The effect of mergers and acquisitions on productivity: An empirical application to Spanish banking

Mergers and acquisitions are frequently justified in terms of value creation or efficiency improvements. Nevertheless, the evidence is not consistent with the existence of benefits in terms of the costs, productivity, profitability or market value of the firms involved. A distinguishing feature of extant research is that it focuses on the assessment of the consequences of mergers around the time in which the operation takes place, limiting the possibility of observing a complete integration between the merged firms. In this context, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of mergers and acquisitions on the long-run productivity of Spanish savings banks. Our results show that productivity improvements can be found in only half of the mergers that take place during the period analyzed.     

Improving productivity of automated tissue converting lines: an empirical model and a case study

This study is focused on minor stoppages as sources of variance within automated production lines in industrial environments, and it suggests the handling of the problem through a combined phenomenon–mechanism analysis and simulation approach. The resulting seven-step methodological pattern has been applied to a real-life case study of a tissue converting line: the product type and the machine speed have been identified as causal factors for minor stoppages and the wrapper machine has been chosen to exemplify the methodology.

Results point out that the speed of the wrapping machine–which allows the daily throughput of line to be maximized–changes when products change, thus highlighting a trade off between minor stoppages and wrapper speed. However, in some other cases, minor stoppages are more detrimental than the machine speed is useful.     

制造业要素再配置与生产率增长的实证研究——以浙江省为例

改革开放以来,我国制造业在不断向东部沿海地区集聚的同时,其结构也发生了深刻变革。本文以浙江省制造业为例,运用1992～2007年分行业面板数据,采用超越对数生产函数,实证考察了要素再配置对生产率增长的影响。研究发现,浙江省制造业在考察期内并未出现明显的结构红利,反而在一定时期内表现为结构负利;尽管要素再配置有向机电、装备等制造业部门倾斜的趋势,但由于其资本密度较低且幅度不大,结构效应并不十分明显;引入Verdoorn效应的分析表明,浙江省制造业生产率增长的规模效应并不显著。最后给出相应政策建议。     

Antecedents of Total Factor Productivity Change: Empirical Evidence from the Chinese Banking Sector

By applying the non-parametric Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) method, this paper attempts to investigate the sources of productivity changes of China’s State Owned Commercial Banks (SOCBs) and Joint Stock Commercial Banks (JSCBs) during the period 2000–2005. The empirical findings suggest that the China banking sector has exhibited productivity progress attributed to the increase in efficiency. The empirical findings suggest that the SOCBs and the JSCBs have exhibited productivity progress of 0.2 and 1.3%, respectively.

浙江省劳动收入比重变动的实证研究

本文以浙江省为例,对劳动收入比重变动的机理进行了分析。在机理分析中,对劳动收入比重的变化率进行了分解,得出三个主要因素:系数大小、人均资本及要素偏向型技术进步。与此同时,运用"动态最小二乘法"对浙江省的劳动弹性进行测算,并对浙江省1985-2007年的劳动收入比重变化进行了实证分析。通过研究发现:人均资本增长能够提高劳动收入比重,系数则缩小了资本对劳动收入比重的正向拉动作用,造成浙江省劳动收入比重下降最主要的原因是要素偏向型技术进步,提高私营企业投资占总投资比重以及人均资本存量可以提高浙江省劳动收入比重,而工业化进程加快、FDI以及劳动偏向性技术进步等因素则降低了浙江省劳动收入比重。     

金融发展和全要素生产率:一个文献回顾

全要素生产率增长是经济可持续增长的重要保证。金融发展理论及其跨国经验研究的一个基本结论是,全要素生产率与金融发展有着重要的联系。作为一个新兴的市场经济国家,中国同时经历了经济增长和以银行中介为主体的金融发展过程。已有中国经验研究文献表明,加快银行体系改革、推动金融发展应该成为中国提升全要素生产率的长期战略选择。     

中国经济是否已经到达刘易斯拐点--基于边际生产力的实证检验

论文利用第五次和第六次全国人口普查数据,将东部省份作为二元经济理论中工业部门的代表,在运用永续盘存法进行资本存量估计的基础上,应用边际生产力分析法,对中国是否到达刘易斯拐点进行了实证分析。结果发现,工业部门2010年的劳动边际生产力较2000有显著提高,推断出目前中国经济已经超越刘易斯拐点,这意味着我国的劳动力成本优势不在,劳动密集型产业竞争力下降。我国人口红利的逐步消失,除影响经济增长和国内企业的国际竞争力外,还会影响我国社会保障体系的可持续性,因此,加速产业结构升级、提高出生率和适当延长退休年龄,是缓解我国经济发展瓶颈的必要举措。     

Service Businesses and Productivity*

The records of superior performance of selected service firms over many years suggest that they may be more productive than others. This article uses the Theory of Swift, Even Flow to explain why that might be true. In the process, this article improves Schmenner's 1986 service process matrix. The redefinition of the axes of this matrix and of the resulting diagonal leads to enhanced understanding of productivity for service operations and helps to explain how some leading service companies have been able to sustain their competitive positions for decades.