Lead markets, innovation differentials and growth

This article suggests that the specialization of countries in international trade is determined by the lead-lag market pattern of national markets. Many internationally successful innovations have been adopted first in one country while other countries initially either preferred other designs or an established product. A model for the international diffusion of innovations is presented in which nationally preferred innovation designs compete to become a globally dominant design. In this model, there are country-specific market attributes that increase the likelihood that the choice a country makes among alternative technologies is followed around the world. It is argued that technological knowledge gaps are not the origin of an international competitive advantage. Instead, a country gains a competitive advantage because a specific innovation design was adopted earlier than in any other country. This gives local firms a head start in producing, gathering marketing intelligence and securing the property rights of a globally successful innovation. In countries with lag market characteristics, domestic innovations are less likely to get adopted worldwide. Lag markets often switch from a domestic innovation design to a foreign innovation design, which increases imports. The lead-lag market explanation of trade specialization has implications for national policies. In this model domestic innovations do not always foster exports; idiosyncratic innovations induced by lag market contexts can hamper the export chances of local firms and in the end lead to an increase in imports. It is suggested that in order to increase exports, national policies have to distinguish between a domestic lead and lag market context in each industry. While in a lead market context, traditional policy instruments that enhance the rate of innovations are effective, in a lag market situation national follower strategies are more appropriate.     

The risk-based approach under the new EU data protection regulation: a critical perspective

Abstract

The first broad reform of personal data protection legislation in the European Union entered into force in May 2018 (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the General Data Protection Regulation). Remarkably, with this reform a risk-based approach has been introduced as the core data protection enforcement model, while data protection authorities see their regulatory role significantly weakened. The risk-based approach is to be implemented by the data controllers (i.e. the operators) via data protection impact assessments (evoking the established environmental impact assessment procedure) and notification of breaches, among other procedures. Hence the scope of both the concepts of risk and risk regulation spread beyond conventional domains, namely the environment, public health or safety, i.e. physical risks, to encompass risks to intangible values, i.e. individual rights and freedoms, presumably harder to assess and manage. Strikingly, the reform has been accompanied by a confident discourse by EU institutions, and their avowed belief in the reform’s ability to safeguard the fundamental right to data protection in the face of evolving data processing techniques, specifically, big data, the Internet of Things, and related algorithmic decision-making. However, one may wonder whether there isn’t cause for concern in view of the way the risk-based approach has been designed in the data protection legislation. In this article, the risk-based approach to data protection is analysed in the light of the reform’s underlying rationality. Comparison with the risk regulatory experience in environmental law, particularly the environmental impact assessment procedure, is drawn upon to assist us in pondering the shortcomings, as well as the opportunities of the novel risk-based approach.     

旅游保险企业顾客资产函数模型构建——基于互补性理论的探讨

旅游保险企业销售业绩不理想的一个主要原因,是不能很好地理解互补性营销资产管理的互补机理。旅游保险企业在组合渠道资产(互补性资产)时,如果原有服务质量(核心营销资产)比较薄弱,而新渠道资产需要对服务质量作出变革时,就不可以只组合进渠道资产而保持原有服务质量不变,否则只能达到次优甚至失败。中国旅游保险企业加强与互补体合作,就有可能获取后发营销竞争优势。     

CRTSⅡ型板式无砟轨道用CA砂浆灌注施工关键技术

CA砂浆灌注质量控制对保证整个轨道板的施工质量非常关键。本文总体论述了CRTSⅡ型板式无砟轨道用CA砂浆灌注工艺,包括压紧装置的安装、封边、砂浆的运输、灌注、养生、缺陷的修补等相关工序的施工方法及关键技术,为确保CA砂浆灌注质量提供借鉴。     

Context matters: How existing sectors and competing technologies affect the prospects of the Swiss Bio-SNG innovation system

Emerging technological fields are affected by developments in their broader context. This article proposes a differentiation of context structures as a crucial step in the analysis of technological innovation systems. A thorough context analysis, so the argument, is essential for understanding the pace and direction of technology development and the prospects of an emerging technological innovation system. Empirical insights are provided for Bio-SNG, a technology in an early stage of development. The article discusses the conditions under which actors from different sectors (forestry, wood industry, and energy supply) may play a role in the emerging field. It is shown that Bio-SNG is likely to become a victim of the recent boom in wood-to-energy technologies that has favored investments in more mature but technologically inferior alternatives. The case provides lessons for policy making as it highlights how effective support schemes might foster a lock-in into technologies that are readily available.     

Sharing versus collaborative economy: how to align ICT developments and the SDGs in tourism?

Great hopes have been placed in the sharing economy to provide a new business model based on peer-to-peer (P2P) exchanges of underutilized assets. As a model, the sharing economy has been expected to make significant contributions to sustainability, providing new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer co-operation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy, turning global corporations, such as AirBnB, Booking, or TripAdvisor into intermediaries controlling and profiting from most transactions. Focused on accommodation, this paper conceptualizes the sharing economy in comparison to the wider collaborative economy, and discusses its social, economic, environmental, and political impacts in comparison to the sustainable development goals. It concludes that the sharing economy has great potential to make very significant contributions to sustainability, though the model is increasingly being replaced by the collaborative economy, which performs as an extension and acceleration of neoliberal economic practices.     

中印贸易问题透析及解决

中国和印度被认为是21世纪两个最大和增长最快的经济实体,伴随着中印经贸的快速增长,两国经贸不断显示互补性.2005年4月温家宝总理对印度进行的访问具有里程碑意义.两国政府建立了面向21世纪战略伙伴关系,签署了中印两国边境问题的政治指导性原则和全面经济合作五年计划.在此背景下,有必要分析中国和印度所面临的一系列问题,并提出诸多解决方案,融将影响双边贸易的健康发展.其目的在于尽可能克服这些因素的影响,早日开创发展中国家之间的新局面.     

Stock of downstream complementary assets as a catalyst for product innovation during technological change in the U.S. machine tool industry

Research summary : We investigate the effect of incumbents' stock of downstream complementary assets on their product innovation during a disruptive technological change. We theorize that a firm's stock of downstream complementary assets, by providing critical information about shifting demand conditions, will play a catalytic role in firm adaptation during such a change. Using the advent of disruptive computer numerical control machine tools in the U.S. machine tool industry during the 1970s and 1980s as the context, we find that firms with greater stocks of downstream complementary assets are likely to be product innovation leaders during such a change. Managerial summary : Disruptive changes are challenging firms across industries. We concentrate on the U.S. machine tool industry during the 1970s and 1980s when Japanese manufacturers with disruptive computer numerical control systems challenged the U.S. manufacturers. We find that, under the threat of disruption, the greater the stock of downstream complementary assets a U.S. machine tool manufacturer has, the more likely it is to be the product innovation leader with the disruptive technology. Our findings provide novel insights for managers in companies that face disruptive changes and can help them avoid the consequences of such changes as predicted by prior research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

余能原理基面力元法在桁架弹塑性分析中的应用

基面力元法(BFEM)是一种新型的有限单元法,是以"基面力"来描述一点的应力状态。为了编制适用于桁架弹塑性分析的MATLAB基面力元程序,以余能原理基面力元法为基础,将基面力元法的平面4节点的实体单元模型向桁架单元进行退化,列出了退化桁架单元的柔度矩阵、单元轴力和节点位移的具体表达式,并对其控制方程进行了必要的处理。根据退化的桁架单元模型,采用增量法的思想和线性强化弹塑性模型,以三杆超静定桁架和复杂静定桁架为算例进行了计算。将计算结果与大型有限元分析软件ABAQUS的T2D2计算结果进行了对比分析,发现所用方法与ABAQUS的计算结果高度吻合,进一步验证了基面力理论的正确性和程序的适用性。