Computer and internet adoption on large U.S. farms

The adoption of the personal computer and the Internet is studied within a sample of large U.S. farms. Factors such as age and education influence the adoption of both technologies. Likewise, strong relationships exist between the adoption of each technology and the sophistication of farm management and the complexity of the farm business. After controlling for computer adoption, the results suggest there remain several factors limiting Internet adoption. It appears that producers are unsure as to how the Internet can best be used to create value in their farm businesses.     

An exploratory analysis of global managerial mindsets: a case of U.S. textile and apparel industry

Increase in business across international borders has led to many studies demonstrating the need for “global” managers. However, few operational frameworks for a global mindset have been proposed. This paper discusses the characteristics of such a global mindset in terms of conceptualization/contextualization abilities. In particular, the paradigm developed by Kefalas [Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 40 (6) (1998) 547-561] was used to determine whether managers in U.S. textile and apparel industries can be defined as “globally minded”. Empirical results indicate that U.S. managers scored higher on conceptualization than on contextualization. The study demonstrates the importance of training on the development of global mindsets and the need for U.S. managers to improve their abilities in adapting to the local context, i.e., contextualization. It is recommended that global corporations should place more emphasis on the training of these skills prior to international assignments of their managers.     

National policy making in a global economy: The case for U.S. economic planning

In 1980 the Joint Economic Committee completed the Special Study on Economic Change. This 20 volume, 3-year project, was premised on the fact that: ‘fundamental economic, social, political, international and technical conditions have changed, and are still changing markedly’. This suggests that conventional wisdom and established economic tools may not be equal to meeting the challenge of making sound policies in the economic sphere. The so-called laws of economics have not been repealed, but all guiding principles presuppose a certain environment of conditions, customs and practices—and when these change, the implementation of new policies and the modes of adjustment have to change also. This paper examines the problem of devising policy instruments for economic management, identifying the facts of the changing economic environment and the main difficulties facing world economic development.     

Trends in the wind: Lessons from Europe and the U.S. in the development of wind power

Wind power has emerged as the world's fastest growing electricity generating technology, and yet, it is a resource which remains largely untapped. Years of technological improvements have helped it to become a more viable power source, yet challenges remain in spurring its continued growth.This article examines whether the combination of government policies to curb global climate change and a deregulated electric utilities industry are enough to continue the growth of wind power. By examining lessons from both the U.S and Europe, we begin to see some of the dominant obstacles and opportunities in this burgeoning industry as well as the opportunities for non-utility firms seeking to reduce CO₂ emissions in power use.     

Competition within the U.S. National Security Regime: A study of the U.S. Aerospace Defense Sector

This article examines the aerospace defense sector and the national export control regime within which U.S. corporations operate. While the U.S. federal government plays many roles in this industry, the focus here is on its role as regulator of defense exports from the United States. From this vantage point, ten case studies illustrate the difficulties faced by companies in this challenging environment, and highlight factors that lead to noncompliance with U.S. government regulations. Firm performance effects are investigated, including impacts on profits, share price, and reputation. The paper concludes with implications for international management practice and international business research that reflect realities in the aerospace defense sector.     

Flexible manufacturing systems performance in U.S. automotive manufacturing plants: a case study

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) philosophy is a key weapon in achieving global manufacturing competitiveness. It encompasses a wide range of dimensions to improve all aspects of operational performance metrics. The aim of the study is to examine the current state of flexibility adoption in U.S. automotive manufacturing facilities and its impact on operational performance metrics. It utilizes survey questionnaire developed based on previous work in U.S. manufacturing industry. The survey was originally distributed to 420 facility managers in the U.S. domestic automotive industry. It was revealed that 70% of the respondents had implemented all 15 flexibility dimensions listed in the questionnaire. The data analysis conducted shows that implementation of certain flexibility dimensions will lead to significant improvement in specific operational performance metrics. This considerable finding can be used as a guide for manufacturing managers to achieve certain objectives in operational performance improvement in a rapidly changing environment.     

U.S. firms' responses to regulation: Stonewalling and opportunism

While regulation may not always be to business's benefit, it is likely to mean than costly requirements, increases in paperwork, decreases in innovation and the loss of business power. In responding to regulation, managers have choices. They can allow ‘drift’ to occur and not choose a policy. They can ‘progressive’ and ‘lead the industry’, or ‘flight all the way’ and ‘do only what is required’. They can choose some combination of ‘reaction and defence’ and|or ‘accomodation and proaction’, or they can move from policy to policy depending on the issue, the competitive implications, the power of key participants and the other factors. Each of these responses has a unique array of advantages and disadvantages. To decide on a strategy, strategic analysis is needed. Such analysis requires: (1) attention to internal operating impacts; (2) concern for relative competitive impacts on an industry-wide basis; (3) concern for relative competitive impacts within an industry; and (4) assessment of regulatory alternatives in light of corporate goals. Attention to these concerns is necessary to refine, tailor and adjust a company's particular response to regulatory challenges.     

次贷危机前后国际原油市场与中美股票市场间的协动性研究

本文运用基于动态条件相关的多元GARCH(DCC-MVGARCH)模型,对美国次信贷危机发生前后国际原油市场和中、美股票市场间的协动性变化进行了研究。实证结果表明在次信贷危机发生后,国际原油市场与中、美股票市场间的协动性有了明显的增强,不同市场间的波动具有明显的传导作用。国际原油市场与美国股市的协动性相对于中国股市波动性更强,说明冲击在国际原油市场与美国股市间的传导更强烈,其协动性对冲击的反应更敏感。另外,运用偏最小二乘方法(PLS)对影响国际原油市场和中、美股票市场的诸多因素在次信贷危机爆发前后对协动性解释能力的变化进行了分析,结果发现次信贷危机对这些因素的解释能力有明显的影响。     

Technology transfer — and the U.S. space program

Using ten years of data in the structured technology transfer program of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a base, a rough model of the nature and significance of research and development and its movement as technology is presented. Painted in economic hues is the economic return of technology of 7·23 to 1 over an 18 year period, in technical terms—the nature of integrated circuit technology transfer and the public significance of technology transfer to the problems of rechargeable Cardiac Pacemakers. The distinction between natural technology diffusion and intended technology transfer is made to outline the movement of technology through the U.S. economy.     

Effects of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement on U.S. agricultural exports

This paper investigates the effects of the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement (CUSTA) on U.S. exports of agricultural products. Econometric analysis found that CUSTA has had a large impact on many U.S. agricultural export categories. All of the consumer-oriented products (except wine and beer), five of the intermediate products, and four of the bulk products had significant CUSTA effects. It is clear that the CUSTA effects have been larger for consumer-oriented food products. There is also evidence that U.S. affiliate sales in Canada have stimulated U.S. exports of consumer-oriented products and intermediate products.     

相对杠杆与股票收益的相关性研究——来自中美市场的实证分析

本文结合考虑公司融资决策参考依赖特征及资本结构动态调整行为,构造相对杠杆这一新的财务杠杆度量指标重新检视了财务杠杆在资产定价中发挥的作用,并将中美市场进行对比分析.研究表明,相较于实际杠杆,相对杠杆能更好地解释股票溢价,在中美市场均表现出对股票收益的显著正向影响,但同时也存在差异性.在中国市场账面相对杠杆的股票溢价解释能力较弱,而在美国市场账面相对杠杆仍与股票收益显著正相关;在中国市场过度杠杆对股票收益的影响明显强于杠杆不足,而在美国市场两者表现出较为对称的影响;同时在中美市场以不同方式在Fama-French三因素模型中引入相对杠杆定价因子所得到的定价模型能显著提升原模型的定价能力,有更好的定价表现.     

经济全球化背景下的美国政府经济政策研究

研究了在经济全球化背景下的美国政府经济政策,分析了为提高国际竞争力美国政府在高科技领域、产业升级等方面所制定的贸易政策、财政和福利政策,最后提出对我国的几点借鉴.了解美国政府的经济政策决策及经济环境优势,对我国市场经济的改革取向、维护国家利益有一定的战略意义.     

White-collar work values and attitudes: A cross-cultural comparison of the U.S. and the Philippines

This paper examines the work values of white-collar workers in the United States and the Philippines. It compares the extrinsic and intrinsic motivating factors and describes the core work motivators. Despite divergence in culture, economic environment, and level of industrialization, the results indicate that intrinsic factors are similarly effective for both groups while the effectiveness of extrinsic factors are more culturally determined.     

以美国为参照的国际性技术外溢的经济效果研究

首先,以影响母国技术溢出和东道国吸收同化的8项指标为主要依据,使用因子分析法对26个选定国家进行综合排序,并选取了基于美国技术外溢的11个主要接受国.其次,在对技术知识存量和技术同化能力的度量方法进行描述后,将美国单独作为技术溢出方,测算了11个主要接受国通过进口贸易、FDI和人员交流3种无形(直接)外溢渠道,从美国吸收的外溢技术知识存量.最后,将11个主要接受国从美国吸收的知识存量总和的面板数据纳入广义Cobb-Douglas生产函数中进行研究.结果显示,美国的国际性技术外溢在各国经济发展中发挥了积极的作用.     

Analyzing the Homeland Security of the U.S.-Mexico Border

We develop a mathematical optimization model at the intersection of homeland security and immigration, that chooses various immigration enforcement decision variables to minimize the probability that a terrorist can successfully enter the United States across the U.S.-Mexico border. Included are a discrete choice model for the probability that a potential alien crosser will attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in terms of the likelihood of success and the U.S. wage for illegal workers, a spatial model that calculates the apprehension probability as a function of the number of crossers, the number of border patrol agents, and the amount of surveillance technology on the border, a queueing model that determines the probability that an apprehended alien will be detained and removed as a function of the number of detention beds, and an equilibrium model for the illegal wage that balances the supply and demand for work and incorporates the impact of worksite enforcement. Our main result is that detention beds are the current system bottleneck (even after the large reduction in detention residence times recently achieved by expedited removal), and increases in border patrol staffing or surveillance technology would not provide any improvements without a large increase in detention capacity. Our model also predicts that surveillance technology is more cost effective than border patrol agents, which in turn are more cost effective than worksite inspectors, but these results are not robust due to the difficulty of predicting human behavior from existing data. Overall, the probability that a terrorist can successfully enter the United States is very high, and it would be extremely costly and difficult to significantly reduce it. We also investigate the alternative objective function of minimizing the flow of illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border, and obtain qualitatively similar results.     

Contractual Integration of Physician and Hospital Services in the U.S.

Using a binary-choice, probabilistic model, this study analyzes data covering the institutional and market characteristics of 759 hospitals in 81 metropolitan statistical are as in the United States to understand why many of them have chosen to contractually integrate with physician and physician group practices. The results support the theory that the contractual integration of physician and hospital services in the U.S. during the 1990s occurred in response to market pressures to circumvent the transaction costs of monitoring physician utilization of hospital resources. They also support the views of Robinson (1997) and Shortell (1997) that the nature of the coordination, the governance structure, and the part to which market mechanisms play are largely determined by the demands for coordination from the market served by the hospital, the capabilities of the hospital to pull physicians into integration arrangements, and the historical context and constraints binding the hospital's decision making. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

TMT functional complementarity and post-IPO performance: Evidence from the U.S. biotechnology industry

Drawing insights from the resource dependence and the upper echelons theories, this study examines how top management team (TMT) IPO reconfiguration – the managerial change between immediately before and after an initial public offering (IPO), affects firm performance in the post-IPO years. We investigate this through the lens of TMT functional complementarity - the degree of differing functional knowledge held by the firm's TMT in the pre-and post-IPO stage. We argue that TMT functional complementarity positively affects firm post-IPO performance. Further, this relationship is positively moderated by executive managerial discretion, measured by CEO duality and TMT insider board membership. We test our model using a sample of 250 US biotechnology firms that went public from 1991 to 2019, and the empirical results largely support our hypotheses. This study contributes to the literature of upper echelons, technology-based ventures, and IPO firms.     

A comparative study of U.S. and Iraqi students

This study uses a sample comprised of U.S. students and Iraqi students to determine if differences occur over ethical perceptions based on cultural/demographic issues. Irrespective of demographics, the results of this study indicate significant cultural differences between Iraqi students and American students with regard to selected ethical issues concerning graduate education. Specifically the differences occurred in the students' perceptions of winning is everything, selling one's soul, logic before emotion, and pander to professors. Iraqi students consistently viewed these beliefs as more necessary for success in their graduate education than did their American counterparts.     

Foresight activities in the U.S.A.: Time for a re-assessment?

This article reports on a brief, informal, reconnaissance study of ‘foresight’ activities now being conducted in the private sector and the Federal government. Such activities include: external environmental assessment, internal organizational assessment, direction setting, definition, and selection of base and contingent plans, implementation, performance evaluation and feedback. The study involved the reading and analysis of the existing literature and discussions with over 50 people in diverse private and public sector organizations. The objective was to determine what foresight activities are being done, how, by whom, with what results, and what are the implications and options.