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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > History of specific institutions
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
How America's biggest company began taking better care of its workers--and why such efforts will never be enough.Fifteen years ago, Walmart was the most controversial company in America. By offering incredibly low prices, it had come to dominate the retail landscape. But with this dominance came a suite of ethical concerns. Walmart was accused of wiping out of mom-and-pop businesses across the country; ruthlessly pressuring suppliers to cut costs, even if it meant closing up U.S. factories and moving production overseas; and, above all, not taking adequate care of its own employees, who were paid so little that many wound up on public assistance. Today, while Walmart remains America's largest employer, the picture is very different. It has become an environmental leader among businesses, and has taken many other steps to use its immense scale to have a positive social impact. Most notably, its starting wage has risen from $7.25 to $12, and employee benefits have improved. With internal and external threats to its business looming, the company began to change directions in 2005-a transformation that accelerated in 2014, with the arrival of CEO Doug McMillon. By undertaking such large-scale change without a legal mandate to do so, Walmart has joined a number of major corporations that say they are dedicated to practicing a new, socially conscious form of capitalism.In Still Broke, award-winning author Rick Wartzman goes inside the company's transformation, showing in novelistic detail how the company has gotten to where it is. Yet he also asks a critical question: is it enough? With a still-simmering public debate around the minimum wage and widespread movements by workers demanding better treatment, how far will $12 an hour go in today's economy? Or even $15? Or Walmart's average wage, which now hovers above $16-but, even so, doesn't pencil out to so much as $35,000 a year for a fulltime worker? In the richest nation on earth, how did the bar get set so low? How did America find itself relying on an army of low-wage workers without ever acknowledging their most basic needs? And if Walmart's brand of change is the best we have, how can we ever expect to build a healthy society?With unparalleled access to the key executives and change-makers at Walmart, Still Broke does more than document a remarkable business makeover. It interrogates the role of business in American life, and asks what the future of our economy and country can be-and whose job it is to make it.
The second volume of the history of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) takes up the story of how the Bank has become an indispensable part of the international financial architecture. It tracks the rollercoaster ride during this period, including the Bank's crucial coordinating role in response to global and regional crises, the calls for its presence as an investor in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa and later Greece and Cyprus, as well as the consequences of conflicts within its original region. It shows how in face of the growing threat of global warming the EBRD, working mainly with the private sector, developed a sustainable energy business model to tackle climate change.Transforming Markets also examines how the EBRD broadened its investment criteria, arguing that transition towards sustainable economies requires market qualities that are not only competitive and integrated but which are also resilient, well-governed, green and more inclusive. This approach aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement and the international community's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with its core set of 17 sustainable development goals. The story of the EBRD's own transition and rich history provides a route map for building the sustainable markets necessary for future growth and prosperity.
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE WEEK BY THE NEW YORK POST ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK A from-the-trenches view of New York Daily News and New York Post runners and photographers as they stop at nothing to break the story and squash their tabloid arch-rivals. When author Mike Jaccarino was offered a job at the Daily News in 2006, he was asked a single question: "Kid, what are you going to do to help us beat the Post?" That was the year things went sideways at the News, when the New York Post surpassed its nemesis in circulation for the first time in the history of both papers. Tasked with one job-crush the Post-Jaccarino here provides the behind-the-scenes story of how the runners and shooters on both sides would do anything and everything to get the scoop before their opponents. The New York Daily News and the New York Post have long been the Hatfields and McCoys of American media: two warring tabloids in a town big enough for only one of them. As digital news rendered print journalism obsolete, the fight to survive in NYC became an epic, Darwinian battle. In America's Last Great Newspaper War, Jaccarino exposes the untold story of this tabloid death match of such ferocity and obsession its like has not occurred since Pulitzer- Hearst. Told through the eyes of hungry "runners" (field reporters) and "shooters" (photographers) who would employ phony police lights to overcome traffic, Mike Jaccarino's memoir unmasks the do-whatever-it-takes era of reporting-where the ends justified the means and nothing was off-limits. His no-holds-barred account describes sneaking into hospitals, months-long stakeouts, infiltrating John Gotti's crypt, bidding wars for scoops, high-speed car chases with Hillary Clinton, O.J. Simpson, and the baby mama of a philandering congressman-all to get that coveted front-page story. Today, few runners and shooters remain on the street. Their age and exploits are as bygone as the News-Post war and American newspapers, generally. Where armies once battled, often no one is covering the story at all. Funding for this book was provided by: Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund
Das Schriftformgebot des 550 BGB war seit jeher ein Schlupfloch fur die Vertragsreue. Sowohl Mieter wie auch Vermieter befurchten in der Praxis regelmassig die Entfristung ihrer langfristigen Mietvertrage. Nachdem der Bundesgerichtshof die Schriftformheilungsklausel 2017 fur unwirksam erklart hat, herrscht Ratlosigkeit, wie dem Missbrauch des Formgebots in Zukunft begegnet werden kann. Dies ist der Anlass, aus dem sich die Autorin mit der Wirksamkeit der Schriftformheilungsklausel und vor allem den Konsequenzen ihrer Ungultigkeit beschaftigt. Sie untersucht, ob und wie der Formzwang durchbrochen werden kann und gibt in diesem Zusammenhang eine Gestaltungsempfehlung ab. De lege lata sieht die Autorin die einzige effektive Moeglichkeit in der Vereinbarung einer konkreten Schriftformheilungsklausel. De lege ferenda empfiehlt sie die UEberarbeitung des Gesetzes und postuliert insofern einen eigenen Reformvorschlag.
Thirty years ago when Sir Richard Branson called up Boeing and asked if they had a spare 747, few would have predicted the brash entrepreneur would so radically transform the placid business of air travel. But today, Branson flies airlines on six continents, employs hundreds of jets and, in 2014, was predicting that his spaceship company - Virgin Galactic - would soon open the space frontier to commercial astronauts, payload specialists, scientists and space tourists. With more than 600 seats sold at $250,000 each, what started off as a dream to send people just for the excitement to look back and marvel at Earth, was on the cusp of finally being turned into a business. Then, on October 21, 2014, tragedy struck. SpaceShipTwo was on its most ambitious test flight to date. Seconds after firing its engine, Virgin Galactic's spaceship was breaking through the sound barrier. In just the three seconds that it took for the vehicle to climb from Mach 0.94 to Mach 1.02, co-pilot Mike Alsbury made what many close to the event believe was a fatal mistake that led to his death and the disintegration of SpaceShipTwo. Miraculously, the pilot, Peter Siebold, survived the 16-km fall back to Earth. Soon after the event Branson vowed to continue his space tourism venture in spite of this. Already a second SpaceShipTwo is being built, and ticket-holders eagerly await the day when Virgin Galactic offers quick, routine and affordable access to the edge of space. This book explains the hurdles Virgin Galactic had and still has to overcome en route to developing suborbital space travel as a profitable economic entity, and describes the missions that will be flown on board SpaceShipTwo Mk II, including high-altitude science studies, astronomy, life sciences, and microgravity physics.
Die Autorin befasst sich mit dem UEbergangsmandat des Betriebsrats gemass 21a BetrVG und dessen Gestaltungsmoeglichkeiten. Nach der Darstellung des Anwendungsbereichs des UEbergangsmandats zeigt sie die im Hinblick auf dessen Rechtsfolgen denkbaren Gestaltungsmoeglichkeiten auf. Sie geht der Frage nach, ob im Vorfeld einer Umstrukturierung die Moeglichkeit besteht, durch bestimmte Gestaltungsmoeglichkeiten das Entstehen eines UEbergangsmandats zu verhindern. Neben der Bildung eines gemeinsamen Betriebs gemass 1 Abs. 1 S. 2, Abs. 2 BetrVG untersucht sie die Bildung von betrieblichen Organisationsstrukturen gemass 3 BetrVG und 117 Abs. 2 S. 1 BetrVG. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei die vereinbarten Betriebsratsstrukturen durch Tarifvertrag gemass 3 Abs. 1 BetrVG.
This account of Swissair's day-by-day history will serve as the basis of any future exploration of Switzerland's former national carrier, from its founding right up to the grounding of the fleet and ultimate demise of the company. Documented here is every significant corporate decision, along with previously little-known background information, a comprehensive overview of operational incidents, the airline's route network over seven decades, the countries Swissair served and types of aircraft it operated. In short, this book covers everything that made the legendary airline distinctive, in unprecedented scope. This new standard reference work records in precise detail and in easily comprehensible English both the history of civil aviation in Switzerland and the qualities that Swissair deemed important over its 70 years in existence. Rather than judge or assign blame, this book sticks strictly to the facts and figures that reflect the dedication of Swissair employees - from those in the cockpit and the cabin to those in marketing and technical services, both at home and abroad - to "their" airline, from the very early days right up until the final flight by a Swissair aircraft. In the process, the book injects new life into one of the most exciting chapters in the history of Swiss commerce.
Die Schienenfahrzeugindustrie steht vor der Herausforderung, die kunftige Entwicklung ihres Personals zu gestalten. Eine Massnahme, um Mitarbeiter zu qualifizieren, ist eine betriebliche Weiterbildung. Die Autorin untersucht Einflussfaktoren auf die betriebliche Weiterbildungsbereitschaft des Projektkernteams. Als Grundlage fur die empirische Studie eines Schienenfahrzeugherstellers dienen verschiedene theoretische Ansatze. Die Studie zeigt auf, dass externe Kontextfaktoren und institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen im Umfeld der Schienenfahrzeugindustrie permanenten Veranderungen unterliegen. Diese werden beispielsweise durch die steigende technische Komplexitat der Fahrzeuge hervorgerufen. Die betriebliche Weiterbildungsbereitschaft der Mitarbeiter steht in Abhangigkeit zu dem Verhalten des Vorgesetzten, beispielsweise im Umgang mit auftretenden Schwierigkeiten.
Since the 1990s, global academic publishing has been transformed by digitisation, consolidation and the rise of the internet. The data produced by commercially owned citation indexes increasingly defines legitimate academic knowledge. Publication in prestigious 'high impact' journals can be traded for academic promotion, tenure and job security. African researchers and publishers labour in the shadows of a global knowledge system dominated by 'Northern' journals and by global publishing conglomerates. This book goes beyond the numbers. It shows how the Ghanaian academy is being transformed by this bibliometric economy. It offers a rich account of the voices and perspectives of Ghanaian academics and African journal publishers. How, where and when are Ghana's researchers disseminating their work, and what do these experiences reveal about an unequal global science system? Is there pressure to publish in 'reputable'. international journals? What role do supervisors, collaborators and mentors play? And how do academics manage in conditions of scarcity? Putting the insights of more than 40 Ghanaian academics into dialogue with journal editors and publishers from across the continent, the book highlights creative responses, along with the emergence of new regional research ecosystems. This is an important Africa-centred analysis of Anglophone academic publishing on the continent and its relationship to global science.
Norges Bank has been an integrated part of Norwegian economic development from the complicated birth of the new nation-state after the Napoleonic wars to the present nouveau-richness of the Norwegian oil economy. This book traces its 200-year history, focusing on its relations with political institutions that have shaped and reshaped the bank's role since its establishment in 1816. In the first fragile years of the new nation, Norges Bank took centre stage in the discussion on how to reconstruct a collapsed monetary system, and how trust and resources should support the core financial function of the State apparatus. The financial and political role of the bank came to the fore from the late 1800s and peaked during the turbulent interwar years of the 1920s, after which the bank became the foremost defender of the monetary order and the gold standard, in bitter conflict with the emerging Labour Party. The blow that the Second World War delivered to central bank independence left the bank firmly subordinated to the Ministry of Finance. Not until 1986 was larger autonomy in monetary policy granted, and since then the bank's weight and responsibilities have continued to expand with its position as manager of the Norwegian oil fund. The bank's role has been largely defined by perceptions of what kind of financial services Norway needed, how economic policy was coordinated, and how discretionary power was distributed between the elected bodies, the executive branch, and underlying institutions with a defined mandate. The central aim of this book is to trace and explain these changes over the past two centuries.
Nach der Einfuhrung der 2015er-Novellierung der DIN EN ISO 9001 mussten Bildungsanbieter prufen, ob diese Norm fur ihre Tatigkeit relevant ware. Fraglich ist dabei, ob die demokratisch nicht legitimierten Dokumente privater Normungsorganisationen zur Grundlage von Gesetzen oder Verordnungen werden sollten. Der Autor betrachtet kritisch die DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 auf Grundlage einer Dokumentenanalyse. Die Bezugnahme auf die Norm in der Vertragsgestaltung birgt die Gefahr, dass es weniger um die Qualitat der Bildungsmassnahmen als um den organisatorischen Rahmen geht. Dieser wird mit der Realisierung von Lerneffekten gleichgesetzt, um Vertrauen in den Bildungsanbieter zu ermoeglichen. Damit wird die Problematik der Vertrauenswurdigkeit des Bildungsanbieters auf die Vertrauenswurdigkeit des Bewertungssystems verlagert.
Die Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung hat vor allem bei grossen Unternehmen stark an Bedeutung gewonnen. Im Unterschied zur gesetzlich verpflichtenden Finanzberichterstattung veroeffentlichen Unternehmen umfassende Nachhaltigkeitsberichte bislang meist auf freiwilliger Basis. Neben der Legitimation des unternehmerischen Handelns versprechen sich die Unternehmen durch diese Form der Berichterstattung haufig eine Reduktion der Kapitalkosten. Vor diesem Hintergrund liefert die vorliegende Arbeit umfassende empirische Befunde zur Berichtspraxis in Deutschland und den USA sowie zu den Determinanten und den Eigenkapitalkostenwirkungen von Nachhaltigkeitsberichten. Die Ergebnisse der Studie haben wichtige Implikationen fur Unternehmen, Adressaten, Gesetzgeber und Standardsetzer sowie Wirtschaftsprufer.
The first complete history of US industry's most influential and controversial lobbyist Founded in 1895, the National Association of Manufacturers-NAM-helped make manufacturing the basis of the US economy and a major source of jobs in the twentieth century. The Industrialists traces the history of the advocacy group from its origins to today, examining its role in shaping modern capitalism, while also highlighting the many tensions and contradictions within the organization that sometimes hampered its mission. In this compelling book, Jennifer Delton argues that NAM-an organization best known for fighting unions, promoting "free enterprise," and defending corporate interests-was also surprisingly progressive. She shows how it encouraged companies to adopt innovations such as safety standards, workers' comp, and affirmative action, and worked with the US government and international organizations to promote the free exchange of goods and services across national borders. While NAM's modernizing and globalizing activities helped to make American industry the most profitable and productive in the world by midcentury, they also eventually led to deindustrialization, plant closings, and the decline of manufacturing jobs. Taking readers from the Progressive Era and the New Deal to the Reagan Revolution and the Trump presidency, The Industrialists is the story of a powerful organization that fought US manufacturing's political battles, created its economic infrastructure, and expanded its global markets-only to contribute to the widespread collapse of US manufacturing by the close of the twentieth century.
Stretching across three centuries, from the start of the Civil War through Prohibition to today, Bitter Brew is the engrossing, often scandalous saga of one of the wealth- iest and most colorful dynasties in American commerce: the Busch family of St. Louis, Missouri, the founders of the legendary Anheuser-Busch company. The critically acclaimed journalist William Knoedelseder tells the story of how the Busch patriarchs turned a small brewery into a multibillion dollar international corporation and trans- formed their product, Budweiser, into the iconic King of Beers. He paints a fascinating portrait of immense wealth and power accompanied by scandal, heartbreak, tragedy, and untimely death. A cautionary tale of prosperity, hubris, and loss, Bitter Brew is also a revealing chronicle of American progress and decline over the past 150 years.
'Levy portrays a tech company where no one is taking responsibility for what it has unleashed' Financial Times 'This fascinating book reveals the imperial ambitions of Facebook's founder' James Marriott, Sunday Times 'The inside story of how Facebook went from idealism to scandal' Laurence Dodds, Telegraph Today, Facebook is nearly unrecognizable from the simple website Zuckerberg's first built from his dorm room in his Sophomore year. It has grown into a tech giant, the largest social media platform and one of the biggest companies in the world, with a valuation of more than $576 billion and almost 3 billion users. There is no denying the power and omnipresence of Facebook in daily life. And in light of recent controversies surrounding election-influencing fake news accounts, the handling of its users' personal data and growing discontent with the actions of its founder and CEO, never has the company been more central to the national conversation. Based on years of exclusive reporting and interviews with Facebook's key executives and employees, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Steven Levy's sweeping narrative digs deep into the whole story of the company that has changed the world and reaped the consequences.
In this richly detailed and eye-opening book, Rick Wartzman chronicles the erosion of the relationship between American companies and their workers. Through the stories of four major employers--General Motors, General Electric, Kodak, and Coca-Cola--he shows how big businesses once took responsibility for providing their workers and retirees with an array of social benefits. At the height of the post-World War II economy, these companies also believed that worker pay needed to be kept high in order to preserve morale and keep the economy humming. Productivity boomed. But the corporate social contract didn't last. By tracing the ups and downs of these four corporate icons over seventy years, Wartzman illustrates just how much has been lost: job security and steadily rising pay, guaranteed pensions, robust health benefits, and much more. Charting the Golden Age of the '50s and '60s; the turbulent years of the '70s and '80s; and the growth of downsizing, outsourcing, and instability in the modern era, Wartzman's narrative is a biography of the American Dream gone sideways. Deeply researched and compelling, The End of Loyalty will make you rethink how Americans can begin to resurrect the middle class.
Die Rechnungslegungsvorschriften nach IAS/IFRS haben, mit deren UEbernahme in europaisches Recht im Jahr 2003 und mit der ab 1. Januar 2005 in Kraft getretenen und fur alle europaischen kapitalmarktorientierten Unternehmen gultigen gesetzlichen Verpflichtung zur Konzernabschlusserstellung nach IAS/IFRS, erheblich an Aktualitat gewonnen. Im Gegensatz zu den US-amerikanischen US-GAAP, die vor dem Hintergrund der Bilanzskandale um WordCom, Enron und andere in der aktuellen Diskussion als regelbasierte ("rule-based") und daher missbrauchsanfallige Rechnungslegung kritisiert wird, werden IAS/IFRS als eine eher prinzipienbasierte ("principle-based") Rechnungslegung beschrieben. Aufgrund der Prinzipienbasierung soll bei der Abschlusserstellung und Prufung weniger das Befolgen kasuistischer Einzelfallregelungen als vielmehr verantwortungsvolles "professional judgement" der Abschlussersteller und Prufer stehen, das im Sinne des eigentlichen Geists der Regelungen ("spirit of the rules") auszuuben ist. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird die vermeintliche Prinzipienbasierung der IAS/IFRS auf breiter Basis analysiert.
Since 1818, Brooks Brothers, America s oldest clothing brand, has grown into a global sartorial institution that has influenced American style through its iconic fashions, which conjure intimate memories of pivotal life events from your first navy blazer as a child to stepping into a bespoke suit on your wedding day. On the eve of its two-hundredth anniversary, Brooks Brothers remains synonymous with timeless style, the finest quality, and innovative designs that resonate with both old and new generations. This richly illustrated book is replete with photographs of the signature heritage pieces, from the Original Polo button-down oxford, grey flannel suit, and Rep ties to the camel overcoat, and features an unparalleled roster of high-profile political and cultural icons who have worn and made these pieces their own: from Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy to Madonna, Lady Gaga, Grace Kelly, Katharine Hepburn, Miles Davis, and Andy Warhol, as well as TV and film stars in Glee, Gossip Girl, Mad Men, and Baz Luhrmann s The Great Gatsby. The text comprises interviews and personal anecdotes from the retailer s loyal clientele fashion designers, writers, and celebrities each sharing treasured memories and connections to Brooks Brothers. This dazzling volume invites readers to delve into the world of Brooks Brothers, providing insight into the people, places, and historical moments that have shaped and provoked the innovative yet timeless American institution, and is a must for those interested in fashion and American style. |
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