Meng Zhao

© 2014. The Authors.The global characteristics of tropical cyclones simulated by several climate models are analyzed and compared with observations. The global climate models were forced by the same sea surface temperature fields in two types of experiments, using climatological SST and interannually varying SST. TC tracks and intensities are derived from each model's output fields by the group who ran that model, using their own preferred tracking scheme; the study considers the combination of model and tracking scheme as a single modeling system, and compares the properties derived from the different systems. Overall, the observed geographic distribution of global TC frequency was reasonably well reproduced. As expected, with the exception of one model, intensities of the simulated TC were lower than in observations, to a degree that varies considerably across models. Key Points: Multimodel comparison of tropical cyclone activity in global climate models Geographic distribution of the TC activity is similar to observed Most models produce tropical cyclones weaker than observed.

In this paper, I will discuss why in some circumstances people express their intentions indirectly: the use of Indirect Speech Acts. Based on Parikh’s games of partial information and Franke’s IBR model, I develop game-theoretic models of ISAs, which are divided into two categories, namely non-conventional ISAs and conventional ISAs. I assume that non-conventional ISAs involve two types of communication situations: communication under certain cooperation and that under uncertain cooperation. I will analyse the cases of ironical request and implicit bribery as typical instances of non-conventional ISAs of each situation type, respectively. I then apply the models to analyse the use of conventional ISAs from an evolutionary perspective, which is inspired by Lewisian convention theory. The models yield the following predictions: the use of non-conventional ISAs under certain cooperation relies on the sympathy between interlocutors, which blocks their evolution towards conventional ISAs; in unc...

The coevolution process enables organizations to adapt to and influence their external environment. Multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in dynamic foreign markets use this capability to achieve operational sustainability. MNCs in China operate in a changing stakeholder environment that features rising consumer activism and local stakeholders' persistent ethical problems and encounter recurrent consumer crises. Coevolving with this environment requires MNCs to react to consumer challenges and actively influence the environment by improving stakeholders’ ethical behavior. Based on the attention-based view and bounded rationality studies, we propose that the tension between _expansion attention_ and _stakeholder attention_ hinders MNCs from coevolving with this environment. Our analysis of MNC-linked consumer crises in China reveals that MNCs can reduce the consumer crisis risk by maintaining continuous attention to improving the ethical behavior of local employees, suppliers, and dealers. In contrast, MNCs' rapid local expansion weakens this stakeholder's attention, expanding MNCs' crisis risk. Our findings reveal an attention-based constraint to MNCs' coevolution and inform approaches to overcoming this constraint. This paper also extends international attention studies by affirming the significance of matching the focus of attention with environmental change for MNCs’ operational sustainability in foreign markets.