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The 1990s has been a boom period of enterprise systems (ES). Many organizations have experienced the technical, integration and business process re-engineering benefits of implementing ES. As of today, a number of ES have been developed, namely customer relationship management systems (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. In particular, CRM systems have gained significant interest, both in the industry as well as in the academic area, in the recent years. The understanding of the customer's perspective would help to define the CRM systems to better cater to the customers' needs in achieving their loyalty and satisfaction. With a better understanding from the point of the customers, management would be able to plot their directions in their CRM endeavour. Therefore, this research intends to look at CRM systems from the perspective of the customer through the conduct of focus group discussion.

Les soins palliatifs en gériatrie représentent incontestablement un défi pour les années à venir. Ce défi ne tient pas aux soins palliatifs en eux mêmes, mais bien plutôt au contexte éthique, organisationnel, démographique et économique qui les entoure. Confrontés à la multiplicité de ces défis, devons-nous rester résolument optimistes à la lumière des pratiques de soins palliatifs gériatriques efficaces qui se maintiennent en dépit de toutes les difficultés? Ou devenir au contraire pessimistes en considérant que nous sommes confrontés à des forces beaucoup plus puissantes que celle de notre expérience de soignants? Le défi démographique, ce véritable «boom des mourants âgés» que nous allons connaître dans la première partie du XXIe siècle nous contraindra peut-être à relever tous les autres défis, pour donner leur véritable place aux soins palliatifs gériatriques.

Main description: Das Outsourcing von internen Servicebereichen wie IT, Gebäudemanagement oder Fuhrparkverwaltung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Praxis wie in der Theorie für Aufsehen gesorgt. In der Praxis ist ein anhaltender Boom des Outsourcings festzustellen.Aus theoretischer Sicht stellt Outsourcing einen typischen Anwendungsfall für die Theorie der Unternehmung dar. Dabei ist festzustellen, dass insbesondere institutionenökonomische Ansätze die spezifischen Nachteile des Outsourcings erklären können, nicht jedoch die spezifischen Vorteile. Der Autor nimmt diesen Widerspruch zwischen Theorie und empirischer Erfahrung auf und sucht auf ökonomischer Basis nach theoretischen Erklärungen des Phänomens.Nach einer einführenden Charakterisierung und ökonomischen Interpretation von Servicebereichen sowie des Outsourcings stellt Stefan Osterloh die einschlägige empirische Literatur dar. Es zeigt sich, dass Kosteneinsparungen als dominantes Motiv des Outsourcings anzusehen sind. Die dafür angeführten Erklärungen erscheinen jedoch - v. a. angesichts der arbeitsrechtlichen Gesetzgebung - nur beschränkt plausibel. Daher werden im Weiteren aus theoretischer Perspektive institutionenökonomische Ansätze auf ihre Erklärungskraft hin untersucht. Jedoch finden sich auch hier kaum Anhaltspunkte für eine Vorteilhaftigkeit des Outsourcings.Jan Osterloh stellt vor diesem Hintergrund einen eigenen Ansatz vor, in dem kognitionstheoretische Argumente in die Agenturtheorie integriert werden. In der Tradition der Spezialisierungseffekte wird dabei v. a. auf die Kontrollfähigkeit eines Prinzipals abgestellt, die maßgeblich durch das Wissen über Produktionsabläufe bestimmbar ist. Mit Hilfe dieses Ansatzes lässt sich eine notwendige Bedingung für die Vorteilhaftigkeit des Outsourcings demonstrieren

▪ Abstract  The scope for an anthropology of mining has been dramatically transformed since the review by Ricardo Godoy, published in this review journal in 1985. The minerals boom of the 1980s led to an aggressive expansion of mine development in greenfield areas, many of them the domains of indigenous communities. Under considerable pressure, the conventional binary contest between states and corporations over the benefits and impacts of mining has been widened to incorporate the representations of local communities, and broad but unstable mining communities now coalesce around individual projects. Focused primarily on projects in developing nations of the Asia-Pacific region, this review questions the often-monolithic characterizations of state, corporate, and community forms of agency and charts the debate among anthropologists involved in mining, variously as consultants, researchers, and advocates, about appropriate terms for their engagement.

Abstract
Empirical studies have repeatedly documented the countercyclical nature of trade barriers. In this paper, we propose a simple theoretical framework that is consistent with this and other empirical regularities in the relationship between protection and the business cycle. Focusing on self-enforcing trade agreements, we find theoretical support for countercyclical movements in protection levels. The fast growth in trade volume that is associated with a boom phase facilitates the maintenance of more liberal trade policies than can be sustained during a recession phase in which growth is slow. We also find that acyclic increases in the level of trade volume give rise to protection, implying that whether rising imports are met with greater liberalization or increased protection depends on whether they are part of a cyclic upward trend in trade volume or an acyclic increase in import levels.

Education in Hong Kong has developed rapidly since the 70s in parallel with the economic boom. To support such development, the government has invested heavily in initial teacher education and will soon impose professional training and graduate qualifications as prerequisites for entering the profession. Continuous teacher education (CTE), generally regarded as equally important as initial teacher education if not more so, is not given comparable emphasis. This paper aims to study CTE in Hong Kong, including its policy, practice and provision at the system level. Some special features of the system are identified and scrutinized, including ad hoc, policy led, and competence based. The centrally provided CTE is also closely examined in terms of its relevance to the profession, impact on schools, and cost-effectiveness. The paper ends with a close look at its latest developments, obstacles encountered and prospects. ; postprint

A review essay on books by (1) R. Brenner, The Boom and the Bubble (London: Verso, 2002); (2) J. Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents (New York: Norton, 2002); & (3) G. Soros, On Globalization (New York: Public Affairs, 2002), all examining the global economy against the backdrop of the Bush administration's adoption of a militarized & unilateralist foreign policy that led to the US war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The argument is that the shift in US foreign policy is a response to both domestic & global challenges. However, there is little reason to believe that this new direction represents a realistic response to the considerable fragilities of the current global economy. On the contrary, the new US foreign policy might better be understood as a symptom of a deepening global crisis. 26 References. Adapted from the source document.

The concerns not only of the Slavic minorities are gaining in significance with the forthcoming eastward enlargement of the European Union. The Russians or Ruthenians are a Slavic ethnic group, which is mainly located in the Carpathian region as a border area between Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine, an excellent example of this, as their culture and language not only in a historical and religious, but also developed in a linguistic border or transition area. Only at the turn of the last century did they succeed in gaining greater attention for their language and culture. In the course of the last century, the development of their language has fluctuated regionally between oppression and normalization / codification. This was accompanied by the weakening or strengthening of Russian identity, which experienced an unexpected boom at the end of the 20th century after the end of the communist regime.

This paper explores the complementary use of two instruments to manage capital-account volatility in developing countries: capital-account regulations and counter-cyclical prudential regulation of domestic financial intermediaries. Capitalaccount regulations can provide useful instruments in terms of both improving debt profiles and facilitating the adoption of (possibly temporary) counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies. Prudential regulation and supervision should take into account not only the microeconomic risks, but also the macroeconomic risks associated with boom-bust cycles. It should thus introduce counter-cyclical elements into prudential regulation and supervision, together with strict rules to prevent currency mismatches and reduce maturity mismatches. These instruments should be seen as a complement to counter-cyclical macroeconomic policies and, certainly, neither of them can nullify the risks that pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies may generate. – cycles ; capital flows ; prudential regulation ; counter-cyclical policies

In its difficult transition to democracy & a market economy, Russia has experienced a veritable boom of illegal markets, specifically the drug market. Drawing on the results of a study conducted on behalf of the UN, the first part of the article reconstructs the expansion of illegal drug consumption & trade in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It points, in particular, to the rapid diffusion of heroin, a substance that was virtually unknown in the former Soviet Union. The second part of the article reviews the measures taken by the Russian government to tackle illegal drug use & trafficking. It concludes that -- just as in the US -- Russia's drug policy is focused on supply reduction, whereas more funds & energies should be invested on the demand side for drug prevention, treatment, & harm reduction. 21 References. [Copyright 2002 Sage Publications, Inc.]

When a more peaceful Southern Africa opened up to the world in the 1990s, it became a transit hub and consumer market for international flows of illegal drugs. This seems paradoxical, for the drug phenomenon, especially in developing regions, is frequently depicted as a consequence of exceptional circumstances ‐ war, the absence of the rule of law, or conversely, the rule of some dictatorial or oppressive regime. How can we explain this boom in drug activities after "normalisation" allowed Southern Africa to linkwith global movements, and not when it was prey to institutionalised racism and war? This article attempts to provide elements for an answer, by suggesting that, at present, drug activities are one of the modes in which substantial, historical, political, social, and economic arrangements are expressed and reproduced within Southern Africa and between it and the rest of the world.

As social work begins its second century, it has a "back to the community" ring to it. Community practice in myriad forms is commanding a greater space and place in social work education and practice, not only as a major area of specialization but also in the generalist BSW and MSW curricula. Community practice is also growing because of special interest groups such as the Association for Community Organization and Social Administration and the research and program development interests of faculty in community collaborations and other innovations in the field. Job opportunities, programs, conditions, and policies of these times all point to the growing need for skilled and principled professionals to collectively address the issues facing the people and places left out of the U.S. economic boom at the end of the 20th century and to sustain thriving and inclusive communities.

When a more peaceful southern Africa opened up to the world in the 1990s, it became a transit hub & consumer market for international flows of illegal drugs. This seems paradoxical, for the drug phenomenon, especially in developing regions, is frequently depicted as a consequence of exceptional circumstances -- war, the absence of the rule of law, or conversely, the rule of some dictatorial or oppressive regime. How can we explain this boom in drug activities after "normalization" allowed southern Africa to link with global movements, & not when it was prey to institutionalized racism & war? This article attempts to provide elements for an answer, by suggesting that, at present, drug activities are one of the modes in which substantial, historical, political, social, & economic arrangements are expressed & reproduced within southern Africa & between it & the rest of the world. 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

The US is witnessing a boom in the child protection industry. However, what the child protection industry fails to recognize is that none of the new technologies offers a solution to the social & political-economic problems associated with the scattering of the extended family & the increased number of hours that parents are spending working outside the home. Middle-class parents, in particular, are reacting to the new economic system by purchasing surveillance technology in an effort to ensure that their child care situation is safe, stimulating, & loving. However, the "connectedness" that parents may feel through computer surveillance cannot solve the complex problems stemming from the unequal distribution of domestic love, money, care, & household labor. Finally, until the state realizes that subsidized, quality childcare is a necessity, children will continue to suffer. 44 References. K. Larsen