From complexity to transparency: managing the interplay between theory, method and empirical phenomena in IMM case studies

Theory, method and empirical phenomena are the three cornerstones of research. In this paper we contemplate the interplay between them when case research in industrial marketing is concerned. Developments in research depend on what empirical phenomena we are able to capture, how theories are developed to understand and explain these phenomena and what methods we use and/or develop in the process. While the emphasis is often put on one of these aspects alone, this paper focuses on the links and interplay between theory, case method and empirical phenomena in the development of research in industrial marketing. Specifically, we seek to provide common ground between orthodox (deductive) and unorthodox (abductive) approaches to managing the interplay by making a pragmatic call for transparency in research procedures. In this endeavour we use the papers included in this special issue as examples of various aspects of this interplay. We conclude by suggesting that there is a gamut of approaches possible to case research in industrial marketing, each with its specific links to theory and empirical phenomena, and that this is promising for the development of research in the field, as long as it helps reduce, rather than increase, the complexity of the case studied.     

The impact of HRM practices on service quality,customer satisfaction and performance in the Indian hotel industry

This article reviews findings from a first survey of employers' views on collective bargaining reform that now forms the centrepiece of post-apartheid South Africa's experiment with 'democratic corporatism'. Using factor analysis, three constructs have been identified that inform employer attitudes to a revised system of sectoral bargaining: 'autonomous capacity'; 'conditional association'; 'external threat'. Despite the potential for anomie, these factors appear significant in the way they consistently explain an employer's orientation towards associational membership and, by proxy, sectoral bargaining. Moreover, at least two-thirds of responding firms identified strongly with each of the three factors but, typically, firms with weak capacity and in need of collective protection from the other actors are most likely to associate. Regression analysis further reveals company well-being, foreign ownership and union presence to have a significant impact on these three factors to varying degrees. Equally, two of the factors (autonomous capacity and external threat) impact significantly on an employer's tolerance of free-riding in others and on the temptation to do so for oneself. Overall, for this sample of firms, employer bodies are to be viewed more as 'political devices' than as 'economic agents' in the immediate aftermath of political liberation. In this sense, they are different from their European counter-parts. However, there is an increasing likelihood of this changing as the flexibility agenda looms ever larger in employers' minds and as issues of 'political insecurity' correspondingly fade.     

文化资源开发及产业化发展模式探析——以莫言作品为例

在文学作品与经济社会相互渗透、日益融合的当今社会，莫言作为中国第一位诺贝尔文学奖获得者，其文学作品无疑具有巨大的市场化潜力。因此，研究和发掘莫言及其作品具有重要性，而通过产业化的方式开辟新的途径，更能实现其作品最大的商业效益。借助莫言作品的产业转化，是莫言作品商业化发展的重要途径。通过对莫言作品的产业化发展进行研究，探讨了其作品的产业化发展前景、类型及其策略，希冀对促进我国文学的产业化发展提供有益借鉴。     

Flexible work practices and human resource management: a comparison of South African and foreign owned companies

This study compares the use of flexible work practices in wholly owned South African (SA) companies with that in foreign-owned companies. Data were obtained from questionnaire results of a study conducted by Horwitz and Franklin (1996) of flexible work practices in SA organizations. The questionnaire was used as part of a collaborative research project involving three countries (Brosnan et al ., 1996). It was found that SA-owned companies use certain flexible work practices to a lesser extent than foreign-owned companies. This was found to be the case particularly in the use of numerical forms of flexibility, such as sub-contractors/consultants and the use of temporary employees. Use of subcontractors/consultants and temporary staff agencies was found to be the greatest in partially foreign-owned companies. A larger proportion of foreign-owned companies have lower labour costs than do SA-owned companies. This has, however, not been as a result of the greater use of flexible work practices. Foreign-owned companies make more joint decisions with unions than do SA-owned companies when changing work practices.     

要素禀赋、政策支持与金融资源配置:产业转移的承接模式研究

本文以商务部认定的湖南、江西省四个加工贸易梯度转移重点承接地为样本,对比分析要素禀赋、政策支持和金融资源配置的异同及其影响,在总结归纳各自承接模式的特点的基础上,提出了"精品园区+核心企业+直接融资+金融助推"的较优模式,认为政策支持是影响承接产业转移的直接因素;要素禀赋的影响力有弱化趋势;金融资源配置是影响承接力和产业结构优化升级的重要因素;对待处于不同生命周期的产业转移企业,承接的工作重点应各有侧重.因此,承接产业转移要与"转方式、调结构"的战略方向一致.注重与本地的产业互补相结合,并需要金融部门的主动参与和服务创新.     

浅谈山西省转型发展中的产业提升

目前整个世界正处于又一轮经济社会发展变革时期,各国各地区都通过产业提升实现其在整个经济社会链条中的地位上升。国务院批准山西进行转型综改区建设是山西转型跨越发展的重大机遇,而产业提升又是转型跨越发展的基础和关键所在。     

《工业工程基础》课程的有效性分析

从培养大学生发现问题与解决问题的能力入手,基于案例教学,结合现代IE的特点,提出了工业工程基础课程教学的一些新想法,同时对课堂教学进行了探索,以其提高教学效果。     

Statistics Research at Bell Labs in the Regulated Monopoly Era

Industrial research in the United States took hold and grew during much of the 20th century. Bell Labs, a corporate component of the Bell System, was perhaps the premier example. The period from 1925, when Bell Labs was formed, to 1984, when the Bell System was broken up following a government antitrust lawsuit, is of special interest because the system operated as a regulated monopoly during that period. Telephone subscribers effectively paid for research and development in their monthly phone bills, which provided an element of financial stability for the labs. Statistics research was one of many types that thrived, much to the benefit of the Bell System, its customers, and the science of statistics. The purpose of this article is to review, explain, and illustrate the circumstances that contributed to this success and to raise the question of how modern corporations, operating in fully competitive environments, might achieve some of the same benefits.     

浙江产业结构与就业结构相关性分析

从浙江省三大产业产值与就业人口的发展现状出发,定量分析产业结构与就业结构的相关性,为政府决策提供一定的依据。     

模块化与服务外包

模块化已成为服务外包产业中一种重要的发展趋势。本文比较了模块化服务外包与传统服务外包的特点，探讨了模块化背景下的服务外包产业链结构形态及服务外包产业中的治理形式及其演变。最后，从四个方面提出了模块化背景下中国服务外包产业的发展方略。