Editorial introduction: HRM and performance: confronting theory and reality

This editorial introduction has twin purposes. The first is to make a wide audience aware of the new Dutch HRM Network. The second is to introduce a set of papers which make a contribution to the connections between HR policies/strategies and organizational performance. These purposes are linked by the fact that the papers come from the inaugural conference of the Network that was held in the Rotterdam School of Economics at Erasmus University at the end of 1999.     

Editorial: Trust and HRM: Current insights and future directions

Over the last 20 years, HRM has been identified as one of the most influential organisational contexts in which to explore trust, and yet scholars have been slow to look systematically at both the systems and practices that underlie this assertion. Organisations make choices regarding both the design and implementation of HRM policies and practices, with research considering the impact on trust for both key single policy areas and bundles of policies. We outline the previous dominance on teleological approaches compared with a dearth of more deontological perspectives which would highlight moral and ethical considerations implicit in definitions of trustworthiness. We review the contribution of five new articles to further our understanding of trust and HRM and identify future research and practice agendas.     

Orders and Organizations:

A BSTRACT . We explore the relevance to the theory of economic organization of the distinction introduced by Hayek between two kinds of social order: spontaneous orders and organizations. We argue that Hayek's ideas lead to an understanding of the business firm as a process, which comes very close to some of the core notions of the evolutionary theory of the firm, while they still view the firm as the outcome of a contract among asset owners. First of all, we put forth a simple conceptual schema in order to differentiate between contracts that lead to the formation of an organization and ordinary market contracts. We then explore the conditions for an understanding of the firm as a set of interconnected processes, rather than as an end state. Finally, we introduce the concept of purposeful direction as an important condition for the existence of the firm and we show the history-contingent character of the firm's growth.     

Paradigms and Cultures:

A bstract . Self-interest, start-up costs, sunk costs and network externalities are mooted as factors inhibiting the introduction and adoption of new ways of thinking in economics and society. In spite of the possibility of Pareto improvements, even in the sort of doctoral research that is done, experimental evidence supports the view that once in place a paradigm or culture will tend to remain in place.     

Trends and developments in industrial relations: Derecognising trade unions: implications and consequences

There is now some evidence of the beginnings of a trend towards derecognition. In this article the Editor discusses the implications and consequences for trade unions and collective bargaining should such a development become widespread.     

Risk and return: CAPM and CCAPM

Can consumption growth risk (or consumption beta) serve a better measure of risk than market beta? This paper answers this question by testing and comparing the performance of the traditional Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and consumption-based CAPM (CCAPM) across seven financial market sub-sectors in the emerging Taiwan stock market. The empirical performance of the CAPM is encouraging. The relationship between stock returns and beta is statistically significant and the coefficient of determination of the regression is high across all of seven industry sub-sectors. In comparison, the CCAPM fails to explain the Taiwan stock market although the consumption beta should offer a better measure of systematic risk theoretically.     

礼来制药铁打的营盘铁打的兵

礼来全部的实力及所有的成功均来自于我们的员工。实际上，公司的未来取决于我们在全球的员工队伍。正是这些见解、经验与专业背景各异的员工们，为全球医药界的创新提供了源源不断的创见和巨大的动力。     

Social Circumstances and Rationality:

Abstract Upon the uniformity in individuals’ decision‐making mechanism rests a great deal of the legitimacy of natural liberty. As we are all equally sovereign (cognitive‐wise), we only strike deals that inevitably make us better off. We all gain from trade and thus, as everyone is better off, so must be the whole of society. But could it be that people are rational yet not equally sovereign? In this paper, we examine Smith's interpretation of rationality, and we find that it is fundamentally a social concept. As such, the manifestation of rationality in individual behavior depends on how sophisticated is individuals’ access to public opinion. Consequently, individuals who are equally self‐interested may face very different sets of options, which are determined by their social circumstances. This difference may suggest that, although all agents may be motivated by the same objective, they cannot be considered as equally sovereign.     

De-industrialisation: Myths and Realities

Is de-industrialisation desirable? Tony Baron, of Chase Manhattan Securities, argues that de-industrialisation is a sign of the health of the British economy, rather than an indication of weakness.     

Law and Economics: What and Why

Can economics contribute anything to our understanding of law? David Friedman of the University of Chicago Law School, argues that economics can increase our understanding of the law and improve the drafting of legislation.     

Innovation and HRM: Absences and politics

This article analyses the role of HRM practices in the implementation of an innovative cross-functional approach to new product development (concurrent engineering, CE) in Eurotech Industries. Contrary to CE methodology stipulations, and despite supportive conditions, HRM received scant attention in the implementation process. Organizational power and politics were clearly involved in this situation, and this article explores how their play created such HRM ‘absences’. The article builds on a four-dimensional view of power in order to provide a deeper understanding of the embedded, interdependent and political nature of HRM practice and innovation.