保险业要么锁定客户，要么收购

贝恩公司调查发现,仅有1／10的保险公司成功地实现连年持续地创造价值。许多公司最终表现欠佳的主要原因在于,他们严重误判自己提供客户所需产品／服务的能力。当高级主管被问及是否认为本公司提供最佳客户体验时,77％的高管自认为是,但仅有6％的客户认同。那么,究竟什么才是保险业实现最佳股东回报的关键呢?     

The false promise of technological determinism: the case of enterprise resource planning systems

According to software vendors and consultants, Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) transform the nature, structure and management of work regardless of organisational context. This paper contests this technologically deterministic view of organisational change by demonstrating the role that discourse plays in the social construction of ERPs.     

Ethiopia: Man-made Disaster

Highly publicised Western, aid to Ethiopia will do little to relieve the source of her distress, Nick Elliott (right), at the University of York, blames the attempted eradication of markets by Mengistu's regime.     

系统动态仿真在运载火箭多项目批产计划管理中的应用分析

我国"长征"系列运载火箭在经历了单发和小批量研制生产阶段后已进入了批产阶段,"十一五"期间年均发射密度将达到10发,其科研管理方法正在从型号或项目管理向多项目管理,从单一项目的关键路径控制向多项目的资源优化统筹过渡.因此需要对过去以单发产品为主的管理模式和方法作必要的改进和完善,以适应因任务和发射密度增加所带来的新形式.     

Board Pay and the Separation of Ownership from Control in U.K. SMEs

This paper examines Board pay for a sample of 571 U.K. SMEs from 1991 to 1995. Approximately half of the sample were closely-held (i.e., owner-managed) firms which allowed empirical testing of models of the relationship between Board pay and ownership from control characteristics. Consistent with their need to align shareholder and manager incentives, the results indicate that the change in nonclosely-held SME Board pay is significantly related to both external market pay comparisons and “benchmark” profits. This contrasts with the empirical results for the closely-held firms where Board pay awards are typically highly sensitive to current total profits but wholly unrelated to external market pay levels.     

ERPs as 'technologies-in-practice': social construction, materiality and the role of organisational factors

Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs) often fail to deliver the organisational benefits anticipated. This paper uses Orlikowski's 'technology-in-practice' framework to analyse the impact of an ERP on branch managers in a large bank. While this framework provides important insights into the impact of ERPs, the case also highlights the significance of organisational factors in shaping how users enact technology at work.     

Outlook for the grain market

With all the indications suggesting that the current imbalance between supply of and demand for grain will continue for the foreseeable future, and with a steady surplus both keeping prices down and forcing on governments measures to reduce output and stocks, attention is turning to South East Asia, a region which, due to the rapid growth of both its population and per capita income, seems to offer the best prospects of medium and long-term increases in demand. How realistic are the hopes that South East Asia will be able to absorb a substantial part of the world's grain surplus?     

From Bermondsey to Canary Wharf: The Social Context of Change in Industrial Relations, 1880–2000

This paper presents evidence on some of the key variables that have determined the economic status of different groups in the working population. Economic status is set by the level and security of real income and consumption. These are themselves determined by access to resources in the areas of the labour market, public services and social security, and in housing. The paper reviews the period between 1880 and 1990, and puts forward the likely situation in the year 2000. The century began with an agenda set by the problems of falling real incomes and poverty. It is likely to end with the problems of economic and demographic ageing as the main focus.