The Japanisation of Xerox

The impact of Japanese competition has led to attempts by Western organisations to implement elements of Japanese management. The process has been described as'Japanisation'. Here the authors examine the Japanisation of Rank Xerox and Xerox Corporation. Xerox has benefitted from the learning experience of its Japanese joint venture, Fuji Xerox, and has been described as the most'Japanised'of Western companies.     

Local Government Distorts Industrial Development

Does the Government's right hand know what its wrong hand is doing? Ken Willis of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne argues that it is spurring nationalised industries to increased efficiency in investment while allowing local and regional authorities to squander their resources.     

Does the Ricardian Equivalence Proposition Hold in Less Developed Countries?

The objective of this paper is to assess whether the Ricardian Equivalence Proposition (REP) holds in developing countries. Prima facie, since the REP requires a number of assumptions that might not appear to be satisfied in developing countries, it seems that the REP should not hold. However, the empirical evidence provided so far is mixed. In this paper, the validity of the REP will be tested using panel data for ten developing countries: Burundi, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabw1e. The countries were chosen for the availability of data and should reflect the various circumstances of low-income countries. Despite the obvious limitation of the data available and the diversity of the countries, the results provide some tentative support for the REP for developing countries, at least warranting further research.     

Towards sustainable households: a methodology for developing sustainable technological and social innovations

A high factor environmental efficiency improvement, towards a Factor 20 by 2050 AD — needed due to the assumed doubling of the world population combined with a fivefold increase of wealth per capita and a halving of the total global environmental burden — cannot be achieved through good housekeeping and technological innovation alone; any technological solutions will have to be combined with social innovations, in lifestyles and cultures. This paper describes the conclusions of the SusHouse (Strategies towards the Sustainable Household) Project that has been exploring possible socially and technologically innovative strategies for sustainable households. The Project has covered three household ‘functions’: Clothing Care, Shelter (Heating, Cooling and Lighting) and Food (Shopping, Cooking and Eating). These have been studied in five European countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands and the UK). The methodology of the Project has involved stakeholder workshops, the construction of Design-Orienting Scenarios, environmental, economic and consumer assessment of the Scenarios and strategy formulation. The paper describes: (1) the methodology for devising design-orienting scenarios, with examples from the three functions; (2) the results of environmental, economic and consumer acceptability assessments of these scenarios; and (3) comments on how the methodology can be developed and applied.     

Internationalization of information technology services and public policy implications

World telecommunications traffic grew at a rate of over 15% a year in the 1980s, substantially faster than merchandise or service trade. The growth of such traffic is linked closely to the international flow of services and investment. Economizing on time, inventories and financial balances are important considerations in the use of international telecommunications networks. At the same time, network providers are engaging in international alliances to supply a variety of telecommunication services across borders. These alliances will influence strongly the further evolution of national and international regulatory regimes. An international regime more open in the trade of services and movement of investment is called for.     

A Critique and A Proposed Reformulation of Strategic Human Resource Management

Ken Kamoche, who lectures in human resource management at Birmingham Business School, argues that flaws in the assumptions underlying our understanding of ‘strategy’ are encouraging an inappropriate conception of strategic human resource management (SHRM). the notion of strategy which emanates from orthodox economic theory ensures that SHRM is subservient to a dominant ‘organisational imperative’. This process is reinforced by key socio-political factors which are diminishing the significance of the ‘human’ component of SHRM. He goes on to suggest how SHRM might be reconstituted to be a more useful concept