Employment Characteristics of Superstore Retailing

Retail superstores in Great Britain have been the subject of much research and discussion. This article examines a neglected facet of superstores, namely employment, and considers some characteristics of superstore employment and their relationship to the size of superstore development. On the basis of the regression analyses undertaken, a predictive model of superstore employment and the scale of store is presented.     

Employment in DIY Superstores

Employment patterns in food superstores have received much research attention in recent years. Employment in non-food superstores has, however, been inadequately researched. Anecdotal and visual evidence suggests that non-food superstores employ fewer staff, more males than females, and more full-time than part-time workers, in comparison with food superstores,. This article quantifies employment in DIY superstores as a basis for future research.     

Superstores as District Shopping Centres

In recent years attempts have been made to promote superstores as district centres or ‘focused centres'. This article reviews ideas about the retail hierarchy and shopping centres developed in British planning and, from a recent survey of Exeter, examines differences between the use of superstores and district centres and the utilisation of non-retail facilities. It seems clear that superstore developments fall well outside the traditional concepts of district centres, and their role needs careful examination.     

Hypermarkets and the Small Retailers in Malaysia: Exploring Retailers' Competitive Abilities

The emergence of multinational retailers, especially in grocery retailing, has changed the retail scenario in Malaysia over the last decade. In the past, grocery retail formats such as supermarkets, minimarkets, and night markets dominated the Malaysian retail scene, consumers are now given the choice of shopping in large retail outlets where new retail formats such as hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, and superstores now thrive and are increasingly gaining in popularity. Interestingly, large retail concepts are predominantly associated with multinational retailers such as Carrefour, Makro, Giant, and Tesco. The presence of large retailers brings with it the question of dominance and implications of changing customer preferences. This study assesses the perception of small retailers toward their abilities to compete effectively in an industry where large, multinational retailers appear to be dominating. It appears, however, that the small retailers possess distinctive qualities in relation to their strategic inputs that can essentially differentiate them from their larger competitors. It is suggested that some regulatory measures especially by local authorities are necessary, but this must not be to a point of curbing healthy competition among the different types of retailers.     

高职院校毕业生就业特征分析与对策探讨——以建筑工程技术专业为例

本文以高职院校建筑工程技术专业毕业生近三年来的就业情况为案例，对其就业率、就业去向、就业单位性质、岗位类型、就业区域、就业稳定性等特征进行了初步分析，提出了加强高职院校土建类专业毕业生就业工作的若干建议。     

Trust orientations in the organic food distribution channels: A comparative study of the Canadian and French markets

The objectives of this research are to (i) identify supply side factors that determine trust/mistrust in OF products, and (ii) determine the distribution channel strategies to increase trust in OF products. A total of 80 individual in-depth interviews were conducted in Canada and France with managers from superstores, specialty stores, farmers, markets, producers and certification bodies. Results show a clear distinction between the Canadian and French OF distribution structures in terms of trust. Consequently, distributors have to adapt their strategies and tools in order to enhance trust in OF, in their distribution channel and in the overall food supply chain.     

Self-Employment Matching: An Analysis of Dual Earner Couples and Working Households

This paper explores the significance of intra-couple and intra-household influences on self-employment. It may be the case that employment type matching is prevalent whereby individuals within a couple or household are characterised by similar types of employment. Alternatively, an individual may pool income risk with his/her partner by holding a diversified portfolio of employment types within the household thereby introducing an element of intra-household risk pooling. Such an arrangement may be particularly appropriate if one member of the couple is self-employed. We utilise ordered probit and random effects ordered probit analysis to explore the prevalence of employment matching and/or risk pooling within couples or households. Our empirical analysis which is based on cross-section data drawn from the British Family Expenditure Surveys 1996 to 2000 provides evidence of employment type matching both within dual earner couples and, to a lesser extent, in the wider context of working household members.     

New firm formation and employment growth: regional and business dynamics

This study examines differences in the effects of start-up rates on subsequent employment change. Two sources of such differences—types of start-ups and types of regions—are analyzed. We find that differences between knowledge-based and other start-ups dominate differences between highly agglomerated and modestly agglomerated regions. In particular, differences in the effects of new start-ups on subsequent employment growth between highly agglomerated and modestly agglomerated regions are greater for knowledge-based start-ups than for other types of start-ups. The results suggest that, while knowledge-based start-ups are likely to impart greater benefits on future employment than other types of start-ups, these benefits are greater when those start-ups locate in more agglomerated regions.     

Conditions for Conclusion of Open-ended Employment Contract

The Law of the People＇s Republic of China on Employment Contracts （short for Law on Employment Contracts） carried out in 2008 classified the employment eantracts into three types： fixed-term employment contract, open-ended employment contract and employment contract to expire upon completion of a certain job. Generally speaking, in open-ended employment contract, the employer and employee shall not make an agreement on the time limit of employment contract and this shall be very important for the stabilization of the working relationship and the protection of the employees. So, as soon as this definition came into being, a number of domestic media pay much attention to it.     

河北省高校毕业生就业供需匹配研究

毕业生就业实质是高校人才培养与社会需求匹配的过程。本文将河北省高校毕业生就业问题放在河北省产业结构优化升级的大环境中来进行阐述和分析,从河北省高校就业结构出发分析其就业结构偏离度。进而根据河北省高校毕业生就业专业相关性不高、主要集中在民营企业、灵活就业居多、就业稳定性差等就业现状,从市场需求出发,着眼于高校教育供给、毕业生就业能力培养和畅通就业市场人才流动三个方面,分析河北省高校毕业生培养类型、学历层次、学科专业、通用就业能力和劳动力市场分割等方面与市场需求之间存在的矛盾。基于此,从三个方面提出破解河北省高校毕业生就业市场供需矛盾的思路：一是对河北省高校毕业生培养方向进行调整,二是加强大学生就业能力培养,三是加快京津冀劳动力市场一体化建设进程。     

The effect of innovation policy on SMEs’ employment and wages in Argentina

This article evaluates the effect of the Argentinean Support Program for Organizational Change on employment and wages. The program aimed at increasing small and medium-sized enterprises’ competitiveness by co-financing technical assistance to support process and product innovation activities. Although employment is not usually the main objective of these types of programs, they are always implemented assuming that they create—or at least do not destroy—employment opportunities. We use a unique data set with information for the population of firms in Argentina from 1996 to 2008 to test this important assumption. Using a combination of fixed effects and matching, we find that both process and product innovation support increased employment and wages, with a higher impact on employment. In addition, we find that product innovation support had a larger effect on wages than process innovation support.     

Barriers to the advancement of modern food retail formats: theory and measurement

The recent expansion of global food retailers into emerging economies has made the study of food retail modernization especially relevant at this time. We present a framework to analyze limitations to market share growth of retail formats based on diffusion across consumer segments and by product category. We then propose a measurement approach, based on consumer surveys, that quantifies the impact of these processes on supermarket market share. Food retail modernization is then examined in Hong Kong by this approach for two points in time. In a 1995 diagnostic study, we find that geographic and economic segment diffusion of supermarkets is complete, but that product category-dependent diffusion (specifically perishables) is not. The latter, thereby, becomes the major restriction on supermarket share gain. In 1999, a second study measures the impact of the introduction of superstores, a large modern format, on the perishable restriction to modern format share growth. Consumers perceived superstore perishables to be superior to supermarkets’, but these views had little impact on the ability of modern format to wrest additional share from traditional markets. We discuss diagnostic and monitoring applications, and extensions of the approach to other retail contexts.     

Student Work Placements in Small Firms: Do They Pay-off or Shift Tastes?

We present a model of training investments and employment outcomes. In this model training may enhance trainees’ tastes for particular types of career (taste shift) and/or shift their wage offer distributions (pay-off). An empirical analysis is conducted with a unique data-set of UK graduates. These data contain information on students’ career tastes before small-firm placements as well as their employment outcomes after graduation. Analysis of these data indicates that the placements provide a pay-off among highly employable graduates who face certain disadvantages in the labour market. Conversely individuals, who expressed a taste for small-firm careers before placements, are more likely to take-up small-firm employment after placements suggesting these individuals experience enhanced opportunities for their preferred career. However individuals with pre-placement large-firm preferences have no greater likelihood of entering small-firms’ employment after placements indicating there is no fundamental effect on career tastes.     

The Growth of Services: Some Social and Geographical Implications

Opinions as to the relative merits of the growth of the service sector are mixed. It is clear, however, that the demise of the service sector is not without its problems. An overview of recent employment trends illustrates the rapidity of the switch from manufacturing to service employment. The consequences of this transfer are considered in terms of three . types of labour market segmentation: sex, skill and geographical. The conclusion is reached that without positive government action to alleviate the problems, social and geographical divides will inevitably increase.     

Are Men Always Picked Over Women? The Effects of Employment Equity Directives on Selection Decisions

This study replicates and extends previous work by Oppenheimer and Wiesner [1990, Sex discrimination: Who is hired and do employment equity statements make a difference? Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Personnel and Human Resources Division], and examined the effects of minority qualifications on hiring decisions, the effects of employment equity directives when minority candidates are less qualified and the effects of different types and strengths of employment equity directives on hiring decisions. The results indicate that when employment equity is in place, people are increasingly more likely to hire underrepresented group members, to the extent that they are more qualified. Men appear to be treated in a positively biased manner, and are more likely to be hired when they are less qualified. Women are less likely to be hired when they are under-qualified, and in the absence of employment equity directives or when there is a suggestion that women are underrepresented. Moreover, when␣employment equity directives are strengthened, there appears to be a subtle backlash for women but not for men. Eddy S. Ng is an assistant professor at Trent University. He was on faculty at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 2006–2007. Willi H. Wiesner is an associate professor at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University.     

Exploring common correlates of business undergraduate satisfaction with their degree program versus expected employment

Using a complete data sample of 467 graduating business seniors, the authors successfully created a new three-item measure of student degree program satisfaction (bachelor of business administration [BBA] satisfaction). Significant positive correlates for BBA satisfaction included academic attendance motivation, advising ease and quality, course work challenge, professional development engagement, and two types of grading assessment learning perceptions (exam based and individual creative). Two types of expected employment by graduation were measured, having (a) a full-time job and (b) a full-time job consistent with major. The number of internships a student completed was a significant positive correlate for BBA satisfaction and both types of expected employment.     

A race to the bottom? Employment protection and foreign direct investment

A common critique of globalization is that it leads to a race to the bottom. Specifically, it is assumed that multinationals invest in countries with lower regulatory standards and that countries competitively undercut each other's standards in order to attract foreign capital. This paper tests this hypothesis and finds robust empirical support for both predictions. First, a reduction in employment protection rules leads to an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI). Furthermore, changes in employment protection legislation have a larger impact on the relatively mobile types of FDI. Second, there is evidence that countries are competitively undercutting each other's labor market standards.     

Migration Intermediaries and Codes of Conduct: Temporary Migrant Workers in Australian Horticulture

Over recent decades, developments in network governance have seen governments around the world cede considerable authority and responsibility to commercial migration intermediaries for recruiting and managing temporary migrant labour. Correspondingly, a by-product of network governance has been the emergence of soft employment regulation in which voluntary codes of conduct supplement hard (enforceable) legal employment standards. This paper explores these developments in the context of temporary migrant workers employed in Australian horticulture. First the paper analyses the growing use of temporary migrant labour in this industry. It then describes how different types of intermediaries interact with this workforce. The paper then outlines both hard and soft employment regulations, and contrasts them with actual employment conditions, questioning how a network governance approach has affected this vulnerable workforce. The paper concludes that changes in network governance of migration and employment relations have emasculated formal legal regulation, leaving market forces to operate without effective or ethical constraints at the expense of the public good.     

Employment Protection and SME Capital Structure Decisions

This study examines the effect of employment protection (EP) on the capital structure of SMEs. We argue that EP is linked to both the level of leverage and leverage adjustments because of its impact on financial distress costs and a firm's operational leverage. Data on employment contract types allow us to compose company specific measures of exposure to EP using a panel data set of 14,858 Belgian SMEs between 2000 and 2012. Our results show that the leverage ratio of firms is higher and that firms are more likely to adjust leverage levels when they are subject to fewer EP obligations.