"The Role of the Government in Facilitating TFP Growth during Japan's Rapid Growth Era"

Japan experienced high growth of TFP following World War II. This paper studies the sources of this technological growth and documents the role played by different government policies in achieving such growth. We find that in nonagricultural sectors, TFP growth occurred at first through the import of foreign technologies via licensing, and subsequently through the innovation of its own technologies. In agriculture, TFP grew mostly through the development of its own technologies. The Japanese government played a part in the growth of TFP by directing the adoption of foreign technologies, promoting coordination of R&D activities, and setting up channels for the domestic diffusion of available technologies.

Workers without Rights

In the United States the Civil Rights Movement emerging after World War II ended Jim Crow racism, with its legal segregation and stigmatization of black people. Yet black people, both in chattel slavery and under Jim Crow, had provided abundant labor subject to racist terror; they were workers who could be recruited for work others were unwilling to do. What was to replace this labor, which had been the source of so much wealth and power? Three federal initiatives helped to create new workers without rights: the welfare reform law of 1996 and the changes in immigration and crime law and policy both starting in the mid-1960s. These changes re-created vulnerable labor, disproportionately marked and stigmatized as black or Mexican. These workers create a central strength of U.S. imperialism: cheap food. Because workers without rights have an important function in a capitalist economy, a society where all workers can flourish is not capitalist but communist

CTT in the digitalization era

The world is in constant change and the rapid evolution of technology, among other factors, plays an important role. Thus, it is crucial for organizations to adapt and to implement organizational changes and strategic decisions in order to survive in highly dynamic environments. To better illustrate the theoretical views with a real-life example, I selected the centenary Portuguese postal operator named CTT and how it has responded to the heavy decline of the Mail business. The case study intends to demonstrate the importance of identifying exogenous shocks in the operating market and the associated challenges that can arise to companies. Furthermore, it enhances how poor organizational performance can be a main driver for change. As a response to the shifts in the industry, CTT had a late implementation of a diversification strategy, mainly focused on two growth levers – Banking and Parcels sectors. Nonetheless, the case study shows how CTT’s diversification attempts have affected its core business and its competitive advantage. Moreover, it illustrates the importance of accessing Dynamic Capabilities in order to respond to dynamic environments.O mundo está em constante mudança e para tal contribui, além de outros fatores, a rápida evolução da tecnologia. Por isso, é crucial que as organizações se adaptem e implementem mudanças organizacionais e decisões estratégicas para sobreviver em ambientes altamente dinâmicos. Para melhor ilustrar as visões teóricas com um exemplo da vida real, decidi selecionar o centenário operador postal português CTT e analisar a sua resposta ao forte declínio do sector postal. O caso de estudo pretende demonstrar a importância de identificar choques exógenos no mercado operacional e os desafios associados que podem surgir para as empresas. O caso identifica, ainda, o fraco desempenho organizacional como um possível fator que desencadeia a mudança. Em resposta às mudanças na indústria, os CTT adotaram tardiamente uma estratégia de diversificação, focada principalmente em duas alavancas de crescimento – o setor bancário e de encomendas. No entanto, o caso dos CTT realça como as tentativas de diversificação da empresa acabaram por afetar o seu negócio principal e a sua vantagem competitiva. Além disso, o caso ilustra perfeitamente a importância da utilização das Dynamic Capabilities para responder a estes ambientes dinâmicos

Japanese Lifetime Employment: A Century's Perspective

This paper examines the origins and dynamic evolution of the lifetime employment system in Japan from the beginning of the 20th century to present. Based on the historical perspective developed in the paper, we derive implications to the future course of the Japanese employment system. In this paper, we view lifetime employment as an economic as well as social institution, characterized by an implicit contract and reciprocal exchange of trust, goodwill, and commitment between employers and workers. We argue that this institution emerged as an equilibrium outcome of the dynamic interactions among management, labor, and government and became an integral part of the nation's employment system over the past hundred years, reinforced by complementary institutions such as state welfare policies, labor laws, corporate governance, social norms, family values, and education system. Based on our long-run historical analysis, we reevaluate the cost and benefit both in terms of economic and social of the lifetime employment system and explore the factors that determine its efficiency and stability. We emphasize the importance of understanding labor market conditions, technology and the nature of human capital, interactions between social and economic aspects of employment relations, and the role of complementary institutions. The paper concludes by assessing changes in these factors in the post-bubble period, offering some insights to the future course of the Japanese employment system.Japan; institutional change; lifetime employment; implicit contract; labor laws; social norms; war; zaibatsu; state welfare policies; division of labor; gender; demand-side shocks; supply-side shocks.

Automation and computer integrated manufacturing in food processing industry: an appraisal

This study is concerned with a research programme on automation and computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) in food processing industry, culminating in an implementation framework detailing the extent of automation and application of computer based technologies in Irish food processing industries. This work involved with designing of a postal survey questionnaire and mailing it to 221 manufacturing companies, and designing a web-based survey and emailing it to 31 manufacturing companies in the Republic of Ireland. Questions were designed to capture information about the level of automation, envisaged level of automation, motivation and obstacles to implement computer-based technology, and the extent of implementation of CIM environments at plants. The key findings point to the existence of a linear relationship between practice and performance. From the perspective of competitive advantage, the traditional postal survey gives a higher response rate than web-based survey, but on the other hand the web based survey takes shorter response time and cost s less than a traditional postal survey. The results of this study show variable levels of automation. A large number of the manufacturing plants are applying automation, and are trying to increase the automation level m their plants. This work has demonstrated that the manufacturers have the desire to adopt CIM systems at different levels, despite the cost obstacle of implementing them

Great Surges of development and alternative forms of globalization

The present understanding of globalization is inextricably tied to the free market ideology for both proponents and opponents. This paper will argue that globalization has many potential forms of which the neo-liberal recipe, applied up to now, is only one. Globalization need not be neo-liberal. A pro-development version of globalization has not yet been designed or defended as such. It will be argued that, without it, not only would it be very difficult to relaunch development in the South but also to overcome the present instabilities, imbalances and recessionary trends in the economies of the North.

Institutional Alternatives in African Smallholder Irrigation: Lessons from International Experience with Irrigation Management Transfer

Irrigation management / small scale systems / instituions / international corporation / sustaionable agriculture / farmers' associations / water rights / water allocations / water management / Operations / irrigation systems / labor / irrigated farming / farm income / farm size / rain-fed farming,Sprinkler irrigation / wheat / maize,Africa / Zimbabwe / Niger / Burkina Faso / India / Bangladesh / Pakistan