The trade union response to new technology

While there is ambivalence towards the new technology within the trade union movement, the general belief is that - provided its introduction is controlled by collective bargaining and sympathetic government action - it will lead to increased leisure and higher living standards. The author suggests that the ‘silicon dream’ is more likely to become a nightmare.     

MANAGERIAL REMUNERATION AND ACCOUNTING FOR RECURRING EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS

The Australian standard on income statements (AAS 1) was recently amended to require that extraordinary items be non-recurring. Although the amendment applies from 1990, the Corporations Law requires that comparative financial statements for 1989, complying with the new rule, be included with the 1990 financial statements. Comparison of these with actual financial statements for 1989 indicates how the statements would have differed in 1989 if the standard had then required extraordinary items to be non-recurring. The differences are investigated to partially explain cross sectional differences in firms' classification criteria. Results imply that managers who are remunerated highly (relative to the magnitude of the earnings of the firm) prefer to classify gains as operating and losses as extraordinary.     

A cost-efficiency principle of spatial interaction behavior

A new macro-statistical principle of spatial interaction behavior is proposed. This cost-efficiency principle asserts in essence that, other things being equal, interaction patterns involving higher total costs are less likely to be observed than those involving lower costs. The main result of the paper is to show that this principle completely characterizes the important class of exponential gravity models. This characterization resolves the ‘sign’ problem inherent in the maximum- entropy derivation of these models. Moreover, since this principle focuses directly on the cost- minimizing nature of spatial interaction choices, it appears to have more behavioral content than the simple maximum-entropy approach. A number of extensions and generalizations of the cost-efficiency principle are also outlined which suggest that the principle may have a much wider range of application.     

Informal boundary-spanning communication in the innovation process: an empirical study

The sources of ideas embodied uithln successful technological innovation have been a subject of interest in many studies since the 1950s. This research suggests that sources external to the innovating organization account for between 34% and 65% of the inputs important to the development of successful innovation. In addition, studies have long highlighted personal boundary-spanning communication as an important mechanism for the transference of such ideas. Despite this recognition, there has been little systematic evaluation of the role and importance of informal boundary-spanning communication in the innovation process. This paper provides the results of an empirical study, of the role and source of infomally derived inputs into the development products of 35 commercially successful innovations. It was found that inormal mechanisms were often enlployad to transfer ideas and information, as well as other resources, during the idea-generation, ,problem-solving and field-testing phases of these innovation projects. Indeed, the research indicates that the mobilization of informal boundary-spanning contacts and networks my ofen be an important, and sometimes critival, factor in successful innovation.     

UK universities and the state: a Faustian bargain?

The universities are now‘one of the last seminationalised sectors of the British economy,’used by government as an instrument of social policy. This situation represents a‘Faustian bargain’which threatens both the quality and the prosperity of universities. One solution would be privatisation of some universities through public flotation. These universities could then contract with government to take state-funded students. Two objections are that the scheme would promote elitism and that it would encourage greater inequality between universities, but the relevant question is whether it would offer an improvement on the present regime.     

Transatlantic trade and investment partnership: sectoral and macroeconomic perspectives for Germany,the EU and the US

The EU and the US have started negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) which could bring a considerable increase of exports and output as well as changes in the composition of output and employment. Thus export simulation studies in combination with input output analysis and employment analysis is useful. In the analysis presented the focus is mainly on sectoral output and employment effects where the key sectors are the automotive sector, chemical industry, information and communication technology production, pharmaceuticals and machinery and equipment. Backward sector links are analysed and found to be quite important in the automotive sector, the chemical industry, the machinery and equipment sector in both Germany and the US; in Germany also in ICT production. However, most of the observed sectors have weak forward linkage. Input output analysis is also used to identify employment effects in various sectors: the pure employment effect of a 20 % export expansion in Germany amounts to about 800 000 new jobs. Looking only at the US and German perspective turns out to be misleading—the high imports of intermediate inputs of German firms from EU partner countries suggests that a comparison EU-US is analytically required for some key issues and that considering the effects on EU partners is also useful. There is a host of key policy issues, including the issue of extended sustainability reporting.     

Tourism and poverty alleviation: perceptions and experiences of poor people in Sapa,Vietnam

This paper examines the perceptions and experiences of poor people in Sapa, Vietnam, regarding tourism as a means of poverty alleviation. Participant observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with local people and key informants. The paper indicates that local people perceive poverty as a lack of rice and/or income and attribute it to both internal and external causes. The local tourism sector has primarily benefited the non-poor and tour operators, resulting in conflicts of interest among community members. However, more local people consider tourism a contributor to poverty alleviation than those who do not. All interviewees wish to become homestay owners or tourist guides. The most important barrier to the former is the lack of capital, while foreign language proficiency is the main hindrance to the latter. It is concluded that while an appropriate approach is required to involve local people in tourism, alternative livelihoods other than tourism are also needed. The study suggests that poor people's interpretation of poverty may be substantially different from that of academics and policy-makers. It argues that by valuing the perspectives of those experiencing poverty we can establish more meaningful approaches to alleviating poverty through tourism that are more likely to succeed.     

Centers of excellence in multinational corporations

This paper seeks to understand the conditions under which ‘centers of excellence’ emerge in foreign subsidiaries of multinational firms. We define a center of excellence as an organizational unit that embodies a set of capabilities that has been explicitly recognized by the firm as an important source of value creation, with the intention that these capabilities be leveraged by and/or disseminated to other parts of the firm. Drawing on overlapping research in international business and strategic management, we argue that the formation of centers of excellence is shaped by conditions in the subsidiary's local environment as well as by various aspects of the subsidiary's relationship with other parts of the multinational firm. Based on a survey of 99 foreign units in Canada, our results highlight the fundamental role played by parent firm investment as well as the role of internal and external organizations in the development of subsidiary capabilities. Performance implications of the center of excellence phenomenon are also explored. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.