A Look at the ‘Hidden Side’: Turkish Women in Berlin’s Ethnic Labour Market

Recent studies show that ethnic economies are an increasingly vital part of the larger national economy. This is especially true in the case of the Turkish ethnic economy in Germany. This article sheds light on a ‘hidden aspect’ of Berlin’s Turkish ethnic economy: the structure and role of Turkish female labour and female self-employment. It begins with a general discussion on the significance of the gender concept in the international debate on ethnic economies – including findings on minority and immigrant women in self-employment in Europe. The second section of the article focuses on Berlin, using an analysis of the official labour market data at hand to sketch the gendered structure of Berlin’s labour market. The third section presents exploratory empirical data concentrating exclusively on female Turkish entrepreneurs and employees. The results indicate that some of the gendered traits of the ethnic economies described in the international literature also appear in the Berlin survey: the under-representation of women as entrepreneurs and their difficult position in the overall labour market. Furthermore, the data suggest that the concept of ‘ethnic business’ as typically presented in the literature turns out to be a ‘male’ concept and is hardly applicable to the case of the Turkish women in Berlin. The common features of the concept (ethnic clientele, suppliers, labour or involved kin, orientation towards the ethnic community) applied only partially to the Turkish women entrepreneurs. — Des études récentes ont démontré que les économies ethniques sont une partie de plus en plus vitale de l’économie nationale. Ceci est particulièrement vrai dans le cas de l’économie ethnique turque en Allemagne. Cet article explore un ‘aspect caché’ de l’économie ethnique turque à Berlin: la structure et le rôle de la main d’oeuvre féminine turque et des femmes travailleuses indépendantes turques. Il commence par une discussion générale sur la signification du concept du genre dans le débat international sur les économies ethniques – y compris les données concernant les travailleuses indépendantes immigrantes et de minorité ethnique en Europe. La seconde partie de l’article est consacrée à Berlin, et donne un aperçu de la structure du marché du travail de Berlin par rapport au genre grâce à une analyse des données disponibles du travail officiel. La troisième section présente des données empiriques exploratoires concernant les employées et les femmes entrepreneurs turques exclusivement. Les résultats indiquent que certains des traits de genre des économies ethniques décrits dans les bibliographies internationales se retrouvent dans l’enquête sur Berlin: la sous-représentation des femmes entrepreneurs et leur position difficile dans le marché du travail dans son ensemble. De plus, les données suggèrent que le concept de ‘commerce ethnique’, comme il est habituellement présenté dans les travaux sur ce sujet, est un concept ‘masculin’ et qui ne peut guère ? tre appliqué au cas des femmes turques de Berlin. Les points communs du concept (la clientèle ethnique, les fournisseurs ethniques, la place de la famille ou des employés ethniques, une orientation vers la communauté ethnique) ne s’appliquent que partiellement aux femmes entrepreneurs turques.     

Strategic Recruitment and Development of the ‘International Manager’: Some European Considerations

Hugh Scullion is Senior Lecturer and Director of the MA in Human Resource Management at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. His article presents the findings from a recent study of the management of managers in international firms. Essentially, the article focuses on the problems faced by these firms in the recruitment and staffing of their overseas enterprises.     

Combating environmental repercussions through ‘TQEM’ and ‘ISO 14000’

Business is totally dependent on society although we sometimes do not experience it that way. All business, even in their most limited form, confront environmental issues, some more than others. Business leaders will be actively addressing social and environmental issues. These companies will be going for certification to ISO 14001 (EMS) and progressive organizations have moved beyond EMS requirement, seizing control of environmental operations through Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM). Industry leaders are incorporating environmental thinking into every aspect of their operations. As a long‐range plan towards TQEM, an organization can have a road map and a clear model for achieving excellence in the area of Environmental Management. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

From ‘start-up’ to ‘re-boot’: Product lifecycle strategies and competitive advantage in the computer industry

The PC sector, following the packaging and car manufacturing industries, will increasingly be forced to acknowledge and account for its product base throughout the commodity's life, and beyond. The environmental problems being posed by electronic waste have been recognized and both the EU and the individual Member States are discussing solutions which may or may not include legislative action. In anticipation, product take-back programmes are beginning to emerge within the industry and the economics and logistics of re-use and recycling are at the forefront of this debate. The issues in store for this sector are examined and specific initiatives by organizations considered. It is asked whether a ‘closing of the product loop’ will generate a competitive advantage for these companies and what impact an industry-led ‘consortia’ initiative may have.     

Technology policy between ‘diversity’ and ‘one best practice’ — A comparison of Korean and German promotion schemes for new production technologies

Policy makers in all industrialized countries are increasingly orienting their science and technology policy towards foreign patterns. There seems to be ‘one best practice’ which is used by all nations to make their economies fit for global competition.This paper doubts this paradigm. By comparing the South Korean and German promotion schemes for new production technologies, it is shown that an appropriate technology policy has to take the individual national system of innovation into consideration. Merely initating the examples of countries with different frame conditions is inappropriate.Diversity in science and technology policy has been the precondition for the success of contributions of these policies to economic and technological development in both South Korea and Germany.     

‘Sameness’ and ‘Difference’ Revisited: Which Way Forward For Equal Opportunity Initiatives?

Recent interest in ‘managing diversity’ has reopened debates about forms of equality in the workplace. Approaches to equality developed in the 1970s and 1980s have been characterized as an attempt to ensure that if individuals bring the same abilities to work, or perform in the same way, they should receive the same access to jobs and employment benefits, regardless of social group membership. Managing diversity appears to be about a more positive valuing of difference. Benefits are seen to derive from different perspectives and approaches and these should be nurtured and rewarded rather than suppressed. Feminists have long argued about the extent to which women are the same as, or different from, men, and about the political consequences of adopting these positions. Recent theoretical developments have led to some novel solutions to this dilemma. These include asserting claims to both ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’, the deconstruction of ‘difference’, and the reconstruction of ‘sameness’ on women's terms. This paper explores approaches to equal opportunities through both established and novel theoretical perspectives. It argues that existing practice cannot be fitted neatly into the conventional distinctions between ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’, and explores the potential characteristics and strengths and weaknesses of equality initiatives based on the new theoretical perspectives.     

Patent statistics: deciphering a ‘real’ versus a ‘pseudo’ proxy of innovation

Patent statistics have fascinated economists concerned about innovation for a long time. However, fundamental questions remain as to whether or not patent statistics represent the real state of innovation. As Griliches pointed out, substantial questions involve: What aspects of economic activities do patent statistics actually capture? And, what would we like them to measure? He pointed out that these statistics can be a mirage appearing to provide a great number of objective and reliable proxies for innovation.This paper aims to address some of these questions by making a comparative evaluation of the representability of patent statistics in four levels of the innovation process, using as examples research and development (R&D) in Japan's printer and photovoltaic solar cell (PV) industries over the last two decades. Furthermore, this research provides a new set of patent statistics which could be considered a more reliable proxy for innovation.     

Residents’ Responses to ‘Territorial Stigmatization’: Visual Research in Berlin

This article deals with the symbolic dimension of the transformation process in a post‐socialist large‐scale housing estate in Berlin after reunification. This reflection is based on the concept of ‘territorial stigmatization’ and I use a photographic method to analyse the representational strategies employed by residents to manage territorial stigma: identifying with depoliticized images of the past, exiting the estate and questioning the very principle of representation. The first two strategies seem to be different ways of internalizing dominant representations of place. The latter differs from the first two in its use of iconic means to challenge the current spatial order and its opening up of possibilities for emancipation. The article thus also shows how photography as a research method can reflect on existing power relations.     

Can ‘market transformation’ lead to ‘sustainable business’? A critical appraisal of the UK's strategy for sustainable business

This paper traces the origins and development of the concept of ‘market transformation’, from its beginnings as a part of energy policy in the USA, to its subsequent development in the UK. It discusses whether it could become a strategic option for British business in pursuit of sustainable growth. Drawing together themes from the academic literature on marketing, consumer behaviour, business, and energy policy, together with data from national programmes, and British government sources, the paper argues that such an approach would be based on a twin false premise – that selling energy efficiency to consumers is in accordance with modern marketing thinking, and that it has much to do with achieving sustainable development. It concludes that while achieving sustainable development will certainly encompass the transformation of markets for many products, ‘market transformation’ itself cannot be seen as a key driver for change. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.