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Global brands and the building of brand equity in one of the most innovative business sectors, for the personal computer market, are examined within the context of the phenomenal growth of the IT industry. Research issues concerning data collection, timing and measures of brand performance for the pc market are discussed. These are important because the gathering and diagnosis of information about customer commitment to personal computer firms or their loyalty to brands give early warning signals to marketers about customer disaffections and defections. Account is taken of marketing communications for global brands by pc manufacturers to support their brands. The review of the literature showed problems in the assessment of a brand's strength, value and potential given the increased volume and diversity of market data and differences in interpretations. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are presented with examples of brand equity models and conclusions derived for managers researching and developing...

‘Before you finish your breakfast this morning, you will have relied on half the world.’—Martin Luther King (www.fairtrade.org.uk) This paper is concerned with the extent of consumer understanding of the Fairtrade brand and consumer uptake of products under the auspices of the Fairtrade organisation. There are ethical issues surrounding the brand from both the consumer and organisational (supplier) perspectives. Qualitative focus groups and personal interviews are undertaken. Findings from research with organisations and consumers are presented with regard to investigations of Fairtrade from an ethical perspective and the barriers inhibiting consumer support of Fairtrade products. Conclusions drawn concern the success of the Fair Trade name in the ethical and social contexts.

Based on detailed case histories of South Asian workers and their co-ethnic employers in the West Midlands clothing and catering industries, this paper examines the use of illegal immigrant labour in small ethnic minority firms and attempts to tease out its implications for the migrants themselves, their employers and the broader national interest. To establish a proper context, we begin with a review of the recent literature on the structural changes – principally the confluence of globalization and post-industrialism – which have generated a seemingly unstoppable flow of labour migration; and the official state policies that have forced much of it underground. Our own case histories are seen as one of countless local expressions of this clash between economic and political imperatives, a clash which effectively criminalizes employers and workers for providing a positive economic and social contribution to the wider good. In the present case, it is only by employing immigrant labour that struggling entre...

Tregaskis lead author. This output was selected as one of the 12 ‘Papers of Excellence’ shortlisted for the Academy of Management’s inaugural 2007 IHRM Scholarly Research Award. The file attached to this record is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in the Journal of International Business Studies. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Tregaskis, O. and Brewster, C. (2006) Converging or diverging? A comparative analysis of trends in contingent employment practice in Europe over a decade. Journal of International Business Studies, 37 (1), pp. 111-126. is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400174 This paper makes a unique contribution to the HRM convergence-divergence debate by examining whether organizations operating in Europe, over the 10-year time period preceding 2000, are converging in their adoption of contingent employment practice. The susceptibility of contingent employment practice to both convergent and divergent pressures acts as a useful analytical lens. Data are drawn from organizations operating in Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK in 1991 (2918 organizations), 1995 (2048 organizations) and 2000 (1555 organizations).The results suggest that convergence is limited by the institutional embeddedness of organizations.

Purpose – Recent years have witnessed a growing academic preoccupation with the theme of employee voice. This article seeks to examine the efficacy of non‐union forms of employee representation (NERs).Design/methodology/approach – Further to an exploration of the above theme, case study research was carried out in an organisation possessing a relatively mature representative structure.Findings – The findings broadly support the extant literature in exposing key deficiencies with respect to this mode of voice. The body under review is seen to represent a largely unavailing vehicle for the furtherance of employee interests – particularly within the arena of pay determination.Research limitations/implications – In the light of the above findings the policy implications are briefly explored. Reservations are expressed regarding the ability of the Information and Consultation Directive to extend voice into the non‐union sector.Originality/value – In contrast with the earlier, predominantly descriptive studies ...

PurposeTo explore how information communication technologies (ICT) and the internet offer new opportunities for women to develop as entrepreneurs and innovators. To add to the literature and provide updated research to raise awareness about female‐run ICT small businesses.Design/methodology/approachUses qualitative research methodology for case studies of female entrepreneurs and thematic grid analysis to form a major part of text analysis. The approach is influenced by the need to examine closely the nature of the enterprises or phenomena under investigation and to ask pertinent questions related to their particular mode of operations.FindingsShows the background of small firm development and innovation as well as personal and company characteristics, personal contacts and IT networking in obtaining information and customers. Reflects also the concern of female entrepreneurs from ethnic minorities in gaining financial backing and recognition of themselves as committed and successful entrepreneurs.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is the small size of the sample (ten firms). There are implications for further work on gender analysis. The sample, though small, has contributed insights into the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in business and questioned the constraints on ethnicity for others. Technology is a great equaliser and the research has added further discussion on the economic contribution of female entrepreneurs.Practical implicationsShows guidance on qualitative analysis using personal interviews and thematic grid analysis of textual data, as well as presenting findings.Originality/valueContributes to the literature due to the scarcity of publications concerning female‐operated ICT small businesses. The paper is useful for researchers wishing to pursue entrepreneurship and gender studies.

Two qualitative studies in the U.K. health care sector trace eight purposefully selected innovations. Complex, contested, and nonlinear innovation careers emerged. Developing the nonlinear perspective on innovation spread further, we theorize that multi-professionalization shapes "nonspread." Social and cognitive boundaries between different professions retard spread, as individual professionals operate within unidisciplinary communities of practice. This new theory helps explain barriers to the spread of innovation in multiprofessional organizations in both health care and other settings.

There is a growing awareness within project-based sectors of the relationship between performance and managers' competencies. This article reports on research that investigated the competency profile of ‘superior’ project managers working within the construction industry, one of the most complex and dynamic project-based industrial sectors. The study combined an assessment of both their behavioural competencies and job-task competencies. The results reveal that while their job-task competencies are highly specific to the industry in which they work, the behavioural competencies of superior project managers are mostly generic in nature and apply to a range of other management positions. This research shows how it is practically possible to identify the competency profile of superior managers and utilise this framework for managing the performance of this key management group.

Ferner lead author. This output was selected as one of the 12 ‘Papers of Excellence’ shortlisted for the Academy of Management’s inaugural 2007 IHRM Scholarly Research Award. “The full text file attached is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of International Business Studies. The definitive publisher-authenticated version: Ferner, A.M., Almond, P. and Colling, T. (2005) Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: The case of 'workforce diversity' in US multinationals. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (3), pp. 304-321. is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400134 ” This paper uses a comparative institutionalist approach combined with a power/interests perspective to examine the processes whereby diversity policy is ‘internationalized’ by US multinational companies. It argues that the process of policy transfer to UK subsidiaries is complicated by incomplete and contested ‘institutionalization’ of diversity within the US itself, and by differing conceptions of diversity between the US and the UK. The ability of actors within the UK subsidiaries to mobilize and deploy specific power resources allows them to resist the full implementation of corporate diversity policy, leading to a range of compromise accommodations. It is argued that the findings have more general implications for analyzing the transfer of HR practices between national business systems.

This article analyses the differences in the post-war study of employment relations in the UK and France, examining both the orientations of the main literatures, and more recent developments in response to the changes of recent years. Through a comparison of the literature, the article seeks to analyse the implicit assumptions behind research in the field. The predominant means of investigating employment relations in both countries are seen to have been over-fixed on normative assumptions drawn from the specific circumstances of the post-war industrial relations climates of the two countries. This provides a partial explanation for the emergence of new normative frameworks, including that of Human Resource Management, particularly in the UK It is argued that in order for a move away from an explicitly managerial agenda to occur, researchers into industrial relations, particularly in English-speaking countries, must integrate their arguments within a greater awareness of wider societal change., Cette étude se veut une analyse comparative des façons dominantes dont la relation d’emploi, sous l’angle d’un champ significatif de l’analyse scientifique, a été étudiée en France et au Royaume-Uni au cours de la période d’après-guerre. En focalisant sur le caractère « impérialiste » de la recherche au cours de cette période, plus particulièrement sur la perspective pluraliste des relations industrielles au Royaume-Uni et celle de la sociologie du travail en France, cette étude évalue dans quelle mesure les approches de recherche en matière de relations d’emploi dans les deux pays ont été influencées par leur contexte idéologique, sociétal et scientifique. Ceci soulève la question à savoir si les nouvelles approches qui ont présidé à l’analyse de la relation d’emploi dans les deux pays au cours des vingt dernières années (principalement la GRH, et en particulier au Royaume-Uni, l’École de la régulation, l’éclatement de la sociologie du travail en France, l’intérêt pour la sociologie de l’entreprise et de l’emploi) se présentent elles-mêmes comme des réponses spécifiques de société. On fait état d’un contraste entre la désinstitutionalisation partielle des relations industrielles au Royaume-Uni et leur développement comme champ multidisciplinaire dans un contexte français.La présente étude soulève des questions à l’endroit des fondements théoriques des champs de recherche bien délimités ; plus particulièrement, la fausse dichotomie entre l’économie et la société, parfois présumée dans les travaux relatifs aux relations industrielles, et une préférence exagérée eu égard à la régulation volontaire de la relation d’emploi, qui est perçue comme imprégnée d’idéologie. Ce qui nous invite à poser la question à savoir si les théoriciens des relations industrielles en Grande-Bretagne au cours de la période d’avant-Thatcher ont particulièrement fait état ou non de la spécificité sociétale du système de relations industrielles britannique, si le « système » de relations industrielles au sens du terme retenu par Dunlop est de fait aussi autonome du reste de la société qu’on se plaît à le supposer parfois. Cette question de l’autonomie prend de l’importance non seulement pour le déclin des relations industrielles au plan de leur traitement théorique en Grande-Bretagne, mais également pour les intellectuels en France qui se demandent si les relations industrielles sont le mieux décrites soit comme discipline, soit comme champ d’étude. On peut penser que l’hypothèse implicite qui sous-tend la recherche en relations industrielles dans une perspective pragmatique au Royaume-Uni a peu contribué à aider ce domaine à traiter de façon théorique du renouveau de la régulation de la relation d’emploi depuis 1979.Pendant ce temps, la sociologie du travail d’origine française, tout en demeurant ambitieuse au plan de ses prétentions, a eu tendance à demeurer très empiriquement limitée aux lieux de travail et à privilégier la spéculation à l’égard de l’avenir du capitalisme industriel (et par-dessus tout la critique du taylorisme) au lieu de s’adonner à la recherche concrète. L’absence relative d’attention accordée à la régulation de la relation d’emploi fut aussi notée. Le déclin à la fois des relations industrielles et de la sociologie du travail depuis la crise économique de 1970, et par la suite, peut être au moins et en partie attribuée à une faiblesse commune aux deux approches : d’abord, le manque de considération à l’égard de l’intervention de l’employeur/dirigeant dans la structuration de la nature concrète de la relation d’emploi ; ensuite, l’absence d’attention accordée à la distinction chez les travailleurs entre leur rôle de salariés et les autres rôles sociaux. Souvent, l’attention se limitait à la classe des travailleurs de sexe masculin, parce qu’avant tout l’intégration de ce groupe à la société capitalisme semblait être le problème majeur de l’époque. En réaction à ce phénomène, on a observé au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années la venue d’une variété de nouvelles approches qui ne découlent pas des hypothèses. Celles-ci font l’objet d’une brève révision sur une base comparative, révélant à la fois des similitudes et des différences importantes chez celles retenues. Plus précisément, on constate des différences construites socialement entre le déclin du domaine des relations industrielles au plan théorique au Royaume-Uni et leur substitution par celui de la gestion des ressources humaines ; aussi, un dialogue multidisciplinaire de plus en plus fructueux s’installe en France.Cet essai en vient à la conclusion que les relations du travail comme champ d’études ont besoin d’une révision qui ferait appel à des approches qui tiennent compte des effets d’envergure à l’échelle de la société, au lieu de celles qui amplifient l’autonomie des systèmes de relations industrielles., Este artículo analiza las diferencias en el estudio post-guerra de las relaciones de empleo en el Reyno Unido y en Francia, examinando las orientaciones de la literatura predominante y de los mas recientes desarrollos en reacción a los cambios ocurridos los últimos años. A través de una comparación de la literatura, el artículo pretendre analizar las suposiciones implícitas en la investigación en este campo. Los medios predominantemente utilizados en la investigación de las relaciones de empleo en ambos países aparecen extremamente arraigados en las presunciones normativas establecidas en las circunstancias especificas del clima de relaciones industriales de la post-guerra vigentes en ambos países. Esto ofrece una explicación parcial a la emergencia de nuevos cuadros normativos, incluyendo el de la gestión de recursos humanos, particularmente en el Reyno Unido. Se argumenta que para alejarse de una agenda explícitamente marcada por la gestión, los investigadores en relaciones industriales, particularmente en los países de habla inglesa, deberían integrar sus argumentos a una comprensión mas vasta de cambio social.

This article explores how management constructs strategies to control the labour process of software development, through a case study of a small Australian software development company, Webboyz Pty Ltd.1This firm employs mainly young, male software developers to develop internet tools and e-commerce software and solutions for different segments of the local and international software market. Distinguishing between primary and secondary software products, and their associated production processes, provides a way of analysing the organization and control of software development work. The case study of Webboyz reveals how management strategies to control the labour process of software development are influenced by the type of product being developed and the timing in the product’s development lifecycle as well as the type of workers developing the software product.

This article revisits a central question in the debates on the management of multinationals: the balance between centralized policy-making and subsidiary autonomy. It does so through data from a series of case studies on the management of human resources in American multinationals in the UK. Two strands of debate are confronted. The first is the literature on differences between multinationals of different national origins which has shown that US companies tend to be more centralized, standardized, and formalized in their management of human resources. It is argued that the literature has provided unconvincing explanations of this pattern, failing to link it to distinctive features of the American business system in which US multinationals are embedded. The second strand is the wider debate on the balance between centralization and decentralization in multinationals. It is argued that the literature neglects important features of this balance: the contingent oscillation between centralized and decentralized modes of operation and (relatedly) the way in which the balance is negotiated by organizational actors through micro-political processes whereby the external structural constraints on the company are defined and interpreted. In such negotiation, actors’ leverage often derives from exploiting differences between the national business systems in which the multinational operates.

This paper demonstrates how learning networks are used by subsidiaries to maximize the strategic value of knowledge as a source of power; and how the embedded nature of knowledge influences this process. Using resource dependence and legitimacy concepts, it is argued that different forms of learning networks afford knowledge the legitimacy to act as a source of power. These forms are based on combinations of intra- or inter-organizational local and international relations. The results indicate that local learning networks are more likely to enable innovations because local contexts are perceived as being the most useful or legitimate. Moreover, international intra-organizational learning networks reinforce the legitimacy of knowledge as an important resource by encouraging diffusion. The tension between organizational strategies and institutional structures supporting innovation is explored.

Following the Earth Summit in 1992, most UK local authorities have pursued sustainable development through Local Agenda 21 (LA21) partnerships. However, few academic or practitioner studies have examined the degree to which partnership processes are suitable for LA21. Local Agenda 21 seeks to be inclusive of all community interests and stresses the need to involve local businesses. This paper reports on research undertaken between 1998 and 1999 examining the proposition that partnership arrangements may inhibit business involvement with LA21. While the study suggests that a partnership approach to LA21 may not deter business involvement, partnership structures and processes appear to be critical in engaging and sustaining business participation, particularly among SMEs. Local authorities need to be sensitive to private sector perceptions of the LA21 process and to consider alternative methods of engaging the business community in the search for a cross-sector approach to local sustainable development.

Since 1997, there has been a notable growth in the degree and complexity of employment regulation. Such regulation has arisen from the intention of contemporary Labour governments to promote greater ‘fairness at work’, and their adoption of European employment directives. It has been established that meeting compliance is a greater burden for smaller firms. Hence the author aims to consider compliance with employment regulations by smaller firms, and this issue is explored through an empirical study of labour management in smaller firms based upon responses from 44 firm owners or managers and 71 of their employees.

There is a relative paucity of evidence on the management of labour in smaller firms. Research that has been undertaken, while recognising the heterogeneity of the sector, does note the prevalence of informality regarding employee relations. Such informality could be challenged by the increasing regulation of the employment relationship following the election of successive Labour governments since 1997. To illuminate this discussion further, evidence drawn from a study of employment regulation is offered. A number of smaller firm owners and their employees were interviewed to ascertain their views on the impact of regulation on the employment relationship. Owners were largely resistant to it but felt they could accommodate changes with relatively little disruption to their existing approach to labour management. Meanwhile, most employees felt the effect of regulation would be muted due to their position as smaller firm labour.

This paper explores the regulatory process of UK privatised utilities as manifest in the periodic review of prices. Two separate review processes are identified, operating concurrently – a covert dialogue between the regulator and the regulated and an overt dialogue taking place in the public arena. Using a semiotic analysis of the review the authors argue that the overt event is the real review. Furthermore they argue that the unfolding of each review is so similar that it can be likened to a film script which is constantly re‐enacted. The purpose of the review as a legitimating vehicle for the regulator and regulated, who exist in a symbiotic relationship, is explored in terms of the semiotics involved and the myth creation role of legitimation in order to explain the significance of the regulatory process.

Family-run enterprises are noted contributors to the small business population, particularly in terms of job creation and wealth generation. Moreover, it is well established that the presence of the family can be an important influence upon social relations in small firms. This paper examines whether family dynamics impinge upon the management of small consultancy firms, a sector that is closely associated with a discourse of' knowledge', `expertise', and `competence'. Based on a year-long case study of Whit Co, a husband and wife-owned small consultancy business, three questions are investigated. What is the nature of the family role in the consultancy business? How do employees in such settings view the family? What tactics do these usually credentialized workers deploy to handle family relations? The findings demonstrate that household relations rather than the activity of an `entrepreneurial individual' are important in understanding the operation of the small business; moreover, there is a tendency to underplay the role of the female partner in the initiation and maintenance of the firm. Employees value aspects of the `familyness' of the enterprise; for example, paternal approaches to social relations can generate feelings of inclusiveness. However, employees can perceive family roles as lacking in legitimacy if they are not underpinned by `competence'. Finally, employees' capacity to handle family relations is contingent upon their material importance to the firm.

In this paper a case study of a small firm engaged in producing packaged software in the Australian 'information industry' is conducted in order to shed light on the nature of control over the labour process of software development. It is shown that the interplay of human agency and structural forces means employees are largely unaware of the exercise of control over their work.

This article draws on the policy transfer literature to examine a UK-based initiative to promote supplier diversity and provides insights into three areas neglected in current research, namely: the dynamics of non-governmental policy transfer; the factors that mediate policy transfer in different jurisdictions; and the integration of research and practice in small business related policy transfer. To this end, an innovative action research approach is deployed with the dual purpose of effecting practical change and advancing knowledge. This comprises two phases: first, a realist analysis of the US National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), an exemplar intermediary; and second, the implementation and concurrent realist evaluation of a supplier diversity initiative modelled on NMSDC, referred to as ‘Supplier Development East Midlands’ (SDEM). The findings provide lessons for academics and practitioners dealing with small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policy transfer in general and supplier diversity intermediaries in particular.

There has been a flurry of interest from academics and policy-makers alike in the growing phenomenon of ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Despite theoretical advances, there is a lingering tendency to isolate ethnic minority enterprise from the context in which it operates. This article argues for a re-embedding of ethnic minority owned firms in a broader, and longer established, tradition of small business ownership. A more `integrated' analysis is required for an adequate exposition of the different trajectories of ethnic minorities in self-employment, and also for the growing number of policy-makers engaged in supporting such businesses.

This paper explores the factors that served to dislodge an espoused strategy of quality management with ‘soft’ HRM within a British subsidiary of a Korean owned multinational company. Accounts from British and Korean managers revealed competing sets of tensions at three levels: external organizational, intra-organizational, and internal workplace. The case is important for a number of reasons. First, research on UK based subsidiaries tends to have focused upon American and Japanese owned companies, with less evidence from MNCs from later industrialized economies. Second, evidence suggests that MNCs from Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have been experimenting with Western influenced high-performance work systems – but there is less evidence about how these are actually translated into the workplace. Third, there is a growing literature that suggests that the transfer of management practices in MNCs can be partly understood as a ‘negotiated process’, and disagreements may emerge between organisational actors i...

What drives organisations to engage in socially responsible purchasing initiatives? To investigate this important question, this article uses a case-study approach to examine the context within which supplier diversity programmes have emerged in both the U.S. and U.K. The analysis identifies legislative and policy developments, economic imperatives, stakeholder pressures and ethical influences as forces shaping organisational responses. It reveals important contextual differences between U.K. and U.S. experience and offers an empirical and theoretical explanation of corporate behaviour.

Fitzgerald is lead author of one chapter and joint author of three others

Workers (n = 17 275) from 14 European Union (EU) member states provided data on job control, job dissatisfaction, perceived risk of occupational stress, and absence. For each state, level of research and development (R&D) activity was assessed. Associations between individual levels of control and occupational health were stronger where national R&D activity was higher. The moderation occurred for individuals' levels of control in relation to job dissatisfaction, perceived risk of occupational stress, and absence. The findings with job dissatisfaction and absence were replicated in a sample of workers from 10 Eastern European former Communist countries (n = 7926). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Human resource management came into popular parlance in the late 1970s. as a managerial approach aimed at re-ordering the employment relationship to ensure employee efforts were strategically focused on achieving organisational performance and competitiveness in increasingly volatile markets. Since then there has been much consideration of whether HRM is a robust academic concept supporting a particular managerialist ideology, a status enhancing label for people managers, or a practitioner tool kit. There has also been a consideration of how HRM is articulated in small and entrepreneurial firms. This paper suggests that the concept of HRM is, in most instances, uncertainly theorised and, therefore, how it, whatever ‘it’ is, might be identified in such firms is challenging. Unless HRM is theorised in context with more care, there is a danger of it remaining a ‘fuzzy concept’ encouraging abstract empiricism which, rather than clarifying our understanding, only further muddies already muddy waters. In pursuit of this argument, in this paper current debates about the notion of HRM are considered as is how these fit with what is known about the management of labour in small firms. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to question how appropriate it is to talk about HRM as an approach to managing labour in small firms.

Prompted by the recent discovery that ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) are not utilising information and communication technology (ICT) to the same degree as are other small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), policymakers have become interested in the promotion of ICT amongst EMBs. The authors assess a pilot initiative sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry that aimed to stimulate ICT adoption amongst EMBs in the North West region of the United Kingdom. Our first objective was to evaluate the approach used to implement the initiative in the light of extant adoption models. Second, a comparative approach was deployed that included Asian-owned firms in Rusholme and Chinese businesses in Manchester's ‘Chinatown’; this permitted an assessment of the distinctiveness of delivery issues in respect of EMBs. The value of an action-research approach to policy evaluation is reflected upon. An action-research approach was adopted as a means of evaluating the initiative. We were involved at all stages; thus a longitudinal dimension is a further distinctive feature of the study. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. The findings point to the importance of a contextually appropriate engagement strategy that embraces formal and informal business-support agencies. Accordingly, existing models of ICT adoption need to be refined and developed if they are to be applied to EMBs; the business-support needs of EMBs are not necessarily different from those of other SMEs, but there are potentially distinctive delivery issues; and a systematic application of an action-research approach can aid the process of policy evaluation. The findings have implications for policy delivery and therefore EMBs, offering actions that may be taken to improve public support across two diverse ethnic minority groups.

Lead author (75%)

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the influence of the national minimum wage (NMW) in the UK to small business owners operating in the informal economy.Design/methodology/approachUsing the clothing and restaurant sectors as a context, the responses of ethnic minority employers operating in the informal economy are examined in the light of market and regulatory change (notably, the NMW). Case studies are undertaken with 17 business owners and their workers. Given the sensitivity of the information required (reasons for non‐compliance; avoidance strategies; labour use), industry “insiders” were deployed to gain access.FindingsThe findings highlight considerable diversity in employer responses, despite the focus on two comparative narrow market sectors. This has implications for both neo‐liberal approaches to the informal economy, and the so‐called “marginalisation” thesis.Research limitations/implicationsProvides an insight into a neglected segment of the informal economy. Future studies should look at wider range of sectors and compare the experiences of different ethnic minority groups.Practical implicationsThis paper demonstrates why extant policy initiatives designed to formalise informal work face major structural barriers. Further, the informal economy is much more widespread than policy discourse suggests, thus accentuating the challenge for policy‐makers.Originality/valueExtant literature on informal economy tends to be “race‐blind” and rarely linked to the sphere of employment relations. This paper helps to fill both of these gaps.

This paper examines the influential Varieties of Capitalism argument (Hall and Soskice 2001) that economies tend to one of two forms of capitalism - liberal market and coordinated market economies - with different employment policies being conducive to economic success in each. An analysis of the relationship between financial and labour market systems suggests that the links between the two operate in a less deterministic way than is suggested by Hall and Soskice. This suggests that industrial relations actors are not prisoners of coordinated or liberal systems, and that ‘political’ choice retains a significant role in changes to employment systems.

Within the limited, but growing, literature on small business ethics almost no attention has been paid to the issue of social responsibility within ethnic minority businesses. Using a social capital perspective, this paper reports on an exploratory and qualitative investigation into the attitudinal and behavioural manifestations of CSR within small and medium-sized Asian owned or managed firms in the U.K., with particular reference to the distinctive factors motivating organisational responses. It offers alternative explanations of entrepreneurial behaviour and suggests areas for further research.

This chapter sheds light on the nature of managerial resourcing in US multinationals. Hitherto there has been a strong reliance on the use of internal labour markets (ILMs) as the principal means of sourcing managerial talent. In several instances, however, enhanced competition has triggered the necessity for the rapid importation of new skill sets eroding the primacy of ILMs. Over and above such supply side change, some organizations were similarly moving away from seniority based promotion towards a more meritocratic model, less sheltered from the vicissitudes of market pressures. Consistent with the theoretical focus of this volume, it is nevertheless demonstrated that headquarters did not have a totally free hand. The partial dismantling of ILMs was subject to local constraints and contestation, giving rise to new and significant tensions. More specifically, the emphasis upon tight performance standards was often met with stiff opposition suggesting local norms remain influential.

How do small low-wage firms continue to survive on the margins of a modern economy? Continuous restructuring provides a set of spaces but what sorts of firm occupy them and how far do these firms exercise active choice? Four research projects, embracing data on 123 firms, have offered empirical analysis. The present paper draws together these projects and derives an analytical framework linking the product and labour market contexts of small firms with their family context. Survival reflects the continued supply of labour through kinship networks and the ability of firms to respond actively to product market opportunities. The value of the framework for small-firm research generally is illustrated through discussion of further lines of inquiry.

This paper is predicated upon the assumption that the annual accounts of companies constitute important corporate artefacts in their own right that are both image and rhetoric intensive. The objective is to import concepts from structural poetics and bring them to bear on annual corporate reports. The understanding of the poetics of corporate reporting in this manner is of importance as it allows the consideration of the relationship between the audience and the authors of the script to be explored. We do this by analysing the annual reports of various water companies in the UK.

Major multi-authored research-based monograph, includes two chapters on which Almond is lead author, and a further chapter on which he is a co-author

Quality management (QM) is now a mainstream management initiative, but few researchers have explored worker experiences of it. An exception is found in the work of Edwards et al. (1998) who make an important contribution by offering the ‘disciplined worker thesis’ (meaning that workers prefer an ordered and disciplined work environment over disorganization or chaos) as a basis for explaining why workers may respond positively to QM initiatives, despite finding that these often require extra effort. We explore the utility of this concept by reference to empirical data from two detailed case studies. We found the disciplined worker thesis to be substantive but not comprehensive, in that it leaves some inexplicable results. In particular it does not capture the non-work factors that shaped workers responses to QM initiatives. As a result, we suggest that the conceptual remit of the disciplined worker thesis could usefully be enlarged to incorporate ‘orientations to work’.

This paper examines the policies towards unions and collective representation in US multinationals in the UK. It uses detailed case-study data to argue that the dominant ‘ideological norms’ of anti-unionism in the US business system shape, but do not determine, the behaviour of US multinational subsidiaries in the UK. Within the structural constraints determined by such factors as sector, subsidiary policy and behaviour towards unions are the outcome of the complex interaction of the contrasting ‘macro-institutional’ forces of home and host business systems, and how these are filtered through the perceptions and interests of actors at different levels of the multinational. The resulting ‘micro-politics’ generates a complex and evolving pattern of union relations and non-unionism in US subsidiaries.

All social practices reproduce certain taken-for-granteds about what exists. Constructions of existence (ontology) go together with notions of what can be known of these things (epistemology), and how such knowledge might be produced (methodology)—along with questions of value or ethics. Increasingly, reflective practitioners—whatever their practice—are exploring the assumptions they ‘put to work’ and the conventions they reproduce. Questions are being asked about how to ‘cope’ with change in a postmodern world, and ethical issues are gaining more widespread attention. If we look at these constructions then we often find social practices: (a) give central significance to the presumption of a single real world; (b) centre a knowing subject who should strive to be separate from knowable objects, i.e. people and things that make up the world; (c) a knowing subject who can produce knowledge (about the real world) that is probably true and a matter of fact rather than value (including ethics). Social practices of this sort often produce a right–wrong debate in which one individual or group imposes their ‘facts’ (and values) on others. Further they often do so using claims to greater or better knowledge (e.g. science, facts …) as their justifications. We use the term “relational constructionism” as a summary reference to certain assumptions and arguments that define our “thought style”. They are as follows: fact and value are joined (rather than separate); the knower and the known—self and other—are co-constructed; knowledge is always a social affair—a local–historical–cultural (social) co-construction made in conversation, in other kinds of action, and in the artefacts of human activities (‘frozen’ actions so to speak), and so; multiple inter-actions simultaneously (re)produce multiple local cultures and relations, this said; relations may impose one local reality (be mono-logical) or give space to multiplicity (be multi-logical). In this view, the received view of science is but one (socially constructed) way of world making, as is social constructionism, and different ways have different—and very real—consequences. In this paper, we take our relational constructionist style of thinking to examine differing constructions of foot and mouth disease (FMD) 1 in the UK. We do so in order to highlight the dominant relationship construction. We argue that this could be metaphorised as ‘accounting in Babel’— as multiple competing monologues —many of which remained very local and subordinated by a dominant logic. However, from a relational constructionist point of view, it is also possible to argue that social accounting can be done in a more multi-logical way that gives space to dialogue and multiplicity. In the present (relational constructionist) view, accounting is no longer ‘just’ a question of knowledge and methodology but also a question of value and power. To render accounting practices more ethical they must be more multi-voiced and enable ‘power to’ rather than ‘power over’.

Almond and Edwards joint lead authors 50:50

Barrett author of 3 chapters

Nominated for the British Sociological Association’s Sociology of Health & Illness Book Prize 2007 (runner-up) Fitzgerald lead/co-author of 7 chapters.

All sections of state employment have undergone radical restructuring since the 1980s, giving rise to a debate about the actual and necessary responses of public sector unions. Much of this debate has concerned the possibility of union renewal prompted by the tendency of New Public Management to decentralize employment relations. This article combines an examination of secondary works with a case study to evaluate the extent to which the largest of the teachers’ unions, the National Union of Teachers, has been subject to this process. It concludes that while many of the conditions for renewal appear to be in place, there is no crisis of unionism and evidence points to a traditional pattern of relations between local associations of the union and LEAs being resilient.

Special edition of MIR on Contemporary Issues in Multinational Structure and Strategy, edited by Julian Birkinshaw and David Brock.

This article aims to provide a reassessment of the processes of diffusion of innovations into organizations, based on new empirical data. The focus of the article is the latter stages of the diffusion process. The article draws on the results of two studies, which examined the diffusion of innovations in health care in the UK. These projects were a matched pair of qualitative studies, using purposeful selections of comparative case studies. The results demonstrate the ambiguous, contested nature of new scientific knowledge. The highly interactive nature of diffusion, with active adopters is illustrated. There is no evidence of a single adoption decision. The science is socially mediated. The features of context and of actors interlock to influence diffusion.

Les centrales syndicales dans presque tous les pays développés éprouvent des difficultés sérieuses à conserver leur niveau d’adhésion et leur influence politique. Le mouvement ouvrier américain a subit de façon croissante l’attrait d’un modèle d’organisation syndicale qui en retour a retenu l’imagination de quelques sections d’autres mouvements anglo-saxons, notamment et surtout en Australie, en Nouvelle-Zélande et en Angleterre. En dépit des similitudes au plan des problèmes auxquels font face les mouvements ouvriers nationaux, le passé et les expériences actuelles des syndicats ouvriers dans les différents pays présentent cependant des différences importantes aussi bien que des similitudes. Cet essai, basé sur un travail important sur le terrain en Angleterre et en Australie, cherche à cerner l’importance des contextes nationaux au moment de l’adoption d’un modèle d’organisation syndicale en faisant appel à une étude comparative de deux syndicats qu’on identifie à ce modèle dans leur propre pays : le Manufacturing, Science and Finance (MSF) en Angleterre et le Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) en Australie.Cet article démontre que les contextes nationaux au sein desquels oeuvrent ces syndicats exercent une influence critique sur leurs stratégies. Les syndicats en Angleterre ont fonctionné, au cours d’une bonne partie de la période d’après-guerre, à l’intérieur de la tradition qui a connu l’incorporation nationale et l’organisation sur les lieux de travail marquée par l’autonomie locale. Pendant les années 1980, on a observé un affaiblissement des syndicats et le contrôle au sein du mouvement ouvrier s’est déplacé vers le sommet. Le déclin du nombre de membres, connu au cours des dix-huit années de la période conservatrice, qui a vu des gouvernements successifs s’engager dans un assaut légal et systématique visant à marginaliser les syndicats, a maintenu l’illusion qu’un gouvernement travailliste renverserait la tendance. Rien de tel ne s’est produit en Australie, où les traditions sur les lieux de travail sont plus faibles et où la plus grande partie du déclin du membership au cours des décennies 1980 et 1990 survint sous des gouvernements travaillistes. Dans l’indifférence, l’élection d’un gouvernement conservateur et anti-syndical en Australie sonnait le glas d’une relation étroite entre les centrales et le gouvernement travailliste au cours des treize années de l’Accord.Cet article soutient que les efforts au sommet pour adopter le modèle d’organisation syndicale étaient moins prononcés en Angleterre qu’en Australie. De fait, en Angleterre, avec l’élection du Nouveau Parti travailliste en 1997, une stratégie de remplacement, celle d’un « partenariat », a été mise en oeuvre de façon plus rigoureuse par le TUC. Par contre, un syndicat de pointe, le ACTU, a repris le travail d’organisation avec un enthousiasme plus grand et avant l’an 2000 approuva une réforme de l’organisation syndicale comme y détenant la clef de la survie du syndicalisme.Les deux syndicats retenus pour cette étude, le MSF et le CPSU, reflètent à leur façon les problèmes plus vastes et les expériences du travail d’organisation dans des contextes nationaux. Les deux syndicats ont tenté de radicaliser le fonctionnement de leurs organisations. Le MSF a fait face à la crise en adoptant le modèle d’organisation, mais il a agit ainsi sans chercher à modifier tous les niveaux de sa structure. Ceci s’est traduit par un manque d’engagement précis à l’endroit d’une stratégie d’organisation et par l’introduction de façon autoritaire de nouvelles priorités pour les officiers syndicaux, à l’encontre sensément de l’esprit du modèle. Parallèlement aux priorités du TUC, l’idée de partenariat fit son chemin de façon évidente. Par conséquent, la stratégie d’organisation a échoué, le besoin d’une autre fusion à venir étant reconnu de manière tacite, cette fois avec un partenaire junior. Devant l’absence croissante de l’approbation du travail d’organisation par le TUC, on ne sentait pas une volonté de développement d’une approche mieux intégrée au travail d’organisation et on observait que peu de ressources à la disposition d’un modèle alternatif de pratique syndicale.L’expérience australienne fut quelque peu différente. Le CPSU démarra avec des problèmes semblables de perte de membership et de culture de service. Il dut envisager les mêmes craintes et la même résistance au changement de la part des permanents et des membres. Cependant, nonobstant l’absence d’engagement soutenu du membership à l’endroit de la nature et de l’envergure du changement, un leadership plus déterminé et cohérent aux niveaux local et national laissait croire que ce syndicat poursuivait de façon fructueuse les réformes au plan de l’organisation syndicale. L’approbation de l’ACTU d’un agenda d’organisation vint apporter un support aux changements amorcés au sein du CPSU.L’avenir de ces syndicats, et également de bien d’autres, est loin d’être assuré. L’étude comparative démontre que ces syndicats sont obligés de faire face à des circonstances adverses. Cependant, l’étude montre aussi de façon précise que les réactions des syndicats ne sont pas définies à l’avance, mais sont influencées par leur passé particulier, leur dynamique interne et le contexte national plus large au sein duquel ils élaborent leurs stratégies. Dans cette optique, les bureaucraties syndicales ne sont pas nécessairement conservatrices ; elles ne sont pas non plus les victimes passives de leur environnement. Quand ils sont menacés par des crises institutionnelles, les syndicats sont capables de réagir énergiquement aux menaces et aux contraintes. Cet essai soutient que des actions ciblées d’agents de changement au sein des syndicats exercent une influence décisive sur la tournure particulière des stratégies et des performances de l’organisation. Cependant, l’engagement réel du membership annoncé par le modèle d’organisation, nécessaire à une transformation effective des syndicats, n’apparaissait pas évident au travers des changements apportés aux stratégies d’organisation de ces syndicats., Trade unions in nearly all developed countries are facing major difficulties in maintaining membership levels and political influence. The U.S. labour movement has been increasingly attracted to an organizing model of trade unionism and, in turn, this response has caught the imagination of some sections of other Anglo-Saxon movements, most notably in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Despite similarities in the problems that national union movements face, however, the histories and current experiences of trade unions in the various countries show marked differences. This article, based on extensive fieldwork in Britain and Australia, examines attempts to assess the importance of national contexts in the adoption of the organizing model through a comparative study of an Australian and a British union., Los sindicatos de casi todos los paises desarrollados estan confrontando grandes dificultades para mantener los niveles de afiliación y de influencia politica. El movimiento laboral de EE.UU. ha estado cada vez mas atraído por un modelo de organización sindical, y a su turno, esta respuesta ha ganado adeptos en algunas secciones de otros movimientos anglo-saxones, en especial en Autralia, Nueva Zelandia y Brasil. A pesar de la similitudes de los problemas enfrentados por los movimientos sindicales nacionales, la historia y experiencia recientes de los sindicatos en varios países muestran diferencias marcantes. Este artículo, basado en un vasto estudio de terreno en Gran Bretaña y Australia, examina los intentos de valorizar la importancia de los contextos nacionales en la adopción del modelo de organización por medio de un estudio comparativo de los sindicatos en Australia y Gran-Bretaña.

The contention in this article is that an integrated approach can be used to analyse industrial relations in small firms and to investigate the image of industrial harmony. This integrated approach, incorporating the dialectical relationship between structural forces and human agency, is underpinned by Marxist labour process theory, and can be used to explain the variety of small firm industrial relations and the conditions under which they are produced. The integrated approach points to a way forward from the old stereotype of `small is beautiful'.