Business Ethics in Spain

This article is an introduction to the selection of papers on "Business Ethics in Spain" included in this monographic issue of the Journal of Business Ethics. Specifically, this article is a survey of the development of the social, political, cultural and economic background of business in Spain since 1940, in order to show how the ethical values, attitudes and problems of the Spanish managers changed in these years. First, the global evolution of this background is explained, and then several relevant problems are discussed, namely those of the attitudes of business towards the State and the law (with an aside on the attitudes of society towards profit and wealth), corruption, and the grey economy, taxes, and irregular labour. The article concludes with a survey of the scientific developments of business ethics in Spain.     

保险业发展运行中亟待解决的若干问题

保险业在连续多年的快速增长后面临着一系列亟待解决和突破的重大问题,包括发展与转型、区域发展不均衡、如何学习与借鉴国际先进经验、风险防范与支持业务发展、一盘棋与差异化、外部环境配套等问题.保险业的快速发展要兼顾业务结构调整和产品转型.区域发展不均衡既是问题,也意味着中西部存在良好的发展机遇;学习与借鉴国际先进经验要结合中国实际,逐渐推进;风险防范与支持业务发展是辩证统一的关系,不是对立不可调和的;一盘棋思想与差异化政策应该有机结合使用,不可顾此失彼;税收优惠政策的突破与投资渠道的进一步放开是满足广大人民群众保险保障需求和促进保险业健康发展的重要外部环境条件.     

Contract theory and agricultural policy analysis: a discussion and survey of recent developments*

This paper surveys some recent developments in contract theory and illustrates how this theory might be useful for conceptualising policy issues related to vertical coordination and contracting in the agro‐food industry. The article begins by surveying contract theory to identify key economic distortions that can potentially justify government involvement. Next, the general ingredients of agricultural contracts that are most likely to create inefficiencies are discussed. Finally, controversial aspects of real‐world agricultural contracts are highlighted and lessons from the theory are used to determine whether government intervention is justified. Actual legislation that has been proposed in the USA is analysed where appropriate and topics that await further research are also discussed.     

关于影响农业生产经营风险因素的实证分析

在农业生产领域中存在许多非人为的风险及人为因素可以克服或降低的风险,对于前者,我们可能很难解决,但是对于后者,我们可以采取相关的措施来预防与降低农业生产经营风险。具体到本文,主要通过对影响农业生产经营风险的两大因素,即农业投入与农业技术的实证分析,从而为降低农业生产经营风险提供政策导向。     

企业业务流程再造的转变关键

企业要成功实施BPR计划,应该确立组织理论、改造方式、变革范围等3个关键转变的思路,才能有效地规避可能失败的风险。     

我国农产品物流管理现状与发展对策

通过对农产品物流内涵及现状的分析,指出了目前农产品物流模式存在的问题。在此基础上提出建立信息平台、推广物流技术等发展对策,促进农产品物流的发展,增加农民收入。     

On the finite sample behavior of testing whether new is better than used of a specified age

Hollander, Park and Proschan (1986) proposed a test of new is better than used of a specified age. It is based on large sample normality of the test statistic. There is, however, no study in the literature on its actual size for small and moderate sample sizes. To shed some lights on this, the results of a Monte Carlo simulation study as well as two real data examples are reported and these indicate that the test can have a quite liberal size, especially for small to moderate sample sizes. In order to improve on this weakness, a modified test is proposed and studied. It is noticed that this modified test seems to over-correct the original test to an extent that it becomes unduly conservative sometimes. Hence we propose another modification that combines the original test and the modified test turns out to have its size quite close to the nominal level and is therefore preferable to both the original and modified tests.     

Endogenous Growth Cycles in Continuous Time

The endogenous dynamics of a closed constant returns multi-market economy are examined in which agents face downward sloping demand. The trigger for growth in this model is a technological change that warrants costly adjustment in input quantities by agents. In the resulting dynamic game, relative prices within markets remain constant. Consequently, all own price elasticities are constant. In markets characterized by lower cost of capital the unique outcome is collusion in which agents do not incur adjustment cost and there is no adoption of new technology. But in other markets a unique non-cooperative equilibrium exists in which agents do incur the cost of adopting the new technology. Only three specifications of adjustment costs are feasible. Output increases along an S-shaped time path with or without a non-explosive cyclical component.