A NOTE ON PRICING OF PRODUCT QUALITY FOR STATUS CONCERNS

The paper analyses the optimal pricing of the product quality scheme when concerns for relative standing exist among consumers. We demonstrate that if the proportion of high‐value consumers is over (respectively, under) 1/2 of the total consumers, a firm has an incentive to select a large (respectively, small) quality gap among products. Therefore, there exists a cut‐off level for status concerns, which eliminates quality differences, and the firm assigns the same quality to all the consumers. These results indicate that consumers’ qualities will reflect distortions at the top and bottom. Accordingly, the firm's profit depends on which consumer category is larger.     

行业报刊市场化经营之管见

在非时政类报刊陆续走向市场的大环境下,行业报刊的市场化势在必行。行业报刊的市场化经营,必须建立一支既懂行业报刊新闻业务,更懂行业报刊经营管理的人才队伍;必须建立与行业报刊市场化相适应的运作机制;必须注重实施行业报刊产业链发展战略。     

The determinants of FTA use in Southeast Asia: A firm-level analysis

The spread of free trade agreements (FTAs) in Southeast Asia has ignited a debate about their impact on enterprises including the business costs from the Asian ‘noodle bowl’ effect. This paper undertakes a comparative and firm-level analysis of the determinants of FTA use in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The likelihood of firms using important ASEAN+1 FTAs (e.g. the ASEAN-China FTA, the ASEAN-Japan FTA and ASEAN-Korea FTA) is positively associated with acquiring knowledge about FTAs, building technological capabilities, and membership in industrial clusters. Non-use of FTAs is explained by a lack of information about FTAs and the absence of FTAs with major trading partners. Key policy implications are the need to improve business support for FTAs, to conclude FTAs with major trading partners, and to create a database on FTA preference use.     

新重商主义与美国金融霸权的失落——从贸易战争到货币战争

金融危机后国际上依然难以摆脱重商主义"治国术",这种理念根植于近代强国之梦身后的重商主义历史。如今,美国新自由主义外衣下,推行重金式的新重商主义政策,并具有金融帝国主义的特征。从早期实施贸易战争到当前的货币战争,债务型的美元信用不断自贬,虽然消融了主权债务并窃取了财富,但也导致美国新重商主义最终走上荷兰式衰落之路。马克思主义揭示的资本衰亡规律,依旧深刻而富有生命力。中国应当摆脱美国新重商主义的纠缠,改进中国出口模式。     

电力企业同业对标管理的研究

同业对标是现代企业管理的重要手段,它要求公司各级要提高认识,加强同业对标工作的组织及领导,加强组织协调,加大工作力度,发挥专业部门的主导作用,强化管理改进,促进指标的优化提升。     

新国际经济背景下的上海自由贸易区

以国际经济视角解读上海自由贸易区建立的时代背景、历史使命,阐述上海自贸区的制度创新点以及由此可能带来的连锁反应,并对相关社会、经济问题该如何解决提出建议.     

服装外贸跟单的人才构建与实践

本文阐述了服装外贸跟单员工作岗位的形成,重点介绍服装外贸企业的跟单工作过程,通过将服装外贸跟单员的起源与工作过程相结合,最终对服装外贸跟单的人才培养提出几点建议。     

An examination of EU trade disintegration scenarios

This paper demonstrates the welfare implications of the differential disintegration of the EU. Using a structural gravity approach, our estimates suggest that the rest of the EU countries have much more to lose from the disintegration of the EU compared to a disorderly Brexit. At the same time, neighbouring high‐income and middle‐income countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Norway, are expected to benefit from EU disintegration under some scenarios because trade would be diverted from EU countries.     

Corporate smart phones: professionals' conscious engagement in escalating work connectivity

This article explores how the adoption of company sponsored smart phones inflicts upon the lives of professionals. Drawing upon qualitative interviews at a law firm in Brazil, the experiences of new smart phone users are reported upon in detail. Increased accessibility, accuracy and speed in exchanges gave the users a sense of autonomy and flexibility. However, the technology also helped to intensify the organisation's hold on employees outside of regular working hours, reaching into new settings, time slots and social contexts. Employees expressed concerns regarding demands from superiors that negatively affected their private spheres, yet many of them paradoxically requested more efficient smart phone connectivity. The article focuses on the justifications, the different narrative strategies, employed by professionals for their conscious engagement in escalating work connectivity. It is suggested that these justifications display users' attempt to ‘dis‐identify’ with the role and practice they perform.     

Towards a ‘new normal’ growth strategy: China in comparative perspective

China’s move towards a new normal has been motivated by domestic factors and accelerated by the decline in export opportunities to developed countries. This decline, combined with the knock-on effects of China’s growth adjustments, is disrupting the favourable external environment that made developing countries’ export-led development strategies viable. This paper concentrates on a rebalancing of developing countries’ growth strategies towards a greater weight of household consumption as a potential alternative and discusses three challenges – market size, domestic purchasing power and balance-of-payments constraints. Concentrating on the latter, it analyses changes in sectoral compositions of consumer demand and patterns of international trade. Results point to the risk that a shift in growth strategy causes an import surge. The paper’s findings indicate the scope and speed of required product innovation that would prevent a rebalancing of growth strategies towards a greater role of consumption from running into balance-of-payments constraints.