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Empirical Insights (empirical + insight)
Selected AbstractsReducing Irregular Migration from ChinaINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 3 2003James K. Chin With the development of China's economy since 1979, a new type of Chinese migration has emerged, which is more diversified and quite distinct from previous migration patterns. Trafficking in human beings and other forms of irregular migration are one of the most pressing and complex human rights issues today, reaching across borders and affecting most of the countries in the world, with new and serious security implications. As part of the international irregular migration flows toward and into the European Union (EU), the Chinese, particularly from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, have played a major role since the 1980s. To some extent, it could be said that China provides the largest number of East Asian irregular immigrants to Europe. Based on fieldwork conducted in southern China over the past seven years, this paper proposes to examine current Chinese irregular migration trends. It will further present the Government's response regarding the migratory modus operandi and policy implications with the aim of offering policy makers an empirical insight into the most active region of emigration in China. Because of the difficulty and sensitivity involved in collecting data on the topic, materials in this paper are mainly based on a content analysis of local Chinese newspapers and my interviews with various people involved in irregular migration activities, such as "snakeheads", illegal migrants and their family members, and police, local, and government officials at different levels. [source] Fads, Techniques and Control: The Competing Agendas of TPM and TECEX at the Royal Mail (UK)JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 4 2000Mike Noon The paper offers empirical insight into how traditional thinking can continue to dominate contemporary change initiatives, and suggests that the propensity to repackage and sell ,old' management theory as new techniques reflects the persistence of fundamental, insoluble dilemmas in the nature of organizing. Empirical evidence is drawn from a detailed qualitative study of two case study sites at the Royal Mail, the UK postal service. The analysis shows how the two different change initiatives of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and Technical Centres of Excellence (TECEX) are in competition through their methods and discourse, and how this reflects underlying and competing differences in ideologies of management. It vividly demonstrates how contemporary management thinking can involve repackaging old ideas in new rhetoric and a tendency for faddism. In organizations such as Royal Mail the consequence is that far from proving to be the solution to organizational problems, the techniques perpetuate a traditional management dualism in strategies of labour management between control and autonomy. [source] Divergent Hybrid Capitalisms in China: Hong Kong and Taiwanese Electronics Clusters in DongguanECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2007Chun Yang Abstract: This article explores and compares the changing dynamics and organization of cross-border production by Hong Kong and Taiwanese electronics firms in China, on the basis of more than 40 semistructured interviews with firms from April 2005 to January 2007 in various towns of Dongguan, an emergent "global factory" in south China. Despite initial resemblances, Hong Kong and Taiwanese electronics clusters have adopted different approaches to organize their cross-border production since the late 1990s. Little systemic comparative analysis has been conducted on the causes. The divergent practices can be interpreted as differences in corporate strategies of parent and branch firms, industrial policies in Hong Kong and Taiwan, linkages with global leaders, and home-host interactions in response to the challenges of globalization. To tap into the domestic market of mainland China, Hong Kong companies have tended to become "domestic firms," while Taiwanese companies have become wholly foreign owned and pursued a "pseudo-location" of suppliers of raw materials and components. The article concludes that more comparative studies are needed on divergent hybrid capitalisms that are driven by different sources of foreign direct investment in various host regions, so as to develop empirical insights into appropriate conceptual frameworks. [source] Accountability, Control and Independence: The Case of European AgenciesEUROPEAN LAW JOURNAL, Issue 5 2009Madalina Busuioc This article points at two problematic assumptions made in some of the contemporary European agency literature. It proposes a conceptual framework, integrating accountability, autonomy and control, and aims to demonstrate how this type of conceptualisation contributes to clarifying problematic aspects of the current European agency debate. Empirical evidence from interviews with high-level practitioners is provided to illustrate the relevance of the proposed framework. The empirical information reveals that, at times, the de facto level of autonomy displayed by some European agencies is below the autonomy provided by the formal legal rules as a result of ongoing controls exercised by one (or other) of the principals. The repercussions that flow from these empirical insights for the agency debate in general, as well as for our understanding of agency accountability, will be discussed at length. [source] An empirical analysis of the practices and therapeutic power of mood-alleviative consumption in FinlandPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 10 2002Harri T. Luomala This article tackles empirically the phenomenon of mood-alleviative consumption in Finland. In an attempt to advance consumer-behavior theory development toward building a theory or model of mood-alleviative consumption, empirical insights derived from Finnish consumers concerning the practices and therapeutic power of mood-alleviative consumption activities are offered. A phenomenological analysis identified eight types of therapeutic power stemming from different mood-alleviative consumption activities: distraction, self-indulgence, stimulated elaboration, outcomes of mood-alleviative activities, recharging, discharging, retreat, and activation. It was also discovered that certain mood-alleviative consumer behaviors can be therapeutic in multiple ways simultaneously, that different persons may experience the same mood-alleviative consumer behavior therapeutically differently, and that certain mood-alleviative consumption activities are more typically engaged in by women, whereas certain other mood-alleviative consumption activities are more typically pursued by men. The article is concluded by a discussion highlighting theoretical implications and suggestions for further research. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Beyond MIRAB: Do aid and remittances crowd out export growth in Pacific microeconomies?ASIA PACIFIC VIEWPOINT, Issue 1 2006Jon Fraenkel Abstract: The 1980s investigations of post-colonial Polynesian and Micronesian economies emphasised the role of aid, remittances and other rent incomes as ,booming sectors' which ,crowded out' export-driven growth. Contrary to orthodox theory-based models at that time being embraced by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (emphasising liberalisation and primary product export-oriented economic growth), Bertram and Watters instead highlighted long-run trade deficits and onshore government budget deficits, driven by reliance on overseas migration, remittances, aid and bureaucracy (MIRAB). ,Dependent development' was identified as ,both sustainable and preferable to a drive for self reliance', with the logical corollary that the objectives of the Pacific Islands should be ,the preservation and enhancement of their status as rentier societies'. Yet, this perspective has never sat easily with development-oriented Polynesian or Micronesian political leaders. Despite useful empirical insights, the MIRAB perspective informs a rather complacent and static view of Oceania as caught in some kind of ,steady state' equilibrium, and downplays the role of weak governance structures in inhibiting export production. This article argues that the strengths of the MIRAB thesis are primarily descriptive, whereas the analytical claims to have exposed what determines the evolution of the island economies merit reconsideration. [source] Examining Management Accounting Change as Rules and Routines: The Effect of Rule PrecisionAUSTRALIAN ACCOUNTING REVIEW, Issue 2 2010Rodney Coyte This study examines change in management accounting practices as change in rules and routines. Informed by the institutional theory-inspired framework of,Burns and Scapens (2000),,the rules and routines relating to capital expenditure controls in a capital-intensive organisation are analysed. We explain how preciseness of rules affects not only the coupling of rules to routines, but also the emergence of multiple routines, enhancing the understanding of how management accounting practices remain stable and/or change over time. These results extend and refine recent research relating to management accounting change and offer new empirical insights into practice. [source] | |||||||||||||