Protección de los créditos laborales tras una quiebra empresarial. Casos australianos

Estudiando casos recientes de quiebras empresariales en los que los trabajadores lograron proteger sus créditos, la autora considera los factores que contribuyeron a dicho desenlace positivo. La comparación de esos casos con otros menos favorables para los asalariados pone de relieve la importancia de factores como el momento en que ocurren los hechos, las estrategias utilizadas, la originalidad de los métodos y medidas aplicados, la intervención de las autoridades pertinentes, la presión sindical, los intereses políticos o simplemente un concurso favorable de circunstancias, es decir, la suerte. Alguien, en alguna parte, ha hecho lo que había que hacer.     

环境行为学视角下建成环境与儿童出行 影响机制研究

儿童依赖建成环境,并通过基本的出行行为满足其 自身发展的各项必要需求,其中儿童独立出行水平和出行方式 至关重要。随着中国城镇化持续推进,大城市边缘的小城镇在 迅速发展的同时,其建成环境也给儿童出行带来了一定安全隐 患,儿童出行安全问题值得关注。从环境行为学视角,结合既 往文献将儿童出行的影响因素归纳整理成个体、环境和其他因 素,随后对长沙市岳麓区莲花镇第五实验小学1 509名6~12 岁儿童及其家长展开实证调查和数据统计分析。结果显示： 儿童和家长对环境的安全感知会对儿童的出行决策产生较大 影响,机动车交通量及速度、交叉路口、道路复杂程度、步 道和自行车道及其基础设施设置、自然水体等是主要的显著 影响因素。据此,从空间布局、道路设计、交通设施配置和 社会环境方面提出了提升儿童出行安全水平的小城镇规划策 略建议。     

An investigative study of adult consumer education and lifelong learning needs in the United Kingdom and Latvia

Consumer education in Latvia is in the early stages of development and should be seen in the context of the rapidly changing society in the post‐Soviet era and the increasing influence of the marketplace, and Latvia's position as a new accession country. The Latvia University of Agriculture is in the process of developing an adult consumer education programme. A comparative study between the UK and Latvia was designed to test the hypothesis that many adult consumers lack knowledge and understanding of their consumer rights and responsibilities. A sample of adults in both countries completed a consumer rights questionnaire investigating attitude, knowledge and critical thinking ability. The UK questionnaire was modified, taking into account the different consumer environment in the two countries, to compare the need for adult consumer education in Latvia and the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom results showed that the group overall were not confident that they knew enough about consumer rights and legislation or to resolve consumer problems and were unsure about their consumer responsibilities. Levels of knowledge were poor, leaving adults vulnerable to exploitation in the marketplace, uninformed about their responsibilities to voice dissatisfaction about goods and services, and unaware of how their consumer behaviour can affect the wider community. Adult participants in Latvia thought that they lacked education in consumer legal rights and responsibilities and did not have the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding to manage consumer problems effectively. Results in both countries indicate that adult consumer education is needed, supplemented by a comprehensive package of adult consumer education. Despite the cultural differences between the two countries, the analysis showed that similar adult consumer skills and attitudes were needed. This joint research has shown that this methodology could be used to determine adult consumer and life‐long consumer education needs in other European countries and internationally.     

Beyond Philanthropy: Community Enterprise as a Basis for Corporate Citizenship

In this article we argue that the emergence of a new form of organization – community enterprise – provides an alternative mechanism for corporations to behave in socially responsible ways. Community enterprises are distinguished from other third sector organisations by their generation of income through trading, rather than philanthropy and/or government subsidy, to finance their social goals. They also include democratic governance structures which allow members of the community or constituency they serve to participate in the management of the organisation. Partnerships between corporations and community enterprises therefore raise the possibility of corporations moving beyond philanthropic donations toward a more sustainable form of intervention involving long-term commitments to communities. At the same time they change substantively the nature of any collaboration by allowing relationships to proceed on the basis of mutual advantage, thereby broadening their appeal and scope. In doing so, partnerships build capacity and enfranchise communities in a way that avoids the paternalism that has traditionally characterised relationships between corporations and voluntary sector organisations. Power relations are transformed because partners are seen as sources of valuable assets, knowledge and expertise, rather than recipients of patronage or charity.     

Australian Art Market Prices During the Global Financial Crisis and Two Earlier Decades

This study constructs a quarterly hedonic price index using 64,203 artworks, by seventy‐one well‐known modern and contemporary Australian artists, sold at auction houses over the period 1986–2009. The hedonic regression model includes characteristics such as name and living status of the artist, the size and medium of the painting, and the auction house, quarter and year in which the painting was sold. The resulting index indicates that returns on Australian fine‐art averaged one per cent in nominal terms over the period from quarter 1 1986 to quarter 4 2009 with a standard deviation of seventeen per cent. During the global financial crisis spanning quarter 1 2008 and quarter 4 2009, the average art returns declined in nominal terms by close to six per cent with a standard deviation of twenty‐one per cent. This study also shows that over the entire period the art market only marginally underperformed the stock and housing markets. The low correlations between these markets suggest the benefits of portfolio diversification.