Transformer in navigation: Diverse government roles for open innovation in China's high-speed rail

Based on a longitudinal case study of China's high-speed rail embedded in the emerging economy context, we focus on what role the government plays and how that matters to open innovation (OI) for competitive advantage. By linking the OI literature with the national political institutions literature to motivate our research question, we propose a statist-based OI view to differentiate diverse government roles, investigating how government adopts roles in a combined way to push OI in stages. Our findings suggest that government is an important strategic decision-maker for OI. Specifically, the government plays various roles as commander, protector, cultivator, and intermediator, reflecting state activism derived from national political institutions, to construct institutional-level OI for domestic OI activities, and inbound and outbound OI across national borders. We find government can deliberately and strategically use its diverse roles in a combined way to push OI for competitive advantage through the industrial evolutionary process over time. Our study contributes to the OI literature and integrates the strategic management literature with the study of OI to provide new insights to explain the origins of competitive advantage from the state perspective.     

试析卡夫卡小说父子冲突的审美三角结构

在卡夫卡的创作生涯中，父子冲突是一个无法调和的悖论性命题，这个命题作为西方传统文化母题，蕴含了丰富的哲学和历史文化内涵。考察卡夫卡的日常生活和写作生活，发现这两种生活形成一种矛盾结构，类似于西方文化语境中的父子冲突。用拉康的审美三角结构理论去分析这个大的父子冲突结构，可以发现这个结构内部蕴含的审美张力。     

章公祖师佛像跨国追索诉讼国际私法问题研究

从章公祖师佛像跨国追索诉讼主体资格问题切入,分析佛像的法律性质,探讨涉案物权准据法的确定及适用问题。该案原告应由阳春村全体村民担任。涉案佛像属于文物,建议村民在荷兰法院提起原物返还之诉。受案法院应当适用物权冲突法确定准据法,即可能适用中国内地、中国香港或荷兰法律。被告在购买时应当对涉案佛像来源产生合理怀疑,因此不构成“善意”;原告应尽可能搜集证据证明《荷兰民法典》规定的20年消灭时效因起诉而中断。依据《香港货品售卖条例》和中国内地物权法理论与实践,被告均不能取得系争佛像的所有权。     

Generational conflict and provisions for the elderly in Hong Kong: The relevance of position‐based interest and values

Respect for the elderly and hence the associated rights support a generational contract. Nevertheless, the case of the recent debate on the universal retirement scheme in Hong Kong has raised concerns about its strength. We identify relevant items from the sixth wave of the World Values Survey to explore the orientations of different generations toward others. The analysis shows differences between younger and older generations. Regression analyses show that values are not significant in explaining the differences, but various positions, including sex, marital status, and education, and perceptions of the elderly are relevant. Such differences across generations might weaken the generational contract and potentially engender conflicts as shown in the recent debate about the retirement scheme. We suggest short‐ and long‐term interest calculations, informed by their positions, play a more significant role in policy discussions and decisions, rather than simply appealing to values.     

When standardization becomes the lens of professional practice in child welfare services

This paper examines the relationship between professional work and standardization. There has been an increase in the use of standardized programmes in child welfare services (CWS) in Western society. Some researchers have criticized standardized programmes suggesting that they undermine professionals expertise and threaten their position, whereas others argue that such programmes strengthen professional practice. In this paper, we examine how standardized tools, in this case, a standardized parenting programme and a standardized Norwegian assessment tool, influence professional roles as experienced by child welfare workers (CWS professionals) in Norway. Semistructured individual and group interviews were conducted with 31 frontline workers in two CWS agencies. Our findings suggest that standardized tools increase the social workers experienced professional competence but challenge their professional knowledge base, reflective practice, and professional accountability. Professional and practical implications for CWS work are discussed in the light of these findings.     

Challenges and dilemmas working with high‐conflict families in child protection casework

Social workers within child protection services report that families marked by high levels of conflict between separated parents are among the most challenging cases to handle. Few studies however have focussed on how social workers themselves experience and meet with parents involved in hostile martial interactions. This article reports on a qualitative study involving 31 social workers and provides an analysis of their experiences and dilemmas in working with such families. Findings demonstrate that social workers struggle to find ways to help high‐conflict families and often find themselves at an impasse. Parents involved in such conflict are highly resistant to change, and social workers struggle to engage with them over concerns about their children. Furthermore, findings suggest that social workers lack organizationally allotted time to assist the parents. I conclude by discussing ways in which emotional support, empowering interventions, and strength‐based approaches enable social workers to manage relationships with high‐conflict families. More research on this topic is needed to support and promote better practices for social workers to be more effective in assisting high‐conflict families.     

国有企业并购重组中政府角色定位的偏差与矫正

在供给侧结构性改革中,国有企业的并购重组与混合所有制改革同步进行,达到优化产业结构、淘汰落后产能的目的。但政府存在角色定位偏差问题,仍有较强的政策指导与干预冲动。在深化供给侧结构性改革进程中,政府应将角色定位于政策指引者、信息中介者、服务提供者及监督监管者,同时强化制度创新,破除阻碍企业并购重组的旧机制,健全完善规章制度。     

The paradox of illicit economies: survival,resilience, and the limits of development and drug policy orthodoxy

ABSTRACT

The illicit drug crops opium and coca are conventionally regarded as sources of instability, an ‘evil’ that breeds fragility and violence. Fragile states are supposed to be most vulnerable to their production and consequent harms. Yet by looking into the local contexts of the world’s leading opium and coca producers – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia and Bolivia – these illicit crops are found to also be sources of stability, even drivers of economic growth. They enable marginalized communities and territories abandoned by the state to be reinserted into national and global markets. Within so-called ‘fragile’ and conflict-affected areas are displaced and dispossessed households adopting innovative and unorthodox strategies for coping and survival in changing and insecure environments. This paper maps out an approach, useful for examining the resilience that has emerged amidst violence and uncertainty in illicit-crop-producing territories, and which can hopefully tackle the continuing disconnect between drugs and development policy.     

Labour and international accounting standards: A question of social justice

As the international guardian of social justice, the ILO is witnessing a global revolution in accounting, which has culminated in international accounting standards (IAS-IFRS). Previously, accounting measured the economy in relation to the capacities and responsibilities of workers and their employers. Today, the exact opposite is the case: the IAS-IFRS no longer measure work and enterprises, referring instead to the abstract concept of a cybernetic entity capable of constant restructuring, at the cost of unprecedented inequality. The author points to the incoherence of this system and to the need to restore the full carrying value of labour.     

Engagement with sustainability at the International Labour Organization and wider implications for collective worker voice

Sustainability objectives have been recognized by the ILO primarily in terms of the impact of environmental protection in the form of “just transition” and “green job” initiatives. Arguably, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) now offer richer scope for ILO engagement with social sustainability. This can be attributed to the prominent recognition of “decent work” in SDG 8 and the need for “responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels” in SDG target 16.7. This article examines how the ILO could further promote collective worker voice in the context of debates over a sustainable “future of work”, particularly considering to whom voice is given and how it is exercised.