Chapter 11 and Asbestos: Encouraging Private Enterprise or Conspiring to Avoid Liability?

This paper explores the American bankruptcy system -- especially the Chapter 11 code -- which since 1978 has allowed insolvent companies the opportunity to restructure and reorganise with the benefit of court protection from creditors. Particular attention is focused on asbestos companies, such as Johns--Manville, which have been among the most consistent and controversial filers for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. The history of asbestos and Chapter 11 is explored, against the backdrop of the burgeoning asbestos crisis, caused by increasing mortality and litigation. Some of the business and ethical issues involved are highlighted by examining in detail a recent bankruptcy (Federal Mogul/T&N in 2001) that has implications in both Britain and America. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is evaluated, particularly in the light of the trend towards similar mechanisms of insolvency in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. It is concluded that, certainly as regards the experience with asbestos, Chapter 11 offers an inefficient and inequitable method of rehabilitating or rescuing failing businesses.     

The Violent Rhetoric of Re-engineering: Management Consultancy on the Offensive

Business process re-engineering (BPR) was a leading form of organizational restructuring from the late 1980s until the late 1990s. This paper seeks to contextualize its development and account for its particularly bellicose language by reflecting on its historical antecedents in the west and its contemporary competitors in the east. We suggest that one way of reading BPR is as a form of ‘inverse colonization’ in which US managerial discourse both assimilated and revolted against the growing domination of Japanese thinking and practice. We conclude with some speculative comments on related causes of the rise of violent managerial rhetoric.     

Automatic neural network modeling for univariate time series

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are an information processing paradigm inspired by the way the brain processes information. Using neural networks requires the investigator to make decisions concerning the architecture or structure used. ANNs are known to be universal function approximators and are capable of exploiting nonlinear relationships between variables. This method, called Automated ANNs, is an attempt to develop an automatic procedure for selecting the architecture of an artificial neural network for forecasting purposes. It was entered into the M-3 Time Series Competition. Results show that ANNs compete well with the other methods investigated, but may produce poor results if used under certain conditions.     

Supply management in American public administration: Towards an academic discipline?

This article examines the development of supply management in the U.S. to assess its progress towards academic disciplinary status. A comparison of the fields of business administration and public administration indicates that supply management is more developed in the former than in the latter, which inhibits its disciplinary status. Various reasons for this uneven development in the two fields are explored. The paper argues that a paradigm shift must occur for public supply management, which will re-orient it around the concept of the public interest. This will require public supply professionals to participate strategically in public policy-making in order to ascertain and promote the public interest. A policy framework is used to illustrate this re-orientation and to suggest directions for further research.     

Mulaik on atomism, contraposition and causation

Causal inference using statistical models plays a central role in many areas of behavioral science, but the underlying metatheory of causal explanation remains poorly developed. Mulaik’s work on causation offers a useful foray into this topic. Evaluation of two negative arguments applied to a broad range of theories of causation offer overdue critical assessment of this contribution. More broadly, the critical evaluation of Mulaik’s arguments speak to the need for better integration of substantive theories and statistical models in causal research.     

Managing equal opportunities for women: sorting the friends from the foes

Employees working in Hong Kong were surveyed on their attitudes towards managing equal opportunities for women. Results indicate that gender is a better predictor of attitudes than work identity. Manager/employee work identity has an add‐on moderating effect on some women‐friendly policies but not on others. Out of seven women‐friendly dimensions, women as managers are less receptive of only two: 'training and development' and 'positive equal opportunities'; men as managers, in contrast, are less resistant to 'training and development' and 'flexitime'. The findings suggest that there are three levels of gatekeeping: one, male employees; two, male managers; and three, female managers. We suggest that to help women employees break the glass ceiling, different organisational and societal change programmes are needed to target the different groups of gatekeepers.