The Network Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations

This paper argues that, in the presence of intersectoral input–output linkages, microeconomic idiosyncratic shocks may lead to aggregate fluctuations. We show that, as the economy becomes more disaggregated, the rate at which aggregate volatility decays is determined by the structure of the network capturing such linkages. Our main results provide a characterization of this relationship in terms of the importance of different sectors as suppliers to their immediate customers, as well as their role as indirect suppliers to chains of downstream sectors. Such higher‐order interconnections capture the possibility of “cascade effects” whereby productivity shocks to a sector propagate not only to its immediate downstream customers, but also to the rest of the economy. Our results highlight that sizable aggregate volatility is obtained from sectoral idiosyncratic shocks only if there exists significant asymmetry in the roles that sectors play as suppliers to others, and that the “sparseness” of the input–output matrix is unrelated to the nature of aggregate fluctuations.     

An Empirical Analysis of Virtual Goods Permission Rights and Pricing Strategies

With the rapid development of the virtual world industry in the past few years, trading of virtual goods and services has grown significantly. Virtual goods creators can set different permissions to their creations, such as the length of usage, the ability to copy or modify a virtual good, or the ability to give the good to others. The permissions of virtual goods endow their creators with additional power to control the allocation and exchange of virtual goods in a virtual world. We examine how the unique virtual goods permission settings (copy, modify, and transfer) and other factors are associated with virtual goods prices. Using data from a Second Life marketplace, we find that permissions of virtual goods are not random, as creators strategically set the permissions for their virtual creations. Our results show that the copy and transfer permissions are significant factors associated with virtual goods prices. The impact of other factors on virtual goods prices is analyzed and managerial implications are discussed.     

商务英语课程设置折射出的两个深层次问题

基于交流需求分析,着眼于跨文化交流能力的培养,理想的商务英语课程设置包含着语言、沟通、文化和商务四个模块的课程体系。在现实中,这样一个理想的商务英语课程体系是否能够得到实施,人们对于商务英语课程设置的认知与现实中的教学实践之间是否存在差异,以河南高校为样本,对商务英语课程的实施情况进行了实证调查。在对调查结果进行分析时,得出了数项结论,同时发现了两个待解的深层次问题:一是如何培养商务英语专业的核心竞争优势?二是什么是商务英语课程体系的共同核心?     

人口网络信息传播的策略探析——以中国人口网为例

通过考察中国人口网的信息传播现状,认为其信息传播多为自上而下的宣传,少平等温和的互动,没有发挥网媒的优势,传播方式还处于传统媒体信息网络化阶段,缺乏有效的信息传播手段和技巧。为此,运用传播学理论探析增强人口计生信息传播效果的手段和途径,认为在人口计生宣传中有效设置议程,满足受众的信息需求,并注意新闻信息的涵化,有助于正确引导计生舆论,提升计生政策的宣传效果。     

论桂北地区商业发展和民间信仰的互动关系——基于大圩祭祀圈的考察

大圩是明清时期广西四大圩镇之一,其商民祭祀活动主要集中在关帝庙、汉高祖庙等寺庙,并且由于这些信仰的普遍认同性,进而在大圩及其周边村落形成了一个共有的祭祀圈。外省商人及本地坐贾在大圩开展商业活动,更多的是依赖中国传统社会的熟人网络,而民间信仰在这种网络的构建中起了很大的作用,且一定程度上规范了地方商业活动的秩序。桂北商业圩镇的民间信仰发展,主要由商人、地方士绅与移民等三种主要力量来推动。     

Rural small firms’ use of the internet: From global to local

Reporting on a study of internet portals in rural Scotland, the paper examines the discrepancy between the much theorised use of the internet to afford external market reach to small rural firms, and the consistent and prevailing evidence that the rural economy is sustained by locally-oriented trade. The study combines data from portal operators and rural firms that use portals and finds from both that greater importance is placed on maintaining local interest to facilitate local trade than fostering external market orientation. However, both suppliers and users of portals identify that local orientation of the portal also increases the effectiveness of externally-oriented marketing. Thus, rather than a focus on attracting external markets, a balance of local and external orientation is best placed to foster value-adding business activity. From a theoretical perspective the importance of the local when applied to rural small firms’ internet use is largely neglected, but its importance, as observed in the current study, suggests a rationale for developing theory that better explains the role of the internet for rural firms.     

高职院校学生英语学习的现状及对策研究

近几年,高等职业教育迅速发展。高职高专英语作为高等教育中一门重要的公共必修课程,对学生的综合职业能力和今后可持续发展能力都具有重要作用。本文通过对高职高专英语教学的现状做出分析并结合教学实践,提出一些建议和对策,以期更好地激发和培养学生学习英语的积极性,提升学生的知识和能力,将学生培养成为合格的英语应用型人才。     

全球化背景中跨国公司的语言策略研究

全球化打破了传统地域对社会文化结构的限制,使人们对现实生活中的物象产生了新的认识,无疑也让人们对跨国公司及国际商务英语产生了新的深刻的认识。跨国公司有怎样的语言认识、选择怎样的语言对其经营文化起着重要作用,进而会影响到其商业的成果,所以跨国公司的语言策略对跨国公司的发展同样是一个不可忽视的问题。     

“染料大王”——平民富商张颜山

张颜山是我国近代著名的商人,出身贫寒,却富甲一方。他从经营德国进口化学染料起家,通过自己的努力经营,再加上战争机遇,一跃成为中国的＂染料大王＂。此外,张颜山秉性淳朴善良,有着一颗爱国心,一生热心社会慈善事业。然而,近代中国根本没有适宜经济发展的土壤,张颜山的商业事业最终难免衰落。     

Crafting business models for conflicting goals: Lessons from creative service firms

The business model construct has become attractive to both managers and academics. It reflects how the most important organization's strategic and tactical choices regarding the allocation of resources interact in order to create and capture value. Yet with the growing entrepreneurial complexity, managers often end up pursuing conflicting and even paradoxical strategic goals, thus rendering the business modelling processes more complex, too. Well-known examples are profit versus social value, stakeholder versus company interests, exploration versus exploitation and environmental sustainability versus economic returns. The academic business model literature so far has provided limited insights on how to implement business models beyond a single goal and focused mainly on the initial strategic choice of a business model, ignoring that such salient tensions are often persistent and resurface within the business practice. In this study we leverage paradox theory to investigate how managers of creative firms make tactical choices to accommodate (not solve) salient tensions within their business models, focusing on the domains like services provided, choice of clients, networking and resourcing practices, revenue models and new venture creation. Based on qualitative case study research, we found four integrating and three differentiating decision-making tactics that managers deploy to create both economic and creative value through their business models. Adding to the business model theory, we show how business models are crafted in managerial practices by making tactical decisions to solve conflicts and paradoxes. The results equally enrich the paradox literature by providing for tactical-level approaches toward working through the paradox.