中国地产商遇寒冬 海外资本觊觎收购

【英国路透社9月9日】针对中国房地产项目的争夺将在未来数月中大为活跃，因诸多中国房地产开发商在楼盘销量大跌及资金链紧张的困境夹击下只能苟延残喘。     

National culture and R&D and marketing integration mechanisms in new product development: A cross-cultural study between Singapore and New Zealand

The integration of R&D and marketing in new product development (NPD) is an important contributor to NPD performance. Of the mechanisms developed to aid functional integration, many have been developed in western cultural environments and may not have applicability in other national cultural settings. Using a sample of NPD workgroup personnel in New Zealand (NZ), the western cultural environment, and Singapore, quantitative and qualitative data have been used to measure national culture and determine the applicability of different organization integration mechanisms. Results show key differences between the two samples, indicating a link between formalization, centralization, role flexibility and interfunctional climate mechanisms with the Hofstede dimensions of Power Distance, Masculinity and Uncertainty Avoidance of national culture. Managerial implications are that national cultural values and settings of the respondents are important when determining best integration mechanisms.     

Block grant: The story of a failure

The Government's proposals for the reform of local government finance should primarily be evaluated in terms of their impact on the efficiency and accountability of local budget‐making. Criticisms of their distributional implications are largely beside the point.     

Do accountabilities change when public organisations transform to service systems: A new conceptual approach

In this conceptual paper, we discuss from the service systems perspective how accountabilities differ from a hierarchic and organisational perspective within the domain of New Public Management, looking to shed new light upon accountability as a research topic. The concept of service systems and their accountabilities are scrutinised and the role of integrated social and health care services is discussed in particular. The main argument in the text is the changing nature of accountabilities as the public organisations are being transformed into service systems. To date, the understanding of accountability has remained structural by nature – such is the case also for productivity measurement – but the shift from organisations towards services systems means that accountability ought to be considered as processual by nature. By processual it is meant that accountability should be considered as flows within systems – that is: flows between agents the content of which we argue includes not only knowledge on the outputs of public services, but also values, empathy and thus multi‐layered understanding of accountability. The paper concludes with practical insights for managerial purposes on the basis for this accountability shift.     

The impacts of large trades by trader types on intraday futures prices: Evidence from the Taiwan Futures Exchange

We find that China's P/E ratio is comparable to that of the U.S. S&P 1500 index, a broad based index covering large, middle, and small capitalization firms. We provide an explanation as to why China's seemingly low P/E ratio is not surprising in light of the economic growth that it has experienced. Specifically, we show that (i) the P/E ratio is negatively associated with earnings volatility in both the Chinese and U.S. stock markets with an economically significant magnitude; and (ii) historical earnings volatility is considerably higher in China than in the U.S. Higher earnings volatility in China offsets higher growth prospect in setting the P/E ratio, making its P/E ratio much closer to what is observed empirically than otherwise implied by its growth rate.     

An Entrepreneurial Perspective of Institutional Change

Utilizing Kirzner's theory of entrepreneurial discovery, Schumpeter's two types of economic responses and the Austrian theory of institutions as building blocks, this paper constructs an entrepreneurial theory of institutional change. Focusing on the coordinating role of human institutions, this paper argues that entrepreneurial extraordinary discovery destroys the stability of institutions and creates uncertainty in the market (creative response). As a result, institutions are incapable of coordinating economic activities because market participants' stocks of knowledge are no longer adequate to solve new problems. Hence, profit gaps or mismatches of market participants' plans occur. Given new technologies, new relative prices and tastes, imitative entrepreneurs soon identify and capitalize on the opportunities created by Schumpeterian extraordinary discoveries (adaptive response). Imitators improve production methods, modify rules and alter property rights in order to improve coordination. Through learning, experimentation, trial and error, the more rewarding methods are then selected. Successful actions are imitated and repeated in the market, and gradually crystallized into new institutions which once again serve as social coordinators.     

Can relationship marketing enhance strategic thinking in the public sector? A study of the perceived relationship between subsidised theatres and their government funders/regulators

This paper reports on the findings of research into the perceived relationships between publicly funded theatres and their key funders/regulators. This is part of a wider study into whether successful publicly funded arts organisations are more likely to apply a relationship marketing approach. Relationship marketing may help to remove a short‐term tactical focus that tends to exist in public sector organisations generally and publicly funded arts organisations particularly. Three UK producing theatres' relationships with the Arts Council and their respective local authorities are analysed and findings suggest that building relationships with this stakeholder type may well produce more strategically focused and successful theatres. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Corporate governance,industrial relations and trends in company‐level restructuring in Europe: convergence towards the Anglo‐American model?

This article addresses the issue of how patterns of corporate restructuring are shaped by national systems of corporate governance and industrial relations. Using case studies of three multinationals, it sheds light on the question of whether the way in which restructuring takes place is converging towards the norms characteristic of the Anglo‐American model. It is argued that considerable changes are evident among national systems, but that these changes are not all occurring at the same pace, nor are all countries moving in the same direction. Consequently, the way that multinational companies restructure their activities varies markedly according to both the business system in their country of origin and the various host systems in which they are located.