Explaining the demand for producer services: Is cost-driven externalization the major factor?

Producer services employment has grown rapidly within advanced economies in recent years. The bases of demand related to this growth are not well understood by regional scientists. A common view is that this growth is largely attributable to cost-driven factors and vertical disintegration processes on the part of producer service users. This paper demonstrates that cost-driven externalization is not the most important force underlying growth in demand for producer services. The need for specialized knowledge is by far the most important factor behind producer services demand, combined with a variety of other cost, quasi-cost, and non-cost-driven forces.     

Labour market competitiveness and foreign direct investment: The case of Malaysia,Thailand and the Philippines

This article investigates whether labour market competitiveness affects the inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the ASEAN economies Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The analysis is based on a regression model using time series data on FDI, wages, the labour force, skills, R&D expenditure, the interest rate and several variables critical for economic development. The study shows that the labour market determinants differ between countries in terms of their role in FDI inflows. Thus analysis results suggest that, with regard to labour market competitiveness, different countries may require different policy recommendations in order to attract FDI inflows into their countries.Received: 2 October 2002, Accepted: 24 May 2003, JEL Classification: J240, J310, R230     

Spatial pattern of Japanese manufacturing industry in four ASEAN countries

Foreign investment by means of equity participation of foreign firms in local firms contributes to local industrial development through transfer of technology and through leveraging capital requirements. During the last two decades the nature of foreign equity participation in firms and the location of FDI in four ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, referred to hereafter as the ASEAN-4 countries) has undergone a significant transition. From 1980-1994, the Japanese manufacturing industry was the major foreign industrial investor in the ASEAN-4 countries. The spatial pattern of equity investment and employment generation has been very different among regions in the ASEAN-4 countries. Using the Theil index we estimate disparity in employment generation and equity investment within and between regions of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines in the context of each country's socio-economic geography and economic development characteristics.Received: 21 May 2002, Accepted: 14 May 2003, JEL Classification: F21, N950, R12The authors would like to thank two anonymous referees for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this research note.     

Sub-CBD产业空间组织研究——以东京都新宿区为例

全球化和信息化加速产业空间组织的演变,推动生产性服务业与商业的集聚与扩散,形成多个Sub-CBD,促进了大都市区空间结构的多中心化。本研究选取东京都新宿为案例,探讨交通规划对Sub-CBD形成与发展的重要影响,分析生产性服务业与商业空间组织的集聚与关联。本研究认为政府高起点规划,依托交通枢纽,促进产业空间集聚,强化生产性服务业与商业一体化,发展有助于Sub-CBD功能拓展。     

Does non-revenue water affect Malaysia's water services industry productivity?

This study examines the total factor productivity (TFP) changes in the Malaysian water services industry from 1999 to 2012 using a global Malmquist Luenberger index method incorporating an undesirable output, namely non-revenue water. The results show that the Malaysian water services industry experienced a declining TFP of 0.72 percent per year, with technology regression being the primary cause of the annual TFP decrease. Several initiatives are suggested to reduce non-revenue water in Malaysia. The findings provide useful insights that can be incorporated into future reforms of the industry.     

Whose rights and who's right? Valuing ecosystem services in Victoria, Australia

The present suite of perceived exclusive private property rights for Victoria's farmers to manage land and the services it provides began with allocation of Crown land in the early 19th century. Since then successive governments attempted to balance the needs of the people for food, fibre and shelter with the private rights of farmers, and demands from conservationists. More integrated systems of natural resource management have developed from an increased understanding of environmental management on the part of both primary producers and conservationists, and recognition of the services provided by ecosystems. Now the nature of property rights over natural resources is being transformed. A feature of the shift towards land stewardship and sustainable agriculture is the use of market-based instruments and trading in ecosystem services. But who owns the right to ecosystem services? Are the values from ecosystems a common right for all or property to be traded by farmers?     

Producer services and regional development: A policy-oriented prespective

There is a certain optimism among policy makers concering the ability of producer services, viewed as locationally flexible, to stimulate economic growth in lagging regions. Four issues related to the location of producer services are used to critically examine this notion: (1) observed centralization and decentralization trends, (2) the influence of corporate ownership and control, (3) intrafirm functional separation, and (4) the impact of telecommunications technology. Producer service growth has not benefited central and peripheral regions equally. The empirical and conceptual evidence presented suggests that these activities have little positive impact upon lagging regions. Some essential elements of a regional strategy involving producer services are proposed.     

杭州城市生产性服务业空间演化研究

国外已经形成了较为完整的生产性服务业的地理学研究体系。在经济转型和全球化背景下,中国的区域性大城市面临着生产性服务业的发展契机。本文以杭州为例,通过对杭州中心城区生产性服务业空间演化的过程、特征及其与办公楼开发之间供需关系的调查研究,分析了我国生产性服务业空间演化的动力机制及其存在的问题,比较总结了国内外差异;在此基础上,提出了优化杭州城市空间布局、加快生产性服务业发展的对策与建议。     

Co-location of manufacturing and producer services in Nanjing,China

Most existing research examines the spatial patterns of manufacturing and producer services via separate investigations and from provincial and municipal perspectives. This paper, however, analyzes the co-location of manufacturing and producer services and their influencing factors from an intra-urban perspective. This empirical study is based in Nanjing and uses a 2001 basic unit census dataset and a 2008 economic census dataset at the firm level. The results show that the suburbanization process of manufacturing was much faster than that of producer services and indicate the establishment of producer services in the urban core and manufacturing in the periphery. The employment of producer services was highly concentrated in urban centers in the two interval years, but gradually expanded to surrounding new towns such as Jiangning, Pukou, and Luhe. In contrast, the employment in manufacturing was dispersed with substantial distribution in the old city and in suburban development zones. Manufacturing and producer services were largely co-located in the new towns of Jiangning and Pukou and national development zones. The spatial autoregression model indicates that the spatial distribution of manufacturing and producer services was subject to the joint effects of agglomeration economics and urban land price, which led the two sectors to retain a degree of spatial separability, even though their co-location was preferable. The distribution of manufacturing was significantly affected by land prices and constantly re-concentrated from urban centers to development zones and township industrial parks in suburban areas. Comparatively, the distribution of producer services was not significantly affected by land price and gradually occupied city centers with high land prices because the sector had a stronger capacity for bid rent.     

Fire services installation related contributors of construction delays

Delay is a common problem in the construction industry and there are several reasons that can contribute to delaying a project. In Hong Kong, completion of fire services installation is prerequisite to completing/finishing a building construction work. The fire services installation must be completed for application of an occupation permit for a building. Fail to obtain the permit on time would lead to construction delay. Apparently, fire services contractors play an important role in obtaining the occupation permit for a project completion. The economic losses due to construction delay could be very significant. This research identified, from a list of 49 pre-determined factors in nine categories (shown in Appendix A), the principal factors contributed to construction delays in a fire services installation. In particular, a questionnaire survey of 52 fire services contractors and 32 consulting engineers was conducted in order to obtain their professional judgements about the relative importance of the contributors of construction delay related to the fire services installation. The result showed that the principal contributors were: (1) improper site co-ordination and management of the electrical and mechanical installations, (2) lack of timely decision making of the client, and (3) defects identified during the fire services inspection by local authorities. In addition differing views were found between the consulting engineers and contractors on the areas identified were: (1) site management and supervision, (2) workload of the project staff, (3) the procedures for equipment approval, and (4) working experience of the parties. A monitoring and quality assurance system would be required in these areas to minimize the risk of the probable construction delay.     

A roster of world cities

Although there is a general consensus on which are the leading world cities, there is no agreed-upon roster covering world cities below the highest level. This paper reports the construction of an inventory of world cities based upon their level of advanced producer services. Global service centres are identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law. Aggregating these results produces a roster of 55 world cities at three levels: 10 Alpha world cities, 10 Beta world cities and 35 Gamma world cities. These are found to be largely geographically concentrated in three “globalization arenas”, northern America, western Europe and Pacific Asia.     

基于生产性服务业空间主成分分析的长春市多中心性格局 研究

利用生产性服务业的空间布局研究 中心城区尺度多中心性可以探析城市内部的 功能空间结构。本文选取长春市中心城区范 围内的保险、广告、会计、科技、律师、物流、 银行7种生产性服务业的POI数据进行核密 度分析,采用空间主成分分析法对生产性服 务业空间布局进行综合分析,利用城市网络 分析工具U NA测度长春市中心城区交通网 络中心性,检验其与生产性服务业的相关关 系。研究结果发现长春市中心城区范围生产 性服务业多中心呈分级圈层分布;生产性服 务业部分中心与城市商业中心吻合;传统商 务中心对生产性服务业的影响较大,老城区 的老商业中心易出现生产性服务业中心;生产 性服务业多中心与交通网络中心性存在明显 正相关,生产性服务业沿城市主要道路的集 聚明显。     

北京都市区生产者服务业的空间结构——兼与西方主流观点的比较

分别以北京第二次全国基本单位普查数据和都市区228个“街区单元”为属性数据和空间数据,运用空间分布实态模拟、空间自相关、因子分析等定量方法,完成了北京都市区生产者服务业空间结构的实证研究。总结提炼出北京都市区生产者服务业空间结构的主要特征和结构模式,并将结论与西方研究的主流观点进行了比较,进而发现了转型期我国都市区快速发展的生产者服务业在整体空间结构、功能地域结构等方面的独特性。     

Finding locations for public service centres that compete with private centres: Effects of congestion

We propose a locational model for public service centres when they compete with private centres. Customers may be captured by the centre offering shorter distance or lower waiting times. Both types of centres provide paid services to high-income customers, and public centres also provide subsidised services to low-income customers. Equilibrium must be found in public centres between low-income population coverage and high-income population capture. We analyse the effects of waiting times on the design of the public service and apply the model to data for Santiago, Chile.Received: 8 February 2003, Accepted: 9 September 2003, JEL Classification: C61, I18, L33This research has been partly funded by FONDECYT (Chilean Science and Technology Research Fund) Project Nr. 1020778.     

Location of foreign manufacturers in China: Agglomeration economies and country of origin effects

Using data from China, this article finds that agglomeration economies derived from the clustering of manufacturing and foreign investment activities, combined with better access to markets, influence the location of foreign manufacturers. Foreign enterprises are attracted to cities with investment incentives, but they avoid high labour cost locations. The locational patterns also suggest country of origin effects. American, Hong Kong and Taiwanese manufacturers tend to value access to domestic markets, while Japanese investors favour port cities. Further analysis indicates the presence of origin of country effects at the sectoral level.Received: 7 May 2002, Accepted: 12 November 2002, JEL Classification: F23, O18, O53Special thanks go to Jessie Poon, Zhaoyong Zhang, Breandán Ó hUallacháin and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. Any remaining errors belong to the author.     

Financing environmental services: the Costa Rican experience and its implications

Costa Rica’s pioneering environmental services program seeks to maintain socially optimal forest cover by compensating landowners for the external benefits provided by their forests. The National Forestry Fund proposes to sell carbon sequestration services to the world market and hydrological services to the domestic market. Revenues from these sales, together with tax revenue, is used to finance environmental service provision through landholder incentives for forest maintenance. The mechanics of these programs are discussed, along with implications for the design and implementation of similar programs.     

Ecosystem services from rainwater harvesting in India

Availability of a safe and reliable water supply is an issue in developing nations, including India. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a site-specific source control used to satisfy human, agricultural, and safety demands for water. This study analyzed the effects of capturing rainwater for a 12.5 year period (Jan 1999–Jun 2011) to provide three ecosystem services: water supplementation for indoor use, water supplementation for food production and groundwater recharge (GWR). A hydrologic analysis was completed using satellite rainfall data and a water balance approach. Two demand scenarios, indoor and outdoor, were considered, with water in excess of demand and storage directed to recharge groundwater. An economic analysis quantified RWH system net present value. The results indicated significant ecosystem services benefits were possible from RWH in India. RWH for the purpose of providing irrigation to a small garden and allowing overflow to a drywell for GWR was concluded to be an approach to maximize benefits. This scenario provided the greatest net present value (21,764–38,851 INR), fastest payback period (0.30–0.98 years), and recharge to groundwater of more than 40% of onsite rainfall. The benefit of the outdoor vegetable irrigation was determined and the results showed that the caloric demands of the typical Indian household (2.75 kg of tomatoes and 1.05 kg of lettuce) could be met with a 20 m² garden, and excess food could be sold to offset the capital cost of the system and later for economic gain.     

Value of demand flexibility for providing ancillary services: A case for social housing in the Irish DS3 market

This paper evaluates the potential of consumer flexibility from a portfolio of heat loads, solar panels and batteries in Social Housing to provide ancillary services. We propose two new ancillary service products: Turn-Up-Demand (TUD) and Turn-Down-Demand (TDD). We ran simulations for a complete year. The buffer-tank scenario provided earnings of £146/year for an average consumer. Finally, we propose a new policy called the Vulnerable Consumer Priority in Administering System Services (VCPASS) and the use of Heat-as-a-Service (HaaS) to fund the replacement of oil-boilers with heat pumps in fuel poor homes with a rate of 9.99p/kWh of heat for a payback period of 15 years.     

边缘城市的北京案例研究

边缘城市是美国大都市多中心演化过程中产生的一种新城市现象,在欧洲和澳洲也存在类似的现象。本文以丰台科技园作为典型案例,探讨北京的边缘城市现象及其形成背景与机制。丰台科技园各项条件已经满足美国边缘城市的衡量标准,可以认为是一个已经形成的边缘城市。它是在我国生产性服务业快速发展背景下,在北京生产性服务业空间重构过程中依托位于城市郊区的科技园而发展起来的。地方政府与房地产开发商联合形成的"增长联盟"是推动丰台边缘城市形成的主导力量。未来一段时间,类似的边缘城市还将会在北京、上海、广州等超大城市陆续出现。     

Contextual variations in perceived social values of ecosystem services of urban parks: A comparative study of China and Australia

Parks are an integral part of urban environment which provide a range of ecosystem services. While a great deal of efforts has been invested to investigate monetary and biophysical benefits of natural ecosystems, very few studies have explored socio-ecological values of urban parks. Comparative studies of ecosystem services from urban parks between multiple countries are even rarer. To address this research gap, we have compared users' perceptions of ecosystem services of two major urban parks in China (Dufu Cottage, Chengdu) and in Australia (Kings Park, Perth). Using an ecosystem services framework, we explored three key questions: (i) which ecosystem services are perceived to be most important? (ii) what are the trends of ecosystem services provided by the park? and (iii) which demographic and socio-economic factors influence users' perceptions most? We observed that there is no substantial difference in users' perceptions (in terms of importance and trend) of ecosystem services between two countries, except for microclimate service. Respondents in Dufu Cottage perceived microclimate as the most important service while in Kings Park, a number of services (e.g., aesthetic, habitat and recreational) received almost equal importance. Almost two-thirds of the respondents have perceived an increased level ecosystem services over the last five years. Various socio-demographic factors, such as gender, age, income level and frequency of visits influenced users' perceptions most significantly. These results have critical implications in designing more environmentally sensitive as well as user-oriented urban parks.