State and trends of carbon pricing 2015

Introduction Reflecting the growing momentum for carbon pricing worldwide, the 2015 edition of the State and Trends of Carbon Pricing report targets a wider audience of public and private stakeholders who are engaged in carbon pricing design and implementation. This report also provides critical input for the negotiations leading up to the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris. As in the previous editions, the report provides an up-to-date overview of existing and emerging carbon pricing instruments around the world, including national and subnational initiatives. Furthermore, it gives an overview of current corporate carbon pricing instruments. To better reflect the plethora of topics being considered in the climate dialogue, the report also analyzes competitiveness and carbon leakage, and their impact on the development of carbon pricing instruments. The task team responsible for this report intends to select new relevant topics to be explored in future editions. These topics could include, for example, the effectiveness of existing and emerging carbon pricing instruments, and how to measure it. Finally, this year’s report gives the audience a forward-looking assessment of the advantages of international cooperation in reaching stringent global mitigation targets. A review of existing modeling work provides a qualitative and quantitative assessment of cost saving potentials and the magnitude of financial flows inherent to international cooperation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions to a level consistent with the 2°C climate stabilization goal

Innovative Tokyo

This paper compares and contrasts Tokyo's innovation structure with the industrial districts model and the international hub model in the literature on urban and regional development. The Tokyo model embraces and yet transcends both industrial districts and international hub models. The paper details key elements making up the Tokyo model-organizational knowledge creation, integral and co-location systems of corporate R&D and new product development, test markets, industrial districts and clusters, participative consumer culture, continuous learning from abroad, local government policies, the national system of innovation, and the historical genesis of Tokyo in Japan's political economy. The paper finds that the Tokyo model of innovation will continue to evolve with the changing external environment, but fundamentally retains its main characteristics. The lessons from the Tokyo model is that openness, a diversified industrial base, the continuing development of new industries, and an emphasis on innovation, all contribute to the dynamism of a major metropolitan region.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,ICT Policy and Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Innovation

The adoption of e-trade innovations by Korean small and medium sized firms.

The purpose of this study was to explore the adoption of e-trade innovations by small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in South Korea. Employing a modified TAM model, which included the industry environment and convenience factors, we surveyed 164 SMEs to develop a useful refined model of innovation acceptance and continuity of use for international e-trade. We found that usefulness of the innovation was predictive of adoption, whilst convenience only predicted practical use but not continuing use. Moreover, industry variables were powerful predictors. Although e-trade offers SMEs considerable competitive advantage, it appears that widespread adoption is contingent upon a mature infrastructure

East Asia's dynamic development model and the Republic of Korea's experiences

No region has been more dynamic in recent years than East Asia. Despite its successful economic development, evaluations of the East Asian development model have often been capricious, shifting from"miracle"to"cronyism."How can we explain East Asia's ups and downs consistently? To respond to this challenge, it is necessary to study the progress of East Asian development and to trace the influence of Asian cultural values. This study mainly focuses on cultural aspects of economic progress and analyzes East Asia's philosophical and historical backgrounds to explain the dynamic process. East Asians believe that balance between opposite but complementary forces, Yin and Yang, will ensure social stability and progress. Through repeated rebalancing to maintain harmony, the society comes to maturity. In traditional East Asian societies, a balance was maintained between Confucianism (Yang) and Taoism, Buddhism, and other philosophies (Yin). In modern societies, the challenge is to balance traditional systems (Yang) and Western style capitalism (Yin). This East Asian development model explains the Republic of Korea's rise, fall, and recovery. Korea was a poor country until the early 1960s, during the time when spiritualism (Yang) dominated. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Korea achieved rapid growth by finding a new balance and moving toward materialism (Yin) from spiritualism (Yang). But the failure to maintain a harmonious balance between cooperative systems and collectivism (Yang) and individualism (Yin) led to major weaknesses in labor and financial markets that contributed significantly to the financial crisis in 1997. As Korea arrived at a new balance by instituting reform programs, the venture-oriented information and communication technology (ICT) industry blossomed and led to a rapid economic recovery. Since 2000, domestic financial scandals and political corruption have emerged as new social issues. Korea's next challenge is to find a new harmonization between morality (Yang) and legal frameworks (Yin).Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Ethics&Belief Systems,Earth Sciences&GIS,Decentralization,Earth Sciences&GIS,Ethics&Belief Systems,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance

"China's Energy Dilemma"

PRC's energy dependence is growing and has become a major concern for both economic and national security policymakers in that country. The ambitious goal of modernization of the economy along the lines of the other newly industrialized economies(NIEs) of Asia has succeeded only too well, and it is difficult to reorient economic priorities. If examined rigorously, such an economic strategic assumption can be seen to entail the goal of creating further technological capabilities. In particular, China seems to be firmly committed to the creation of a largely self-sustaining innovation system as part of a knowledge-based economy of the future . Such innovation systems, called positive feedback loop innovation systems or POLIS have been created by advanced countries, and NIEs such as South Korea and Taiwan are proceeding to create these as well. But this will add to its energy burden and further dependence on the US as the power which controls the key sea lanes. Only a strategic reorientation to building a self-sustaining POLIS and appropriate regional cooperation institutions can lead to the way out of the current dilemma for China.

The Effects of Corporate Diversification and Control on Division Risk-Taking Strategy and Performance

This research explored two major functions of corporate strategic management, corporate diversification (core-business relatedness) and corporate control, and their implications for divisional strategic management. Four research questions were raised to address these issues: (1) does core-business relatedness matter to division performance? (2) how does core-business relatedness influence corporate control? (3) how does core-business relatedness influence division risk-taking strategies and performance? and (4) how does corporate control influence division risk-taking strategies and performance? Adopting the resource-based view and organizational learning theory, this study proposed that core-business related divisions would outperform unrelated divisions and that core-business related divisions would have higher commitment to risk-taking strategies than would unrelated divisions. From a strategic management perspective, it was hypothesized that corporate control would be differentiated by core-business relatedness. Viewing the relationship between a corporate office and its divisions from an agency theoretical perspective, this study suggested that corporate control would influence division risk-taking strategy. Finally, from a strategic management perspective, this study proposed the moderating effects of core-business relatedness and corporate control on the relationship between division risk-taking strategy and performance. Korean business groups were selected as samples because they provided objective divisional performance data. Data was collected from 57 affiliated companies of 32 Korean business groups. Two indicators of risk-taking strategy were used to test the hypotheses: R&D investment and internationalization. T-test, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, and multiple regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The results show that core-business relatedness positively influences division performance. Core-business relatedness was found to positively affect divisional R&D investment but not divisional internationalization. Corporate control was found to be not differentiated by core-business relatedness. The moderating effect of core-business relatedness on the relationship between division risk-taking strategies and performance was not found. The results show that decentralized corporate control positively influenced division R&D investment. In contrast, centralized corporate control positively influenced division internationalization. The moderating effect of corporate control was not found