Women in management in the new economic environment:the case of India

Liberalization of the Indian economy has created considerable employment opportunities for those, including women, who possess marketable skills and talent. Historically, women in India have not enjoyed a good status in workplace settings whether in managerial or operative roles. This traditional positioning of women has restricted the intensity of their efforts towards realizing the benefits of the globalisation process. An attempt has been made in this contribution to highlight the important issues relating to women in management in the Indian context. The messages from a review of the literature are analysed. Research evidence from various sources is presented to highlight the dynamics of developments in the status of Indian women managers. The contribution discusses the main aspects of the historical, socio-cultural and economic factors influencing women managers: issues concerning gender-based stereotypes; the main barriers to women's movement to top managerial positions; the impact of developments in information technology (IT) on women managers; and the way forward. Results from two research projects are also presented. The analysis has important messages for practitioners and contributes to women's studies and management in the Indian context. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Employment outcomes and plant closure in a post-industrial city:an analysis of the labour market studies of MG Rover workers three years on

This paper examines how the loss of 6300 jobs from the closure of MG Rover (MGR) in the city of Birmingham (UK) in April 2005 affected the employment trajectories of ex-workers, in the context of wider structural change and efforts at urban renewal. The paper presents an analysis of a longitudinal survey of 300 ex-MGR workers, and examines to what extent the state of local labour markets and workers’ geographical mobility—as well as the effectiveness of the immediate policy response and longer-term local economic strategies—may have helped to balance the impacts of personal attributes associated with workers’ employability and their reabsorption into the labour markets. It is found that the relative buoyancy of the local economy, the success of longer-run efforts at diversification and a strong policy response and retraining initiative helped many disadvantaged workers to find new jobs in the medium term. However, the paper also highlights the unequal employment outcomes and trajectories that many lesser-skilled workers faced. It explores the policy issues arising from such closures and their aftermath, such as the need to co-ordinate responses, to retain institutional capacity, to offer high-quality training and education resources to workers and, where possible, to slow down such closure processes to enable skills to be retained and reused within the local economy.

Economic life in the modern age

Werner Sombart (1863-1941) may well have been the most famous and controversial social scientist in Germany during the early twentieth century. Highly influential, his work and reputation have been indelibly tainted by his embrace of National Socialism in the last decade of his life. Although Sombart left an enormous opus spanning disciplinary boundaries, intellectual reaction to his work inside and outside of Germany is divided and ambivalent. Sombart consistently responded to the social and political developments that have shaped the twentieth century. Economic Life in the Modern Age provides a representative sampling of those portions of Sombart's work that have stood the test of time. The volume opens with a substantial introduction reviewing Sombart's life and career, the evolution of his major intellectual concerns, his relation to Marx and Weber, and his political affiliation with the Nazis. The editors' selection of texts emphasizes areas of Sombart's economic and cultural thought that remain relevant, particularly to those intellectual trends that seek a more broadly based, cross-disciplinary approach to culture and economics. Sombart's writings on capitalism are represented by essays on the nature and origin of the market system and the diversity of motives among the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Also included is an excerpt from Sombart's controversial The Jews and Modern Capitalism, exploring the widely perceived relation between economic life and Judaism as a religion. In essays on the economics of cultural processes, Sombart's comprehensive and expansive idea of cultural science yields prophetic insights into the nature of urbanism, luxury consumption, fashion, and the cultural secularization of love. The volume's final section consists of Sombart's reflections on the social influences of technology, the economic life of the future, and on socialism, including the influential essay "Why is there no Socialism in the United States." Encapsulating the most valuable aspects of his work, Economic Life in the Modern Age provides clear demonstration of Sombart's sense for fine cultural distinctions and broad cultural developments and the predictive power of his analyses. It will be of interest to sociologists, economists, political scientists, and specialists in cultural studies.

The innovation decision:an economic analysis

Studies of the determinants and effects of innovation commonly make an assumption about the way in which firms make the decision to innovate, but rarely test this assumption. Using a panel of Irish manufacturing firms we test the performance of two alternative models of the innovation decision, and find that a two-stage model (the firm decides whether to innovate, then whether to perform product only, process only or both) outperforms a one-stage, simultaneous model. We also find that external knowledge sourcing affects the innovation decision and the type of innovation undertaken in a way not previously recognised in the literature. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cooperative firms in global markets:incidence, viability and economic performance

A number of competing views are swirling around the literature concerning the impact of globalization on the ability of cooperatives to survive. This 10th volume of the Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms series wants to understand some of these elements in the evolution of cooperatives in a world where globalization seems to be the driving force behind innovative forms of organization. In keeping with the main focus of the economics literature, the volume is focused on worker and producer cooperatives. This issue contains eleven papers and is organized into three parts: the first part collects empirical studies on producers cooperatives in Israel, Italy, Spain and Canada. The second part focuses on theoretical advances in the literature on cooperatives with the objective of understanding the conditions that explain co-ops longevity. Finally the third part documents the expansion into the global markets of the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation.

Further studies on flow distribution on distillation sieve trays

The thesis describes experimental work on the possibility of using deflection baffles in conventional distillation trays as flow straightening devices, with the view of enhancing tray efficiency. The mode of operation is based on deflecting part of the liquid momentum from the centre of the tray to the segment regions in order to drive stagnating liquid at the edges forward. The first part of the work was a detailed investigation into the two-phase flow patterns produced on a conventional sieve tray having 1 mm hole size perforations. The data provide a check on some earlier work and extend the range of the existing databank, particularly to conditions more typical of industrial operation. A critical survey of data collected on trays with different hole sizes (Hine, 1990; Chambers, 1993; Fenwick, 1996; this work) showed that the hole diameter has a significant influence on the flow regime, the size of the stagnant regions and the hydraulic and mass transfer performance. Five modified tray topologies were created with different configurations of baffles and tested extensively in the 2.44 m diameter air-water pilot distillation simulator for their efficacy in achieving uniform flow across the tray and for their impact on tray loading capacity and mass transfer efficiency. Special attention was given to the calibration of the over 100 temperature probes used in measuring the water temperature across the tray on which the heat and mass transfer analogy is based. In addition to normal tray capacity experiments, higher weir load experiments were conducted using a 'half-tray' mode in order to extend the range of data to conditions more typical of industrial operation. The modified trays show superior flow characteristics compared to the conventional tray in terms of the ability to replenish the zones of exceptionally low temperatures and high residence times at the edges of the tray, to lower the bulk liquid gradient and to achieve a more uniform flow across the tray. These superior flow abilities, however, tend to diminish with increasing weir load because of the increasing tendency for the liquid to jump over the barriers instead of flowing over them. The modified tray topologies showed no tendency to cause undue limitation to tray loading capacity. Although the improvement in the efficiency of a single tray over that of the conventional tray was moderate and in some cases marginal, the multiplier effect in a multiple tray column situation would be significant (Porter et al., 1972). These results are in good agreement with an associated CFD studies (Fischer, 1999) carried out by partners in the Advanced Studies in Distillation consortium. It is concluded that deflection baffles can be used in a conventional distillation sieve tray to achieve better liquid flow distribution and obtain enhanced mass transfer efficiency, without undermining the tray loading capacity. Unlike any other controlled-flow tray whose mechanical complexity impose stringent manufacturing and installation tolerances, the baffled-tray models are simple to design, manufacture and install and thus provide an economic method of retrofitting badly performing sieve trays both in terms of downtime and fabrication. NOTE APPENDICES 2-5 ARE ON A SEPARATE FLOPPY DISK ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Studies on the nutrition and metabolism of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus L) with reference to fish farming

This thesis provides the first detailed study of maximal oxygen consumption of turbot on a fish farm over a range of fish sizes and temperatures. Also provided is a study of the diets used in turbot farming and the development of a diet that contains no fresh fish. A detailed study of previous research on flatfish nutrition, identified fresh fish, sprat in particular, as the optimum diet for turbot farming. A series of experiments was undertaken that confirmed this and also identified one possible explanation for the optimum performance of sprat, as a function of high non-protein energy ratios in sprat. This factor was exploited in the production of a diet containing no fresh fish and which produced superior results to diets containing fresh fish; the optimum level of lipid in the diet was determined as 18%. The study of oxygen consumption was on fully-fed fish so that maximum demand could be quantified. Continuous monitoring of tank water oxygen levels enabled the calculation of the Specific Dynamic Action (SDA) effect in turbot and the relation of it to dietary energy. Variation of SDA with the dietary energy profile was identified as a contributing factor to differential fish growth on various diets. Finally, the implications of this work to fish farming were considered. Economic appraisal and comparison of the diets routinely used in turbot farming identified that the diet developed as a result of this work, ie the diet containing no fresh fish protein, was more cost effective on the basis of the production of one tonne of turbot. The study of oxygen consumption enables water supply to be calculated for any fish size between 1g and 1000g between the temperatures of 7® C and 16® C. The quantification of SDA enables correct adjustment of oxygen flows according to the feeding status of the fish.

The impact of the post-1993 economic reforms on Chinese state-owned enterprises:evidence from the electronics industry

Since 1979, China has embarked on a series of economic reform programmes, leading its socialist economy away from a Soviet planning model towards a much greater reliance on the market. In the course of the last twenty years, the Chinese economy has enjoyed a phenomenally high economic growth rate. However, earlier research suggests that Chinese state-owned enterprises remain a financial 'black hole' for the Chinese economy, in spite of various enterprise reform measures. This thesis tries to assess the impact of the reforms after 1993, especially the so-called Modern Enterprise System, on the behaviour and management practices of state firms. The central research question is whether the new rounds of economic reform have changed state firms into commercial entities operating according to market signals, as intended. In order to explore this question, an institutional approach is employed. More specifically, the thesis examines how the behaviour and management practices of state enterprises have changed with changes in the institutional environmental resulting from the introduction of new reform measures and especially the MES. The main evidence used in this research comes from the Chinese electronics industry (CEI). Non-state firms, namely collectives and joint ventures, are involved in the study to provide a benchmark against which changes in the behaviour of state firms in the mid and late 1990s are compared. A comparative statistical analysis shows that state-owned firms, both traditional and corporatised ones, still lag behind collectives and joint ventures in terms of both labour and total factor productivity. The further empirical work of this research consists of a questionnaire survey and case studies that are based on interviews with senior managers of 17 firms in the CEI. The findings of these analyses suggest that there has been little fundamental change in the behaviour pattern of state firms in the 1990s, despite the introduction of the Modern Enterprise System, and that the economic reforms after 1993 so far seem to have failed to transform the state firms into commercial entities operating according to market signals.