Supply management in American public administration: Towards an academic discipline?

This article examines the development of supply management in the U.S. to assess its progress towards academic disciplinary status. A comparison of the fields of business administration and public administration indicates that supply management is more developed in the former than in the latter, which inhibits its disciplinary status. Various reasons for this uneven development in the two fields are explored. The paper argues that a paradigm shift must occur for public supply management, which will re-orient it around the concept of the public interest. This will require public supply professionals to participate strategically in public policy-making in order to ascertain and promote the public interest. A policy framework is used to illustrate this re-orientation and to suggest directions for further research.     

Mulaik on atomism, contraposition and causation

Causal inference using statistical models plays a central role in many areas of behavioral science, but the underlying metatheory of causal explanation remains poorly developed. Mulaik’s work on causation offers a useful foray into this topic. Evaluation of two negative arguments applied to a broad range of theories of causation offer overdue critical assessment of this contribution. More broadly, the critical evaluation of Mulaik’s arguments speak to the need for better integration of substantive theories and statistical models in causal research.     

Comparative research in industrial relations: helping the survey cross frontiers

There has been a relative dearth of comparative, cross-national research which has followed a survey-based approach. This partly reflects the difficulty that researchers encounter in collecting such information, either via primary collection or the secondary matching of existing survey material. This paper addresses these difficulties and suggests ways in which their impact can be minimized. It notes that such difficulties are much more severe in the case of secondary matching and are thereby likely to constrain the scope of this approach. They are not totally absent in primary collection and it is suggested that there are limits to what can be achieved during data collection to promote the development of like data-sets across countries. This indicates that great care must be taken in interpreting data so obtained. Despite such limits and cautions, it is nevertheless concluded that the survey approach can be an important adjunct to the process of understanding why the world of work varies across frontiers.     

Human resources in Sino-foreign joint ventures: selected case studies in Shanghai,compared with Beijing

This article examines HRM in joint ventures (JVs) in Shanghai compared with those in Beijing using a case-study approach. It focuses primarily on issues relating to labour contracts, rewards and benefits, social insurance, trade unions and personnel policies, and describes current developments in China in each of these areas. In order to place these JV human resource practices in context, we also draw on interviews in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Shanghai and Beijing. Taking as a starting point a summary of traditional SOE 'iron rice-bowl' ( tie fan wan ) practices in the management of personnel, we ask to what extent HRM in the present JV sample differs from traditional methods and to what extent 'iron rice-bowl' practices continue despite foreign ownership. The extent to which HR practices in JVs are distinct from those in contemporary SOEs is also examined. We conclude that, although, as one would expect, foreign ownership has modified traditional practice, the degree and extent to which this is true varies widely. There is strong evidence of institutional and organizational continuity in 'iron rice-bowl' practices in both JVs and SOEs. Finally we propose a framework for categorizing the companies investigated in terms of their distance from traditional 'iron rice-bowl' HR practices and proximity to 'imported' practices. This consists of two 'pure' and two hybrid categories: pure 'iron rice-bowl'; hybrid I (predominantly local); hybrid II (predominantly imported): and, finally, pure imported. In this schema, the companies examined do not however group neatly according to whether they are JVs or SOEs.     

The ‘Myth’ of Human Resource Management in Chinese Enterprises

This study examines changing labour-management practices in China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in comparison with those in joint ventures (JVs). Based on a sample of 62 firms in seven Chinese major cities, it explores the degree to which HRM practices are a ‘myth’. The researchers carried out semi-structured interviews with managers and other employees at all levels. The role of trade unions and workers' congresses are also examined. The results show that the ownership type, size of the firm, and its location are important factors affecting the extent to which these enterprises have adapted to market-orientated HRM practices. The study concludes that most firms have not fully made this adaptation, and that even where it has been taken up, it has in many cases only been done so partially due to organizational inertia, amongst other factors.     

Black-White Inequality in Reading and Math Across K-12 Schooling: A Synthetic Cohort Perspective

While much has been written on the racial gap in achievement, few national studies have assessed the gap’s trajectory over K-12 schooling. The reason for this is understandable—most national data sets do not contain respondent information for this entire educational period. I utilize survey data from three national data sets containing White and Black students to document the trajectory of reading and math inequality between school entry and the end of high school. An attempt to clarify these observed patterns is made by assessing changes in the score distributions of these students across grade level, and examining how Black score distributions would fare if held to the White score distributions. Findings suggest that efforts to equalize achievement disparities must not only focus on “bringing the bottom up”, but also on keeping the top Black achievers on pace with the top White achievers across grade level.     

别再救通用汽车

奥巴马总统决定从税款中再拨出301亿美元,以救济通用汽车,对此,他的解释是:当前美国正身处经济严重衰退与金融危机并存的时代,艰难异常,而这些企业的崩塌会殃及无数美国人,而不仅限于汽车产业内部.     

Transnational corporations and the global water industry

This article takes stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) undertaken by transnational corporations (TNCs) in the global water industry and examines the evidence on the impact of their operations in host countries. Between 1996 and 2006, approximately $12 billion were invested in water‐related sectors, of which 75% came from the private sector (including TNCs) from just four countries, while tentative calculations put the global share of investment by TNCs at 56%. Presently, 243 enterprises have interests in 409 water projects in 53 host countries. However, just six countries have received over half of the total investment. A survey of the evidence reports mixed results of the impact of TNCs' investment in host countries. It is argued that the biggest issue here is pricing, a dilemma that, alongside the privatization issue of host countries' water industry, is discussed in the concluding section. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.