Suchergebnisse

English is the most common foreign language in the Chinese curriculum. However, even though a great deal of class time is devoted to acquiring English, the results have not been universally good. Studies to address the issue have suggested various reasons for this: large classes and the subsequent difficulty of implementing interactive teaching; traditional examinations which favour grammar/translation pedagogy; the difficulty of recruiting fluent teachers, which makes communicative methodology hard to implement; low motivation in parts of the population where the chance of interacting with native-speakers is highly unlikely. In addition there may be other - new - reasons developing which put a brake on the spread of good foreign language skills among the Chinese population. The general problems reported in the foreign language classroom could be compounded by the growing influence of China in the world. The experience of groups whose economic and political weight were/are significant has shown that when others learn your language and it becomes a lingua franca of power, instrumental motivation for foreign language acquisition diminishes within the population. Can we expect to see the Chinese developing the same attitudes to foreign language learning, as Anglophones, for example, if/as Chinese spreads as a lingua franca?

PurposeLoyal customers are committed to repeat patronage, make business referrals and provide publicity for the business. However, rising customer expectations and price consciousness, advancement of technology, lack of product differentiation and consumer choices have posted more challenges for customer retention. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between transaction specific characteristics (i.e. food quality, service quality, atmosphere, convenience and price perception), customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (behavioral and attitudinal loyalties) in the context of Sabah full-service restaurant. The mediating effect of customer satisfaction and moderating effect of customer innovativeness were also tested.Design/methodology/approachA total of 225 valid questionnaires was collected via purposive sampling method and analyzed using Smart-PLS software 3.0.FindingsAll transaction specific characteristics have positive influences on customer satisfaction with price perception as the strongest predictor. Satisfaction had stronger effect on behavioral loyalty as compared to attitudinal loyalty. The mediating effects of customer satisfaction were only found in some of the relationships. None of the moderating effects of customer innovativeness was significant.Originality/valueUtilizing the value-percept theory and transaction specific model which combine the evaluations of service and product elements of the full-service restaurant, this study contributed to the better understanding of the relationships between transaction specific characteristics, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The examination of both attitudinal and behavioral loyalties provided valuable insights to practitioners and researchers in understanding full-service restaurant consumers' repatronage intention, intention to spread positive words-of-mouth (WoM) and commitment.

Eine weitgehende Dekarbonisierung des Energiesystems muss zügig vorangetrieben werden. Die Abwasserwirtschaft kann diese Prozesse unterstützen. Die Integration in das Energiesystem mit seinen spezifischen Randbedingungen ist mit Fragestellungen verbunden.

1. Considerations on the research methodology of the history of Chinese economic thought / Hu Jichuang -- 2. On the major fields and significance of the study of the history of ancient Chinese economic thought / Wu Baosan -- 3. Fu Guo Xue and the "economics" of ancient China / Zhao Jing -- 4. The Chinese origin of physiocratic economics / Tan Min -- 5. On Guanzi Qing Zhong / Ye Shichang -- 6. A comparison between Confucian and Daoist economic philosophies in the pre-Qin era / Tang Renwu -- 7. The start of family economics of Chinese feudal landowners : on Jia Sixie's Important arts for people's welfare / Zheng Xueyi -- 8. Confucian thought on the free economy / Ma Tao -- 9. Etymological studies of "Chinese economics" / Ye Tan -- 10. The theory of division of labour in Chinese history / Yan Qinghua -- 11. Harmony of diversity and great uniformity : two trains of thought in the economics of ancient China / Zhong Xiangcai -- 12. The influence of ancient Chinese thought on the ever-normal granary of Henry A. Wallace and the agricultural adjustment act in the new deal / Li Chaomin.

This volume comprises twelve papers written by Chinese scholars on various aspects of the history of ancient Chinese economic thought. The contributions are preceded by an introduction which gives an overview of the development of the subject of history of economic thought in China, and which also provides an historical context to the individuals who constitute the major ""schools"" of ancient Chinese economic thought. The authors of the papers are leading scholars who have dominated this research area since the founding of New China in 1949, while the broad range of topics covered by the cont.

Purpose– This paper aims to investigate the relationship between external regulation pressure and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting decision and comprehensiveness and the relationship between block ownership and CSR in China.Design/methodology/approach– This paper provides descriptive statistics of the current state of CSR reporting in China. In addition, regression models are utilized to analyze the behavior of CSR reporting of a sample of 5,334 listed firms in China.Findings– Our paper records a significant increase of CSR reporting in the period of 2008-2010. Using a sample of 5,334 listed firms in China, we find a positive yet weak association between centrally controlled state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and CSR reports. Moreover, we find that firms with more concentrated block ownership are less likely to issue CSR reports.Research limitations/implications– Taken as a whole, our analyses suggest that the entrenchment effect from blockholders seems to dominate the incentive effect and this depresses the quality of CSR reports.Practical implications– Despite the well-known effect of economic factors on CSR decision, corporate governance such as ownership structure could complicate the final results. Furthermore, the institutional background of the country and its implications for corporate governance should be considered jointly and concurrently.Social implications– The positive effect from regulatory pressure on centrally owned SOEs suggests that regulation remains an effective tool to encourage CSR reporting in emerging markets.Originality/value– First, our study confirms prior research that CSR disclosure decision is primarily driven by economic and strategic considerations. Moreover, our results suggest that a country's institutional background, in addition to economic and strategic considerations, influences the decision and quality of CSR disclosures. Second, we extend the literature on ownership structure, particularly with respect to blockholders. Third, our research design addresses a weakness in earlier studies which are biased exclusively on state ownership to the exclusion of all other blockholders.

In 2018 and 2019, Malaysian and Indonesian eligible voters cast their ballots for prime minister and president and vice president respectively. Especially in Indonesia, the eligible voters also elected members of the Regional Representative Council, the House of Representatives, Provincial Legislative Council and District/Municipal Legislative Council. Prior to the polls, the issue of who would run for presidency and vice presidency had become a hot and interesting topic of conversation among Indonesian citizens, with many of them using social media to express it. However, when the society talked too much about politics on the cyber media, the problem is whether they could come up with constructive rather than destructive content of discussion without destroying democracy. The methodology of this research is library research in which the author collected a number of library materials containing in-depth study of a subject, and found relevant keywords in the catalogs, indexes, search engines, and various scientific journals. The newer the sources, the more up-to-date references and quotations will be. To search a database effectively, the author started the search by finding keywords, seeking relevant records, and then narrowing the keywords to focus on the search. The author later evaluated carefully each source found.

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between option trading activity and stock market volatility. Although the option market is uniquely suited for trading on volatility information, there is little analysis on how trading activity in this market is linked to stock price volatility. The bulk of the discussion tends to focus on whether trading activity in the stock market is informative about stock volatility. To analyze the information in option trading activity for stock market volatility, a sample of 15 stocks with the highest option trading volume is selected. For each stock, it is noted that the trading activities in the put and call option markets have significant explanatory power for stock market volatility. In addition, the results indicate that the call option trading activity has a stronger impact on stock volatility compared with that of the put options. Our results demonstrate that information and sentiment in the option market is useful for the estimation of stock market volatility. Also, the significance of the effects of option trading activity on stock price volatility is observed to be comparable to that of stock market trading activity. Furthermore, the persistence and asymmetric effects in the volatility of some stocks tend to disappear once option trading activity is taken into account.