Managing and resisting ‘degeneration’ in employee-owned businesses: a comparative study of two large retailers in Spain and the UK

Employee-owned businesses have recently enjoyed a resurgence of interest as possible ‘alternatives’ to the somewhat tarnished image of conventional investor-owned capitalist firms. Within the context of global economic crisis, such alternatives seem newly attractive. This is somewhat ironic because, for more than a century, academic literature on employee-owned businesses has been dominated by the ‘degeneration thesis’. This suggested that these businesses tend towards failure – they either fail commercially, or they relinquish their democratic characters. Bucking this trend and offering a beacon - especially in the UK - has been the commercially successful, co-owned enterprise of the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) whose virtues have seemingly been rewarded with favourable and sustainable outcomes. This paper makes comparisons between JLP and its Spanish equivalent Eroski – the supermarket group which is part of the Mondragon cooperatives. The contribution of this paper is to examine in a comparative way how the managers in JLP and Eroski have constructed and accomplished their alternative scenarios. Using longitudinal data and detailed interviews with senior managers in both enterprises it explores the ways in which two large, employee-owned, enterprises reconcile apparently conflicting principles and objectives. The paper thus puts some new flesh on the ‘regeneration thesis’.

Combination of web usage, content and structure information for diverse web mining applications in the tourism context and the context of users with disabilities

188 p.

Molecular diagnosis of distal renal tubular acidosis in Tunisian patients: proposed algorithm for Northern Africa populations for the ATP6V1B1, ATP6V0A4 and SCL4A1 genes

Background: Primary distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) caused by mutations in the genes that codify for the H+ -ATPase pump subunits is a heterogeneous disease with a poor phenotype-genotype correlation. Up to now, large cohorts of dRTA Tunisian patients have not been analyzed, and molecular defects may differ from those described in other ethnicities. We aim to identify molecular defects present in the ATP6V1B1, ATP6V0A4 and SLC4A1 genes in a Tunisian cohort, according to the following algorithm: first, ATP6V1B1 gene analysis in dRTA patients with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) or unknown hearing status. Afterwards, ATP6V0A4 gene study in dRTA patients with normal hearing, and in those without any structural mutation in the ATP6V1B1 gene despite presenting SNHL. Finally, analysis of the SLC4A1 gene in those patients with a negative result for the previous studies. Methods: 25 children (19 boys) with dRTA from 20 families of Tunisian origin were studied. DNAs were extracted by the standard phenol/chloroform method. Molecular analysis was performed by PCR amplification and direct sequencing. Results: In the index cases, ATP6V1B1 gene screening resulted in a mutation detection rate of 81.25%, which increased up to 95% after ATP6V0A4 gene analysis. Three ATP6V1B1 mutations were observed: one frameshift mutation (c.1155dupC; p.Ile386fs), in exon 12; a G to C single nucleotide substitution, on the acceptor splicing site (c.175-1G > C; p.?) in intron 2, and one novel missense mutation (c. 1102G > A; p. Glu368Lys), in exon 11. We also report four mutations in the ATP6V0A4 gene: one single nucleotide deletion in exon 13 (c.1221delG; p. Met408Cysfs* 10); the nonsense c.16C > T; p.Arg6*, in exon 3; and the missense changes c.1739 T > C; p.Met580Thr, in exon 17 and c.2035G > T; p.Asp679Tyr, in exon 19. Conclusion: Molecular diagnosis of ATP6V1B1 and ATP6V0A4 genes was performed in a large Tunisian cohort with dRTA. We identified three different ATP6V1B1 and four different ATP6V0A4 mutations in 25 Tunisian children. One of them, c.1102G > A; p.Glu368Lys in the ATP6V1B1 gene, had not previously been described. Among deaf since childhood patients, 75% had the ATP6V1B1 gene c. 1155dupC mutation in homozygosis. Based on the results, we propose a new diagnostic strategy to facilitate the genetic testing in North Africans with dRTA and SNHL.

A complex systems modelling approach for decentralized simulation of electrical microgrids

ICECCS 2010

Religion, emotions and social transformation along migratory processes. The cases of African church leaders in Spain and South Africa

221 p.