insights into the factors that contribute to the performance outcomes of female enterprises and how these factors are affected by the firm’s stage of development. The analysis encompasses both personal and organizational characteristics and assesses their association with selected performance measures at the early stage as well as at the established phase of development. The findings indicate that the greater propensity of men to pursue business growth and earnings can be attributed to marital status (live with a partner) and the expected depth of the ownership team. Moreover, the performance outcomes for male entrepreneurs are influenced by a relatively wide range of variables, with business demographics being more prominent than for the female enterprises. For both genders, the mix of relevant underlying factors varies as the venture progresses along the ‘nascent-new-established’ continuum.     

Building the Knowledge Stock: Lags,Depreciation, and Uncertainty in R&D Investment and Link with Productivity Growth

The search for an appropriate methodology to investigate the relation between R&D investment, knowledge stock and productivity growth is the main purpose of the paper. In analogy with physical assets, we present a model of knowledge capital formation which allows the calculation of the relevant user cost, as well. The proposed model accumulates R&D investment based on a stochastic gestation lag and a geometric depreciation of the stock. The basic parameters underlying the lag structure differ according to the types of research expenditure. The approach is applied to public R&D investment in Italian agriculture; the results provide interesting information about the economic structure of public research effort in Italian agriculture and plausible estimates of its internal rate of return.     

Transition towards and of sustainability—Understanding sustainability as performative

Our purpose is to explore the concept of “sustainability” when understood from a performative perspective, i.e. as a concept that is filled with meaning across time. Drawing on a 10 year-long study of the digital footprint of Stockholm Royal Seaport, claimed to be northern Europe's largest sustainable urban development district, we show that “sustainability” emerged as the project became associated with particular places, projects, histories, and technologies. This means that “sustainability” was local in that it was situated in the particular spatial context of the project; temporal in that it was situated in a particular time; and political in that it expressed particular values and perspectives. The study contributes to explaining why “sustainability” remains—and always will remain—a contested concept, which is why sustainability transitions are complex. Consequently, we suggest that the transition towards sustainability always involves the transition of sustainability, something that needs to be acknowledged in order for a transition to actually become sustainable.     

公安院校警务化管理与学生个性发展

公安高校是一个特殊的学生群体,公安院校学生将来从警的特殊性要求使警务化管理成为必然。严格的警务化管理能规范学生的言行、思想、身心,促使他们成才。     

我国低碳经济转型下的情景分析和路径选择

发展低碳经济是各国应对气候变化的重要战略选择,文章借鉴IPAT模型,对2007-2020年我国经济发展、能源消耗和二氧化碳排放量的变化进行预测与分析。设定CO_2排放量的三个情景：基准情景（BAU）、提高能源效率情景（EEI）、低碳情景（LC）,结果表明：低碳情景方案是我国实现低碳发展最适当、最可行的方案。在此方案下,我国CO_2排放强度可以按原定计划下降40~45%,同时经济增长率可达到6%。最后,基于我国发展遵循低碳情景方案,进一步给出了三条低碳转型的路径,即技术创新、能源结构优化和政策指导。     

高校英语教育与区域经济发展的相互作用

英语作为一门国际化语言在21世纪的经济全球化大环境下扮演着桥梁与纽带的角色。无论是国际会议的召开,还是经济贸易的往来,在口语与书面用语中作为信息交流与传递的工具,都离不开英语这门语言。因此,大力发展英语教育对促进经济发展有重要作用。同时,经济的发展也能带动英语教育的发展。目前我国从事英语教育的培训机构数不胜数,已经从幼儿园到高等教育都在推广英语作为第二门应用语言,说明我们充分认识到英语在人才培养中的重要性以及未来英语人才在经济发展中的重要作用。     

新世纪宝钢发展战略思考

宝钢作为中国钢铁行业的龙头老大,要想在持续动荡的国内外环境中保持稳步发展,必须要以正确的战略为保障。通过研究宝钢的发展现状,详细分析影响宝钢发展的内外部环境因素,提出了宝钢未来的发展战略。