Learning to trade ethically: Knowledgeable capitalism, retailers and contested commodity chains

This paper explores what happens when corporations engage explicitly in practices of organisational learning not only to become better capitalists by generating ever more innovative ways of maintaining profitability, improving competitiveness and maximising shareholder value, but also to become more responsible corporate citizens in their business practices. In particular, I evaluate the ways in which UK food and clothing retailers are learning to develop their ethical trading programmes in response to political calls for more responsible trading. Thrift’s [Thrift, N., 2005. Knowing Capitalism. Sage, London] notion of ‘knowledgeable, or soft, capitalism’ is adopted to understand the creative and experimental ways in which retailers and their mentors (ethical consultancies, social auditors and multi-stakeholder organisations) are learning to trade ethically. Two specific examples of formal learning spaces experienced by UK food and clothing retailers are examined: (i) training courses on social auditing and (ii) corporate awareness-raising courses on ethical trade. These courses are shown to encompass various participative and affective practices of learning. And while particular limits to the success of these courses are argued to exist, ethical learning practices discussed in this paper are nonetheless suggested to play a role in the making of new, albeit moderate, forms of responsible capitalism.     

Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized open-ended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one-year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub-alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US$0.8–3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US$66.0 ± 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US$2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.     

城市功能区划的数量化方法研究及其应用--以深圳市南山区物流中心选址为例

文章总结了以往国内学者对城市功能区域的数量化方法研究，认为在层次分析法等方法中对指标权重的确定存在主观因素过多等不足，严重影响了研究的科学性和准确性，文章为了克服上述不足，将多属性效用理论的代理价值法与博弈论的方法应用于城市功能区的布局与研究，并以深圳市南山区物流中心的选址为例，阐述了代理价值法与博弈论在城市功能区域中的具体实践操作。     

From catfish to organic fish: making distinctions about nature as cultural economic practice

This paper addresses the cultural economy of nature and the material culture of economic practice. Attending to ways that cultural notions about the biophysical world play key roles in political economic conflicts, discussion centers on two recent debates involving the cultural economy of seafood production and trade. The first debate is over whether the label “catfish” should include catfish imported from Vietnam into the United States; the second deals with whether fish and shellfish should be eligible to be certified “organic” under new US regulations. Analysis reveals that the key dynamic in these debates is not necessarily how people think about “nature”, but instead is how people make distinctions about the world. Rather than focusing on what is natural or not, key actors make distinctions among both organisms and environments. The ways that different groups define and enclose the biophysical world works to distinguish places as either appropriate or not for certain kinds of production activities. The overall argument is that significance and meaning of the biophysical become implicated in economic geographies by making distinctions about the world that then become important for how economic activity can work. As such, cultural economic approaches should attend to the ways that the biophysical is involved in relations such as competition and international trade, while nature-society approaches should shift focus from Nature to specific aspects of the biophysical world.     

90年代世界贸易发展及空间格局变化的新特点

在世界贸易组织、日趋强烈的开放的区域主义倾向、跨国公司强劲的直接投资影响下，世界贸易正在经历着巨大变化，处在一个新的转换时期。本文从影响当今世界贸易发展的多重因素分析，揭示90年代世界贸易增长、内容结构以及空间格局发展变化的新特征，并展望世界贸易的未来发展。     

CONCEPTION OF ESTABLISHING THE SINO RUSSIAN BORDER FREE ECONOMIC REGION

Ｓｏｃａｌｌｅｄｆｒｅｅｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃｒｅｇｉｏｎｉｓａｓｐｅｃｉａｌｒｅｇｉｏｎｗｉｔｈｏｕｔｊｕｒｉｓｄｉｃｔｉｏｎｏｆｃｕｓｔｏｍｓ,ｄｅｌｉｍｉｔｅｄｂｙｏｎｅｃｏｕｎｔｒｙ．Ｉｎｔｈｉｓｒｅｇｉｏｎｖａｒｉｏｕｓｐｒｅｆｅｒｅｎｔｉａｌｐｏｌｉｃｉｅｓｏｆｒｅｄｕｃｉｎｇｏｒｒｅｍｉｔｔｉｎｇｔａｘａｔｉｏｎａｒｅｉｍｐｌｅｍｅｎｔｅｄ．Ｉｔｃａｎｐｒｏｖｉｄｅｍａｎｙｃｏｎｖｅｎｉｅｎｔｃｏｎｄｉｔｉｏｎｓｆｏｒｆｒｅｅｆｌｏｗｏｆｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌｃｏｍｍｏｄｉｔｙ…     

关于主题旅游协作网络建设的探讨——以"霞客行"旅游网络为例

旅游协作是旅游系统本身的要素关联,是其客观属性和发展的必然。主题旅游协作是以某一个主题为"红线",将相关旅游要素组织起来形成一个旅游协作组织形式。目前关于旅游协作研究中很少涉及主题旅游协作。文中以"霞客行"旅游网络计划为例,讨论了名人故居旅游地开发中,重视物质性遗产开发,忽略非物质性品牌利用所导致的"大品牌,小产品"的问题,提出了利用虚实结合手法,通过主题品牌运作,构建综合性主题旅游协作网络的构想。旨在通过一个产品网络、一个市场网络、一个学术网络和一个虚拟网络的运作来充分发挥徐霞客品牌的纽带作用,以此推动相关主题旅游地协作单位之间的产品共享和市场共享,从而实现协作体系的效益最大化。     

“股份+合作”土地流转模式的实践和启示——以宁阳县蒋集镇郑龙村为例

近年来,宁阳县蒋集镇郑龙村对土地流转进行了积极探索,形成了"股份+合作"的土地流转模式,这种模式有一套完整机制,取得了合作多赢的成效,并给国土资源工作一定的启示。这一模式得到国家农业部及省市有关专家充分肯定,认为是全国土地流转成功模式之一。     

甘青地区马家窑文化彩陶贸易及其动力探讨

马家窑文化是甘青地区仰韶文化晚期阶段一个重要的文化遗存类型,其以精美的彩陶闻名于世,对于马家窑文化彩陶的交流传播研究受到了学术界的广泛关注。本文运用X-荧光光谱分析法对甘青地区5个典型马家窑文化早期阶段遗址出土的92件彩陶陶片样品和各遗址附近采集的42份红粘土及黄土样品进行化学元素组成分析,追溯彩陶的产源地及贸易。同时基于陶器的起源传播理论,收集整理马家窑文化区遗址出土的粟（Setaria italica）、黍（Panicum miliaceum）农作物以及动物骨骼遗存鉴定资料,探讨马家窑彩陶贸易的动力。Ti/Al-Na/K和主成分分析结果显示宗日文化区宗日遗址的马家窑文化彩陶元素组成特征和马家窑文化主体区域的彩陶一致,表明宗日遗址马家窑类型彩陶是从马家窑文化主体区域贸易而来;马家窑文化彩陶的传播和该地区粟黍农作物的交流传播具有时空一致性,粟黍农业人群沿黄河上游谷地向共和盆地的扩散带来了新的文化元素;宗日文化区和马家窑文化核心区生业模式的差异带来了跨区域间文化交流的动力,这也可能是马家窑文化彩陶贸易的动力。