The New Unionism and the New Bargaining Agenda: UNISON–Employer Partnerships on Workplace Learning in Britain

A model of new unionism has been developed which is characterized by features such as the servicing of members as customers and a shift to co‐operative industrial relations. The UNISON–employer partnerships in workplace learning in the UK initially appear to fit such a model. This paper outlines the model of new unionism and cautions against interpreting these partnerships as evidence of its development. The paper concludes that this initiative is organized within a collective framework and may provide a basis for the development of workplace trade union activism rather than being indicative of its decline.     

Location and Survival of New Entry

Drawing from two different strands of literature, industrial ecology and spatial analysis, the paper attempts to examine the role that location plays in determining firm survival. A time-varying covariates hazard model is used on Greek firms, which enter manufacturing in the early 1980s and are followed up to 1992. Location in Greater Athens vs. the rest of the country affects survival positively, especially when smaller firms are concerned. Other firm variables such as current size, profitability, leverage and capital together with growth and industry contestability are also found to affect survival, which becomes more difficult for firms established closer to recessions.     

Mexican women managers: An emerging profile

There is a striking absence of information on women managers in Latin America despite the fact that, in the past decade, studies of women managers in non-English speaking countries have proliferated. This study offers a preliminary analysis of Mexican women managers. Our exploratory study locates women managers within the context of gender relations and managerial ideology in Mexico and analyzes several factors that enable a select group of senior-level Mexican women to hold influential positions. The findings suggest that women have a nontraditional Mexican management style and successfully manage the work–family interface. Nevertheless, women still encounter obstacles to their advancement such as discrimination and stereotyping. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Are their designs iterative or fixated? Investigating design patterns from student digital footprints in computer-aided design software

This paper investigates iteration and fixation in design by mining digital footprints left by designers. High school students used computer-aided design software to create buildings in an urban area, with the goal of applying passive solar design techniques to ensure optimal solar gains of the buildings throughout a year. Students were required to complete three different designs. Fine-grained data including design actions, intermediate artifacts, and reflection notes were logged. Computational analytics programs were developed to mine the logs through three indicators: (a) frequency of the action of using energy analysis tools; (b) solar performance of the final designs; and (c) difference in solar performance between the prototype and final designs. Triangulating results from the indicators suggests three types of iteration—efficacious, inadequate and ineffective. Over half of the participants were detected as being efficacious iterative during the first design and becoming more and more fixated toward the end of the project, which resonates with previous findings on fixation effect among college students and professional designers. Overall the results demonstrate the power of applying computational analytics to investigate complex design processes. Findings from this work shed light on how to quantitatively assess and research student performance and processes during design projects.     

The making of the modern retail market: economic theory,business interests and economic policy in the passage of the 1964 Resale Prices Act

This article makes a critical examination of the economic case made for the prohibition of individual resale price maintenance (IRPM) in 1964. The Resale Prices Act had major implications for the future structure of British retailing and was lobbied for by multiple grocery retailers. This article demonstrates how a government enquiry which preceded the legislation privileged one side of the debate and marginalised other – arguably more rigorous – analysis. The article endorses a central role for the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and is a case study of the role of economic theory in business–government relations and the development of economic policy.     

Teaching digital models: secondary technology teachers’ experiences

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - In secondary technology education, models of artifacts, systems and processes, visualized and simulated through digital tools (digital...     

Political institutions and corporate risk-taking: International evidence

Tapping into firm-level accounting data across 90 countries over a 26-year period, we find that sound political institutions are positively associated with corporate risk-taking. This result is economically significant, robust to alternative proxies for corporate risk-taking and political institutions, and continues to hold after mitigating endogeneity concerns of political institutions. We also collect evidence that sound political institutions may compensate for weak legal institutions in inducing corporate risk-taking. We argue that sound political institutions improve the investment environment for firms and can induce higher levels of corporate risk-taking, which is ultimately associated with economic growth.     

Non-executive directorship importance and takeover hostility: Australian evidence

This study investigates the importance of the target firm directorship to target firm non-executive directors during takeovers. Using Australian data and a size-based measure of directorship importance, we find a positive association between takeover hostility and directorship importance after controlling for takeover premiums and target firm size. Further analysis reveals that directorship importance leads to a greater likelihood of offer price revisions following initial rejection of a takeover bid, but not the likelihood of bid success. Our findings are consistent with target firm non-executive directors exhibiting self-serving behaviour at directorships which they consider more important to their reputation.     

An evaluation of the impacts of the adoption of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers

This paper evaluates the impact of IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers on the value relevance of financial reports for Australian listed firms. We find that for most firms the impacts of transition were immaterial, however some firms experienced a significant reduction in earnings and/or retained earnings and for these firms the value relevance of earnings was generally lower in the pre-adoption period compared to firms in which there was no material impact. Post adoption, there is little evidence that the standard improved the relevance of earnings generally.