GMM Estimation with persistent panel data: an application to production functions

This paper considers the estimation of Cobb-Douglas production functions using panel data covering a large sample of companies observed for a small number of time periods. GMM estimatorshave been found to produce large finite-sample biases when using the standard first-differenced estimator. These biases can be dramatically reduced by exploiting reasonable stationarity restrictions on the initial conditions process. Using data for a panel of R&Dperforming US manufacturing companies we find that the additional instruments used in our extended GMM estimator yield much more reasonable parameter estimates.     

Performance management practices in lean manufacturing organizations: a systematic review of research evidence

This paper provides the first systematic look into the existing research on performance management (PM) practices employed in lean manufacturing organisations (LMOs). It adopts a systematic review method to examine the evidence generated in the period 2004 – 2015 and uses a comprehensive PM framework to synthesise the findings. The results suggest that PM practices that have the most prominent role in LMOs are those that, firstly, are located closest to front-line actions and, secondly, explicitly address operational realities. This calls into question the primacy of accounting-driven controls in LMOs, suggesting that operational controls may be more effective than top-down accounting-based PM practices. The results also confirm the bias towards operational-level issues but suggest that LMOs may integrate the operational and the strategic levels by using PM practices that drive organisational learning through employee involvement and engagement.     

National culture and organisational culture in lean organisations: a systematic review

Despite the extensive literature suggesting that culture plays a key role in lean implementations, no previous review has focused on the topic. This study is a systematic review of the literature that synthesises over two decades of publications according to the levels of national culture (NC) and organisational culture (OC) and maps which cultural dimensions foster or hinder lean implementation. In terms of NC, this study shows that Japanese cultural traits might hinder lean, such as masculinity and power distance, hence avoiding the over simplification that lean is a country-specific management approach. In terms of OC, the literature review unveils a lack of consensus and underlines two paradoxes, namely the co-existence of both process and result-focused orientations and both normative and pragmatic approaches. This review ultimately offers a relevant agenda for lean research as well as a guide for managers who face the challenge of implementing and sustaining lean in their organisations.     

On artistic and cultural generations in Northeastern Tibet

Beginning in the 1980s, and continuing for over three decades since, a particular generation of Tibetans from the Northeastern Tibetan region known as Amdo, and particularly from the northern parts of China’s Qinghai province, has proven extremely productive. Why has this generation, born primarily between 1959 and 1967, been so incredibly successful? This article examines the contextual factors that may have contributed to the incredible success of this generation. This ranges from the policies and circumstances that affected their births, and the state of the cultural field at the time they reached adulthood. Personal experience narratives, autobiographies, and scholarly studies then reveal how this generation was able to access the intellectual field. Finally, I briefly discuss how the Amdo Tibetan intellectual field compares with other Tibetan and ethnic experiences in the People’s Republic of China.     

The sexual in Chinese sociology: homosexuality studies in contemporary China

Through a meta‐literature review, this paper examines the changing contours of Chinese sociology of homosexuality in contemporary China. It unfolds the different theoretical orientations and methodologies that construct the modern male homosexual subject under major socio‐economic and political changes. Chinese sociology of homosexuality started in the reform era and has been dominated by Western knowledge production and the political ideology of the communist party‐state. Fused with the bio‐medical model and the state's modernization project in the 1980s–1990s, the sociological study adopted a functionalist and positivistic approach with survey‐based methodology in the main which focused on the etiology of homosexuality. A new transnational knowledge production of sociology of homosexuality has formed since the 2000s which has shifted towards a constructivist/ post‐structuralist approach and reflexive qualitative methodology. The new sociological study examines the rise of male (as well as female) homosexual identity in China, questions the hetero/homosexual binary and discusses how an individual makes sense of homosexual identity to form same‐sex intimate relationships. By tracing the epistemology of homosexuality in contemporary China, this paper rethinks the dominance of the Western construction and the role of the state in shaping the knowledge of homosexuality and proposes alternative spaces for theorizing Chinese sexual identities, desires and practices.     

100 key research questions for the post‐2015 development agenda

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) herald a new phase for international development. This article presents the results of a consultative exercise to collaboratively identify 100 research questions of critical importance for the post‐2015 international development agenda. The final shortlist is grouped into nine thematic areas and was selected by 21 representatives of international and non‐governmental organisations and consultancies, and 14 academics with diverse disciplinary expertise from an initial pool of 704 questions submitted by 110 organisations based in 34 countries. The shortlist includes questions addressing long‐standing problems, new challenges and broader issues related to development policies, practices and institutions. Collectively, these questions are relevant for future development‐related research priorities of governmental and non‐governmental organisations worldwide and could act as focal points for transdisciplinary research collaborations.     

荷兰集成农业对我国现代农业发展的启示

我国在发展现代农业、推进社会主义新农村建设的过程中,将会长期受到现代农业生产技术特别是有机农业生产技术推行成本高、风险大的制约.荷兰通过把复杂的现代农业生产管理技术集成到农业装备中,然后把集成技术装备植入现代农业生产的各环节,很好地解决了先进农业技术推行成本高、风险大的问题.长期以来,荷兰用这种集成技术装备的办法发展园艺业、奶牛业等复杂农业,取得了世界农业强国的地位,这是很值得我国发展现代农业借鉴的.     

英语写作策略分类探讨

英语写作策略分类研究是一个基础研究课题,对英语写作研究及写作教学实践具有实际价值和现实意义。本文分析了目前研究中的英语写作策略分类存在的问题,并回顾了英语写作及策略的相关理论,提出了英语写作及写作策略的学习和产出性质,最后文章提出了一个便于取舍同时也便于实证研究展开与操作的英语写作策略分类框架。     

大数据驱动下的影视文本创作 和生产模式变革

大数据正以其对规律和趋势的分析预测功能,对人们生活和影视内容生产产生日益深刻的影响。数据化思维是贯穿当下影视生产创作的重要思维形态,延承的正是传统数据化思维的基本认知过程。大数据驱动下的互动参与生产模式主要体现在,借助于受众行为数据分析,可以对导演、故事、表演、影像、剪辑和声音等影视元素进行选择,并在此基础上进行生产或再生产。这些将推动影视内容生产在技术和观念上不断变革。     

网络空间的重组与分化：以微信朋友圈为例

在网络化时代引发的诸多变迁中,社会空间的生产变革具有独特的意义。区别于工业社会的社会空间,网络空间呈现出独有的空间特征：缺场空间的“脱域”特质,蕴含网络权力逻辑的流动性,兼为民主政治领域和私人交往领域的赛博空间。微信朋友圈从空间的视角维系和重塑了网络社会的社会关系,并在其发展中不断生产着社会性的空间,塑造了个体化趋势和圈子文化并存、公共空间和私人空间属性兼备、虚拟空间和现实空间融合与再生产的社会空间。微信朋友圈以中国化的方式生产出本土性的互联网公共空间,彰显了网民的能动性,创造了别样的空间生产逻辑和公共价值。