Crisis leadership in economic recession: A three-barrier approach to offset external constraints

An economic recession is a type of crisis originated from external factors that may imperil an organization’s survival depending on the intensity and duration of the crisis. In peripheral European countries, such as Portugal, the recent financial crisis had devastating effects on various business activities. As a result, Portugal represents an important case study in examining how some corporate leaders have handled the economic recession successfully. I interviewed 20 corporate managers to capture their perceptions of the leadership traits and behaviors exhibited by their CEOs in guiding their companies through the recession. In economic recessions, negative constraints do not affect the most effective leaders, who instead erect barriers against the high-pressure conditions to create a supportive, positive work environment. In order to achieve maximum effectiveness, leaders must act as blocking agents against the negative social impacts of the economic crisis, including the fragility of trust in organizational life (i.e., a barrier against distrust), uncertainty of the future (i.e., a barrier against uncertainty), and toxic emotions (i.e., a barrier against toxic emotions).     

预应力拱支双层网壳的静力性能研究

双层曲面网壳在结构的稳定性方面较单层网壳有优越性,在一些跨度较大或支撑较弱的建筑中更多地采用双层曲面网壳结构。预应力拱支双层网壳结构体系是在综合双层网壳和预应力拱结构等优点的基础上,构思出的一种新型大跨空间结构形式。该文主要采用一算例讨论预应力拱支双层网壳结构在三种工况下的内力及变形特点等受力性能,显示出该新型杂交结构体系整体性能得到改善,具有一定的应用前景。     

基于“行为经济学理论”的旅游者行为分析

传统的旅游者行为分析方法,主要是进行定性的分析,将各个因素进行框架分析,而对旅游者行为的影响因素分析深度不够。借助行为经济学的理论和分析方法,从旅游者的心理活动角度入手,注重旅游者的心理变量分析,应用前景理论和心理账户分析旅游者行为,充分考虑了情境因素和体验因素,使得关于旅游者的行为分析更加细化和接近现实生活。     

基于上市公司虚假财务报告治理的独立审计行为优化研究

独立审计人员的行为错位与虚假财务报告的产生存在一定的内在联系。从独立审计行为优化的视角研究虚假财务报告的治理,不仅是提升独立审计执业水平的客观要求,也为虚假财务报告的治理提供了一种全新的思路。通过对上市公司虚假财务报告治理的研究,确立了独立审计在中国上市公司虚假财务报告治理机制中的科学定位,构建了基于上市公司虚假财务报告治理的独立审计行为优化方案设计,提出了优化独立审计行为的对策实施体系。     

泰山旅游需求时空分布规律及旅游者行为特征的初步研究

泰山旅游需求存在着明显的时空分布规律．调查显示．游人数量的日变化、周变化和年内变化十分显著；客源地主要分布于山东及其周边省市；旅游区内部以泰山中路和岱顶的需求强度最大。最后对旅游交通方式、旅游消费、旅客职业构成双重游率等旅游者行为特征进行了分析。     

我国新能源汽车产业破坏性创新的政策支持研究

提高新能源汽车产业创新水平、将新能源汽车产业置于国民经济战略性新兴产业的地位予以支持已成为世界大国博弈的重要命题.文章将破坏性创新理论用于指导我国的新能源汽车产业政策,在公共科技政策分析的基本政策工具框架下,采用内容分析法分析了2009年至今我国新能源汽车产业创新的政策支持体系;对特斯拉汽车成功进行破坏性创新的案例及对我国的启示作了实证研究,进而提出我国新能源汽车产业破坏性创新的政策建议.     

The importance of personal norms and situational expectancies to sustainable behaviors: The norm activation and situational expectancy-value theories

The turn towards sustainability is becoming more critical in every sector, but consumers' lifestyles and behaviors have been slow to transform. Therefore, based on the norm activation model and situational expectancy-value theory, this study investigated the importance of personal norms and the influences of situational factors on sustainable behaviors. A total of 1050 responses obtained through an online survey method were analyzed using SPSS and LISREL. The results revealed that situational factors, such as acceptability of policies, accessibility of facilities, sacrificeability of prices, and environmental activism, can either facilitate or hinder recycling practices and responsible consumption behaviors. Personal norms are a determinant for sustainable behavior. Future research can extend the findings of this study to compare the most and least sustainable states or countries to determine effective interventions for encouraging sustainable behaviors.     

Optimal social security tax with myopic agents

Myopic agents lack the foresight to save for their own old age. It is generally believed that correcting myopia is a rationale for a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) pension system. This view has been supported by existing literature showing that the optimal PAYG social security tax should increase when people are more myopic. In this paper we obtain new results opposed to the traditional view. By establishing a very standard general equilibrium OLG model with myopic agents and endogenized marginal product of capital, we show that the optimal social security tax should be lower when people are more myopic. Our numerical analysis also shows that the welfare cost of the social security tax increases with people's degree of myopia. These results suggest that correcting myopia is not a clear rationale for the PAYG social security.     

Between a rock and a hard place: Seizing the opportunity of demanding customers by means of frontline service behaviors

Service businesses are increasingly facing more demanding customers as a result of a shift in power from the service providers' side to the customers' side. Related literature predominantly examines the negative side of this ongoing trend, while overlooking the positive side. The major aim of this paper is to examine how frontline employees — investment account managers — deal with the ongoing increase in customer demandingness. To address this, we draw on adaptability performance theory to test the facilitating effect of frontline employees' post-transaction service behaviors (SBs) — diligence, inducements, information communication, sportsmanship, and empathy — as a means of adaptation to higher levels of customer demand. Findings indicate that frontline employees adapt most of their SBs' intensities to match customers' demands. The results show that some SBs actually increase the effectiveness and efficiency of frontline employees' service performance, leading to an increase in customer value and satisfaction. Customer value is found as a mediator in some of the relationships between SBs and customer satisfaction. Contrary to the conception of the negative outcomes of customer demandingness, service firms need to consider taking advantage of customer demandingness by stressing the role of frontline employees in adapting to customers’ demands.     

Stability of international environmental agreements under isoelastic utility

There is now a growing consensus that ratifying International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) is the most effective way to tackle transboundary pollution problems. While the social benefit function (SBF) critically affects emission choices as well as decisions to ratify IEAs, the related economic literature has mainly concentrated on scenarios where the marginal SBF is linear. Using climatic data, I find that the linear marginal SBF case does not match data and isoelastic SBFs fit data better. In the more realistic, but not yet explored, context of isoelastic SBFs, I reconsider incentives to ratify IEAs. My analysis gives rise to novel conclusions. For instance, changes in the scale of damages do not affect the level of cooperation. When the scale of damages is small, variations of the SBF parameter reveal that large coalitions including the coalition of all countries are stable, but only when the potential gain from cooperation is sufficiently high.