A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to identify and compare the crisis communication strategies (CCSs) that organizations used to respond to a congenetic melamine-tainted milk crisis in two Chinese societies (i.e., Mainland China and Taiwan), and (2) to explore the underlying political and media system reasons that led to the differences. Content analysis and discourse analysis of media coverage were used. The most significant finding is that Sanlu (a Mainland China-based organization) and KingCar (a Taiwan-based organization) demonstrated inverse pattern of the CCS adoption. Specifically, according to Coombs’ (1998) defense-accommodation continuum, Sanlu's CCSs moved from defensive to accommodative pole as time went by whereas, in contrast, KingCar started with accommodative strategies and moved towards the defensive pole gradually. Besides, the results showed that both organizations adopted denial, corrective action and apology strategies. However, on the Sanlu part, the most frequently used strategy was denial, while KingCar used justification most often. Moreover, this paper suggests that besides cultural dynamics, political and media systems also play a part in corporate selection of CCSs, and they are among the most important factors that should be taken into account to explain the differences in societies even with an identical traditional culture.     

高职院校优势专业及课程一体化培育

市场决定专业建设的方向,专业建设决定课程建设的内容,课程建设为市场服务。以建筑工程技术专业及课程一体化建设为例,结合地方建设市场的实际情况和需求,在培养方案、机制、校企合作、团队、课程、实训、保障措施等方面进行系列教学改革,培育优势专业,真正实现企业、学校、学生三赢的工学结合人才培养目标。     

Ethnic intermarriage in longitudinal perspective: Testing structural and cultural explanations in the United States, 1880–2011

Focusing on macro-level processes, this article combines Decennial Census and Current Population Survey data to simultaneously test longitudinal and cross-sectional effects on ethnic intermarriage using structural and cultural explanations. Covering a 130 year period, the results of our multilevel analysis for 140 national-origin groups indicate that structural characteristics explain why some origin groups become more “open” over time while others remain relatively “closed”. Ethnic intermarriage is more likely to increase over time when the relative size of an immigrant group decreases, sex ratios grow more imbalanced, the origin group grows more diverse, the size of the third generation increases and social structural consolidation decreases. Cultural explanations also play a role suggesting that an origin group’s exogamous behavior in the past exerts long-term effects and exogamous practices increase over time when the prevalence of early marriage customs declines. For some of the discussed determinants of intermarriage, longitudinal and cross-sectional effects differ calling for a more careful theorizing and testing in terms of the level of analysis (e.g., longitudinal vs. cross-sectional).     

Almost the same stories: narrative patterns in EU treaty referendums

ABSTRACT

The article analyses narratives that favoured or opposed European integration in three referendum debates held during the constitutional process of the 2000s: in France and the Netherlands in 2005 (Constitutional Treaty) as well as the first vote in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty in 2008. In all debates examined, speakers used similar narratives of European integration. While most narrative patterns have transnational character, however, they are also remarkably country-specific. They depend on the specific cultural context and the social positions of the speakers articulating them.     

两岸大学生志愿服务动机与激励机制比较研究

20世纪70年代以来,志愿者组织在全球范围兴起并得到发展,逐渐成为现代社会发展的一支活跃力量,在全球掀起了开展志愿服务的热潮。大学生志愿者作为我国志愿服务的重要参与主体,在志愿服务中起到了举足轻重的作用。在两岸和平发展新时期,两岸出现了大交流、大合作、大发展的新局面。作为志愿服务的主力军,两岸大学生志愿服务动机和激励机制的比较,有利于促进两岸大学生志愿服务合作机制的建立。     

Income inequality and participation: A comparison of 24 European countries

Previous research suggests that when there is a high level of inequality, there is a low rate of participation. Two arguments are generally offered: First, inequality depresses participation because people from different status groups have fewer opportunities to share common goals. Second, people may participate more in civic and social life when they have more resources. However, until now, these explanations have not been separated empirically. Using EU-SILC data for 24 European countries, we analyze how income inequality is related to civic and social participation. Our results indicate that the main effects of inequality manifest via resources at the individual and societal level. However, independent of these resources, higher inequality is associated with lower civic participation. Furthermore, inequality magnifies the relationship between income and participation. This finding is in line with the view that inter-individual processes explain why inequality diminishes participation.     

Trade, education, and innovation: Prospects for the U.S. economy

This paper examines international trade issues as vital indicators of the economic prospects of the United States and other developed economies. In particular, it challenges misuses of the doctrine of mutual gains from trade and instead argues that comparative advantage does not guarantee increases in benefits to both trading partners—especially when one partner seeks to distort the market mechanism in its favor. In the face of such mercantilist or protectionist practices, efforts to advance innovation, without retaining manufacturing jobs, will not ensure continued prosperity, as the number of jobs entailed in the invention process is small compared with the number of jobs associated with manufacturing an innovative product for mass consumption. These matters call for the urgent rethinking of trade policy by the United States and other developed nations, if they are to balance their imports and exports and ensure continued economic growth.     

Nominal comparability is not enough: (In-)equivalence of construct validity of cross-national measures of educational attainment in the European Social Survey

Educational attainment is a core social background variable covered in each and every survey of individuals. Since educational institutions and qualifications are difficult to compare across countries, cross-national surveys pose a particular challenge to the measurement of educational attainment. This study performs a comparative construct validation of a number of cross-national measures of education using the European Social Survey. The measures comprise two versions of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), the education scheme developed in the project ‘Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations’ (CASMIN) and hypothetical as well as actual years of education. The first ISCED measure corresponds to the well-known main ISCED levels. The second one, the European Survey Version of ISCED (ES-ISCED) developed for this study, represents an effort to reflect different types of education within levels of education by considering ISCED sub-dimensions, most importantly ‘programme orientation’. Using linear regression models, it is shown how much explanatory power educational attainment loses when different cross-national variables are used, as compared to country-specific educational attainment variables (CSEVs), and how these losses vary across measures and countries. The dependent variable used for the construct validation is social status as measured by the International Socio-Economic Index (ISEI). Results suggest that harmonisation always entails some loss of explanatory power for at least a few countries. However, there are clear performance differences between the comparable measures in terms of both the average amount of losses as well as the distribution of losses across countries. The use of actual years of education as well as the levels-only ISCED strongly attenuates the education-social status association on average, but also to very different degrees across countries. CASMIN and ES-ISCED fare considerably better: they show the lowest losses of explanatory power and the lowest variation of losses across countries. Hypothetical years of education lie in between. Some practical implications are then proposed, e.g. on how to implement cross-national measures of educational attainment in international surveys.     

Skill and education effects on earnings in 18 Countries: The role of national educational institutions

This study investigates whether the mechanisms why education is rewarded vary across countries. Do educational institutions affect the likelihood that support for a particular mechanism is found? Combining IALS survey data and OECD statistics on educational institutions, it was shown that the effect of measured skill on earnings - controlled for educational attainment - is lower in countries where educational institutions produce skills relevant for work through the vocational system. This indicates that the human capital perspective on education works particularly well in vocationally oriented educational systems, as the skills generated in education are strongly overlapping with the skills that are rewarded. An alternative mechanism sees education as a means for social closure through credentialization. Under the credentialization model, education is not primarily rewarded for the productivity-enhancing skills it entails, but rather for reasons unrelated to productivity. Following this theory education is used for selection into the organization, after which directly observable skills are determining wages. Assuming that a strongly differentiated educational system creates boundaries between social groups, it is hypothesized that strongly differentiated systems lead to stronger measured skill effects. We do not find support for this hypothesis.     

企业诚信与竞争优势的关系研究--基于苏州等六地188家企业的实证调查

本文在综合和提炼了企业诚信与竞争优势的相关理论基础上,将企业诚信分为三个维度,分别是信用水平、品牌、利益相关者信任;将竞争优势分为销售业绩、发展潜力、管理绩效三个维度.本文分析了企业诚信三维度与竞争优势三维度之间的相关和回归关系,研究结论有利于企业诚信建设.