A conceptual model and research agenda for bidding,planning and delivering Major sport events that lever human rights

In this conceptual article, the authors propose a framework for how progressive human rights outcomes may be obtained in the context of bidding, planning and implementing major sport events (MSEs) through the implementation of four pathways, including good governance, the democratic participation of stakeholders, the formalisation of human rights agendas and the deployment of sensitive urban development. The authors argue that there is a need for adherence to internationally recognised standards, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights if rhetorical statements from MSE awarding bodies and host organisers are to be accountable to a wider set of actors. If researchers and practitioners want to address some of the critical issues related to human rights and MSEs, it is imperative that key actors working in the rights sphere are involved in shaping the research agenda and monitoring its implementation. Academics need to take a proactive approach aimed at achieving both theoretically grounded and practically relevant solutions, with engagement occurring over an extended period of time. This approach, avowedly political and concerned with genuine action, is a key way in which MSE stakeholders can be held to account for their actions in regard to human rights.     

Can relationship marketing enhance strategic thinking in the public sector? A study of the perceived relationship between subsidised theatres and their government funders/regulators

This paper reports on the findings of research into the perceived relationships between publicly funded theatres and their key funders/regulators. This is part of a wider study into whether successful publicly funded arts organisations are more likely to apply a relationship marketing approach. Relationship marketing may help to remove a short‐term tactical focus that tends to exist in public sector organisations generally and publicly funded arts organisations particularly. Three UK producing theatres' relationships with the Arts Council and their respective local authorities are analysed and findings suggest that building relationships with this stakeholder type may well produce more strategically focused and successful theatres. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Multinationals and changing national business systems in Europe: towards the ‘shareholder value’ model?

This article reviews recent development in employment relations in MNCs, within the context of the varied and changing business systems within Western Europe. Focusing on Germany, France, Sweden and the UK, we analyse both the effects of national corporate governance systems on MNCs, and the extent to which MNCs specifically, and globalisation more widely, have affected the nature of national business and employment systems. While elements of a move towards a more ‘Anglo‐Saxon’, economically liberal model of corporate governance and employment relations can be detected in all four countries, this is far from complete. Cross‐national differences in business systems within Europe therefore continue to exert effects upon MNCs.     

Politics of managing: the dialectic of control

Accounting influences the evolution of management identity by determining which aspects of performance are made visible. However, management do not technocratically apply accounting measurements. An organizational study is used to analyze how management use partisan performance measurements to control the labor process. Management's strategies are influenced by how technology, worker skill, and product competition affect worker capacity to resist. Management's dilution of capital's interest by accommodating labor's needs, or mobilization of the efficiency ethos, reflect the politics of dialectical control.     

Property Rights Reform in Rangeland China: Dilemmas On the Road to the Household Ranch

This paper contributes to the debate over land tenure in rural China by extending its spatial coverage to the country’s extensive rangeland regions. Key characteristics of pastoral tenure, identified from field appraisals in western China, include group tenure and fuzzy boundaries. Although these characteristics give rise to efficiency concerns, from a new institutional economics perspective they also facilitate the realization of certain benefits, benefits that could represent opportunity costs of further exclusiveness. The strengthening of rangeland co-management may constitute a more appropriate path to institutional improvement than the establishment of the household ranch, the current goal of national rangeland policy.     

Taxing transactions in futures markets: Objectives and effects

In the last few years various legislative proposals have been made to impose a transaction or excise tax on securities and derivative market transactions. Although there have been considerable discussion and analysis of the wisdom of imposing such a tax on securities markets, there has been no analysis of the pros and cons of extending the tax to futures markets. This article attempts to fill this gap, first, by examining the various rationales advanced to support a tax on securities markets to determine their applicability to futures markets and, second, by analyzing the likely effects of the tax on the competitiveness and efficiency of futures markets. In addition, the revenue-raising potential of a tax on futures transactions is evaluated. I conclude that a tax on futures markets will not achieve any important social objective and will not generate much revenue.