Pre-disciplinary and Post-disciplinary Perspectives

David Kang, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge University Press, 2002)

Vivek Chibber, Locked In Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India (Princeton University Press, 2003)

Yongping Wu, A Political Explanation of Economic Growth: State Survival, Bureaucratic Politics, and Private Enterprises in the Making of Taiwan's Economy, 1950–1985 (Harvard University Press, 2005)     

日新月异：传送技术新进展

传送系统以及传送技术在过去五年里发生了翻天覆地的变化。但是由几个滚轴和几条皮带组成的机器能变到哪儿去呢？不就只是运运箱子吗？如果您是指小厂房、小型配送中心那种简单的滚轴传送带,嗯,可能是这样。不过与此同时新一代传送系统和传送控制技术也已被应用,以迎合现今日益复杂的和自动化的生产配送环境。以较少的设备投资换取更大的处理量以及对节能和可持续性的重视都是这些变化的重要动因,但是除此之外还有很多其他的影响因素需要考虑。     

Unions in a changing climate: MSF and Unison experiences in the new public sector

Through an examination of national policies, case study and survey material, this article looks at the question of the possibility of union renewal through an examination of the various and varying responses of two unions, MSF and Unison, to the changing work and employment practices in the NHS.     

Getting Trapped in the Suppression of Exploration: A Simulation Model

The benefits of strategically balancing exploitation and exploration are well documented in the literature. Nonetheless, many firms tend to overemphasize exploitation efforts, a situation commonly referred to as the ‘success trap’. Previous studies have attributed this behaviour to managerial incompetence or myopia. However, some management teams appear to adequately recognize the exploration need, while not being able to bring about the required strategic change. We draw on system dynamics modelling to investigate this phenomenon. A simulation model is developed and then the behaviour of a selected firm is replicated to uncover the underlying processes. As such, we develop a process theory of the success trap at the managerial level, coined the ‘suppression process’. This process theory describes and explains how the interplay between top managers, board members, and exploitation–exploration activities can trap the firm in the suppression of exploration.     

Entrepreneurial metacognition: a study on nascent entrepreneurs

This paper contributes to uncovering the role of metacognition in the decision-making process of entrepreneurs. Specifically, we analyze nascent entrepreneurs in their process of start-up development while relying on metacognitive processes. The experiences of a sample of new venture initiatives are explored in two distinct phases, a start-up competition and the subsequent launch of their venture. Following the Gioia protocol, the study contextualizes the process in which social capital reinforces metacognitive processes. This process stimulates nascent entrepreneurs to consider alternatives, such as extending expertise outside the start-up. Moreover, we find that these processes support entrepreneurs and their teams in improving their decision-making processes. The findings support that nascent entrepreneurs rely heavily on the input of others in their start-up creation process, and contribute to new empirical insights about entrepreneurial metacognition. A dynamic model in which these relationships emerge is developed. The study’s results contribute to a better understanding of the antecedents and consequences of metacognitive processes in nascent entrepreneurship.

     

Putting the ‘Amsterdam School’ in its Rightful Place: A Reply to Juan Ignacio Staricco’s Critique of Cultural Political Economy

This article responds to Staricco’s critique of cultural political economy (CPE) for being inherently constructivist because of its emphasis on the ontologically foundational role of semiosis (sense- and meaning-making) in social life. Staricco recommends the Amsterdam School of transnational historical materialism as a more immediately productive and insightful approach to developing a regulationist critique of political economy. Both lines of criticism of CPE are addressed. First, Staricco misinterprets the implications of treating semiosis and structuration as ontologically equal bases of social life. Second, Staricco mistakes our criticisms of the ‘Italian School’ in international political economy for criticisms of the Amsterdam School – an approach we have always warmly endorsed. He therefore misses our more nuanced claim that while the Amsterdam School emphasises the importance of semiosis, it has fewer concepts to explain how semiosis matters and why only some imagined class identities and concepts of control are selected, retained, and institutionalised. CPE addresses this lacuna by integrating critical semiotic analysis into political economy. Third, we provide the first detailed comparison of the Amsterdam School and CPE to provide a better understanding of the merits of each approach and to indicate where they might complement each other without claiming one to be superior to the other.