Suchergebnisse

This article reports a study of the effects of socio-cultural factors on business organizations. The difficulties of generating a conceptual framework for carrying out such a study are discussed and a framework proposed. Six American manufacturing firms operating in Britain are selected for study and carefully compared with a closely matched sample of British manufacturing firms. A wide range of hypothesized differences is then drawn from the existing literature and the theoretical framework and tested. The similarities and differences between the two groups of firms from the point of view of organizational structure and process, and the characteristics of the management are reported. The study concludes with some observations on the difficulty of separating out cultural and economic factors in the explanation of the structure and process of economic organizations.

A method whereby sperm nuclei on the perivitelline membrane are stained and
counted under a photomicroscope has been used extensively in the poultry
industry to show a correlation between egg infertility and low numbers of
spermatozoa near the site of fertilisation. It has been suggested that this
method could also be potentially useful for assessing infertility problems in
endangered species. For poultry, the staining technique is normally applied to
fresh (i.e. unincubated) eggs, but conservation managers normally collect eggs
for examination only after they have been incubated for several days and then
assessed (by candling) to lack a developing embryo. Whether sperm would
persist on the perivitelline membrane of infertile eggs incubated over several
days is not known. In relation to our research on egg infertility in the
endangered takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri), we examined
the above problem by comparing sperm counts on the membrane of fresh versus
incubated infertile eggs from artificially inseminated domestic turkey
(Meleagris gallopavo). We were able to detect sperm in
most infertile eggs that had not been incubated, but no sperm at all were
detected in infertile eggs that were incubated for seven days, suggesting that
warming of the eggs may cause the sperm on the membrane to degrade. The
inherent fragility of avian sperm nuclei may limit the usefulness of this
technique for assessing infertility in takahe and other species where failed
(non-developing) eggs are not removed from the nest until after a short period
of incubation.

The New Labour government elected in May 1997 claimed that it would modernise the welfare state, by rejecting the solutions of both the Old Left and the New Right. New Labour, new welfare state? provides the first comprehensive examination of the social policy of New Labour; compares and contrasts current policy areas with both the Old Left and the New Right and applies the concept of the 'third way' to individual policy areas and to broader themes which cut across policy areas. The contributors provide a comprehensive account of developments in the main policy areas and in the themes of citizenship and accountability, placing these within a wider framework of the 'third way'. They find a complex picture. Although the exact shape of the new welfare state is difficult to detect, it is clear that there have been major changes in areas such as citizenship, the mixed economy of welfare, the centrality of work in an active welfare state, and the appearance of new elements such as joined up government at the centre and new partnerships of governance at the periphery. New Labour, new welfare state? provides topical information on the debate on the future of the welfare state and is essential reading for students and researchers in social policy, politics and sociology