Pricing behaviour in UK manufacturing and service industries

This paper reports the findings related to pricing behaviour of 1775 manufacturing and service firms. Its objectives were to examine the nature of pricing objectives at differing stages of market evolution and for companies of differing size and to examine the association between pricing objectives and performance. Princing objectives were found to vary with stages of market evolution and firm size. Both positive and negative relationships between pricing objectives and performance were revealed.     

Beyond greening: new dialogue and new approaches for developing sustainability

The Sixth International Conference of the Greening of Industry Network, Developing Sustainability: New Dialogue, New Approaches, was held in Santa Barbara, CA, USA, 16–19 November 1997. This special edition of Business Strategy and the Environment attempts to capture the dialogue from the conference by presenting seven edited papers from the conference, a review of the conference's objectives and achievements from the perspective of the conference organizers, and this introductory essay. Each of the seven papers takes a different cut at theoretical, empirical and methodological questions around the focus of the conference. Together they represent the diversity and creativity of approach that is central to the conference's objective of establishing new dialogue on processes of greening and progress towards sustainable development. The organization of the conference and significant conference highlights, such as the incorporation of CERES into the organization of the conference, and the expansion of the Network into Asia, are reviewed by the conference organizers in this special edition (Fatkin and Fischer, 1998). This essay discusses new dialogues and new approaches to industrial transformation emerging from Santa Barbara. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Beyond Fordism? strategic choice and labour relations in Ford UK

New industrial competition has led major automobile manufacturers to re-analyse their approaches to business strategy and industrial relations. This article examines attempts at Ford Motor Co. to adopt its traditional approach to work organisation to its changing business environment.     

Beyond workaholism: Towards a general model of heavy work investment

Although the term workaholism is widely used, little consensus exists about its meaning, and there is a great need for further theoretical and methodological advancement. We attempt to address this need by introducing the concept of Heavy Work Investment (HWI), and viewing workaholism as only one of its subtypes. Furthermore, we propose a model consisting of four main components: HWI, its possible predictors, its types, and its outcomes.In this model, using Weiner's (1985) attributional framework, we differentiate between situational and dispositional types of HWI, each with its own subtypes, as based on the predictors of such an investment. For example, financial-needs-based and employer-directed are situational subtypes, whereas workaholism and work-devotion are dispositional subtypes. Based on the proposed HWI model, we compare dispositional investors with situational investors.Finally, the measurement of HWI, as well as future research directions (study of situational investors, research across time and cultures, and exploration of inter-generational similarity/difference) is also discussed.     

Tools from the implementation workbench: a project manager's survival kit

Change rarely comes easy. There are frequently obstacles of various shapes and sizes throughout the implementation process, and in order to ensure success a project manager must have the right tools and know how to use them. Just as craftspeople master the tools of their trade, so too must project managers--not only if they are to succeed but also if they are to survive. This article focuses on the "how to"--the skill set needed to be a successful project manager. It describes the project management process and reviews some basic but invaluable tools.     

Part-time work in the public health service of Denmark,France and the UK

The aim of this paper is to consider the extent to which and the ways in which part-time work is used in the health services of Denmark, France and the UK. The reasons for and the implications of introducing part-time work in the three EU countries are also analysed and compared. Data were collected using questionnaires and interviews from hospitals in Denmark, France and the UK. Questionnaires were completed by heads of department and by part-time employees. Interviews (for the UK sample only) were held with the managers responsible for the introduction of flexible working practices. The findings show that part-time employment is the most common flexible working practice in the health services of all three countries but that the purpose of its introduction differs from one country to another. Part-time work seemed to have satisfied the desire of those who run the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK for cost reduction and for flexibility of working practices. In the French health service it was aimed at creating jobs, whereas in Denmark it was a response to increasing employee demand for flexible working. It was also found that, contrary to the Danish case with its established tradition of flexible working and equality in employment, the full-time working traditions and the male-dominated cultures of the health services in France and in the UK have often undermined the importance and benefits of part-time employment.     

Mixed embeddedness and new migrant enterprise in the UK

How can the phenomenon of new migrant enterprise be explained? The arrival of new migrants to the UK in significant numbers is prompting a new wave of business activity. This expression of ‘super-diversity’ poses challenges for existing modes of theorizing, or so it seems. We venture outside the cosmopolitan metropolis of London to examine the experiences of 165 new migrant business owners in the East Midlands region of the UK. Mixed embeddedness theory is used to illuminate the business activities of these new arrivals. We find that new migrants are indeed ‘diverse’ in many respects; but importantly, the onerous nature of structural constraints limit the scope of new migrant enterprise. There is more than a faint of echo of predecessor ethnic minority communities; and racism continues to cast influence on the business activities of new migrants.     

Technological change and participation in work organization: recent results from a European Community survey

In 1987–8 a large attitudinal survey covering all twelve Member States of the European Community was carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin which focused on various aspects of participation by employee representatives in new information technology. This paper presents evidence on one of the central trade union concerns about technological change – that of work organization.

The paper first sets out an explanatory framework which is based on much of the literature, surveys and case-study evidence on the impact of new technology on work and employment. Second, the explanatory factors are used to explain the wide diversity in the levels of participation in work organization across the Community. The paper concludes that there is a significant North/South divide, with the northern EC Member States, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium having much higher levels of participation in work organization than their Mediterranean partners.     

Turn to the material: Remote diagnostics systems and new forms of boundary-spanning

To learn and adapt, organizations engage widely in Information Technology (IT)-mediated boundary-spanning. This involves making sense of a swath of peripheral information made available by digital means so as to expand local knowledge. Prior research on boundary-spanning has paid scant attention to material differences between IT systems in enabling or constraining such activity. In this article, we argue that material features do matter: features afforded by IT systems have a significant impact on the form and content of boundary-spanning. We analyze material features and related affordances provided by remote diagnostics systems – a family of ubiquitous IT systems. These features allow remote diagnostics systems to collect, store, and continuously analyze data about the state of machinery and related production processes across space, time and organizational boundaries. Organizations use these systems to determine when maintenance intervention is needed, or to improve their production processes. Often, these systems are run by external service providers at remote sites, which become the new ears and the eyes of a focal organization’s production processes. Building on a longitudinal multi-site case study of two organizations, we explore the impacts of remote diagnostics systems on boundary-spanning. We observe that material features afforded by the remote diagnostics led the organizations to change their boundary-spanning in contradictory ways. On one hand, they reinforced existing boundaries. On the other hand, they crossed or cut down others, or created new ones. This suggests that the material features of these systems, when combined with new knowledge creation and sharing practices, within and between the local and the remote sites generate richer, multi-faceted inter-organizational knowledge flows. We surmise that IT’s new material features will continue to significantly shape organizing logics that determine where and when organizational boundaries are drawn and crossed. Future boundary-spanning will increasingly be shaped by socio-technical assemblages brought together by increasingly pervasive IT capabilities.     

积极发展自动化技术及产业加快构建新发展格局

近年来,人工智能、工业机器人、3D打印等自动化技术及产业取得突破性进展,开始产生广泛的经济和社会影响。发展和利用自动化技术及产业,有助于我国优化经济结构,增强国际竞争力,占据全球价值链高端,是应对老龄化挑战的有效手段,对构建以国内大循环为主体、国内国际双循环相互促进的新发展格局也具有重要意义。与此同时,自动化技术及产业会带来失业和不平等加剧等负面影响,对现有的教育体系提出更高的要求。此外,发展自动化技术也面临着其他国家的激烈竞争。为应对这些挑战,实现经济结构顺利转型,必须改善收入分配体系,提高社会保障水平,调整教育体系,建设学习型社会,制定科学合理的产业规划,积极发展新型自动化技术和相关行业,扩大对外开放,争取国际合作。     

新时期对辅导员工作的几点思考

高校辅导员在高校的各个院系直接面向学生开展工作,对学生的影响也最为直接。现今所处的是一个开放、竞争、信息化的时代,青年大学生的思维非常活跃,但不成熟。辅导员作为学生思想的引领者,如何应对新时期的变化是一个需要思考的问题。     

Intangible assets as drivers of innovation: Empirical evidence on multinational enterprises in German and UK regional systems of innovation

The sources of value creation are increasingly relying on intangible assets (IAs). IAs are the lifeblood of knowledge-intensive industries where the new value added is disproportionally based on specialized, non-repetitious activities. However, while the role of IAs is recognised as central to sustain the competitiveness of firms and innovation systems, the understanding of the mechanisms through which IAs display their effects has not yet been fully grasped.By focussing on the processes through which investments in IAs occur, this paper aims to explore the key dimensions through which two specific IAs - organisational and network capital - are enhanced and contribute to the innovativeness and embeddedness of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in regional innovation systems. On the basis of over forty in-depth interviews to leading staff of German and UK flagship MNEs operating in the automotive, life science and ICT sectors, the paper shows that MNEs adopt rather distinctive strategies to develop IAs; that MNE degree of local embeddedness is strictly related to both the kind of IA strategy and the local environment; and that causation mechanisms are at work between MNE embeddedness and regional creation of IAs.     

Productivity and its rewards: Toward a new work ethic

A new American work ethic, needed to effectively compete in global markets, might develop if the wealth created by increased productivity is invested in creating open-ended, mutual obligations within organizations, and socially significant roles for employees beyond organizations. An anthropological perspective is applied to gain sharing to propose allocations that could engender job security, capital formation, enhanced social roles, higher productivity, and a new work ethic congruent with voluntaristic American culture. The proposed gain-sharing allocation supports participative work organization.     

面向新世纪的质量工作新思路

人类已经进入21世纪.为了适应新世纪国内外市场竞争日趋激烈的新形势,广大企业都在设法努力提高综合质量和国际竞争能力.笔者通过20年的资料积累,特别是近几年实地学习国际先进企业的经验、参加国际质量会议、研修以及在实践中参与研究、总结,认为以下几个主要观点,似可作为新世纪质量工作的新思路和新举措,供同志们参考.     

The new challenges of organizing intellectual property in complex industries: A discussion based on the case of Thales

The defense industries in France and elsewhere have, in recent years, undergone important technological, organizational and institutional changes that have profoundly altered their architectures. These changes have introduced a new division of labor bringing new opportunities for interaction leading to the creation of additional assets. In this context, the issue of protecting innovations and their exploitation has become central. Managing intellectual property rights (IPR) requires industrial groups to draw on additional capabilities. This article analyzes these evolutions and focuses in particular on the new organizational arrangements that have accompanied them. Using the case of Thales, which in 2005 outsourced its Intellectual Property (IP), we answer questions such as: why should IP be outsourced; how should the outsourcing of IP activities be organized; and, how should capabilities involved in this new organizational arrangement be managed. These issues lie at the center of this research and illustrate new challenges inherent to in-house and outsourced IPR management strategies.