The practitioner-academic gap: A view from the middle

The practitioner-academic gap has been widely discussed for decades along with recommendations for increasing the practical application of management research. We review some of the reasons for this disconnect and argue this has been the norm going back to the beginnings of the field. At the same time contemporary management practice has obviously been greatly influenced by management research. We suggest that much of this influential work has been done by academics who choose to work in the middle between university and practice. We review the experience of the Center for Effective Organizations and others working in the middle to make recommendations for doing useful research and suggest there are reasons for optimism in research to practice transfer in a changing landscape.     

The dispute at Times Newspapers Ltd: a view from inside

Paul Routledge examines the wider impact of Times Newspaper Ltd's suspension of publication for almost a year. As a participant in this significant dispute, he draws on his experience of the shutdown itself and the system of labour relations in the national newspaper industry.     

职业动力论的内在机理:基于价值链的视角

文章从系统的角度分析职业动力理论的优势与不足,提出职业动力理论在组元、结构、目标等方面为构建职业生涯管理系统提供借鉴,但缺乏对职业生涯管理系统微观运行机制的探讨,进而从价值链的视角阐释其产生职业动力的内在机理,最后构建了由价值设定、价值开发、价值评价与分配组成的职业生涯管理价值链系统。     

聚焦2004金融改革：银行业之变

2003年,国内银行业改革不仅范围广,而且力度很大.先有国有银行考核标准的变化,使得上半年的银行信贷超高速增长.这也是几年罕见的情况.而银行业监管委员会的成立、农村金融改革试点启动、央行5号令及121文件的出台,以及利率市场化的深化、国有银行准备上市等都是国内银行改革的大动作.     

Firm-specific Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Brazil*

We introduce firm-specific returns to experience and tenure into a standard two-way fixed effects model, show that they are separately identified under the standard exogenous mobility assumption and with sufficient between firm mobility, and provide a new evidence on heterogeneity of returns to experience and tenure across firms using the administrative data from Brazil over the years 1999–2014. We document that (1) returns to tenure are not strongly related to firm wage premia, (2) returns to experience are strongly negatively correlated with firm wage premia, (3) the relationship between firm wage premium and return to experience is stronger for ‘blue collar’ firms.     

Public Management Reforms and Social Cohesion in Europe: The view from the top

Drawing upon data from a survey of senior public managers in ten European countries, we examine the relationship between public management reforms and perceptions of social cohesion. We find a positive connection between reforms which treat service users as customers and government openness (outward-downward reforms), and managers’ perceptions of the civic culture and social solidarity within their countries. However, for reforms, such as privatization, with an outward-upward orientation, a negative association with social solidarity is observed. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

MODELS OF BANKING INSTABILITY: A PARTIAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract. This paper critically examines the theoretical literature on banking instability that has followed Diamond and Dybvig (1983). It explores the extent to which it (a) explains banking instability within a theoretical context in which financial intermediaries improve on unintermediated markets, and (b) justifies government involvement in the financial intermediation industry. It suggests that the literature has yet to provide a satisfactory theoretical basis for banking instability as such since the intermediaries which arise from it are peculiar mutual funds that bear little resemblance to real-world banks. In addition, the paper challenges the widespread belief that this literature provides a sound foundation for government involvement in the industry. It suggests that arguments for government intervention are open to objection on various grounds, the most important one being that they are inconsistent with the existence of properly motivated financial intermediation in these models.     

Charity box collection schemes: The retailers' view

Most UK charities, both national and local, place boxes in outlets such as shops, bars, cafés, filling stations, banks and building societies. Usually the box is placed by a representative of the charity visiting the potential site and inviting whoever is on duty to accept the box. This research sampled 2,308 UK retailers in order to determine their perceptions of the boxes held on their premises, the number of boxes held, their location and security. From the responses to the survey the authors discuss the distribution of boxes over different retail types and analyse retailers perceptions.     

UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS AND LONG-TERM CHILD OUTCOMES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

What are the long-term effects of universal preschool programs on child outcomes? We review 26 studies using natural experiments to estimate the effects of universal preschool programs for children aged 0–6 years on child outcomes measured from third grade to adulthood. Studies comparing universal preschool with a mix of parental, family, and private modes of care show mixed effects on test scores and on measures related to health, well-being, and behavior. All estimates for outcomes related to adequate primary and secondary school progression, years of schooling, highest degree completed, employment, and earnings indicate beneficial average effects of universal preschool programs. Three of the included studies calculate benefits-to-costs ratios and find ratios clearly above one. Universal preschool tends to be more beneficial for children with low socioeconomic status and there are not consistently different effects for boys or girls. Only three studies compare two alternative types of universal preschool programs in terms of long-term outcomes.     

Globalisation,industrial efficiency and technological sovereignty: Evidence from Brazil

Since the end of the 1980s the Brazilian economy has become increasingly exposed to the forces of globalisation. As trade and market liberalisation have progressed, so the industrial sector has been obliged to undergo a substantial transformation. This paper examines the nature of this transformation focusing on three key themes: productive efficiency, industrial restructuring and technological sovereignty. While, at least in terms of productivity and cost competitiveness, efficiency has undoubtedly increased, the evidence concerning the impact of liberalisation on technological sovereignty is somewhat more ambiguous. However, it is clear that, in many instances the reliance of the Brazilian industrial sector on foreign sources of technology has markedly increased. This, in turn raises a number of troubling issues, not least the ability of emerging market economies to hold on to established areas of technological competence as globalisation continues to unfold.     

The local impact of typhoons on economic activity in China: A view from outer space

We examine the impact of typhoons on local economic activity in coastal China. To capture potential damages from an individual typhoon we use historical typhoon track data in conjunction with a detailed wind-field model. We then combine our damage proxy with satellite derived nightlight intensity data to construct a panel data set that allows us to estimate the impact of typhoons at a spatially highly disaggregated level (approx. 1 km). Our results show that typhoons have a negative and significant, but short-term, impact on local activity – a typhoon that is estimated to destroy 50% of the property reduces local economic activity by 20% for that year. Over our period of analysis (1992–2010) total net economic losses are estimated to be in the region of $US 28.34 billion. To assess the damage risk from future typhoons we use simulated probability distributions of typhoon occurrence and intensity and combine these with our estimated effects. Results suggest that expected annual losses are likely to be around $US 0.54 billion.     

The COVID-19 crisis: A public choice view

Many observers have been puzzled by the sight of otherwise freedom-loving citizens consenting to the stripping of their civil rights and the massive budgetary expansion of their governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conversely, governments who ‘kept their cool’ such as those of Brazil and Sweden were heavily criticised by the Western media. Adopting James Buchanan's contractarian approach, this article seeks to model how the interplay between citizens and their government is affected by a health crisis. Citizens' increased willingness to pay for improved control of risks is found to play a major role.     

Global and world cities: a view from off the map

Attention to global and world cities has directed the field of urban studies to the significance of international and transnational processes in shaping city economies. This article evaluates these approaches, from a position off their maps. I argue that the circulation of these approaches in academic and policy realms adversely impacts on cities which do not fall into these categories by setting up the idea of the global city as a ‘regulating fiction’, a standard towards which they aspire. It establishes a small sector of the global economy as most desirable in planning the future of cities. By contrast, mega–cities function as the dramatic ‘other’ of world and global cities, and highlight the developmentalist discourse through which most cities in poor countries are assessed as fundamentally lacking in qualities of city–ness. I argue that the long–standing categories of western/third–world cities have been translated into the apparently transnational accounts of global and world cities. Western cities continue to be the primary site of production of apparently unlocated urban theory; so–called third–world cities (and other cities off the map of the world cities cartography) are interpreted through a developmentalist lens and, where they are referred to at all, are framed in terms of ‘difference’ or irrelevance. This article draws attention to the emergence of an alternative set of theoretical approaches, which are more inclusive in their geographical reach and which are concerned with the diverse dynamics of ordinary cities. These approaches have not yet realized that they have the potential to broaden the base for theorizing about cities and, with this in mind, the article explores the potential for a more cosmopolitan urban theory. The policy stakes in this are high, and the article notes that there are important political reasons to promote the analysis of ordinary cities in the face of the persistence of ambitions in many cities to become ‘world cities‘. L’attention accordée aux villes planétaires et mondiales a orienté le champ des études urbaines vers l’importance des processus internationaux et transnationaux dans la configuration économique des villes. Partant d’un point situé hors de leur cartographie, l’article évalue ces approches. La circulation de celles–ci dans les sphères politiques et intellectuelles a une incidence néfaste sur les villes qui n’appartiennent pas à ces catégories, car elle instaure l’idée d’une ville planétaire en tant que ‘fiction régulatrice’, norme à laquelle aspirent les villes. Un secteur restreint de l’économie mondiale est ainsi établi comme le plus recherché dans la planification urbaine. Par contraste, les megacities fonctionnent comme l’impressionnant ‘autre’ des villes mondiales et planétaires, valorisant le discours développementaliste selon lequel l’évaluation des villes des pays pauvres indique le plus souvent des lacunes fondamentales dans les qualités propres à une ville. Les anciennes catégories de villes (Occident/tiers–monde) ont été converties en justifications apparemment transnationales des villes planétaires et mondiales. Les villes occidentales restent le site de production principal d’une théorie urbaine manifestement non–localisée; les villes dites du tiers monde (et autres villes ignorées de la cartographie des villes mondiales) sont interprétées à travers une optique développementaliste et, si on en parle, sont dépeintes en termes de ‘différence‘ ou d’inadéquation. Cet article souligne l’émergence d’un autre ensemble d’approches théoriques, plus inclusives dans leur géographie et soucieuses des diverses dynamiques des villes ordinaires. Sachant que ces démarches ne sont pas encore conscientes de pouvoir étendre la base théorique sur les villes, l’article explore la possibilité d’une théorie urbaine plus cosmopolite. Les enjeux stratégiques sont sérieux et il existe des raisons politiques importantes d’encourager l’analyse des villes ordinaires face aux ambitions persistantes dans de nombreuses villes de devenir les ‘villes mondiales’.     

Charity shops in sectoral contexts: the view from the boardroom

Charity shops seem inherently contradictory in many ways. This paper unravels some of the contradictions by analysing charity shops in their ‘sectoral contexts’. First it puts forward different meanings of ‘sector’ and introduces notions of ‘sector values’. Then it presents results from empirical research into UK charity shop organisations, to show how senior managers of charity shop chains deal with ‘sectoral contradictions’. Finally, it asks how the sectoral contexts influence the management philosophies and marketing strategies (in the broadest sense) of these senior managers. Copyright © 2000 Henry Stewart Publications     

Wage incentives and wage rigidity: A representative view from within

A recent literature has used surveys of those who set wages to learn about the nature of wage incentives and the sources of wage rigidity. Methodologically, we overcome many of the objections that have been raised against this work. Substantively, we find that: (i) the reasons for real wage rigidity differ significantly between large and small firms, and between the high- and low-end of the labor market; (ii) efficiency wage mechanisms reinforce rigidities due to worker bargaining power; (iii) money illusion is a widespread phenomenon across all segments of the labor market; (iv) unions reinforce nominal wage rigidities due to external pay comparisons; (v) there appears to be gender differences in pay bargaining and work morale.