公司社会责任之提升

营利性是公司的唯一目标,但这一元目标日渐受到公司社会责任的挑战。社会责任是公司属性之一,而不是与营利性并重为公司的又一元目标。在实现利润最大化的同时,公司应负有维护和增进社会利益的义务。公司社会责任的理念和实践日益提升。     

Deregulation,bank efficiency and economic cooperation across China–Taiwan Strait

This study investigates whether deregulation has affected bank efficiency in the ‘cross-strait’ relationship between China and Taiwan. I measure bank efficiency across three periods – after Taiwan and China joined the World Trade Organization, the global financial crisis, and the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) – and show that Taiwanese banks were significantly more efficient than their Chinese counterparts. These results show that the ECFA platform has not improved bank efficiency and thus has failed to function effectively. This finding suggests that China and Taiwan should continue negotiating within the ECFA context to enhance cross-strait financial cooperation.     

A Profitability Evaluation of America's Best Hospitals, 2000–2008

Each year U.S. News and World Report evaluates more than 5,000 U.S. hospitals, of which approximately 3% are considered the best hospitals in America, and hospital profitability has emerged as a business objective for these hospitals. This study investigates the profitability performance of the best (highest quality) hospitals in the United States. A 9‐year longitudinal investigation of profitability for the best hospitals in the United States is conducted. The results offer evidence that the primary drivers of hospital profitability are the case mix index and daily bed capacity. In terms of hospital profitability, there appears to be a tradeoff between these two factors. Finally, caution must be used when ranking U.S. News and World Report Honor Roll hospitals, in terms of profitability and performance.     

万能寿险保单盈利能力分析

与传统寿险相比,万能寿险保单具有保障和投资功能、提供最低收益保证、保险利益直接与投资收益相连、保单变更灵活和产品透明等特点,进而万能保单的盈利模式也与传统寿险不同。本文对万能寿险保单的个人账户投资资产构建对数正态分布模型,计算账户价值,利用现金流法计算万能寿险保单公司账户责任准备金,进而计算公司利润水平指标,然后通过随机模拟对影响万能寿险保单盈利能力的个人账户收益率、留存收益率、公司账户投资收益率、贴现利率、生存和死亡概率等因素进行了分析。     

Association of DEA super-efficiency estimates with financial ratios: Investigating the case for Chinese banks

The great majority of applications of the popular frontier technique data envelopment analysis (DEA) do not test for the association of efficiency estimates with key performance indicators used by industry observers. Nevertheless, identifying efficiency estimates’ associations with commonly accepted financial measures of performance could guide benchmarking activities, pricing decisions, and regulatory monitoring. Thus, the current paper investigates to what extent bank DEA super-efficiency estimates are associated with key financial ratios. A low correlation may present an opportunity to address inefficiencies that were not obvious in financial ratio analysis, thus enabling an update of inferences drawn from ratios. Regressing ratios on efficiency estimates may also help predict financial ratios. Where an input–output specification is comprised of key financial ratios, DEA can also be used to objectively identify benchmarks for ratio analysis based on actual observed data collected from peers. Nine super-efficiency DEA formulations across two profitability models are systematically tested. The slacks-based measure of DEA with a parsimonious profitability efficiency model emerges as the most significant combination explaining the variation in the two industry ratios, post-tax profit/average total assets and return on average equity.     

论组织变革与组织文化塑造的动态统一

组织变革与组织文化塑造是一个动态的统一过程,在该过程中,组织变革以组织文化嵌入机制为制度载体,决定于"兼容"、"有利"、"努力"和"时间"四个变量,是这四个变量的函数。     

From start to finish: Flexi-time as a social exchange and its impact on organizational outcomes

We employ arguments from social exchange theory to develop a framework explicating the relationship between flexi-time and employee absenteeism, employee turnover, and organizational profitability. Then, employing data from 1,064 private sector organizations located in France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, we test our hypothesized model via path analysis. We found flexi-time to have a significant negative relationship with employee turnover and a significant positive relationship with organizational profitability, controlling for organizational, industry, and country factors, as well as other flexible work arrangements. The relationship between flexi-time and absenteeism did not reach significance in our estimations. We highlight the implications of our work and outline directions for future research.     

Learning in manufacturing organizations: what factors predict effectiveness?

This paper argues that it is possible to identify factors which pre-dispose organizations to adopt effective learning strategies and processes. It is hypothesized that effective OL is associated with: profitability, environmental uncertainty, structure, approach to HRM and quality orientation. The study focuses on forty-four manufacturing organizations, and draws on longitudinal data gathered through interviews. The findings suggest that two of these variables - approach to HRM and quality orientation - are particularly strongly correlated with measures of OL. It is concluded that effective learning mechanisms, with the potential to improve the quality of OL processes, are more likely to be established in businesses where HRM and quality initiatives are well established.     

A modified internal rate of return model for capital rationing in project selection

The ability of a company to finance viable projects depends on the availability of funds, and this too is a function of time, interest rate and risk factors among others. Factors such as these would lead to limited fund availability, which would necessitate capital rationing. Linear/integer programming and profitability index are often used to tackle this problem for optimal solution. A third approach utilizing a modified internal rate of return (IRR) is proposed. To overcome the difficulty usually encountered in calculating IRR, a small program coded in BASIC is presented. Even though discounting the cash outflows beyond the initial year should have been ideal in the linear programming formulation, this paper casts doubts as to the validity of the solution derived from it, as different discount rates seem to produce very conflicting results from the same set of investment options. This is also applicable to profitability index. While efforts are being made to correct these lapses, the modified IRR model has been found useful in arriving at an optimum solution both for the single-period as well as for the multi-stage situation.     

Accounting and Market-Value Measures of Profitability: Consistency,Determinants, and Uses

This study examines the relationship between accounting and market-value measures of profitability for individual firms. Differences in measures of profitability are observed both between and within industry groups and thus cannot be explained by differences in uncontrolled industry-specific influences. We suggest that both accounting and market can be used as unique but imperfect indicators of profitability. Using a LISREL model approach, we find R & D intensity, television advertising intensity, leverage, and industry growth to be important determinants of firm profits.