Repurchase of renewal rights: a policy option for the National Water Initiative*

Management of the Murray–Darling river system involves a large number of users with imprecisely defined rights, and an aggregate rate of resource use that is environmentally unsustainable. One possible policy response is to make formal or informal contracts with users, under which users receive current benefits in return for a commitment to forgo usage rights in future. In this paper, this issue is explored with specific reference to the possibility of repurchasing the renewal rights for irrigation licenses.     

Parent country nationals or local nationals for executive positions in foreign affiliates: An empirical study of Japanese affiliates in Korea

This study examines how the host country experience of Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) affects their staffing policies for executive manager positions at foreign affiliates. Hypotheses on executive staffing policies for foreign affiliates are tested using survey data collected from 103 Japanese affiliates in Korea. Findings show that the level of global integration and the degree of centralization of decision-making positively affect an assignment of parent country nationals as executive managers of foreign affiliates. We further find that foreign affiliates’ experience in a host country moderates the effects of both global integration and centralization on staffing decisions for the affiliates.

(De)Politicization Dynamics in Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs): Lessons from a comparison between UK and Flemish PPP policy

This article analyses the (de)politicization dynamics in complex and technical matters like public–private partnerships, which is necessary given its social impact and budgetary consequences for the years and generations to come. The global financial crisis provides an excellent window of opportunity to present this argument, because PPP policy needs to reinvent itself. We argue that PPP policy needs to be (re)politicized at the broader societal and discursive levels, which means that their public nature is recognized and that policy alternatives are debated in the public forums. The ‘Private Finance Initiative’ reassessment process in the UK may serve as an example.     

George Hudson's financial reporting practices: putting the Eastern Counties Railway in context

George Hudson was the most important railway promoter of his time. He had a particular aptitude for visualizing and arranging spectacular company and line amalgamations and his activities helped to bring about the beginnings of a more modern railway network. In 1849 he exercised effective control over nearly 30 per cent of the rail track then operating in the UK, most of it owned by four railway groups, the Eastern Counties Railway, the Midland, the York, Newcastle and Berwick, and the York and North Midland, before a series of scandalous revelations forced him out of office. The economic, railway and accounting literatures have treated George Hudson as an important figure in railway history, although concentrating largely on the financial reporting malpractices of the Eastern Counties Railway, while Hudson was its chairman, which were incorporated into the influential Monteagle Committee Report of 1849. Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to events at Hudson's other major companies. This paper analyzes the available evidence, particularly that produced by the Committees of Investigation established at all four railway groups, in order to provide a more balanced assessment of George Hudson's approach to financial reporting and thereby place events at the Eastern Counties Railway in a broader context.     

全球经济危机对我国进出口贸易的影响——基于多参数平滑法的定量分析

选取2000-2010年我国进出口的月度数据,运用多参数平滑方法,分析了全球经济危机对我国进出口贸易的影响。定量分析显示全球经济危机使我国2009年和2010年对外出口规模减少额超过10000亿美元,进口规模减少额超过6000亿美元,影响十分巨大,危机开始时对一般贸易的影响超过对进出口的整体影响。随着我国政府实施扩张性的财政政策和货币政策的效果逐渐显现,世界经济逐步回暖,全球经济危机对我国进出口的影响逐渐减少。进一步的研究显示:危机使得我国对欧盟进出口的影响超过了对美国进出口的影响;对欧美地区出口的影响超过进口的影响;对我国不同地区进出口的影响是从东到西影响强度逐步减弱,对外开放程度越高的地区受到的影响越显著,能够充分发挥比较优势的产品或行业受到全球经济危机负面影响的程度较小。     

服务型跨国公司全球模块化与服务业国际转移及其对中国的启示

日趋激烈的全球竞争迫使服务型跨国公司必须更加高效地整合全球资源,增强全球竞争力和创新能力。全球模块化为服务型跨国公司实现这一目标提供了重要路径,也在客观上有力地推动了服务业国际转移。本文首先进行了相关理论综述;然后分析了服务型跨国公司实施全球模块化的可行性;接着阐释服务型跨国公司全球模块化是如何发展及其如何推动服务业国际转移,并选取国际快递业作为新样本行业进行理论检验;最后,对中国服务企业应该如何运用全球模块化来更好地承接服务业国际转移或整合全球战略性服务资源提出相关政策建议。     

OFDI对中国产业比较优势动态升级的影响

随着经济全球化的发展,国际分工深化为全球价值链分工。从规模效应、结构效应、技术效应3个方面阐释了OFDI对比较优势动态升级的影响机理,利用WIOD数据库测算出1995-2014年中国制造业出口增加值、产业出口优化度EO指数、GVC地位指数并分别表征规模效应、结构效应、技术效应,应用改进后的贸易引力模型和时间序列模型,对3个效应进行检验。研究结果显示,中国企业开展OFDI可以促进比较优势的动态升级,实现价值链攀升。     

基于技术体制视角的高科技产业集群演变——以台湾中小企业为例

在对产业集群的分类和演变模式进行总结的基础之上,从技术体制视角,对台湾中小企业的案例进行了分析。研究证实:在全球化高科技产业竞争中,台湾产业集群竞争优势获得的关键要素是——内部和外部知识链的协同演进。按照传统模式运营的企业,需要通过产业集群内的企业互联和加入全球生产网络的方式,并融入更广阔的全球化渠道以重组知识链。