Possibilities and Constraints of Market‐Led Land Reforms in Southern Africa: An Analysis of Transfers of Commercial Farmland in Postcolonial Zimbabwe, 1980–2000

This paper provides a systematic basis, hitherto missing in the current scholarship, to quantify land transfers in Zimbabwe after 1980. It uses title deed information to determine year of sale via a number of sources. The main finding of this research is that a great deal of land changed ownership during this period, which, if the government had been committed to land reform, it could have acted upon. Evidence suggests as much as 67 per cent of white‐owned land changed ownership after 1980. The second is that, while a large amount of land did change hands, it was not the 80 per cent that many white farmers and their supporters have claimed. The figure of 69 per cent is still very high, but it is apparent that much of this did not represent ‘true’ transfer of land. By further investigating the land that did change hands, this paper also raises questions about (a) the possibilities of market‐led land reform in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, and (b) the relationship between white capital and the new political elite in the postcolonial state.     

Towards mediation: developing a theoretical framework to understand alternative dispute resolution

This article examines alternative approaches to conflict resolution by developing a theoretical framework that relates dispute resolution practice to philosophical assumptions about authority and knowledge. By investigating the assumptions underpinning interest‐based bargaining and mediation their link to direct democracy and challenge to managerial authority are revealed at the level of theory and practice.     

University Commercialization Strategies in the Development of Regional Bioclusters*

To analyze university contribution to economic development, the present study examines universities' technology transfer policies and their associated economic development impact. The article examines how a university defines itself as part of a region as well as what activities, if any, do university commercialization strategies in context of their regional environment affect spin‐off activity. Furthermore, this study explores the ways universities contribute to regional economic development by examining existing theories and analyzing universities' relationships with both government and industry in two regions. This study draws from Roberts and Malone's (1996) selectivity–support typology and highlights this article's argument by comparing the commercialization strategies of world‐class universities strategies in the development of regional biotechnology clusters in Massachusetts and in Connecticut. This article investigates the notion of whether universities can differently influence the economic development processes of the while still having successful commercial outcomes. These findings build on previous research ( Clarysse et al., 2005; Degroof and Roberts, 2004; Powers and McDougall, 2005 ), which argues that low support–low selectivity policies may be more suitable to entrepreneurially developed environments, whereas high support–high selectivity policies are more efficient in entrepreneurially underdeveloped environments. Masachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is located in a strong technopole region, whereby many of its support structures for spin‐off formation are provided by the regional infrastructure of the Cambridge–Boston region. In contrast, Yale University, which has an underdeveloped entrepreneurial context, has had to take a more proactive role in providing incubation capabilities to their spin‐off projects. This finding supports a contingent based perspective of academic entrepreneurship, whereby low support–low selectivity policies are more fitted to entrepreneurially developed environments, whereas high support–high selectivity policies are more efficient in entrepreneurially underdeveloped environments.     

The Impact of Patents on Innovation,Technology Transfer and Health: A Pre- and Post-TRIPs Analysis of India's Pharmaceutical Industry

The debate surrounding the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement indicates that patents matter for development. Yet literature on the geography of knowledge transfer shows that knowledge is spatially sticky, suggesting that the impact of patents can be exaggerated. Using interview evidence, this paper explores how Indian pharmaceutical firms have responded to changes in patent law, including the introduction of more extensive patent protection in 2005 as a condition of TRIPs. A regime of limited patent protection for over three decades prior to TRIPs facilitated informal knowledge transfer and the emergence of a pharmaceutical industry with significant domestic capabilities. Contrary to some expectations, the Indian pharmaceutical industry has continued to grow post-TRIPs, with large domestic firms becoming involved in more formal technology transfer as part of an increasingly collaborative relationship with multinationals. This trend is also driven by a focus on the markets of developed countries, raising questions for the future sustainability of India's low-priced medicines. While changes in patent law can facilitate or inhibit a variety of aspects of development, the adaptation of the Indian pharmaceutical industry suggests that their impact must be related to the broader institutional setting, particularly the underlying domestic capabilities.     

The Governance of Corporate Responses to Climate Change: An International Comparison

In response to pressures from governments, investors, non‐governmental organizations and other stakeholders, many large corporations have adopted a variety of carbon and energy management practices, taken action to reduce their emissions and set targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Using the case of international retailers, this article examines whether, and under what conditions, non‐state actors might be capable of assuming the governance roles that have historically been played by national governments. This article concludes that external governance pressures can, if they are aligned, robust and of sufficient duration, have a significant influence on internal governance processes and on corporate strategies and actions. However, the specific actions that are taken by companies – in particular those that require significant capital investments – are constrained by the ‘business case’. That is, companies will generally only invest capital in situations when there is a clear financial case (i.e. where the benefits outweigh the costs, when the rate of return meets or exceeds company targets) for action. That is, the extent to which external governance pressures can force companies to take action, in particular challenging or transformative actions that go beyond the boundaries of the business case, is not at all clear. This is particularly the case if the business case weakens, or if the opportunities for incremental change are exhausted. In that context, the power of non‐state actors to force them to consider radical changes in their business processes and their use of energy therefore seems to be very limited. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Are households ready to engage with smart home technology?

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes new knowledge regarding consumers’ preparedness for smart home technology adoption. This research bridges together three important frameworks – the technology readiness index (TRI) 2.0, consumer engagement, and perceived risk and trust – to understand consumers’ intentions to adopt smart home technology. We examine both direct and indirect effects, with results demonstrating the model explains 77% variance of consumers’ imagined engagement with smart home technology and 74% variance of intentions to adopt; hence, our model has greater predictive power than others proposed in the literature. Theoretically and managerially, we demonstrate a new pathway to consumers’ adoption of smart home technology in two ways. First, we depict the impact of consumers’ general perceptions of technology (TRI) on opinions and imagined engagement experiences with smart home technology. Second, we show how opinions and imagined experiences with smart home technology impact their intentions to adopt.     

Figuring companion-species consumption: A multi-site ethnography of the post-canine Afghan hound

In her recent publication, Haraway (Haraway, D., (2003). The companion species manifesto: dogs, people, and significant otherness. Chicago, Prickly Paradigm Press.) extends her concept of the cyborg to explore how the figure of “companion species” can rethink the models of reality that traditionally underpin cultural research. This paper investigates the kind of consumption worlds and consumption relations the ontology of companion species suggests and what it offers in terms of understanding consumption in a post-human (and post-canine) consumer-behavior landscape. Following this, it proposes the concept of “companion-species consumption” (CSC) as a new ontology to extend interpretive research on consumers and their pets (Hirschman, E. C., (1994). Consumers and their animal companions. J Consum Res, 20 (3), 616-632.; Holbrook, M.B., Stephens, D.L., Day, E., Holbrook, S.M. and Strazar, G., (2001). A collective stereographic photo essay on key aspects of animal companionship: the truth about dogs and cats. Academy of Marketing Science Review 1; AMS.; Belk, Russell W., (1996). Metaphoric relationships with pets Society & Animals: Social Scientific Studies of the Human Experience of Other Animals, vol. 4 (2), 121-145.) and to reflect current theory of the consumer-object relation. This research explores the potential of CSC through multi-site ethnography (Marcus, George E., (1995). Ethnography in/of the world system: the emergence of multi-sited ethnography, Annu Rev Anthropol 95-117.) of a trans-national, highly-networked community of Afghan hounds and their exhibitors. The paper examines how companion species emerge across a range of cultural sites and documents the consumption practices stemming from the dichotomies between them. The conclusions inform dog-related marketing activity, advance consumer-research insights into the practices of dog-related avocational consumer groups, and extend existing theory of the consumer-object relation.     

Careers and temporal flexibility in the new economy: an Anglo‐Dutch comparison of the organisation of consultancy work

Knowledge workers are widely considered to represent the vanguards of a new employment era, characterised by a greater degree of balance in the relationship between the employer and the knowledge worker. This fundamental shift in power relations is expected to lead to the emergence of a new group of so‐called ‘free’ or empowered portfolio workers, who share boundaryless career arrangements and internationally ‘universal’ forms of flexibility. However, such propositions have been made without extensive comparative research. This paper therefore examines the organisation of knowledge worker careers and the nature of the temporal flexibility available to knowledge workers through an Anglo‐Dutch case‐study of a multinational consultancy firm. The data collected by this study provides little evidence to support the notion of free/boundaryless career models and demonstrates that national context has a significant impact on the construction of consultancy careers and the availability, level and form of flexibility offered to consultants.