The Development of Open-air Markets in East-Central Europe

This paper considers the way in which open-air markets have developed as a legacy of both the communist and pre-communist systems, but have taken distinctive forms in the post-communist context. The small-scale capitalism represented by open-air markets is often informal and not often analysed in the context of the transformation process in East and Central Europe. However, this paper argues that they can represent an important indicator of some aspects of the nature and extent of economic and social transformation. The paper considers theoretical insights for analysing open-air markets and particular features of post-communist open-air markets: the degree of informalization; the role of ethnic communities; moral perspectives on markets; open-air markets and social capital or other forms of informal social control; and the role of social structure in understanding open-air markets. Cet article analyse la façon dont les marchés en plein air, se sont développés à partir de leurs origines dans les systèmes pré-communistes et communistes, tout en prenant des formes distinctes dans le contexte post-communiste. Le capitalisme à petite échelle représenté par les marchés en plein air est souvent informel et rarement analysé dans le contexte du processus de transformation en Europe de l’est et en Europe centrale. Néanmoins, cet article soutient qu’ils peuvent ? tre un indicateur important de certains aspects de la nature et du degré de transformation sociale et économique. Les éléments théoriques sont mis en relation avec l’analyse des marchés en plein air et leurs éléments caractéristiques après le communisme: L’importance de l’economie soutenue; le rôle des communautés ethniques; les perspectives morales sur les marchés; les marchés en plein air et le capital social ou d’autres formes de contrôle social officieux; et le rôle de la structure sociale pour comprendre les marchés en plein air.     

Helping bank customers switch: A case study

Despite a reasonable level of competition in the New Zealand banking market, there is a relatively low rate of customers switching between banks. A common reason cited for the low churn rate is the costs associated with switching between financial institutions, including simply the difficulties associated with the physical transfer of existing banking arrangements. One non-bank financial institution, PSIS, introduced a pilot scheme to make it easier for existing customers of other financial institutions to move their banking facilities to PSIS. The pilot sought to understand the extent to which the switching costs associated with changing financial institutions could be reduced, and the impact that had on customers' switching behaviour. The results of this pilot scheme did not meet the organisation's expectations, and as a result, was not extended beyond the pilot period or the pilot participants. This paper provides a review of the pilot scheme, and attempts to identify the issues that contributed to the lack of success. The key findings were that there was no real demand from customers for the type of service offered, and that the time and effort involved on the part of the financial institution were greater than expected, making it undesirable to continue.     

Understanding Loweswater: Interdisciplinary Research in Practice

This paper reports on a scoping study, ‘Understanding Loweswater’, funded under the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme. It highlights the research and policy context supporting the need for this kind of interdisciplinary, stakeholder‐inclusive research and explains the way that the research was carried out in practice. The scoping study identified some of the challenges of the interdisciplinary approach taken, as well as highlighted its potential for solving environmental problems that do not fit within the frame of a single discipline.     

Ver.di and trade union revitalisation in Germany

Recent research on the fate of organised labour in western Europe has emphasised the capacity trade unions have to develop and implement revitalisation strategies as well as the fact that different trade union movements implement different strategies. In the case of Germany, trade unions have tended to defend existing mechanisms of social partnership and restructure the movement through mergers. This article argues that this approach has severe limitations given the diverse transformation of the German political economy. It presents research on the revitalisation strategies of Germany's new service sector trade union Ver.di established in 2001. The article argues that Ver.di has an awareness of the necessity of adopting new and comprehensive strategies for revitalisation, but that it is tending towards traditional strategies. This disadvantages those regions and sectors where institutions of industrial relations are not embedded.     

Missed opportunities? Reaching the ethnic consumer market

Changing population demographics within the UK have become a source of increased interest to marketers as companies have realized the importance of targeting their products and advertising efforts towards minority and ethnic groups. In addition, as the UK’s ethnic minorities grow in both numbers and in terms of prosperity, so does the commercial significance of this market. A clearer understanding of both the nature of changing markets and the relative importance of different minority ethnic groups as consumers is imperative to facilitate both consumer understanding and business development; marketers need to understand better how to target these people, what they have in common with the mainstream and where the differences lie. This paper seeks to describe current understanding of ethnic consumers and their impact on the marketplace while highlighting an area where future research is potentially of considerable benefit.     

Researching human resource development: emergence of a critical approach to HRD enquiry

This paper argues that mainstream research in management and human resource development (HRD) is dominated by a positivist paradigm. In a theoretical discussion and review of literature on management, human resource management, HRD and organization studies, it explores critical perspectives in research, which draw on postmodernism and critical theory. It examines how they have contributed to the emergence of a critical HRD and discusses the features of a critical HRD research.     

The Role of Interested Groups in England's Emerging Tourism Policy Network

The role of interested groups within English tourism policy development has increased considerably in recent years. There are several possible explanations for this, including changing government policy styles, the perception of the importance of tourism to the national economy, and the developing sophistication of a tourism policy network. This paper reviews the role of interested groups and the nature of tourism policy development in England within the context of a theoretical discussion on public policy analysis, policy styles and policy networks. It specifically reports on the relationship between the tourism interest groups and government, and the mechanisms used by them to influence policy development. The paper shows that the tourism policy network can be characterised as immature. It has government at its centre directing strategic policy, with two sub-networks concentrating on the detail of commercial tourism and tourism resource policy. Within these sub-networks are dominant and secondary players defined as such by the manner in which they use their resources, gain access to decision-makers, collaborate with like-minded groups and work with government bureaucracy.     

Innovating SMEs and Regions: The Need for Policy Intelligence and Interactive Policies

Based on the empirical findings achieved through comparative research involving 40 innovation policy instruments from 11 European regions, this paper proposes a shift in rationale and in the broad orientations of innovation policy to focus on addressing SMEs in their regional context. The main role for innovation policy, which aims to increase the capacity of a region and the capabilities of its SMEs to innovate, is to foster interactive learning within the firms and within the region. This calls for an interactive mode of policy intervention. The paper deals also with the question of how to build a coherent portfolio of policy instruments, taking into account both regional situations and specific SMEs needs in terms of innovation. The key message is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' policy portfolio. Regional differences in innovation capabilities call for a tailored mix of policy instruments. One salient element of the conclusion is the need for more 'policy intelligence' in this complex field.