Multinational Retailers in China: Proliferating ‘McJobs’ or Developing Skills?*

abstract Much has been written on the nature of skills and the extent to which there is increased skills development or a deskilling of workers in modern workplaces. This paper broadens the debate and explores these issues in the novel context of UK‐ and Japanese‐
invested retailers' operations in China. Data derived from over two hundred interviews at twelve retail stores in six Chinese cities and questionnaires completed by almost eight hundred employees elicited contextualized accounts of interactive service workers' own perceptions of their training and skills development. It was found that these firms made a substantial contribution to skills development, fostered and enhanced both directly by company training and also through experiential workplace‐based learning. It might be, however, that this constitutes an essential but ‘one‐off’ increase in skills in transitional economies such as that of China.     

全球价值链理论与发展中国家产业升级研究进展

目前有关全球价值链理论的研究,主要集中于全球价值链概念、类型、治理和全球价值链的产业集群升级模式等方面。而在此基础上的发展中国家产业升级的研究,主要集中于全球价值链治理模式对发展中国家产业升级的影响、在全球价值链之下发展中国家升级产业的动力机制、以及产业集群升级的途径等方面。在经济全球化背景下,研究全球价值链理论和发展中国家产业升级问题,对研究我国产业提升问题有重要的参考价值。     

The Traditional Industrial Sector in Developing Countries: An Update on Its Role and Functioning

A bstract . In the theory of urban labor markets in less developed countries , levels of traditional industrial sector incomes, are a key determinant of modern sector skilled wages (directly through the external labor market) and unskilled wages (indirectly through operations of internal labor markets ). Data on traditional sector incomes for 40 urban areas are assembled from a variety of sources; the quality of these data and needs for future data collection are critically appraised. The data are then used to conduct a preliminary test of the labor market model. In general, the predictions of the model are supported by these tests     

Corporate Charitable Giving, Multinational Companies and Countries of Concern

This paper investigates the degree to which corporate charitable giving is influenced by a firm's internationalization and/or whether it has operations in one or more countries of concern. For a sample of large UK firms, we find evidence of a positive effect not for internationalization per se, but only for a presence in particular countries. In this connection, the salient country characteristic is a lack of political rights and/or civil liberties, and the positive impact on charitable giving is restricted to a presence in only those countries that are, according to Freedom House indicators, most lacking in this respect. Furthermore, our study highlights a mode of corporate response to stakeholder concerns and pressures – offsetting – that is qualitatively different from those suggested in earlier conceptual literatures.     

Public Management in Developing Countries

Abstract

Ten years ago public management in developing countries was reaching the end of a period in which the ‘Washington consensus’ model of a small state was dominant, with downsizing and privatization as its key mechanisms. With reform programmes in disarray and NPM an inadequate replacement, the subsequent decade has been one of ‘reculer pour mieux sauter’, with management dislodged from centre stage by a concern with the domestic and political determinants of reform. We have also seen the return of a poverty agenda, featuring education and health in central roles, to which management specialists have yet to respond fully. This review suggests the need for public management specialists to absorb a political analysis before returning to perennial management concerns.     

中西方关系网络比较及对跨国企业的启示

关系网同时存在于中西方的社会实践并在商业活动中扮演重要角色,但迄今为止的研究较少针对性的探讨中西方关系网的差别及形成这些差别的本质原因。本文从社会架构和文化价值出发,分别分析了中国的guanxi与西方的networking,从四个方面分析得出了它们的差别及形成原因。在此基础上,本文进一步提出了对中外跨国企业如何善用所在国关系网络的启示。