Market Orientation,Ownership Type,and E‐Business Assimilation: Evidence from Chinese Firms

While more and more firms have implemented e‐business in business operations, a better understanding of the factors that successfully drive the assimilation of e‐business will provide insights for firm executives and practitioners to develop effective strategies for e‐business. Different from previous studies that focus on individual‐level factors related to business executives and top management teams, this study examines how firm‐level strategic and cultural factors shape e‐business assimilation. Based on the strategy and marketing literature on market orientation and firm ownership, we developed a research model to describe how a firm's market orientation impacts e‐business assimilation. The model also describes the moderating effect of firm ownership type on the relationship between market orientation and e‐business assimilation. Based on data from 301 Chinese international trade firms, we found that two dimensions of market orientation (i.e., customer orientation, competitor orientation) had significant effects on e‐business assimilation. However, the third dimension, interfunctional coordination, was only partially significant. In addition, ownership type was a significant moderator of the effects of customer orientation and competitor orientation on e‐business assimilation, although ownership type was not a moderator of interfunctional coordination. Being one of the first studies of the impact of market orientation and firm ownership type on e‐business assimilation, we conclude with a discussion of the implications for future research and practice.     

Bicycle ergometry in subacute-stroke survivors: feasibility, safety, and exercise performance

This study evaluated the feasibility, safety, and findings from a protocol for exercise-bicycle ergometry in subacute-stroke survivors. Of 117 eligible candidates, 14 could not perform the test and 3 discontinued because of cardiac safety criteria. In the 100 completed tests, peak heart rate was 116 +/- 19.1 beats/min; peak VO(2) was 11.4 +/- 3.7 ml x kg x min(-1), peak METs were 3.3 +/- 0.91, exercise duration was 5.1 +/- 2.84 min, and Borg score was 14 +/- 2.6. Among 71 tests, anaerobic threshold was achieved in 3.0 +/- 1.7 min with a VO(2) of 8.6 +/- 1.7 ml x kg x min(-1). After screening, this protocol is feasible and safe in subacute-stroke survivors with mild to moderate deficits. These stroke survivors have severely limited functional exercise capacity. Research and clinical practice in stroke rehabilitation should incorporate more comprehensive evaluation and treatment of endurance limitations.     

直销渠道开通的情形下制造商与电商平台合约选择的研究

理论界认为代售合约具有明显的消除双重边际效应的作用,许多制造商和电商平台选择签订代售合约,但是也有制造商和电商平台选择了批发合约。本文以在线销售系统为背景,研究了直销渠道开通的情形下制造商和电商平台合约的选择。通过研究发现,制造商和电商平台并不是总偏好批发合约或代售合约,并且存在一个帕累托改进区域;虽然制造商在电商平台上有网络销售渠道,但是制造商会保留原有的直销渠道;对于电商平台来说,收益分配系数并不是越大越好;代售合约虽然能够消除双重边际效应,但在代售合约下,整个在线销售系统的效率并不总是最高的。另外,随着直销渠道的效率增加,制造商会先降低批发价格,然后再增加批发价格;与以往的研究结论不同,代售合约下电商平台的市场销售价格并不总是最小的。以上的结论其实都是批发合约下的直销渠道和代售合约下的电商平台在缓解双重边际效应方面的不同作用带来的。     

Stochastic matching pursuit for Bayesian variable selection

This article proposes a stochastic version of the matching pursuit algorithm for Bayesian variable selection in linear regression. In the Bayesian formulation, the prior distribution of each regression coefficient is assumed to be a mixture of a point mass at 0 and a normal distribution with zero mean and a large variance. The proposed stochastic matching pursuit algorithm is designed for sampling from the posterior distribution of the coefficients for the purpose of variable selection. The proposed algorithm can be considered a modification of the componentwise Gibbs sampler. In the componentwise Gibbs sampler, the variables are visited by a random or a systematic scan. In the stochastic matching pursuit algorithm, the variables that better align with the current residual vector are given higher probabilities of being visited. The proposed algorithm combines the efficiency of the matching pursuit algorithm and the Bayesian formulation with well defined prior distributions on coefficients. Several simulated examples of small n and large p are used to illustrate the algorithm. These examples show that the algorithm is efficient for screening and selecting variables.     

社会科学的"脱价值化"及"价值中立"问题

社会科学的"脱价值化"及"价值中立"问题,是一个与社会科学观及社会科学方法论研究紧密相关的重要问题,同时也是一个迄今仍然众说纷呈且歧义丛生的话题.以自然科学为典范塑造社会科学,否定价值的客观实在性或事实特性,是支撑"脱价值化"主张的基本前提;这个前提并不具有可普遍化的公理意义,在经验主义-实证主义传统之外,虽说拒绝"脱价值化"的具体思路往往不同,但许多思想家都肯定了价值的客观实在性和价值知识的可能性.实证论意义上的"价值中立"与韦伯意义上的"价值中立"并非同一个概念,前者派生于社会科学的"脱价值化",后者立足于社会科学的"价值关联",韦伯并未主张把价值问题从社会科学领域中排除出去,他所说的"价值中立"可解读为"评价中立",意在强调社会科学家应"不作评价"地进行研究,以便遵从科学本身的要求即在事实和理性的引导之下得出客观的结论.问题不在于社会科学是否应该"价值中立",而在于"价值中立"在何种意义上是合理的以及在何种情况下是可能的.     

龙场悟良知 养性在践履——论阳明学的核心与性质

学术界普遍认为:龙场悟道是悟到了"心即理","心即理"是阳明学的核心,这是理论思维的结果.深入考察龙场悟道这一史实,龙场悟道既不是理论思维的结果,也不是悟到了"心即理",而是悟到了良知.在此基础上,可以说阳明学的性质是德性之学,而非如西方哲学一样的智性之学.     

Mitigating Inventory Overstocking: Optimal Order‐up‐to Level to Achieve a Target Fill Rate over a Finite Horizon

Service level agreements (SLAs) are widely adopted performance‐based contracts in operations management practice, and fill rate is the most common performance metric among all the measurements in SLAs. Traditional procedures characterizing the order‐up‐to level satisfying a specified fill rate implicitly assume an infinite performance review horizon. However, in practice, inventory managers are liable to maintain and report fill rates over a finite performance review horizon. This horizon discrepancy leads to deviation between the target fill rate and actual achieved fill rate. In this study, we first examine the behavior of the fill rate distribution over a finite horizon with positive lead time. We analytically prove that the expected fill rate assuming an infinite performance review horizon exceeds the expected fill rate assuming a finite performance review horizon, implying that there exists some inventory “waste” (i.e., overstocking) when the traditional procedure is used. Based on this observation and the complexity of the problem, we propose a simulation‐based algorithm to reduce excess inventory while maintaining the contractual target fill rate. When the lead time is significant relative to the length of the contract horizon, we show that the improvement in the inventory system can be over 5%. Further, we extend our basic setting to incorporate the penalty for failing to meet a target, and show how one can solve large‐scale problems via stochastic approximation. The primary managerial implication of our study is that ignoring the performance review horizon in an SLA will cause overstocking, especially when the lead time is large.     

基于线性插值的贝叶斯Lasso分位数回归及应用

在贝叶斯Lasso分位数回归中,样本似然函数的计算和后验分布的抽样通常难以处理.针对这一问题,文章采用一种基于线性插值的似然函数计算方法,并结合拉普拉斯先验分布,设计出一种新的对后验分布进行抽样的算法.数值模拟结果表明了该方法具有较好的适应性和参数估计准确性.     

Lp solutions of anticipated BSDEs with weak monotonicity and general growth generators

In this article, we establish the stability theorems of L^p(1 < p ? 2) solutions for multidimensional anticipated backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs), in which the generator g is p-order weak monotonic in y and Lipschitz continuous in (z, η, ?). Moreover, we present the existence and uniqueness of L^p solutions for this kind of anticipated BSDEs with the help of stability theorems when generator g also satisfies general growth condition in y.     

An Empirical Model for Managing Quality in the Electronics Industry

Much of the empirical research in the past two decades has suggested that quality management (QM) is context dependent. This research develops an empirical QM model in a technology‐based sector—electronics manufacturing. Based on quantitative and qualitative investigations of 225 electronics firms in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China, a path analytic model is developed. The empirical model shows that a typical quality management system (QMS) in the electronics industry is composed of four major modules, namely leadership, cultural elements, operational support systems, and process management. These modules create a series of chain effects on organizational performance, rather than acting as parallel elements with an equal impact. By quantifying their effects on organizational performance and comparing the model to others in the literature, we identify those QM constructs that are context dependent. In electronics manufacturing, process management and customer focus are more important than other elements (e.g., cultural factors) for garnering business results. This study contributes to contingency theory and research by identifying the key constructs and their relationships in a competitive, volatile, and technology‐based industry with complex supply networks.