The Involvement of Civil Society Organizations in British Industrial Relations: Extent,Origins and Significance

This article examines the involvement of civil society organizations (CSOs) in UK industrial relations. Organizations of this type, including advocacy, campaigning, identity and community organizations have attracted increasing attention from employment relations scholars in recent years. The study reported in this article demonstrates that CSOs have become increasingly active in the sphere of work and employment, partly in response to trade union decline but also owing to political opportunities, afforded by the labour market policy of the New Labour government. It is claimed that CSOs operate at multiple levels of the industrial relations system and interact with the state, employers and trade unions. They generate significant effects within UK industrial relations and can rightly be judged significant ‘new actors’ on the UK employment scene.     

What factors influence buying center brand sensitivity?

Building on information processing theory (IPT), this empirical study investigates the factors that drive a buying center's level of sensitivity to brand information. The authors propose that buying center brand sensitivity is related in a curvilinear fashion with purchase importance and purchase complexity, and that these relationships are moderated by several environmental, firm, and product factors. Data provided by 273 organizational buying center members confirm the presence of an inverse U-shaped relationship between purchase importance and brand sensitivity, strengthened in conditions of high brand presence and high end-customer demand. Purchase complexity and brand sensitivity appear to relate in a U-shaped fashion but only in light of the moderating effects of product tangibility. The relationship between purchase complexity and brand sensitivity appears stronger when buying firms are small and have prior contractual ties with their selling partners. These results offer guidance to managers concerning when business-to-business (B2B) brand investments are likely to offer their greatest return.     

Alternate signs of life: The growth of biotechnology industries in Shanghai and Bangalore

This paper explores the emergence of biotechnology centers in Shanghai and Bangalore by comparing their development to best practices in the literature for biotechnology cluster growth and development. Interviews with over fifty biotech companies and related institutions in China and India indicate that these regions are developing alternate models of low cost manufacturing and services that build on the current local base of knowledge and expertise. The ability to convert research into successful commercial activity was identified in both regions. The strong research capacity, private sector funding, and entrepreneurial environment deemed critical best practices were limited. New growth theory is used to explain these alternate approaches to technological and social change.     

Export channel dynamics: an empirical investigation

We investigate the dynamics of export channel arrangements by modelling foreign operation method decisions as the interplay between factors that motivate switches and factors that deter them. Our model extends previous analyses by looking simultaneously at (1) no change of channel arrangement, (2) replacements of foreign intermediaries (within‐mode shifts), and (3) integration of the sales function abroad (between‐mode shifts). We use a multinomial logit model on longitudinal data from a sample of Danish exporters that had entered foreign markets through intermediaries. The results suggest that the decision to carry out within‐mode shifts (i.e. to replace an existing intermediary) is driven by a different set of factors than the decision to switch to another foreign operation mode (i.e. to in‐house operations). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Estimating an origin–destination table for US imports of waterborne containerized freight

Containerized freight imports into the US are growing at an average of 10% per year. This traffic is concentrated at a small number of US seaports. It is therefore important to have an accurate understanding of the flow of containers from their origin country through these seaports to their final destination. This paper develops an optimization model to estimate route flows and a corresponding multi-modal origin–destination table for containers by synthesizing data on international trade and railcar movements with a gravity model for the demand of container traffic. This analysis provides insights into the balance of rail and truck inland transportation from each port.     

历史的教训：逆向思维者胜

经济动荡期的管理是一种至关重要的商业能力。在经济低迷期，良好的企业管理不仅能够使企业的经营业绩优异于竞争对手，而且，在经济低迷期建立起来的竞争优势更具有可持续性。     

HR in the small business enterprise: Assessing the impact of PEO utilization

Within small businesses, organizational leaders are themselves often responsible for the HR function, an area where they typically have limited training and experience. Not surprisingly, small business leaders have raised concerns about the quality of HR programs in their firms and the fact that HR consumes scarce managerial time. While professional employer organizations (PEOs) emerged in response to such concerns, much controversy exists as to whether and how small businesses benefit from PEO utilization. Using a survey of more than 740 small businesses, we examine the relationship between PEO utilization and two key small business outcomes: managerial time required by HR activities and satisfaction with HR outcomes. Our results indicate that firms not using a PEO reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction with HR outcomes than firms that used a PEO for a limited set of transactional services and firms that used a PEO for both transactional and strategic HR services. Among firms using a PEO, satisfaction with HR outcomes was significantly higher among firms that obtained a broader set of transactional and strategic HR services. Firms that used a PEO also reported that HR consumed significantly less managerial time relative to leaders in firms that made no use of a PEO. However, there was no significant difference in the time demanded by HR between firms that used a limited set of transactional services and those that used a broader range of transactional and strategic services. Implications for the role of PEOs and their use within small businesses are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.