Limits to strategic HRM: the case of the Mauritian civil service

Taking as its starting point the impressive evidence for the strategic human resource management (SHRM) model's effect on organizational performance, and for the relationship between public staff management and economic growth, the paper offers the civil service of Mauritius as a case study of SHRM's relevance to developing countries. It finds that SHRM is not practised in Mauritius, nor is it feasible in the near future, because it is not widely known, because there is no strategic management framework, because staff management is highly centralized and because political will to make radical changes in staff management is lacking. The case study does not support claims that SHRM and its associated practices have a universal validity, or that public staff management is a ‘magic bullet’ that delivers economic growth. Improvements to staff management in Mauritius, and possibly other developing countries, will require a creative and piecemeal adaptation of Anglophone ‘good practice’ that respects political, economic and social realities.     

Recent research in tourist behaviour

The study of tourist behaviour has become an active and significant contributor in the overall analysis of tourism. This paper considers recent research work at James Cook University, an institution whose researchers have had a long interest in tourist behaviour topics. A review of a number of recent research projects in tourist behaviour by the Australian research team is provided and the value of four integrating concepts linking this research is specified. The four concepts highlighted are the travel career ladder which is an approach to tourist motivation, cognitive steps and mindfulness, which are conceptual organisers of how people think and process information and social situations which provides an integrative view of key factors to consider when describing social behaviour. The paper concludes by highlighting some recent commentary on tourist behaviour trends by prominent tourism analysts noting that the specific stream of tourist behaviour studies reported in this article do not fully support the general trends noted by the commentators. The potential value of tourist behaviour studies as a benchmark for understanding tourism futures is noted     

On the investment implications of bankruptcy laws

Axiomatic analysis of bankruptcy problems reveals three major principles: (i) proportionality (PRO), (ii) equal awards (EA), and (iii) equal losses (EL). However, most real life bankruptcy procedures implement only the proportionality principle. We construct a noncooperative investment game to explore whether the explanation lies in the alternative implications of these principles on investment behavior. Our results are as follows (i) EL always induces higher total investment than PRO which in turn induces higher total investment than EA; (ii) PRO always induces higher egalitarian social welfare than both EA and EL in interior equilibria; (iii) PRO induces higher utilitarian social welfare than EL in interior equilibria but its relation to EA depends on the parameter values (however, a numerical analysis shows that on a large part of the parameter space, PRO induces higher utilitarian social welfare than EA).     

城市医院与社区卫生服务机构互动合作模式的选择——基于关系租金视角

随着我国新型两级医疗卫生服务体系的建立,构建两级医疗卫生服务体系间的良好互动体系,成为新型医疗卫生服务体系研究的焦点。本文从经济组织的关系租金视角,对城市医院与社区卫生服务机构的互动合作模式选择问题进行探索性研究。研究结论表明,建立长期关系导向的互动合作模式是最优模式,组建医院集团的互动合作模式,是一种帕累托改进结果。     

Social Mobility in Nineteenth Century Rural Sweden – A Micro Level Analysis

Abstract

Pre-industrial rural societies have often been pictured as stationary and immobile both in geographical and social terms. In the last decades this image has begun to change, especially as regards geographical mobility, while our knowledge of social mobility of rural pre-industrial Europe is still rudimentary. This study focuses on social attainment and mobility in a rural community of nineteenth-century southern Sweden, making use of high quality micro-level demographic and socioeconomic data. We show that intergenerational social mobility was quite frequent. Downward mobility was more prevalent than upward, and also increased over time. Social attainment and mobility were determined by a combination of inherited factors and individual agency. Social origin was of major importance, and so was the social origin of the spouse, which points to the crucial role played by partner selection in determining individual social outcome. Availability of networks as measured by place of birth also played a role in social achievement.     

移动图书馆——泛在知识环境下的图书馆信息服务新途径

泛在知识环境下的移动图书馆为图书馆信息服务提供了新途径,是图书馆向数字化、信息化发展的新方向。本文简单介绍了移动图书馆的相关概念、特征和服务类型,分析了发展移动图书馆的障碍并提出了应对策略。     

人文学的毗邻大类

人文学不是通常意义上的一级学科，而是笼罩众多人文一级学科的学科大场合。要找人文学的左邻右舍，可以举出自然学、科学学和社会学三大门类。它们是好邻居。在人文学与自然学之间，科学学的科连科接，让文明成就非凡；社会学的经世致用，给世界许多关切。在人文学与科学学之间，自然学的泰然而然，使世界永远有其深远；社会学的励精图治，为使天下常有祥和的炊烟。在人文学与社会学之间，自然学的避熟避俗，提供了许多足令人文社科资始资生的前提性资源。用某一个笼统的学科涵摄一切失之芜杂，而日见繁琐的学科分裂又积重难返。揭示人文学、自然学、社会学和科学学相分相连的联系，关照的是当今世界文教发展的一种知其通而统其类的必然。     

Consumer workers as immaterial labour in the converging media markets: three value‐creation practices

This paper takes a practice‐based approach to consumer studies and focuses on the strategic and productive roles that consumers play as immaterial labour or consumer workers in the converging media markets. Based on a case study of a print media organization and its customers, the aim is to discuss the collaborative practices through which value is created in the market. By means of a textual analysis of online and interview data, three value‐creation practices are abstracted and illustrated: constructing a sense of belonging and collective identity, mutual helping and peer support, and building pride and self‐respect. Overall, the paper suggests that in global media environments, consumer‐customers are playing increasingly significant strategic roles in the practices and processes through which value is co‐created in the market. It is therefore concluded that the idea of consumers, and media audiences in particular, as recipients of communication and targets of marketing activities needs to be problematized and the dynamic strategic roles that consumers currently play in the market need to be acknowledged and actively incorporated into the business praxis of media corporations.