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The dynamics between five-year US Treasury bonds and interest rate swaps are examined using bivariate threshold autoregressive (BTAR) models to determine the drivers of spread changes and the nature of the lead–lag relation between the two instruments. This model is able to identify the economic – or threshold – value that market participants consider significant before realigning their portfolios. Specifically, three different regimes are identified: when the swap spread in the previous week is either high or low, the Treasury bond market leads the swap market. However, when the swap spread is low, none of the markets leads each other. Thus, yield movements are shown to be governed by the direction and magnitude of the change in the swap spread, which in turn provides an economic insight into the rebalancing between swap and bond portfolios.

The current volume in the Research in Finance series features an international set of contributors. The overall theme of the volume is a timely topic capturing one of the leading issues of the year: coping with “systemic” risk.

Reports how Chinese international business educators perceive the relative quality of Chinese foreign trade programmes. The rankings and evaluative criteria adopted indicate that Chinese international business educators consider more on the inputs to the programme (e.g. number of professors) while output characteristics (e.g. competence of graduates) receive less attention. The evidence presented indicates that international business education in China is still at a growth stage and further development is necessary and desirable. Chinese international business educators should seriously consider shifting the current vocational training direction to a decision‐making orientation in their course planning and curriculum development.

Though the Pacific‐rim countries like China, Hong Kong and ASEAN countries will soon constitute an economic power comparable to that of North America and Europe, most of the empirical work on food labelling is related to the US and UK consumers. Research into nutrition label usage in a Chinese socio‐cultural context is not found. To redress this imbalance, this study attempts to appreciate the use of nutrition information labels by Chinese consumers in Hong Kong. The research results reveal that the frequent label users are label‐oriented, nutrition‐prone, advertising lovers, in the age group 35‐50, and they read both English and Chinese, whereas the non‐frequent label users are home‐oriented and can read only Chinese.

Drawing from industrial upgrading theories, this study aims to explore the issues of industrial upgrading and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) development in an emerging market – China.

A contextual stepwise approach is undertaken by applying netnography and interviews to investigate manufacturing SMEs' perceptions on upgrading.

The study outlines three economic actors – government, industry and manufacturer; two upgrading factors – internal and external; a vicious circle that consists of thin profit, quality and imitation issues; and a benign circle that incorporates a list of upgrading capabilities – research and development (R&D), creativity, design and branding – in the context of upgrading to the value-added supply chain.

By integrating the findings with relevant literature, the authors propose a framework to best illustrate manufacturing SME upgrading. The findings reveal that Chinese manufacturing SMEs acquire upgrading capabilities through organizational learning during the upgrading process, which is affected by both external and internal factors in the constraints imposed by the interplay of relevant actors.

Through the innovative methodological approach, this study affords great insights into industrial upgrading from the perspective of manufacturing SMEs in an emerging economy – China.

Critics often attack marketing as being manipulative, unethical, or “Machiavellian” in nature. Recently, branch marketing has been widely and agressively adopted by banks for growth and expansion purposes in Pacific‐rim countries. However, it is generally believed that the marketing orientation is counter to the conservative banking practices. Reports the findings of research on the Machiavellian orientation of 50 Chinese banking executives in Hong Kong and the relationships between Machiavellianism, job satisfaction and job success in the banking sector. Two instruments, the Mach IV Scale and the index of job satisfaction, were used to determine the Machiavellian orientation and the job satisfaction level of respondents. Observes significant differences between the branch managers in the banking sector and non‐banking managers with regard to Machiavellian orientation. Respondents with lower Machiavellian scores tended to attain higher job titles. However, there was no significant relationship between Machiavellianism and overall job satisfaction.

Considers the effects on the mass media of China’s transition to a more open economy and the strategies which advertisers might use to overcome the problems it presents. Describes the media available (including the unofficial “black route”, the official but restricted private sector “white route”, and the state “red route”) and lists the challenges which advertisers face in using them. Suggests some strategies and practices which can help to overcome them and some hypotheses on future media use. Calls for further research in this area.