World City Networks and Global Commodity Chains: towards a world-systems' integration

There are two literatures that explicitly describe the spaces of flows that constitute contemporary globalization – World City Network analysis and Global Commodity Chain analysis. We explore the possibilities of their integration by returning to their common origins in world-systems analysis. Each model is described and critiqued and it is argued that each can be used to address some of the other's limitations. This is illustrated through world city process additions to understanding the coffee commodity chain and commodity chain additions to understanding Mexico City and Santiago's positioning in the World City Network. This complementarity is just a first step towards a more complete integration; the conclusion describes the next steps towards just such a research agenda.     

责任型领导与企业社会资本建立：怡海公司案例研究

从责任型领导的视角出发,采用案例研究方法探讨了责任型领导如何在考虑各利益相关者的不同需求的基础上,通过积极主动地履行各种社会责任,建立与各利益相关者之间互惠、互信的关系网络,从而形成社会资本,以促进公司的有序、稳定发展;最后,在案例研究的基础上,指出目前的责任型领导理论尚不能很好地解释一些客观现象,提出该理论的未来研究方向,以期对该理论的发展和完善起到一定促进作用.     

Recession and international corporate mobility

The international mobility of MNE personnel has been increasing in recent years both through traditional forms of expatriation and short‐term assignments and through business travel. These overall ‘portfolios of mobility’, however, have been complemented by intensified virtual communication and growing localization of recruitment in developing production and market regions. In this article, we report on a return survey of the impacts of the 2008 recession on the mobility portfolios of a sample of UK‐based MNEs and consider how far it has affected established trends. We begin by reviewing evidence from recent large‐scale surveys on corporate staff mobility. We then focus on how the relationship between established business goals and global mobility strategies was rebalanced within individual companies as the recession took hold. Our evidence indicates the widely variable effects of recession, strongly affecting operations in some parts of the world, but making little, if any, change elsewhere. In many cases, corporate restructuring or the increased focus on emerging markets were already reshaping mobility portfolios. Diversification and flexibility have underlain the development of these portfolios over the last decade. The recession has accelerated several processes already under way, including a shift towards alternatives to traditional assignments and the closer incorporation of new and emerging markets into mobility systems. It has also allowed companies to drive through changes that might otherwise have been more contentious, such as reducing the financial incentives for assignment.     

The Quebec Patronat: Proposing a Neo‐liberal Political Economy after All*

Les études récentes portant sur le patronat québécois avancent que ce dernier a modernisé son discours, passant du néolibéralisme à une concertation et à une coopération positive avec les syndicats et l'État. Ces études suggèrent que le patronat québécois est en train de développer une économie politique distincte du modèle libéral en vigueur ailleurs au Canada. Cet article analyse le discours du Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) depuis sa création pour évaluer la pertinence de ces arguments. Il conclut que la vision stratégique du CPQ est restée néolibérale depuis le début des années 1980, ce qui suggére la nécessité de la prudence dans la formulation des arguments sur l'exceptionnalisme économique du Québec. Recent studies of the Quebec patronat argue that it has “modernized” its discourse, moving from neo‐liberalism to the embrace of positive‐sum concertation and co‐operation with unions and the State. These studies suggest Quebec's employers' associations are developing a different political economy than the liberal one found in the Rest of Canada. This article assesses these arguments using the discourse of the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ) since its inception. It argues that the CPQ's strategic outlook has remained steadfastly neo‐liberal since the early 1980s, which suggests the need for caution in developing accounts of Quebec's economic exceptionalism.     

INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING AND THE PRODUCTIVITY OF LOW-SKILLED LABOR IN THE EU

This article presents first insights into the role of international outsourcing on the productivity of low-skilled workers in EU manufacturing. Whereas in the short run international outsourcing exhibits a negative marginal effect on real value added per low-skilled worker, the long-run parameter estimates reveal a positive impact. This may be explained by imperfections in European labor and goods markets, which prohibit an immediate adjustment in the factor employment and the output structure. The change in the outsourcing intensity since 1993 alone acounts for a long-run increase of about 6.0% in the real value added per low-skilled worker. (JEL C33 , F14 , F15 )     

The cliquishness of world cities

Abstract Through an exploratory analysis of the world city network, we confront the dearth of studies on inter‐urban networks on a global scale. In the first section, we outline how a formal theoretical specification of the world city network as a social network has guided an extensive data gathering effort. Through this specification it becomes possible to apply standard techniques of network analysis to world cities. In the second section we outline a framework within which to explore the complex patterns that arise from the formal specification of the world city network. The conjectural use of connectivity, world city cliques and clique‐by‐clique comembership is then used in the third section as the input to an exploratory analysis of the measures of connectivity at different thresholds. The main findings are the two city dominance of the New York–London dyad, and the observation that inter‐city links at the global level retain an important regional dimension. Exemplary cases are the thorough interrelatedness of North American, Pacific Asian and European world cities.     

Integrating world cities into production networks: the case of port cities

In this article we analyse the location patterns of firms that provide specialized advanced producer services (APS) to international commodity chains that move through seaports. Such activities can take place in world cities or in port cities. The analysis of APS location patterns in port cities provides a good opportunity to integrate the study of world cities into the framework of Global Production Networks. Based upon our empirical findings, we conclude that while port-related APS activities predominantly follow the world city hierarchy, a number of port cities stand out because they act as nodes in global commodity flows and as centres of advanced services related to shipping and port activities. Based on these empirical findings we address future avenues of research.     

The elimination of contraceptive acceptor targets and the evolution of population policy in India

In 1996 the government of India announced a new national population policy that eliminated numerical targets for new contraceptive acceptors. This paper examines the history of target setting in India and factors that led to the elimination of targets. The analysis is based on published and unpublished reports on India's population policy and the family planning programme and interviews with senior Indian and foreign officials and population specialists. Five factors are identified as playing a role in the evolution from target setting to a target-free policy: (1) the research of India's academics; (2) the work of women's health advocates; (3) the support of officials in the state bureaucracy who approved the target-free approach; (4) the influence of the donors to India's family planning programme, especially the World Bank; and (5) the International Conference on Population and Development.     

Ambiguity and User Involvement: Issues Arising in Assessments for Young People and their Carers

Correspondence to Peter R. Day CRSP, Department of Social Sciences, Loughborough University of Technology, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE 11 3TU. Summary Issues for service users and professional staff arising fromcontemporary community care policies emphasizing user involvementare reviewed. Against the background of a key expression ofthese policies, the Disabled Persons' Act of 1986, methods ofproviding assessments involving young people with learning disabilitieswere analysed. Problems identified for further study includeddifficulties arising for young people due to lack of experienceand immaturity, the low expectations of their parents or carers,problems arising from the culture of services and how assessmentsmay be developed which provide seriously disabled users themselveswith ways of expressing their wants and needs.