Spatial strategies of the “haredi” population in Jerusalem

The purpose of this article is to discuss the strategic behavior—spatial and social—of the “Haredi” (ultra-orthodox) Jewish population. This behavior is associated, in essence, with self-segregation and social isolation accompanied by spatial expansion.

This study deals with these processes in one of the largest concentrations of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community—the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The Jewish ultra-orthodox community is characterized by its special interpretation of Jewish law (halacha) and by its high degree of cohesiveness. It tends to segregate itself from the Israeli population for two main motives. The positive one is the desire to create and maintain “cultural dominance” in a specific area in which the community lives and functions. This includes considerations of scale economies and concentration economies in the provision of the special goods and services which it consumes. The second motive, a negative one, is the desire to avoid some kinds of contacts and interactions with the various groups which do not observe Jewish law according to the orthodox conception. This is done in order to prevent the transfer of secular cultural values of western society into their domain.

The high communal cohesiveness, coupled with high population growth and a strong desire for self-territorial segregation, results in increased pressure on the urban residential space. The fear of social relationship—which may serve as agents for transferring social or cultural values—results in a high degree of intolerance toward the non-religious Israeli population. The contact lines between the two populations have become, therefore, confrontation areas which are characterized by territorial conflicts.

Study of the directions of the territorial expansion suggests what the spatial strategy of the ultraorthodox community is: to gain control of a whole, well-defined urban space in order to maintain cultural dominance in it, while assuring potential directions for expansion in the future. The relationships with the outside, non-religious population is built on a modus operandi principle: i.e. minimal and culturally neutral interactions.

This strategy is carried out through penetration and expansion tactics in a well-known process. These processes present important challenges for planning areas in which ultra-orthodox communities reside.     

About “strategy” and “strategies” in supply management

This article addresses the context and content of a generic supply strategy and discusses its strategy-making process. Building mostly on fundamental strategic management theories, the authors explain the role of supply strategy in its managerial context. In so doing, some light is shed on the meaning and use of the terms “strategy” and “strategies”. Also, a practical conceptual framework for supply strategy formulation is provided. The generic checklist, built by segmenting supply management decisions, is intended to guide supply professionals in addressing strategic issues to create value to customers, avoiding confusion and optimising resource allocation.     

“Offshoring”: How big an issue?

Spurred by the political debate in the US and several high-profile corporate moves, "offshoring" has become a lively topic of discussion. This paper by Grant Colquhoun, Keith Edmonds and David Goodger tries to put recent developments in context and argues that "offshoring" should be seen as part of a long-standing and largely beneficial trend of international specialisation. In the short term at least, the transfer of service sector activities abroad is likely to involve relatively small numbers of jobs when compared to overall UK employment and labour market turnover. However, specific areas — such as call centres, back office functions and software programming — are expected to be increasingly affected, impacting upon regions of the UK with heavy exposure to those activities and giving rise to adjustment costs. In contrast, retailing, hotels and catering and personal services could well benefit from the move of low value-added jobs abroad. Overall, the impact of "offshoring" on the UK economy in terms of output and productivity should be positive.     

Getting from “just-in-case” to “just-in-time”: Insights from a simple model

Many factory managers are hesitant about implementing a just-in-time system due to concern about the dip in productivity that occurs. Here, a simple analytic model is used to study the trade-off between disruption and learning/improvement on a production line. While simple, the model is shown to capture many of the effects of just-in-time mentioned in the literature.Using insights from the model, an attempt is made to identify those factors to which successful implementation of just-in-time is most sensitive.     

“Want to” Versus “Have to”: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators as Predictors of Compliance Behavior Intention

“Worthless,” “money burning,” or “black holes” is how media and professionals describe compliance practices today. Practitioners are unenthusiastic about control systems, codes of conducts, and systems for compliance management that are increasing in volume but not in effectiveness. In order to help practitioners clarify what actually makes employees comply with their compliance program, this study examines intrinsic and extrinsic motivators of 119 employees from procurement and sales. We contribute to the existing motivation literature, testing the self‐determination theory in low and high hierarchical levels. Our findings show that intrinsic motivators are more strongly and positively related to compliance intention on higher hierarchical levels than the lower ones. However, employees from higher hierarchies show overall less compliance intention than employees from lower hierarchies. © 2015 The Authors. Human Resource Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Management Changes,Reputation, and “Big Bath”—Earnings Management

We study the effects of managerial turnover on earnings management activities in a model in which managers care about their external reputation. We develop an overlapping generations model showing that both outgoing and incoming managers bias reported earnings such that typically very low returns are reported in the first period after a manager has been replaced. Outgoing managers shift earnings forward to their last period in office as they will not benefit from earnings realized after that. Incoming managers can have an incentive to shift earnings to the second period in office as reported earnings will, immediately after a management change, only be partly attributed to their own ability. Deferred compensation can reduce incentives for earnings management.     

Wages Councils,retail distribution and the concept of the “cut-off”

If proposed amendments to the Industrial Relations Bill remove protection afforded to some groups of workers by the Wages Councils system, an alternative will have to be found. In retail distribution a case can be made out for operating a bipartite system with voluntary negotiation above, and statutory wage protection below, a “cut-off” point determined on the basis of turnover.     

Demise of “permanent employment” in Japan

The increasing volatility of industrial business cycles is forcing Japanese companies to institute a variety of human resource management methods which are eroding the principle of permanent employment. The transition from permanent employment to more flexible employment practices reviewed here is an example of how human resources can be managed to maximize a firm's competitiveness and effectiveness.     

The “Big 3” Foundations and American Global Power

This article shows how the major foundations were extremely influential in America's rise to global hegemony over the past century. The leadership of these foundations was part of the eastern foreign policy establishment that initially mobilized support for a globalist, anti‐isolationist agenda and after World War II worked to construct a viable intellectual framework promoting American perspectives in world affairs. The development of foundation leadership in international relations took place in three phases with different emphases, aimed at softening the sharper edges of globalization and elite dominance to retain public legitimacy: 1) shifting American public opinion from the 1920s to the 1950s in favor of liberal internationalism and a strong national government, 2) creating an integrated global elite from the 1950s to the 1970s that could serve as conduits for American interests within the institutions of each nation, and 3) developing democratic reforms in response to neoliberalism after 1980 to gain legitimacy for the international order, in order to sustain the idea that the political and economic systems work for everyone. In this fashion, foundations were able publicly to espouse principles of self‐determination and economic development for every nation, even though their actions paved the way for the continuation of neocolonialism.     

Reply to “Modeling Managerial Altruism,CSR, and Donations: A Comment”

We point out that the main concern of this comment is on the assumptions about “managerial compensation” and “who should make the donation decision for the firm”.     

Leading Change and Innovation Through “Organizational Laundering”

Change in organizations can be frequent, but change is not always necessary. In pursuit of innovation, and at times their own agenda, leaders who exhibit a pseudotransformational leadership style can have a catastrophic effect on the workplace. Promoting change under the guise of innovation benefits self and not the organization and sponsors a workplace in turmoil. These leaders practice organizational laundering, which is proposed as an introductory term resulting from employing a combination of destructive and pseudotransformational leadership styles in an attempt to be innovative and make organizational change.