Unfolding the impact of leadership and management on sustainability performance: Green and lean practices and guanxi as the dual mediators

This study aims to empirically evaluate the predictors that influence sustainability performance among manufacturing firms. Leadership and management, green and lean practices, and guanxi were examined to determine whether these predictors are directly and/or indirectly affecting sustainability performance; 160 valid responses were collected and partial-least-squares-structural-equation-modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. The results showed that leadership and management positively influenced green and lean practices and green and lean practices positively influenced sustainability performance. Leadership and management also positively influenced guanxi. Interestingly, leadership and management and guanxi do not exert a significant direct influence on sustainability performance. The findings contributed to the development of the resource-based-view theory further by empirically exploring the significance of leadership and management coupled with green and lean practices as competencies and capability to drive sustainability performance. The testing of the dual mediators' effects further added value to this study.     

Adverse Selection and the Decline in Private Health Insurance Coverage in Australia: 1989–95

The decline in private health insurance coverage over the period 1989–95 is analysed using the ABS National Health Surveys. Individuals' health status and health risk behaviours are found to be significant determinants of their decision to purchase private health insurance. At a point in time, the pool of the insured is very heterogeneous, with a mix of both good and bad health risks. It is found that the decline in insurance coverage over the period 1989–95 coincided with an increase in the degree of 'adverse selection' within the insured population.     

Can relationship marketing enhance strategic thinking in the public sector? A study of the perceived relationship between subsidised theatres and their government funders/regulators

This paper reports on the findings of research into the perceived relationships between publicly funded theatres and their key funders/regulators. This is part of a wider study into whether successful publicly funded arts organisations are more likely to apply a relationship marketing approach. Relationship marketing may help to remove a short‐term tactical focus that tends to exist in public sector organisations generally and publicly funded arts organisations particularly. Three UK producing theatres' relationships with the Arts Council and their respective local authorities are analysed and findings suggest that building relationships with this stakeholder type may well produce more strategically focused and successful theatres. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Multinationals and changing national business systems in Europe: towards the ‘shareholder value’ model?

This article reviews recent development in employment relations in MNCs, within the context of the varied and changing business systems within Western Europe. Focusing on Germany, France, Sweden and the UK, we analyse both the effects of national corporate governance systems on MNCs, and the extent to which MNCs specifically, and globalisation more widely, have affected the nature of national business and employment systems. While elements of a move towards a more ‘Anglo‐Saxon’, economically liberal model of corporate governance and employment relations can be detected in all four countries, this is far from complete. Cross‐national differences in business systems within Europe therefore continue to exert effects upon MNCs.     

Politics of managing: the dialectic of control

Accounting influences the evolution of management identity by determining which aspects of performance are made visible. However, management do not technocratically apply accounting measurements. An organizational study is used to analyze how management use partisan performance measurements to control the labor process. Management's strategies are influenced by how technology, worker skill, and product competition affect worker capacity to resist. Management's dilution of capital's interest by accommodating labor's needs, or mobilization of the efficiency ethos, reflect the politics of dialectical control.     

Power and EDP departments: a case study

The productivity of white-collar workers in heavily computerized sectors of the economy has collapsed in recent years. This paper suggests that one reason for this involves inefficiencies generated by EDP departments, which have created systems of control enmeshing not only workers but senior management.