Determinants of Organizational Flexibility: A Study in an Emerging Economy

This paper examines the processes of organizational adaptation and competitiveness of firms in an emerging economy. The study is set in the Argentinian context of the 1990s when a combination of economic and political change triggered a massive change in the competitive context of indigenous firms. Two highly flexible firms and two less‐flexible firms are studied from the pharmaceutical and edible oil industries and longitudinal data are supplied to explore the determinants of organizational flexibility in those organizations.     

披头士法则

维珍集团主席理查德·布兰森以善于激励员工创造力而闻名，他坚信“乐趣”是创建企业必不可少的要素。可另一方面，不计其数的商务人士都把工作场所当成监狱，他们越来越难以在工作中找到乐趣，无法与自己周围的同事建立感情纽带，此时工作效率也会大受影响。     

Flood Risk Perceptions and Insurance Choice: Do Decisions in the Floodplain Reflect Overoptimism?

In the presence of rare disasters, risk perceptions may not always align with actual risks. These perceptions can nevertheless influence an individual's willingness to mitigate risks through activities such as purchasing flood insurance. In a survey of Maryland floodplain residents, we find that stated risk perceptions predict voluntary flood insurance take‐up, while perceptions themselves varied widely among surveyed residents, owing in large part to differences in past flood experience. We use a formal test for overoptimism in risk perceptions and find that, on aggregate, floodplain residents are overly optimistic about flood risks.     

The Determinants of Management Development: The Views of MBA Graduates

This article is derived from survey data obtained from a structured sample of 450 MBA graduates and is part of a wider programme of research investigating the current state of management development in Britain. The intention is to analyse the determinants of the amount, the methods and the impact of management development systems in UK organizations and to assess these findings in relation to a comparable analysis of HRD managers. Both the amount and the variety of management development methods are greater than has been previously reported and, for the HRD sample, the impact of this activity is broadly positive. While agreeing on the amount, MBA managers are less enthusiastic about the availability and effectiveness of management development they have experienced. Overall, the management development policy choices made by organizations are consistently the most influential in determining outcomes, and the implications for this are discussed.     

Enterprising Education: Doing Away with the Public School System

We critically examine the accepted notion that primary education is a legitimate and necessary function of the state. The notion is based upon three tenets: 1) public education is a necessary condition for democracy, 2) the market will not provide equal access and quality of education to all, and 3) education represents an external economy. Each tenet is addressed and evaluated according to its merits. In doing so, we also contrast the fulfillment of the ends implicit in the tenets under state and market provisions. We conclude that the state provision of primary education cannot be justified by these goals, and that market provision is a preferable alternative. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.