Neutrality agreements: How unions organize new hotels without an employee ballot

Hoteliers who have a project under development increasingly are being asked by labor-union organizers to sign so-called neutrality agreements—sometimes under duress. While labor unions do not operate in all hotel markets, this organizing tactic seems to be gaining currency where unions are present. By signing a neutrality agreement, the hotelier agrees not to oppose the union's organizing efforts, to allow the union to contact employees during work hours, and to allow the union access to employee directories. Without the agreement, the union would not be allowed any of those things, and the hotelier would be allowed to state its case publicly for why employees might not want to be represented by a union. The duress comes from the union's potential threat to use political connections to hamper the project's permits and to invoke the activity of other labor unions. The key element missing in the neutrality agreement is the employees' consent to the arrangement. Given that workers are legally given the right by U.S. labor law to decide via a secret ballot whether they do or do not want to be represented by a union, a neutrality agreement that allows for employers to recognize a union via a “card check” provision appears to abrogate that right to a secret vote by effectively sealing the matter before the hotel even begins hiring. Recent court rulings point to the likelihood that if workers formally complain to the National Labor Relations Board about such agreements, those agreements could be set aside.     

Approaches to child labour in the supply chain

This paper examines the difficulties of dealing with child labour in the supply chain. It begins by identifying a number of the factors which make global supply chains so difficult to manage. It goes on to outline a framework of different approaches that can be taken to managing the supply chain with relation to child labour, moving from national and international regulation, through to the role of NGOs and the companies themselves. Focusing on an 'engagement' strategy for dealing with child labour, the paper traces a case study of Adidas-Salomon and its attempts to implement their 'standards of engagement' in this area with relation to one of their supplier factories in Vietnam. The research draws on the direct involvement of one of the authors who visited the site and was able to interview staff and observe the operation in practice. Her findings are supported by wider work on the implementation of corporate approaches to human rights at a range of companies interviewed by another of the authors. The paper aims to highlight the issues needing to be addressed for companies considering the 'involvement' approach to child labour. It also aims to develop theory on our understanding of different approaches to corporate rights.     

Eight months later — Has the Eurozone been stabilised or will EMU fall apart?

Eight months ago, as the risk of sovereign default in Greece fi rst emerged, the Intereconomics Forum invited a number of contributors to examine the options available to EU policymakers. As the threats to European Monetary Union resurface now, six of the same authors return in this issue’s Forum to reassess the situation, in particular with regard to the EU’s recent policy responses to the ongoing crisis. Whereas both optimists and pessimists could support their views with strong arguments eight months ago, the EU’s current predicament has shifted the prevailing sentiment strongly toward the pessimistic view. From the Irish bailout to the precarious status of Portugal, not to mention the potentially disastrous situation looming in Spain, our contributors are uncertain whether EU policymakers are up to the challenge of defending the euro. As evidence of this, several point to the EU Council’s October decision to establish a permanent crisis resolution mechanism to ensure an orderly state insolvency procedure, which did little to calm markets. Nonetheless, most of these economists still see ways for the EU to escape the crisis without being forced to abandon the common currency.     

我国低效资本市场的负面影响及应对策略

长期以来 ,以证券市场为代表的我国资本市场一直处于低效弱效状态 ,这一市场态势已成为当前提升我国金融体系国际竞争力、深化经济体制、社会保障改革与金融市场应对加入WTO的最大障碍。我们的社会各界特别是政府部门应在借鉴外国高效的资本市场监管基础上 ,从立法与政策上采取得力措施进一步完善市场参与主体约束机制 ,改进入市股权所有制成份结构 ,准许国有法人股入市流通 ,健全市场信息披露制度 ,充分发挥市场价值规律 ,形成内在的价格均衡机制 ,降低平均交易成本 ,增强投融资效率 ,从而提高我国的资本市场效率 ,为提高我国金融体系国际竞争力、深化经济体制、社会保障改革 ,为应对加入WTO后的金融环境扫清障碍。     

Stakeholder theory and the knowledge problem: A Hayekian perspective

This paper explores the potential for stakeholder theory to illuminate what F.A. Hayek called “the knowledge problem”, pertaining to how a society manages to utilize “knowledge not given to anyone in its totality”. According to Hayek, this problem is addressed by the price system, which induces economic actors to harness local and dispersed pieces of knowledge that would not be available to a central planner. The present paper argues that the growing turbulence in the business environment, as pointed out by stakeholder theorists, poses a challenge to the ability of corporate managers to harness local knowledge. Stakeholder theory is shown to imply that, in a turbulent environment, managers’ ability to do so is increasingly dependent on their access to the knowledge held by corporate stakeholders. This argument suggests that the building of stakeholder relationships is a crucial institutional solution to the knowledge problem.     

宋代民间助学述论

宋代教育发达，但其教育投入却相当有限，因此两宋文化的极盛很大程度上实有赖于民间对教育的支持与资助。这种资助既有面向学校的赡学与建学，也有面向举子个人的捐助赴试费用。总体上看，宋代民间助学表现为典型的“官倡民助”模式，且捐助风气南宋浓于北宋，捐助方式以产业捐助为主，且呈现出明显的地域差异性。宋代民间助学对今天的启示是民闻助学的热情需要官方调动和引导，助学的方式应以产业助学为主，以保证助学的长期、持续性，而且营造良好的民间助学氛围是政府的重要责任。     

Corporate Rights to Free Speech?

Although the courts have ruled that companies are legal persons, they have not yet made clear the extent to which political free speech for corporations is limited by the strictures legitimately placed upon corporate commercial speech. I explore the question of whether or not companies can properly be said to have the right to civil free speech or whether corporate speech is always de facto commercial speech not subject to the same sorts of legal protections as is the right to civil free speech. In the absence of clearly defined legal precedent, I emphasize moral reasons for determining the appropriate limits of corporate civil free speech. Appealing to arguments typically used to justify individual rights to civil free speech, I examine the extent to which this sort of justification may or may not be legitimately extended to corporations. I conclude that corporate rights to civil free speech must be restricted because granting rights of free speech to institutions may, in practice, undermine the moral rationale and practical feasibility of guaranteeing rights of civil free speech to individuals. Furthermore, I argue that granting corporations full rights to civil free speech will undercut attempts to develop good moral character in corporate institutions by undermining the efforts of watchdog organizations.     

Customer complaint behaviour (CCB) in the retail sector: why do customers voice their complaints on Facebook?

With the increasing usage of platforms such as Facebook, understanding customer complaint behaviour (CCB) in the context of the social media is imperative for any businesses. Of the two billion users on Facebook, more than half of its users have shared their product-related experiences with others on the platform. This paper aims to explore CCB in the context of social media in regards to customers’ unfavourable buying experiences in the retail sector. A qualitative research approach and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted. The findings indicate that the respondents’ initial contact with the retailer directly resulted in service recovery failures and undesirable outcomes. Such double deviation then leads to frustration and uncertainty of the situation, which furthermore led to the respondents’ need to voice their complaint by sharing their unfavourable experiences on Facebook. The main reasons for the respondents to voice their complaints on the platform is to vent frustration, to share their unfavourable experiences, a need to be seen, understood and respected, to seek revenge by damaging the retailer’s reputation as well as offering the retailer a chance to improve. A proper way to manage complaints, in which frontline employees can solve the problem before the customers feel the need to turn to the social media, is crucial. However, once the complaints are voiced on Facebook, it is imperative to respond to the complaints and acknowledge the problem rather than ignoring the situation.     

Modeling and forecasting tourism demand: the case of flows from Mainland China to Taiwan

The study of tourism demand is attracting more and more attention. Hence, it is important to understand the variables that affect tourism demand and to forecast the demand. Many studies have been conducted to analyze the demands in various countries. Recently, China has been expected to become one of the largest originators of outbound tourists in the world. Hence, it is interesting to explore what the variables are that affect the Mainland Chinese arrivals to Taiwan and to forecast its corresponding tourism demand. This study applies neural networks to select proper models, and then to forecast the demand.     

A Study on the Impact of SARS on the Forecast of Visitor Arrivals to China

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to build a model to forecast the visitor arrivals to China and to examine the impact caused by the SARS incident. Seasonal ARIMA models and seasonal dummy variables are created to build the forecast models, and we use intervention analysis to process the outliers resulting from unexpected incidents. The results reveal that the SARS incident had a considerable impact on the international visitor arrivals to China and caused the figures to drop by at least 42%. The seasonal ARIMA models are also used to forecast the visitor arrivals to China up to the end of 2007.     

Management Information System – A Tool for Corporate Sustainability

This paper represents the attempt to define a methodology that can evaluate the degree to which companies' information systems correspond to needs determined by the objectives of sustainability the firm imposes on itself. The result is the creation of a general model which define the correct approach to evaluating information systems – a model which should be adapted to the specificity of each single company which intends to adopt it. In the chart indicated, we obviously have not considered activities connected to the implementation of the survey system, which are particular to each company's situation. The first part of the paper consists of an overall introduction to the approach that has been used to assess the (MIS) of Granarolo, one of the Italian companies involved. The case study contains a profile of the company, the analysis of its MIS referred to the three dimensions of sustainability, and an evaluation of the strong points and issues to be developed. This approach to evaluate the gap between desired requirements of an information system for sustainability and current data available in a firm, has proved its consistency and usefulness. It helps to understand where data are, which dimensions, spheres, stakeholders account for and what is the level of integration between different information systems existing in the firm.     

多哈发展议程与中国外贸可持续发展

协调贸易与发展的温尼伯原则促进WTO将环境措施融入了多边贸易体系之中。2001年WTO多哈部长级会议上,各方一致同意就贸易与环境议题进行谈判,力图实现贸易、环境与发展“三赢”的局面。我国作为WTO成员国,必须实施贸易与环境相互协调的外贸可持续发展战略,充分利用WTO多边贸易协议,支持环境项目;调整产业结构,加快发展第三产业;提倡集约化经营战略和循环经济发展模式,发展技术型产品,替代资源型产品的出口;内部化环境成本,促进贸易与环境和谐统一发展;实施绿色产品战略,推行环境标志认证;利用WTO争端解决机制解决贸易纠纷,以实现贸易和环境的相互协调,实现传统经济增长和发展模式向可持续发展模式的转变     

毛泽东的舆论宣传与新闻思想

毛泽东认为,舆论宣传和新闻工作是为革命党人的革命事业服务的,它通过宣传革命、打击敌人、教育人民以唤起和鼓动人民参加与支持革命。为实现这一目标,从事革命的舆论宣传和新闻工作者应该利用各种舆论手段宣传党的路线、方针和政策,并适应革命形势的发展变化而确定一定时期和阶段的宣传工作重点．以良好的写作技能写出文风活泼、使人爱看的文章。     

Complaint management and the role of the chief executive

The aim of this paper is to encourage a new stream of research into complaints and the role of the chief executive officer (CEO). The objectives of this paper were firstly to assess the intensity of dissatisfaction driving customers to complain directly to the CEO and secondly to ascertain if the reasons for complaining to the CEO were different to those of complainants using ‘normal’ channels. A leading financial services company in the UK provided access to its complaint letters and its CEO. Based on analysis of a sample of 100 letters sent to the CEO and 100 standard complaint letters, it was found that customers complaining directly to the CEO have a significantly greater intensity of dissatisfaction. However, unexpectedly, despite the greater positional power of the CEO, the reasons for complaining to the CEO were little different to the reasons for using the ‘normal’ channels. Interestingly most of the complainants to the CEO had multiple reasons for complaint suggesting that complaints to the CEO are motivated by multiple underlying service failures.     

鸡西市地质灾害气象预报预警系统设计

鸡西市属于丘陵山区,是地质灾害频繁发生的地区,给我市的人民生活和财产造成了极大的损失.根据鸡西市地质灾害的调查,拟建立鸡西市地质灾害气象预报预譬系统.该系统主要包括:灾害数据库和信息管理库、灾害气象预报预警系统、典型地质灾害点研究及灾害防治管理,其核心是灾害气象预报预警系统.建成的系统将实现与地质灾害易发区自动站实时数据库连接的实时气象预报预譬,并根据鸡西市气象条件,对鸡西地区可能遭受的突发性地质灾害进行预报.     

初次分配效率与公平的政策组合与效用选择

按照对效率与公平偏好的不同,初次分配效率与公平的政策组合有四种类型:"轻效率,轻公平"型;"轻效率,重公平"型;"重效率,轻公平"型;"重效率,重公平"型。不同社会发展阶段收入分配政策的制定实际上是对这四种政策组合的选择,以选择能带来最大化效用的分配制度。用分粥模型形象地对效率与公平的各种政策组合进行模拟,并根据收入分配效用函数对效率与公平政策组合的效用选择状况进行分析,结果表明,在初次分配"重效率"目标不变的前提下,消除收入分配不公平、减少贫富差距的关键在于同时建立初次分配"重公平"的机制。     

The pedagogical side of entrepreneurship theory

This is the second article in a set of two in this issue that deals with challenges in entrepreneurship education related to theory building and pedagogy. The first article argued that educators must increase the theoretical content in their courses if they hope to develop in students the cognitive skills to make better entrepreneurial decisions. This second article discusses a strategy for teaching entrepreneurship theory.The difficulty with teaching theory to entrepreneurship students is that they are likely to complain that “theory is boring! Lectures are boring! School is boring!” All three of these—theory, lecture, and school can also be irrelevant. We as teachers can also be boring and irrelevant! Students may not understand that learning theory can be highly interesting. Unfortunately, the process used to teach theory could be boring.We become boring as teachers when our classroom style becomes predictable because students are never surprised. We become irrelevant as teachers when we fail to apply theory as a tool to answer student questions. Good theory can always pass the test of applicability. If we fail to teach our students how to apply it in surprising ways, it is we who are at fault, not the theory.An effective strategy for teaching theory to students must be approved by them and monitored by teachers to be effective. If our purpose is to assist students to become skilled in theory-based competencies, the most effective method is to establish a student-approved system for class meetings that requires students to practice specific skills. Obtaining student approval is important because almost any system will work better if students feel good about it. In other words, students acquire competencies through their practice with theory-based activities.A theory-based activity approach is based on the assumption that to the extent that a teacher is the initiator of knowledge transfer, students tend to practice less and acquire fewer competencies. This occurs because it is the teacher who is the most engaged, not the students, which is the reverse of what is optimal.One way to evaluate our involvement in the classroom is to ask ourselves if our goal is to have students leaving class talking about how great we are as a teacher, rather than about how wonderful it would be to be an entrepreneur. If our students leave talking about being entrepreneurs instead of about us, we have probably figured out how to involve them in activities that help them to develop personal competencies.The teacher's primary role is to achieve student approval of the learning contract and to identify the theory-based competencies to be mastered. The question for educators faced with ensuring student mastery is not, “What an I going to teach today?” but “What am I going to have my students do today?” The teacher's task can be made easier by delegating part of the responsibility for the second question to students. Delegation of learning activities to students can introduce more variety and surprises into the classroom, each of which can aleviate boredom. It also provides teachers an opportunity to work more closely with students as they attempt to understand theory in anticipation of their classroom assignment to lead the learning activity.The remainder of this article discusses how to implement a theory-based activity approach, obstacles to its success and advantages of its use. The greatest advantage of its use is that students will be learning theory that can improve their odds of being successful as entrepreneurs. Of course their success depends upon us as scholars having gone before them and discovered the rules (theory) according to which events occur (c.f., Whitehead, 1917).     

基于电子商务应用的个人信用体系建设策略

本文认为,我国电子商务的发展离不开信用体系的支持,而个人信用体系则是整个信用体系的基础。个人信用体系的建立与完善需要一个过程,加速这一过程最有效的方法是电子商务实践与应用,将具有可操作性的实践活动由分散的点到局部的线再到整体的面层层推进,最后建立起面向全社会的完善的个人信用体系。建立并完善个人信用体系,在宏观层面,应建立与完善分散的务实的个人信用体系和全面服务于社会的第三方个人征信体系,推进以行业应用为主的个人信用体系的联合与过渡。在微观层面,则应加强网上身份认证管理,确保网络身份的真实性;改进评价方法与规则,加大对交易过程和交易数据的监控力度,提升信用数据的可靠性;从技术角度提高系统的安全性,保障信息与支付安全。     

物流文化的作用及其建设思路

在激烈竞争的形势下,加强我国物流文化建设非常必要。为此,物流企业必须准确把握物流文化建设的基本目标,强化物流文化的塑造过程,积极学习新知识,不断丰富物流文化内涵。     

农民工子女义务教育制度改革探析

近年来,中央政府要求流入地政府承担农民工子女义务教育责任的强制性制度安排,使农民工子女义务教育问题得到一定程度的解决。但流入地政府为减少负担往往采取卸责行为,导致农民工子女义务教育仍然存在一些比较严重的问题。因此。需要积极推动相关制度的改革。