Using Giddens's theory of ‘structuration’ and Freirean philosophy to understand participation in the Alexandra Renewal Project

The main critique raised against participatory approaches to development is that they do not adequately address issues of politics and power. This paper contributes to the theory and practice of participation by introducing a framework drawn from Freirean philosophy and applying Giddens's theory of ‘structuration’ to that philosophy. Specifically, it focuses on the relocation of people from the banks of the Jukskei River as part of the Alexandra Renewal Project. It draws on the author's interviews with key local-level stakeholders, including government leaders, managers of the Alexandra Renewal Project, and those directly involved with facilitating the participation of intended beneficiaries in Alexandra. The study uses Giddens's theory to conclude that although participatory processes may be intended to (in Freire's words) domesticate, the domesticating or exclusionary nature of the intervention provides the basis upon which people liberate themselves.     

创业，任何时候都可以开始

永远不存在开始创业的最佳时机。如果你有抱负，并且愿意付诸努力，任何时机都是好时机。     

Does China have Inflationary Effects on the USA and Japan？

With China＇s share in global trade increasing rapidly, some argued in 2002-2003 that China was exporting deflation to other countries as it was dumping cheap goods in mature markets. Later, others argued that China was causing sharp increases in global prices. This paper uses several econometric techniques to assess the extent of the link between inflation rates between China and the USA and Japan. Only limited empirical evidence at the aggregate level is found for consumer price inflation in China leading to price changes in the USA and Japan. However, there is some evidence that inflation in the USA has an impact on Chinese inflation. The results seem consistent with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan being concerned about inflation and, hence, adjusting policy such that inflation shocks have no significant effect on overall inflation. Recent Chinese price rises are unlikely to have a material effect on the USA or Japan.     

Market Power,Productivity and Sectoral Labour Shares in Europe

Open Economies Review - The stability of the labour share of income is a fundamental feature of many macroeconomic models. Empirically however, the labour share varies considerably across countries...     

Management of collaboration in ectrem projects

This paper describes findings on the management of collaboration arising from an evaluation of the participation of the UK in the EUREKA programme. The principle issues addressed in the paper are the origins and motivations for collabration, the roles played by participants of different types and the significance of collaboration for project outcomes. The paper concludes that complementarity between partners in the key motivation for collabration. Complementarity may lie in different dimensions, matching different types of technical expertise or technical and market expertise. Vertical relationships, between users and suppliers, energed as being particularly important in EUREKA projects and frequently formed the initial basis for the collaborative application. The most important overall finding was that partnerships were genuinely interpendent, in part because of their foundation in complementarity. Successful collaborative structures were those which were sufficiently robust to accommodate the inevitable changes which arise in the turbulence of market conditions. This paper finishes with some conclusions concerning the appropriate role for government agencies in supporting participants in the management of collaboration.     

The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes

Abstract

This paper considers how utilizing a model of job-related affect can be used to explain the processes through which perceived training and development influence employee retention. We applied Russell’s model of core affect to categorize four different forms of work attitude, and positioned these as mediators of the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Using data from 1191 employees across seven organizations, multilevel analyses found that job satisfaction, employee engagement and change-related anxiety were significantly associated with intention to stay, and fully mediated the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Contrary to our hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was not significantly associated with intention to stay nor acted as a mediator when the other attitudes were included. These findings show the usefulness of Russell’s model of core affect in explaining the link between training and development and employee retention. Moreover, the findings collectively suggest that studies examining employee retention should include a wider range of work attitudes that highlight pleasant forms of affect.     

Social Enterprises and the Performance Advantages of a Vincentian Marketing Orientation

This study focuses on the managerial issue of should social enterprises (SEs) become more marketing oriented. It adapts the Kohli et al. (J Mark Res 30:467–477, 1993) MARKOR marketing orientation scale to measure the adoption of marketing by SEs. The items capture Vincentian-based values to leverage business in service to the poor as a measure of a Vincentian marketing orientation (VMO). A VMO is an organisational wide value-driven philosophy of management that focuses a SE on meeting its objectives by adopting a more marketing orientated approach to serve the needy and poor in a just and sustainable manner. SEs that exhibit a VMO seek to understand and respond to both the needs of their beneficiaries and stakeholders. They are constantly generating, disseminating, and responding to environmental, beneficiary, and stakeholder information and develop their business propositions to more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of the poor, while guided by a philosophy of leveraging business for social good. This study of SEs in Australia found that a VMO is strongly and positively correlated with social, economic, and environmental performance. These findings suggest that SEs may benefit by leveraging marketing capabilities to better serve their beneficiaries and stakeholders.     

Correlation,causality, and all that jazz: The inherent shortcomings of price tests for antitrust market delineation

A substantial economics literature has developed in which price data have been relied upon to delineate antitrust markets by empirically implementing definitions offered by classical economists. The forces driving these price tests are not the same as those that give rise to market power, and therefore these price tests are likely to reach erroneous conclusions if used to delineate antitrust relevant markets. The price tests should be used with great caution, if at all.     

Does the major market influence transfer? Alternative effect on Asian stock markets

Based on the time-varying regression model of Chow et al. (J Comp Econ 39(4):577–583, 2011. doi: 10.1016/j.jce.2011.06.001), this paper simultaneously analyzes the ebb and flow of change by China and the U.S. as leading players in relation to their comovement on various Asian stock markets. We include several important controls for worldwide economy performance, the stock market return rates of major importing nations, and linear/non-linear time trend fixed effects to stress the influence of China and U.S. on eight Asian economies. The empirical results indicate the increasing influence of the China stock market during the subprime mortgage crisis. Moreover, the U.S. market remains influential on the Chinese region, but loses/decreases its influence, especially on the Four Asian Tigers, significantly during/after the subprime mortgage crisis.