Creative English and public relations in Hong Kong

This paper investigates employer perceptions of the nature and importance of the English language in public relations agencies in Hong Kong. Based on in-depth interviews with senior managers from eight Hong Kong-based public relations companies, it examines how the linguistic currency ofEnglish is used collaboratively in creative organizations. Findings suggest that English is used as the common language among transnational public relations work teams and the clients that they service. Itis also used as a creative resource for facilitating collaboration, staff development and socialization into corporate and professional cultures.

Fragmentation or creative diversity? Options in the provision of land management advisory services

Rural land managers need access to sound advice and information to respond to pressures from environmental regulations, declining farm incomes, changing patterns in international trade and new institutional arrangements within the domestic food chain. Governments have cut back their provision of advisory services but need more than ever to influence land managers' decisions to achieve a growing array of policy objectives: The paper develops a conceptual framework for analysing advisory services and concludes, through a review of sixteen case studies, that the needs of both governments and land managers can be met by a diverse mixture of private and public sector provision. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Industrial relations in South-Eastern Europe: disaggregating the contexts

This study critically evaluates industrial relations (IR) in South-Eastern Europe and points towards future practical and research-oriented opportunities in the region. A survey of organizational policies and practices has been used to explore the state of IR in both private and public organizations in this region. Specifically, the data, collected in 2009–2010 (including the latest changes due to the economic crisis), cover 840 different organizations located in Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Cyprus. We discuss the development of ‘regional-specific’ IR policies, the ‘importing’ of varieties of capitalism models, the diffusion of the European Union social model and the role of foreign MNCs in changing IR in the region.