THE CHANGING VOLATILITY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY

During the last decade economic literature explored the presence of and reasons for what became known as “the great moderation” in the US and other G7 countries. “The great moderation” describes the decrease in economic volatility experienced in many of the G7 countries. This paper finds that in South Africa volatility is also not constant (it even finds that there are autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic effects present) and that volatility also decreased, particularly since 1994. Following the literature, the paper explores several reasons for this decrease and finds that smaller shocks, better monetary policy and improvements in the financial sector that place less liquidity constraints on individuals and allow them to manage their debt better are some of the main reasons for the reduction in the volatility of the South African economy. The literature on the G7 also suggests that better inventory management contributed to the lower volatility. However, this seems not to be true for South Africa.     

基于客户关系管理的企业业务流程重组

在全球经济一体化环境下，传统的管理模式、经营理念、业务方法已不能适应快速变化的市场运行。顾客（Customer）、竞争（Competition）和改变（Change）驱使企业发展进入新阶段。在灵活性与快速响应主宰的商业战场中，客户关系应用而生，业务流程重组和客户关系管理的结合似乎成了一种必然．     

Understanding the Large Negative Impact of Oil Shocks

This paper offers a plausible explanation for the close link between oil prices and aggregate macroeconomic performance in the 1970s. Although this link has been well documented in the empirical literature, standard economic models are not able to replicate this link when actual oil prices are used to simulate the models. In particular, standard models cannot explain the depth of the recession in 1974–75 and the strong revival in 1976–78 based on the oil price movements in that period. This paper argues that a missing multiplier-accelerator mechanism from standard models may hold the key.     

Uncertainty reduction mechanisms in cross-sector alliances in Latin America

The present study explores three uncertainty reduction mechanisms that arise in the context of business alliance formation to assess whether these same mechanisms also operate in the development of alliances between non-profits and businesses. Secondary data from field-based case studies of Latin American cross-sector alliances are the focus of this analysis. The findings show that the same mechanisms operate to reduce uncertainty in cross-sector alliance formation and that alliance experience appears to determine the presence of some mechanisms.     

Control of intellectual assets in client relationships: implications for innovation

This empirical study of business‐to‐business service firms examines the determinants and effects of control rights to intellectual assets in a property rights theoretic framework. Regression analyses using survey data suggest that service suppliers that retain control over their intellectual output are more innovative. In long‐term relationships, service firms' clients may thus be better off balancing their need to control outsourced activities with the suppliers' incentives to invest in learning and innovation. Additionally, and aligned with property rights theoretic predictions, service suppliers' bargaining power and their indispensability in service projects are positively associated with their ability to retain control rights. In contrast, innovation capabilities are not very significant in determining control rights allocation between service suppliers and their clients. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

企业经营战略失败分析

企业制定经营战略的目的是适应环境的变化,然而由于种种原因,企业的经营战略常常面临着失败。 因此从七个角度分析失败的原因,并提出相关建议,从而树立起全局观念、创新观念、风险观念和应变观念 等一系列重要战略观念。     

Confucian Business Ethics and the Economy

Confucian ethics as applied to the study of business ethics often relate to the micro consideration of personal ethics and the character of a virtuous person. Actually, Confucius and his school have much to say about the morals of the public administration and the market institutions in a more macro level. While Weber emphasizes the role of culture on the development of the economy, and Marx the determining influence of the material base on ideology, we see an interaction between culture – specifically Confucian business ethics – and the economy. In this paper, we are going to study this interaction in several crucial stages of development of Confucianism. The paper concludes by postulating the relevance of Confucian business ethics to the global knowledge economy.     

市场失灵与企业创新

新古典理论认为市场失灵会使得资源配置的效率偏离帕累托最优状态,文章认为,市场失灵还会影响到企业的创新方向和创新数量,导致全社会该产生的创新可能创新不够,不该产生的创新却层出不穷,从而降低资源配置的长期效率,针对市场失灵的不同类型,政府只要采取不同的措施,就能够正确引导企业的创新行为。