Microelectronics in the Clothing Industry: Firm Strategy and the Skills Debate

This article examines the impact of CAD/CAM on the UK clothing industry. It questions the extent to which computerisation has led to a greater choice over production strategy and argues that upskilling has not occurred.     

Restricted electricity use among poor urban households

For a variety of reasons, this article argues, electricity must be seen by policy‐makers in South Africa not as the sole provider of all future household energy needs, but rather as one component of an energy mix which includes such ‘transitional’ fuels as coal, gas and paraffin. The reasons for this are that electricity is expensive for poor households; it is subject to power failures and disconnections for non‐payment; the poor find it difficult to monitor and to control their consumption; appliances are expensive and several are required to make best use of electricity; people prefer other fuels because they are familiar and have strong personal and cultural associations, and because Eskom is not trusted owing to its past ties to illegitimate local authorities and misunderstanding of electricity and how its use is monitored and charged for. Further, it is mistaken to equate ‘development’ with total electrification: most developed countries have fuel mixes which include gas and coal, particularly for cooking and heating. Accepting an affordable fuel mix for the poor in particular would focus attention on the problems currently associated with paraffin, gas and coal, namely fires, poisoning and air pollution.     

Strategic integration of customers and channels

The challenge for financial services organisations is to understand the impact that new channels will have on their existing branch network and customer base both now and in the future. This paper offers a practical approach to understanding the steps involved and introduces two new market-specific tools designed to aid financial services organisations in quantifying this demand. The paper concludes by looking at trends in channel management and channel integration with specific reference to the US asset management marketplace.     

Measuring Employment Security in Europe Using Surveys of Employers

Using results from surveys in which employers were questioned about their freedom to shed staff, we develop a measure of employment security in Europe. We seek to identify which institutional factors are correlated with the responses of employers and find that they appear to reflect the strength of legal restrictions and trade unions and the prevalence of atypical employment. Our results are used to compile an index of employment security that has both a temporal and a cross‐country dimension.     

Food for thought: Robots,jobs and skills in food and drink processing in Norway and the UK

There is intense debate surrounding digitalisation and its implications for work. However, empirical research within established workplaces, especially international comparative studies, remains limited. This article uses cross-country research to further analysis of the relative importance of different institutions, actors and power relations in shaping digitalisation and worker outcomes. Through a multi-level approach, it compares the use of industrial robots in the food and drink processing sector in Norway and the UK. Drawing on qualitative research, it explores the pace of digitalisation, the process of implementation and job and skills outcomes. The study finds strong national differences in the pace of digitalisation, and the role of unions in the process of implementation. In Norway, union power at workplace and national level, embedded in institutional arrangements, underpins more advanced use of technology and improved outcomes for workers.     

Competitive strategy and skills: working out the fit in the fitness industry

It is widely accepted that creating quality products and services requires a well‐trained and skilled workforce. This article seeks to contribute to unpicking the relationship between business strategy and skills in the service sector by presenting research findings from the UK fitness industry. This sector has grown quickly and includes companies that compete on the basis of high‐quality services, alongside those competing largely on cost. If the route to a high‐skills economy is to shift more firms towards the higher‐quality end of the market, we would expect to find employers in these companies making use of a workforce with higher levels of skill. The research from the fitness industry questions this simple relationship, finding that there is no clear link between competitive strategy and skills. As market position is not necessarily the impetus for improving the skills of the workforce, the article then briefly explores what other factors may also be required.     

Making tourism work for the poor: Strategies and challenges in southern Africa

This article analyses strategies for 'pro-poor tourism' (PPT), ie strategies that increase the benefits to poor people from tourism development. Based on an international review of six pro-poor tourism case studies, it outlines the wide range of pro-poor tourism strategies used and their impacts to date, with particular focus on southern African case studies. By analysing their progress, problems and the critical factors influencing them, the article identifies implications for the way forward. This review underpins four propositions. First, despite commercial constraints, much can be done to enhance the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction, and a 'PPT' perspective assists in this endeavour. Secondly, PPT strategies can, and should be, incorporated by all actors in tourism, whether in government or business, at local or policy level. Thirdly, a wide range of impacts on poor people, going well beyond jobs, need to be recognised and enhanced. Finally, PPT strategies are difficult, but particularly relevant in southern Africa given the challenges of economic and political transformation, as well as the opportunity to influence international discussions on 'sustainable tourism' at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.     

Why won't managers co-operate? Innovation and productivity in engineering

Drawing from her experience of participant-observation in an electrical engineering factory Caroline White contributes to the debate on Britain's continuing industrial problems. She concludes that the fundamental opposition of capital and labour in the capitalistproduction process explains the failure to tap the workers' reservoir of both commitment and creativity.