Prior research has debated the relative importance of such factors as human capital, political capital and region in determining workers' earnings in reform-era urban China. This article argues that a main agent of social stratification in contemporary China continues to be the danwei, the work unit. Using data from a 1999 survey we conducted in three large Chinese cities, Wuhan, Shanghai and X...

Many businesses still put too much focus on manufacturing, marketing and sales without considering the inter-linkages amongst these elements. This paper shows the importance of including packaging logistics and supply chain management in strategic planning. By integrating these aspects, retailers and suppliers may reduce costs, environmental impact and increase profits. A case study at IKEA is ...

I the electronics industry and others, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are selling their production facilities to contract manufacturers (CMs). The CMs achieve high capacity utilization through pooling (supplying many different OEMs). Meanwhile, the OEMs focus on innovation: research and development, product design, and marketing. We examine how this change in industry structure affects...

Online Peer-to-Peer lending platforms claim to be beneficial for both borrowers and lenders by eliminating expensive intermediaries and reducing transaction costs. However, are the often inexperienced lenders who operate in a pseudonymous online environment with potentially significant information asymmetries really able to obtain an attractive return on their investment? This paper discusses t...

OBJECTIVE To examine whether the nationwide smoking ban, imposed in 2007, had an impact on the profitability of Belgian restaurants. DATA AND METHODS Objective financial reporting data on 1613 restaurants were analysed with return on assets as the outcome measure. The data were collected from the Belfirst database and cover the period 2004-2009. To assess the impact of the smoking ban, a diff...

The paper presents the articulated strategy of valorization, implemented by the international movement called Slow Food in Italy and abroad in order to reconsider the concept of agricultural profitability. In particular, the paper suggests profitability lays on the value markets recognize to agricultural production. In this perspective, the Slow Food strategy represents a good practice to be em...

The efficient production of milk drives the profitability of the dairy enterprise. Within a dairy herd, total milk production is determined by the proportion of cows producing milk at any given time and the level of milk production of the individual cows within the herd (Vandehaar, 1998). Both of these factors are dramatically affected by reproductive efficiency. Improving reproductive efficien...

Exports and Profitability: First Evidence for German Manufacturing Firms Using unique recently released nationally representative high-quality longitudinal data at the enterprise level for Germany, this paper presents the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between exports and profitability. It documents that the positive profitability differential of exporters compared to non-expo...

this study examines the empirical validity of claims that value stocks (stocks with high ratios of book value to price) have higher average returns than growth stocks (stocks with low book-to-market ratios). the analyses are performed using data pertaining to 70 firms for the period 1381-1389 and used the panel data methodology. this paper contains significant and consistent results. the result...