Safer piping: Awareness training for the process industries

The ‘Safer Piping’ video training package was produced by the International Process Safety Group (IPSG) to meet the urgent need for training material to stem the ever–growing number of accidents directly caused by piping failures. The IPSG, then under the Chairmanship of Bob Mill, Exxon Chemical Corporation, identified piping as the single most important cause of concern in a process plant. The aim was to raise safety standards by changing people's attitudes to piping.     

Preparing a national plan: Thirty years of French experience

The author describes the planning process undertaken for the seventh plan, and the two roles filled by the plan—represented by the strategy and the priority programmes. The latter were introduced to overcome the problem of matching annual budgets to long-term plans. The author details the benefits derived from the by-products of the seventh plan, eg the technical reports, which aid communication. It is the process of planning rather than the plan itself which is of prime importance.     

Progreso social y producción mundializada. El caso del sector de los textiles y el vestido

La especialización vertical generada por la fragmentación de la producción en redes mundiales no solo está motivada por la ventaja comparativa, sino también por las estrategias de deslocalización de las empresas líderes, que determinan el papel y el poder negociador de los productores locales. Este estudio examina las consecuencias de tal especialización en los textiles y el vestido en 26 países con abundante mano de obra de 1990 a 2007. Las regresiones de efectos fijos con datos de panel revelan que el sector no siempre gana con la integración comercial internacional: se observa una correlación negativa entre la especialización vertical y los salarios reales relativos.     

INTRA-FIRM TRADE

Abstract. The study analyses intra-firm trade, that is the estimated one-third of world trade which is transacted between affiliated parties. As firms realize the increasing potential for integrating their operations throughout the world, they are contributing to significant shifts in the patterns of interntional trade and industrial development. As emphasized here, international trade is inextricably linked to the growing and substantial share of transactions between affiliated parties conveyed through multinational enterprises.