In characterising the Japanese way of business, Professor Okumura has made one of the most significant contributions to the study of economics. Following his study of the conversion of pre-war zaibatsu to post-war groups of enterprises, he worked on the roll of comprehensive trading companies in these groups, the main banking system and the permanent employment system. - However, he is very critical of this way of business, whereas those influenced by him are enthusiastic in its appreciation. - This is the first English translation of his work.

Container transportation is the predominant mode of inter-continental cargo traffic. Since container ships and port terminals involve a huge capital investment and significant daily operating costs, it is of crucial importance to efficiently utilize the internal resources of container terminals and transportation systems. Today there is an ongoing trend to use automated container handling and transportation technology, in particular, in countries with high labour costs. This in turn requires highly sophisticated control strategies in order to meet the desired performance measures. The primary objective of this book is to reflect these recent developments and to present new insights and successful solutions to operational problems of automated container terminals and transportation systems. It comprises reports on the state of the art, applications of quantitative methods, as well as case studies and simulation results. Its contributions are written by leading experts from academia and business. The book addresses practitioners as well as academic researchers in logistics, transportation, and management.

How much can innovation contribute to the quality of life? How can innovation be used to develop and market commercial products? These are two major questions considered by an international symposium of active researchers from the USA and Europe in the fields of industrial innovation which was held at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. The scope of the papers is extensive and embraces the whole process of innovation, from invention through development to commercialisation and diffusion. Some papers cover broad general issues such as the social and economic consequences of innovation and government policies towards innovation and research and development. Others provide highly specific and pragmatic advice upon the management of innovation and the development of marketing strategies to promote the speedy acceptance of new products and processes. Despite the diversity of the contributions, a number of clear themes emerge. These include the importance, for successful innovation, of clearly identifying user needs and the need for total immersion in the detail of an industry or market in order to understand the diffusion of an innovation. In short, there is something in this book for anyone who is concerned with the impact and influence of technological innovation on our future.

This book offers detailed comparative analyses of graduate employment and work, drawn from a survey of graduates in 11 European countries and Japan. The book shows how transition to employment, job assignments, employee assessments of the quality of employment and work vary by the graduates socio-biographic and educational background. It demonstrates more substantial differences in the relationships between study and subsequent employment between various countries than previous debates and analyses have suggested.

Summarizing the facts about the prevailing sizes of industrial firms or plants and the patterns of industrial location in Britain and America, this text also interprets the facts in basic terms such as technical requirements and consumer habits. Examining investment and human resource management, the contrasts and (unexpected) similarities in the industrial structure and government of the two countries are analysed. The book includes new research into the real seat of power in the British joint stock company and compares the results with the realities of the American corporation.

This theoretical and empirical study examines the relationship between the organisation of work, industrial relations, production spaces and the dynamics of capitalist investment. Jamie Gough explores the connections between labour process change, products, local economy and society, spaces and forms of competition, and firm's locational strategies. In a path-breaking analysis he shows that these are closely bound up with the business cycle and other rhythms of investment. Differences within the labour process are central to the argument. Gough explores the divisions between workers arising from these differences and from spatial flows of capital, and suggests strategies through which these divisions might be overcome.

This book is about actions corporate and government policymakers are taking, their reasons, and how they can be more effective. Authors Erik Arnold and Ken Guy analyze the major sectors of the electronics countries in three groups of OECD economies--large: the United States, Japan, and the European Economic Community; medium: the United Kingdom, France, and Germany; and small: Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Canada. They deal, in turn, with the kinds of Advanced Information Technology policies that can be formulated, those that are likely to succeed, and how those policies can be actively and economically implemented.

Explore the history and practice of social work around the world This fascinating book presents a broad international survey of the development and current practices of occupational social work. Covering seven countries around the world, Global Perspectives of Occupational Social Work offers a unique cross-cultural perspective on issues of interest to social workers everywhere. From India to Ireland, issues of training, sexual harassment, and workplace health and safety are remarkably similar and intriguingly varied. Global Perspectives of Occupational Social Work describes the evolution of social work in factories and, later, in offices. When industrialization brought women into factories, owners hired nurses or governesses to guard, chaperone, and advise the young women in their employ. Since then occupational social work has sought to keep a balance between the interests of management and workers. In addition to discussing history and professional development, Global Perspectives of Occupational Social Work reveals the way professionals like you handle the same situations you face every day, including: the shift toward privatization corporate restructuring and downsizing developing alcohol and substance abuse interventions creating employee assistance programs racism and sexism in the workplace HIV/AIDS and other health problems workplace violenceCovering Australia, India, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, Israel, and the US, Global Perspectives of Occupational Social Work is a major contribution to the professional literature. Not only will this book increase international awareness, it may supply you with unique perspectives and fresh strategies for solving the problems your colleagues in Jerusalem and Pretoria also face.

Learn about new strategies to improve service, quality, and profitability for quick service restaurants Quick Service Restaurants, Franchising, and Multi-Unit Chain Management examines a variety of issues pertaining to quick service restaurants. Quick-service restaurants (QSR) are the dominant sector of the foodservice industry and a one-hundred-billion-dollar industry. Since their inception in the 1920s, quick-service restaurants have become one of the cultural icons of America. This informative book contains vital information on: growth, change and strategy in the international foodservice industry food safety as an international problem and the formation of outreach committees to combat the challenges faced globally food consumption patterns and the driving forces that influence consumer food preferences the differences between mature and younger customers' expectations and experiences in QSRs, casual, and fine dining restaurants consumer attitudes toward airline food adding quick-service meals to airplane menus factors influencing parental patronage of QSRs a case study on how Billy Ingram, founder of White Castle restaurants, made the hamburger a staple on American menus

Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1968 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.

What has dictated the rate and direction of technological change? How central has it been to industrial progress? How has it related to other determinants of economic growth and development?In Technology and Industrial Progress, Nick von Tunzelmann examines theoretical views on the nature and contribution of technology, and the empirical evidence from the major industrializing countries from the eighteenth century to the present day. The experiences of countries regarded in their time as the leaders of industrialization - Britain in the eighteenth century, the United States in the nineteenth century and Japan in the twentieth century - are critically compared by the author. The following chapters study the transfer of each of these patterns of technology and growth to later industrializers, such as continental Europe, the Soviet Union, and today's newly industrializing countries. Adopting approaches drawn from evolutionary economics, Dr von Tunzelmann links micro-level phenomena relating to individual firms and technologies to macro-level outcomes as reflected in economic growth and development. This long-awaited book is exceptional both in the range of countries surveyed and the breadth of topics analysed, encompassing changes in production processes, products and marketing, management and finance.

This section covers a wide range of new approaches to a crucial area of economics. It addresses the impact of game theory, the new institutional economics and the interaction of economics and business strategy.

This section covers a wide range of new approaches to a crucial area of economics. It addresses the impact of game theory, the new institutional economics and the interaction of economics and business strategy.

This book discusses the way in which economic integration and preferential trade agreements reinforce or alter the existing location of industries. Using a conceptual approach with real life examples, the author seeks to clarify and explain the key tendencies of the relationship and influence between spatial distribution of production and economic integration.
Geography of Production and Economic Integration will develop students', specialists' and policymakers' understanding of this highly topical subject.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203187733

This book challenges some of the fundamental tenets of "free market" economics that have had a profound impact on public policy and the plight of the American worker. These include the beliefs that high wages inevitably mean low profits; that a "free" market will automatically reduce discrimination and pay inequality; that anti-trust legislation hinders competitive market forces; and that minimum wage laws and trade unions negatively impact the economy.

Using both theoretical analysis and real-life examples, the author shows that these myths are a product of unrealistic behavioral assumptions on the part of "free market" economists about the typical worker. In fact, as the author makes clear, the level of workers' satisfaction with their jobs, as a reflection of how well they are paid and treated by their employers, has a direct impact on the quality level of the products they produce and, inevitably, the economic performance of the firms.

A frequent complaint in literature is that services have been previously largely overlooked by innovation researchers and technology policy makers. Given the unarguable growth in the importance of the service sectors, increasing numbers of researchers and policy makers have taken a fresh look at service activities. Innovation Systems in the Service Economy: Measurement and Case Study Analysis presents contributions which increase the understanding of the role of services in the development of the division of labor in modern economics. This volume is devoted to the elaboration and understanding of the following two themes. First, service firms can be innovative in their own right, even though the process of innovation and the kinds of innovation may be different from those traditionally associated with manufacturing and other primary activities. Second, service firms and associated activities play an important role in the evolving division of creative labor which is constituted by modern innovative systems.

Japan's escape from colonialism and its subsequent industrialisation has taken it to the point where its economy is second only to that of the US. This comprehensive volume examines how this rapid change of fortunes occurred, and the impact it has had on East Asia and the world at large. Taking a wide range and focus, Inkster looks at the history of Japan's industrial development in a social and cultural context.

This text is a clear and thorough introduction to political philosophy and political thought. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of a major political thinker and clearly introduces one or more of their most influential works. The reader is then introduced to key secondary readings, aiming to complement and further their understanding of the thinker and text in question. Key features of the book also include clear exercises, reading notes and guides for further reading. The book is structured around eight major works including Machiavelli's "The Prince"; Hobbes - "Leviathan"; Locke- "The Second Treatise of Government"; Rousseau - "The Social Contract"; " Two Concepts of Liberty' by Isaiah Berlin'; Marx and Engels - "The German Ideology (Part 1)"; and Mill - "On Liberty". This text provides students with the skills necessary to understand the main thinkers, texts and arguments of political philosophy. It requires no previous knowledge of philosophy or politics and is suitable to anyone coming to political philosophy and political thought for the first time.

In an era of accelerating change in the world economy, services are assuming greater importance for the economies of both developed and developing countries. As technological developments allow increasing tradeability of services, huge global firms are offering services across national boundaries. This book explores the global impact of this economic phenomenon from both empirical and theoretical perspectives. A range of international authors, including both academics and representatives of major international organisations, offer contributions in two key areas: case studies covering a wide range of service industries, from consumer services, such as hotels and airlines, to professional business-to-business services; and theories and paradigms of economic behaviour. The book questions whether traditional models developed with manufacturing industries in mind are applicable to the service sector, and suggests new directions for economic theory. Globalization of Services therefore offers economists both a wealth of new source material and a fresh perspective on the modern global economy.

This volume explores the wide diversity in the kinds of networks that have been established between firms in Japan and the Pacific Rim. Editor W. Mark Fruin shows how networks in Japan and Korea are more prescribed and standardized than those found in the United States. For example, Toyota's satellite organizational system is more flexible, open-ended, and market-conforming than General Motors divisional organization. But less market-conforming networks can also arise. In China, for example, networks have arisen because of the unpredictable nature of markets. The contributors to this volume utilize new ideas and data to formulate an understanding of the importance of networks to the success of Asian firms. The book's postmodern approach--seeking not a single model but rather a variety of models of equally probable validity--makes it a unique resource for scholars and professionals in the field.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Discover the challenges and pitfalls awaiting occupational social workers in the coming years!Social Services in the Workplace: Repositioning Occupational Social Work in the New Millennium will help you meet the challenges that the rapidly changing world of work today presents. These challenges offer new opportunities for you as a social work professional in general and for the field of occupational social work in particular. Globalizing economies, downsizing, rightsizing, mergers, and corporate acquisitions continue to challenge work organizations and impact the lives of workers and their families. These trends have led to an increased need for the provision of social work services to employed, unemployed, and transitional workers and their families, and to businesses of all types and sizes. To meet the challenges facing the world of work in the 21st century, the social work profession must put special emphasis on the diverse roles that social workers can take in the workplace--from the micro to the macro--both within workplace settings and in the context of more traditional local, national and global agencies.Social Services in the Workplace proposes an expanded paradigm for social work practice in the context of the workplace, spanning the gamut from corporate and union settings to 'workfare'or welfare-to-work programs. It provides a wide array of theoretical, conceptual, and empirical examinations of evolving and innovative roles that the social work profession can fulfill in the world of work. Given today's volatile global market conditions, which dictate rapid changes in the organization and conditions of work, Social Services in the Workplace examines opportunities and dilemmas for the social work profession and points to the paths that the profession must take in the near future to remain viable.Social Services in the Workplace focuses on: defining domains for practice techniques that work and aspects to emphasize in various workplace environments provision of social work services to workers and their families welfare-to-work programs formulating organizational policies and procedures Social Services in the Workplace: Repositioning Occupational Social Work in the New Millennium brings into focus the practice of social work in the workplace. With this book, social work students and practitioners can gain a new perspective on the field and learn of new opportunities for employment and practice in the world of work. Academicians can use the book in their Social Work Practice classes, and researchers will discover ideas that will spark innovative research in this field. Corporate executives and human resource managers will gain a new understanding of how the social work profession can benefit their employees, their families, and the work organization. No matter which of these categories you fit into, Social Services in the Workplace will shed light on this expanding field.