International human resource management:review and critique

The research agenda for the field of international human resource management (IHRM) is clear. For a better understanding and to benefit substantially, management scholars must study IHRM in context (Jackson, S.E. and Schuler, R.S. 1995. Understanding human resource management in the context of organizations and their environment. Annual Review of Psychology, 46: 237–264; Geringer, J.M., Frayne, C.A. and Milliman, J.F. 2002. In search of 'best practices' in international human resource management: research design and methodology. Human Resource Management, forthcoming). IHRM should be studied within the context of changing economic and business conditions. The dynamics of both the local/regional and international/global business context in which the firm operates should be given serious consideration. Further, it could be beneficial to study IHRM within the context of the industry and the firm's strategy and its other functional areas and operations. In taking these perspectives, one needs to use multiple levels of analysis when studying IHRM: the external social, political, cultural and economic environment; the industry, the firm, the sub-unit, the group, and the individual. Research in contextual isolation is misleading: it fails to advance understanding in any significant way (Adler, N.J. and Ghadar, E. 1990. Strategic human resource management: a global perspective. Human Resource Management in International Comparison. Berlin: de Gruyter; Locke, R. and Thelen, K. 1995. Apples and oranges revisited: contextualized comparisons and the study of comparative labor politics. Politics & Society, 23, 337–367). In this paper, we attempt to review the existing state of academic work in IHRM and illustrate how it incorporates the content and how it might be expanded to do so.

Assessing the effectiveness of business support services in England:evidence from a theory based evaluation

In England, publicly supported advice to small firms is organized primarily through the Business Link (BL) network. Using the programme theory underlying this business support, we develop four propositions and test these empirically using data from a new survey of over 3000 English SMEs. We find strong support for the value to BL operators of a high profile to boost take-up. We find support for the BL’s market segmentation that targets intensive assistance to younger firms and those with limited liability. Allowing for sample selection, we find no significant effects on growth from ‘other’ assistance but find a significant employment boost from intensive assistance. This partially supports the programme theory assertion that BL improves business growth and strongly supports the proposition that there are differential outcomes from intensive and other assistance. This suggests an improvement in the BL network, compared with earlier studies, notably Roper et al. (2001), Roper and Hart (2005).

Exporting and innovation performance: analysis of the Annual Small Business Survey in the UK

This paper analyses the determinants of the export propensity of UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the 2004 Annual Small Business Survey. Particular emphasis is placed upon the relationship between innovation activities (distinguishing product from process innovation) and export performance. In general the data suggest that some 17 per cent of firms within this group sell outside the UK. Businesses that export are also characterized by high levels of innovation activity (43 per cent of exporters innovate in products, 27 per cent innovate in process and 21 per cent innovate in both). When considering product and process innovation independently we find that both impact positively on the decision to export. However, once we consider the interdependence between both innovation activities, we find no robust evidence that process innovation increases the probability to export beyond product innovation.

An investigation of the emerging system of host government participation in the international oil industry with particular reference to Libyan participation arrangements

This study has been conceived with the primary objective of identifying and evaluating the financial aspects of the transformation in country/company relations of the international oil industry from the traditional concessionary system to the system of governmental participation in the ownership and operation of oil concessions. The emphasis of the inquiry was placed on assembling a case study of the oil exploitation arrangements of Libya. Through a comprehensive review of the literature, the sociopolitical factors surrounding the international oil business were identified and examined in an attempt to see their influence on contractual arrangements and particularly to gauge the impact of any induced contractual changes on the revenue benefit accruing to the host country from its oil operations. Some comparative analyses were made in the study to examine the viability of the Libyan participation deals both as an investment proposal and as a system of conducting oil activities in the country. The analysis was carried out in the light of specific hypotheses to assess the relative impact of the participation scheme in comparison with the alternative concessionary model on the net revenue resulting to the government from oil operations and the relative effect on the level of research and development within the industry. A discounted cash flow analysis was conducted to measure inputs and outputs of the comparative models and judge their revenue benefits. Then an empirical analysis was carried out to detect any significant behavioural changes in the exploration and development effort associated with the different oil exploitation systems. Results of the investigation of revenues support the argument that the mere introduction of the participation system has not resulted in a significant revenue benefit to the host government. Though there has been a significant increase in government revenue, associated with the period following the emergence of the participation agreements, this increase was mainly due to socio-economic factors other than the participation scheme. At the same time the empirical results have shown an association of the participation scheme with a decline of the oil industry's research and development efforts.

Burden or benefit? Regulation as a dynamic influence on small business performance

This article contributes to contemporary debates concerning the impact of regulation on small business performance. Reassessing previous studies, we build our insights on their useful, but partial, approaches. Prior studies treat regulation principally as a static and negative influence, thereby neglecting the full range of regulatory effects on business performance. This study adopts a more nuanced approach, one informed by critical realism, that conceptualises social reality as stratified, and social causality in terms of the actions of human agents situated within particular social-structural contexts. We theorise regulation as a dynamic force, enabling as well as constraining performance, generating contradictory performance effects. Such regulatory effects flow directly from adaptations to regulation, and indirectly via relationships with the wide range of close and distant stakeholders with whom small businesses interact. Future research should examine these contradictory regulatory influences on small business performance.