Management Study of Cross Border M&A in Post Deal Stage: When Chinese Company Acquired German Company

With the decades of rapid development of China's economy, especially in the latest 20 years, more and more Chinese enterprises went abroad to acquire high-tech enterprises from developed countries. To develop its Made in China 2025 plan, Chinese enterprises drew significant inspiration from Germany’s relevant experience and helped Chinese enterprises to discover the main reasons Chinese enterprises invest in Germany. Through acquisition, Chinese enterprises hope to achieve the perfection of the industrial chain through CBMA (cross border mergers and acquisitions) and further increase the value of Chinese enterprises; expand the business scale globally, realising scale advantages and enhancing market competitiveness; diversify and extend business to disperse business risk for enterprises; and improve the overall market layout and make up the shortcomings the enterprise has in a certain product region

The Political Economy of Work in Saudi Arabia: A Comparative Labour Process Analysis in Two Firms

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to an understanding of the specific nature of state-capital-labour relations at the workplace in order to shed light on the contradictions and class struggles that underpin Saudi capitalism. Theoretically, it challenges the 'functional' image of Saudi capitalism as 'Patrimonial Capitalism'. This political economy approach focuses on 'coherent' state-business relations underpinned by the coordination mechanisms of coercion and co-optation and the resultant 'institutional complementarities' of Saudi capitalism, neglecting the role of labour as an actor. The thesis argues that a focus on 'patrimonialism' draws attention away from the pressures of global capitalist dynamics (most notably through migrant labour), struggles at the workplace between different actors, and the institutional incoherence and incongruence of Saudi political economy. Instead, it engages with critical-materialist perspectives and looks at the workplace through the lens of labour process theory, hitherto under-researched in scholarship on Saudi Arabia. A comparative qualitative case study of a state-owned joint venture in the petrochemical sector and a family-owned firm in the construction sector yields three key findings. First, divisions among workers, particularly through reliance on non-Arab male migrants, are at the core of Saudi capitalism. Segmentation through the Kafala system is used as a spatial fix, for control at the workplace for wider social control, and for maintaining low costs of labour. Second, the workplace is a site of contest to a greater and lesser degree despite the high control over labour. Migrants as well as Saudis resist through sabotage, high turnover (particularly of Saudis) and in extreme cases though suicide (among migrants). Third, the evident conflicts at the workplace have implications for the functioning of state policies and firm practices. Neither migrants nor Saudi workers are passive recipients of state and firm policies: migrants are able to avoid the Kafala system through obtaining a 'free visa' and seeking recourse to concealed businesses known as tasattur. Both firms were seen to adopt creative techniques to circumvent, avoid or modify Saudisation policies at the workplace, while the state struggles to address unemployment among its citizens. Notably, the state is unable to enforce its Saudisation policies in its own firm. The thesis concludes that state-business relations, as argued by existing studies, are not sufficient to understand Saudi capitalism. It is essential to include the role of migrant labour, workplace dynamics and institutional incoherence and incongruence in the analysis. A focus on the workplace reveals and suggests that relations between various actors and spheres at various levels are not always coherent or complementary. Conflicts exist between different categories of workers, between capital and labour, and between the state and firms. The two patrimonial modes of coordination - coercion and co-optation, as exemplified by Kafala and Saudisation - do not function as expected, contradicting the patrimonial model of the alleged smooth state-business relations and of institutional complementarities.Saudi Arabian Cultural Burea

The Gender Wage Gap in Turkey's ICT Sector

This thesis examines the extent, nature, causes and implications of the gender wage gap in the growing and value-creating ICT sector in Turkey. Although gender wage gap studies have focused on various levels of aggregation in Turkey – from the economy as a whole to particular sectoral and occupational settings – the ICT sector in Turkey remains largely understudied. This thesis undertakes a primary quantitative and qualitative data collection approach and utilises a unique database as part of its mixed methods approach. In particular, the workforce of Turkey’s top 500 ICT companies (based on turnover) in 2015 was targeted for both quantitative and qualitative data collection with employees and owners of these companies approached via LinkedIn. Online questionnaires and in-person semi-structured interviews with employees were carried out during the data collection process. The most commonly used gender wage gap decomposition, both the simple and extended Blinder-Oaxaca models, was employed to calculate the gender wage gap in the Turkish ICT sector. The results of the decomposition indicated that the gender wage gap is relatively low (23 percent) within the Turkish ICT sector compared to other wage gap studies conducted on the overall Turkish economy. The most striking result from the decomposition analysis is that the gender wage gap in technical positions is much lower than in non-technical positions within the sector. The thesis demonstrates that the causes of this difference in the gender wage gap between technical and non-technical occupations are linked to the conventional causes of the gender wage gap, not least labour market discrimination and occupational segregation, while traditional explanations, such as human capital supply-side theories, cannot explain the gaps observed. The thesis further analyses the causes of the gender wage gap within the sector by utilising both quantitative and qualitative data collected during fieldwork, revealing that women are wage-discriminated against as a result of discriminatory practices during hiring, motherhood and occupational segregation. Perceived direct or indirect costs of hiring women with and without children are found to be one of the major reasons for discrimination. The current marriage compensation law is another reason women are assessed not only on the basis of their qualifications, skills and experience but also their personal characteristics such as age, marital status, having children and so on. These factors decrease women’s bargaining power during wage negotiations. Moreover, occupational segregation exists in the sector with technical fields predominantly occupied by male professionals. Women who do work in the technical areas tend to fill jobs with lower technical skill requirements, such as consultancy, as opposed to engineering or software development. Finally, the thesis investigates the Turkish state’s role in relation to development of the ICT sector, women’s employment and gender equality while considering Turkey’s industrial strategies and how the gender pay gap in the sector may be perceived and addressed in policy terms. The thesis highlights that, despite the recent rhetoric stating support for the production of technological knowledge and innovation via various projects, increased R&D funding, and newly established technology development zones and incentive schemes, the role of the state in relation to ICT sector development, employment and gender equality remains neglected in reality. Overall, the thesis makes an important contribution to research on gender equality and economic growth in rapidly industrialising countries and sectors such as Turkey and its ICT industry. It reveals that gender pay gaps need to be understood and analysed alongside a country’s growth strategy and at the sectoral and occupational level. Thereby, the thesis contributes to the literature in three ways: (1) conducting a gender wage gap analysis in a currently understudied labour market setting, the Turkish ICT sector, which is a value-adding and fast-growing sector; (2) using mixed methods and collecting and analysing a novel quantitative and qualitative database, generated from nearly 2000 respondents; and (3) developing a richer understanding of the causes of the pay gap and how these need to be understood alongside sectoral and economy-wide developments rather than treated in isolatio

The Impact of Global Value Chains on the Retention of Staff in Chinese SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent ninety-nine percent of China’s registered enterprises, yet they remain a much under researched phenomenon. In addition our knowledge of what constitutes human resource management (HRM) in Chinese enterprises is skewed, in that the majority of research is largely positivist and relies on responses from a single respondent, normally a manager. To respond to these lacuna this study is situated in six SMEs, all based in China, all supplying Buyer Driven Value Chains and all employing internal migrant workers. This marginalised group of migrant workers are the secret ingredient behind China’s economic miracle, which has historically relied on a largely passive, socially unequal workforce to underpin the cost effectiveness of the program of export orientated industrialisation (EOI), which has led to it being described as the workshop of the world. The study takes a longitudinal, qualitative, multi-stakeholder approach and utilising an inductive, social constructionist ontology has generated new insights into our knowledge of what constitutes the world of work from the perspective of the participants in it. Institutional and cultural influences are key determinants which impact the industrial relations process and practices, for example the Open Door and One Child policies and the pervasive cultural influence of guanxi, which are all evident in the empirical evidence. This study fills gaps in our knowledge and shows the construct of HRM is well understood in China. All practices are in use with subtle nuances, with the exception of appraisal, as it is culturally challenging, in that it is the opposite of the cultural preference of saving face. The study considers and contributes to the debate around global value chains (GVCs). Empirical evidence from the study clearly shows the asymmetrical patterns of power, in which lead firms keep a tight control on costs and concomitantly push risk further down the chain, which impedes their supplier’s ability to use HRM to aid staff retention

Perceptions regarding organisational citizenship behaviour in South African retail firms

The wholesale and retail industry is a more volatile nudstry, with respect to cyclical changes and global economic conditions, than many other industries. The growth of technology in this industry has led to informed customers, bringing with them many challenges to retailers, as these retailers have to win customer loyalty by focusing not only on prices and quality, but also on global competition. The heterogeneity as well as the illusive preferences, expectations, personality characteristics, attitudes, and desires of customers have created diverse and fast-evolving customer demand. As a result, retailers need to source highly customer-focused employees who are willing to go beyond their expected call of duties to satisfy customer needs and wants, thereby keeping firms competitive. This behaviour is called organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). OCB involves extra-role performance, which represents behaviours not formally required by any particular job, but which help to develop the social context of all jobs, thus facilitating effectiveness. Thus, retailers who encourage OCB among their employees are more likely to improve the performance of both the organisation and the employees, and increase the organisation’s competitiveness in the global economy. The primary objective of this study is to assess the perceptions of employees regarding OCB within retail firms in South Africa. A positivistic research paradigm was used, in this study, by means of quantitative research. Secondary data in the form of textbooks, journal articles and Internet sources provided the theoretical framework for this study. Primary data was obtained using the survey method, by means of self-administered structured questionnaires. The aim was to target 1000 employees in the retail industry (250 employees from each of the most economically active provinces, namely, the Eastern Cape; the Western Cape, Gauteng and Kwa-Zulu Natal). However, 690 questionnaires were returned and only 554 were usable, which amounts to an effective response rate of 80%. Seven null-hypotheses and a hypothetical model of employee perceptions regarding OCB behaviour in retail firms were tested. The influence of four independent variables were tested, these are: job perceptions, role considerations, organisational climate and employment considerations on OCB. In addition, three dependent variables, namely, employee commitment, propensity to leave and employee engagement were tested. The Statistica (version 12) computer programme was used to analyse the results by means of advanced statistical techniques (such as exploratory factor analysis, regression and correlation analysis) as well as descriptive analysis and frequency distributions. After various statistical procedures, the model was re-specified, some of the variables were renamed and the hypotheses were adjusted accordingly. The empirical results revealed that job considerations and employment considerations have a positive influence on both OCB related to compassion and OCB related to civic non-obligatory acts, while role considerations and job security were found to have no significant influence on both OCB related to compassion and OCB related to civic non-obligatory acts. Furthermore, the empirical results showed that OCB related to compassion have a positive influence on both organisational commitment and propensity to resign, while OCB related to civic non-obligatory acts has a positive influence on organisational commitment and its influence on propensity to resign was not significant. It is envisaged that the results of this study could assist retail firms to understand the variables that influence the organisational citizenship behaviour of employees. In addition, it is further envisaged that the results and recommendations of this study could be used to implement effective strategies in retail firms in order to ensure effective engagement in OCB related behaviour and to create awareness of the importance of employee engagement in organisational citizenship behaviour

Foreign Direct Investment in the City of Qingdao: Experiences of Chinese Workers in Foreign-Invested Enterprises, 1996 to 2009

The debate concerning whether foreign investment in developing nations benefits or exploits workers is a highly emotive and unresolved debate. This dissertation contributes to literature that explores the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on a host economy, more specifically on the experiences workers employed within foreign-invested enterprises in a developing nation. Amongst developing nations, China has absorbed the lion’s share of FDI throughout the 2000s and is therefore a sensible location to study the effects of FDI on a developing nation host economy. Given the variety in levels of economic development across China, we avoid errors of generalisation by targeting a specific location. Shandong is one of the most important – and understudied – provinces in China, contributing significantly to China’s economy and being the destination for an increasing share of China’s FDI; within Shandong, Qingdao is the most popular destination for FDI. Existing literature that explores the effects of FDI on host nation employees either takes a quantitative, macro-economic level approach, such as International Business literature, or uses qualitative methodology to give anecdotal evidence of worker experiences, such as in the globalisation and labour studies bodies of literature. We combine both these approaches to investigate the experiences of FIE employees in Qingdao. The key research findings are: a domination of South Korean, wholly foreign-owned enterprises targeting the relatively more labour-intensive manufacturing sectors from 1996 to 2006 in Qingdao, having implications in terms of FIE employment opportunities and human capital accumulation; a sharp decline in the size of the FIE workforce from 2007 to 2009, highlighting the potential problems a developing nation may face if it has a large concentration of ‘flexible’ foreign investments; and reports of a wide range of experiences of FIE employees engaged in more white-collar roles, including positive development opportunities and negative experiences of discrimination

Robots and AI

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are powerful forces that will likely have large impacts on the size, direction, and composition of international trade flows. This book discusses how industrial robots, automation, and AI affect international growth, trade, productivity, employment, wages, and welfare. The book explains new approaches on how robots and artificial intelligence affect the world economy by presenting detailed theoretical framework and country-specific as well as firm-product level-specific exercises. This book will be a useful reference for those researching on robots, automation, AI and their economic impacts on trade, industry, and employment

Beyond transparency : collective engagement in sustainable design

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-104).For a timely answer to the question of sustainability, or how to provide for future generations, there needs to be shared accounting of our social and physical resources. Supply chain transparency makes it possible to map resource flows and ensure dependable production while avoiding social and environmental problems. Open channels of communications can support a collective effort to account for the impacts of supply chains and engage more people in the invention of long-term solutions, or sustainable design. This thesis proposes a crowd-sourced approach to resource accounting through the democratization of sustainable design. A web-based social network called Sourcemap was built to link diverse stakeholders through an open forum for supply chain transparency and environmental assessment. The scalable system points the way towards comprehensive sustainability accounting through the distributed verification of industrial practices. Sourcemap was developed over a two-year period in partnership with regional organizations, large businesses and SME's. Small business case studies show that an open social media platform can motivate sustainable practices at an enterprise level and on a regional scale. The public-facing supply chain publishing platform actively engages communities of producers, experts, consumers and oversight groups. Thousands of user-generated contributions point towards the need to improve the quality of transparency to form a broadly accessible resource for sustainability accounting.by Leonardo Bonanni.Ph.D