会计经济金融外文翻译外文文献英文文献发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施问题
ERP implementation issues in advancedand developing countriesAbstractThere is an increasing need to implement a total business solution which supports major functionalities of a business. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed to meet this need, and has been widely adopted by organizations in developed countries. Meanwhile, ERP is beginning to appear in many organizations of developing countries. Little research has been conducted to compare the implementation practices of ERP in developed vs developing countries. Our research shows that ERP technology faces additional challenges in developing countries related to economic, cultural, and basic infrastructure issues. This article identifies a range of issues concerning ERP implementation by making a comparison of advanced and developing countries.Key words: Enterprise Resource management; Implementation; Developing countries.Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or a service business manage the important parts of its business. Evolving from MRP systems, ERP has played a significant role in IT for several decades. Since the first symbiotic ERP product SAP created in 1972, ERP market revenues are expected to be as high as $52 billion by the year 2002. While there is wide acceptance of ERP in developed countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia, developing countries lag far behind. At present, North America occupies 66 percent of the ERP market, Europe takes 22 percent, while the whole of Asia is only at 9 percent. However, due to economic growth, developing countries in Asia and Latin America are becoming major targets of big ERP vendors.ERP in developed countriesERP systems have been widely used by companies in developed countries. Organizations in manufacturing, service, and energy industries adopt ERP to:•automate the deployment and management of material, finance and human resources;•streamline processes and achieve process improvement;•achieve global competitiveness.In this section, North America, Europe are selected as representative developed countries.North America (USA, Canada)Europeans designed the first integrated ERP system –SAP in Germany, 1972, whereas, organizations in North America seem to have richer experience in this kind of software and have used integrated software solutions for decades. As commercial systems evolved from material planning (MRP) to enterprise planning (ERP), companies continued investment to bring in newer systems. Currently, two out of three ERP deals in North America are replacement deals.The USA is the primary target of ERP and represents 66 percent of revenues for the major vendors. Before 2000, one major concern of North American corporations was Y2K problems. After Y2K, management turned its eyes to extending its enterprises. Several trends have appeared. E-commerce is a major force. Organizations want their ERP systems to connect more tightly with suppliers and customers via e-commerce. Supply chain management (SCM) products, regarded as post-ERP, are now entering into North American organizations. SCM functions include demand forecasting, sourcing and procurement, inventory and warehouse management, and distribution logistics.Europe (UK, Germany, France)Europe is the second largest target ERP sales market (at 22 percent). Many big ERP vendors started their business from Europe; e.g. SAP AG, Baan, JBA International and Intentia. Historically, strong manufacturing industry is an underlying reason for so many ERP vendors in Europe. There are several reasons for Europe’s ERP market. First, economically advanced countries have a solid industrial and manufacturing base. Second, there is a strong national information infrastructure. Third, the multiple-language and multi-currency requirements make the ERP software attractive. Fourth, quality employees are available to implement advanced technologies. Characteristics of ERP implementation in developed countriesIt is easy to understand why North America and Europe occupy the largest ERP market. From national and environmental perspectives, these countries have excellent infrastructures which effectively facilitate IT diffusion. Strong economic base and growth further drive the need for new technology. Governmental IT policy, deregulation and organizational enthusiasm for IT fuel technology development. New technologies such as ERP, SCM and others are quickly absorbed by organizations in almost all industries.From an organizational perspective, companies in developed countries are more likely to succeed. Higher IT maturity and favorable computer culture make organizations ready to handle complex technology. Also organizations are developing a strong process management orientation (Davenport, 1994). BPR is practiced frequently in North American and European countries.Some trends are observable. First, small and middle sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming targets of ERP vendors. Second, ERP coupled with e-commerce functionality will dominate the market. E-commerce is becoming a new way of doing business between business and business (B2B) and between business and customer (B2C). CIOs are planning to build electronic commerce and decision-support extensions to ERP implementations. Meanwhile, e-commerce based ERP systems are commercially available。
ERP系统中英文对照外文翻译文献
ERP系统中英文对照外文翻译文献ERP系统中英文对照外文翻译文献(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)ERP系统在财务报告内部控制的作用【摘要】：萨班斯-奥克斯利法案法例中强调，ERP系统的重要作用是运用内部控制反映公司的基本建设，为此ERP系统软件开发供应商也增加了对内部控制的应用。
他们认为，这些内置的控制和其他功能将帮助企业改善其财务报告内部控制就如萨班斯法案要求的那样。
这项研究测试，通过检查萨班斯法案第404条在1994年和2003年之间实施ERP 系统的公司合规内控数据。
其结果表明，应用ERP 的公司相对于未应用ERP的样本公司较少报告内部控制弱点。
它还发现，这种差异存在一般控制和特别控制中。
关键词：企业资源规划；ERP；萨班斯-奥克斯利法案；萨班斯法案第404条；内部控制1简介2002年的萨班斯法案要求企业将其内部控制的有效性的报告与财务报告作为一个整体努力，以减少欺诈和恢复完整的财务报告过程的一部分。
ERP系统软件开发供应商已强调，ERP系统的重要作用是运用“内置”控制反映公司基本建设。
他们在营销理念强调了产品的功能，声称这些系统将帮助企业按萨班斯法案所要求提高内部控制的有效性。
这些供应商的声明激发了关于ERP系统对内部控制的影响一项有趣的实证问题研究。
具体来说，是不是实现ERP系统的企业或多或少可能比未实现ERP系统的公司较少在其年度报告报告内部控制弱点？已经进行过这特定区域研究的经验/档案相对较少的，因为之前萨班斯法案内部控制的数据并没有被公开报道。
这项研究的方法通过在文献资料检查一个已经宣布实施ERP系统和一个还没有类似的公司控制样本公司的抽样调查的内部控制数据来发现差距。
内部控制是在公司使用的以解决代理问题的许多机制之一。
其他的机制还包括财务报告，编制预算，审计委员会和外部审计（Jensen和佩恩2003）。
研究表明，内部控制降低了代理成本（Abdel-khalik 1993；Barefield 等，1993），有些甚至争辩说，即使没有萨班斯法案的要求，企业也有经济诱因报告内部控制（Deumes和Knechel，2008年）。
会计学 外文翻译 外文文献 英文文献 中小型企业财务管理中存在的问题及其对策
目录1. 外文译文 (1)2. 外文原文 (5)中小型企业财务管理中存在的问题及其对策中小型企业在中国经济发展中发挥着重要的作用。
统计数据表明，在工商行政管理局登记在册的企业中，中小型企业占了99%，产值和利润分别占总额的60%和40%。
此外，中小型企业所提供了75％的城镇就业机会。
可见其为中国的稳定和经济繁荣作出了重要贡献。
虽然中小型企业在国民经济中占有重要地位，对中国经济发展与社会稳定具有很重大的意义。
但是，中小型企业发展的主要障碍是缺乏有效的财务管理。
本文分析了当前中小型企业财务管理中存在的问题，并就改善中小型企业财务管理提出了相应对策。
1.1 中小型企业的财务管理现状自从21世纪以来，中国的中小型企业的蓬勃发展，在经济增长和社会发展中发挥着非常重要的作用。
据财政部统计数据，直到2005年底，中小型企业总数已超过1000万，占中国企业总数的99%。
中小型企业提供了75％的城镇就业机会，工业企业的总产值、销售收入、实现的利得税和出口额分别占总数的60%、57%、40%和60%，上缴的税收已经接近了国家税收总额的一半。
中小型企业承载着超过75%的技术革新和超过65％的专利发明，他们以其灵活的经营机制和积极创新活动，为经济发展提供了增长的最根本动力。
近年来，中国中小企业的消亡率将近70%，大约有30%的中小型企业存在赤字。
中小型企业应该如何建立现代企业制度，加强财务管理，并科学地进行资本运作以谋求自身的健康发展，是我们密切关注的一个问题。
1.2 中小型企业财务管理中存在的问题⑴财务管理理念滞后，而且方法保守中小型企业由于管理者自身知识水平的限制，使得企业的管理能力和管理质量较低。
他们的管理思想已经不适合现代企业，并且大多数企业领导人缺乏财务管理的理论和方法，忽视了企业资本运作的作用。
管理者既不重视财务事，也不参与企业政策的制定和相关管理活动。
因此，财务管理无法发挥其应有职能，从而导致企业缺乏现代财务管理的理念，也无从去培训合格的财务人员。
外文文献翻译发达国家和发展中国家的ERP实施问题
ERP implementation issues in advanced anddeveloping countriesAbstractThere is an increasing need to implement a total business solution which supports major functionalities of a business. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is designed to meet this need, and has been widely adopted by organizations in developed countries. Meanwhile, ERP is beginning to appear in many organizations of developing countries. Little research has been conducted to compare the implementation practices of ERP in developed vs developing countries. Our research shows that ERP technology faces additional challenges in developing countries related to economic, cultural, and basic infrastructure issues. This article identifies a range of issues concerning ERP implementation by making a comparison of advanced and developing countries.Key words:Enterprise Resource management; Implementation; Developing countries.Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or a service business manage the important parts of its business. Evolving from MRP systems, ERP has played a significant role in IT for several decades. Since the first symbiotic ERP product SAP created in 1972, ERP market revenues are expected to be as high as $52 billion by the year 2002. While there is wide acceptance of ERP in developed countries such as the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia, developing countries lag far behind. At present, North America occupies 66 percent of the ERP market, Europe takes 22 percent, while the whole of Asia is only at 9 percent. However, due to economic growth, developing countries in Asia and Latin America are becoming major targets of big ERP vendors.ERP in developed countriesERP systems have been widely used by companies in developed countries. Organizations in manufacturing, service, and energy industries adopt ERP to:automate the deployment and management of material, finance and human resources;∙streamline processes and achieve process improvement;∙achieve global competitiveness.In this section, North America, Europe are selected as representative developed countries.North America (USA, Canada)Europeans designed the first integrated ERP system –SAP in Germany, 1972, whereas, organizations in North America seem to have richer experience in this kind of software and have used integrated software solutions for decades. As commercial systems evolved from material planning (MRP) to enterprise planning (ERP), companies continued investment to bring in newer systems. Currently, two out of three ERP deals in North America are replacement deals.The USA is the primary target of ERP and represents 66 percent of revenues for the major vendors. Before 2000, one major concern of North American corporations was Y2K problems. After Y2K, management turned its eyes to extending its enterprises. Several trends have appeared. E-commerce is a major force. Organizations want their ERP systems to connect more tightly with suppliers and customers via e-commerce. Supply chain management (SCM) products, regarded as post-ERP, are now entering into North American organizations. SCM functions include demand forecasting, sourcing and procurement, inventory and warehouse management, and distribution logistics.Europe (UK, Germany, France)Europe is the second largest target ERP sales market (at 22 percent). Many big ERP vendors started their business from Europe; e.g. SAP AG, Baan, JBA International and Intentia. Historically, strong manufacturing industry is an underlying reason for so many ERP vendors in Europe. There are several reasons for Europe’s ERP market. First, economically advanced countries have a solid industrial and manufacturing base. Second, there is a strong national information infrastructure. Third, the multiple-language and multi-currency requirements make the ERP software attractive. Fourth, quality employees are available to implement advanced technologies.Characteristics of ERP implementation in developed countriesIt is easy to understand why North America and Europe occupy the largest ERP market. From national and environmental perspectives, these countries have excellent infrastructures which effectively facilitate IT diffusion. Strong economic base and growth further drive the need for new technology. Governmental IT policy, deregulation and organizational enthusiasm for IT fuel technology development. New technologies such as ERP, SCM and others are quickly absorbed by organizations in almost all industries.From an organizational perspective, companies in developed countries are more likely to succeed. Higher IT maturity and favorable computer culture make organizations ready to handle complex technology. Also organizations are developing a strong process management orientation (Davenport, 1994). BPR is practiced frequently in North American and European countries.Some trends are observable. First, small and middle sized enterprises (SMEs) are becoming targets of ERP vendors. Second, ERP coupled with e-commerce functionality will dominate the market. E-commerce is becoming a new way of doing business between business and business (B2B) and between business and customer (B2C). CIOs are planning to build electronic commerce and decision-support extensions to ERP implementations. Meanwhile, e-commerce based ERP systems are commercially available。
金融危机下的公允价值会计——会计类毕业论文中英文翻译、外文翻译
附件9：XXX科技学院学生毕业设计（论文）外文译文院（系）专业班级学生姓名XXX学号XXX文章来源：玛利亚卡门惠安库扎大学，亚历山大雅西，罗马尼亚金融危机下的公允价值会计摘要：2008年9月的金融风暴直击美国经济核心，并且迅速蔓延到世界各地，引发了对使用外来衍生金融工具和公允价值会计的激烈辩论。
或多或少受此次危机影响的银行﹑保险管理人员，审计师和政界人士就这一主题多次在新闻头版发表不同意见，本文的目的是审查金融市场的现状，使我们了解到公允价值会计及衍生品在预防这些巨大的丑闻时的重要性，制定准则。
同时阐述支持或反对使用公允价值和信用衍生产品的意见并提出应对未来金融危机的解决办法。
关键词：次贷危机金融衍生产品公允价值一、引言安然危机震撼了美国经济的核心。
监管机构在2000年初发行规则，以方便投资者了解公司资产的价值，并减少（至少部分减少）结构性融资的复杂性。
当时，一个最佳的解决方案似乎是合理价值会计，它旨在披露更具相关性和有价值的报告。
监管机构认为，鼓励公平价值的透明度和可比性，将有助于恢复投资者对金融市场及其机构的信任。
安然事件之后，美国的标准制定者-财务会计标准委员会（ FASB ）已行使任务，发出的公允价值测量标准（联邦反垄断局第157条）。
根据这一标准，资产必须属于这三类之一，如何分类取决于其相对流动性：1级，包括最流动资产，其价值源于在活跃市场的价格;2级，包括使用可观察市场的市场数据;3级，包括最难计量的资产的公允价值计量不可观察，只有通过以内部模式和估算为基础的价格。
正是这个第三级别提高了在没有市场参考价时有关强制使用市场价值为交易或金融资产/负债的计价模式。
关于公允价值会计的争论再度引发了新闻界把责任归咎于彻底崩溃的住房抵押贷款证券的市场和住房信贷市场1由于缺乏市场流动性产生了上述银行家，责任再次放在公允价值会计，但奇怪的1因为没有流动性的市场，这里第三级最具争议，它有关强制使用以市场价值为交易、金融资产或负债。
财会类-外文翻译
外文文献原稿和译文原稿Major changes of corporate treasury management policies have been in the past few decades. Treasury management has gradually taken up more and more responsibilities. In the 1960s treasury-related tasks entailed purely routine work in what was no more than an ancillary function as a centralising cash management unit linked to administrative tasks. In the 1970s the first significant changes began to take place as the economic environment was hit by recession, which favoured the emergence of new shortterm monetary policy instruments and the first hints of deregulation of financial markets, but treasury management was still restricted to the obtaining of funding, the management of payments and collections and the maintenance of bank balance positions. It was not until the 1980s that it became integrated into general corporate management and finally outgrew its purely administrative function linked to the accounting department. Treasury functions began to be based essentially on a financial cash management or liquidity management perspective. More recent advances have favoured the development of new treasury management functions, and increased the importance of treasury departments within companies. In this way, now the techniques and instruments required for optimum development are available.The functions now linked to treasury management extend beyond the mere control of monetary flows and positions. Exchange-rate and interest-rate volatility in the wake of the internationalisation and deregulation of currency markets, the need to increase control of credit risk in increasingly competitive markets and the appearance of new financial instruments have forced treasury management to become more forecast-based in its actions, with more emphasis on the management of investments, treasury deficits and different financial risks. Basic responsibilities of treasury departments will be those tasks that enable companies to use the techniques and information needed to minimise the financial costs of resources and maximise returnson cash surpluses, thus providing them with the necessary treasury funding in the desired currency at the appropriate time, as argued by Lopez and others.In the terminology of cash management literature this term brings together various functions associated with short-term financial flow management: liquidity management, banking management,management of treasury surpluses and deficits and financial risk management; it is a broader concept than the mere management of payments and collections. In this context, our objective is to provide empirical evidence for the definition of cash management by drawing up an explanatory model. The following pages present a cash management model obtained using the technique of structural equations, which has never been used before in research analysing the factors linked to treasury management.A salient result of our model is that the management of payments and collections and treasury forecasts are the functions to which the companies surveyed attach most importance. These are the functions that have traditionally been most closely linked with treasury management, though others which have been incorporated more recently, such as management of bank balances at value date,management of relationships with banks, management of treasury deficit funding and management of treasury surpluses, are all also highly rated by companies.Cash management can be seen from two different perspectives depending on how many responsibilities it includes: treasury management (or basic cash management) and advanced cash management. Specifically, treasury management handles actual cash management at companies, and one of its main functions is to establish the optimum cash level so that payments can be made and received as necessary for the proper operation of the company. The second concept includes not only treasury management but also other tasks such as treasury forecasting, negotiation and establishment of relationships with financial institutions and financial risk management.Pindado argues that basic cash management refers to that part of the working capital that makes up the optimal level needed by a company treasury. However, if the profit opportunities available in the process of cash flow creation are to be maximised, this scope must be broadened to take in more operational decisions, since optimum cash levels are influenced by other factors outside the restrictive concept of "treasury".Linking these concepts with the concepts of monetary theory reveals that the initial reasons for cash management were transaction and precaution, and those reasons were then joined by speculation, taking it closer to the overall concept of treasury management in the broad sense of the term.MethodologyFactor analysis was used to develop a model that can explain cash management. First of all,exploratory factor analysis was used to define constructs by the inductive approach, and thus to deduce theoretical models. Secondly, confirmatory factor analysis was used to show the validity of the constructs arising from those deductions. To validate the model and make it more robust, the sample was also subdivided randomly into two, with exploratory factor analysis then being applied to one of the subsamples and confirmatory analysis to the other. This method was applied to various splits of the original sample, with the argument that if it fitted in all of them, the scales of the model obtained would be validated. Confirming the model both inductively and deductively for different selections from the same population ensures that the measuring process is free from any systematic error.Structural equations have not previously been used in research to analyse factors linked to cash management. The structural equations method can be used to construct unobserved variables that define and statistically validate the theoretical concepts studied, reasoned and explained by researchers: in this case the responsibilities of cash management.Descriptive AnalysisTreasurers or treasury managers undertake various tasks in all areas of cash management, such as management of payments made and received, monitoring of liquidity of banking operations, short-term treasury forecasts, management of account balances at value dates, negotiation with banks,management of treasury deficit funding, management of treasury peaks and management of interest and exchange rate risks.Monitoring and optimisation of the circuit of payments received is the variable that scores highest among the firms surveyed, possibly because it brings together management functions concerned with the main payments received by firms, onwhich their survival depends. The preparation of treasury forecasts obtains the second highest score on average, mainly because proper treasury management must be based on knowledge of future positions. The responsibilities which obtained the lowest score are coverage of interest rate risk and exchange-rate risk, but some firms are unaware of these functions and others find them of little relevance due to the low degree of influence of such risks on their financial activities.In general, the remaining responsibilities obtain high scores.None of them stands out from the rest. The responsibilities in question are day-to-day control of banking position, monitoring of banking positions at value date, establishment of an optimum cash level, optimisation of liquidity, and monitoring and optimisation of the purchase-payment circuit.Other responsibilities include minimisation of costs of short-term borrowing required to cover treasury deficits and maximisation of returns on treasury surpluses.In short, all treasury management responsibilities obtain high scores except coverage of financial risks. Particularly high scores are obtained by management of payments for payments received, due to its importance for the survival of firms, and by management of treasury forecasts as a way of obtaining advanced information on movements of available liquid assets.Explanatory ModelFactor analysis was used to develop a model capable of explaining cash management and showing the results arising from its use. To define the construct used in the explanatory model, which cannot be observed directly in actual businesses, exploratory factor analysis was used first on a subsample,followed by confirmatory analysis on another, different subsample, to make the model more robust. Exploratory Factorial AnalysisExploratory factorial analysis is applied to a randomly selected subsample. An examination of this table reveals that the correlations between the variables used are still sufficiently high to justify the application of a factorial analysis of principal components.The results of the exploratory analysis show that the eleven variables concerned with treasury management responsibilities can be grouped into two components withonly minimal information loss.Basic cash management, which includes three levels: liquidity management (short-term treasury forecasts, at least monthly, establishment of an optimum cash level, optimisation of liquidity), operational management (monitoring and optimisation of the purchase-payment circuit, monitoring and optimisation of the sales-cash circuit), and banking management (monitoring of banking positions at the value date, day-to-day control of banking positions).Advanced cash management, which also includes three levels: investment management (maximisation of returns on treasury surpluses), financial management (minimisation of costs of short-term borrowing), and risk management (coverage of interest-rate risk, coverage of exchange-rate risk).Confirmatory Factorial AnalysisConfirmatory factor analysis is then applied to different subsamples to produce a valid, reliable scale for measuring this factor.Using statistical techniques from a convergent perspective, the present study aims to provide evidence of the existence of a single underlying concept that can explain cash management sufficiently well to bring together the variables in the scale considered overall. To obtain a valid, reliable scale capable of expressing the concept of treasury management, the internal consistency of the model is checked using reliability techniques (Cronbach’s alpha, composite reliability and extracted variance), convergent validity and discriminant validity of factors.The model reflects the idea that treasury management comprises basic cash management and advanced cash management. Basic cash management includes the constructs for liquidity management, operational management and banking management. Advanced cash management includes those for investment management, financial management and management of financial risk coverage. The theoretical concept underlying this model is supported by the opinions of the treasury managers surveyed, who understand cash management as including not just liquidity management tasks but also others such as management of payments made and received, forecast management, banking management, investment management, financial management and financial risk management.译文企业资金管理政策在过去的几十年发生了主要变化。
金融危机对全球经济的影响中英文对照外文翻译文献
金融危机对全球经济的影响中英文对照外文翻译文献(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)金融危机对全球商业的影响目前，新的经济只是在部分工业化经济高度发达的国家初露端倪，在全球范围还属于萌芽状态。
不过这种经济的发展肯定对于世界政治和经济将产生越来越大的影响。
日本经济审议会1999年向日本政府提出对未来十年日本新经济计划的建议时说：“当前，世界文明正在发生变化，这一变化不是一般的‘进步’与“高度化”，而是要创造新的历史发展阶段的变化。
一直支撑战后增长的现代工业社会的规范已跟不上人类文明的巨大潮流。
在今后存在多种智慧的社会中，必须通过不断创造出新的智慧来搞活经济与文化。
为此，就必须能够更加容易地吸收世界的信息和知识，还要有更加容易向世界传递信息的环境。
同时，还必须拥有能够培养富于个性和创造性的组织和人才的计划和社会气氛”。
如果把上面所说的世界经济的变化加以概括，似乎可以说，未来经济有两大趋势：一个是经济知识化，表现为知识和信息成为经济发展最活跃、最重要的因素；另一个是经济全球化，表现为商品、劳务、资本、技术和人才在全球流动的加速。
这两大趋势相互联系、互相影响。
也可以说，新的经济将是以知识与技术创新为基础，以全球为市场的时代。
它将促使各国的增长模式、产业构成、经济体制、社会结构、教育制度、文化取向等产生深刻的变化，也将对各国的对内、对外政策提出新课题。
三、经济全球化的大趋势及其两重性经济全球化的发端似可溯源到二次世界大战后期布雷顿森林体制的创建。
世界银行、国际货币基金组织和关贸总协定三大机构的建立与发展，给全球金融、贸易与投资活动以极大的推动。
美元与黄金挂钩使美元成为国际流通与储备的手段，首先便利了美国企业向全球的拓展。
不过，冷战时期两个世界市场的划分又使经济全球化受到一定限制。
冷战结束后，经济全球化得到进一步发展。
主要有两股力量推动：一股力量是信息技术革命和高新技术成长的大大促进了商品、劳务、资本、人才、技术的全球交流。
国际会计准则中英文对照外文翻译文献
中英文对照外文翻译文献(文档含英文原文和中文翻译)译文:译文（一）世界贸易的飞速发展和国际资本的快速流动将世界经济带入了全球化时代。
在这个时代, 任何一个国家要脱离世界贸易市场和资本市场谋求自身发展是非常困难的。
会计作为国际通用的商业语言, 在经济全球化过程中扮演着越来越重要的角色, 市场参与者也对其提出越来越高的要求。
随着市场经济体制的逐步建立和完善，有些国家加入世贸组织后国际化进程的加快，市场开放程度的进一步增强，市场经济发育过程中不可避免的各种财务问题的出现，迫切需要完善的会计准则加以规范。
然而，在会计准则制定过程中，有必要认真思考理清会计准则的概念，使制定的会计准则规范准确、方便操作、经济实用。
由于各国家的历史、环境、经济发展等方面的不同,导致目前世界所使用的会计准则在很多方面都存在着差异,这使得各国家之间的会计信息缺乏可比性,本国信息为外国家信息使用者所理解的成本较高,在很大程度上阻碍了世界国家间资本的自由流动。
近年来,许多国家的会计管理部门和国家性的会计、经济组织都致力于会计准则的思考和研究,力求制定出一套适于各个不同国家和经济环境下的规范一致的会计准则,以增强会计信息的可比性,减少国家各之间经济交往中信息转换的成本。
译文（二）会计准则就是会计管理活动所依据的原则, 会计准则总是以一定的社会经济背景为其存在基础, 也总是反映不同社会经济制度、法律制度以及人们习惯的某些特征, 因而不同国家的会计准则各有不同特点。
但是会计准则毕竟是经济发展对会计规范提出的客观要求。
它与社会经济发展水平和会计管理的基本要求是相适应的,因而,每个国家的会计准则必然具有某些共性:1. 规范性每个企业有着变化多端的经济业务,而不同行业的企业又有各自的特殊性。
而有了会计准则,会计人员在进行会计核算时就有了一个共同遵循的标准,各行各业的会计工作可在同一标准的基础上进行,从而使会计行为达到规范化,使得会计人员提供的会计信息具有广泛的一致性和可比性,大大提高了会计信息的质量。
论文：ERP的应用与实施
《企业资源计划ERP》课程论文题目ERP的应用与实施学生姓名学生学号专业班级任课教师摘要随着中国企业信息化的飞速进展，ERP在中国也进入广泛普及阶段，ERP 不再只是巨型企业的专利，也不再只是一个奢华不可高攀的理论，应用更加务实、业务范围更加广泛、涉及的业务深度逐渐加强的ERP正为广大的中国企业所期盼。
目前我国国内的ERP应用并不尽如人意，ERP的应用在中国的道路是曲折的，但却是必经的。
关键词： ERP 应用实施发展一、ERP应用的现状ERP软件是信息文明的典型代表之一，是企业管理的重要的软件之一。
在发达国家应用率相当高。
我国对ERP的应用已走过了二三十年的艰难历程，自引进第一套ERP软件以来,投入了百亿元的资金，经历了启动期、成长期和成熟期等阶段。
时至今日，无论从企业发展对ERP的迫切需求，还是人们对ERP认识的逐步深入，都发生了质和量的变化。
虽然许多大中型企业的ERP都已进入深度应用阶段，但从应用水平提升和效果看，仍存在诸多难题和障碍。
在国内随着会计电算化的应用、发展、延伸，以用友、金蝶为代表的ERP软件公司正在逐渐发展壮大起来。
二、中小型企业应用ERP存在的问题1、对ERP的认识不到位，目标不明确由于ERP应用的短期效应不明显，加上中小型企业对ERP的认识和经验都不足,在短期内很难看到ERP的作用和效果，这些因素都会在一定程度上影响中小企业应用ERP的进程。
2、缺乏一定的资金和人才ERP项目的实施需要几十万甚至上百万的资金投入，这对于运作资金相对缺乏的中小型企业来说，是一笔不小的开支，加上企业对信息化缺乏经验，很难确定需要多少资金来投资企业信息化是合理的，因此企业一般不愿意进行ERP投资，出现了小马拉大车及头痛医头等不愿合理投资的现象；人才是一个企业的核心所在，ERP的应用需要专业的人才来操作。
3、中小型企业的软件产品单一，不能满足多样化需求我国企业数目众多，量大面广。
迄今为止，在我国工商行政部门注册的中小企业已超1000万家，信息化需求千差万别，掌握其全面资料难度相当之大，大多数IT企业不愿意投入太多的精力去准确获取中小型企业的个性化需求。
会计电算化外文翻译文献.docx
会计电算化外文翻译文献（文档含英文原文和中文翻译）Manual Accounting Versus Computerized AccourrtingAs many professional accountants and auditors state - accounting is a 1anguage of business which is accepted in al 1 developed and developing countries・Every company applies accounting because it is generally accepted that companies have to reveal certain financial and management information to the government and public users and of course because accounting is indispensable tool in business decision-making process・With the development of information technologies there were developed many computer products (software) that make accounting as easy as ABC for those who uses them・ F TOITI this point accounting can be divided into two basic categories:those which apply manual accounting and those which prefer computerized accounting systems・ This paper is targets the main features of manual and computerized accounting, their benefits and shortcomings, and their comparison.From the accounting theory it is known that accounting cycle ineludes the following steps: journali zing the transactions, posting them to ledgeraccounts, preparing trial balance, making adjustment entries, preparing adjusted to end-of-period trial balance , preparing financial statements and appropriate disclosures, journalizing and posting the closing entries, and preparing after-closing trial balance at last・ From the first look it is not very clifficult and it is so indeed, but when there are thousands or millions of transactions the situation dramatically changes・ Lots of transactions that must be processed in the acco un ting cycle make this process routine and even a 1 i ttl e mi stake or inaccuracy can cause all the cycle from the very beginning in order to find and correct the mistake ・ So as to shed some light on the matter lets examine accounting cycle more thorough1y. Every transaction (event that change the financial resources or obligations of the company) must be recognized, classified and documented; in addition there must be corresponding accounts identified and changed. The transactions are recorded in appropriate journals (general journal, sales journal etc) with transaction data, affected accounts? titles, debit and credit of each affected account and explanation specified in the journal record・ The above procedure is used for each transaction. All the journal records must be posted to the ledger on a periodic basis (daily or weekly), which is a group of accounts put together and classified (assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses and equity) ? in other words general ledger summarizes all the transactions within a period of time. In addition there is a subsidiary ledger can be used, which is a more detailed source, where individual items comprised (inventory, accounts payable and accounts receivable)・General ledger contains controlling accounts which summarize the content of subsidiary ledger. At the end of accounting period with the help of general ledger there is a trial balanee calculated to make sure that debit and credit are in balance (if they are not equal it means that there is an error somewhere). Then there must be appropriate adjustments made like depreciation and income tax expenses, adjusted records posted to the ledger and adjustedtrial balance calculated・After this there are financial statements should be prepared, which include balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings and statement of cash flows・ Then journal entries of temporary accounts are closed to permanent accounts and posted to the ledger, and at last after-closing trial balanee can prepared・In order to stay on top companies have to analyze the performance of all organizational cells (starting from unskilled workers and operating personnel, and finishing with top managers and other key personnel) and discover all the deviations from the plan, their causes, and finally companies? management has to take corresponding measures to avoid such deviations in the future・ These procedures are called internal controls and inelude the following five elements: control environment, risk assessment, monitoring, information and commimication, which are assessed separately and put together a single rate of organization's performance・Control environment means the way of organization，s internal control? which manager controls the employees, how and whom does that manager reports next about the plan performance etc・Risk assessment implies measures to determine all the potential risks in advance, their causes, probabilities and counter-measures to avoid and manage them; how can those risks influenee company's performance and financial state; how to minimize the costs of facing financial risks etc・Monitoring implies quality control of company，s operations and personne1. Information and communication element means the control over communication f1ow and the quality of information flow within the organization in order to minimize the time of communication and information losses. Internal control procedures allow to keep companies? assets from dissipation and control productivity and usefulness of all departments.Let's return to the main issue of the paper・Manual accounting implies that employees perform the whole accounting cycle manually on a periodic basis: they calculate trial balances, journalize transactions,prepare financial statement reports and other routines・Of course it takes much time, resources and effort in large organizations. Computerized accounting implies that the only thing that employees do is recording transactions into the computer which processes the other steps of accounting cycle automatically or by a request・But this is a very simplified view on the computerized accounting because trans&ction is a complex category which includes not only sales or acquisitions, but depreciation, premiums and wages calculation, dividends etc. So computers provide accurate calculations and smart reports but it takes much time, resources and effort too and it ' s difficult to assess which accounting type is more fast and economic・ If manual accounting requires qualified accountants to keep a record of business transactions, computerized requires accountants which can use specific software and thus they cost more・ Computer software calculates faster but it does not know what you need until you can clearly explain what exactly you need. In addition good computerized accounting system can cost thousands and even millions dollars, depending on the complexity and the size of organization. Computerized accounting provides better internal control report system for any given period of time (computer can control thousands indicators simultaneously and create notifications to the appropriate departments or workers if some indicators do not correspond to the normal state), while manual control takes more time・Among the advantages of manual accounting there are: comparatively cheap workforce and resources, reliability, independence from machines, skilled workers availability; the disadvantages include: reduced speed, increased effort of accountants, relatively slower internal control reporting, routine work and some others .Among the ma i n advantages of computerized accounting there are: high speed and mobility of reporting,reliability, no routine work, increased accuracy, internal control system of increased productivity, easy back up and restoration of records: the di sadvantages include: extremely hi gh costs on developing, introducing and using the system, special trainings for personnel, increased personnel costs, dependenee on machines etc .0bviously both computerized and manual accounting have advantages and disadvantages but they perform the same task, and the final result is the same・ The main differences between them are the costs , speed and mobility. Thus small and medium businesses usually prefer manual accounting without detriment to quality while large corporations apply complex accounting systems which cost millions dollars but the effect from their application exceeds all the expectations.手工会计与电算化会计会计教育改革与发展一第四届会计与财务问题国际研讨会论文集2004年詹姆斯就像很多专业的会计师和审计师的国家一在所有发达国家和发展中国家，会计是被接受的一种商业语言。
经济金融企业管理外文翻译外文文献英文文献
经济金融企业管理外文翻译外文文献英文文献Prepared on 22 November 2020附录【原文】Upgrading in Global Value ChainsThe aim of this paper is to explore how small- andmedium-sized Latin American enterprises ( SMEs) mayparticipate in global markets in a way that provides forsustainable growth. This may be defined as the‘‘highroad’’ to competitiveness, contrasting with the ‘‘lowroad,’’ typical of firms from developing countries, whichoften compete by squeezing wages and profit marginsrather than by improving productivity, wages, and profits.The key difference between the high and the low road to competitiveness is often explained by the differentcapabilities of firms to ‘‘upgrade.’ In this paper,upgrading refers to the capacity of a firm to innovate toincrease the value added of its products and processes(Humphrey & Schmitz, 2002a; Kaplinsky&Readman, 2001;Porter, 1990).Capitalizing on one of the most productive areas of therecent literature on SMEs, we restrict our field of research tosmall enterprises located in clusters. There is now a wealthofempirical evidence (Humphrey, 1995; Nadvi &Schmitz,1999; Rabellotti, 1997) showing that small firms inclusters, both in developed and developing countries, areable to over come some of the major constraints they usuallyface: lack of specialized skills, difficult access to technology,inputs, market, information, credit, and external services.Nevertheless, the literature on clusters, mainly focused on the local sources ofcompetitiveness coming from intracluster vertical and horizontal relationshipsgenerating ‘‘collective efficiency’’ (Schmitz, 1995), has often neglected theincreasing importance of external link ages. Due to recent changes in productionsystems, distribution channels, and financial markets, and to the spread of informationtechnologies, enterprises and clusters are increasingly integrated in value chains thatoften operate across many different countries. The literature on global value chains(GVCs) (Gereffi, 1999; Gereffi& Kaplinsky, 2001) calls attention to the opportunitiesfor local producers to learn from the global leaders of the chains that may be buyers or1producers. The internal governance of the value chain has an important effect on the scope of local firms’ upgrading (Humphrey& Schmitz, 2000).Indeed, extensive evidence on Latin America reveals that both the local and the global dimensions matter, and firms often participate in clusters as well as in value chains (Pietrobelli& Rabellotti, 2004). Both forms of organization offer opportunities to foster competitiveness via learning and upgrading. However, they also have remarkable drawbacks, as, for instance, upgrading may be limited in some forms of value chains, and clusters with little developed external economies and joint actions may have no influence on competitiveness.Moreover, both strands of literature were conceived and developed to overcome the sectoral dimension in the analysis of industrial organization and dynamism. On the one hand, studies on clusters, focusing on agglomerations of firms specializing in different stages of the filie′re, moved beyond the traditional units of analysis of industrial economics: the firm and the sector. On the other hand, according to the value chain literature, firms from different sectors may all participate in the same value chain (Gereffi, 1994). Nevertheless, SMEs located in clusters and involved in value chains, may undertake a process of upgrading in order to increase and improve their participation in the global economy, especially as the industrial sector plays a role and affects the upgrading prospects of SMEs.The contribution this paper makes is by taking into account all of these dimensions together. Thus, within this general theoretical background, this study aims to investigate the hypothesis that enterprise upgrading is simultaneously affected by firm-specific efforts and actions, and by the environment in which firms operate. The latter is crucially shaped by three characteristics: (i) the collective efficiency of the cluster in which SMEs operate, (ii) the pattern of governance of the value chain in which SMEs participate, and (iii) the peculiar features that characterize learning and innovation patterns in specific sectors.The structure of the paper is the following: in Section 2, we briefly review the concepts of clustering and value chains, and focus on their overlaps and complementarities. Section 3 first di scusses the notion of SMEs’ upgrading and thenintroduces a categorization of groups of sectors, based on the notions underlying the Pavitt taxonomy, and applied to the present economic reality of Latin America. Section 4reports the original empirical evidence on a large sample of Latin American clusters, and shows that the sectoral dimension matters to explain why clustering and participating in global value chains offer different opportunities for upgrading in different groups of sectors. Section5 summarizes and concludes.2. CLUSTERS AND VALUE CHAINSDuring the last two decades, the successful performance of industrial districts in the developed world, particularly in Italy, has stimulated new attention to the potential offered by this form of industrial organization for firms of developing countries. The capability of clustered firms to be economically viable and grow has attracted a great deal of interest in development studies. 1In developing countries, the sectoral and geographical concentration of SMEs is rather common, and a wide range of cases has since been reported. 2 Obviously, the existence of acritical mass of specialized and agglomerated activities, in a number of cases with historically strong roots, does not necessarily imply that these clusters share all the stylized facts which identify the Marshall type of district, as firstly defined by Becattini (1987). 3 Nonetheless, clustering may be considered as a major facilitating factor for a number of subsequent developments (which may or may not occur): division and specialization of labor, the emergence of a wide network of suppliers, the appearance of agents who sell to distant national and international markets, the emergence of specialized producer services, the materialization of a pool of specialized and skilled workers, and the formation of business associations.To capture the positive impacts of these factors on the competitiveness of firms located in clusters, Schmitz (1995)introduced the concept of ‘‘collective efficiency’’ (CE) defined as the competitive advantage derived from local external economies and joint action. The concept of external economies 4 was first introduced by Marshall in his Principles of Economics(1920). According to Schmitz (1999a), incidental external economies (EE) are of importance in explaining the competitiveness of industrial clusters, but there is also a deliberate force at work: consciously pursued joint action(JA).Such joint action can be within vertical or horizontal linkages. 5The combination of both incidental external economies and the effects of active cooperation defines the degree of collective efficiency of a cluster and, dynamically, its potential for fostering SMEs’ upgrading. Both dimensions are crucial: Only incidental, passive external economies may not suffice without joint actions, and the latter hardly develop in the absence of external economies. Thus, our focus is on the role of intracluster vertical and horizontal relationships generating collective efficiency.However, recent changes in production systems, distribution channels and financial markets, accelerated by the globalization of product markets and the spread of information technologies, suggest that more attention needs to be paid to external linkages. 6 Gereffi’s global value chain approach (Gereffi, 1999) helps us to take into account activities taking place outside the cluster and, in particular, to understand the strategic role of the relationships with key external actors.From an analytical point of view, the value chain perspective is useful because (Kaplinsky,2001; Wood, 2001) the focus moves from manufacturing only to the other activities involved in the supply of goods and services, including distribution and marketing. All these activities contribute to add value. Moreover, the ability to identify the activities providing higher returns along the value chain is key to understanding the global appropriation of the returns to production.Value chain research focuses on the nature of the relationships among the various actors involved in the chain, and on their implications for development (Humphrey & Schmitz, 2002b). To study these relationships, the concept of ‘‘governance’’ is central to the analysis.At any point in the chain, some degree of governance or coordination is required in order to take decisions not only on ‘‘what’’ should be, or ‘‘how’’ something should be, produced but sometimes also ‘‘when,’’ ‘‘how much,’’ and even ‘‘at what price.’’ Coordination may occur through arm’s-length market relations or non market relationships. In the latter case, following Humphrey and Schmitz (2000), we distinguish three possible types of governance:(a) network implying cooperationbetween firms of more or less equal power which share their competencies within the chain; (b) quasi-hierarchy involving relationships between legally independent firms in which one is subordinated to the other, with a leader in the chain defining the rules to which the rest of the actors have to comply; and (c) hierarchy when a firm is owned by an external firm.Also stressed is the role played by GVC leaders, particularly by the buyers, in transferring knowledge along the chains. For small firms in less developed countries (LDCs), participation in value chains is a way to obtain information on the need and mode to gain access to global markets. Yet, although this information has high value for local SMEs, the role played by the leaders of GVCs in fostering and supporting the SMEs’ upgrading process is less clear. Gereffi (1999), mainly focusing on East Asia, assumes a rather optimistic view, emphasizing the role of the leaders that almost automatically promote process, product, and functional upgrading among small local producers. Pietrobelli and Rabellotti (2004) present a more differentiated picture for Latin America.In line with the present approach, Humphrey and Schmitz (2000) discuss the prospects of upgrading with respect to the pattern of value chain governance. They conclude that insertion in a quasi-hierarchical chain offers very favorable conditions for process and product upgrading, but hinders functional upgrading. Networks offer ideal upgrading conditions, but they are the least likely to occur for developing country producers. In addition, a more dynamic approach suggests that chain governance is not given forever and may change because(Humphrey & Schmitz, 2002b): (a) power relationships may evolve when existing producers, or their spin offs, acquire new capabilities;(b) establishing and maintaining quasi-hierarchical governance is costly for the lead firm and leads to inflexibility because of transaction specific investments; and (c) firms and cluster soften do not operate only in one chain but simultaneously in several types of chains, and they may apply competencies learned in one chain to supply other chains.In sum, both modes of organizing production, that is, the cluster and the value chain, offer interesting opportunities for the upgrading and modernization of localfirms, and are not mutually exclusive alternatives. However, in order to assess their potential contribution to local SMEs’ innovation and upgrading, we need to understand their organization of inter firm linkages and their internal governance. Furthermore, as we explain in the following section, the nature of their dominant specialization also plays a role and affects SMEs’ upgrading prospects.3. THE SECTORAL DIMENSION OFSMEs’ UPGRADING(a) The concept of upgradingThe concept of upgrading—making better products, making them more efficiently, or moving in to more skilled activities—has often been used in studies on competitiveness (Kaplinsky,2001; Porter, 1990), and is relevant here.Following this approach, upgrading is decisively related to innovation. Here we define upgrading as innovating to increase value added. 7 Enterprises achieve this in various ways, such as, for example, by entering higher unit value market niches or new sectors, or by undertaking new productive (or service) functions. The concept of upgrading may be effectively described for enterprises working within a value chain, where four types of upgrading are singled out (Humphrey & Schmitz, 2000): —Process upgrading is transforming inputs into outputs more efficiently by reorganizing the production system or introducing superior technology ., footwear producers in the Sinos Valley; Schmitz, 1999b).—Product upgrading is moving into more sophisticated product lines in terms of increased unit values ., the apparel commodity chain in Asia upgrading from discount chains to department stores; Gereffi,1999).—Functional upgrading is acquiring new, superior functions in the chain, such as design or marketing or abandoning existing low-value added functions to focus on higher value added activities ., Torreon’s blue jeans industry upgrading from maquila to ‘‘full-package’’ manufacturing; Bair&Gereffi, 2001).—Inter sectoral upgrading is applying the competence acquired in a particular function to move into a new sector. For instance, in Taiwan, competence in producing TVs was used to make monitors and then to move into the computer sector (Guerrieri & Pietrobelli,2004; Humphrey & Schmitz,2002b). In sum, upgrading within a valuechain implies going up on the value ladder, moving away from activities in which competitionis of the ‘‘low road’’ type and entry barriers are low.Our focus on upgrading requires moving a step forward and away from Ricardo’s static con cept of ‘‘Comparative Advantage’’ (CA). While CA registers ex-post gaps in relative productivity which determine international trade flows, success in firmlevel upgrading enables the dynamic acquisition of competitiveness in new market niches, sectors or phases of the productive chain (Lall, 2001; Pietrobelli, 1997). In sum, the logic goes from innovation, to upgrading, to the acquisition of firm-level competitiveness., competitive advantage). 8In this paper, we argue that the concept of competitive advantage increasingly matters. In the theory of comparative advantage, what matters is relative productivity, determining different patterns of inter industry specialization. Within such a theoretical approach, with perfectly competitive markets, firms need to target only production efficiency. In fact, this is not enough, and competitive advantage is the relevant concept to analyze SMEs’ performance because of (i) the existence of forms of imperfect competition in domestic and international markets and (ii) the presence of different degrees of (dynamic) externalities in different subsect or sand stages of the value chain.More specifically, in non perfectly competitive market rents and niches of ‘‘extra- normal’’ profits often emerge, and this explains the efforts to enter selectively specific segments rather than simply focusing on efficiency improvements, regardless of the prevailing productive specialization (as advocated by the theory of CA). Moreover, different stages in the value chain offer different scope for dynamic externalities. Thus, for example, in traditional manufacturing, the stages of design, product innovation, marketing, and distribution may all foster competitiveness increases in related activities and sectors. The advantage of functional upgrading is in reducing the fragility and vulnerability of an enterprise’s productive specialization. Competition from new entrants—., firms from developing countries with lower production costs, crowding out incumbents—is stronger in the manufacturing phases of the value chain than in other more knowledge and organization-intensive phases ., product designand innovation, chain management, distribution and retail, etc.).Therefore, functional upgrading may bring about more enduring and solid competitiveness.For all these reasons, the concept of production efficiency is encompassed withinthe broader concept of competitiveness, and the efforts to upgrade functionally and inter sectorally (and the policies to support these processes) are justified to reap larger rents and externalities emerging in specific stages of the value chain, market niches,or sectors.An additional element that crucially affects the upgrading prospects of firms and clusters is the sectoral dimension. Insofar as we have defined upgrading as innovating to increase value added, then all the factors influencing innovation acquire a new relevance. This dimension is often overlooked in studies on clusters, perhaps due to the fact that most of these studies are not comparative but rather detailed intra industry case studies.In order to take into account such a sectoral dimension, and the effect this may have on the firms’ pattern of innovation and learning, we need to introduce the concept of ‘‘tacit knowledge.’’ This notion was first introduced by Polanyi(1967) and then discussed in the context of evolutionary economics by Nelson and Winter(1982). It refers to the evidence that some aspects of technological knowledge are well articulated, written down in manuals and papers, and taught. Others are largely tacit, mainly learned through practice and practical examples. In essence, this is knowledge which can be freely used by its owners, but that can not be easily expressed and communicated to anyone else. The tacit component of technological knowledge makes its transfer and application costly and difficult. As a result, the mastery of a technology may require an organization to be active in the earlier stages of its development, and a close and continuous interaction between the user and the producer—or transfer—of such knowledge. Inter firm relationships are especially needed in this context. Tacit knowledge is an essential dimension to define a useful grouping of economic(b) Sectoral specificities in upgrading and innovation: a classification for Latin8American countriesThe impact of collective efficiency and patterns of governance on the capacity of SMEs to upgrade may differ across sectors. This claim is based upon the consideration that sectoral groups differ in terms of technological complexity and in the modes and sources of innovation and upgrading. 9 As shown by innovation studies, in some sectors, vertical relations with suppliers of inputs may be particularly important sources of product and process upgrading (as in the case of textiles and the most traditional manufacturing), while in other sectors, technology users, organizations such as universities or the firms themselves (as, for example, with software or agro industrial products) may provide major stimuli for technical change (Pavitt,1984; Von Hippel, 1987).Consistently with this approach, the properties of firm knowledge bases across different sectors (Malerba & Orsenigo, 1993) 10 mayaffect the strategic relevance of collective efficiencyfor the processes of upgrading in clusters. Thus, for example, in traditional manufacturing sectors, technology has important tacit and idiosyncratic elements, and therefore, upgrading strongly depends on the intensity of technological externalities and cooperation among local actors ., firms, research centers, and technology and quality diffusion centers), in other words, upgrading depends on the degree of collective efficiency. While in other groups ., complex products or large natural resource-based firms) technology is more codified and the access to external sources of knowledge such as transnational corporations(TNCs, or research laboratories located in developed countries become more critical for upgrading. Furthermore, the differences across sectoral groups raise questions on the role of global buyers in fostering (or hindering) the upgrading in different clusters. Thus, for example, global buyers may be more i nvolved and interested in their providers’ upgrading if the technology required is mainly tacit and requires intense interaction. Moreover, in traditional manufacturing industries, characterized by a low degree of technological complexity, firms are likely to be included in GVCs even if they have very low technological capabilities. Therefore, tight supervision and direct support become necessary conditions for global buyers who rely on the competencies of their9local suppliers and want to reduce the risk of non compliance(Humphrey & Schmitz, 2002b). The situation is at the opposite extreme in the case of complex products, where technology is often thoroughly codified and the technological complexity requires that firms have already internal technological capabilities to be subcontracted, otherwise large buyers would not contract them at all.In order to take into account the above-mentioned hypotheses, we develop a sectoral classification, adapting existing taxonomies to the Latin American case. 11 On the basis of Pavitt’s seminal work (1984), we consider that in Latin America, in- house R&D activities are very low both in domestic and foreign firms (Archibugi& Pietrobelli, 2003), domestic inter sectoral linkages have been displaced by trade liberalization(Cimoli & Katz, 2002), and university-industry linkages appear to be still relatively weak (Arocena & Sutz, 2001). 12 Furthermore, in the past 10 years, Latin America has deepened its productive specialization in resource based sectors and has weakened its position in more engineering intensive industries (Katz,2001), reflecting its rich endowment of natural resources, relatively more than human and technical resources (Wood & Berge, 1997).Hence, we retain Pavitt’s key notions and identify four main sectoral groups for Latin America on the basis of the way learning and upgrading occur, and on the related industrial organization that most frequently prevails. 13The categories are as follows:1. Traditional manufacturing, mainly labor intensive and ‘‘traditional’’ technology industries such as textiles, footwear, tiles, and furniture;2. Natural resource-based sectors (NRbased),implying the direct exploitation of natural resources, for example, copper, marble, fruit, etc.;3. Complex products industries (COPs), including, among others, automobiles, autocomponents and aircraft industries, ICT and consumer electronics;4. Specialized suppliers, in our LA cases, essentially of these categories tends to havea predominant learning and innovating behavior, in terms of main sources of technical change, dependence on basic or applied research, modes of in-house innovation .,‘‘routinized’’ versus large R&D laboratories), tacitness or codified nature ofknowledge, scale and relevance of R&D activity, and appropriability of10innovation(Table 1).Traditional manufacturing and resource-based sectors are by far the most present in LatinAmerica, and therefore especially relevant toour present aims of assessing SMEs’ potential for upgrading within clusters and value chains. Traditional manufacturing is defined as supplier dominated, because major process innovations are introduced by producers of inputs ., machinery, materials, etc.). Indeed, firm shave room to upgrade their products (and processes)by developing or imitating new produ cts’ designs, often interacting with large buyers that increasingly play a role in shaping the design of final products and hence the specificities of the process of production (times, quality standards, and costs).Natural resource-based sectors crucially rely on the advancement of basic and applied science, which, due to low appropriability conditions, is most often undertaken by public research institutes, possibly in connection with producers (farmers, breeders, etc.). 14 In these sectors, applied research is mainly carried out by input suppliers ., chemicals, machinery, etc.) which achieve economies of scale and appropriate the results of their research through patents.Complex products are defined as ‘‘high cost, eng ineering-intensive products, subsystems, or constructs supplied by a unit of production’’ (Hobday, 1998), 15 where the local network is normally anchored to one ‘‘assembler,’’ which operates asa leading firm characterized by high design and technological capabilities. To our aims, the relationships of local suppliers with these ‘‘anchors’’ may be crucial to foster (or hinder) firms’ upgrading through technology and skill transfers (or the lackof them).Scale-intensive firms typically lead complex product sectors (Bell & Pavitt, 1993), where the process of technical change is realized within an architectural set (Henderson & Clark, 1990), and it is often incremental and modular.Among the Specialized Suppliers, we only consider software, which is typically client driven. This is an especially promising sector for developing countries’ SMEs, due to the low transport and physical capital costs and the high information intensityof the sector, which moderates the importance of proximity to final markets andextends the scope for a deeper international division of labor. Moreover, the11disintegration of some productive cycles, such as for example of telecommunications, opens up new market niches with low entry barriers(Torrisi, 2003). However, at the same time, the proximity of the market and of clients may crucially improve the development of design capabilities and thereby foster product/process up grading. Thus, powerful pressures for cluste ring and globalization coexist in this sector.The different learning patterns across these four groups of activities are expected to affect the process of upgrading of clusters in value chains. This paper also aims at analyzing with original empirical evidence whether—and how—the sectoral dimension influences this process in Latin America.4. METHODOLOGY: COLLECTIONAND ANALYSIS OF DATAThis study is based on the collection of original data from 12 clusters in Latin America that have not hitherto been investigated, and on an extensive review of cluster studies available. The empirical analysis was carried out from September 2002 to June 2003 with the support of the Inter American Development Bank. An international team of 12 experts in Italy and in four LA countries collected and reviewed the empirical data.Desk and field studies were undertaken following the same methodology, which involved field interviews with local firms, institutions, and observers, interviews with foreign buyers and TNCs involved in the local cluster, and secondary sources such as publications and Case studies were selected which fulfilled the following conditions: (1) agglomeration: all cases show some degree of geographical SME clustering; 17 (2) upgrading: the clusters selected have experienced some degree of upgrading, of whatever nature ., product, process, functional, inter sectoral); and (3) policy lessons: all cases offer relevant policy lessons for future experiences either in terms of successesor failures.A total of 40 case studies were selected forth is analysis. 18 The list of cases,albeit incomplete, is—to our knowledge—the largest available on which comparative exercises have been carried out, and provides a good approximation to the reality of clusters and value chains in LA. Thus, although it cannot claim to correspond to the universe of clusters in the region, it represents a database that allows reasonable。