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.     

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.     

Surgical Identity Play: The Anatomy Lab Revisited

The anatomy lab has been studied by sociologists interested in professional socialization since the 1950s. This is because the act of dissecting a cadaver is thought to be foundational for both the student's medical knowledge and the development of the student's professional identity. In this paper, I revisit the anatomy lab both historically and ethnographically. Drawing on theoretical insights from the laboratory ethnography tradition within science and technology studies, I show that students use material artifacts in the lab to support their “surgical identity play.” This activity is structured by the laboratory's performative architecture even while it is unsupervised by anatomy faculty. While many analyses of professional socialization focus on how students learn to interact with patients during their training, I show that the anatomy lab experience is an important form of professional socialization because here students learn to employ surgical instruments, language, and dress, and begin to relate to each other as colleagues.     

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。     

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.     

中华民族共同体建设视阈下改土归流的历程、原因及作用

明清时期中央王朝实施的改土归流，不仅彻底废除了土司的政治、经济、军事、司法等特权，将国家版图内的人事权、财政权、军事指挥权、行政管理权、文化教育权等悉数收归中央，而且也是中华民族共同体由“自在”向“自觉”过渡的关键环节。明清改土归流经历了一个长期、艰巨、复杂的过程，其中既有土司利益与王朝利益的矛盾、各地土司与辖区民众的矛盾，也有中央王朝通过改土归流以增加税收、朝廷命官与乡村民众要求改土归流等现实动因。改土归流实现了国家“大一统”的目标、凸显明清国家治理能力的进步、加快了中华民族共同体建设的速度。中华民族共同体是一个由政治共同体、经济共同体、文化共同体和社会共同体四者构成的命运共同体。改土归流的实施，不仅是推动共同体由“自在”向“自觉”迈进的关键步骤和重要举措，而且使中华民族共同体在政治、经济、文化和社会诸方面发生巨大变化。     

Core self-evaluations mediate the association between leaders' facial appearance and their professional success: Adults' and children's perceptions

Although the link between facial appearance and success is well established, the mechanisms responsible for this association have remained elusive. Evolutionary theory suggests that perceived leadership characteristics should be important for men's self-concept. Drawing on implicit leadership theory and evolutionary perspectives, we therefore examined the associations between first impressions based on facial appearance, core self-evaluations (CSEs), leadership role occupancy, and career success among a sample of working men. In Study 1, we found that CSEs mediated the relationship between individuals' facial appearance and measures of their success as leaders. In Study 2, we replicated these results using children's ratings of facial appearance, thus suggesting that basic properties of the targets' faces communicated their leadership ability more than the perceivers' life experience or acquired knowledge. These results suggest that people may use facial appearance as a diagnostic tool to determine the leadership ability of others.     

乡村振兴视域中的农民主体作用、制约因素及路径选择——基于湖南岳阳乡村的调查与思考

农民是农业和农村的主体,也是乡村振兴的内生因素,发挥农民主体作用对实施乡村振兴战略意义重大。当前农民对乡村振兴关注度和支持度较高,农民的主体作用发挥成为乡村振兴的根本动力。但现实中,农民主体作用也受到诸如农业综合效益较低、农民自身思想文化和能力素质不高、管理机制滞后及基础条件薄弱等多方面的因素制约,需要党委、政府综合施策,采取完善乡村治理、健全政策扶持、建立引导机制、补齐短板缺陷、加强培育培训等一系列政策措施,尊重、引导、激励和支持农民自我管理、自我发展,激发农民的主动性、积极性、创造性。