This book examines the relationship between competitive strategies and the use of temporary employees. An organization's choice of strategy is predicted to impact its decision to use temporary workers. The study shows that firms differ in their competitive strategies and their respective use of temporary employment, which in turn impacts organizational performance. The way in which temporary employment use and firm strategy interact to affect organizational performance depends on the manner in which performance is measured.

This important and timely book is at the forefront of the increasing interest in regional competitiveness in the face of ever stronger global forces. Distinguished contributors discuss issues including the impact and implications of European expansion as well as developments in the Asia-Pacific region. They also examine the driving forces, backgrounds, obstacles and opportunities for regions to become powerful global players. This highly topical book contains a wealth of empirical material and is underpinned by a thorough investigation of the theory and methodology of policy strategies for the positioning of regions in the new global economy. It will be a major source of reference for scholars, policymakers, economic planners and institutions alike in the field of regional science.

Innovation in East Asia is the first book to show how 'latecomer' firms from Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have caught up technologically with Japan and learned to innovate. Mike Hobday examines the technology acquisition strategies of these firms, their strengths and weaknesses, and the origin and extent of latecomer innovation in the region.A series of detailed case studies is used to show how individual companies developed and how large groups of firms formed industrial clusters from behind the technology frontier. Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have emerged as dynamic and distinct forces for growth and innovation. Increasingly the competitive challenge to Japan comes from these countries rather than from Europe and America. The book extends conventional innovation theory to develop an analytical framework for understanding the strengths, weaknesses and future prospects of latecomer firms. The book will be welcomed by academics, policymakers, students, government bodies and companies concerned with the rise of East Asia. It will be of particular interest to countries facing the competitive challenge of East Asia (the US and Europe) as well as Japan and the individual countries of the Asian region.

This path-breaking book examines the effects of multinationals on the competitiveness of industry in the UK. The in-depth investigation analyses how these firms gain access to technology and questions whether or not multinationals, in their support of local technologies, improve the potential and competitiveness of local industry. The book discusses the evolution of multinationals in the late twentieth century, the role of the UK in this evolution and the theories of multinationals. It examines what these theories imply for efficiency and welfare, and the policies which affect multinational enterprises (MNEs). The authors consider the strategic positioning of subsidiaries in the UK in relation to the firm's overall global investment strategy. Using detailed empirical surveys, they also look at the role of technology in multinationals and how these firms' strategies are developing in regard to this. The authors examine whether MNEs UK operations are dependent on existing technology or whether they play a more positive role in its local creation and use. Finally the role of decentralized R&D in multinationals, and the status of this in the UK, is considered. Multinationals, Technology and National Competitiveness will be welcomed by those interested in international investment, business strategy, technology and innovation and public policy.

Contents:
1. Interest Rates and Budget Deficits: A study of the advanced economies Kanhaya L Gupta and Bakhtiar Moazzami 2. World Trade after the Uruguay Round: Prospects and policy options for the twenty-first century Edited by Harald Sander and Andras Inotai 3. The Flow Analysis of Labour Markets Edited by Ronald Schettkat 4. Inflation and Unemployment: Contributions to a new macroeconomic approach Edited by Alvaro Cencini and Mauro Baranzini 5. Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public Finance: Essays in honour of Vito Tanzi Edited by Mario I Blejer and Teresa M Ter-Minassian 6. Fiscal Policy and Economic Reforms: Essays in honour of Vito Tanzi Edited by Mario I Blejer and Teresa M Ter-Minassian 7. Competition Policy in the Global Economy: Modalities for co-operation Edited by Leonard Waverman, William S. Comanor and Akira Goto 8. Working in the Macro Economy: A study of the US labour market Martin F.J. Prachowny 9. How Does Privatization Work? Edited by Anthony Bennett 10. The Economics and Politics of International Trade: Freedom and Trade: Volume II Edited by Gary Cook 11. The Legal and Moral Aspects of International Trade: Freedom and Trade: Volume III Edited by Asif Qureshi, Hillel Steiner and Geraint Parry 12. Capital Markets and Corporate Governance in Japan, Germany and the United States: Organizational response to market inefficiencies Helmut M. Dietl 13. Competition and Trade Policies: Coherence or Conflict Edited by Einar Hope 14. Rice: The primary commodity A.J.H. Latham 15. Trade, Theory and Econometrics: Essays in honour of John S. Chipman Edited by James C. Moore, Raymond Riezman, and James R. Melvin 16. Who Benefits from Privitisation? Edited by Moazzem Hossain and Justin Malbon 17. Towards a Fair Global Labour Market: Avoiding the New Slave Trade Ozay Mehmet, Errol Mendes and Robert Sinding 18. Models of Futures Markets Edited by Barry Goss 19. Venture Capital Investment: An agency analysis of UK practice Gavin C. Reid 20. Macroeconomic Forecasting: A sociological approach Robert Evans 21. Multimedia and Regional Economic Restructuring Edited by Hans-Joachim Braczyk, Gerhard Fuchs and Hans-Georg Wolf 22. The New Industrial Geography: Regions, regulation and institutions Edited by Trevor J. Barnes and Meric S. Gertler 23. The Employment Impact of Innovation: Evidence and Policy Edited by Marco Vivarelli and Mario Pianta 24. International Health Care Reform: A legal, economic and political analysis Colleen Flood 25. Competition Policy Analysis Edited by Einar Hope

The Political Economy of Competitiveness offers an original perspective on the relationship between economic theory and policy. It places the issues within an accessible political economy perspective.
Rejecting the narrowness of mainstream economics the authors deploy an interdisciplinary approach to the problem of economic growth, placing it in its historical and political context. Issues covered include:
* trade theory and policy
* industrial decline and policy
* markets, competition and innovation
* globalisation, unemployment and government policy.
The book provides a valuable guide to the major economic policy issues for both economists and business students.

Design is an important factor in business success. This book, first published in 1989, analyses what the role of design is in business success; just what design is; and how both design and its management might be improved. It draws on extensive original research by the authors in eighty-seven companies regarded as leaders in the field of export and technological achievement and it reports on the experiences of these companies. Among the book's many important conclusions and recommendations for improved practice are: that design, rather than price, is the key factor in determining customer/user satisfaction; and that success with design is the leading characteristic of firms that compete successfully in international markets.

Drawing on the theoretical resources of institutional economics, The New Industrial Geography opens new perspectives in economic geography. In its focus on historical and geographical context, institutional embeddedness, and tacit rules and formal regulations, institutional economics is shown to be the perfect basis for understanding the profound economic and geographical changes of the last two decades, and on which also to build a new kind of industrial geography. Issues covered include: the retheorization of the geography of industrial districts; the analysis of institutional 'thickness', and the economic-geographical effects of institutional rigidity and sclerosis; the economic-geographical consequences of new regulatory bodies and policies; and the geographically situated character of institutions and regulatory frameworks, and the effects of separating them from their originating context; the development of new strategies for achieving more equitable forms of regional development.


eBook available with sample pages: 020302186X

This book is the outgrowth of shared interests between the editors and the contributing authors to provide a multidisciplinary perspective in evaluating universal service policy and recommending policy changes to accommodate a more competitive telecommunications environment. The book is interdisciplinary in nature to reflect the extremely complex context in which universal service policy is formed. The chapter authors represent a broad cross-section of disciplinary training, professional positions, and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Academic disciplines represented include law, economics, anthropology, communication, and business.
This book's purpose is to significantly enhance the development of effective telecommunications universal service policy among policymakers, industry members, and stakeholders in the United States. Universal service policy has been, and will continue to be, both enabled and constrained by the simultaneous interaction of social, political, technological, and economic forces in the environment in which it is formed. A more effective process for policy design is to seek agreement on how entitlements embedded in universal service policy should be modified as circumstances invariably change over time. Therefore, the volume reflects recent significant developments in U.S. universal service policy--the implementation of which continues to unfold.

This volume examines the nature of interfirm networks and their role in promoting industrial competitiveness. Where previous work in this area has tended to be descriptive, the distinguished contributors to this volume present a balanced theoretical and empirical approach to interfirm networking drawing on a variety of international case studies. Issues covered include:
* The role of networks in regulating conflict and producing co-operation
* The role of networks in developing knowledge and competences
* Network governance and conflict intensive networks

Exploring the thorny issues of industrial organisation, competition policy and liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region, this book examines the ways in which governments regulate business. Using case studies from China, the USA, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Japan, the authors take a comparative look at the evolution of policies and their implementation on the ground.
With a specific focus on the energy, transport and telecommuncations sectors, this book represents the most up-to-date analysis of the ways in which governments in the Asia-Pacific are coping with rapid industrial and economic change.

Is there an inherent conflict between competition and trade policies, or are the two policy areas complementing each other? The relationship between competition and trade policies, and the development of an effective competition policy for an integrated world economy, is an issue policy makers face in the mid-to-late-1990s. This book examines current debates around competition and trade policy interactions, and discusses the need for new policy initiatives in an international context. The papers in this collection are presented in five parts which discuss in turn: general principles and issues; network industries and telecommunications; European Economic Area policies, notably the initiative taken by the Commissioner for Competition, Karel van Miert, for developing an EU competition policy for the new trade order; and recent development policy aspects. The final part of this book contains background papers for panel discussions on vertical restraints and business perspectives, respectively, in an international trade and competition policy context.

It is widely recognized that the performance and development of firms are heavily influenced by their environment and that the conditions that prevail in the local or regional milieu seem to be particularly important. Furthermore, the fact that economic, entrepreneurial and innovative activities tend to agglomerate at certain places, leading to patterns of national and regional specialization, is increasingly seen to give important insights into the very process of firm competitiveness and industrial transformation. Drawing on other literature and case study material from selected industries, and elaborating on key concepts such as firms and competencies, industries and industrial systems, and competitiveness and prosperity, the authors set out to answer some broad research questions such as what is competition about in today's economy, and how is the performance of firms and industries related to space and place?; why do geographical areas (local milieus, cities, regions, countries) specialize in particular types of economic activity?; and why do patterns of specialization, once in place, tend to be so tremendously durable?

This second edition reviews recent reforms and the likely impact of future developments in management and competition in the NHS. In particular, it reflects the growing importance of primary care and the continuing debates about health care rationing. It concentrates on the realities and how they can be interpreted to help strategists, managers, clinicians, students and those supplying the NHS understand the mechanism of efficient health care delivery.

Enterprise Clusters and Networks in Developing Countries analyses the functions and advantages of clusters and networks for small enterprises in developing countries.
In the opening chapter the editors describe different types of clusters and networks and compare the diverse forms of external economies and co-operation effects derived from them. Taking a multidiscplinary approach, they point out it is trust that is the social basis for positive effects of clustering and networking, which are often sources of co-operation and technology diffusion for small enterprises in developing countries.

International agreements on competition law and policy are notoriously difficult to implement. This collection examines the complexities involved when international co-ordination and harmonization of competition law and policy are considered. Presenting an analysis of the issues surrounding co-operation and convergence, a number of key factors are examined. These include the impact of differing anti-trust laws across borders on trade and investment, the effects on competition policy of international strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, the trade-off between firm privacy and antitrust needs in co-ordinating information flow across borders. The final section of the book addresses major policy themes in the context of how to proceed in the future.

Can industrial, trade and competition policies complement one another? In this major volume, a distinguished group of researchers and policymakers systematically investigates the relationships between the microeconomic policies of competition, trade and industry within the European Union. After an introductory chapter contrasting the optimal mix of targets and instruments with the effective use and interaction of policies that can be observed in the real world, the book addresses the experience of the EU, its institutional framework and the evolving use of instruments. The convergence and divergence of economic prescription and application are revealed through an outstanding set of case studies which focus on the automobile, chemical fibre, steel, telecommunication and pharmaceutical industries. Competition, trade and industrial policies play a central role in the efficiency of any market economy and the rich European experience offers valuable lessons for economists, regulators and policy makers from both inside and outside the union. European Policies on Competition, Trade and Industry offers an authoritative discussion of policy making and enforcement in the EU. The strong combination of analysis with detailed case studies and overviews will ensure that this book will make a pioneering contribution to understanding the development of microeconomic policies in the Union.

Location is vital to the efficiency and profitability of industrial activity. Industrial Location presents a comprehensive introduction to and critical review of this field of growing academic and business interest.
In business, the right choices have to be made to produce profit. Industrial location is a fixed investment, crucial to the strategy and capital investment of any organization. Location also impacts upon non-investors, directly affecting employment, the environment, and economic activity in the locale.
Focusing chiefly on the United States, but drawing on an international range of cases, the authors explain the economic, social and political forces which have shaped comtemporary patterns of industrialization and examines the changing nature of production and systems.

Series Information:
Foundations of the Market Economy

Discussing the future value of computers as tools for cognitive development, the volume reviews past literature and presents new data from a Piagetian perspective. Constructivism in the Computer Age includes such topics as: teaching LOGO to children; the computers effects on social development; computer graphics as a new language; and computers as a means of enhancing reflective thinking.

Originally published between 1982 and 1996, and addressing issues of central importance to the competitiveness of firms and economies, the volumes in this set draw together research by leading academics in the area and provides a rigorous examination of key issues relating to employment in small businesses. They: Study both the growth and the barriers to growth of small firms Examine problems of rurality Investigate the variation in rates of new venture initiations across manufacturing industries Include a wide range of national case studies from Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Greece, Spain, Israel and Indonesia. Discuss marketing in the small business and the relationship between small and large firms in an advanced capitalist economy Reassess economic theories concerned with concentration and competition the relationship between small and large firms in an advanced capitalist economy Analyse the managerial factors most closely associated with successful small firms

First Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Reconfiguring Global Health Innovation presents the findings of multi-year research, contrasting experiences of different latecomer countries in building health innovation systems to cater to local needs. It analyses the emerging industrial structures in health innovation as more and more latecomer countries are foraying into what is a highly difficult and technologically intensive sector, with the aim of finding ways and means to balance these promising developments with public health needs worldwide. The bookpresents empirical findings from six countries across Asia and Africa on health innovation, namely, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. The book concludes that the growth of knowledge and the accumulation of capabilities influence the ability of a country to generate wealth.

Complying with the forthcoming tightening of CO2 emission allocations in the EU may mean big bills for the industries affected. In this special issue of Climate Policy journal, leading experts examine the impacts on competitiveness and the commercial incentives available from the CO2 allowance allocations under the methodologies, and whether - and if so at what stage - the ETS itself may need to be amended. The study is multidisciplinary, combining economic, legal and policy analysis with specific studies of impacts on electricity, cement and other industrial sectors and the allocation issues. It brings together the results of research conducted over the past two year from various research centres and consultancies in Europe, and in particular, work commissioned by the Carbon Trust and Climate Strategies Network. Through these, it presents the most comprehensive and detailed set of analyses yet conducted of the impacts of allocation on competitiveness - one of the most critical issues for the sectors affected and for the operation of the ETS.

The antitrust litigation process is, to a large and perhaps surprising degree, driven by the underlying economic literature. The articles in this volume have been chosen to provide a sense of both the history and the current state of thinking about antitrust. The opening section considers the flaws in the 1960s view on monopoly. Part II then examines economic thinking with respect to mergers. The next three sections contain selections on three specific sets of practices that have been frequent targets of antitrust scrutiny. Part VI examines perspectives on exclusionary behavior. Part VII studies the literature on network externalities. The final part explores works in the area of bureaucracy and politics. This insightful volume will be a valuable source of reference for both economists and lawyers concerned with antitrust and competition issues. 29 articles, dating from 1958 to 2001