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Transitional Economies (transitional + economy)
Selected AbstractsFirm Performance, Governance Structure, and Top Management Turnover in a Transitional Economy*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 6 2006Michael Firth abstract Recent research has argued that political and regulatory environments have a significant impact on corporate governance systems. In particular, countries with poor investor protection laws and weak law enforcement have low levels of corporate governance that manifests itself in substandard financial performance, management entrenchment, and the expropriation of minority shareholders. One implication of this research is that China will have poor corporate governance and entrenched managers as its legal system is relatively underdeveloped and inefficient. However, using data on top management turnover in China's listed firms, our results refute the prediction of entrenched management. We find evidence of very high turnover of company chairmen and there are many cases that we interpret to be forced departures. Our results show that chairman turnover is related to a firm's profitability but not to its stock returns. Turnover-performance sensitivity is higher if legal entities are major shareholders but the proportion of non-executive directors perversely affects it. We find no evidence that profitability improves after a change in chairman and this suggests that a firm's governance structure is ineffective as it is unable to recruit suitable replacements that can turn around its financial performance. [source] Knowledge Creation in a Transitional EconomyMANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2005Article first published online: 6 JUL 200 [source] Firm Efficiency in a Transitional Economy: Evidence from VietnamASIAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008Thi Bich Tran C31; O12; R38 The paper examines efficiency performance of the non-state small and medium manufacturing industries in a transitional and developing economy. Using firm level data in Vietnam from 1996 and 2001, cross-sectional models are estimated using the stochastic frontier method. The results show a considerable variation in efficiency levels among firms and that a greater use of family labor and a metropolitan location are associated with improvement in technical efficiency. The results indicate few benefits from direct government financial and non-financial assistance to businesses. [source] Working in East German Socialism in 1980 and in Capitalism 15 Years Later: A Trend Analysis of a Transitional Economy's Working ConditionsAPPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Doris Fay Many studies document the changes that have taken place in the new German states, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), since the end of socialism. Most research looks at the changes that took place after the unification of East and West Germany, but little is known about the differences between the present, somewhat settled situation in the new German states and the stable situation in the GDR before the system change. The goal of this study was to enlarge our knowledge on these differences. With a trend analysis, aspects of work in the GDR in 1980 (n=337) were compared with the new German states in 1995 (n=168). Results showed that there was more job control and complexity, more activity in work improvement and better work organisation in the new German states than in the GDR. There was no difference in stress variables and social support by colleagues between both groups. Relationships with supervisors and appreciation for suggestions for work improvement were better in the GDR than after the introduction of capitalism. Beaucoup d'e´tudes portent sur les changements qui ont eu lieu depuis la fin du socialisme dans les nouveaux La¨nder allemands, à savoir l'ancienne Re´publique De´mocratique d'Allemagne (R.D.A.). La plupart des recherches s'occupent des changements apparus après la re´unification, mais on sait peu de choses des diffe´rences entre la situation actuelle, plus ou moins stabilise´e, et la situation telle qu'elle e´tait avant l'effondrement du système. Ce travail avait pour objectif d'approfondir nos connaissances sur ces diffe´rences. On a compare´ des dimensions du travail en R.D.A. en 1980 (N=337) et dans les nouveaux Länder en 1995 (N=168). Les re´sultats montrent qu'en R.D.A. le travail e´tait moins complexe, moins contrôle, moins bien organise´ avec un moindre souci d'ame´lioration. Aucune diffe´rence n'est apparue entre les deux groupes quant à la tension nerveuse et au soutien social apporte´ par les collègues. Les relations avec le supe´rieur et la reconnaissance pour les suggestions concernant les am¨eliorations à apporter au travail étaient moins satisfaisantes après l'introduction du capitalisme qu'elles ne l'e´taient antérieurement en R.D.A. [source] Private Higher Education and Diversity: An Exploratory SurveyHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2001Pedro Teixeira In this preliminary review, the authors analyse the effects of privatisation on diversity in higher education (HE) systems by exploring the consequences of the establishment of HE Institutions by non-public organisations. The rising importance of privatisation in Europe (Western and transitional economies), Latin America, and Southeast Asia is analysed. Then follows detailed examinations of private-sector HE in countries representative of all these geographical areas to determine how far privatisation has stimulated diversity. The preliminary results indicate that in each case the private sub-sector has promoted limited and partial diversification. In general, though, the more recent private establishments, created to satisfy increasing demand for HE, have nonetheless focused predominately on teaching, have undertaken little, or no, research and appear to be of lower quality than the older institutions. The private sub-sector is characterised mostly by its low-risk behaviour, and a concentration on low-cost and/or safer initiatives. Public authorities must share at least a partial responsibility for some of the negative side effects of the development of private higher education. [source] The union recognition dispute at McDonald's Moscow food-processing factoryINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2005Tony Royle ABSTRACT This article reports on the union recognition dispute that took place at the McDonald's food-processing plant in Moscow. It examines this dispute in the context of McDonald's employment practices worldwide, the interventions made by international and local unions, and Russian government bodies. Despite these interventions it became impossible to either organise the workforce or establish a collective agreement. The case illustrates the difficulties facing both local unions and global union federations when confronted by intransigent multinational companies, especially in low-skilled sectors in transitional economies. [source] Globalization, global health, and access to healthcare,INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2003Téa Collins Abstract It is now commonly realized that the globalization of the world economy is shaping the patterns of global health, and that associated morbidity and mortality is affecting countries' ability to achieve economic growth. The globalization of public health has important implications for access to essential healthcare. The rise of inequalities among and within countries negatively affects access to healthcare. Poor people use healthcare services less frequently when sick than do the rich. The negative impact of globalization on access to healthcare is particularly well demonstrated in countries of transitional economies. No longer protected by a centralized health sector that provided free universal access to services for everyone, large segments of the populations in the transition period found themselves denied even the most basic medical services. Only countries where regulatory institutions are strong, domestic markets are competitive and social safety nets are in place, have a good chance to enjoy the health benefits of globalization. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Multinational Retailers in China: Proliferating ,McJobs' or Developing Skills?*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 7 2006Jos Gamble abstract Much has been written on the nature of skills and the extent to which there is increased skills development or a deskilling of workers in modern workplaces. This paper broadens the debate and explores these issues in the novel context of UK- and Japanese- invested retailers' operations in China. Data derived from over two hundred interviews at twelve retail stores in six Chinese cities and questionnaires completed by almost eight hundred employees elicited contextualized accounts of interactive service workers' own perceptions of their training and skills development. It was found that these firms made a substantial contribution to skills development, fostered and enhanced both directly by company training and also through experiential workplace-based learning. It might be, however, that this constitutes an essential but ,one-off' increase in skills in transitional economies such as that of China. [source] Does the Colour of the Cat Matter?MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2007The Red Hat Strategy in China's Private Enterprises abstract The proliferation of new property rights regimes in transitional economies provided an opportunity to examine the interaction between institutions and organizations. Some private enterprises in China developed the Red Hat strategy whereby they disguised their private ownership by registering as a public-owned organization. Drawing on a national survey, this study investigated how institutional variations, transaction costs and social embeddedness affected the firms' Red Hat strategy. The findings suggest that private firms preferred a fuzzy property rights arrangement in the early years of market transition. The temporal and regional variation of the institutional environment contributed to the adoption of the Red Hat strategy. High transaction costs , networking cost and resource constraints , were positively related to the adoption of the Red Hat strategy. Social embeddedness also played an important role. The reliance on transaction partners in the public sector increased the pressure to adopt the Red Hat, while connections with high-ranking cadres facilitated the process. However, private firms opted for clearly delineated property rights as the institutional environment improved. In turn, the decisions of individual firms affected the institutional environment at the aggregate level. The Red Hat strategy exemplifies the co-evolution of institutional change and organizational dynamics. [source] Technological Change and Transition: Relative Contributions to Worldwide Growth During the 1990s,OXFORD BULLETIN OF ECONOMICS & STATISTICS, Issue 4 2008Oleg Badunenko Abstract In this paper we use the Kumar and Russell [American Economic Review (2002) Vol. 92, pp. 527,548] growth-accounting procedure to examine cross-country growth during the 1990s. Using a data set comprising developed, newly industrialized, developing and transitional economies, we decompose the growth of output per worker into components attributable to technological catch-up, technological change and capital accumulation. In contrast to the study by Kumar and Russell, which concludes that capital deepening is the major force of growth and change in the world income per worker distribution over the 1965,90 period, our analysis shows that, during the 1990s, the major force in the further divergence of the rich and the poor is due to technological change, whereas capital accumulation plays a lesser and opposite role. Finally, although on average we find that transitional economies perform similar to the rest of the world, the procedure is able to discover some interesting patterns within the set of transitional countries. [source] Agricultural productivity growth in traditional and transitional economies in AsiaASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC LITERATURE, Issue 2 2009Supawat Rungsuriyawiboon This paper reports estimates of agricultural productivity growth in Asian countries, with special attention to the transition economies. A parametric output distance function approach is formulated to decompose total factor productivity (TFP) growth into its associated components and to examine how input and output intensities shift in response to the adoption of innovations. The results show that by including the transition economies, Asia achieved healthy TFP growth at an annual average rate of 1.9 per cent. However, TFP growth and its components differ widely across the transition countries and at different stages of the transition periods within these countries. [source] The Rise of Anti-dumping: Does Regionalism Promote Administered Protection?ASIAN-PACIFIC ECONOMIC LITERATURE, Issue 2 2000William E. James Miranda, Torres and Ruiz (1998) and Finger (1993) have documented the increased incidence of anti-dumping in recent years and its spread beyond developed to developing and transitional economies. The countries that have been the most prolific in launching anti-dumping cases have largely been members of discriminatory trading arrangements such as NAFTA while the affected (accused) countries have often been outside regional trading blocs. This study documents and analyses the asymmetry in anti-dumping actions, focusing on the propensity of members of regional trading blocs to use anti-dumping actions against developing countries in East Asia. [source] The public issue life cycle and corporate political actions in China's transitional environment: a case of real estate industryJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2008Zhilong Tian Based on the ,structured content analysis' of the longitudinal data from a journal of Chinese real estate industry during last 11 years, this paper studies the nature of public issue life cycle and corresponding corporate political actions (CPAs) in a transitional economy. This paper finds out that in a transitional economy like China: (1) a new stage called ,policy trial' and double steps of policy introduction were found in the public issue life cycle; (2) the possible outcomes of Chinese public issues are partially consistent with Tombari's arguments; (3) the evolution of CPAs takes a more complex and different path compared with that in the West. In general, this paper provides an available research perspective (the public issue life cycle model) for firms to manage and monitor their external political environment by effectively developing CPAs in a transitional economy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] R&D and Firm Performance in a Transition EconomyKYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 4 2006Dirk Czarnitzki SUMMARY We estimate the effects of R&D on firms' credit ratings and on financial distress. The main purpose is the comparison of firms in Western Germany and Eastern Germany as a transitional economy. Innovative activity has a positive impact on firm value proxied by ratings in Western Germany, but a negative impact in Eastern Germany. We also consider future financial distress, and find that R&D in Eastern German firms leads to higher default risk. This stands in contrast to Western Germany where R&D enhances future performance. This result is highly politically relevant, since the high level of subsidies present in Eastern Germany may be subject to misallocation. [source] Government Policies and Private Enterprise Development in China: 2003,2006CHINA AND WORLD ECONOMY, Issue 4 2009Shiyong Zhao D21; E58; E61; H11 Abstract The relationship between government policy and economic development has been along-standing topic of academic research and policy debate. The government of a transitional economy plays an important role in the process of economic development. Over the past three decades, the Chinese economy has been growing very rapidly, in particular because of the rapid development of the private sector. However, the performance of private enterprises is still affected by government policies. In the present paper, we examine the changes in large Chinese private enterprises' performance during 2003,2006 and test the determinants of such changes. We conclude that the Chinese Government's discriminating policies against private enterprises are the main cause of the private sector's downturn. [source] Retinopathy of prematurity: postmenstrual age at threshold in a transitional economy is similar to that in developed countriesCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL OPHTHALMOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Susan Mary Carden FRANZCO Abstract Background:, To analyse the timing of threshold disease in infants requiring treatment for retinopathy of prematurity in a transitional economy. Methods:, Design: Retrospective, observational, cohort study. Setting: National Hospital of Paediatrics, Hanoi, Vietnam. Study population: Premature infants in the Neonatal ward requiring laser treatment for threshold retinopathy of prematurity. Main outcome measures: Chronological age and postmenstrual age at treatment. Results:, From January 2002 to November 2004, 42 infants from the National Hospital of Paediatrics required laser surgery for threshold retinopathy of prematurity. The mean ± standard deviation (SD) of birth weight was 1369 ± 184 g (range 1000,1700); the mean ± SD of gestation at birth was 30 ± 1.8 weeks (range 27,34); and the mean ± SD of postmenstrual age at which treatment occurred in these infants was 36.2 ± 2.5 weeks (range 31.4,42). A further 58 infants were transferred from other hospitals for laser surgery between January 2004 and October 2004. The mean ± SD of birth weight was 1325.5 ± 237.2 g (range 800,1900); the mean ± SD of gestation at birth was 30 ± 1.7 weeks (range 28,35); and the mean ± SD of postmenstrual age at which treatment was given in these infants was 36.3 ± 2.3 weeks (range 32.71,44.3). Discussions:, Despite the relative maturity of the gestation of these infants compared with infants in developed countries who develop severe retinopathy of prematurity, the timing of treatment for threshold disease appears to be related to postmenstrual age. [source] | |||||||||||||