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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > General
A reprint of the classic volume originally published by Harper
& Brothers in 1947, this scholary work provides important
insights for understanding contemporary issues in African-American
business and business education as well as in the rebuilding of
American communities today.
A deepening economic crisis and a demoralized work force are the
primary issues of concern in Henry K.H. Woo's examination of the
overall direction of reform in China. Untenable reform initiatives
during the 1980s which led to public disillusionment, financial
chaos, and ultimately to the bloody collision between government
and students in 1989 are closely scrutinized with a commitment to
their remedy. Woo's recommendations for viable reform are grounded
in his assertion that China's problems can be helped only by
recognizing the essential nature of China as a socialist country
whose economy is primarily agricultural and is still
developing.
The major portion of the text develops reform strategies that
both acknowledge China's cultural and political framework and
challenge existing conventional tenets of developing economies.
China as a stable agriculture-first economy in which there will be
eventual implementation of price decontrol is Woo's vision, a
concept that will no doubt stimulate debate among economists,
sinologists, scholars, and policymakers interested in or integral
to China's future.
This book analyzes China's historical experience of
industrialization. It adopts a critical stance towards China's
development strategy and proposes an alternative approach,
outlining its main features. Due to the great importance and
special problems of China's rural modernization, special attention
is devoted to analysis of the rural sector. Many of China's rural
socio-economic problems are similar to those encountered in other
developing countries. It is intended that this book will increase
understanding of China's socio-economic development as well as
contributing to wider debates in the theory of economic
development.
My interest in X-Efficiency (XE) dates back to 1978. At the time, I
was writing the dissertation for my Ph. D. at Washington State
University. My dissertation was concerned with the role of
attitudes in the school-to-work transition among young men. I was
advised by Professor Millard Hastay (a member of my committee) to
look at Leibenstein's "new" book, Beyond Economic Man. One of the
things that caught my attention was his behavioral description of
(selective) rationality. It seemed that Leibenstein' s behavioral
description of a (selectively) rational individ ual was very
similar to what psychologists such as Abraham Maslow were reporting
as being the product of a particular motivational system. In other
words, I was impressed with the idea that what Leibenstein was
referring to as X-inefficiency was being discussed by psychologists
as "the way it (often) is. " So from the beginning I always
considered the concept ofX-(in)efficiency to be a valuable one for
understanding human behavior. I have since come to believe that
this is particularly true when considering behavior in non-market
environments, i. e., within the firm. Work on this book, however,
can most realistically said to have started with work which I began
in 1982 while I was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
Professor Leibenstein suggested that I consider how some empirical
evidence which was being cited as evidence for the role of property
rights might also be consistent with XE theory. (The consistency,
in both directions, is considerable."
In the 1990s, development policy advocated by international
financial institutions was influenced by Washington Consensus
thinking. This strategy, based largely on liberalization,
privatization, and price-flexibility, downplayed, if not
disregarded, the role of government in steering the processes of
technological learning and economic growth. With the exception of
the Far East, many developing countries adopted the view that
industrial policy resulted in inefficiency and poor economic
growth.
Ample historical evidence shows that industrial policy does work,
when the right technologies and industries are supported and when
appropriate combinations of policy measures are implemented. This
book provides an in-depth exploration of which industrial policies
have been successful, the trade-offs associated with these
microeconomic approaches to growth and development, and the
opportunities and constraints associated with the current
organization of international economic relations.
In this work, Professor Niemi offers statistical evidence as to the
dispersal of industry after the Civil War and its later
concentration as well as the changes in the structural composition
of American manufacturing output.
Postal service has received considerably less attention in the
economics literature than traditional public utilities. Postal
service is facing some very important challenges arising out of the
increasingly high-tech nature of postal service, the entry of
competition into the business, and new attitudes on the part of
government to postal service. In the United Kingdom and Germany the
increased interest in privatization and recognition of the benefits
of competition are likely to have an impact on postal service.
These challenges mean that postal managers must learn new ways of
doing business, not just in successfully introducing new hardware
and in new internal operating procedures, but also in the
development of new pricing and costing methodologies and in the
introduction of new management information systems. In order to
deal with these new developments managers need a solid foundation
in applied microeconomic theory as it relates to postal service.
This book encompasses the theoretical foundation for postal policy,
particularly with regard to pricing, service quality, and
competitive issues.
This book explores the drivers of technological upgrading and
catch-up in the emerging economies, paying specific attention to
technology and innovation policies, national innovation systems,
the role of foreign direct investment and small and medium
enterprises. It provides practical implications for other
developing countries
This book explores the causes and nature of the industrial revolution through a comparative study of the main wool textile manufacturing regions of England. Based on extensive archival research and including several new or little-known sources, it addresses many of the current debates in economic history and eighteenth-century studies by examining how the interplay between merchants, markets, and producers shaped the pace and character of economic growth during the eighteenth century. Particular attention is paid to the rapid growth of product innovation and the export trade as both of these factors affected evolving structures of marketing and production.
This book reveals how the Japanese national ministries can exploit their Special Status Corporations (public corporations, supported primarily with public funding from a state-run banking agency) in order to intensify their administrative power over industries and local governments and to perpetuate the interests of elite civil servants by facilitating the migration to post-retirement positions in the private sector. The book explains why the existence of these organizations inhibits the Prime Ministers efforts to implement structural reforms.
Economists have long studied the efficiency of firms, industries,
and entire economies. This volume brings together leading scholars
to make connections between efficiency and a number of diverse
areas of current interest to economists, including an examination
of the efficiency of tax systems across generations that overlap,
and the efficiency of firm mergers that highlights the tradeoff
between the synergy of the merger and the problem of managerial
oversight in the now larger firm. An empirical look at productivity
growth of states uses a tripartite decomposition of labor
productivity into technological innovation, improvement in
efficiency, and the capital deepening brought about by new business
investment, shedding light on important debates on their relative
importance. The efficiency of patent laws is examined in a modern
model of economic growth. These contributions are complemented by
analyses of methodological problems involved in the measurement,
estimation and aggregation of efficiency indices.
This series provides overviews and case studies of states and
sectors, classes and companies in the new international division of
labour. These embrace political economy as both focus and mode of
analysis. The series treats polity-economy dialects at global,
regional and national levels and examines novel contradictions and
coalitions between and within each. There is a special emphasis on
national bourgeoisies and capitalisms, on newly industrializing or
influential countries and on novel strategies and technologies.;The
concentration throughout is on uneven patterns of power and
production, authority and distribution, hegemony and reaction.
Attention is paid to redefinitions of class and security, basic
needs and self-reliance and the range of critical analysis includes
gender, population, resources, environment, militarization, food
and finance.;This particular volume looks at the industrialization
of Singapore and challenges the dominant understanding of Singapore
as a case where "correct" policies have made rapid
industrialization possible and raises questions about the
possibility and appropriateness of its emulation. The study focuses
on the relationship between internationa
How do small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) adopt
environmental innovations? Do they have the necessary internal
competence? Is any support offered by external parties (i.e.
network involvement)? What are the policy implications? This book
is based on extensive fieldwork, conducted in four traditional
industrial sectors: offset printing, electroplating, textile
finishing, and industrial painting. The work was carried out in
Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. Twenty
company-based case studies were analyzed and a telephone survey was
conducted among 527 companies. As a result, the Innovation Triangle
came to be formulated, which is presented here, defining and
combining the determinants of SME innovativeness. The Innovation
Triangle distinguishes three major determinants of innovativeness:
business competence, environmental orientation, and network
involvement. The Innovation Triangle allows one to diagnose current
environmental and innovation policies, indicating which policy
measures might be effective in increasing the adoption of
environmentally friendly technologies, allowing environmental
objectives to be achieved.
This book is a collection of the best papers presented at the
Seventh International Conference on the Management of Technology
held in Orlando, Florida, February 16th to 20th 1998. All papers
were evaluated by at least two referees and both referees needed to
agree on the high quality of a paper for it to be included in these
proceedings. The papers cover a vast array of topics and the
authors come from the four corners of the globe. This is a strong
indication that technology management is a very real preoccupation
in many countries.
The book is divided into four major sections. The first section
brings together the conceptual papers, papers that deal with the
management of technology as a whole, its definition, its evolution,
its applications, and some of its specificities. The second section
embraces other preoccupations with a very fundamental, recurring
issue in the field: management of research and development, which
continues to be a major concern for companies, governments and
industries. The third and largest section includes papers on
innovation and technology transfer. In a world where regional
disparities are great, technology transfer constitutes an important
lever that can be used to narrow the gap between the rich and poor
countries. The topic of commercialization, or how to profit from
innovation, is dealt with in the last section of the book.
Using data and examples from all over the world, this book explores
how the symbiotic relationships between the aircraft industry and
national governments have arisen, how they influence all facets of
aircraft manufacture, and what implications they have for the
future. The authors outline the production patterns and markets for
both civil and military aircraft, as well as government's role as
agent in both these areas. They also show how the government of a
nation influences the location of aircraft plants, provides the
bulk of R & D funds necessary to maintain the industry's
technological progress, and frequently offers an alternative form
of business organization to that available in free enterprise.
In this volume, three respected business leaders examine
fundamental issues involving American business and the economy.
Michael J. Solomon, President, Warner Brothers International
Television Distribution, addresses international
telecommunications, describing its growth and significance and
highlighting the changes to come with new technologies such as HDTV
and laser disk technology. Edward E. Barr, President and Chief
Executive Officer, Sun Chemical Corporation and DIC Americas, Inc.,
outlines an industrial strategy to help maintain America's
competitive economic position and an education strategy that
reworks a major precept--the priority and purpose of educating our
youth. Finally, Shelley Schwab, President, MCA TV Universal
Studios, examines television in the nineties and the ramifications
of new approaches to the medium, including interactive programming,
video on demand, and virtual reality. The Joseph I. Lubin Memorial
Lectures were established through the generosity of the late Joseph
I. Lubin, a distinguished business, philanthropic, and civic
leader. The lectures are presented by the Leonard N. Stern School
of Business at New York University.
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