The division of labour and market structure

Most firms produce most of the time under conditions of substantial economies of scale. The division of labour, according to Adam Smith the mainspring of wealth, is intrinsically an economies of scale phenomenon. Market structure in most industries in characterized by a small number of suppliers and a larger number of customers. I explain this law of small numbers as the equilibrium of two forces: the deconcentration effect of imitation and the market spliting effect of further refinements in the division of labour by innovation. A deconcentrated market creates larger incentives for market splitting (product differentiation) by innovation than a concentrated market. But market splitting raises concentration in the market and it raises the number of different markets in the economy. Before the economies of scale of old products are fully exploited, new products are being offered which again are produced under conditions of economies of scale.     

Innovative productivity and returns to scale in the pharmaceutical industry

This study shows that firms in the pharmaceutical industry experience decreasing returns to scale in R & D as the level of R & D expenditures rises. The paper presents the results of our study of the innovative output of 16 pharmaceutical firms over a 19 year period. Given the strong correlation between R & D budgets and firm size, our study suggests the wave of mergers in the industry may yield less innovative productivity than managers expect.     

Globalization frustrated: The case of white goods

This paper challenges the common view that mature industries are always ripe for global strategies. Based on data from the European Domestic Appliance industry, this paper shows how changing economic conditions can diminish the value of global strategies. Critical in these shifts were simultaneous rises in demand for variety (that eroded the benefits of scale and continental market share) and decreases in manufacturing scale (that permitted new supply options), which reduced the extent of the strategic market to national dimensions. They added complexity that decreased the profitability of the global players and increased that of national strategies. The fluctuating fortunes of leading firms are shown to have been caused primarily by choices of strategy, not by national factor costs.     

Measuring Hospital Performance in the Presence of Quasi-Fixed Inputs: An Analysis of Québec Hospitals

This research proposes an approach to measure hospital performance based on a generalization of Banker and Morey (1986) and Førsund (1996). This approach considers quasi-fixed inputs explicitly, calculates their implicit cost, and quantifies returns to scale. The performance measure is decomposed into allocative and technical inefficiencies. Based on a very complete data set of Québec hospitals, we find that significant inefficiencies of up to 17% ($700 CAN million) could have been saved through improved performance. Postestimation analyses that include qualitative measures of care suggest that differences in performance are attributable to differences in management or unobservable quality of care rather than patient case mix.     

论转轨时期我国商贸产业规模结构优化

商贸产业规模结构优化的依据是市场竞争优势，政府的作用是催化竞争。     

Effects of demographic,experiential, and attitudinal factors on occupational sex stereotypes

The purpose of this study was to (a) compare the occupational sex stereotypes of 366 college students with those reported by Shinar in 1975, and (b) examine the relationships between demographic, experiential, and attitudinal variables and these occupational sex stereotypes. The results indicated a significant difference in occupational ratings from Shinar's study, with females' perceptions shifting more than males' perceptions. In addition, subjects' gender, tenure with female managers, and attitudes toward women as managers, were shown to be significant predictors of occuptational ratings. The implications of these findings for both employees and managers are then discussed.     

The productivity of private and social farms: Multilateral Malmquist indices for Slovene dairying enterprises

Applying programming techniques to farm-level panel data for four cooperative and 12 private dairy farms in the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia gives estimates of technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and technical progress. These are used to construct multilateral Malmquist indices of total factor productivity (TFP). For the cooperatives, TFP growth has been slow and is attributable to technical progress. For the private farms, technical progress was also slow, but TFP growth was faster due to improved efficiency. Scale inefficiency explains the poorer absolute performance of the private farms, indicating the need for land reform as well as technological change.     

上市公司资本结构微观决定因素分析

我国上市公司资本结构的突出特点是偏好股权资本,内源融资和债权融资的比重偏低,这有悖于经典的资本结构理论。本文分析了决定上市公司资本结构的微观因素,并提出了优化上市公司资本结构的建议。     

农机服务规模经营对粮食生产效率的影响机理研究

依据2009—2019年全国31个省（自治区、直辖市）的省级面板数据,运用随机前沿分析方法和Tobit模型,考量农机服务规模经营对粮食生产效率的影响及其作用机理。结果显示：2009—2019年,中国粮食生产效率总体递增,但区域间发展不平衡;农机服务规模经营通过技术引入效应和劳动力替代效应提高粮食生产效率,其中,技术引入效应的发挥受限于农业研发支出水平及其增速,劳动力替代效应在农业劳动力成本高的区域发挥的影响效用更佳。鉴于此,应加快农业科技创新,发展粮食生产全程机械化服务,完善农机社会化服务体系。