Foreign Direct Investments in Business Services: Transforming the Visegrád Four Region into a Knowledge-based Economy?

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) in the service sector are widely attributed an important role in bringing more skill-intensive activities into the Visegrad Four (V4). This region—comprising Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia—relied heavily on FDIs in manufacturing, which was often found to generate activities with limited skill content. This contribution deconstructs the chaotic concept of “business services” by analysing the actual nature of service sector activities outsourced and offshored to the V4. Using the knowledge-based economy (KBE) as a benchmark, the paper assesses the potential of service sector outsourcing in contributing to regional competitiveness by increasing the innovative capacity. It also discusses the role of state policies towards service sector FDI (SFDI). The analysis combines data obtained from case studies undertaken in service sector outsourcing projects in V4 countries. Moreover, it draws on interviews with senior employees of investment promotion agencies and publicly available data and statistics on activities within the service sector in the region. It argues that the recent inward investments in business services in the V4 mainly utilize existing local human capital resources, and their contribution to the development of the KBE is limited to employment creation and demand for skilled labour

Global Financial Information, Compliance Incentives and Conflict Funding

Interdiction of terrorist funds has become a priority for intergovernmental cooperation. Logically, this initiative should affect SDM financing as well as conflict funding more generally - particularly where incumbent states can outlaw such movements. However, multilateral and unilateral attempts to ensure timely reporting of transactions made by targeted individuals or groups, and to deny them access to the international financial system, have had limited success. This is mainly due to economic disincentives for the disclosure of the identity and purpose of transacting agents, particularly those using correspondent banking services, informal money transfer networks and offshore financial centres. Solutions should be based on positive incentives for disclosure, and could include trans-border withholding taxes on transactions with unregulated clients and the provision of affordable transfer systems for emigrants. But this in turn would require a clear and practicable definition of the 'right to self-determination' in terms of international jurisdiction.

Health and safety management in the offshore oil industry

This work-based project is an investigation of the interaction between multicultural crews and safety management systems and the influences of this interaction on health and safety in the offshore oil Industry. This study has been carried out in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctorate of Professional Studies at the Institute of Work Based Learning, Middlesex University, London. The aim of this project is to minimise occupational casualties in the industry by exploring the social science paradigms of human action and cultural diversity, and it relies heavily on ethnographic methodologies. The qualitative data collection techniques chosen are structured observations, semistructured interviews, focus groups and a research diary. The key themes that emerged from the project highlighted the perception of high consequences/low probability risk among the working community. In this context, the cultural relativity of the hazard perception is an instrument used to maintain group solidarity. The group that emerged from this work-based research is culturally-biased according to a ‘way of life’ that characterises it, and predisposes it to adopt a particular view of society at work. The data collected and analysed in this ethnographic investigation establish the fact that cultural bias and shared values have influenced how safety is lived and, most importantly, seen and perceived by the workforce community. The concept of “cross-cultural safety consciousness” is proposed in this research, along with a conceptual model for a practical approach to safety based on its findings, with the aim being to reduce the number of incidents in the offshore oil industry. The project may have an international impact and relevance; professional organisations and maritime trade unions have displayed interest in the outcomes of this investigation

Managing ASEAN's coastal resources for sustainable development: roles of policymakers, scientists, donors, media and communities

Coastal zone management, Sustainable development, ASEAN,

How to recognise a kick : A cognitive task analysis of drillers’ situation awareness during well operations

Acknowledgements This article is based on a doctoral research project of the first author which was sponsored by an international drilling rig operator. The views presented are those of the authors and should not be taken to represent the position or policy of the sponsor. The authors wish to thank the industrial supervisor and the drilling experts for their contribution and patience, as well as Aberdeen Drilling School for allowing the first author to attend one of their well control courses.Peer reviewedPostprin

Energy issues in the developing world

In 1986 and 1987 the lower oil prices called into question many of the fundamental assumptions that were the stock in trade of energy experts during the previous ten years. This document is a collection of papers representing responses to concerns prepared by current and former World Bank staff. Although these papers raise a variety of different concerns, a common theme that runs throughout the paper is the need to continue the pursuit of efficiency goals in the energy sector. The developing world still needs large amounts of capital to meet its ever-expanding energy requirements. These capital requirements will be a significant part of most countries'total investment plan. Given the problems of debt and public revenues, the report concludes that the pursuit of efficiency is just as important under lower fuel prices as it is under rising fuel prices.Power&Energy Conversion,Urban Environment,Environmental Economics&Policies,Energy Demand,Energy and Environment

The development of the Helicopter Non-Technical Skills (HeliNOTS) behavioural marker systems

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank all of the pilots, technical crew personnel, CRM trainers, and aviation consultants for taking the time to participate in this study. Funding This research was collaboratively funded by the ESRC and Bristow Helicopters [grant number: ES/P000681/1].Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Tax Havens of the British Empire : Development, Policy Responses, and Decolonization, 1961-1979

Despite the centrality of tax havens to the global political economy, up to this point historians have largely neglected in-depth research on the origin of the global phenomenon. Literature within an International Political Economy (IPE) tradition of the social sciences has placed the role of the British Empire at the centre of the formation of a British-based tax haven system within a broader offshore world of global reach. However, this literature does not fully explain how this British system came about with much historical detail. This thesis contributes with one historical assessment of the British administrative tax haven experience as the phenomenon unfolded in a formative stage during the 1960s and 1970s. The study brings together insights from IPE studies with historiographies relevant to the specific historical context and official records from British public archives to examine the central features of the role that the British administration played in tax haven formation in British dependencies. This study’s primary focus is how the British administration allowed tax haven developments to proliferate within British dependencies, a focus that will extend to the responses of sub-institutions of the British state in the context of decolonization. Institutions operating under the authority of the Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office headed the negotiation of a formal UK tax haven policy established in 1971. The central argument presented in this thesis is that the British tax haven system was not the result of a strategically deployed master plan designed to serve the interests of the metropolitan power as formerly suggested. Rather, it was the end result of a complex process involving ad hoc practices, incoherent management of official policy, and indecision as tax havens developed. This more unstable process reflects a negotiation between the conflicting interests of those working to financially sustain the political independence movements in British dependencies and those working to maintain UK domestic interests. This study re-affirms the importance of semi-sovereignty to tax haven formation as a factor that allowed for an expansion in influence from private interests.Til tross for at skatteparadiser står helt sentralt i global finans og internasjonalt eierskap finnes det lite historisk forskning på fenomenets opprinnelse. En internasjonal politisk økonomi (IPE) tradisjon innenfor samfunnsvitenskapen har plassert det britiske imperiet i sentrum for vekst og spredning av et globalt skatteparadis system. Likevel forklarer IPE-litteraturen i liten grad hvordan dette britiske systemet har blitt til med historiske detaljer. Denne avhandlingen bidrar med en historisk analyse av den britiske sentraladministrasjonens rolle i utvikling og spredning av skatteparadiser i territorier underlagt britisk kontroll. Studien bringer sammen innsikter fra IPE-studier og historiefaglig litteratur, og bygger på kilder fra offentlige britiske arkiver for å etablere mer kunnskap om skatteparadisenes utvikling i en formativ fase på 1960- og 1970-tallet. Studiens hovedfokus er på erfaringer underlagt ansvarsområdene til det britiske finansdepartementet og ansvarlige institusjoner for kolonier, tilknyttede territorier og bistand i en periode preget av avkolonisering og økt selvstyre. Det sentrale argumentet fremført i avhandlingen er at et britisk basert skatteparadis system ikke var et resultat av en strategisk styrt politikk for å sikre britiske økonomiske interesser som ofte fremsatt. Det var heller et resultat av en kompleks utvikling preget av pragmatiske løsninger på problemstillinger etterhvert som disse oppstod, lite samstemthet på tvers av administrative barrierer og manglende besluttsomhet og politisk retning. Denne mer ustabile prosessen reflekterer forhandlinger mellom motstridende interesser knyttet til ulike ansvarsområder i statsforvaltningen. Studien understreker særlig betydningen av den spesielle halv-suverene posisjonen små tidligere kolonier hadde på veien mot mer selvstendighet, og hvordan dette ble en faktor der private interesser fikk innflytelse og muligheter til å påvirke utviklingen av skatteparadiser.Doktorgradsavhandlin