Suchergebnisse

There has been limited coverage of the corporate responsibility (CR) practices of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the mainstream CR literature. Furthermore, there has been no systematic analysis of the responsibilities of the high value jewellery industry and jewellery SMEs in particular. This study explores the potential for harm and value creation by individual stakeholders in fine jewellery production. Using the harm chain and institutional theory to frame our investigation, we seek to understand how small businesses within the fine jewellery industry respond to the economic, social and environmental challenges associated with responsible jewellery production, and to investigate how they perceive and negotiate the tensions between responsibility and the resistance derived from the operational norms of secrecy and autonomy within the industry. Our exploratory research provides illustrative examples of how complex harm networks operate within and across the fine jewellery industry, and demonstrates the interrelationships that exist across the different stages of the fine jewellery harm chain. Findings suggest that institutional forces are coalescing towards a more responsible agenda for the fine jewellery industry. Moreover, while CR is a tool to disrupt harmful institutional norms and practices within such an industry, it requires the co-creation of new transformative business models and multi-stakeholder involvement including firms (SMEs and MNEs), trade associations, nongovernmental organisations and consumers. Solutions include national and international legislation, price adjusted certification routes for small firms, harmonisation of industry CR standards to reduce overlap in certification and regulation and gem and precious metal ''track and trace'' schemes.

This paper presents the findings of a study on the decline of a typical Marshallian industrial district: the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter (UK). The paper contributes to the current debate on clusters' life cycle, by presenting a multidisciplinary methodology that combines historical and economic analyses with demography and organisational ecology models. We seek to explore the patterns of firms' birth and mortality rates, as well as firm density across branches of production activities in the Jewellery Quarter to better understand its shift from maturity to its more recent decline.

Design has few catalysts to match the Dutch artistic collective De Stijl, which was founded in 1917, by four like-minded creative people who contributed to the radical journal, all eventually becoming a pivotal force in the creation of the modern movement. The collective instigated mass manufacturing methods and foreshadowing the democratisation of design as it is experienced today; paradoxically for this thesis the collective ventured into neither clothing nor jewellery. Addressing such an omission, this research employs aspects of De Stijl as the catalyst to investigate new egalitarian ways to cause jewellery and clothing to work collaboratively, by way of emancipating both and creating each as equals. The study is predominantly about first world societies, and covers a time span from 1917-2016, a context within which I have interrogated commonly held notions about jewellery and fashion clothing . Importantly the manner in which we use each, to identify and /or adorn the body, together with an overriding sense of hierarchy that one usually holds over the other, a hierarchy that varies in differing circumstances. Key expressions guiding this research are aspects of Piet Mondrian s neoplastic abstract theory, and the enduring intention of the De Stijl collective to take good design to the masses. The modern movement s philosophy of minimalism and reduction was also an important factor influencing the research. Additional study was undertaken, included researching systems within collective thinking, with the intention to grasp how an offered design moves from being possibly only a speculative idea, to being an innovation collectively embraced by a mainstream audience. The effective dissemination of a concept to a mass market has been an important factor at the studio practice nexus of this study, where advanced manufacturing laser sintering has enabled the study to employ semi mass manufacturing techniques to simulate a mass-market product. Other elements of the collectives design investigations have filtered ...

Among the bronze items dating to Latvia's Late Bronze Age (1100–500 BC) and the Pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 BC) there are rings with open ends that resemble bracelets or necklaces by size. The number of bronze rings and their fragments is not large – 57 units, but that of fragments of casting moulds is much higher – 856. The article deals with the data of both these rings and the respective castings. The main focus is on the problem of the function of these rings: whether they were ingots or jewellery. The author argues that, although bronze rings were used as jewellery, it was probably not their only or even their main function. Bronze rings were used for more convenient storing and transporting of metal, but also as a value equivalent in exchange operations.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate internet adoption of very small B2B firms in Greece. This study aims to construct a model which will classify companies according to internet activities undertaken and then to explore whether different adoption can be interpreted by business demographics and a limited number of perceived barriers.


Design/methodology/approach
– This empirical research was carried out by the means of survey focussing on the Greek jewellery industry. Data were submitted to a sequence of statistical analyses resulting to a model of Internet adoption. The model was then bench marked to representative domestic and international adoption patterns.


Findings
– Firms can be classified into three groups, ranging from non-adopters to relatively mature adopters, similarly to previous patterns of international B2B small to medium enterprises. Business size and type, international cooperation and knowledge with regards to internet proved to be significantly correlated to adoption status.


Research limitations/implications
– The paper focusses on one Greek business sector and thus the applicability of its results to cross-type international micro-businesses remains questionable.


Practical implications
– The findings of this study can assist company owners to plan their internet strategy, software vendors to target firms by offering tailored solutions and governmental authorities to implement initiatives aiming to confront the highlighted internet adoption disablers.


Originality/value
– This is one of a few information and communication technology studies that focus on very small companies and perhaps the only one providing an empirical classification model of internet adoption for this business size.

The activity of jewellery and art artels during the War is almost not covered in Soviet historiography because of the specifi cs of this industry. The proposed article analyses the change in the composition of jewellery artels of the Upper Volga region in the period of 1941-1945. The contribution of cooperatives to the supply of clothing to the Red Army is examined. Particular attention is paid to providing civilians with such specifi c goods as jewellery and art products. To study this issue, little-studied archival sources were used; some of them were declassifi ed only recently. In general, the products of jewellery
cooperatives of the Upper Volga region during World War II can be divided into several groups: 1. Items that continued the tradition of local art crafts: jewellery and art products (earrings, brooches, cigarette cases, decoration buttons, etc.) 2. Metal haberdashery: metal dishes, metal pads on bags and briefcases, etc. 3. Military products: insignia and buttons for military uniforms, parts for gas masks and parachutes, medical equipment.

The rural jewellery artisans of Ranthali, a remote village in Assam, India, famous for its traditional gold jewellery craftsmaking, had been facing a dwindling business for several decades, inspite of such craftsmanship being a flourishing rural industry of the region till the 18th & 19th century. In the year 2010, under the MSE-CDP scheme, livelihood interventions were made through clustering these artisans, in an effort to revive them and make them economically sustainable. This research paper presents an analysis of a study conducted amongst the artisans of Ranthali to assess (a) whether cluster interventions helped enhance artisans' livelihood and income using the livelihood model 'The Coolie's Framework' and; (b)whether sustainable economic outcome has been achieved. The study relied mostly on primary data sources collected on the field. It concludes that though clustering for economic growth has several challenges, however, with a holistic approach and continuous multiple interventions over several years, certain successful changes were made. In the case of Ranthali, today, 300 artisans are into jewellery making as their primary occupation from the previous number of 150 & the ecosystem created has helped all 300 artisans to have their own household units with 20 of them having formal registered units. Keywords: Clusters, Traditional Artisans, Sustainability, Holistic Approach, Ecosystem

Using Acker's concept of 'inequality regimes', this article examines the practices and processes of gender inequality in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, highlighting the complex and subtle nature of discrimination sometimes at play and the strategies used by those who progress within this context. The project involved in-depth interviews during which participants recounted their career stories. Our research study examines the ways in which men and women in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter account for their careers in order to examine the underlying gender regimes that influence the everyday practices of workers in this context. Our findings suggest that contrary to contemporary images of the creative industries, jewellery making remains deeply traditional with structures and processes that both overtly and covertly disadvantage women workers. Empirically, this article enhances our understanding of the way that this creative cluster operates and examines how that disadvantages particular groups of workers. Theoretically, this article contributes to our knowledge of the use of the concept of gender regimes at a cluster level.