Inducing Corporate Social Responsibility: Should Investors Reward the Responsible or Punish the Irresponsible?

Journal of Business Ethics - Investors with a pro-social or sustainability agenda increasingly attempt to influence firm managers to adopt socially responsible behavior, either through...     

Desired goals and actual outcomes of e‐HRM

Much discussion exists in the academic literature about the potential goals of e‐HRM, but few scholars have looked at whether these goals are actually realised and what factors have an impact on this. This study examined the goals stated by organisations for the introduction of e‐HRM, whether these goals were actually achieved, and the factors affecting this through ten case studies in a range of UK organisations. The results demonstrated that e‐HRM is introduced in order to improve efficiency, service delivery, standardisation and organisational image, to empower managers and transform HR into a more strategic function. Efficiency, service delivery and standardisation goals were commonly realised. Some evidence of a transformational impact of e‐HRM was found, as the HR staff had more time and information to support the organisation in achieving its business strategy. However, no evidence was found of an actual increased involvement of HR in business decision making.     

Opportunity lost? Chances for cost accountants' professionalization under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933

The passage in June 1933 of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) heralded an opportunity for the cost-accounting branch of the profession in the US to play a prominent role in the endeavour to revitalize the national economy. This early New Deal legislation sought to end unfair and destructive competition by authorizing industry-based codes which typically contained uniform methods of cost accounting and cost-based floors for pricing. For the first time on a broad scale, unregulated companies were required to maintain and utilize cost accounts. Many thought that a golden age of cost accountancy had arrived. However, the demise of the NIRA by 1935 left these expectations totally unfulfilled. Any opportunity for cost accountants to achieve a professional status commensurate with that of their financial accounting brethren had quickly dissipated.     

The impact of external economic disturbances on Yugoslavia: Theoretical and empirical explorations

Within the context of the transmission and response framework this paper analyzes the impact of recent international economic disturbances on Yugoslavia. Included are an analysis of the channels through which these disturbances were transmitted to Yugoslavia, the manner in which they altered domestic price and quantity signals, and the reactions of policy makers. Empirical tests of simple Keynesian and monetarist models of the transmission process are presented. These tests provide empirical evidence on the demand effects, the direct and indirect price effects, and the real-balance effects of international disturbances in the Yugoslav economy.     

Collective Bargaining and Cost Accounting: The Case of the US Men's Clothing Industry

The attributes and rationales of modern cost accounting procedures are not unequivocal. Some scholars underscore the adversarial relationship between accounting and labour (Bougen, 1989; Owen and Lloyd, 1985; Ogden and Bougen, 1985) while others contend that accounting data were used as much for social, political and ideological purposes as for efficiency concerns (Hopper and Armstrong, 1991; Ezzamel et al., 1990; Hoskin and Macve, 1988a and 1988b; Stewart, 1992). Alternatively, several researchers have re-examined the origins of cost accounting and more recent costing developments (Fleischman and Parker, 1991; Fleischman and Tyson, 1993; and Tyson, 1990 and 1992). The present paper further explores the development of modern cost accounting practice. It presents a detailed analysis of the US men's clothing industry between 1919 and 1926 and assesses over 1,200 arbitration decisions to determine how piece rates, production standards and standard costs were developed, implemented and carried out in practice. It finds that collective bargaining and compulsory arbitration significantly moderated these procedures such that workers and owner/managers received tangible economic benefits.     

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PERSONNEL FUNCTION

This article examines the way the personnel role has developed in the United Kingdom, and argues that three main models of personnel management may be discerned. The way these models have been influenced by the recession is discussed and it is suggested that the personnel function, both as a specialized activity and as one aspect of all managerial work has been forced to change, in response to the need for increased competitiveness, to structural and ideological changes, and to industrial reorganization. Looking to the future, the paper anticipates the ‘balkanization’ of the personnel function as new specialisms emerge, and as personnel activity becomes more closely associated with corporate marketing strategies.     

中国入世及变化中的美国经济对中国的影响

2001年3月15日下午,正值上海对外贸易学院“入世研创学会”成立揭牌之际,劳拉女士欣然应邀与会,并在会上做了题为“变化中的美国经济对中国的影响”的学术报告。她从一位经济学家的角度出发高屋建瓴地分析了中国入世是经济发展的必然结果,同时又基于其深厚的从政经验提出美国在小布什政府期间也必然采取支持中国入世的经济政策。本文根据该演讲的录音编译整理而成,未经本人审阅。