The impact of the national minimum wage on the apparel industry

This analysis of the NMW’s initial impact in the apparel industry focuses on organisational and institutional factors in explaining the effects on pay and related issues. The NMW had a marked effect on national terms and conditions, in particular raising the minimum earnings level. At the local level, it impacted directly on the pay of a small number of employees in almost half the 42 organisations surveyed in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland. These tended to be the larger employing units facing foreign competition and selling into the domestic market. Also, in some workplaces, the NMW adversely affected the piecework system. The reaction of local management to these changes is discussed.     

Multinational companies and high-performance work practices in the Spanish manufacturing industry

In this paper we use data from industrial plants to establish whether there are differences in the adoption of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) between subsidiaries of multinational firms and indigenous firms. We use a unique data set that consists of a sample of manufacturing establishments located in Spain. We consider 14 HPWPs and find that multinational firms adopt HPWPs more intensively than non-multinationals. We also find that the country of origin of the multinational firm is not so important.     

Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance

As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive, global economy where products are easily commoditized, innovating by adding services to the core product offering has become a popular strategy. Contrary to the economic benefits expected, recent findings pinpoint implementation hurdles that lead to a potential performance decline, the so-called ‘servitization paradox’. In this paper, we analyze this paradox by disentangling the value creation and value appropriation processes of 44 national subsidiaries of a global manufacturing firm turned product-service provider, in the 2001–2007 period. Our findings show that the firm under study is able to successfully transcend the inherent substitution of products by services and to enact complementary sales dynamics between the two activities. Moreover, labor-intensive services such as maintenance, which imply higher levels of customer proximity, further enhance product sales. Empirical results also reveal a positive yet non-linear relationship between the scale of service activities and profitability: while initial levels of servicing result in a steep increase in profitability, a period of relative decline is observed before the positive relationship between the scale of services and profitability re-emerges. These findings suggest the presence of initial short-term gains but also indicate the existence of a ‘profitability’ hurdle; profitable growth seems feasible only to the extent that investments in service capability are translated into economies of scale. In helping to clarify the performance implications of service innovation, our findings suggest pathways to sustainable growth through servitization for manufacturing firms.     

The impact of using kiosk on enterprise systems in service industry

The hospitality industry services many types of travellers. Each of them needs to be analysed differently in order to accurately determine their respective service quality attributes and customer delight. The effective and efficient enterprise information systems (EISs) play a significant role in traveller’s experience and in the competitive advantages that hotels can gain. For this study, self-service kiosks and guest service agents as part of hotel’s EISs are used to investigate the impact each has on the experience of business and leisure travellers. This study provides empirical results that further investigate how to improve the service quality for both types of travellers during the registration process. This process is the first physical interaction between the travellers and the hotel. Any problem in registering would generate a long-lasting negative first impression on the travellers, thus diminishing the customer delight. In the light of our findings, this study will contribute to the effective and efficient design of self-service kiosk systems, hotel’s EISs, and improved front office management to better accommodate the specific needs of both types of travellers.     

Assessing the impact of green supply chain practices on firm performance in the Korean manufacturing industry

As a growing number of customers tend to view corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a key purchase decision criterion, demands for CSR including environmental sustainability have accelerated in today's business world. To meet such demands, many firms consider embracing environment-friendly business practices. However, many firms are still hesitant to implement those practices due to sceptical views about their real managerial benefits. Although the previous literature confirms the positive link between a firm's commitment to environmental sustainability and its performance, the varying degree of impact of different kinds of environment-friendly supply chain practices on the firm's operational performance is still unknown. To fill the void left by prior research, this paper aims to classify various types of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and then assess the impact of each of these distinct types on the firm's operational performances (especially manufacturing and marketing performance). Also, this paper examines how the firm's organisational profiles such as firm size affect the particular firm's choice of GSCM practices. Our experimental results reveal that the chosen type of GSCM practices influences the firm's performance differently.     

Mortgage lending in Chicago and Los Angeles: A paired testing study of the pre-application process

In 2000, the Urban Institute paired African-American and Hispanic testers with whites and sent the pairs to visit lenders in Chicago and Los Angeles, in order to inquire about information on obtaining a home mortgage. In Chicago, African Americans and Hispanics systematically received less information and assistance than comparable whites; while in Los Angeles, the treatment of minority and white testers did not differ statistically from each other. Multivariate analyses for Chicago indicate that large lenders treat minorities more favorably than smaller lenders and that lenders with substantial numbers of applications from African-Americans treat African-Americans more favorably than lenders with predominantly white application pools.     

The Economic Impacts of a Terrorist Attack on the Downtown Los Angeles Financial District

Abstract

This paper summarizes a study on the economic impacts of a radiological bomb attack on a major office building in downtown Los Angeles financial district. A radiological bomb will generate effects within an extensive radiation plume that is divided into two zones with varying evacuation times: an Inner Zone with a 1-year evacuation and an Outer Zone with only a 1-month evacuation time. An up-to-date version of a Garin–Lowry-style regional input–output model called SCPM 2005 is employed to simulate household and firm relocation in three scenarios. The impact analysis focuses on business interruption effects only.

Impact économique d'une attaque terroriste sur le quartier financier du centre de Los Angeles

Résumé Cet article concerne une étude sur l'impact économique d'une attaque par bombe radiologique sur un immeuble de bureaux dans le quartier financier du centre de Los Angeles. Une bombe radiologique engendre des effets au cæur d'un vaste panache radioactif, qui est divisé en deux zones possédant des durées d’évacuation différentes. La durée d’évacuation est d'un an dans la zone interne, et d'un mois seulement dans la zone externe. Trois scénarios de délocalisation de ménages et d'entreprises sont simulés grâce à l'utilisation d'une version actuelle d'un modèle régional intrants-extrants de type Garin–Lowry, appelé SCPM 2005. L'analyse de l'impact se concentre uniquement sur les effets de l'interruption du commerce.

El impacto económico de un ataque terrorista en el distrito financiero del centro de Los Ángeles

Résumén?Este trabajo resume un estudio sobre el impacto económico de un ataque de bomba radiológico en un importante edificio de oficinas en el distrito financiero del centro de Los Ángeles. Una bomba radiológica generará efectos dentro de una pluma radioactiva extensiva, dividida en dos zonas con diferentes tiempos de evacuación: una zona interna con un período de evacuación de un año y una zona externa con un período de evacuación de sólo un mes. Se emplea una versión actualizada de un modelo estilo Garin–Lowry, de entrada-salida regional llamado SCPM 2005, para simular la relocalización de viviendas y firmas en tres escenarios. El análisis del impacto sólo se enfoca en los efectos de la interrupción del

     

拓展中国服务贸易市场的思路与对策

服务业和服务贸易在我国国民经济中的比重逐年上升,引起了人们的高度关注。但与西方发达国家相比,我国国际服务贸易发展水平还较低,其竞争力还有待提高。文中分析了我国服务业、服务贸易发展的基本状况和存在的主要问题,提出了在贸易自由化背景下拓展我国国际服务贸易市场的思路和对策。     

Understanding online equity funding ecology: a comparison of the greater Los Angeles area and Silicon Valley

Quality & Quantity - Guided by the community ecology perspective and resource dependence theory, this study examines how organizational forms and resources co-influence the financial flow among...     

The impact of HRM practices on service quality,customer satisfaction and performance in the Indian hotel industry

This article reviews findings from a first survey of employers' views on collective bargaining reform that now forms the centrepiece of post-apartheid South Africa's experiment with 'democratic corporatism'. Using factor analysis, three constructs have been identified that inform employer attitudes to a revised system of sectoral bargaining: 'autonomous capacity'; 'conditional association'; 'external threat'. Despite the potential for anomie, these factors appear significant in the way they consistently explain an employer's orientation towards associational membership and, by proxy, sectoral bargaining. Moreover, at least two-thirds of responding firms identified strongly with each of the three factors but, typically, firms with weak capacity and in need of collective protection from the other actors are most likely to associate. Regression analysis further reveals company well-being, foreign ownership and union presence to have a significant impact on these three factors to varying degrees. Equally, two of the factors (autonomous capacity and external threat) impact significantly on an employer's tolerance of free-riding in others and on the temptation to do so for oneself. Overall, for this sample of firms, employer bodies are to be viewed more as 'political devices' than as 'economic agents' in the immediate aftermath of political liberation. In this sense, they are different from their European counter-parts. However, there is an increasing likelihood of this changing as the flexibility agenda looms ever larger in employers' minds and as issues of 'political insecurity' correspondingly fade.     

Carpooling and driver responses to fuel price changes: Evidence from traffic flows in Los Angeles

We examine carpooling and driver responses to fuel price changes. Using a simple theoretical model, we show that traffic flows in mainline lanes unambiguously decrease when fuel prices increase, and this effect is stronger when the presence of a carpool lane provides a substitute to driving alone. In contrast, in carpool (HOV) lanes flow can either increase or decrease. These predictions are tested using 8 years of traffic flow data for 1700 locations in Los Angeles. In our preferred specification, the mean elasticity of flow with respect to fuel price is 0.136 for HOV lanes. For a 10% increase in fuel price this implies 10 additional carpools per hour, $8.8 million per year in additional congestion costs for carpoolers and $11.3 million lower costs for mainline drivers. For mainline lanes, flow elasticities are −0.083 and −0.050 for highways with and without an HOV lane. These estimates imply that the mean highway with an HOV lane experiences a 30% larger decrease in hourly flow compared to the mean highway without an HOV lane. Flows in HOV lanes show an immediate decrease following a price increase but respond positively to price increases over time, which suggests time is an important input to carpool formation.     

Measuring the impact of work reorganization on firm performance: evidence from French manufacturing, 1995–1999

In this paper, we apply the method of selective matching to estimate the causal effect of organizational changes on employment, stock of capital, value added, and factor productivity. Derived from a panel of 2404 French manufacturing firms in 1997, our estimates show that work reorganization improves firm performance overall through a more efficient use of labor and capital, without requiring any increase in the factors of production.     

服务贸易与现代物流的关系研究

提升服务贸易的竞争力,一方面要持续调整服务产业的结构、组织形式以及产品的竞争力,另一方面则需要关联产业对服务业竞争力的保障和支持。文中主要探讨现代物流这一与服务业密切关联的行业对服务贸易的影响,以期通过构建合理的物流服务体系促进并提升我国服务贸易的竞争力。     

Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic management influences the design of jobs

We review the literature on algorithmic management (AM) to bridge the gap between this emerging research area and the well-established theory and research on work design. First, we identify six management functions that algorithms are currently able to perform: monitoring, goal setting, performance management, scheduling, compensation, and job termination. Second, we show how each AM function affects key job resources (e.g., job autonomy, job complexity) and key job demands (e.g., workload, physical demands); with each of these resources and demands being important drivers of worker motivation and their well-being. Third, rejecting a deterministic perspective and drawing on sociotechnical systems theory, we outline key categories of variables that moderate the link between AM on work design, namely transparency, fairness and human influence (e.g., whether workers can control the system). We summarize our review in the form of a model to help guide research on AM, and to support practitioners and designers in the creation and maintenance of meaningful jobs in the era of algorithms.     

Wage and hour violations in urban labour markets: a comparison of Los Angeles,New York and Chicago

This article compares violations of minimum wage laws and other labour standards in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. Los Angeles has the highest violation rates, due to such factors as its industrial composition and disproportionately large number of small establishments, as well as its vast unauthorised immigrant population. In addition, Los Angeles’ higher rates reflect the stricter legal standards in California. We conclude that, although stronger workplace laws and regulations are crucial, in the absence of effective enforcement, they may fail to prevent workplace violations.