Cooperation in the agro-food industry: Spain,Greece and Portugal

This article is concerned with some characteristics of the agro-food industry in Spain, Greece and Portugal, countries that will soon enter the European Community. The analysis is based on an examination of the ways in which the agro-industry and food consumption patterns influence the economic development of those countries. The article also considers the problems of agreements between the food industry and the agricultural sector and the role played by public administration.     

A community perspective

The accession of Greece to the European Community (EC) will be welcomed. Although it indicates the success of European integration, the second enlargement will bring profound changes. It is questionable whether the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in its current form, can deal with the central issue raised by Greek accession — income distribution. This article outlines how Greek accession will affect the CAP and indicates implications for future policy making.     

From mutual recognition to mutual scientific opinion? Constitutional framework for risk analysis in EU food safety law

Regulation 178/2002 (the so-called General Food Law – GFL) codifies risk analysis as the core principle of the modern food safety policy. This article places the GFL in EU multi-level food safety governance and analyses the impact of risk analysis, the precautionary principle and mechanisms of scientific governance introduced by the GFL on both national and Community legislation. It discusses the case law of the European Courts dealing with scientific evidence and the precautionary principle applied to both European and national food safety measures. The article concludes with some observations on the role of the risk analysis methodology in the Community internal market.     

Regional aid for telecommunications in Europe: A force for economic development

This article reviews research work on telecommunications and economic development which can be applied to the problems faced in the less favoured regions of Europe. The authors draw on work carried out under the auspices of the Commission of the European Communities into the disadvantages these regions face in telecommunications supply and use, and the benefits which would accrue from investment. The priorities for regional aid and recommended actions for a European programme are also discussed. The authors conclude that the emphasis should be on the provision of advanced business services and the stimulation of demand for those services, in order to encourage economic growth. General network infrastructure digitalization should be left to PTTs to undertake as part of their normal investment programme.     

The Emergence of Industrial Relations in Regional Trade Blocks — A Comparative Analysis

This article analyses the emergence and institutionalization of regional industrial relations arrangements in six regional integration agreements (European Union, North American Free Trade Association, Mercado Común del Sur, Economic Community of West African States, Southern African Development Community, Association of Southeast Asian Nations). In each, the article investigates human and social rights, labour standards, residence and social security rights of migrants, regional union and employer organization, and provisions for social dialogue. The article tries to explain the comparative differences in emergent regional industrial relations by testing four competing hypotheses based on integration and institutional theories specified at the regional and national level.     

Interorganizational Collaboration and Innovation: Toward a Portfolio Approach*

In the literature on innovation, interorganizational collaboration has been advanced as beneficial for the innovative performance of firms. At the same time, large‐scale empirical evidence for such a relationship is scarce. This article examines whether evidence can be found for the idea that interorganizational collaboration supports the effectiveness of innovation strategies. This article empirically addresses this research question by analyzing data on Belgian manufacturing firms (n=221) collected in the Community Innovation Survey, a biannual survey organized by Eurostat and the European Commission aimed at obtaining insights into the innovation practices and performance of companies within the various European Union (EU) member states. Tobit analyses reveal a positive relationship between interorganizational collaboration and innovative performance. At the same time, the impact on innovative performance differs depending on the nature of the partner(s) involved. These findings strongly suggest the relevance of adopting a portfolio approach to interorganizational collaboration within the context of innovation strategies.     

Cable and satellite TV in the UK and Europe: The emerging legal issues

The impact of satellite and cable TV on existing laws and regulatory frameworks will be considerable. This article reviews the impact on advertising, copyright protection, copyright licensing, programme content, rights of reception and distribution of television signals, and performers rights within the context of the UK, European and international contexts. Many problems exist and are unlikely to be resolved for some time.     

European policies and regulation

This article describes the three main objectives of the European Community's programme of regulatory reform in the telecommunication sector: liberalization, the separation of regulatory and operational functions, and the realization of scale economies. Particular attention is paid to the new Directive on Open Network Provision.     

Coopetition as an innovation strategy in the European Union: Analysis of the German case

The aim of this article is to provide an in-depth examination of the relationship between coopetition and innovation in the European context. After examining the main findings in the literature on the subject, this article analyzes the data from the Eurostat Community Innovation Survey in Germany, and conducts a quantitative study associating coopetition and innovation with a view to observing how coopetitive companies perform in the field of innovation and what characteristics they have. Among other findings, the results show that international coopetition relates to cooperation with international clients in the public sector, governments and international universities. Less interest in collaborating with private partners is observed when coopeting on a domestic level. The size of the firm, the location of the partners, and the percentage of employees with a university degree are just some of the factors that are incorporated in the analysis.     

The involvement of trade unions in quality: evidence from EC enterprises

In 1987–88 a large attitudinal survey covering all 12 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 important aspect of technological change—that of participation in product and service quality.     

UK policy and the agro-food sector

The accession of the UK to the European Community (EC) in 1973 occurred during a period of economic and political change that might have been expected to exert a profound effect on the agro-food sector. This article examines the extent of the recent developments in this sector and considers the influence of policy on those developments. Some conclusions are drawn with regard to future policy.     

Political pressure and the role of the economist

This article is a reply to the comments of Professor van den Noort published in the May 1981 issue of Food Policy.' Any contribution from Piet van den Noort is at all times stimulating and his recent comments were no exception. Furthermore, his comments are welcome since he examines the formulation of the most important pillar of current economics policies in the European Community - the CAP.     

WiFi4EU: Techno-economic analysis of a key European Commission initiative for public connectivity

This paper analyses the WiFi4EU initiative, the measure proposed by the European Commission (EC) to speed up public access to Wi-Fi throughout Europe in the coming years by subsidising the infrastructure. We set out to analyse how these measures are incorporated into the EU policies for building a Gigabit Society and the EC's regulatory tradition, and what the impact is likely to be. This innovative initiative has been drawn up in a climate of uncertainties and delays, and will have an effect upon the network deployments strategies of operators and countries. The article puts all of this into the context of the current European regulation debate and conducts a techno-economic analysis to assess the expected impact of the initiative. We have observed a slight shift towards developmental models in the EC regulatory framework and a step ahead towards multi-level governance. Furthermore, the techno-economic analysis has revealed the limited extent of Community aid and the considerable variability of the equipment deployed and the expenditure involved. We have also highlighted the questionable formulation of the allocation mechanisms, and we have included certain examples or suggestions for improvement.     

Reform of the CAP : Impact on the Third World

The European Community is under pressure to reform the CAP, mainly due to internal financial reasons. Proposals have been put forward by the EC Commission that reform the CAP with respect to milk, oils and fats, and corngluten and citrus pellets. The authors look at the impact of these proposals on developing countries. They conclude that the effect will be to increase non-tariff barriers to trade and increase the cost of food production both in and outside the EC.     

The Spanish telecommunications sector in search of its future

The internationalization of telecommunications services and products, together with Spain's entry into the European Economic Community, have created increased interest in the Spanish national telecommunications system. In this article are described the current situation for Spanish telecommunications, and the initial actions being taken to adapt its structure and legal framework to the new environment. Attempts are being made to provide it with enough flexibility to evolve in the most suitable direction for the country to participate in the movements happening on the world market.     

Workplace Europe: new forms of bargaining and participation

There are conflicting tendencies among recent developments in bargaining and participation at the workplace level in Europe. While there is an emphasis on decentralisation of bargaining structures in many countries, there is considerable variance. Similarly, there is a diversity of approaches to both direct and indirect forms of participation. Despite attempts by the European Community to integrate policies on these matters among member countries, external influences such as the globalisation of economies and technologies are leading to diverse outcomes.     

Reshaping European metrology research – the role of national research managers

This paper deals with the role of research and development (R&D) managers in shaping the landscape of public research in Europe. These R&D managers work in the sphere of public research within national government laboratory services. The case we present is of the reconfiguration of metrology research. Metrology is the science of measurement. We examine why scientists and research managers in nationally embedded institutes, which are performing R&D in support of national policy and local industry needs, have chosen to co‐operate in a shared research programme. This means giving up, in part, their national sovereignty over funds and decision making. Furthermore, we examine how they have achieved the shared programme, which was launched as a European Commission (EC) programme through the Article 185 ¹ initiative, which allows the European Union to participate in research programmes undertaken jointly by several Member States.     

The impact of convergence on regulatory policy in Europe

In December 1997, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the regulatory implications of the convergence of telecommunications, media and information technology sectors. The article starts with a look at the consultation process, and goes on to discuss some of the substantive issues raised. Without repeating material already evident in the Green Paper itself, it attempts to clarify the difference between Community and national approaches to regulation. Some ideas on the basis for national regulation are then explored, as are notions of the balance between the application of competition rules and sector-specific regulation in a converged environment.     

Out of control: personal networks in European collaboration

The formal ties that bind collaborating organisations are often assumed to be reinforced by the relationships of individual employees, and these by trust. So, too, are the personal networks by which employees acquire much of the information required for the organisation's innovation. It is easy to assume that personal networks should support collaborative arrangements. It is also tempting for managers to ensure that they do by bringing them under organisational control. This paper investigates collaboration in Esprit, the European Commission's programme for research in information technology. It finds personal networks, and considers the implications for innovation of attempts to render these networks compatible with collaboration.     

Between Flexibility and Regulation: Rights, Equality and Protection at Work

The year 2000 represented the real year of delivery on Labour's proposals for industrial relations and employment rights. This review focuses on the content of the government's legislative programme, taking account of the impact of public policy at European level and its relationship with national legislation. The government's programme included a number of measures designed to target discrimination and promote equality, and the review examines the form and significance of these changes, in the light of continuing discrimination in the labour market. It then turns to examine the most fundamental legal reform of the year, the introduction of the statutory right to recognition.