The Employment Regimes of Industrial Districts: Promises, Myths, and Realities

"The industrial district model views socially and regionally integrated economic relations as the basis for competitive and viable regional economies. The "socially embedded" organization of production in industrial districts is said to have emancipatory effects for labor and regional economies. This paper challenges this view. Recent developments of inter-firm relations in industrial districts in the "Third Italy" and Baden-Württemberg, the "model cases" in the district literature, reveal a number of tensions and contradictions, with precarious outcomes for labor and employment. Contradictions between local needs and global forces, business flexibility and employment security, risk sharing and risk shifting, and business efficiency and employment equity raise doubts about industrial districts as a model for "labor friendly" regional economic development." (author's abstract)"Das Modell des industriellen Distrikt betrachtet die soziale Integration wirtschaftlicher Beziehungen in die regionale Gemeinschaft als Basis für die Wettbewerbs- und Überlebensfähigkeit des Distrikts als Produktionsorganisation. Aus dieser "sozialen Einbettung" werden gewöhnlich emanzipatorische Auswirkungen für Arbeiternehmer und Regionalwirtschaft abgeleitet. Der vorliegende Aufsatz widerspricht dieser These. Neuere Entwicklungen in industriellen Distrikts im "Dritten Italien" und Baden-Württemberg, den "Modellfällen" der Distriktliteratur, deuten auf Spannungen und Widersprüche. Widersprüche zwischen lokalen Bedürfnissen und globalen Kräften, betriebliche Flexibilität und Beschäftigungssicherheit, Risikoteilung und Risikoverlagerung, und betriebliche Effizienz und Arbeitsgerechtigkeit lassen Zweifel am industriellen Distrikt als Modell für eine "arbeitnehmerfreundliche" Regionalentwicklung angebracht erscheinen." (Autorenreferat

A historical who\u27s who of Vermont theatre

Occasional paper (University of Vermont. Center for Research on Vermont) ; no. 13

The life and work of Major Percy Alexander MacMahon

This thesis describes the life and work of the mathematician Major Percy Alexander MacMahon (1854 - 1929). His early life as a soldier in the Royal Artillery and events which led to him embarking on a career in mathematical research and teaching are dealt with in the first two chapters. Succeeding chapters explain the work in invariant theory and partition theory which brought him to the attention of the British mathematical community and eventually resulted in a Fellowship of the Royal Society, the presidency of the London Mathematical Society, and the award of three prestigious mathematical medals and four honorary doctorates. The development and importance of his recreational mathematical work is traced and discussed. MacMahon's career in the Civil Service as Deputy Warden of the Standards at the Board of Trade is also described. Throughout the thesis, his involvement with the British Association for the Advancement of Science and other scientific organisations is highlighted. The thesis also examines possible reasons why MacMahon's work, held in very high regard at the time, did not lead to the lasting fame accorded to some of his contemporaries. Details of his personal and social life are included to give a picture of MacMahon as a real person working hard to succeed in a difficult context

Pragmatic and romantic incomers: a study of power and influence in Orkney

This thesis offers an anthropological study of the Orkney archipelago. It demonstrates the extent to which outsiders have always sought to influence the life of the islands. In doing this, it draws a distinction between pragmatic and romantic incomers. Pragmatic incomers have always come to Orkney for a purpose, most often to take up the possession of land or office. They have established a tradition of incomer hegemony, which dominates the formal political mechanisms of the islands. In contrast, a recent influx of romantically minded English middle class incomers has changed this pattern. These people have settled in Orkney as a means of escaping the modern world. Similar individuals are to be found in other parts of the North, but Orkney is unique in having a large concentration of these "white settlers". However, Orkney's romantic incomers have not been accommodated within the established incomer hegemony. Despite this, they have acquired an outstanding degree of local political control through their activities as conservationists. Here, the mechanism of political organisation has been the voluntary association. The importance of voluntary association as a social and political device is considered in detail. Thus, the romantics have acquired power through informal means.The attributes of pragmatic and romantic incomers alike are reviewed. The evolution of the tradition of pragmatic incomer dominance is traced from earliest times. The difference between the romantics and the pragmatists and the success of the romantics in winning power are explored in a general fashion, before being illustrated in four case studies concerned with environmental protests.Ultimately, the claim that incomers have always exerted influence over local life is substantiated. This is offered as an important insight into the politics of island life. Indeed, it is suggested that the example of incomer influence within Orkney may very well be unique in the context of Scotland as a whole. In this way, the thesis claims to have taken up and to have highlighted a compelling issue