Science fiction can be seen as a diagnosis of the present, and a vision of possible futures. It therefore provides an excellent resource with which to interrogate both contemporary organizing processes and organizations as institutions. The marginal activity of science fiction has, however, been largely ignored in writing on organization theory. This international collection is the first book of its kind to explore how science fiction can enrich studies of organization by drawing on perspectives across the arts and social sciences.

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Rural Development in the Digital Age explores current theoretical and policy developments in EU rural policy during the 4.0 period. The book offers an analysis of the contradictory and complex drivers and multiple impacts of Period 4.0 policy within the specific territorial context of its implementation. It is commonly agreed within academic and policy circles that the contexts, trends, drivers and impacts which are currently morphing have the potential to determine the nature and boundaries of rural areas in the longer-term. The authors examine inconsistencies in the design and implementation of EU rural development policy driven largely by intensifying neo-productivist pressures. The importance and novelty of the book lie in defining and critically examining the territorial impacts of neo-productivism as an ideology, a practice and a set of policy imperatives during the EU's 2014-2020 programming period. The authors argue that such a paradigm shift in EU rural policy may reduce its effectiveness and ability to meet its goals of balanced territorial development and cohesion. This book will be of interest to advanced students, researchers and policymakers in rural policy, regional studies, economic geography and EU policy.

Industrial and business economics is a very important field with a great deal of relevance to the commercial world and to business studies students as well as to economists. It is a rapidly developing field in which many new research advances have been made in recent years. This book, first published in 1986, considers many aspects of both the theory of and the evidence on economic behaviour, and in particular the operations of firms and markets. The book was written in honour of Basil Yamey by his former research students.

Countries that need industrial policy the most typically have the worst governance. This terrific book explicitly recognizes this difficulty, and provides a rich discussion of how it can be overcome. It presents a valuable series of country studies that focus on both successes (such as Ethiopian cut flowers) and failures (such as Namibia's export processing zones). The authors show that weak capacity is not necessarily a hindrance to effective industrial policy, just as strong capacity does not guarantee it.' - Dani Rodrik, Princeton University, US'This is the book our students have been waiting for.' - Hubert Schmitz, Institute of Development Studies and Founder of Sussex MA course Competing in the Global Economy 'A green transformation holds the potential to sustain a healthy planet where ecosystems are well-managed and human well-being is secured for future generations. This book makes a compelling case for the design of industrial policies that support a green economy. Being at the crossroads of their development pathways, developing countries have the unique opportunity to define their industrial policies in a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially inclusive manner in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.' - Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Industrial Policy in Developing Countries offers an in-depth assessment of both the potentials and perils of designing and implementing policy in countries at early stages of economic development. The range of insightful case studies illustrates the key dilemma: directing economic and social development through what are often incipient and weak institutions. This realistic, evidence-based assessment will appeal to both development researchers and industrial policy practitioners, particularly those working in developing countries.

This book, first published in 1944, examines the productiveness of British industry and the British worker, and carries out a close comparison with their American counterparts. It also studies the industries of other countries around the world and analyses industry under various political systems, including dictatorships and democracies.

This book, first published in 1936, analyses the then-recent phenomenon of industrial combination. Concentration was new. Industrial combination was new. The interlocking of finances was new. The role of banks in regard to industry was new. The domination of financial capital over large sectors of industry was new. The author examines the new industrial system as it was, on the cusp of new world-economic conditions, resulting from and manifesting themselves in a revolution in transport, the creation of concentrated mass supply and mass demand, changes in the distribution of raw material supplies and the adaption of the technical and economic structure of the industrial unit to these new conditions.

This study of monopolies and trusts in England from Tudor days to the twentieth century was first published in 1909. It is a key text in the study of early capitalism and industrial organisation.

Contents:
Introduction
1. The economics of mutuality: a perspective on UK building societies Leigh Drake and David T. Llewellyn
2. Mutuality through credit unions: a cross-national approach Olive McCarthy, Robert Briscoe and Michael Ward
3. Housing co-operatives and social exclusion David Rodgers
4. Consumer co-operatives in retrospect and prospect Johnston Birchall
5. The mutualisation of public services: lessons from the new leisure trusts Richard Simmons
6. Mutuality in insurance and social security: retrospect and prospect Deborah Mabbett
7. Farmer co-operatives: organisational models and their business environment Jerker Nilssen
8. Mutuals in regional economic development: Mondragon and Desjardins Race Mathews
9. The competitive advantages of stakeholder mutuals Shann Turnbull
10. Member participation in mutuals: a theoretical model Johnston Birchall and Richard Simmons
11. The new mutualism and Labour's Third Way Stephen Yeo

This book systematically provides a prospective integrated approach for complexity social science in its view of statistical physics and mathematics, with an impressive collection of the knowledge and expertise of leading researchers from all over the world. The book mainly covers both finitary methods of statistical equilibrium and data-driven analysis by econophysics. The late Professor Masanao Aoki of UCLA, who passed away at the end of July 2018, in his later years dedicated himself to the reconstruction of macroeconomics mainly in terms of statistical physics. Professor Aoki, who was already an IEEE fellow, was also named an Econometric Society Fellow in 1979. Until the early 1990s, however, his contributions were focused on the new developments of a novel algorithm for the time series model and their applications to economic data. Those contributions were undoubtedly equivalent to the Nobel Prize-winning work of Granger's "co-integration method". After the publications of his New Approaches to Macroeconomic Modeling and Modeling Aggregate Behavior and Fluctuations in Economics, both published by Cambridge University Press, in 1996 and 2002, respectively, his contributions rapidly became known and spread throughout the field. In short, these new works challenged econophysicists to develop evolutionary stochastic dynamics, multiple equilibria, and externalities as field effects and revolutionized the stochastic views of interacting agents. In particular, the publication of Reconstructing Macroeconomics, also by Cambridge University Press (2007), in cooperation with Hiroshi Yoshikawa, further sharpened the process of embodying "a perspective from statistical physics and combinatorial stochastic processes" in economic modeling. Interestingly, almost concurrently with Prof. Aoki's newest development, similar approaches were appearing. Thus, those who were working in the same context around the world at that time came together, exchanging their results during the past decade. In memory of Prof. Aoki, this book has been planned by authors who followed him to present the most advanced outcomes of his heritage.

This title was first published in 2002. The concept of embeddedness refers to the social construction of inter-firm relationships and the enmeshing of economic relationships within broader social structures and relationships in particular places. Previous research has suggested embedding is the best way to generate local growth and social capital and has focused on SMEs in Europe and North America, although the existing model is being more widely adopted now. This volume is the first to examine the complex processes of embedding in this wider context. Bringing together a broad range of case studies from the developed and developing world which address the nature of embeddedness from various perspectives, it not only questions the universality of the current model and the policy initiatives it has spawned but also provides a much wider understanding of embeddedness . It does so by discussing the social dimensions more fully and by throwing light on the spatial and temporal ambiguity of the concept and its inadequate treatment of power.

The uranium market is a particularly volatile and unpredictable international commodity market. This book, originally published in 1981, analyses the factors responsible for the price rise and falls of uranium in the 1970s. It includes a comprehensive analysis of the international uranium market from its inception and the conditions of price developments in mineral markets in general. The analysis of the uranium market contained in this book provides valuable insights to all those involved int eh different facets of the nuclear industry, as well as illustrating how policitical decisions with little concern for the ensuing economic implications can create havoc in international commodity markets.

Originally published in 1984, this book discusses the structure of a multi-sectoral, general equilibrium growth model of the US economy that gives special attention to the energy sectors and presents results from the simulation of this model under varying conditions of energy supply. While the book primarily analyzes the effect of energy supply on economic growth, it also presents a new methodology for approaching this kind of problem, but this same approach can be used to model the effect of changes in the supply of any produced raw material on economic growth.

This title was first published in 2003. This book provides a much-needed comprehensive and up-to-date treatise on financial distress modelling. Since many of the challenges facing researchers of financial distress can only be addressed by a totally new research design and modelling methodology, this book concentrates on extending the potential for bankruptcy analysis from single-equation modelling to multi-equation analysis. Essentially, the work provides an innovative new approach by comparing each firm with itself over time rather than testing specific hypotheses or improving predictive and classificatory accuracy. Added to this new design, a whole new methodology - or way of modelling the process - is applied in the form of a family of models of which the traditional single equation logit or MDA models is just a special case. Preliminary two-equation and three-equation models are presented and tested in the final chapters as a taste of things to come. The groundwork for a full treatise on these sorts of multi-equation systems is laid for further study - this family of models could be used as a basis for more specific applications to different industries and to test hypotheses concerning influential variables to bankruptcy risk.

This title was first published in 2002. Examining cluster development policy in Europe and outlining its distinctive features, this innovative text places it within the national context of regional policy-making. It also identifies the features supporting the successful development of industrial clusters and provides a clear overview of cluster theory and policy practice followed by seven key case studies on the history and operation of different cluster policies in Europe. While there has been a number of books on the theory of cluster development little research has been published on policy. By filling this gap, this book will be of interest to a policy-making audience as well as students and researchers of regional economic development throughout Europe.

Originally published in 1972, this volume, supplemented extensively with maps and tables, and employing sophisticated institutional and empirical analyses, discusses a number of important issues relating to the viability of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the natural environment. The author concludes that exploiting North Slope oil was justifiable as a calculated risk, although an alternative route and transport mode to the Midwest of eastern market would be more attractive than TAP.

Focussing on a period of rapid and significant change in the coal industry, this volume, originally published in 1936, sets out the economic facts of the industry and discusses the extent to which politics and industry became interwoven during the years 1910-1936. As well as covering key events such as the General Strike of 1926 and the effects this had on both the UK mining industry and the general population, this volume also examines industrial relations, the growth of the unions and modernization of the industry.

Originally published in 1981, this book discusses the development of higher cost North Sea gas and oil fields. Starting with the perceived need to develop these higher cost fields, the book focuses on their role in the policy interplay between government and industry. What is high cost, it is argued, is not only economically but also institutionally determined and through a comparative analysis of British and Danish policies with regard to high cost fields the author maintains that the role of institutional factors has been underplayed.

Originally published in 1977, this book concentrates on the period since nationalisation in the history of the coal industry. It provides not only a compact summary for those within the industry but also provides understanding of its problems and achievements for those outside it. The fluctuating world fuel situation threw the fortunes of the coal industry up and down and this book examines these changing fortunes within the context of the new challenges from North Sea oil and other newer sources of fuel.

This book, originally published in 1974, examines the changes that took place in the market position of the coal industry in the twentieth century. It examines in detail the position of the industry during the two World Wars, the problems of the inter-war years, the effects of nationalisation and the coal shortage after the Second World War, the decline of the markets in the 1960s and the consequences of the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The book analyses what problems the changes caused, and what measures were taken to try to overcome them. Looking in detail at the industrial disputes of 1971/2 and 1973/4 the book shows how the miners' actions fitted in closely with their past experiences and behaviour patterns.

Originally published in 1991, this comprehensive volume provides not only technical information regardig the global nuclear power industry, but also discusses the economic, social and political issues which have an impact on the industry. There are specific chapters on the nuclear industry in the USA & Canada, Western Europe, the former USSR and Eastern Europe and East Asia which examine in detail the particular set of geographical and economic conditions which affect each area. Including an extensive glossary, figures and tabulated information, this book remains one of the most accessible, impartial and thorough studies of the global nucelar industry.

Originally published in 1984, this volume examines the consequences of increasing energy prices on agricultural production. It discusses whether it is possible to use agriculture to produce energy without endangering the food supply for the highly populated areas of the devloping world. Analyzing the global consquences of the 'food energy nexus' at the turn of the millenium it asks whether there will be a good crisis in those same developing countries which have suffered from the energy crisis. The editors and contributors are high-level specialists of global modelling in energy and agriculture and decision makers involved in food and agriculture planning in the developing world.

This book, originally published in 1978 concentrates on the structure and growth of the North Sea oil industry in Scotland. Drawing on relevant areas of economic theory, it examines the structure of the offshore Scottish oil industry, the employment generated by the industry, technological change created by oil and its impact on rural areas of the Highlands. For each subject discussed future developments are discussed which remain as pertinent today as when the book was first published, particularly given the issues surrounding Scotland's economic in relation to possible Scottish independence.

This title was first published in 2001: Exploring the relationship between the recession and labour supply in Kazakhstan during the 1990s, this volume develops an innovative new model of the transitional process in the context of the CIS. It departs from conventional economic models explaining the process of transition, transferring the focus of attention from labour demand to labour supply with a view to clarifying how the transitional recession has affected households and, in turn, how these changes modified the supply of labour. Paolo Verme examines how the dynamic of the reallocation of labour between state and private enterprises has been drastically altered by the growth of self-employment and also takes a much-needed look at the contribution of other factors, offering an original explanation of this most important economic phenomenon.

This title was first published in 2001. The dynamics of New Firm Formation (NFF) are central to the phenomenon of economic growth and development. While the economic importance of NFF has been recognized, the mechanisms that drive NFF are not well documented or understood. Illustrated by an in-depth case study from Texas, this volume analyzes the relationships between NFF and its localized context. Using specially-formulated fixed-effects regression models, the study brings about controversial new findings. These provide a counterpoint to the neoclassical theory that there is an adversarial relationship between small and large firms by instead suggesting that the relationship is more of a symbiotic one. Furthermore, it suggests that deep churning - the turnover and replacement in a business base - is a key factor in understanding the forces shaping regional economies.

This title was first published in 2003. Schumpeter first put forward the premise that the incessant turbulence of an economy in motion, carrying out new combinations of products, production methods with new technologies and the opening of new markets, is capable of explaining patterns of economic growth and change. Focusing on US industrialized urban areas, this volume tests this theory empirically. Localized employment 'churn' - registered as job creation/destruction dynamics - is used to account for variations in US metro-regional economic productivity performances during the 1986-1999 period. The results suggest that the employment turnover and replacement dynamics have large and significant positive effects on localized productivity growth independent of a variety of industrial restructuring processes occurring simultaneously. While employment churn effects are robust across US Census regions, they do not exert a uniform influence on metro-regional productivity performances across time. Until 1996, job creation and destruction dynamics often cancelled each other out as metro-regions underwent continued industrial restructuring. Since 1996, however, positive effects on metro-region productivity growth have been consistently strong. In addition to a strong positive effect on productivity of the emergence of a localized IT sector, both an expanding service sector share of regional employment and a rising public spending share of regional output exert powerful downward pressure of localized productivity growth rates.