Oligopolistic suppliers,symbiotic value chains and workers' bargaining power: labour contestation in South China at an ascendant global footwear firm

In this article, I analyse changes in the power relationship between lead firms, manufacturers and workers by examining a strike that took place in South China in 2014 among workers at the Taiwanese footwear giant, Yue Yuen. In the process, I demonstrate that there is a link between increased labour costs, capital consolidation and greater value capture at the bottom of the global supply chain. I argue that footwear value chains are seeing a falling level of monopsony power and the emergence of enormous oligopolistic suppliers, which are transforming the power imbalances of global supply chains towards a more mutually dependent ‘buyer–producer symbiosis’. The Yue Yuen strike shows a maturing industrial working class, facing pressures on social reproduction in China, adapting its bargaining strategies vis‐à‐vis the developmental state. Influxes of profit raise the ceiling for what can be demanded of employers, stimulating those same employers to pursue more aggressive means of holding onto their profits. The example of the Yue Yuen strike is an indicator of what are fundamental changes in the production process, dynamics within the value chain, and power and agency of workers in labour‐intensive production. The strike demonstrates that consolidation is playing a decisive role in shaping the power relationship between domestic manufacturers and transnational brands, which, in turn, is directly affecting the bargaining power of workers.     

On the Distance Between Cumulative Sum Diagram and Its Greatest Convex Minorant for Unequally Spaced Design Points

Abstract.  The supremum difference between the cumulative sum diagram, and its greatest convex minorant (GCM), in case of non-parametric isotonic regression is considered. When the regression function is strictly increasing, and the design points are unequally spaced, but approximate a positive density in even a slow rate ( n ^−1/3), then the difference is shown to shrink in a very rapid (close to n ^−2/3) rate. The result is analogous to the corresponding result in case of a monotone density estimation established by Kiefer and Wolfowitz, but uses entirely different representation. The limit distribution of the GCM as a process on the unit interval is obtained when the design variables are i.i.d. with a positive density. Finally, a pointwise asymptotic normality result is proved for the smooth monotone estimator, obtained by the convolution of a kernel with the classical monotone estimator.     

SELF‐EMPLOYMENT,EFFICIENCY WAGE,AND PUBLIC POLICIES

Empirical evidence suggests that unemployed workers are much more likely to become self‐employed than wage‐employed workers. Also, higher unemployment benefits significantly reduce the rate of self‐employment. This article develops a model of self‐employment which incorporates transitions between unemployment and self‐employment. It integrates two strands of theoretical literature—models of occupational choice and the efficiency wage models. In this model, a higher unemployment benefit reduces the self‐employment rate and the transition rate of unemployed workers to self‐employment, which is consistent with empirical evidence. (JEL J23, J58, J64)     

End-Point Estimation for Decreasing Densities: Asymptotic Behaviour of the Penalized Likelihood Ratio

Abstract.  We consider the problem of estimating the modal value of a decreasing density on the positive real line. This has application in several interesting phenomena arising, for example, in renewal theory, and in biased and distance samplings. We use a penalized likelihood ratio-based approach for inference and derive the scale-free universal large sample null distribution of the log-likelihood ratio, using a suitably chosen penalty parameter. We present simulation results and a real data analysis to corroborate our findings, and compare the performance of the confidence sets with the existing results.     

EXTENDING THE BOUNDARIES OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL FIELD-STUDIES APPROACH INTEGRATING INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Continued globalization, extensive use of information technologies, increasing cross-functional dependencies, and new organizational forms are rapidly changing the learning context of operations management. This paper describes an example of a mba elective course that has been created to address and learn from these new realities. We have taken a process view of the global firm, focusing mainly on the new product/service development, order fulfillment, and supply chain/ after-sales service processes. We have designed our course to contain most of the traditional topics in operations management (om) with information systems (is) woven in to support the key business processes. Our underlying belief is that these two functional areas should be seen as a blend, a seamless merging of the two fields, to obtain a competitive advantage. Besides teaching om and is in this integrated manner, the course engages in face-to-face student consulting projects with multinational companies. This paper describes our rationale for the course design and how it has been implemented over the last 6 years-as well as our plans for the future.     

Dealing with Misconduct in Biomedical Research: A Review of the Problems and the Proposed Methods for Improvement

The increasing complexity of scientific research has been followed by increasing varieties of research misconduct. Dealing with misconduct involves the processes of detection, reporting, and investigation of misconduct. Each of these steps is associated with numerous problems which need to be addressed. Misconduct investigation should not stop with inquiries and disciplinary actions in specific episodes of misconduct. It is necessary to decrease the personal price paid by those who expose misconduct and to protect the personal and professional interests of honest researchers accused of misconduct unfairly or mistakenly. There is no dearth of suggestions to improve the objectivity and fairness of investigations. What is needed is the willingness to test the various options and implement the most suitable ones.     

Testing Exponentiality Against Laplace Order Dominance-

We present a statistical procedure to test that a life distribution belongs to the class of exponential distributions against that it belongs to a class of alternatives based on the Laplace transform. The test has been shown to be consistent and the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic has been obtained. The performance of the test against various classes of alternatives has been studied by means of Monte Carlo simulation. An interesting characterization theorem for exponentials, which motivates our test procedure, has been proved.     

Versions of the Pastoral: Poverty and the Poor in English Fiction from the 1840s to the 1950s

Abstract: Fictional treatment of the poor has varied with changing perceptions of their position and role in English society. In part these perceptions have been affected by the social locations of the writers. But this essay argues that a major determinant of the treatment of the poor has been the inheritance of a pastoral tradition of viewing them. Writers have largely worked within this tradition. Only in the 1930s was a determined attempt made to break out of it. This failed, and after the war fiction gradually abandoned its efforts to deal with the poor, preferring to leave that to the newer media of film and television.     

Globalization and Changing Patterns of Social Mobilization in Urban India

Recent developments around the globe – from organization into forums such as the World Social Forum to smaller protests – have necessitated a review of the notion of movements/mobilizations. There is an enhanced focus on ‘mobilizing/organizing’ masses. The character of mobilizations is radically transformed and is in a constant flux leading to explorations of newer ‘experiments’. Central to such a conceptualization, given the state of mobilizations worldwide, is the need to grapple with the causal factors and the dialectics of systemic dynamics and mobilizations. This paper seeks to comprehend the dynamics of mobilizations, their rise and fall in the light of contemporary developments of rampant consumerism and individualization resulting in shrinking collective spaces. It argues that in the transformed setting, when liberalism coexists with mounting coercion of private capital through state as well as non-state institutions, mobilizations of changed character will be ultimate expressions of resistance leading in due course to a macro-assertion. Such a debate has not been taken up seriously in India with the same intensity as in the Latin American context or in Western sociology. The arguments made in the paper are based on interviews with activists, interaction with activists and their experiences in different meetings as well as research based on secondary material.