How does distance affect market entry mode choice? Evidence from French companies

The objective of this article is to examine the relevant dimensions of distance for foreign market entry mode choice. Based on a sample of 203 interfirm linkages formed by French multinationals with partners across the world, we analyze the impact of four dimensions of distance on the choice between cooperative alliances and mergers-acquisitions. The findings indicate that administrative and economic distance have a significant influence on market entry mode choice, whereas the impact of cultural and geographic distance is not significant. They further highlight the important role of the host country's government effectiveness for market entry mode decisions.     

Institutional evolution and abrupt change: Reforming the administration of social assistance in Finland

Historical institutionalist studies have explained institutional change as resulting from critical junctures that interrupt long periods of stability or from endogenous, incremental evolution. Building on these theories, discursive institutionalists have focused on the roles of agency, ideas and discourse as explainers of change. Combining these approaches, this article analyses Finland’s decision in 2014 to transfer the administration of basic social assistance from municipalities to the central government. This study demonstrates that institutional change can be both abrupt and evolutionary. Due to sudden, exceptional political circumstances, the decision in question was made quickly and under pressure, circumventing possible veto players. However, it was possible only because of the incremental, endogenous change that had occurred in the way in which social assistance was administered at the municipal level. It enabled a change in political discourse, which eroded the credibility of the ideational frames that policy actors had previously utilised to reject the centralised model.     

“Who generates this city”? Socialist strategy in contemporary London

This essay, based on a “militant ethnography” of the attempts of the small radical grassroots activist group, Our London (a pseudonym), to mobilize a collective oppositional politics through activities around an election campaign, engages critically with E. Laclau and C. Mouffe's arguments on discourse and collectivity in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy (London: Verso, 1985). I argue, on the basis of my findings, that while their model does provide insights that help describe the process of building collectivity from among disparate perspectives and identities, we need to go beyond a focus on discourse alone and consider the ways politics is shaped by material contexts. This is necessary if we are to understand the continued appeal of class politics as well as the difficulties in mobilizing collectivity in highly unequal and fragmented cities. From an activist perspective, the essay also highlights how developing a conception of collective interests and a critique of overarching systems of exploitation can be important in building political unity.     

Linguists and other animals

Book reviewed in this article:
Joan Dunayer, Animal Equality: Language and Liberation     

建立现代企业领导体制刍议

建立现代企业制度必然要求建立与之相适应的科学、合理的企业领导体制。本文分析了这一问题在经济运行中的矛盾与难点，对现代企业领导体制的模式进行了初步的探讨。     

JOURNAL OF UNIVERSITY OF SHANGHAI FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2002 Vol.24 No.1～4 Total Contents

在学习英语时,中西文化背景的差异,往往会给我们的阅读带来很大的困难。本文拟从词汇的文化内涵、历史典故和西方现代历史文化等三个方面来论述中西文化差异对篇章阅读的影响。     

制度创新与人的全面发展

制度创新是人的全面发展的基本途径。从人的全面发展的视角看问题,适合于中国社会的理想制度模式应当是形式化、程序性、民主优先于自由、有利于杰出人才涌现、以人为本的非人格化制度。这种制度的创新,需要我们设定正确的制度创新理念,培养人们的创新精神和创新意识,积极探索制度创新的规律性,完备制度创新的实施技术。     

成人高校人才培养模式解析

成人高校目前人才培养与劳动力市场的关系模式,基本上可以归结为“对口”与“适应”两种取向。但是,无论取向何种模式,透过毕业生就业以及就业后的发展实际看,都各有利弊。因此,成人高校在人才培养的取向上,不能单纯追求或固守其中的某一种模式,而应根据社会主义市场经济发展和劳动力市场的需求,建立起多元化、多层次的人才培养模式。     

论后印刷时代话语中图像与文字的关系

当代图像与文字的关系体现为“超媒体”和“互动电视网络系统”两种形式。传统符号学以语言为本体论基础来处理两者之间的关系在认识论上是误导，符号的本质也被还原为符号现象。图像与文字，由于各自的不同“给予”，具有不同的认识论要求。认知的中介本质、符号的非中立性以及符号体系必须拥有的三大元功能不仅为区别图像与文字奠定了认识论基础，而且也为探讨它们之间的关系提供了可能性，同时，更是理解虚拟现实的有效途径。