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Business Interests (business + interest)
Selected AbstractsAn environment for prosperity and quality living accommodating growth in the Thames ValleyCORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2004Hugh Howes The Thames Valley is seen as the powerhouse of the British economy, and one of the best performing regions in Europe. This economic base offers opportunities for expansion with the potential for it to become the knowledge capital of Europe. Business interests view the area as a highly desirable location, not only because of its markets, skills and proximity to the City and Heathrow but also because of its high quality environment. Companies, however, complain of skills shortages, traffic congestion, lack of suitable premises and housing that is affordable to the workforce. Much of the Thames Valley is either Green Belt or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Furthermore, the availability of future water supplies, the maintenance of the quality of water in the rivers and managing flood risk are also likely to act as constraints on development in the future. How economic growth is to be achieved with minimal additional development and without detriment to the environment is the central question that is likely to dominate planning in the this region over the next few years. Is it possible to achieve more with existing resources? Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Corporate intentions to participate in emission tradingBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 1 2007Jonatan Pinkse Abstract The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 has led to increasing business interest in the issue of climate change. It has also created much uncertainty for companies, particularly about the role of trading in realizing emission reductions. This paper investigates what drives multinational corporations to show interest in emission trading and carbon offset projects to deal with climate change. On the basis of an analysis of data of 136 companies derived from a questionnaire, it also examines the role that country of origin, industry affiliation and companies' environmental strategy play in this regard. Findings show that industry pressure and product and process innovations are the main determinants for multinational corporations to participate in the emission market. It appears that climate policy particularly induces energy-related industries to reduce emissions, which puts them ahead of other industries with regard to their interest in emission trading. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Dilemmas of Counter-Mapping Community Resources in TanzaniaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2002Dorothy L. Hodgson Recent work has celebrated the political potential of ,counter-mapping', that is, mapping against dominant power structures, to further seemingly progressive goals. This article briefly reviews the counter-mapping literature, and compares four counter-mapping projects from Maasai areas in Tanzania to explore some potential pitfalls in such efforts. The cases, which involve community-based initiatives led by a church-based NGO, ecotourism companies, the Tanzanian National Parks Authority, and grassroots pastoralist rights advocacy groups, illustrate the broad range of activities grouped under the heading of counter-mapping. They also present a series of political dilemmas that are typical of many counter-mapping efforts: conflicts inherent in conservation efforts involving territorialization, privatization, integration and indigenization; problems associated with the theory and practice of ,community-level' political engagement; the need to combine mapping efforts with broader legal and political strategies; and critical questions involving the agency of ,external' actors such as conservation and development donors, the state and private business interests. [source] The regulation of health and safety in Britain: from old Labour to new LabourINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000Matthias Beck The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA 1974), passed twenty-five years ago, has been hailed as a significant advance for organised labour and a model for modern work-place regulation. This article argues that, contrary to conventional interpretations, the making of the Act was dominated by business interests. We suggest that the Act's emphasis on self-regulation and goal-setting made it vulnerable to deregu-latory initiatives, which are unlikely to be reversed by new Labour in the foreseeable future. [source] Simulating Globalization: Oil in ChadINTERNATIONAL STUDIES PERSPECTIVES, Issue 3 2004Heidi H. Hobbs The conflicting interests that underlie globalization can be difficult to grasp in a traditional classroom setting. The simulation presented here challenges students to examine the many different actors operating in the international system today. The focus is the Chad,Cameroon oil pipeline,a landmark example of cooperation and conflict between international institutions, non-governmental organizations and business interests. Given a scenario, students assume these roles and negotiate for the continued success of the pipeline. All the materials to run this exercise are included and if utilized, can provide a positive active learning experience. [source] The Logic of Access to the European Parliament: Business Lobbying in the Committee on Economic and Monetary AffairsJCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 3 2004Pieter Bouwen This article is an attempt to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the lobbying behaviour of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business interest representation (companies, associations and consultants) to the supranational assembly in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of ,access goods'. On the basis of 14 exploratory and 27 semi-structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. Surprisingly, European and national associations enjoy a similar degree of access to the Parliament. Individual companies and consultants have a much lower degree of access than the two collective forms of interest representation. In the conclusion, these results are analysed in the light of the existing literature on party cohesion and coalition formation in the European Parliament. [source] BUSINESS COMMUNITY STRUCTURES AND URBAN REGIMES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSISJOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2007MARK DE SOCIO ABSTRACT:,Regime theorists often present business interests as coherent and unified communities with unitary interests. A central principle of regime theory, however, is that business elites tend to occupy privileged positions within regime coalitions because of the scope of resources and expertise they command and cities require for economic development and/or fiscal solvency. Cities are generally home to a wide range of business activities operating at various scales, and business elites representing various corporations in different economic sectors arguably command different kinds of resources and expertise that are functional to the economic activities with which they are affiliated. Various mixes of business elites representing different economic activities might therefore produce differentially biased input regarding urban policy-making and affect the types of regime coalitions that cities develop.Utilizing compilations of interlocking directorates among major organizations across three sectors, profiles of the corporate and social community structures of 24 U.S. cities are generated and a correlation matrix comprised of business and social organizational categories is produced. Factor analysis of the correlation matrix identifies three separate mixes of corporate and social organizational categories that generally conform to descriptions of developmental, caretaker, and progressive regime typologies. These three factors serve as prototypes of the three broad regime types and their corporate community structures. Correlations of the 24 cities with each of the three regime prototypes generally match their regime types as identified through previous case studies. Variations in regime types among cities might therefore be attributed to varying degrees of diversity in the kinds of corporations headquartered or located within them. Closer attention to the economic base of cities,the producers, after all, of local business elites,may reveal internal biases and/or material predisposition towards some urban policies over others by local business elites in relation to the economic activities with which they are linked. [source] Surfing in the Third Millennium: Commodifying the Visual ArgotTHE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2002David Lanagan The practice of surfing has often been at odds with the mores of wider society, to the point where surfers have been described in the media as rotten, long-haired, unwashed drug addicts, or as jobless junkies. However, in recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of surfing and an increase in the consumption of surfing related commodities. This increase in popularity is largely due to the marketing practices of the business interests that are involved in surfing, which has appropriated its images and sold them to a rapidly expanding and lucrative market. This paper will outline how the commodification of surfing's visual style, and the meanings that are symbolised by this development, have had a three-fold effect on the sport. First, surfing has been shifted away from the beach into quite different contexts; second, surfing as understood by the wider society has been altered and; third, the commodifying practices of business interests have transferred the symbolic ownership of the sport from surfers to surfing capital. [source] Human Rights and Unfair Dismissal: Private Acts in Public SpacesTHE MODERN LAW REVIEW, Issue 6 2008Article first published online: 24 OCT 200, Virginia Mantouvalou This article addresses the termination of employment because of the conduct of the employee in her leisure time, in the light of the right to private life. It explores the impact on the retention of employment of activities taking place outside the workplace and outside working hours, and argues that the approach of UK courts and tribunals, which is based on a primarily spatial conceptualisation of privacy, is flawed. A fresh approach to privacy, resting on the idea of domination, is proposed, which is sensitive to the particularities of the employment relationship. Considering the fairness enquiry in dismissal, it argues that off-duty conduct may lead to lawful termination of employment only if there is a clear and present impact or a high likelihood of such impact on business interests; a speculative and marginal danger does not suffice. It further proposes that a particularly meticulous test is appropriate when certain suspect categories, such as the employees' sexual preferences, are at stake. [source] Exploring the potential benefits of Asian participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: The case of ChinaBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2010Liliane C. Mouan Abstract This paper is not intended as an empirical assessment of the benefits of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It is, rather, an evaluation of the theoretical presumptions that underpin the discussion about its benefits for Asian economies in general, and China in particular. The paper finds that, despite its well meaning objectives, the EITI might be of limited value for China and its Asian peers, not only because it faces general problems about legitimacy in non-Western circles, as do most Western-led multi-stakeholder partnerships, but also because the principles or values that it promotes are not aligned with China's culture, philosophy and business interests. The paper concludes with suggestions on how a stronger ,business case' for China's participation can be made. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] | ||||||||||