Cluster Policy and Smart Specialisation The Case of Bulgaria

Smart specialisation is an innovative policy concept which emphasizes the principle of prioritisation in a vertical logic and has attracted a wide interest in recent years, being implemented in many national technology and innovation strategies. Clusters are considered to be a major driver of innovation and competitiveness and for years, have been assigned a key role in various economic development strategies around the world. The paper looks at the interrelationship between clusters and smart specialisation. While clusters are an important building block of Smart Specialisation Strategies （$3）, cluster policies are also influenced by the concept of smart specialisation as they have increasingly started to target specific industries. The principal objective of the paper is to provide an overview and evaluation of the cluster policy pursued in Bulgaria during the last decade. The extent to which the country has used the principle of smart specialisation in its cluster initiatives is assessed. It has been argued that namely due to the lack of clear focus and prioritisation, Bulgaria＇s cluster policy proved to be highly inefficient. Finally, some policy recommendations for its improvement are put forward.     

我国产业竞争优势转型在大数据环境下的新研究

大数据时代不可逆转的到来,昭示着产业竞争优势出现新的转型契机。通过合理化大数据使用态度,并结合我国产业发展的实际状况,找寻出大数据库建设滞后,存在严重的外部依赖性、大数据的知识产权保护意识和手段不足、人才队伍建设缺乏顶层设计等诸多阻碍大数据促进产业竞争优势转型的桎梏。由此提出,建立服务产业竞争的独立大数据体系是获取竞争优势的全程保证,这就需要厘清独立大数据体系的建立基础、标准和作用域。最终通过大数据与物联网和智慧城市联动发展,使中国在新一轮产业竞争优势转型中夺得先机。     

企业文化建设与企业核心竞争力分析

企业文化将全体员工的事业心和成功欲望化为具体的奋斗目标、信条和行为准则, 是员工积极性、创造性的根源, 未来企业之间的竞争将是文化的竞争。一个企业能否持续发展, 取决于其有无核心竞争力, 企业文化能够促进核心竞争力的形成和发展。企业文化通过企业战略、组织结构、企业制度、企业风格、企业技能塑造核心竞争力。     

西部地区国际法律服务贸易的现状与发展

国际法律服务贸易自由化是不可逆转的渐进趋势,随着国际贸易、投资、金融等经济交往的发展,人员、资本、技术等跨国流动的频繁,产生了对跨国律师服务的需要,直接推动了法律服务贸易的国际化。西部地区国际法律服务业缺乏竞争力,如何创建一个良好的发展平台,对西部对外经济飞速发展意义重大。     

Rethinking the Porter Hypothesis: The Underappreciated Importance of Value Appropriation and Pollution Intensity

The impact of environmental regulation on the competitiveness of firms and industries remains a hot topic. Since the formulation of the Porter hypothesis, scholars from different research areas have tried to confirm or deny it. However, despite a vast literature engaging this debate, it remains unclear whether and under what conditions the hypothesis could be considered valid. We believe that this is due to the need to consider some additional factors. The aim of this review is to propose additional and significant themes, namely value appropriation and pollution intensity, to be considered when examining the impact of environmental regulation on the innovation and profitability of firms. Results show that the validity of the Porter hypothesis cannot be proved in any condition, but at the same time, there are additional factors that have a relevant influence on that construct, which can lead to a validation or rejection of the hypothesis.     

日本服务贸易国际竞争力的实证分析

随着知识经济时代的到来,落后的服务贸易日益成为日本经济发展的障碍。本文利用服务贸易国际竞争力指标体系,对自1997年以来的日本服务贸易国际竞争力进行了评价,发现日本1997年贸易政策的变革在一定程度上推动了日本服务贸易的发展,日本服务贸易出口增长优势明显,国际竞争力略有提高,但相对于其他发达国家而言,日本的服务贸易国际竞争力整体水平仍然相对较低,有待进一步提高。     

以转型升级助推中国制造业高质量发展

近年来,我国工业尤其是制造业比重逐步下降,而服务业比重逐步上升,业已成为我国第一大产业。但这并不意味着服务业已经成为我国经济发展的引擎,更不意味着我国已经进入服务经济时代。在现阶段制造业仍然是我国经济发展的引擎,是国民经济的主体,是国家竞争力的核心。大力发展制造业,推动制造业高质量发展,对我国经济持续稳定高质量发展至关重要。目前我国经济已由高速增长阶段转向高质量发展阶段,制造业大而不强的现状亟待改变。亟须深化改革,加快新旧动能转换和转型升级,以打造具有国际竞争力的制造业,助力我国经济中高速增长和高质量发展。     

Fighting your friends? A study of intra-party violence in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on a less visible and less studied type of political violence, namely violence that occurs within political parties. We use new, district-level data to compare the temporal and spatial dynamics of intra-party violence to those of general election violence across selected sub-Saharan African countries, including both democracies and autocracies, from 1998 to 2016. Relying on cross-national and sub-national analyses, we show that intra-party violence follows a unique pattern. First, unlike general election violence, intra-party violence peaks prior to election day as it is often sparked by individual parties’ candidate nomination processes. Second, low levels of competitiveness – typically theorized to reduce the risk of election violence – increase the risk of intra-party violence on the sub-national level. Thus, dominant party elections do not necessarily see less election-related violence than hotly contested elections. Rather, violence may be pushed from election day to intra-party competitions. If we neglect the study of violence within political parties, we thus risk underestimating the threat of election violence and misdiagnosing its causes.     

The Consequences of Battleground and “Spectator” State Residency for Political Participation

This study uses pooled NES and state-level turnout data from 1988 through 2004 to assess whether a participation gap is emerging in the United States between the residents of battleground and non-battleground states in presidential elections. The analysis finds that Electoral College (EC) participatory disparities are more likely to occur in voting and meeting attendance than in donating and political discussion. Moreover, it suggests that such disparities are more likely to occur when presidential elections are nationally competitive. The study also demonstrates that when participatory gaps do occur they are the result of a surge in participation among battleground state residents—not of citizen withdrawal in safe states, as many EC critics contend. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

论东盟五国的国家竞争力

在全球化时代,各国的国际竞争力是参与经济全球化的前提条件和核心内容。本文借鉴和运用当代国际竞争力理论与评价体系,分析东盟五国国家竞争力的形成与发展,对影响各国国家竞争力的要素结构(国内经济实力、政府管理、基础设施、科技发展和国民素质等)进行剖析,探索全球化进程中东盟五国国家竞争力的基本特征和发展趋势。